The Radical Pastor

(6 SAMPLE PAGES PDF)

On the Pastoral Letters by Shawn D. Birss

Contents Introducing the Pastoral Letters The Ideal Meets the Real . . . . . . . . . 7 1 Timothy 1 Preach the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 1 Timothy 2 A Controversial Passage and a Plea for Unity . . . . . . . . .14 On I do not Permit a Woman to Speak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 1 Timothy 3 - Qualifications for Church Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 1 Timothy 4 - Beware of False Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 1 Timothy 5 - Alms for the poor. Beer and paycheques for the pastor. .26 1 Timothy 6 Slavery, False Teaching, and the Love of Money . . . . . 29 On Women and Slavery (and Patriarchy and Oppression) . . . . . . . . . .30 2 Timothy 1 Suffering and Lonely, but not Alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 2 Timothy 2 - The Enduring, Faithful, Qualified Pastor . . . . . . . . . . . 33 2 Timothy 3 Scripture Equips us to Live Differently . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 2 Timothy 4 - Preach the word, and bring me my coat back . . . . . . . . .41 Titus 1 The Radical Pastor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Titus 2 The Christian Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 Titus 3 The Radical Christian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Appendix Colossians 4 - Empire. Slavery. Chains. Freedom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Philemon - Slavery, Freedom, and Equality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Introducing the Pastoral Epistles The Ideal Meets the Real 1 Timothy 1:1-2 (ESV) Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Saviour and of Christ Jesus our hope, 2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. The gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) tell the story of Jesus, his life and ministry, and his central message of the coming Kingdom of God. He taught that the Kingdom had come, was near, was indeed among the people he taught. He spoke of a Great Reversal, where the rich would be humbled, the oppressed set free, the last made first, rulers removed, sinners forgiven, and blind see. He taught people to live the truth and life of the Kingdom now, in this life. He promised that the Great Reversal would permeate the world like a yeast would dough, grow over the empire like weeds through the sidewalk, tearing it's deadness down by the life of Spiritfilled communities of justice. In his death and resurrection, he planted the life of God in the heart of humanity, by grace offering a free invitation into this new Kingdom to everyone, everywhere, regardless of any background or origin of any kind. Acts tells the story of the first steps of this living community. They wrestle with how to share their abundant life with the diverse crowds that joined their numbers. In their practice, the ideal of the Kingdom that Jesus taught met the reality of life lived in resistance to empire as it was around them, and the spirit of empire in which they had always lived by habit. In the collision of Jesus' universal, eternal, and highly ideal declaration of Kingdom Come with the temporal, complicated, unusual, and unexpected life lived in diverse community the members of community were changed. In both conflict and cooperation, the Holy Spirit among them used every circumstance to further grow them individually and as a community toward the fulfillment of Jesus' Kingdom promises. The Kingdom had come. People shared everything they had with reckless generosity. Poor people were fed, taught, and equipped in community to be free. The very economy and power structures of empire and religion were confronted and sometimes dismantled by the influence of the growing communities. But the Kingdom is also still yet to be. The teachings of Jesus are universal, but the diversity of these early Kingdom communities meant there were differences in understanding and application of these commands. The members of community still had habits and expectations from their previous lives in bondage to the spirit of empire. Selfishness and pride sometimes led to conflict. These communities still lived (and today, still live) in a world where the empires and powers have influence and control. Resistance was (and is) difficult at best. At worst, it leads to persecution by the powers of the world.

As the ideal of the promised Coming Kingdom meets the reality of practical demonstration now, every community had to wrestle with how they each would best demonstrate the gospel in their context. These communities were called churches (a gathering). The practice of Kingdom life was called the Way. Members of these churches were called Followers of the way, or Christians, after Christ, which means Messiah, or chosen one. Letters were written between the churches, especially by the apostles (which means sent ones), the people who travelled between the churches and beyond to plant new ones. These letters were called epistles. The diversity in backgrounds within the churches is matched by a diversity of gifts administered by the Holy Spirit within its members. At its best, every member of the community is enabled to give according to their unique gift and calling. Every member contributes to the whole, each supplying to others the ability to all operate to their full function as parts of a body all contribute to the healthy function of a whole person. Since every church was unique in its cultural context, membership, and gifting, the epistles (the letters to the churches) each dealt with very specific issues unique to each gathering. While Jesus' teaching were universally true and applicable, not every instruction to every church was necessarily so. What may have been assumed in one church may be a sharp controversy in another. As such, the epistles must be interpreted carefully according to their cultural context and intention. Among the epistles, Romans and Hebrews both stand out as very broad and thorough in the scope of their messages. Romans, an epistle of Paul, has a very thorough and complete theology of salvation (called soteriology). Paul wrote this letter to a church he'd never visited, so he started from scratch and grew a well formed story of the gospel for the Romans. Much of the New Testament is seen through the theology of Romans, once called the grand cathedral of Christian doctrine. Hebrews has a well formed Christology, a study of the person of Jesus the Messiah. It also traces the history of Covenant from the beginning of Hebrew scripture until the Kingdom age. Most of these epistles are addressed to a church or churches of a region. Church members would read the letters to the community, probably in full, and the gatherings would then wrestle in word and deed over how to put the instructions into practice. Letters would be copied and distributed widely, so the best opportunity could be given for a wide audience to benefit. Over time and practice, certain books would be recognized by the churches as especially helpful for teaching doctrine or instructing practical community life. These are the books that remain in the New Testament today. Along with apostles (sent ones), who taught widely and planted churches, the pastoral gift was also given to equip the church communities to function as Jesus had taught. Pastors in the early church served as community organizers and equippers of the body, seeking the best for all members and helping each member find their place in the whole. Pastors became the servants to all, giving their life to

What I do know is that slaves of the first century in Palestine were not considered to be fully human, in the sense of their moral self or rational ability. This view is not uncommon among societies that advocate slavery, as it is necessary to create a paradigm that would justify the slavery to begin with. If certain people are somehow just morally inferior, incapable of making wise or right choices, or incapable of living without the direct surveillance and supervision of a superior, then slavery is not only justified but even humane. I visited a friend in jail last week. In the same week, we had visitors in our home who hop trains, sleep in tents, and eat in a day whatever they find. From the stories told by these acquaintances of their ill and even violent treatment by police, security, or other figures of authority, I would submit that these same attitudes that would allow for slavery in first century Palestine also exists to justify our behaviour of the marginalized in our own city today. One of my new friends was actually present at last year's G20 protests in Toronto. She personally witnessed and experienced gross disregard for Canadian law by police as they brutally detained, searched, stole from, and even arrested innocent nonviolent protesters. Some sick justification that these people somehow were an exception to normal society and deserved this treatment must have been present for it to occur. Hitting even closer to home is a recent MacLeans report on an Angus Reid poll conducted for the Salvation Army. The poll sought to discover what Canadians think poor people are like and what kind of support they deserve from the government. The pool found that there was a strong correlation between a high percentage opinion that the poor do not need assistance, and a high percentage opinion that poor people are somehow also morally impoverished. Alberta received one of the worst marks in Canada on this front. If you found yourself judging my friend's moral compass in order to justify her violent and illegal treatment by police, or you otherwise see yourself reflected in these opinions about the poor, give your head a shake before judging this verse to harshly. So, in the light of this cultural understanding, and in the context of a radical antiauthoritarian document, how do we interpret these uncomfortable passages? First of all, before the writer ever addresses the masters with his brief command, in the previous chapter, he first speaks to the slaves. Imagine the offense that it could be in a society like the one just described for a slave to be addressed as a capable and worthwhile equal before ever the eyes are raised to the master they serve. Simply by giving slaves moral counsel and direction, the writer is acknowledging that they are human, valuable, and perfectly able to make thoughtful and moral decisions. He also acknowledges that the authority that they work in is not their earthly master, but God. He gives no appeal to earthly authority or consequence. Finally, in his appeal to the only authority that they truly serve, he reminds the slaves that vengeance will be paid by that authority on anyone who has done wrong, and that this final judge does not see class, race, or earthly perverted prejudices.


Pictured above is a visual approximation of Shawn Birss, the man who wrote this book. He has no academic credentials, nor has he ever published a book, except for with a photocopier and Staples. He hopes youll read this one anyway.