Pastoral turnover and the call of preach

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Mar 2001 by Harrison, Paul V

V. BIBLICAL CRITIQUE OF BEING "CALLED TO PREACH"

The question should be asked as to how this understanding of an internal call accords with Scripture. Does the Bible teach such a call? Many would unequivocally say yes. The Scripture, however, does not present such a cutand-dried affirmation.

The Bible consistently refers to the divine call as a summons to salvation, usually translating some form of ... . Thus the church is the ..., the gathering of those who have been "called out." Jesus said: "I have not come to call [...] the righteous, but sinners" (Matt 9:13b). Paul wrote: "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called [...] you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel" (Gal 1:6). The author of Hebrews urged: "Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling [...], fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess" (Heb 3:1). Peter wrote: "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called [...] you out of darkness into his wonderful light" (1 Pet 2:9).

There are other Biblical references to call, however, which relate to ministry. Jesus "called" his twelve disciples (Matt 10:1). Paul referred to himself as "called to be an apostle" (Rom 1:1; 1 Cor 1:1, etc.). Two other passages are of special interest. In Acts 13:2 God tells the leaders of the church at Antioch: "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." In Acts 16:10 we are told that after Paul had seen his Macedonian vision, he and his companions concluded "that God had called us to preach the gospel to them." In light of these references to apostolic calling, one might expect to find the term used in the Septuagint of the calling of the prophets, but, interestingly, it is never so used.45

To summarize, there is not one NT reference in which the language of calling is used of anyone other than the apostles unless the calling is to salvation. Not one pastor is referred to as having been called by God to ministry. One should not therefore assume an analogy to exist between apostolic calling and ministerial office. The Scriptures at least make no such connection. The case is the same with the prophets of the OT. Their call was admittedly supernatural and extraordinary, but there is no Bible-based analogy drawn between their calling and the pastoral office.

If the exact wording is missing, however, this does not mean that the concept of a direct call from God is absent from Scripture. Perhaps the idea is presented indirectly. Several passages suggest themselves. Eph 4:11 (note the parallel text in 1 Cor 11:28) states: "It was he [Christ] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers."

One might think this means that God picked "some" specifically to be pastors and others specifically to be prophets and so forth. But this does not appear to be the focus of the verse. Paul is not saying that certain individuals have been assigned to serve in these roles. He rather asserts that these roles, as gifts from God, are set apart by him for his church. In other words, the focus is on the roles and not on the individuals.46 But even if the verse did point to individual role assignments, it would lend no support to the idea of an internal call since it does not address the subject of how such assignments should be accomplished.