Pastor Martin begins a series on the call to pastoral ministry by identifying and categorizing common errors. He first reviews Thornwell's three categories of error: fanatical claims of special revelation, apostolic succession, and crass individualism. Martin then presents his own four categories of error: ignorance or uninstructed zeal (Romans 10:2), fanaticism or mystical piety, individualism or atomistic Christianity (Romans 12:3), and pragmatism or rationalistic ecclesiology (Acts 20:28). He argues that a proper understanding of God's call must be rooted in biblical knowledge, validated by the church, and guided by the Holy Spirit, not human reasoning or subjective experience.
Primary Texts
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Romans 10:2This passage is expounded to illustrate the first error of 'ignorance or uninstructed zeal' in discerning a call to ministry.
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Romans 12:3This passage is expounded to illustrate the third error of 'individualism or atomistic Christianity,' emphasizing the church's role in self-assessment.
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Acts 16:1-2This passage is expounded as an example of the church's confirming voice in Timothy's call, countering individualistic claims.
Introduction to Fundamental Errors in the Call to Ministry0:02
Breckinridge's Three Categories of Error2:30
Martin's Four Categories of Error: An Overview5:27
Error 1: Ignorance or Uninstructed Zeal6:55
Error 2: Fanaticism or Mystical Piety11:10
Error 3: Individualism or Atomistic Christianity15:36
Error 4: Pragmatism or Rationalistic Ecclesiology20:05
Conclusion: Identifying and Addressing Errors23:00
Key Quotes
“He first exposes the futility of the three prominent theories to which almost every form of error upon this great subject may be ultimately reduced.”
“They rest, upon the conviction and belief of the individual himself unsupported by any proof but his own extravagance or enthusiasm. And that would be the claims of crass individualism.”
“My conscience wrongly instructed was nonetheless a good conscience when I killed Christians. It's an amazing statement but it bears it's borne out in his own testimony he said I've walked in all good conscience before God until this day but what a horribly uninstructed conscience he had.”
“If certain men had the slightest idea of what is needed to just fit this one requirement blameless they'd never think that they were called in their present state because they've got gaping holes of spiritual immaturity for contradictions in their character.”
“what they didn't realize was this tremendous pressure was a psychological conditioning by their spiritual environment had nothing to do with the divine call from heaven and that's what I would call fanaticism or mystical piety”
“I said you mean the Holy Ghost didn't give a collection of writings for me to just have my devotions these are letters to churches you say that's so fundamental yeah it is but you see my background is individualistic atomistic Christianity and you will deal with those who come from that background”
“you cannot build churches on rationalistic and pragmatic principles and suddenly think and think and act biblically when a young man comes questioning what he ought to do with his life”
Applications
All listeners
Be open to refining your understanding of categories of error as you read more widely and observe more critically.
If you have gaping holes of spiritual immaturity or contradictions in your character, do not think you are called to ministry.
If you have meager knowledge of the Word of God and abysmal ignorance of sound hermeneutics, do not think you are fit to exhort in sound doctrine and convict gainsayers.
Deal tenderly and lovingly with people caught in fanaticism or mystical piety, but sometimes you must shock them out of it, especially when unmortified pride is involved.
If you are in a church that is not subject to the word of God and lacks spiritual discernment, get out of it and get into a true church.
Use these categories to think back through influences on your own judgment regarding the call to ministry.
When dealing with someone questioning their call, identify elements of fanaticism or mystical piety to know how to address it.
A full transcript is available on the
tab. 21 paragraphs, roughly 24 minutes.
Machine transcription
Introduction to Fundamental Errors in the Call to Ministry
To address the foundational principles that must regulate our thinking and our actions concerning a call to the pastoral office, we now take up what is before you on page 4 of your notes for this semester, Roman numeral number 2, the fundamental errors with respect to what constitutes a call to the pastoral office. And as you can see from your notes, I want first of all to give some historical perspectives and then to give specific categories of erroneous thought. And this is the area where I believe God has helped me to at least pull together and to collate and put into categories things that have been floating around in the kind of intellectual suspension in my own mind. First of all then, some historical perspectives. My purpose under this Roman numeral number 2 is to attempt to collate into several broad categories the errors or unbiblical perspectives which have existed and yet exist with respect to this vexing question of what constitutes a call to the pastoral office or a call to the ministry. But others have gone before me in seeking to do this very thing and in volume 4 of Thornwell's collected writings there appears,
there is an essay on the theme entitled The Call of the Minister or The Call to the Ministry. Let me be accurate in terms of the title. Yes, The Call of the Minister. And what this essay is, is Thornwell's review of a sermon by Dr. Breckinridge who was one of the leading lights of that day. I'm assuming that Warfield's middle name was after, Dr. Breckinridge, Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield. And what Thornwell is doing is giving a review and an assessment and plugging in his own perspectives with reference to Breckinridge's tract which with two others was found in one booklet and he gives a review of these things separating the first one in this essay and then the others in the next essay on the ruling elder.
Breckinridge's Three Categories of Error
But he seeks, he seeks to categorize, that is, Breckinridge seeks to put into categories the erroneous areas of thought with respect to the matter of the call to the ministry and on page 15 or page 23, I'm sorry, page 23 he reduces them to three categories. Let me quote from that section. Having defined the general relation of the pastoral and other offices to the people of God, and deduced the inference which obviously follows from the true statement of the case, Dr. Breckinridge proceeds to the immediate subject of his sermon, namely the nature and evidence of a call to the ministry of the word. He first exposes the futility of the three prominent theories to which almost every form of error upon this great subject may be ultimately reduced. So Breckinridge, after surveying the whole field, felt that erroneous thinking could be broken down in almost every expression into one or more of three basic categories. Number one, all pretensions which are not founded upon a real call of God, properly authenticated according to the provisions of his word, must either claim to be extraordinary and then extraordinary evidence should be produced.
That's number one that I would call in, in my description of it, the fanatical. Someone claims special revelation. Second category of error is apostolic succession. He describes it this way.
They rest upon a perpetual succession which is transmitted the rights and properties of the office from Christ the head through an unbroken line of office bearers to the present incumbent and then the succession becomes a question of facts. To be proved by testimony and the validity of the title founded upon it a doctrine to be established by scripture. And that would be the Anglican concept, you see, and the Roman Catholic. That there is in the bishop the power to pass on the authority of the office of the ministry and that they can trace their lineage back to the apostles and to our Lord himself.
And then the third category is what he describes. He describes, they rest, upon the conviction and belief of the individual himself unsupported by any proof but his own extravagance or enthusiasm. And that would be the claims of crass individualism. So I quote that just to let you know that others have wrestled with this as they've looked over and surveyed the field of thinking and practice in church history.
Martin's Four Categories of Error: An Overview
They've sought to categorize the major areas in which error has been manifested. Now based upon the observations and critical analysis of others and upon my own observations and interactions with men over a period of a number of decades, I would suggest that the vast majority of errors with respect to what constitutes a call to the ministry or more precisely a call to the pastoral office can be found under these four categories. Now before I launch into them let me state that I do not doubt that in the coming years should the Lord spare me that as I read more widely and observe more critically and accurately my analysis may be such as to say well there really are five or six categories or maybe some of these are categories without a distinction and I'll reduce them to three. So again, the moment of truth comes when I've got to give the lecture as I presently perceive the thing and I don't believe there is any gross distortion or misstatement in these categories. Category number one and I labored at trying to get some literary parallelism in the categories is what I've called the error of ignorance or uninstructed zeal.
Error 1: Ignorance or Uninstructed Zeal
And here my mind went immediately to Romans chapter 10 where Paul writing on the book of his burden for his fellow Jews says in verse 2 I bear them witness they have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge for being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. Now what are the principles in these two verses that apply to the subject in hand? Number one that a person can have a conscientious zeal in a matter that in his conscience is noble in the presence of God. They have a zeal for God.
Paul conscientiously killed Christians.
That didn't negate the fact that he was a murderer but at the time he said I did it ignorantly in unbelief. My conscience wrongly instructed was nonetheless a good conscience when I killed Christians. It's an amazing statement but it bears it's borne out in his own testimony he said I've walked in all good conscience before God until this day but what a horribly uninstructed conscience he had. So in this text he speaks of his fellow countrymen they have a zeal for God however it is not a zeal fueled by an accurate understanding of reality a knowledge of what God has done and God has revealed concerning the question how does a sinner a son of Adam find acceptance before God. Being ignorant of God's righteousness that central provision held out in the gospel and seeking to establish their own they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God i.e. that righteousness which is held forth and proclaimed in the gospel Romans 1 16 and 17.
Now the principles you see are these that a man may have a zeal for the work of the ministry. And that zeal is fueled by a conscience that tells him he ought to pursue the ministry. But if that zeal joined to that conscience is not one rooted in knowledge that is an accurate understanding of God's revelatory data it may be as skewed as was the zeal of Paul's contemporaries and Paul's Christ-hating church disciples. Drawing zeal.
Being ignorant of God's way of calling a man to the pastoral office and seeking to establish their own way into that office they did not subject themselves to God's way. There's the principle and it's perfectly possible that this can be operative in the mind and heart of a man. And as one surveys the field and seeks to have a historical perspective and reflects upon the issues that one is faced in his own ministry one is forced to say that one basic category of error with regard to this matter of a call to the ministry is ignorance or uninstructed zeal. If certain men had the slightest idea of what is needed to just fit this one requirement blameless they'd never think that they were called in their present state because they've got gaping holes of spiritual immaturity for contradictions in their character. Or if they understood one simple text like Titus 1.9 holding fast to the faithful word which is according to the teaching that he may be able both to exhort in the sound doctrine and to convict the gainsayers if they just understood what that text means they'd never think with their meager knowledge of the word of God with their almost abysmal ignorance of any historical perspective sound principles
Error 2: Fanaticism or Mystical Piety
of hermeneutics etc. they would realize I am in no way fit to exhort in sound doctrine and to convict gainsayers if they had an inkling of an understanding of Acts 20.28 what does it mean to perform the manifold tasks that a shepherd performs to his sheep in conjunction with the flock of God shepherd the present imperative of poimino be continually performing the functions of a shepherd to the flock of God which is among you or 1st Timothy 3.4 if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he epi maleo mai that verb which means sensitively to be aware of and to respond to the needs of the house of God and yet in blind ignorance uninstructed zeal there are men who are convinced God has called them then there's a second category of erroneousness thinking and it's what I've described as fanaticism or mystical piety people who claim to have had a series of signs or a string of providences which they have infallibly interpreted I referred in the earlier part of the lecture to the farmer who saw the clouds form the outline of the letters GPC there are others and I've heard their tale and I was speaking to one of the brethren and I've heard it ad nauseum and they talk about
how they fought the call and God killed one of their kids and God caused them to have a wreck and they fought the call and fought the call and finally they gave in but when you ask them what was this call that you were fighting it was a totally subjective feeling I must preach in a context of utter ignorance of the biblical doctrine of the place of the church as the quality control upon a man's sense of his own calling what the work of the ministry they just had this compulsion I must preach and in many cases they were people who were naturally loquacious were brought up in a context and we'll deal with more of this next week God willing where to be a preacher was the epitome of spirituality and what they didn't realize was this tremendous pressure was a psychological conditioning by their spiritual environment had nothing to do with the divine call from heaven and that's what I would call fanaticism or mystical piety others claim that God has spoken directly to them from certain passages of the scripture where God was in context speaking to someone in redemptive history and yet they take that because their heart was warm to it and it particularly gripped them in their own devotions God is saying that to me totally mishandling the scriptures that's what I am referring to when I speak of fanaticism or mystical piety now there are some times when you need to deal
with people who are in the grip of this very tenderly and very lovingly sometimes you've got to try to shock them out of it I was ministering at a Christian college some years ago and I was in my room praying studying preparing for the next ministry because it was the powers of hell were let loose on that campus because I was seeking to beard the enemy with all of these so-called Christian kids most of whom were no more saved than this pulpit is from their fruits and I was very conscious that we were in the midst of warfare and a knock I had a knock on my door and I went and there stood this man with that look in his eyes and he said Brother Martin I have a word from God I said oh you do oh yes God has spoken to me I said that's very interesting before you tell me did he speak in a tenor tone mid-range or bass voice he looked and said what do you mean I said God has spoken to you certainly there must be some tonal quality to his voice did he speak with a high voice with a mid-range voice or with a low voice well the poor chap I unstrung him he never did deliver his message well I felt here was a case where his cheeky fanaticism needed to be met head on now there are times when you will have to meet this head on because if someone has been open to this fanaticism and mystical piety they feel and sometimes it's
Error 3: Individualism or Atomistic Christianity
unmortified pride and other times it is a holy desire for holy intimacy with God skewed by bad teaching and you've got to be sensitive how you're how you deal with people but when people have locked in to where they feel they've got an inner track into the very counsels of God by the voices they hear and the impressions they feel recognize you're in the orbit of fanaticism or mystical piety but then there's a third category of erroneous thinking and activity growing out of it and I've described it as individualism or atomistic Christianity and this is one of the great practical dangers in our in our day and what do I mean by this terminology well people who've sought to make final judgments about their call based on the scriptures but in total isolation from the body of Christ Romans 12 3 has a context when the apostle says I say to every man among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think so as to think so as to think soberly what is the context there is one body and the body has many members he is assuming in writing a letter to what individual Christians at Rome no I'll never forget the day long into my Christian experience when it
fell on me like a ton of bricks that the vast majority of New Testament letters were not sent to individuals they were letters to churches and it hit me I said you mean the Holy Ghost didn't give a collection of writings for me to just have my devotions these are letters to churches you say that's so fundamental yeah it is but you see my background is individualistic atomistic Christianity and you will deal with those who come from that background Romans 12 3 calls us to sober self-assessment in the context of the life and the quality control of the church now if it's no true church with people who are not subject to the word of God and under the influence of the discerning that the spirit of God can give then get out of that and get into a true church that's the answer and there I've quoted again Proverbs 18 1 that the man who separates himself seeks his own desire and rages against all sound wisdom and then just one example because it's not my purpose here now to amplify this whole place of the confirming voice and the encouraging voice of the church in the whole process of discerning one's call but just for one example is Acts 16 verses 1 and 2 an oft neglected passage with respect to how Timothy got into the place
of prominence that he eventually had as reflected in the pastoral epistles he that is Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra and behold a certain disciple was there named Timothy the son of a Jewish that believed but his father was a Greek the same was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium him would Paul have to go forth with him and when you read the preceding context the disappointing experience with John Mark who went forth relatively unproven and caved in under pressure all the more it seems Paul was sensitive if I'm going to take another younger companion I want proven goods and the Holy Ghost is underscored that Paul apparently went around did a little sanctified snooping what do you know about this guy Timothy oh Paul he walked straight before God he's a godly young man yeah how's he doing under pressure oh he's had it he's lived with it at home since his conversion his father's become all the more adamant against the truth of God it was bad enough when just mama and grandmama were there and they were Christians but now that he's lost his son to this Jesus you mean he stood up well oh my yes it's enriched him there's a tenderness he was well reported of well did they have a report all there on a computer
Error 4: Pragmatism or Rationalistic Ecclesiology
print out when Paul got there how'd he get the report folks he put his ear to the ground did a little holy snooping and the report came back so when Paul broaches the subject with Timothy and Timothy has some sense of call it is not an individualistic or atomistic call it's one that came in the context of the churches that had opportunity to assess his character and his gifts and then there is a fourth erroneous category or category of erroneous thinking and action and I've called it pragmatism or rationalistic ecclesiology now brethren as you get to know me better you'll know I don't use big words for the sake of using them but we're we're in the crucible here where we need to get our working tools and no little part of them are some of these big words and by pragmatism or rationalistic ecclesiology I'm trying to encapsulate the following the whole matter of the call to the ministry is dealt with as though the church were a corporation hence you look at the resume and the CEOs sit down and look at their goals and where they're going and their existing personnel and they begin to finger those that they feel ought to make their way up the corporate line and come into places of leadership now it's amazing how many people are encouraged to go into the ministry
and are in the ministry not on the basis of a collation of biblical principles but because of pragmatism or what I've called a rationalistic ecclesiology in which the concepts of Acts 20-28 are totally ignored it is the Holy Spirit who constitutes someone an overseer and the Holy Spirit the perspectives of Ephesians 4 11 and 12 are not considered that ultimately we must seek to discern whether or not Christ is giving a man as a gift to his church and after all of our assessment and all of our evaluation that sense of throwing ourselves upon the mercy of God that he would deliver us from prejudice and blindness and ignorance and from error there is in our day particularly with the church growth movement so much crass pragmatism and rationalism entering the life of the church it's not surprising then when the issue comes up about who or who should not pursue the ministry that that pragmatic and rationalistic approach will be applied to that specific area of the life and ministry of that church you cannot build churches on rationalistic and pragmatic principles and suddenly think and think and act biblically when a young man comes questioning what he ought to do with his life and under those
Conclusion: Identifying and Addressing Errors
four categories at least according to my present understanding the vast majority of errors with regard to this matter can be found in either one or more of those categories and hopefully stating them that way will be helpful to you to think back through the things that have influenced your own present judgment on these matters and then hopefully in the future when you're dealing with someone and the caution lights begin to go off you'll say ah what I'm seeing here is an element of fanaticism or mystical piety and you'll know how to identify it and deal with it well that's what I had to say to you this morning brethren and we've got five minutes left before we have to dismiss some of you to your place of work we'll stay longer than the five minutes if there are further questions
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It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
Romans 10:2
This passage is expounded to illustrate the first error of 'ignorance or uninstructed zeal' in discerning a call to ministry.
Romans 12:3
This passage is expounded to illustrate the third error of 'individualism or atomistic Christianity,' emphasizing the church's role in self-assessment.
Acts 16:1-2
This passage is expounded as an example of the church's confirming voice in Timothy's call, countering individualistic claims.
Texts Expounded
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Martin uses this passage to illustrate the error of 'ignorance or uninstructed zeal,' showing that zeal for God, if not according to knowledge, can lead to grave error.
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Martin expounds this verse to argue against individualism in discerning a call, emphasizing the need for sober self-assessment within the context and quality control of the body of Christ.
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Martin uses the example of Timothy's call and the brethren's good report to illustrate the church's crucial role in confirming a man's call to ministry, countering individualistic approaches.