[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] The three levels of pastoring
First posted: May 2004
The Scriptures reveal three levels of pastoring which all of us are called to perform. In this article, we will study each of these three levels, briefly evaluating which are currently being performed by pastors.
Index
The three types of love
Jesus' 3 questions to Peter
Level 3: Do you agapao Me more than you agapao these?
Level 3: Give food to My lambs
Level 2: Do you agapao Me?
Level 2: Give food and guide My sheep
Level 1: Do you phileo Me?
Level 1: Give food to My sheep
A final summary
The three types of love
Before we can study the three levels of pastoring, we must first get to know the three Greek words that can be translated as "love":
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] Erao
This word refers to love, mostly on a physical level, and it is the word from which "erotic" is derived. Even though it never appears in the New Testament, it is the word from which the name "Erastus" is derived; this name appears 3 times in the New Testament (Acts 19:22, Romans 16:23, 2 Timothy 4:20).
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] Phileo
This word refers to love, mostly on a soulish or emotional level, and it is the word from which we get "affiliation" in English. The Greek word for "kiss", philema, is also derived from it. This word, therefore, refers to affectionate, fraternal love born out of finding common elements with another person.
This verb appears 25 times in the New Testament. The reason for this is that 25 was the age when a Levite could "... go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation ..." (Numbers 8:24). The Hebrew word translated by the King James Version as "go in" in this verse is tsaba, which literally means, "to fight, to wage war". Numbers 8:24, therefore, should have been translated to say, "fight the service of the tabernacle". This means that you cannot become a spiritual warrior until you develop a deep phileo love for your brothers and sisters in the faith, a love that is not born out of social or cultural commonality, but rather out of the awareness that the same Spirit of God that is inside of you is also inside your brother and sister in the faith. It is this spiritual "affiliation" or "affinity" which should drive your love towards your brothers and which will lead you to wage spiritual warfare in order to see the manifestation of the potential of God in them.
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] Agapao
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]This word refers to love, mostly on a spiritual level. The noun form of this word, agape, is the word used in Greek in the famous "love chapter", 1 Corinthians chapter 13. This type of love implies a willingness to sacrifice oneself for the sake of another person. The verb agapao appears a whopping 146 times in the New Testament.[/FONT]
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As we mentioned in a previous article, the Bible shows that our soul is comprised of three parts:
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] The mind
This is the center of our thoughts and logic. Judgments are made through the moral laws and principles that are stored in our mind. It is through the mind that the soul perceives its surroundings.
The mind is the soul's eye or "gate" to the external world.
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] The emotions
This is the most predominant part of the soul. The heart many times "hears" through the emotions to discern what the mind cannot "see". The heart and the emotions, however, are not exactly the same, contrary to popular belief.
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] The heart
According to Ephesians 6:6, the heart is where our will resides. This is the part of the soul that makes decisions. Since Romans 10:10 declares that man believes with the heart, we can conclude that faith abides in the heart. Since Romans 10:17 declares that faith comes by hearing, we can conclude that the heart hears. Since John 6:63 declares that the Lord's words are Spirit, we can conclude that it is through the heart that we can hear the words of God and be connected to the Spirit.
The heart is the soul's ear or "gate" to the spirit realm.
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] 1 Thessalonians 5:23 declares that our whole being is comprised of spirit, soul, and body. Combining all of the above, we could make the following abstract representation of man:
The three levels of pastoring
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First posted: May 2004
The Scriptures reveal three levels of pastoring which all of us are called to perform. In this article, we will study each of these three levels, briefly evaluating which are currently being performed by pastors.
Index
The three types of love
Jesus' 3 questions to Peter
Level 3: Do you agapao Me more than you agapao these?
Level 3: Give food to My lambs
Level 2: Do you agapao Me?
Level 2: Give food and guide My sheep
Level 1: Do you phileo Me?
Level 1: Give food to My sheep
A final summary
The three types of love
Before we can study the three levels of pastoring, we must first get to know the three Greek words that can be translated as "love":
This word refers to love, mostly on a physical level, and it is the word from which "erotic" is derived. Even though it never appears in the New Testament, it is the word from which the name "Erastus" is derived; this name appears 3 times in the New Testament (Acts 19:22, Romans 16:23, 2 Timothy 4:20).
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]
This word refers to love, mostly on a soulish or emotional level, and it is the word from which we get "affiliation" in English. The Greek word for "kiss", philema, is also derived from it. This word, therefore, refers to affectionate, fraternal love born out of finding common elements with another person.
This verb appears 25 times in the New Testament. The reason for this is that 25 was the age when a Levite could "... go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation ..." (Numbers 8:24). The Hebrew word translated by the King James Version as "go in" in this verse is tsaba, which literally means, "to fight, to wage war". Numbers 8:24, therefore, should have been translated to say, "fight the service of the tabernacle". This means that you cannot become a spiritual warrior until you develop a deep phileo love for your brothers and sisters in the faith, a love that is not born out of social or cultural commonality, but rather out of the awareness that the same Spirit of God that is inside of you is also inside your brother and sister in the faith. It is this spiritual "affiliation" or "affinity" which should drive your love towards your brothers and which will lead you to wage spiritual warfare in order to see the manifestation of the potential of God in them.
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]This word refers to love, mostly on a spiritual level. The noun form of this word, agape, is the word used in Greek in the famous "love chapter", 1 Corinthians chapter 13. This type of love implies a willingness to sacrifice oneself for the sake of another person. The verb agapao appears a whopping 146 times in the New Testament.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]
As we mentioned in a previous article, the Bible shows that our soul is comprised of three parts:
[/FONT]
This is the center of our thoughts and logic. Judgments are made through the moral laws and principles that are stored in our mind. It is through the mind that the soul perceives its surroundings.
The mind is the soul's eye or "gate" to the external world.
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]
This is the most predominant part of the soul. The heart many times "hears" through the emotions to discern what the mind cannot "see". The heart and the emotions, however, are not exactly the same, contrary to popular belief.
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]
According to Ephesians 6:6, the heart is where our will resides. This is the part of the soul that makes decisions. Since Romans 10:10 declares that man believes with the heart, we can conclude that faith abides in the heart. Since Romans 10:17 declares that faith comes by hearing, we can conclude that the heart hears. Since John 6:63 declares that the Lord's words are Spirit, we can conclude that it is through the heart that we can hear the words of God and be connected to the Spirit.
The heart is the soul's ear or "gate" to the spirit realm.
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica] 1 Thessalonians 5:23 declares that our whole being is comprised of spirit, soul, and body. Combining all of the above, we could make the following abstract representation of man:
The three levels of pastoring
[/FONT][/FONT]