Preachers are Theologians

yes...this is where much of defective living comes from.
An uncalled men who is not called to labor in doctrine, might provide entertainment but not too much life changing truth.
Public speaking is not biblical, theological instruction.
Many try and be "cute" in the pulpit....they prove to be hirelings rather than God called shepherds.
Defective preaching leads to defective converts and defective living.

 

Many sincere persons intend to do something positive in their own mind. Like those in psalm 115...the god of their imagination is made in their fallen image and likeness and lacks anything that resembles divine attributes.
Fleshly minds attract fleshly disciples that is why there is often sexual immorality associated with that which is false....2pet2

 

One of the jobs of a pastor/elder is to be a teacher, a leader who teaches others the walk of faith.
The recently departed R.C. Sproul said it well.

“To be a Christian is to be a theologian—a student of God and his will. The church is where believers should be nurtured in the practice of correct theology. The contemporary disdain for theological content and emphasis on self-image and emotions were not shared by the apostolic church.” – R.C. Sproul, Everyone's a Theologian, an Introduction to Systematic Theology (p 20)

“The purpose of theology is not to tickle our intellects but to instruct us in the ways of God, so that we can grow up into maturity and fullness of obedience to Him. That is why we engage in theology.”
– R.C. Sproul, Everyone's a Theologian, an Introduction to Systematic Theology​

Some leaders will be better than others.
As people who are immersed in the digital age where information is at our fingertips we are prone to compare our pastors to the very best and complain.

• They should be preaching the gospel more.
• They should teach about this sin or that sin...
• They should preach 'the bible' rather than topically.

Preachers are a bit like baseball players, they don't bat 1.00.. some of the best bat .300.

I believe the best determinate of a healthy pastorate is not the numbers that come out but the activity of the members working for the Kingdom.

Rob

 

Since the word "theologian" does not appear in the Bible, I'm wondering what Phil Johnson is saying with the Spurgeon quote. A pastor is a shepherd. So he does need to know theology to protect his sheep. And he should be "apt to teach." However, there is an office of "teacher" in Eph. 4:11, alongside the pastor. If "theologian" as a professional in theology is in the Bible, it is the teacher.

This verse indicates that not all elders are theologians: "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine" (1 Tim. 5:17).

I've been a missionary/pastor, have "done the work" of an evangelist, and am now a teacher. I don't call myself a theologian, but they do refer to me around here as one, along with my son. I do teach theology in both the college and the church (under which the college dwells). Every church should have a genuine theologian in the church or as a connection. But the pastor may not be that person.

 

Any preacher worth her salt does too:

Charles Spurgeon, "Mary Magdalene":

"I feel it no small privilege to be the means of bearing God’s message to this congregation. It pleases me when I know that many gray-headed believers, who know far more of experimental truth than I can be supposed to know, have nevertheless been comforted by the message which my Master has sent to them by me. But what an honor to have a message for the apostles! Oh, the power of divine grace! Mary, once a demoniac, becomes a preacher to preachers! I dub her Doctor of Divinity indeed, for she has to instruct these mightiest of messengers in the faith. Note the message. Did ever man preach a better sermon than this woman preached?"

 

The task of the Pastor is to take the hard things of scriptures and be able to explain them in such a fashion that both the newly saved and the old saved will benefit and learn!

 

Paul offered this to the elders;
ACTS20;
25 And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.

26 Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.

27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

32 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

 

Reformed,

It is bad when they do not know it....

This.....

EZK3:
4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.

5 For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;

6 Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.

7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.

8 Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.

9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

10 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears.

11 And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.

Yes....

Sadly this does not happen as often as it should in our neck of the woods...

 

Well, then, please define "theologian." (I did note that Phil was quoting Spurgeon, but I'm sure you're okay with me disagreeing with Spurgeon. )

 

Before disagreeing with Spurgeon, let him clarify:

In his Sunday evening sermon on August 18, 1889,

"I learned my theology, from which I have never swerved, from an old woman who was a cook in the house where I was an usher. She could talk about the deep things of God and as I sat and heard what she had to say, as an aged Christian, of what the Lord had done for her, I learned more from her instruction than from anybody I have ever met with since!"

"For this work [preaching], a high degree of gifts is not required. It does not say, 'How shall they hear without a doctor of divinity?'”

 

Thank you. Very interesting.

I just had lunch with our missions pastor, who told me that among the house churches in China, a prison term is "seminary," and until a pastor has been to prison for the cause of Christ, he is not "educated."

 

I would say that a theologian in the modern sense is not just someone who studies theology but can work in theology (the systematizing of doctrine). In the typical Bible college and seminary, we distinguish between a doctrines course (which simply lays out the basic doctrines) and a theology course. In our school I teach two theology courses. For the undergrad course I teach, the students must first have taken the doctrines course.

Doctrine: Christ is 100% God and 100% man; the hypostatic union (with relevant Scriptures included).
Theology: Is the hypostatic union permanent, or did Christ lost his physical humanity after the resurrection, as full preterists say?

He'll be in a ritzier neighborhood than I, I'm sure.

 

I agree.