{"id":3604,"date":"2012-05-04T03:30:14","date_gmt":"2012-05-04T10:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=3604"},"modified":"2012-05-03T22:14:15","modified_gmt":"2012-05-04T05:14:15","slug":"1-thessalonians-23-minister-righteously","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/1-thessalonians-23-minister-righteously\/","title":{"rendered":"1 Thessalonians 2:3 – Minister Righteously"},"content":{"rendered":"

For our exhortation <\/strong><\/span>did<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>not <\/strong><\/span>come<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>from error or uncleanness, nor <\/strong><\/span>was it<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>in deceit.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

All ministries should be performed honestly and for God.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

“Exhortation<\/span>” is translated from parakl\u0113sis<\/em><\/span>, which is derived from parakale\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to call near.” It is a picture of someone who has come alongside to coach, encourage, or comfort. Parakl\u0113sis<\/em> <\/span>refers to comfort, encouragement or to urgent instruction, challenging someone to make a change.<\/p>\n

The Greek word translated “error<\/span>” is plan\u0113<\/em><\/span>, which refers to “a wandering away from the proper path.” Figuratively, it refers to doctrinal error. It expresses the notion of passive error rather than intentional deception.<\/p>\n

The word “uncleanness<\/span>” is translated from akatharsia<\/em><\/span>, which is made up of the privative a<\/em><\/span>, meaning “not” or “without” and a form of kathair\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to cleanse.” Thus, akatharsia<\/em> <\/span>refers to “doing something in an unclean or immoral manner.” In the New Testament it generally refers to sensual impurity.<\/p>\n

“Deceit<\/span>” is from the Greek noun dolos<\/em><\/span>, which is derived from the verb del\u014d<\/em><\/span>, meaning “to bait.” It is often used metaphorically, as it is here, meaning “fraud” or “deceit.”<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the latter half of the first chapter of this letter, Paul spoke of the evangelistic nature of his ministry to the Thessalonians. Now, through verse twelve, he gives a defense of the type of pastoral, teaching ministry he and his companions performed. He refers to this phase of his ministry as “exhortation<\/span>.” Preaching the gospel and evangelizing the lost is only a portion of a pastor’s ministry. In Ephesians we learn that the purpose of the specially gifted spiritual leaders, including pastors\/teachers, is to equip those under their care so that the church members can perform the work of the ministry.<\/p>\n

And He Himself gave some to be<\/em> apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,<\/span> (Ephesians 4:11-12<\/strong><\/span>)<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, many pastors today focus almost exclusively on evangelism, producing a flock that is saved but spiritually immature and ill equipped to evangelize and minister to others.<\/p>\n

The Apostle tells his readers that his preaching and teaching were not based on erroneous doctrine. Even though this letter was written very early in the life of Christianity, there were already others whose teaching was based on man’s ideas rather than on God’s word. And, he says that his ministry was not based on uncleanness and immorality. Pagan religions of the time incorporated immoral sexual practices which enticed many to join.<\/p>\n

Finally, Paul tells us that he did not use deceptive practices or trickery to perform the tasks that God had given him to do. His teaching was straight-up and straightforward, the truth and nothing but the truth.<\/p>\n

Application<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Whatever ministry you have within your local church, take a lesson from Paul. Perform it as plainly, forthrightly, and honestly as you possibly can. Don’t seek attention or glory for yourself; give all the glory and praise to God.<\/p>\n

In God's service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Copyright © 2012 Will Krause. All rights reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it in deceit. Truth to Learn All ministries should be performed honestly and for God. Behind the Words “Exhortation” is translated from parakl\u0113sis, which is derived from parakale\u014d, meaning “to call near.” It is a picture of someone who has come alongside to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[2247,469,2605,324,1437,1678,2604,454],"class_list":["post-3604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-akatharsia","tag-deceit","tag-dolos","tag-error","tag-exhortation","tag-paraklesis","tag-plane","tag-uncleanness"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-W8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3604"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3606,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3604\/revisions\/3606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}