In yesterday’s study, we said that the first thing Paul says about ministers is that they are servants.
In the history of the church there have been various approaches to this matter of ministers and their relationship to congregations. John Stott discusses that very carefully in one of his books called One People.1 There is an error on the one side that he terms “clericalism.” This is where the ministers run the show. It is their church and they do what they want. This approach has historical roots, probably occurring out of a tendency in the early church to try and pattern the Christian ministry on the Old Testament priestly system. Certainly that is where the Roman Catholic Church got its ideas of the priesthood, because in the Old Testament system the priests alone had the right to offer the sacrifices. In Catholicism, therefore, it was assumed that the priests alone had the right to offer the mass, which they conceived as a sacrifice. And in taking that authority upon themselves, they could dispense, not only the mass, but also salvation. A whole body of theology grew up to support this kind of clerical approach.
Then there have been reactions against that, which Stott calls “anticlericalism.” If the clergy are taking upon themselves an authority beyond what they are to exercise, or if they are making bad decisions, then people have said that the proper thing to do is to get rid of the clergy. There have been movements in the church that have said, “We don’t want to have ministers. That’s not biblical because all of us are ministers, and ministers get in the way. So let’s get rid of the clergy.” However, that is no good either because the Bible has established clergy for certain roles.
In response to these two extremes, people have come along and said, “Well, if we’ve got to have both clergy and laity, let’s at least divide it up. The clergy has their job and defined role, and the laity can have their job and defined role. Each one needs to stay off the other’s turf, and that’s how we’ll have harmony in the church of Jesus Christ.” But that is not the biblical pattern either. That produces an unhelpful separation that can only lead to trouble later on.
What is the biblical pattern? Paul says in verse 5: “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.” Paul’s emphasis is that the ministers in the church of Jesus Christ are servants, even as Jesus Christ Himself came not to be ministered unto but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.
The second thing he says about the ministry is that there is to be unity. Not only are they servants, but servants for the same end. Here he brings in two interesting images. One is an image of farming. He says, “Look, it’s true that there are different functions in the ministry. Some are called to do one thing, and some another. Some come and break up the soil before the planting even is done. Once the planting is done, others come along and water. And still others come and reap what was sown.” But Paul asks, “Who is it that makes it grow? Is it Paul who makes the seed grow? No. Is it Apollos who makes the seed grow? No, Apollos can’t make it grow any more than I can. Who makes the seed grow? Why of course God makes it grow.” So not only are we servants of the church, but we are servants of God, and we are working toward the same purpose, namely, to see a harvest. And we all bring whatever gifts God has given us, and whatever assignments He has laid out for us in order that this harvest might happen.
The second image Paul uses is the image of building. He mentions this theme at the very end of verse 9, and then carries the idea over in the following verses. He tells the Corinthian believers that they are God’s building. He then proceeds to talk about this building. He says, “You know, when you put up a building, there are architects, and there are people who lay foundations, and then there are those who build upon that.” That is what happens in the church. Those whom God gives as servants of the church in the ministry simply take on those different parts.
[1]John R. W. Stott, One People (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1968).
