“…as he has been taught.” – Titus 1:9
I just submitted my final exam for my final class at SBTS for a while. Below are some reflections on seminary and the requirements of pastor according to Titus 1.
A Note on Seminary
Before I begin, let me state that not every pastor must go to seminary. The New Testament model for preparing men for ministry is to make sure they are (a) morally qualified, (b) apt to teach, (c) and able to hold fast to the faith. These are the qualifications prescribed in Titus 1:5-9. And this training of qualified men is quite explicitly the responsibility of the local church. My hope is that the very need for large, accredited, para-church seminary institutions actually diminishes, as more and more local churches here in the US take up the mantle of responsibility to train up their own leaders from the next generation. This is a responsibility well worth winning back from the schools. But, seminary or no, any man aspiring to ministry should be theologically educated. This is a must.
A Note on Titus 1:9
Of the three qualifications laid out in Titus 1:5-9, let’s take a look at that last one. The purpose—the end goal—of Paul’s instructions according to verse 9 is that these men are able to hold to sound doctrine and refute those who teach otherwise. Simple enough, but here’s the golden question: What constitutes “sound” doctrine? Everyone thinks their doctrine is sound. Everyone. How is Titus to authoritatively know what sound doctrine is in the milieu of opinions? How is he to know what doctrine is actually biblical, so he can hold fast to it and rebuke those who contradict it? Ought Timothy just read the Bible for himself and trust his own conclusions to be sound enough? To put the question to ourselves: How do pastors today know we are teaching sound, biblical, doctrine? Paul gives Timothy the answer to this question in verse 9, “as he has been taught.”
Did you catch that? Titus confidently knew what sound doctrine was (and what wasn’t). Why? Because the apostle Paul taught him. He didn’t need to guess where Jesus was in the Old Testament, or how the ten commandments apply to today, or what the chronology of end times should be. He didn’t have questions about regenerate church membership or the purpose of the ordinances. His mentor, Paul, already showed him these things from the Scriptures. The point? God’s design for his undershepherds is for them to receive knowledge from those who have gone before. This is the model. And what confidence it gives to young men. We live in an era where spirituality, piety, and ministry are being stripped of this design. Arguments are made that with a good translation of the Bible and the guiding of the Holy Spirit, we can find sound doctrine in the Scriptures all by ourselves. This sounds humble—even spiritual. But this is not what Paul instructs Titus to instruct aspiring pastors in Crete. Consider this distinction. Paul made it a point to clarify that Titus was not to simply teach the Cretans how to study the Bible (primarily the Old Testament at the time) but to teach them what Paul’s thoughts are concerning those Scriptures. “Titus, teach others what I taught you.” Now, this is the model often accused of being arrogant, isn’t it?
A Note Paul’s Design
Here’s why it’s not arrogant and why it’s actually the far better path. When the teachers of God’s people choose to exclusively consult their own wisdom concerning the Scriptures, they are choosing to ignore the wisdom of hundreds of generations of Christians who have gone before and written what the Spirit showed them in the text. They reject this spiritual heritage. Put in this way, which model is the more arrogant? Which path is the humble and spiritual one: ignore the deep waters of hundreds of years of historical commentary and doctrine, or take a deep breath and dive in?
Of course it’s not a clean-cut tool. Church history can be messy at times. But let’s not allow that fact and ignore our heritage. Let us not downplay the importance of the testimony of the church in determining what doctrine is sound or not in our day. Let us test our interpretation of the Scriptures against theirs. More than a man needs to be a student of a prodigious institution, he needs to be a student of the word. But a man aspiring to pastor well aught also be a student of what Christ’s church has said regarding the word. And his studies of what Christ’s church has said actually starts with what his own, local church has said. Here we have come full circle.
What is necessary then for young men to discover and defend sound doctrine, and what role does the local seminary play? In my estimation, there is a three-legged stool upon which young men ought long sit in order to discover doctrine that is sound. Personal study, pastoral discipleship, and church history—in that order. (And seminary can supplement the first and the third.) This is the path of humility, and it is the better path. Before a man stands before the people of God to teach them what God has said, he better make sure what he’s about to say matches “what he has been taught.” And this will never come from isolated, one-man-band Bible study. Seminaries can be an excellent place to find out exactly what that is.