God Speaks to Us Through His Spoken Word and His Written Word
Growing up I was taught that the word of God was the Bible. This idea has been reinforced throughout my life by various ministers, books, and fellow followers of Jesus. This means that to hear the word of God is to listen as someone reads the Scriptures.
Yet perceiving the word of God as a euphemism for the Holy Bible may be an oversimplification. It might even be wrong. Though this may sound heretical, I offer biblical support.
The phrase word of God appears in thirty-nine verses in the Bible, as rendered by the NIV. Given the context, it can mean different things.
The Written Word of God
Yes, Scripture does use the phrase the word of God to refer to itself. We see this implied in a few places but not many (Matthew 15:6 and Mark 7:13).
Jesus Is the Word of God
Next, Jesus is the Word of God (Revelation 19:13), and he lives in us (1 John 2:14). Also the apostle John writes that Jesus is the word (John 1:1-14). The word of God is also used in Scripture as a euphemism for the good news about Jesus (consider Acts 4:31 and throughout the book of Acts, as well as 2 Corinthians 2:17 and Colossians 1:25, among others).
The Spoken Word of God
Throughout the Bible, God speaks directly to his people (consider 1 Kings 12:22, 1 Chronicles 17:3, and Luke 3:2, among many others). He does this through angels, dreams, and audibly (Luke 3:22).
When God speaks to us, we better listen it hear the word of God.
This is the spoken word of God. It comes to us through the Holy Spirit, albeit manifested in diverse ways: through dreams, visions, and implanting supernatural words in our minds. And, yes, it can be audible.
The Sword of the Spirit
When we read about the armor of God in Ephesians 6, it talks about the sword of the Spirit, which is the written word of God (Ephesians 6:17). Most people understand this to mean the Bible.
Yet when Paul wrote these words, the New Testament did not exist. At that point, the written word of God—that is, the Scriptures—consisted of the Old Testament and the Apocrypha.
A better understanding of “the sword of the Spirit” in this verse is that it refers to the spoken word of God as revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.
When the Almighty speaks to us—in whatever form—may we hear the word of God and obey.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Jesus fulfills the Old Testament, but today’s church still follows the Old Testament model for church: we have a church building where we go to worship God, hire a minister who represents the Almighty to us, and take a collection to support the whole thing.
This is not what Jesus has in mind. Instead Jesus fulfills the Old Testament, not to perpetuate it or to eliminate it.
Here’s how: Through his sacrificial death, in one single action, Jesus does away with the need to go to a building, hire staff, and take an offering. (More on what Jesus did here.) We should do the same.
This all hinges on Jesus.
Jesus draws people to him—both then and now. The words he speaks and the hope he communicates attract them. Two thousand years ago, people assume Jesus comes to replace the Old Testament Law and the work of the prophets, but this isn’t his calling.
Jesus doesn’t come to do away with what the Old Testament teaches. Instead his mission is to bring the Old Testament into fruition, according to God’s plan, set in place from the beginning. Jesus makes this clear.
He says, “I have not come to abolish the Law and the prophets but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17).
How does Jesus do this?
Jesus Becomes the Ultimate Sacrifice
The Old Testament is packed with instructions for making sacrificial offerings, commands that show the people’s relationship with God. These sacrifices have various meanings, but one key sacrifice occurs—and recurs—to redress sin. An animal must die because the people have sinned.
Since the people continue to sin, animal sacrifices persist as a requirement. These sin sacrifices must happen over and over, day after day, year after year, century after century.
Jesus, in his sacrificial death on the cross, becomes the ultimate sacrifice for sin to end all sin sacrifices. This is the main way Jesus fulfills the Old Testament. In his once-and-for-all sacrifice, he dies to make us right with God, to reconcile us into right relationship with the Almighty.
Jesus Turns Law into Love
Despite Jesus’s fresh way of looking at the assumptions of his people, his disciples struggle to understand what he means. They wrestle to reconcile his teachings with their traditions.
One such person asks Jesus to cite the greatest commandment in the Old Testament. Jesus’s answer is love. He says to “love God with all our heart, soul, and mind.”
This stands as the greatest commandment, but then he adds one more. He says to “love others as much as we love ourselves” (Matthew 22:36-40). These two simple principles summarize the purpose and intent of the entire Old Testament Law and the writings of the prophets.
Jesus removes a set of impossible-to-please laws and replaces them with one principle: love. This is another way Jesus fulfills the Old Testament.
May we love others because Jesus loves us.
Read more about this in Peter’s new book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Moses Explained the Three Key Elements of Worship and We Still Follow Them
Our churches today function in much the same way as outlined in the Old Testament. We follow the Old Testament model for church. We pursue these same three key elements. We meet in a building, hire paid staff to represent God to us, and have an ongoing need for money to keep the institution afloat and moving forward.
Building
We often hear the question, “Where do you go to church?” This is an inquiry about location. In standard usage, the word church refers to a place not a people. It’s a structure more so than the community that meets there.
This mindset is pervasive within the church, but it’s universal outside it. In short, people go to a church building to experience God. The implication is that we can’t connect with him at other locations or through different situations. We want a Sunday morning service in a church building.
We go to church. We connect with God. Then we go home. Once we leave the parking lot, we revert to non-church mode and resume our everyday life.
Most people, both those with a religious background and those without it, view a church without their own facility as suspicious, as second rate, or even as somehow less than. People assume—both those inside the church community and those outside it—that this church without a building will one day mature to a point where she can have her own place to meet. Then she will be a real church.
In addition, for many churchgoers, the thought of attending in a non-typical space is an anathema to having a true worship experience. They feel that to truly connect with God they must travel to a dedicated church building.
This is part one of an Old Testament model for church.
Staff
The second element of today’s church is the staff. In most all cases they are paid employees. Yes, sometimes volunteers help, donating many hours of their time each week, but despite their generosity most churches rely on paid personnel to function.
For small churches, the paid staff is the pastor alone, while for larger congregations it’s a pastoral team, made up of full-time and part-time paid personnel.
A church-growth expert once advocated that a single pastor could sufficiently shepherd a congregation of up to 150 people. Beyond that level, the sole pastor requires help to address the needs of the congregation and deal with the details brought on by this expanded scope.
The expert had a formula for that too: each additional one hundred people in the church required one more staff person. This formula seems to track at the various churches I’ve been part of over the years.
In the same way that most people expect to go to a dedicated worship space on Sunday, they carry expectations of the paid staff who work there, especially the minister.
Just as the people in the Old Testament lined up each day to see Moses, overburdening him and keeping him busy from sunup to sunset (Exodus 18:13), we tend to do the same for our clergy today.
This is part two of an Old Testament model for church.
Collectively we insist that our ministers be available for us whenever we need them. This includes a crisis, such as a death, health scare, financial need, lost job, or wayward child. We also want them there for our celebrations. This means our family births (baptisms, christenings, or dedications) and our weddings (officiating), even milestone birthdays and anniversaries. We also presume their support for our own God-honoring initiatives. And we freely dump our burdens on them in the form of prayer requests. When we call, email, or text, we expect a quick response.
They’re here to serve us. That’s what we pay them for.
Then when they wisely refer us to another person who can help us, just as Moses’s father-in-law recommended him to do (Exodus 18:14), we react with indignation.
We withdraw our support for this leader who we feel slighted us (2 Corinthians 6:12). And we seldom do this silently, often resorting to gossip and even slander (3 John 1:9-11). Sometimes we launch a campaign to replace our once-esteemed leader.
To add weight to our hurt, we may threaten to withhold our support of the church. And to our shame, we sometimes follow through (Malachi 3:6-12).
Money
The third key element of today’s church is financial support. She needs money to function, lots of it. We often refer to this need for money as tithes and offerings. Some churches call for pledges and then urge people to meet their financial commitments each Sunday.
Over the years I’ve heard many ministers plead for money from their congregations, insisting that we must give 10 percent of our income to the local church.
I’m not sure if they’re merely parroting what they heard others say, don’t know their Scripture, or don’t care, but the Bible never says to give 10 percent to the local church. Remember, the Old Testament tithe went to fuel the national religion.
In a typical church most of their budget goes to cover facility costs and staffing. This often approaches 90 percent of the total budget and sometimes requires all of it, only to still fall short. This doesn’t leave too much money—if any—for ministry and outreach.
But lest we complain about the size of our church’s budget and our leader’s calls for financial generosity, remember that this is our own doing. We’ve brought this upon ourselves.
We expect to meet in our own dedicated worship space. And we hire staff to serve as our liaison between us and God. These things carry a price tag, and our church budget reflects it.
This is part three of an Old Testament model for church.
A Kingdom Focus
Though it’s true that some churches are exceptions to this—and take exception to what I’ve just written—they are the minority. To need less financial support usually stems from one of two things.
The first is having a non-typical meeting space. And the second is enjoying a lot of volunteers to do the work that normally falls to paid staff. In some cases, both elements are present, which allows for much more of the congregants’ giving to go to ministry and outreach, instead of buildings and payroll.
This allows them to move from an inward focus to an outward emphasis. Every church should strive to move toward this outcome. The kingdom of God will advance more powerfully when we do.
Read more about this in Peter’s new book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
How Are the Old Testament Characters Applicable to Your Life Today?
Find out in this devotional Bible study on 100 compelling Biblical men and women from the Old Testament.
The Old Testament is filled with inspiring stories, influential heroes, and impressive triumphs. But it’s also woven with the stories of broken people who make mistakes and suffer disappointments. Through an array of colorful and awe-inspiring stories, we can learn much about ourselves and our powerful God in this devotional Bible study on 100 Biblical men and women.
Filled with familiar and eclectic names of sinners and saints, you’ll uncover how their stories from thousands of years ago apply to our personal struggles today. Pour through 100 characters who compel you to live differently and help you see your life and faith from an entirely new perspective.
In Old Testament Sinners and Saints, you will:
Uncover how the Old Testament can transform your life
Learn from the mistakes and triumphs of these characters
Gain a fresh perspective on familiar Biblical stories
Discover how to deepen your faith
Embrace the timeless message of hope found in the Old Testament
Join Peter DeHaan, Bible teacher and author, in this study on 100 Old Testament men and women whose stories offer us hope, assurance, and abundant lessons on who God is and his limitless power over history.
This devotional for women and men is ideal for individuals, small groups, and Bible studies. Each day’s study includes a short reading, a thought-provoking question and additional Bible readings to go deeper with the lesson.
If you’ve ever wondered if the Old Testament stories apply to your life, then start with the Old Testament Sinners and Saints and discover what 100 intriguing Bible men and women can teach you today.
The succinct readings give a brief but impactful overview of the Old Testament characters while showing you how to trust in God’s plan even when you don’t know what the future holds. These lessons will not only take you on a journey through the Old Testament with Bible heroes like Abraham, Moses, Ruth and David, but will also strengthen your faith.
Get Old Testament Sinners and Saints and see how these rich, amazing stories can transform your life today and draw you closer to Jesus.
Learn about more biblical characters in Old Testament Sinners and Saints, available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover. Get your copy today.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Daily Scripture Reading Guides Available Now from ABibleADay
Every year I intentionally explore the Bible, reading a few chapters each day. Some years I focus on the New Testament and other years, the Old Testament, but usually I read the entire Bible in a year.
Will you join me this year?
To guide us, the 2022 Bible reading guides are now available. Get your 2022 Bible reading plan today.
Chronological Bible Reading Guide
New last year was a chronological Bible reading plan. This year it’s tweaked and improved, based on feedback from the inaugural offering.
Though a comprehensive chronological reading of the Bible requires a lot of details that won’t fit on a concise handout, it is possible to make an approximate chronological reading guide by putting the books of the Bible in order.
Following this Bible reading plan only takes 12 to 15 minutes a day. And each Tuesday throughout 2022, I’ll blog about a passage from that day’s reading.
If reading the entire Bible in a year seems too big of a task, scale back to a more manageable goal. I have a series of other Bible reading plans to guide you. Pick the one that works for you:
Read the New Testament in a year (3 to 4 minutes a day, Monday through Friday)
Read the Old Testament in a year (10 to 12 minutes a day)
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
How We Read Scripture Influences Our View of God and Our Relationship with Him
In a prior post I said that not all Scripture is the same. I placed the books of the Bible into eight groups. This formed a hierarchy of importance, starting with the Gospels. Though this is a most helpful guide in studying God’s Word, a more basic view is considering how to regard the Old and New Testaments. We do this to provide a balanced bible perspective of Scripture.
Focus on the New Testament
Some people place their sole attention on the New Testament of the Bible, while ignoring the Old. They correctly state that Jesus came to fulfill the laws and writings of the prophets (Matthew 5:17). They reason, therefore, that Jesus’s fulfillment renders Old Testament Scripture as irrelevant.
Because of this, they only read and study the 26 books of the New Testament, while snubbing their nose at the Old Testament’s 39. In doing so they miss out on so much that could deepen their understanding of God and their relationship to him.
It’s like watching a sequel to a movie, while ignoring the first one. Though the sequel might be good as a standalone production, we can appreciate it so much more if we watch the first movie.
Esteeming the Old Testament
The opposite view of dismissing Old Testament Scripture is to treat it as equal to the New Testament text, sometimes even errantly elevating the Old over the New. For their justification, these people cite Paul’s letter to Timothy that affirms the usefulness of all Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16).
This, of course, ignores the fact that the New Testament didn’t exist when Paul wrote to Timothy. This means that Paul’s use of all Scripture refers to the Old Testament.
The error of treating both sections of the Bible as equal results in people forming a theology that’s colored with an Old Testament perspective—approaching God from a legalistic, rule-following outlook. In doing so they diminish Jesus’s way of salvation by grace through faith.
A Balanced Bible Perspective
These are both extreme viewpoints.
Just as we shouldn’t ignore the Old Testament and its rich, faith-forming writing, we also shouldn’t put it on an equal standing with the New Testament. The solution is to concentrate on the New Testament text and let the Old Testament inform and illuminate what we read.
The result is a balanced perspective of Scripture.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Though God Doesn’t Change, but the Way He Relates to Us Has
We divide the Bible in two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament focuses on the relationship of Father God to his people and looks forward to the coming Savior. The New Testament centers on Jesus and the work of his followers. Each testament has its own focus, and we must not lose sight of it.
To further enhance my understanding of Scripture, I look at the Bible in three parts, each one focusing on one aspect of the Trinity. God the Father is central throughout the Old Testament. God the Savior—Jesus—is central in the Gospels.
God the Spirit takes center stage in the rest of the New Testament, Acts through Revelation. Jesus, of course, stands as the foundational part of the godhead that saves us and draws us into right relationship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We can break this down even more, however, to better guide us as we study Scripture and apply it to our daily lives.
In this regard, it helps to consider six eras in the Bible. God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He never changes (Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 13:8).
Yet the way he relates to his people does change throughout Scripture. We will do well to keep this in mind as we read and study the Bible, taking care to not take one passage from the past and misapply it to our situation today.
Consider these six eras in the Bible.
1. Paradise
God creates the world in which we live and places people in it. Adam and Eve live in the Garden of Eden. They walk with God in the cool of the evening. But they break the one rule he gave them. They eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
So that they don’t also eat from the tree of life, and live forever in their sin, God forces them out of this idyllic paradise.
This takes place in Genesis 1–3 and moves us into the second of six eras in the Bible.
2. No Law
Though most people think of the Old Testament’s focus as being on God’s law, this doesn’t occur yet, not until the third era. The second era is what happens after Adam and Eve leave the garden and prior to God giving the Law to Moses.
During this time, God continues to speak to his people (Adam, Cain, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and others). Throughout this time, God is patient. He does not hold people accountable for their sins. This is because there are no laws to let the people know that they are doing wrong (Romans 5:13).
During this era, God wipes out the depravity of the people he created by killing most all of them through a flood. Only Noah and his family survive. It’s creation 2.0, a restart of humanity, a do over. Then God calls Abraham and later Moses.
God tells his people he wants them to become a nation of priests (Exodus 19:6), but the people are afraid of God and don’t want him to talk to them. They request that Moses stand in for them. This ends the second of six eras in the Bible, covering Genesis 3 through Exodus 18.
3. The Law
Then God gives the people his laws and shares his expectations. This begins the third era, which covers the rest of the Old Testament of the Bible, Exodus 19 through Malachi.
This era has three phases, but they all fall under Old Testament law. In the first phase God rules as their sovereign Lord, and judges lead the people from time to time. The people, however, go through cycles of following God—usually under various judges—and turn away from him after each judge dies.
For the second phase under the law, the people ask for a king, which effectively rejects God as their king. He starts with Saul. David then replaces Saul, and God establishes David’s line forever, from whom the Messiah will come.
In this phase, kings rule instead of God. Most do so badly, and the people rebel against their Lord. Most of the prophets do their work during this era.
For the third phase under the era of the law, God’s people are conquered and deported. They have no ruler, and they have no nation.
Though some eventually return to the promised land, they subsist without leadership, except for some of the latter prophets. The people wait for the coming Savior to rescue them. This is the third of the six eras in the Bible.
4. Jesus
Jesus comes to earth, calls people to follow him, and dies as the ultimate sacrifice for sin to end all sacrifices. But he overcomes death, proving his power to serve as the once-and-for-all sacrifice.
This is the fourth of six eras in the Bible and is the pivotal point around which all Scripture—and all humanity—revolves. The four biographies of Jesus cover this: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
5. The Church
After giving his followers final instructions, resurrected Jesus returns to heaven. The Holy Spirit arrives to guide the church and remind them of Jesus. Acts through to Revelation 3 cover this fifth era of the Bible.
We currently live in this era today, which is why the New Testament is critical to guide our actions as Jesus’s church. And the Old Testament supports this because it looks forward to this era.
Yet to conclude the six eras in the Bible, there is one era remaining, a time we anticipate for our future.
6. A New Heaven and New Earth
Starting in Revelation 4 we read of John’s vision of the future. Though the details confuse most and trip up many, the main point is that there will be an epic spiritual battle between good and evil. God wins. Satan is defeated.
After this we will see a new heaven and a new earth. This is paradise restored. Everyone who follows Jesus will spend eternity with him there.
This is the sixth era of the Bible and the one we anticipate as Jesus’s disciples.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Jesus does three things to complete what the Old Testament started
Jesus draws people to him. The words he speaks and the hope he communicates attract them. Some people assume he had come to replace the Old Testament Law and the work of the prophets. Instead, Jesus fulfills it.
Jesus doesn’t come to do away with what the Old Testament teaches. Instead his mission is to bring the Old Testament into fruition, according to God’s plan from the beginning.
Jesus makes this clear. He says, “I have not come to abolish the Law and the prophets but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). How does Jesus do this?
Jesus Becomes the Ultimate Sacrifice
The Old Testament is packed with instructions for making sacrificial offerings, commands that showed the people’s relationship with God. These sacrifices had various meanings, but one key sacrifice occurred to redress sin.
An animal had to die because the people had sinned. Because the people continued to sin, animal sacrifices continued to be required. These sin sacrifices happened over and over, year after year, century after century.
Jesus, in his sacrificial death on the cross, becomes the ultimate sacrifice for sin to end all sin sacrifices. In his once-and-for-all sacrifice, he dies to make us right with God, to reconcile us into right relationship with the Almighty.
Jesus Turns Law into Love
Despite Jesus’s fresh way of looking at the understandings of his people, most of his followers struggle to fully comprehend what he means. They wrestle to reconcile his teachings with their traditions.
One such person asks Jesus to identify the greatest commandment in the Old Testament. Jesus’s answer is love. He says to “love God with all our heart, soul, and mind.”
This stands as the greatest commandment, but then he adds one more. He says to “love others as much as we love ourselves” (Matthew 22:36-40). These two simple principles summarize all the Old Testament Law and the writings of the prophets.
Jesus removes a set of impossible-to-please laws and replaces them with one principle: love.
Jesus Changes Our Perspectives
Jesus likes to review what the Hebrew Bible says, and then he expands on it. He often makes this transition by saying “but I tell you…” Then he gives his enlightened explanation about what God meant.
We’ll do well to carefully study what Jesus says immediately after his words “but I tell you…” Read about what he says in this post.
What’s important to understand when we consider that Jesus fulfills the Old Testament law and the writings of the prophets is that we must put the Old Testament in proper perspective.
This doesn’t mean to ignore the Old Testament because Jesus fulfills it, but it does mean we need to consider the Old Testament in the context to which it was given. In addition to teaching people how to live back then, the Law and the prophets also points them to the coming Savior, Jesus.
As we read the Old Testament we see allusions to Jesus and the freedom he represents. And if we read the Old Testament with care, we will also see that this future revelation about Jesus applies to all people, not just God’s chosen nation of Israel.
Jesus Fulfills the Old Testament Law and Prophets
Yes, Jesus fulfills the Old Testament Law and the writings of the prophets. And we are the benefactor of that.
Thank you Jesus.
Read more about this in Peter’s new book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.
Discover more about celebrating Jesus and his passion to save us in Peter’s new book, The Passion of Jesus.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Balance Old Testament Commands with New Testament Freedom
Psalm 15 opens with one essential question, phrased in two ways, that most everyone asks, either out loud or to themselves. In this Psalm, David asks God, “What must I do to live with you?”
The next four verses give us the answer. Actually, it’s a series of answers, a list of twelve things we must do if we are to live with God. Here they are:
Walk Blamelessly: we should live a life above reproach.
Be Righteous: we should do what is right in all things.
Speak Truth: we must say what is true, not from a technical standpoint, but from our heart.
Don’t Slander: we shouldn’t tell lies about other people.
Don’t Do Wrong: we shouldn’t hurt others, not physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually.
Don’t Slur: our words should not insult or speak poorly of others.
Despise the Vile: we should oppose evil in every form.
Honor Those Who Fear God: we should respect God-fearing people and implicitly follow their example.
Keep Promises: regardless of the cost, we should do what we say we will do.
Don’t Change Our Mind: we shouldn’t waffle with our words or what we decide.
Lend to Those in Need: we should loan money to those in need and do so without interest.
Don’t Accept Bribes: we shouldn’t allow others to improperly influence us in how we treat innocent people.
These are the twelve things we must do to live with God. Is this, then, the answer? True, the list contains admirable traits that we should all pursue, but I hope God doesn’t hold us to this.
Why? Because we can’t. We’re going to fall short at one time or another. We could miss the mark every day. Each of us. You, me, everyone.
A Better Way to Live with God
The Old Testament commands weigh us down, begging for a better solution. The New Testament offers us a better way. His name is Jesus. He is the light of the world that gives life (John 8:12). All we need to do is follow him (Matthew 9:9), and then we can live with God.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
For the most part, the church of today is an institution. Institutions require structure and leadership; self-perpetuation is essential—regardless of cost. For an institution to work, it needs paid staff.
That’s why local pastors receive a salary: to keep the institution of church functioning and viable. To pay your minister follows the Old Testament model of church.
But we don’t live in the Old Testament or under its covenant. We live in the New Testament and under its covenant—at least in theory.
In the New Testament, we (that is, those who follow Jesus) are his church. Each one of us is a priest (that is, a minister) to care for one another. We should not have to pay someone to do what we’re already supposed to be doing.
Further, our bodies are God’s temple. We don’t need to go to a building to go to church; we take church with us. In short, the institution of church is over—at least in theory. Without a physical building or an institution to maintain, there is no need to pay someone to run the whole mess.
However, there seems to be one exception to this idea of no compensation. In his letter to the people in Corinth, Paul builds a case to pay preachers. But he’s not talking about the folks who run local churches. He’s talking about those who go around telling others about Jesus.
Today, we might call these people evangelists or missionaries. Based on Paul’s teaching it’s right to pay them.
Yet once Paul builds his case to appropriately pay missionaries, he points to an even better way: for missionaries to earn their own money and not require outside support. Paul often covers his expenses and those who travel with him by working his trade; he is a tentmaker.
Springing from this is the idea of a tentmaker-minister, someone who pays their own way as they care for others.
So if you are part of an institution and want it to perpetuate, then buy a building, hire staff, and pay your minister their due.
However, if you want to pursue a different path, as seen in the New Testament, take the church with you wherever you go and help others wherever you can, paying your own way as you do.
Read more about this in Peter’s new book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
