How Necessary is Seminary for Pastors?
Opening Response
So, yeah, Jim, how necessary is seminary for pastors? Is there a difference for full-time versus vocational? Are there biblical qualifications? How much training, where somebody's just done good self-study and they're apt to teach and they got the desire, can they preach? Yeah, I know you've got lots of thoughts on this. Good question.
So, how necessary is seminary for pastors? I'm going to have to nuance this. It's not essential. I mean, if you look at the disciples of our Lord, the apostles of our Lord, they didn't go off to the master's seminary. They were with the master. They spent three years in that sort of informal seminary training.
You know, there's famous what's called autodidactics in the history of the church, self-taught people. you know, Spurgeon, John Gill, you know, brilliant towers of biblical and theological knowledge. a Spurgeon or a Gill comes around, you know, very infrequently. I think most men aspiring for the Christian ministry need to embrace that they're probably not Spurgeon and they're probably not Gill. So, is there a hard and fast rule in Romans 20 that says thou must go to seminary should you pursue the pastoral ministry?
No.
The Church's Primary Function
Now, having said that, the primary function of the church is the pillar and the ground of the truth, okay? So, you want your best man, and I don't mean best in terms of, you know, ontology. He's a better man than me at some fundamental level. You need your best man in terms of understanding Scripture and theology to function in that capacity that is proclaiming the pillar as the pillar and ground of the truth.
Biblical Qualifications for Pastors
The qualifications for pastors or elders is very conspicuous in 1 Timothy chapter 3. The virtues, you know, he must be a one-woman man. He must not be a lover of money. Those things should be common among all God's people. I think Paul's point is there needs to be demonstrable faithfulness in those virtues. But there's a particular gift unique to the eldership.
He must be apt to teach. So by virtue of that, a man that's apt to teach It's obvious that he's learned. He knows he has the ability to teach. Again, Ezra set his heart to study the law, to do it, and then to teach. He didn't just show up and teach. He studied so that he could teach.
The Emphasis on Sound Doctrine
As well, the emphasis on sound doctrine in the pastoral epistles. Sound doctrine, not tongues, not prophesying, not coffee time with all the sheep in the church. It's on sound doctrine. Having finished John's gospel in John 21 in the epilogue, the restoration of Simon Peter, do you love me? Yes. Then feed my sheep. Do you love me? Yes. Feed my sheep. Do you love me? Feed my sheep. What's the point? Well, church, you're supposed to feed the sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the primary function as the pillar and ground of the truth.
So, do we want guys that don't know that much, or do we want guys that know a lot? I'd argue that we want to know guys that know a lot. Now, some guys, again, there's autodidactics, there's guys that can teach themselves a lot. There's probably people that have a lot of skill on the body, you know, medical. They've read a lot of Google pages. They've read a lot of medical manuals.
Well, if I'm going in for brain surgery, I want a guy that went to the best place, that has the steadiest hand and is the most accomplished and capable before he'll jump into my brain. I don't know why the church It's okay for anybody and everybody? Well, you know, he can read Mark, so therefore. I'm not convinced that overall is going to serve us well.
The Biblical Case for Educated Ministry
And I would argue as well the command to give double honor to those who rule well in 1 Timothy 5:17. Honor in that passage has to do with payment.
Again, I know there's churches, there's groups that say, well, pastors shouldn't be paid. Which I don't understand. How does a guy who sits in a cubicle for eight to ten hours a day, he should get paid, but a pastor who labors in the Word and doctrine shouldn't?
And Paul even says that those who preach the Word should live by that. But pay those, give double honor to those who rule well, especially those who labor in the Word and doctrine. So, the overarching sort of assumption or presentation seems to be an educated ministry educating the people of God, men that are capable feeding the sheep of God.
So, is seminary absolutely essential? No. But, I would definitely recommend it, and I would definitely recommend good ones, because what can happen is that theological conservatives can go to liberal colleges and come out liberal. liberals go to those liberal colleges and they come out apostate. And we need to be mindful of that. We need to make sure that the institutions that hopefully are working in conjunction with churches and have elders' influence and professors that have pastoral experience, you know, that to me would be the best thing. that they're competent to educate men for the task of laboring in the Word and doctrine.
Full-Time Versus Part-Time Ministry
Now, in terms of full-time guys and part-time guys and all of that, yeah, if a guy's a vocational plumber, but he has the aptitude to teach, he has the aptitude to preach, and he's going to probably function in a support capacity, he's not going to be the primary Now, we believe in a two-office ministry, pastor-slash-elder-slash-bishop and deacon. But with the pastor-elder-bishop, some men labor more in the Word and doctrine. They do more of the preaching and the teaching ministry of the church. So, if a guy comes along, he's vocationally engaged in another job, but he has the aptness to teach, I'm not convinced he needs to go to IRBS.
I'm convinced he needs to be proven. I'm convinced he needs to read the books that we recommend him to read to have a good and robust understanding of the system of doctrine in our confession of faith before we would utilize him. But if a guy's going to be doing it, you know, in a part-time capacity, and for him to uproot his family and go to seminary, you know, all that is involved with that. Yeah, I'm not convinced of that.
But a fellow that, you know, my life calling is to be a pastor. I want to do it well. I would put it in the category of the guy that his life calling is to be a doctor. Go learn how to do it the best you can.
The Necessity of Continued Learning
But in addition to all of that, the seminary gets you into the ballpark. But I guess I just assume that all pastors always read good books. Probably not the best assumption, but I bless God.
I had Dr. Richard Barcelos as my mentor, my longtime friend. I've known him probably 35 years now. He's been very influential in my life and crucial in terms of my understanding of pastoral ministry at the point of I need to keep reading, not only because, you know, I have to, but I want to. I want to read. I want to learn. I want to understand more so that I can be one who labors faithfully in the Word and doctrine, and for the good of my own soul and my own growth and the food and all that I need.
But pastors that have a seminary background, that doesn't get you off the Well, now I can, you know, golf every Tuesday or, you know, I don't have to read." No, you need to be keeping up. And I, you know, I'm not into every modern trend or every new thing in the life of the church. In fact, I pay little attention to any of it.
But there are things that come on the radar that do need attention and they do deserve a response. And I think pastors do well to keep up with at least some of those trends.
Practical Considerations for Part-Time Elders
Yeah, so basically for full-time pastor, definitely seminary. But if they're part-time, like supportive as in...could they be in the office of elder preaching three or four times a year to fill the pulpit when the primary pastor is gone?
Yeah, I don't see anything precluding that. The availability now. I mean, IRBS, for instance. I don't want to make this an IRBS plug, but I guess I'm duty-bound to do so. I believe in the faculty there. I think they have a first-rate, world-class faculty. I think they're excellent men. They're very skilled.
And probably, if anybody hears this on Twitter, it's going to be, you know, this whatever. But it is available. The brick-and-mortar school, as beneficial as that is, going, being around people, discussing, having access to your professors, it's kind of not the world we live in anymore. With the availability of an online approach and with the Zoom calls that are interactive, or not Zoom, whatever their platforms are, They are interactive, and you can raise your hand, and you can interact with the professors, and I think they're very... I mean, we can talk to any of those guys at any time. So, it's not like they're unaccessible or out of reach. So, the modern approach to a good seminary education, it's available.
The Cost and Demands of Ministry
And the final thing I'll say is that... You know, it's gonna take self-discipline and self-government and self-denial. I always tell guys that wanna study a lot, take the time away from yourself, not your wife and kids.
Either get up earlier or stay up later. You know, the wife is losing her mind with the 10 kids running around. Can I get some milk? Well, I'm studying John Owen, honey. But get up early. Stay up late. You know, part of the pastoral ministry, and I think this goes underappreciated. Now I'm getting into my victimism.
No, I'm kidding. It's hard. It is a very difficult work. It is not the most difficult. I'm not up at 2 a.m. shoveling coal. I bless God that I don't have to do that. I would do that if it was necessary. But it is tough and it is demanding. And, you know, just as a doctor goes in and fiddles with somebody's brain and loosens the wrong wire and messes that person up, yeah, they could die. But a pastor giving bad counsel or bad doctrine or, you know, heretical stuff, they die and go to hell. Again, God is sovereign, but instrumentally, I don't want to be the guy that helps somebody find hell quicker.
The Importance of Theological Competence
There's a lot involved, and the most educated or the most experienced or the most we can get in terms of our own mental equipment and faculties so that we can then present and teach to others, to me, just seems like a no-brainer. Why would we want ignorant people in pulpits. We want smart people. You want smart people in operating rooms. You want smart people working on your car. You want smart people making your pizza.
But when it comes to the church, He's got such a nice heart. He has coffee with us all the time. He's good at golf. He's so sweet. I'm sorry, but can the guy preach the Word? That's the job, calling sinners to faith and repentance and feeding the sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ so they can deal with the issues of life.