Minister Ministry
Minister Ministry
In discussing these two terms we have to consider six groups of Greek words which occur in the Bible in connexion with ministering or serving. They run in triplets, each triplet consisting of a concrete noun, an abstract noun, and a verb-minister, ministry, and to minister. These six groups are-, , ; , , ; , [], ; [], , ; , , ; , , . All these are found in the NT excepting , which occurs in the Septuagint in Job and Wisdom, and , which occurs only in the enlarged text of Job 2:9. With regard to nearly all of them it will be found that both the Authorized Version and the Revised Version use different English words to translate the same Greek word, while different Greek words are sometimes translated by the same English word. This could hardly be avoided without doing injustice to the meaning of various passages. In all languages words have different shades of meaning, and in some cases the same word has two or more very different meanings; there are very many instances of this in the Greek of the NT.
The fact that we have no less than six sets of words to express the idea of minister and ministry is strong evidence that there was as yet no regular organization of ministers with distinct titles indicating specific duties. This impression is confirmed when we find that English translators are unable to reserve a separate English word for each of the different Greek words. Evidently these different Greek terms do not each represent a class of officials; but individuals who undertake work of a similar character are called by the same name. On the other hand, the name varies, without there being in all cases a corresponding change of meaning. The same person, from somewhat different points of view, might bear four or five of the six names; and even from the same point of view might bear more than one of them. In the earliest congregations of Christians it was soon found that some individuals had certain gifts, and they exercised these gifts for the good of the congregation. Such useful persons were distinguished by words already in use for similar services. At a later time, when the Christian ministry became organized, some of these words acquired a technical meaning and designated Church officers with specific duties. It will be useful to exhibit the diversity of translation somewhat in detail.
is found in Mt., Mk., and Jn., in all four groups of the Pauline Epistles, and nowhere else in the NT. In the Gospels it is rendered servant, in the Epistles minister, except Php 1:1 and 1Ti 3:8; 1Ti 3:12, where it is rendered deacon. occurs in Ac. and in all groups of the Pauline Epistles, except 1 and 2 Th.; elsewhere thrice. The usual translation is ministry; but we have ministration (2Co 3:7-9; 2Co 9:13), ministering (2Co 8:4; 2Co 9:1), relief (Act 11:29), serving (Luk 10:40), also service and administration. The Revised Version changes ministry to service (1Ti 1:12), service to ministry (Rev 2:19), ministry to ministering (Eph 4:12, 2Ti 4:11), ministry to ministration (2Co 6:3), and administration to ministration (2Co 9:12). is always to minister in Mt. and Mk., always to serve in Jn., and nearly always to minister in the Epistles: in Lk. and Ac. both translations are used-to serve most frequently. The Revised Version changes administer to minister (2Co 8:19-20), and use the office of a deacon to serve as deacons (1Ti 3:10; 1Ti 3:13). is rendered minister in nearly all places; is ministration in Lk., service in Ph., and ministry in Heb.; is always to minister. The translations of vary between attendant, minister, officer, and servant. The Revised Version changes minister to attendant (Luk 4:20, Act 13:5), and servant to officer (Mar 14:54). is to serve (Act 13:36) and to minister (Act 20:34; Act 24:23). These instances of variations in rendering the same word may suffice. The different shades of meaning between the groups of Greek words are of more importance; but the fact that minister and servant, with their cognates, appear in the translations of so many of the groups is evidence that the meanings frequently overlap.
The triplets connected with and are somewhat closely allied. The , slave or bondservant, is in a permanent condition of servitude to the person whom he serves, and he cannot free himself from it. The renders temporary and voluntary service. Both words may be used of mans relation to God: Moses is called the (Heb 3:5, the only place in the NT in which the word occurs) and the (Rev 15:3) of God; and in the Septuagint both words are used to translate the same Hebrew word (ebed): e.g. Num 12:7, Jdg 2:8. is used (abstract for concrete) of a body of domestic servants (Luk 12:42), and of the special service of healing (Luk 9:11, Rev 22:2). means to serve in any way, and also to treat medically and to heal. The verb is very frequent in the writings of the beloved physician, and, except Act 17:25, always in the medical sense. Except indirectly in the metaphor of the healing leaves (Rev 22:2), this triplet is not used of spiritual ministry by man to man; and neither nor is found in any Epistle. Nor is the triplet used of mans spiritual ministry to his fellows. Both and are used of service to God or to Christ, but the nearest approach to spiritual service to man is Php 2:22, where Timothy is said to serve with St. Paul in furtherance of the gospel.
It is probably correct to say much the same of and . They indicate a more dignified kind of service than that of the , but they are commonly used of attendance to physical needs or external duties rather than of ministration to souls. The attendant in Luk 4:20 is one who looks after the fabric and the books, not one who preaches in the synagogue. Act 13:5 probably means that John waited on Paul and Barnabas, attending to their bodily wants, so as to leave them free to preach. He had not been set apart for missionary work as they had been (Act 13:2). The exceptions are Luk 1:2, Act 26:16, and 1Co 4:1, where the idea of spiritual ministration is prominent. But in none of these three passages is there any allusion to the derivation of the word (under-rower), as if it meant a rower in a ship of which Christ was captain.
The three remaining triplets are different, for all of them are frequently connected with the idea of religious service. In the article Deacon, Deaconess it has been pointed out that , which in classical Greek commonly implies ignoble service, such as waiting at table, in Christian language has high associations. We find the nobler use of the term in the teaching of that anima naturaliter Christiana, Epictetus. The philosopher should without distraction be employed only on the service of God. I think that what God chooses is better than what I choose: I will attach myself as a servant to Him. I obey, assenting to the words of the Commander and praising His acts; for I came into the world when it pleased Him, and I will also depart when it pleases Him. I depart as Thy servant, as one who has known Thy commands and Thy prohibitions (Diss. III. xxii. 69, xxiv. 65, xxvi. 28, IV. vii. 20). In the Septuagint and are rare (ten times in all), and does not occur. St. Paul calls heathen magistrates servants () of God (Rom 13:4); and all idea of ignoble service is excluded when apostles are called (1Co 3:5, 2Co 3:6, Eph 3:7, Col 1:23). The whole triplet has for its root-idea the supplying of serviceable labour, whether to the body or the soul. is used often of the sending of money to help the poor brethren in Judaea (Act 11:29; Act 12:25, 2Co 8:4; 2Co 9:1; 2Co 9:12-13, Rom 15:31). Archippus is told to take heed to the ministry () which he had received in the Lord (Col 4:17) for work in the Church of Colossae, but we are not told what kind of ministry it was.
There are several passages in which the triplet seems to be used of personal service to St. Paul rather than of ministerial service in the Church: (of Tychicus, Eph 6:21, Col 4:7), (of Mark, 2Ti 4:11), (of Timothy and Erastus, Act 19:22; of Onesimus, Phm 1:13; and of Onesiphorus, 2Ti 1:18). is clearly used of supplying bodily needs in Act 6:2-3, where the Seven are elected to serve tables. But the Seven are not called , and there is no evidence in the NT which can connect them with the deacons at Philippi or Ephesus. To call the Seven the first deacons is a conjecture which can be neither proved nor disproved.
It may be mere accident that and are never used in the NT in the classical sense of Divine worship, although both are used in this sense in the Septuagint (Joe 1:14; Joe 2:15, Isa 54:17, Dan 7:10, Jdt 11:17). For Divine worship, the NT writers use either and or and , words which may signify adoration of God in general and sometimes sacrifice in particular. or is used of heathen worship (Rom 1:25), of Jewish worship (Act 7:7, Rom 9:4, Heb 8:5; Heb 9:1; Heb 13:10), of Christian worship (Rom 12:1, Php 3:3), and of worship in heaven (Rev 7:15; Rev 22:3). In Apost. Const. viii. 15, ad fin., mystical is used of the eucharist. But in the Septuagint , in connexion with religious worship, the group , , is more common. The classical use of these words for the rendering of public services, or contributions to the State, at Athens, prepared the way for the religious use; and it is probable that the employment of these expressions by the writers of the NT in describing Christian worship is not entirely due to the influence of the Septuagint . Numerous papyri of about 160 b.c. or earlier show that and were frequently used in Egypt in this ceremonial sense (Deissmann, Bible Studies, Eng. translation , 1901, p. 140). The different members of the triplet occur in the writings of St. Luke and St. Paul, and all three in Hebrews: e.g. Luk 1:23, Act 13:2, Php 2:17, Heb 8:2; Heb 8:6; Heb 10:11 (see Westcott, Ep. to Hebrews, 1889, ad loc.). In his full notes on Php 2:17 (Philippians4, 1878) Lightfoot remarks: The Philippians are the priests; their faith (or their good works springing from their faith) is the sacrifice: St. Pauls life-blood the accompanying libation. Commentators have much confused the image, by representing St. Paul himself as the sacrificer. This passage is one of those which point to the fundamental idea of the Christian Church, in which an universal priesthood has supplanted the exclusive ministrations of a select tribe or class. In the NT all Christians have in Christ that immediate access to God which is the special privilege of priests, and the sacrifices which they offer are spiritual-their wills, praises, and prayers. The priesthood belongs to Christians, not as individuals, but as members of the Church, in the royal priesthood of which each has a share; and the sacrifice which each brings is service and self-consecration, made acceptable by union with the sacrifice offered by Christ. When certain selected individuals exercise priestly functions on behalf of the whole, they act as organs or representatives of the community. But we need to consider the point at which sacrifice and priesthood become metaphors.
Literature.-F. J. A. Hort, The Christian Ecclesia, 1897; T. M. Lindsay, The Church and the Ministry in the Early Centuries, 1902; A. W. F. Blunt, Studies in Apostolic Christianity, 1909; C. H. Turner, The Organisation of the Church in The Cambridge Medieval History, i. [1911] ch. vi., Studies in Early Church History, 1912; L. Duchesne, Early History of the Christian Church, ii., Eng. translation , 1912.
A. Plummer.