WHO ARE GOD'S MINISTERS TODAY?

"Our being qualified issues from God, who has indeed adequately qualified us to be ministers of a new covenant." -2 CORINTHIANS 3:5, 6.


IN THE first century of our Common Era, all Christians shared and important responsibility-the duty to preach the good news. All of them were anointed and were ministers of the new covenant.  Some had additional responsibilities, such as teaching in the congregation.  (1 Corinthians 12:27-29; Ephesians 4:11) Parents had weighty obligations within the family. (Colossians 3:18-21) But all shared in the basic and vital work of preaching. In the original Greek of the Christian Scriptures, this responsibility was a di-a-ko-ni'a--a service, of ministry. -Colossians 4:17. 

As time went by, things changed. A  class developed known as the clergy, who reserved for themselves the privilege of preaching.  (Acts 20:30) The clergy were a small minority of those calling themselves Christians.  The great majority became known as the laity. While the laity have been taught that they have obligations, including the making of contributions for the upkeep of the clergy, most have become little more than passive listeners in the matter of preaching.

The clergy claim to be ministers (from minister, a Latin translation of di-a'ko-nos, "servant").  For this, they graduate from colleges or seminaries and are ordained.  The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says:  " 'Ordain' and ordination' ordinarily refer to special status accorded ministers or priests through officially sanctioned  rites, with associated emphasis on authority to proclaim the Word or to administer sacraments, or to do both."  Who ordains the ministers?  The New Encyclopedia says:  "In churches that have retained the historic episcopate, the ordaining minister is always a bishop. In Presbyterian churches, ordination is conferred by ministers of the presbytery."

Hence, in the churches of Christendom, the privilege of being a minister has been severely restricted.  Yet, this is not the case among Jehovah's Witnesses. Why not? Because it was not that way in the first-century Christian congregation. 

Next time: Who Really Are God's Ministers?

From the Watchtower magazine, 2000