Support of Pastors – Interpreting the Law of God (54)

Support of Pastors

Interpreting the Law of God (54)

God’s people are called to support their pastors.

Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9:13, 14

A second principle involving the office of pastor emerges from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Not only did God establish the pastoral office by law, He has also determined, based on the Old Covenant laws respecting priests and Levites, that the people who are served by these pastors must provide for the material needs of their shepherds.

In ancient Israel the people shared with the priests and Levites from their offerings to the Lord, as well as by their tithes. Sacrifices are no longer brought in the same way as under the old dispensation; however, the principle of the tithe continues in the New Covenant, as Christ Himself explained (Luke 11:42). The tithe does not declare the outside limit of what people should give; it merely establishes the foundation and principle of giving, carrying over into the New Covenant an Old Covenant law which was among those laws brought to an end through the work of Christ. We have already seen how Paul appealed to the civil law about not muzzling the ox as he treads out the corn to indict the Corinthians of their neglect of his needs while he ministered among them. Now Paul adds strength to that indictment by appealing to a principle of neighbor love embedded in the laws concerning priests and Levites, even though those laws were to be regarded as no longer binding as given.

While no longer binding as given, the laws concerning priestly support contain principles of order that churches are expected to understand and follow. The Corinthians had apparently failed to discern these principles. Certainly they had failed to abide by them. It fell to Paul, as an ordained shepherd of the flock of God, to bring them back to the Law in order to correct a glaring lack of proper order within the churches in their city.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.