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In 1 Timothy 4:6, Paul stated a qualification of Timothy’s being “a good minister of Christ Jesus”:
If thou put the brethren in mind of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which thou hast followed until now.
Let us briefly analyze this verse.
- To the Thessalonian church, Paul described Timothy as “God’s minister in the gospel of Christ” (1 The. 3:2). The Greek word for “minister” here and in 1 Timothy 4:6 is diakonos, from which we get our English word deacon, correctly so rendered only three times (Phi. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:8, 12). Timothy, however, was not an “appointed” deacon in Ephesus. Diakonos (servant, attendant, or minister) is the most common New Testament term for a servant (31 occurrences) (as opposed to doulos, slaves or bondservants), whatever the area of service. Rulers, Christ, Phoebe, Paul, and others are described by diakonos [Rom. 13:4; 15:8; 16:1; 1 Cor. 3:5; Col. 1:23]). We misuse minister when we equate it with preacher or evangelist. Doing so is not unlike the misuse of pastor as an alternate term for preacher. In both cases men make an unscriptural application of a Scriptural term. The New Testament never uses minister this way. Paul was simply telling Timothy what he must do to be a good servant of Christ in his work.
- To be “a good minister,” Timothy must “put the brethren in mind of these things.” It surely requires no less of one who would be a good servant of the Lord today. What “things” did Paul have in mind? The preceding 5 verses give a vigorous, explicit warning of an coming apostasy. Only if Timothy warned the brethren of this tragedy would he be a good servant of Christ. What does this say of those today who pretend to be blind to the digression all around them in the church? What does this say of those who are leading and reveling in the apostasy that has been burgeoning now for decades? What does this say of those who label as “negative” and “prophets of doom” any who dare warn of the alarming departures that have already occurred and that are accelerating? What does it say of those who no longer respect the Bible doctrine concerning fellowship? What does it say of those who ignore teachers or error because of prominence or popularity? What does it say of those in the pew who stop their ears and refuse to hear such warnings when faithful men issue them? Such are not good ministers/servants of Christ, yet this attitude seems to prevail.
- Warning the brethren would be proof that Timothy was “nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine.” Had Timothy failed to sound the warnings he would show his failure to feed on the faith and the good doctrine. Those who love and cherish the doctrine of Christ and who feed upon it cannot be silent about the rampant error, whether in the world or in the church. Knowledge of and love for the Truth force us to sound the warnings. Those who will not sound or receive such warnings prove that they feed upon and delight in the doctrines of men rather than in the “good doctrine.” They are not “good ministers of Christ Jesus.”
There is more to being a good servant of Christ than sounding warnings of error and sin, but those who refuse to do this necessary work most certainly fail to serve Christ well, be they preachers or any others.
[Note: I wrote this article for and it was published in The Lighthouse, weekly bulletin of Northpoint Church of Christ, Denton, TX, January 24, 2016, of which I was editor.]
Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.
