Should Pastors Be Compensated? If so how much?

[Liberated by Faith]

(07-24-2009 09:10 PM)sheep wrecked Wrote:  

(07-24-2009 08:44 PM)pastor_chris Wrote:  We have discussed some of these issues in the tithing and Rev VS pastor threads. I thought it would be good to focus on them in a new thread with a clean slate. Please use scripture to defend your positions. And please do not ignore the verses that deal with the office of pastor/elder/bishop.

Chris,

Please show from scripture, that a pastor is the same as an elder/bishop. Thanx.

A shepherd is an overseer of the flock of sheep. One would not send a carpenter to take care of the flock of sheep, nor would one send a bricklayer to oversee the needs of the flock.

So, a shepherd is an overseer. Pastor and shepherd are synonymous in the New Testament.

The Word Bishop also means overseer according to my Greek Lexicons.

The Elder is told to take oversight of the flock. Now, if all three are not the same office, then God must be double-minded and thus unstable in all His ways.

How can the Shepherd/Pastor be overseer of the flock (which the Word of God attests they are) and the Elder is to take oversight, then seems to me God has put men at odds against each other if they are not the same. Then we have the Bishop who is also overseer.

All three hold the same office as overseer because all three are one.

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The word 'pastor' in Jeremiah 17 is defined as shepherd over a flock. So, a pastor is a shepherd over a flock. Even the New Testament Greek for pastor is also the word shepherd.

The elders in 1 Peter 5:2 is told to feed the flock, taking the oversight thereof. Is God undermining the position of the Pastor here?

The word Bishop in 1 Timothy 3:2, 'episkopos' is translated bishop, overseer.
A bishop is an overseer.

All three are one office, or God has them fighting for position.