The Hebraic Model, Revisited
Unlike the majority of speakers today, as he launched churches throughout Macedonia, the apostle Paul used the ancient Hebraic model. We know that Paul studied under the legendary Rabbi Gamaliel, one of the most noteworthy spiritual teachers of his day. However, Paul never touted his personal credentials. Quite the contrary, he suggested they were a hindrance to knowing Christ:
Paul structured the
church according to
the Hebraic model.
Acts 22:3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, just as you all are today.”
Philippians 3:8-10 “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”
Paul wrote that Jews ask for signs and miracles while Greeks search for wisdom.
1 Corinthians 1:17-23 “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void. For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside. Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness.’”
This is not to say that higher learning is to be resisted or ignored. It is simply to say that university or seminary credentials were not mentioned among the qualifying factors for overseers in the early church. Paul provides guidelines for appointing church overseers in writing to his spiritual son Timothy:
1 Timothy 3:2-7 “An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, uncontentious, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?); and not a new convert, lest he become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he may not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”
Using the Hebraic model, a man’s reputation in the community and in the church was of far greater
importance than any certificates or diplomas he held. Reputation surpasses education in God’s Kingdom.
Each family
can be
likened to a
small church
Using the Hebraic model, the father/husband in the family serves as the elder/pastor or spiritual leader of the home. The mother/wife in the family would be likened to a deaconess (female deacon). The children would be the saints, or the congregation. If our methods and practice work successfully at home, it is likely they will work in the church and society.
1 Peter 4:17 “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
