1 Thess 4:18; 5:11-14--Constant Interaction

1 Thess 4:18; 5:11-14--Constant Interaction

Paul here focuses on the mutual ministry of Christians to one another. The hope all Christians possess is a doctrine by which they may “comfort one another” (4:18). In 5:11, Paul mentions that they practice, as an on-going ministry, the building up of one another: “even as you are doing.”

Again, we are forced to ask, can we meaningfully relate this vital practice to what transpires in churches today? If the brethren rarely see each other during the week, and if the structure of the services focus on the “pastor,” how can we expect this mutual ministry to come to concrete expression?

I suggest here, and will expand on it later, that the reason “one another” ministries are so stifled is precisely because our practice flows out of the conviction that edification comes about through one man’s ministry: “on this office [the “pastor”] and the discharge of it He hath laid the whole weight of the order, rule, and edification of His church” (Owen, True Nature, p.55).The “pastor” becomes the sole source of edification. Thus, according to Goodwin, even when “ordinary” brethren conversed with one another, the focal point was to be “what it was in a sermon that God blessed to them” (Works, Vol.11, p.357). But in the N.T. there is just as much emphasis, if not more, on the profitability of mutual ministry among the general priesthood. Yet this is left virtually untouched in such treatises.

Historically, the duty of mutual edification has been relegated to something which is “occasional,” while for Paul the “one another” ministry was the basic fabric of local church life. Further, this mutual ministry was apparently expressed in the church gatherings (“each of you”), but the Reformed tradition has pushed it outside of such meetings.
In vv.12-13, Paul makes a clear distinction between the saints and their leaders. Those who have been set aside by the people of God as “elders” are to be “known” and “highly esteemed.” The elders are “over them in the Lord.” While this distinction is clear enough, it does not seem to me that our conception of it is always clear. This distinction has been taken to mean that the elders do everything—admonishing, teaching, etc. But we have already seen in Rom.15:14, and can see here in 1 Thess.5:11,14, that there is a general mutual ministry that saints are to perform among themselves. The elders, in particular, are to oversee the mutual functioning of the body. The elders function in a similar fashion to a player-coach on a football team—only in the church there are several coaches, not one.
The function of pastoral leaders is to serve as ‘player-coaches’ of the congregation, by equipping the believers for their various God-appointed ministries.... a player-coach... unselfishly attempts to develop and coordinate the abilities of others while he himself fights the battle with them, shoulder-to-shoulder (Sixteen Tests, p.31).

After giving the general duty of edifying one another in v.11, Paul tells the “brethren” in v.14 that there are specific needs in the body to which they must minister. Again, Paul does not relegate this “warning/comforting/supporting” ministry to the leaders only, but makes it incumbent upon the body to have the same care for one another (1Cor.12:25).

Perhaps some would try to find in v.20, “despise not prophesyings,” a reference to the centrality of one man’s preaching. However, it must be remembered that in 1Cor.14:31 Paul stated: “you may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.”

~ Jon Zeus