Question: As far as I can tell, there was no paid ministerial staff in the early church. How does the paid minister fit into Jesus' plan for church leadership?

Answer: The modern concept of a minister being paid to do most of a congregation's work certainly is foreign to the Scriptures. Many folks seem to feel that you can pay someone to visit the sick for you, pray your prayers, and do your good deeds. None of this fits the Bible pattern.

However, I believe you are mistaken if you assume there is not both authority and example in Scripture for paying those involved in the legitimate work of ministry. Let me show you.

In Luke 10:7, Jesus set forth the principle that guides this practice. He said, " And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages." Jesus made this statement in the context of sending out 70 of His disciples to preach to the Jews.

Similarly, as recorded in Matthew 10:9-10, when Jesus sent the 12 disciples out to preach in Israel, He said, "Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food."

The principle also was made clear by the Apostle Paul as he discussed the work of elders (bishops, overseers) in the church. He wrote, in 1 Timothy 5:17-18, "Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. For the Scripture says, 'You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,' and 'the laborer is worthy of his wages."

In making a defense for paying elders who taught the word of God, Paul quoted first the Old Testament and then Jesus himself. Under the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 25:4), the Jews were not to keep the ox that powered the grinding of grain from eating a portion of what he was working to prepare. If that principle was deemed by God to apply to simple animals, would it not apply to those who work in the propagation of the Gospel? That is Paul's point. Then he quotes the statements of Jesus already noted above.

Like most preachers at some time during their careers, the Apostle Paul had to defend being supported financially in his work. His defense is found in 1 Corinthians 9. I commend the reading of the whole chapter. In it, he makes the following points:

Preachers have the right to eat and drink, to have families (and of course that costs money, I might add). Soldiers, don't go to war at their own expense. Farmers aren't prevented from partaking of their own crops and flocks.

If God commands us to have proper concern for the needs of the animals that work for us, shouldn't we do the same for people who work for us?

Then he said, "If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more. ...Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? Even so, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel."

In part of that last statement, Paul referred back to the Jewish system as a pattern. There, the priests of the tribe of Levi lived from two basic sources. First, the other 11 tribes paid tithes, and those tithes helped to support the Levites (Numbers 18:21). Secondly, as people offered grain and animal sacrifices, a portion was consumed in sacrifice to God, a portion was eaten by the family bringing the sacrifice, and a portion was kept by the priest to feed himself and his family (Leviticus 6:14-16,25-26; 7:1-10,29-35).

That pretty well covers the scriptural authority for paying ministers.

But we also have an example in the New Testament. Paul told the church in Corinth, "I robbed other churches, taking wages of them to minister to you" (2 Corinthians 11:8). All this said, I realize the subject causes much debate. Some preachers abuse the situation and rob churches in ways Paul never had in mind. Many others live in conditions substandard to those of the people who support them.

I know of no Scriptural basis for requiring the preacher to take a "vow of poverty." But, of course, there is nothing wrong with doing so if a man decides that will best accommodate his ministry.

Personally, I preached the gospel "part-time" for 17 years while earning my living as a newspaper reporter and editor. But I can tell you from experience that the amount of work and good a man can accomplish that way is much more limited than when he can give his full energies to the work, freed from the need to earn a living outside the gospel.

At the same time, I look back fondly on the days when I could preach without having some people intimate that I was a charity case, a freeloader, and incapable of making a "real living." I didn't take your question to imply such, but thought I'd express that on behalf of all my preaching brethren.