Labouring Night And Day
I've been reading selected chapters from Alfred Edersheim's "Sketches of Jewish Social Life." In the following excerpts, Edersheim expounds upon the the Bible's testimony regarding the work ethic of Paul the apostle, and his willingness to sacrifice those things to which he had a lawful right. Paul didn't see the gospel ministry as a career to be pursued at the expense of those who were to benefit from it. Though he himself taught that it was lawful for a preacher of the gospel to live by the gospel, he chose to forgo this benefit so as to be an example of self-denial, and to not be a burden, to those from whom he could have required support.
"...the greatest of His apostles throughout earned his bread by the labour of his hands, probably following, like the Lord Jesus, the trade of his father...And what in this respect Paul practised, that he also preached. Nowhere is the dignity of labour and the manly independence of honest work more clearly set forth than in his Epistles. At Corinth, his first search seems to have been for work; (Acts 18:3) and through life he steadily forbore availing himself of his right to be supported by the Church, deeming it his great "reward" to "make the Gospel of Christ without charge." (1Co 9:18) Nay, to quote his impassioned language, he would far rather have died of hard work than that any man should deprive him of this "glorying.""
"..."these hands" minister not only unto his own necessities, but also to them that were with him; and that for the twofold reason of supporting the weak, and of following the Master, however "afar off," and entering into this joy of His, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Ac 20:34,35) Again, so to speak, it does one’s heart good when coming in contact with that Church which seemed most in danger of dreamy contemplativeness, and of unpractical, if not dangerous, speculations about the future, to hear what a manly, earnest tone also prevailed there. Here is the preacher himself! Not a man-pleaser, but a God-server; not a flatterer, nor covetous, nor yet seeking glory, nor courting authority, like the Rabbis.
"...most loving, like a nursing mother, who cherisheth her own children, so in tenderness willing to impart not only the Gospel of God, but his own life. Yet, with it all, no mawkishness, no sentimentality; but all stern, genuine reality; and the preacher himself is "labouring night and day," because he would not be chargeable to any of them, while he preached unto them the gospel of God. (1Th 2:9) "Night and day," hard, unremitting, uninteresting work, which some would have denounced or despised as secular! But to Paul that wretched distinction, the invention of modern superficialism and unreality, existed not. For to the spiritual nothing is secular, and to the secular nothing is spiritual. Work night and day, and then as his rest, joy, and reward, to preach in public and in private the unsearchable riches of Christ, Who had redeemed him with His precious blood."
"And so his preaching, although one of its main burdens seems to have been the second coming of the Lord, was in no way calculated to make the hearers apocalyptic dreamers, who discussed knotty points and visions of the future, while present duty lay unheeded as beneath them, on a lower platform. There is a ring of honest independence, of healthy, manly piety, of genuine, self-denying devotion to Christ, and also of a practical life of holiness, in this admonition: (1Th 4:11,12) "Make it your ambition to be quiet, to do your own" (each one for himself, not meddling with others’ affairs), "and to work with your hands, as we commanded you, that ye may walk decorously towards them without, and have no need of any one" (be independent of all men). And, very significantly, this plain, practical religion is placed in immediate conjunction with the hope of the resurrection and of the coming again of our Lord (vv 13-18)."
"The same admonition, "to work, and eat their own bread," comes once again, only in stronger language, in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, reminding them in this of his own example, and of his command when with them, "that, if any would not work, neither should he eat;" at the same time sternly rebuking "some who are walking disorderly, who are not at all busy, but are busybodies" (we have here tried to reproduce the play on the words in the original)."
Edersheim goes on to say that although he does not pretend to find a parallel to Paul among even the best and the noblest of the Rabbis, yet he does affirm that it was a trait of the better among them to provide for themselves through their own labor, rather than use their ministries as means for financial gain and self-glorification:
"And this same love of honest labour, the same spirit of manly independence, the same horror of trafficking with the law, and using it either "as a crown or as a spade," was certainly characteristic of the best Rabbis. Quite different in this respect also -- far asunder as were the aims of their lives -- were the feelings of Israel from those of the Gentiles around. The philosophers of Greece and Rome denounced manual labour as something degrading; indeed, as incompatible with the full exercise of the privileges of a citizen. Those Romans who allowed themselves not only to be bribed in their votes, but expected to be actually supported at the public expense, would not stoop to the defilement of work."
But what is the case in our day among those who profess to be preparing to undertake the work of gospel ministry? In the view of this writer, it seems that the only work being performed is the labor of gaining the right credentials so as to avoid a life of toil. In most cases, the ministry is treated as if it is just another career option on the way to securing one's comfortable place in the affluent American culture, and the goal is to climb the clerical ladder to reach senior pastorhood, as a business graduate might climb the corporate ladder to reach senior management. Even worse are those who are styled "theologians,"spending their lives pursuing academic studies and producing doctrinal treatises. Where, in all this, is the example of Paul being followed? How do these men exemplify a life of self-denial and servanthood?
I'm sure they all would praise the virtue of manual labor, rather than denounce it as the ancient philosophers did. But I wonder if, in their hearts, they would really agree with this saying of the ancient Rabbis:
"Skin dead animals by the wayside, and take thy payment for it, but do not say, I am a priest; I am a man of distinction, and work is objectionable to me!"
"...the greatest of His apostles throughout earned his bread by the labour of his hands, probably following, like the Lord Jesus, the trade of his father...And what in this respect Paul practised, that he also preached. Nowhere is the dignity of labour and the manly independence of honest work more clearly set forth than in his Epistles. At Corinth, his first search seems to have been for work; (Acts 18:3) and through life he steadily forbore availing himself of his right to be supported by the Church, deeming it his great "reward" to "make the Gospel of Christ without charge." (1Co 9:18) Nay, to quote his impassioned language, he would far rather have died of hard work than that any man should deprive him of this "glorying.""
"..."these hands" minister not only unto his own necessities, but also to them that were with him; and that for the twofold reason of supporting the weak, and of following the Master, however "afar off," and entering into this joy of His, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Ac 20:34,35) Again, so to speak, it does one’s heart good when coming in contact with that Church which seemed most in danger of dreamy contemplativeness, and of unpractical, if not dangerous, speculations about the future, to hear what a manly, earnest tone also prevailed there. Here is the preacher himself! Not a man-pleaser, but a God-server; not a flatterer, nor covetous, nor yet seeking glory, nor courting authority, like the Rabbis.
"...most loving, like a nursing mother, who cherisheth her own children, so in tenderness willing to impart not only the Gospel of God, but his own life. Yet, with it all, no mawkishness, no sentimentality; but all stern, genuine reality; and the preacher himself is "labouring night and day," because he would not be chargeable to any of them, while he preached unto them the gospel of God. (1Th 2:9) "Night and day," hard, unremitting, uninteresting work, which some would have denounced or despised as secular! But to Paul that wretched distinction, the invention of modern superficialism and unreality, existed not. For to the spiritual nothing is secular, and to the secular nothing is spiritual. Work night and day, and then as his rest, joy, and reward, to preach in public and in private the unsearchable riches of Christ, Who had redeemed him with His precious blood."
"And so his preaching, although one of its main burdens seems to have been the second coming of the Lord, was in no way calculated to make the hearers apocalyptic dreamers, who discussed knotty points and visions of the future, while present duty lay unheeded as beneath them, on a lower platform. There is a ring of honest independence, of healthy, manly piety, of genuine, self-denying devotion to Christ, and also of a practical life of holiness, in this admonition: (1Th 4:11,12) "Make it your ambition to be quiet, to do your own" (each one for himself, not meddling with others’ affairs), "and to work with your hands, as we commanded you, that ye may walk decorously towards them without, and have no need of any one" (be independent of all men). And, very significantly, this plain, practical religion is placed in immediate conjunction with the hope of the resurrection and of the coming again of our Lord (vv 13-18)."
"The same admonition, "to work, and eat their own bread," comes once again, only in stronger language, in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, reminding them in this of his own example, and of his command when with them, "that, if any would not work, neither should he eat;" at the same time sternly rebuking "some who are walking disorderly, who are not at all busy, but are busybodies" (we have here tried to reproduce the play on the words in the original)."
Edersheim goes on to say that although he does not pretend to find a parallel to Paul among even the best and the noblest of the Rabbis, yet he does affirm that it was a trait of the better among them to provide for themselves through their own labor, rather than use their ministries as means for financial gain and self-glorification:
"And this same love of honest labour, the same spirit of manly independence, the same horror of trafficking with the law, and using it either "as a crown or as a spade," was certainly characteristic of the best Rabbis. Quite different in this respect also -- far asunder as were the aims of their lives -- were the feelings of Israel from those of the Gentiles around. The philosophers of Greece and Rome denounced manual labour as something degrading; indeed, as incompatible with the full exercise of the privileges of a citizen. Those Romans who allowed themselves not only to be bribed in their votes, but expected to be actually supported at the public expense, would not stoop to the defilement of work."
But what is the case in our day among those who profess to be preparing to undertake the work of gospel ministry? In the view of this writer, it seems that the only work being performed is the labor of gaining the right credentials so as to avoid a life of toil. In most cases, the ministry is treated as if it is just another career option on the way to securing one's comfortable place in the affluent American culture, and the goal is to climb the clerical ladder to reach senior pastorhood, as a business graduate might climb the corporate ladder to reach senior management. Even worse are those who are styled "theologians,"spending their lives pursuing academic studies and producing doctrinal treatises. Where, in all this, is the example of Paul being followed? How do these men exemplify a life of self-denial and servanthood?
I'm sure they all would praise the virtue of manual labor, rather than denounce it as the ancient philosophers did. But I wonder if, in their hearts, they would really agree with this saying of the ancient Rabbis:
"Skin dead animals by the wayside, and take thy payment for it, but do not say, I am a priest; I am a man of distinction, and work is objectionable to me!"
posted by Stuart DiNenno at 11/22/2004 08:45:00 PM
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