A Book of Gems, or, Choice selections from the writings of Benjamin Franklin — John Shaqi
A Book of Gems, or, Choice selections from the writings of Benjamin FranklinFranklin, Benjamin
Religion
A Book of Gems, or, Choice selections from the writings of Benjamin Franklin
Franklin, Benjamin
Churches of Christ
Why translate _poimeen_, shepherd, in every other place, and cover up
the word shepherd with the Latin word pastor in one place? Whatever
idea the Lord and the apostles intended to convey in this matter,
they deemed the _one word_ sufficient. What reason can any man give
for representing the original word _poimeen_ by the word shepherd in
every instance but one, and there using the Latin word _pastor_? Rome
loves Latin. It is not the _vulgar tongue_. What reason is there for
departing from the otherwise invariable rule and giving us _pastor_,
Eph. iv. 11? Why not give us “Chief-Pastor,” or “Arch-Pastor,” and not
“Chief-Shepherd?” Why not style the Lord “the Pastor of the sheep,”
and not “Shepherd of the sheep?” _Pastor_ would not read well as the
correlative of _sheep_. We hear sermons on the offices of our Lord, as
King, Priest, Prophet. Why not have a sermon on his office as _Pastor_?
Then we might have a sermon on the office of the church as a _flock_,
or the office of the members as _sheep_. Could we not say _flock’s_
office, _sheep’s_ office? The Lord has no such office as _shepherd_,
or, in Latin, _pastor_. There is no such office as _pastorate_, nor
officer as _pastor_. There is not one word in the New Covenant about
the qualifications of a pastor, the election of one, the calling
of one, or the installation of one. As the correlative of the word
_flock_, when the church is figuratively called _flock_, the Lord who
cares for the flock and has the oversight of it is figuratively called
_Shepherd_, or, when the followers of the Lord are figuratively called
_sheep_, the Lord is figuratively called “the Shepherd of the sheep.”
When the Lord is called “the Chief-Shepherd,” or “Arch-Shepherd,”
the church is in view as the flock of which he is Shepherd, and the
_overseers_ in the church are _under_ shepherds, but there is no
_shepherd’s_ office, nor _flock’s_ office. The bishops or overseers
are as certainly _bishops_ or _overseers_, when figuratively called
_shepherds_, as if literally called _overseers_. No other office or
work is meant.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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