Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

Paul 's Letters to the Churches

noutheteo, which would be better rendered “admonish.” To instruct in the sense of “admonish” means to warn or correct improper behavior or attitudes through sound teaching. John R.W. Stott illuminates the meaning of this word when he writes that it “is almost invariably used in an ethical context. It means to warn against bad behavior and its consequences, and to reprove, even discipline, those who have done wrong. Being a negative word, it is often coupled with ‘teaching’ . . .Moreover noutheteo does not denote a harsh ministry. As Leon Morris has put it, ‘while its tone is brotherly, it is big-broth erly.”’9 Christian admonition, then, is not angry scolding. It is loving correction and warning based on God’s Word for the purpose of pro tecting and building up a brother or sister (1 Cor. 4:14). Serious shepherd elders spend considerable time dealing with people’s sins, failures, and offenses. It is not a part of the shepherding task that men naturally like, but it is an indispensable element of true spiritual care. James Denney emphatically underscores the need for the ministry of admonition and the people’s proper response to those who must admonish: We are certain to bring a good deal of the world into the Church without knowing it; we are certain to have instincts, habits, dispositions, associates perhaps, and likings, which are hostile to the Christian type of character; and it is this which makes admonition indispensable. But we should remember that, as Christians, we are pledged to a course of life which is not in all ways natural; to a spirit and conduct which are incompatible with pride; to a seriousness of purpose, to a loftiness and purity of aim, which may all be lost through willfulness; and we should love and honour those who put their experience at our service, and warn us when, in lightness of heart, we are on the way to make shipwreck of our life. They do not admonish us because they like it, but because they love us and would save us from harm; and love is the only recompense for such a service.lo Church leaders who fail to admonish God’s people because they are afraid that people will leave the church or stop giving finan cially dishonor God, disobey His Word, and fail miserably at spir itual care.

169