PASTORS ARE THEOLOGIANS

By Pastor John MacArthur

The primary role of the Pastor is to: 

“Feed my sheep.” 

That’s what Jesus said to Peter. 

“Feed my sheep. Feed my Lambs. Feed my sheep.”

That’s what pastors do. 

Feed, and therefore, lead, the flock of God. 

That is our calling. 

And, in fact, it’s explicitly spelled out: 

“Teach the things that are connected to sound doctrine.” 

And to do that, you have to: 

“Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman needing not to be ashamed, but rightly dividing the word of truth.”

If you’re not rightly interpreting the Word of God and feeding your flock, Paul says: 

“You should be ashamed.” 

That’s the role of the Pastor.

Let me stretch that a little bit. 

The Pastor is a Bible teacher, and a Bible preacher, and a theologian. The pastor is a theologian. 

In fact, you might think:

“Well theologians are all up in Seminaries somewhere or Universities. They are in Ivory Towers. That’s where theologians are.” 

And you know what? You’d be right, in one sense. That’s where theologians, who call themselves theologians, reside.

But the truth of the matter is this. 

The people in the Ivory Tower aren’t the people preaching and teaching to the populace. They are talking to each other and talking to other students.

The real theologians are in the Churches and in the pulpits. And they are theologians. They are representing God. The only question is whether they are good theologians, or bad theologians, or something in the middle.

A Pastor is primarily a teacher and preacher of God’s Word. And that makes him a theologian. And he is the theologian that touches the people…that touches the Church.

I’m convinced that Pastors need to think far more seriously about the depth, and range, and precision, and clarity of what they preach and teach, and see themselves as theologians.

Just an illustration of that.

Many years ago, I was invited to be a part of the Inherency Council. That was back in the 1970s. And it lasted for 10 years. There were a hundred scholars picked to study the issue of [Scripture] Inherency.

Out of 100 scholars, two were pastors. Ninety-Eight came from academic institutions.

That is evidence of Pastors abandoning the role of being theologians…even back then. It’s probably even worse now.

Pastors need to recover their place as theologians.