A) INTRODUCTION.

B) DUTIES.

C) CONCLUSION.

 

 

A) INTRODUCTION

 

 

According to Romans 12:7, the duty of a Minister is to “wait on,” or do service to, within the Church.  The Greek word used for Minister is “diakonia,” which means “service, the office of relief and service.”  It also means “deaconship,” which carries with it the responsibilities of a teacher, who exhorts, and whose peculiar business it was to urge Christians to duty, and to comfort them in trials.

 

The word “minister” appears in the New Testament always in connection with the service of the Christian Church, except in Luke 10:40, which speaks of Martha’s serving.  In Hebrews 1:14, it speaks of the ministry of angels.  And in Second Corinthians 3:7, it speaks of the ministry of Moses.

 

 

B) DUTIES

 

 

Within this limit it is used:

1) of service in general, including all forms of Christian ministration tending to the good of the Christian body (1Co. 12:5; Eph. 4:13; 2Ti. 4:11).  Hence,

2) Speaks of the Apostolic office and its administration; (a) generally (Acts 20:24; 2Co. 4:1; 1Ti. 1:12); or (b) defined as a ministry of reconciliation, of the Word, of the Spirit, of righteousness (Acts 6:4; 2Co. 3:8 & 9; 5:18).  And,

3) The Word here used imports any kind of service, from the dispensing of the Word of life (Acts 6:4), to the administering of the temporal affairs of the Church (Acts 6:1-3).

 

Back to the Greek word “diakonia,” sometimes signifies the whole ecclesiastical ministry, even the office of Apostleship, as well as the ordinary ministration of the Gospel (see Acts 1:17); but mostly “deaconship,” or the office of ministering to the poor saints, as in Acts 6:1.  However, it is a distinct office from prophesying; for preaching the Word, and should be used, exercised, and attended to with diligence, care, and constancy; for such who are appointed to this office, are chosen not only to a place of honor, but of “service” and business, in which they should behave with prudence, sobriety, and humility.

 

By contrast, the word properly means “service” of any kind (see Luke 10:40).  It is used in religion to denote the “service” which is rendered to Christ as the Master.  It is applied to all classes of ministers in the New Testament, as denoting their being the servants of Christ.  Also, it is used particularly to denote that class who from this word were called deacons, that is, those who had the care of the poor, who provided for the sick, and who watched over the external matters of the Church.

 

In the following places, it is used to denote the ministry, or “service,” which Paul and the other Apostles rendered in their public work:  Acts 1:17, 25; 6:4; 12:25; 20:24; 21:19; Romans 11:13; 15:31; Second Corinthians 5:18; 6:3; Ephesians 4:12; First Timothy 1:12.  In a few places this word is used to denote the function which the deacons fulfilled:  Acts 6:1; 11:29; First Corinthians 16:15; Second Corinthians 11:8.  In this sense, the word “deacon,” Greek, “diakonos,” is most commonly used, as denoting the function which was performed in providing for the poor, and administering the alms of the Church.

 

 

C) CONCLUSION

 

 

It is not easy Biblically to separate a deacon from a minister, as it is in today’s society and most church organizations.  Biblically, a “minister/deacon,” was those who were to be engaged in the function of the ministry of the Word; whose business it was to preach, and thus to serve the Churches.  In this sense the word is often used in the New Testament, and the connection seems to demand the same interpretation elsewhere.

 

Let us be wholly and diligently occupied in this.  Let this be our great business, and let us give entire attention to it. Particularly the connection requires us to understand this as directing those who minister not to aspire to honors and praises of those whom they minister to.  Let them not think of themselves more highly than they ought, but be engaged entirely in their own appropriate work.

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