A gift of the Spirit

The Gift of Pastors and Teachers

The equipping gifts of Ephesians 4 · Ephesians 4:11

The gift of pastors and teachers is the Spirit given calling to shepherd God's people and feed them on His Word, caring for the flock and grounding it in the truth. Christ gave pastors and teachers, Paul says, to equip the saints and build up His body. They are the settled, feeding, guarding gift of Ephesians 4.

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;Ephesians 4:11 (KJV)

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:Ephesians 4:12 (KJV)

What the gift is

The last of the equipping gifts Paul names in Ephesians is pastors and teachers, joined closely together in the text, for the shepherd of God's people feeds them on truth. Pastor means shepherd, and the image carries the whole calling: to lead, feed, protect, and tend the flock of God. Where the apostle and evangelist tend to break new ground, the pastor and teacher settle in to care for and grow a people over time.

These gifts, Paul says, are given for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. The pastor and teacher exists to mature believers, until we all come in the unity of the faith unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. It is a gift of patient, faithful, long term care.

How it appears in the New Testament

The pattern of this gift runs from Christ Himself, the good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep and the great Shepherd of the sheep. He restored Peter with the charge, feed my sheep, and the New Testament church was cared for by elders who shepherded the flock. Paul warned the Ephesian elders to take heed to themselves and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers, to feed the church of God.

Peter charges the elders to feed the flock of God, taking the oversight willingly, being examples, and promises that when the chief Shepherd appears they will receive a crown of glory. Paul's letters to Timothy and Titus are a manual for this gift: guard the doctrine, feed the people, correct gently, watch for wolves, and endure. The pastor and teacher is the shepherd under the one great Shepherd.

How it builds up the body of Christ

Where apostles and evangelists open the door, pastors and teachers grow the people who come through it. They feed the flock on the Word, tend the wounded and wandering, guard against error, and lead the church in patient, day by day faithfulness. Under their care believers are grounded, comforted, corrected, and matured, so that the body grows up into Christ in all things.

This gift is a heavy trust, for the shepherd will give account for the souls in his care, and it must be exercised in love and humility, never lording it over the flock but being an example to it. The true pastor points always past himself to the chief Shepherd, feeding the sheep on Christ and not on his own personality, so that the church's health rests on the Lord and not on a man.

How to recognize and use it

Those with this gift love people and love the Word, and long to see believers grow; they are drawn to feed, protect, and care for the flock over the long haul. If that is you, take up the calling with joy and with trembling. Feed the sheep faithfully from Scripture, know them and pray for them, guard them from error, and be an example to them, remembering that you serve under the chief Shepherd and will answer to Him.

And the whole church is blessed to receive such care, to honor those who labor in word and doctrine, and to pray for them, for they watch for our souls. Under faithful shepherds who point always to Christ, the flock is fed, protected, and grown up into Him who is the Head.

How this gift points to Christ

The shepherd's gift flows straight from the good Shepherd, who laid down His life for the sheep and is the great Shepherd of the sheep. He entrusted His flock to under shepherds with the charge, feed my sheep, and every faithful pastor tends the flock as belonging not to himself but to the Lord who bought it with His own blood. He feeds them not on his own personality but on Christ, guards them for Christ, and points them always to the Chief Shepherd, at whose appearing the faithful shepherd will receive a crown of glory that fades not away. The gift exists to grow the sheep up into the Head, until Christ is formed in them.

The more excellent way

Whatever place the gift of Pastors and Teachers holds, Paul sets one thing above every gift. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, he says, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal; and though I have all knowledge, and all faith, and have not charity, I am nothing. The gifts will one day pass away, but now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; and the greatest of these is charity.

So this gift, like all the rest, is given by one Spirit for the common good, to build up the one body of Christ, and it is nothing at all apart from love. The gifts are not for our standing but for our serving, and they all belong to Him whose body the church is. Use whatever you have been given to love one another, and to point every eye to Jesus, from whom every good gift comes and to whom every gift returns its praise.

The Giver calls you

Every gift of the Spirit comes from the risen Christ and points back to Him. The same Lord who pours out gifts on His church calls you by name to know Him, to be filled with His Spirit, and to take your place in His body. Read the Word, pray, and gather with the family of God on The Living Bread. Free, with no ads, for all people.

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Questions people ask

What is the gift of pastors and teachers?

It is the Spirit given calling to shepherd God's people and feed them on His Word, caring for the flock and grounding it in the truth. Christ gave pastors and teachers to equip the saints and build up His body (Ephesians 4:11-12).

Why are pastors and teachers joined together?

They are closely linked in Ephesians 4:11 because the shepherd of God's people feeds them on truth. Pastoring and teaching go hand in hand: the true shepherd cares for the flock precisely by grounding them in the Word of God.

What is the pastor's chief responsibility?

To feed and tend the flock of God under the chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Paul and Peter charge shepherds to feed the church, guard it from error, and be examples to it, remembering they will give account for the souls in their care.