ガラテヤの信徒への手紙6:6 Galatians 6:6,
御言葉を教えてもらう人は、教えてくれる人と持ち物をすべて分かち合いなさい。 （ガラテヤ6:6）
パウロはこの勧めを自分のためにしているのでしょうか？つまり「教えてくれる人」というのはパウロ自身のことで、「御言葉を教えてもらう人が、教えてくれる人と持ち物をすべて分かち合う」ことによって得られる恵みは、パウロ自身が受け取ることになるのでしょうか？どうも、そうではないようです。
ガラテヤ地方の諸教会において教えに関する争いがあったことは、これまで何度もお話してきたとおりです。ガラテヤ地方に最初にキリストの福音を宣べ伝えたパウロは、「人はイエス・キリストを信じることによって救われる」と教えました。しかし、パウロがガラテヤの諸教会を去った後に来たユダヤ教的な伝道者たちは、「キリストを信じるだけでなく、旧約聖書の律法で定められた割礼の儀式を受けなければ完全な救いは得られない」と教えました。そして、ガラテヤの諸教会の信徒たちはユダヤ教的な伝道者たちの教えに惑わされて、教会の中に混乱が起こっていました。
しかし、混乱した状態にあったガラテヤ地方の諸教会にあっても、数は少なかったのでしょうが、パウロの教えた正しい教えを守って、ほかの信徒たちを指導しようとしていた信徒たちがいたようです。この手紙の結びの部分の6章15節と16節には「割礼の有無は問題ではなく、大切なのは、新しく創造されることです。このような原理に従って生きていく人の上に、つまり、神のイスラエルの上に平和と憐れみがあるように」と記されています。つまり、混乱したガラテヤ地方の諸教会の中でも正しいキリスト教の信仰をもって生きている信徒たちに「平和と憐れみがあるように」とパウロは祈っているのです。そうすると、これらの正しいキリスト教の信仰をもって生きている信徒たちが、「御言葉を教えてくれる人」であったのではないかと考えられます。そして、パウロの後から来たユダヤ教的な伝道者に多くの信徒たちが従っていた状況を考えますと、信徒たちはユダヤ教的な伝道者には教えの謝礼を渡していたが、正しいキリスト教の信仰を教えている人には教えの謝礼を渡していなかったのではないかと推測されるのです。そのような状況を知ったパウロは、正しいキリスト教の信仰を教えている人たちが十分な謝礼を受けることができるように、信徒たちに対して「御言葉を教えてもらう人は、教えてくれる人と持ち物をすべて分かち合いなさい」と勧めたのでしょう。
（10月6日の説教より）
The Japanese word “puro” is an abbreviation of the English word “professional,” and according to a Japanese dictionary, it means “a person who carries out a certain activity as a means of earning a living, or someone who is strongly aware that it is their occupation and devotes themselves to it.” In contrast, the Japanese word “ama” is an abbreviation of the English word “amateur” and means “someone who does things as a hobby, rather than as an occupation.”
However, the nuance of the word “professional” in English is slightly different from that in Japanese. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, an online English-English dictionary provided by Cambridge University Press, the meaning of the noun “professional” is “a person who has the type of job that needs a high level of education and special training.” The original word “profession” has a similar meaning. According to a paper by Dr. UZAWA Yumiko, the concept of the English word “profession” is derived from the Christian clergy of medieval Europe, and originated in the 17th century when clergy, doctor and lawyer were considered to be professions.
In Protestant churches, the person who preaches the gospel of Christ and takes care of the congregation is called a “pastor.” And in modern Europe, “pastor” was a professional occupation on a par with doctor and lawyer. Even today, which is often referred to as the post-modern era, it is fair to say that in European and American countries with a Christian tradition, “pastor” is highly regarded as a profession. In these countries, in order to become a “pastor,” you must first graduate from university, then take specialist theological education at graduate school and obtain a master’s degree, before taking the exam to become a pastor. In Japan, there are two routes to becoming a pastor: graduating from a Christian university’s theological department and then from its graduate school, or graduating from a seminary established and run by a Christian church.
However, in Japan, it is not necessarily the case that a pastor is seen as “a person who has the type of job that needs a high level of education and special training.” In Japanese general society, where there are very few Christians, a pastor is seen as a person who help people. Also, while there are churches that value pastors as professionals, there are also churches that see them as little more than hired help for the congregation. Furthermore, while some pastors may be aware that their job is a profession and carry out their tasks with a sense of responsibility, there are also those who think of their job as a kind of business, like a “pastor’s shop,” or who see it as a means of self-realisation, “doing what they want to do.”
Today’s Bible passage is a teaching that shows the very first stage in the development of the pastor as a profession. Galatians 6:6 says, “Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.” When you read this passage, the first thing you might think is, “Why did Paul suddenly write something like this?” In verse 5, just before today’s passage, we read the teaching, “Each will have to bear his own load.” As I mentioned in last week’s sermon, this teaching can also be translated as “each one will bear his own load.” And by the passage “each one will bear his own load,” it means that each person will be held accountable to God at the Last Judgement on the Last Day. Therefore, even if we translate this passage as “Each will have to bear his own load,” it still means that each person is responsible to God at the Last Judgement on the Last Day. And since the word of the Bible teaches us how to live in preparation for the Last Day, the passage goes on to say that we should value those who teach us the word of the Bible. So, in verse 6, “the one who is taught the word” is exhorted to “share all good things with the one who teaches.”
Let us also consider the connection with the verses that follow. In verse 7 Paul says, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” The phrase “whatever one sows, that will he also reap” is also a teaching that indicates that there will be the Last Judgment on the Last Day. In that case, verse 7 could be understood to mean “If you are taught the word but do not value the person who teaches you, you will be judged at the Last Judgment on the Last Day.” In verse 9, we are told “not to grow weary of doing good,” and in verse 10, we are encouraged to “do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” So, in doing good “to those who are of the household of faith,” the first thing we should do is to “share all good things with the one who teaches.”
Then, is Paul making this exhortation for the benefit of himself? In other words, is “the one who teaches” Paul himself, and will the blessings that come from “sharing all good things with the one who teaches” be received by Paul himself? It seems that this is not the case. As I have explained many times before, there were disputes about the teachings in the churches in the Galatian region. Paul, who first preached the gospel of Christ in the Galatian region, taught that “one is saved by believing in Jesus Christ.” However, after Paul left the churches in Galatia, Jewish evangelists came and taught that “one cannot be fully saved without not only believing in Christ but also undergoing the ritual of circumcision as prescribed by the Old Testament law.” The Galatian believers were then misled by the teachings of the Jewish evangelists, and there was confusion in the churches.
However, even in the churches in the Galatia region, which were in a state of confusion, there were probably a few believers who were trying to follow the correct teachings of Paul and guide other believers. In the closing part of the letter, in verses 15 and 16 of chapter 6, Paul says, “For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.” In other words, Paul is praying that there will be “peace and mercy” for the believers living with the correct Christian faith, even among the confused churches in Galatia. Then, it is thought that among these believers living with the correct Christian faith there was “the one who teaches the word.” And considering the situation where many of the believers were following the Jewish evangelists who came after Paul, it is thought that the believers were giving reward to the Jewish evangelists, but not to those who were teaching the correct Christian faith. When Paul learned of this situation, he probably exhorted to the believers that one who was teaching the correct Christian faith should be able to receive sufficient reward, saying, “Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.”
“The word” in this exhortation refers not only to “the word” of the Old Testament, but also to the correct Christian teachings based on “the word” of the Old Testament. In 2 Timothy 4:2, Paul tells Timothy, “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” In this case, too, “the word” refers to the correct Christian teachings based on the word of the Old Testament, that is, the gospel of Christ. Also, the word translated as “good things” in the phrase “share all good things” is the Greek word agathos (ἀγαθός), which refers to meeting a relatively high standard of quality, of things. This word “good things” includes both invisible spiritual “good things” and visible material “good things,” but in this passage it seems to mainly refer to material “good things.” To be more specific, it means that “the one who is taught the word” gives a donation from their own income to provide a reward to “the one who teaches.” It is thought that the Epistle to the Galatians was written in 48 or 49 AD. At such an early stage, there was the one who was devoting much of his/her time to teaching the gospel of Christ, and the believers, who were the recipients of the teachings, were exhorted that they should provide financial reward to “the one who teaches.”
The idea that the believers who are nourished on the gospel of Christ should provide reward to the preachers of the gospel can be seen in several passages in Paul’s letters. For example, in 1 Corinthians 9:13-14, Paul writes as follows.
Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
In verse 13, Paul says, “Those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings,” referring to the fact that in the Old Testament, it was stipulated that priests who worked in the Holy Place would receive a reward. According to the Old Testament, in Leviticus chapter 2, the Israelites were commanded to offer fine flour as a “grain offering” to God. Of this fine flour, “a handful” on which olive oil was poured, burned on the altar with frankincense, and the rest was designated as belonging to the priests. That is, the majority of the grain offerings made by the Israelites became the bread that supported the lives of the priests and their families.
And the Israelites offered a “peace offering” of cattle, sheep, goats, etc. to God as an expression of gratitude for their sins being forgiven and their prayers being heard. According to Leviticus 3 and 7, the livestock offered as a “peace offering” were slaughtered, and after the blood was poured on the sides of the altar and the fat was burned on the altar, the meat was returned to the person who had offered it. The person who had made the offering was then able to eat the meat as a meal of communion with God. However, the meat of the breast and the meat of the right thigh were reserved for the priests. The priests and their families were able to eat the meat of the breast and the meat of the right thigh from the “peace offering” that people had made. In addition, it was stipulated that the priests could eat the meat of the livestock offered by the people as a “sin offering” and a “guilt offering” in the Holy Place (Leviticus 6:19, 7:6).
Furthermore, in addition to these, the Israelites of the Old Testament times were commanded to offer a tenth of their harvest to God. According to Numbers 18:21-32, the offerings thus made supported the lives of the Levites who carried out religious duties, and the Levites also offered a tenth of what they received to God, which became the priests’ income. In this way, the reward for priests in the Old Testament was generous. The priests were entrusted by God to worship God by offering up the people’s offerings on their behalf, and to teach God’s laws to the people. As a reward for these entrusted works, they were given fine flour, meat from livestock, and the tithe of the offerings of the Levites. This suggests that those who are entrusted by Christ to proclaim the gospel can receive a reward.
Also, in verse 14, Paul writes, “In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.” He is keeping in mind the words that Christ said when he sent his disciples out to do evangelising work. According to Matthew 10:10, when Christ sent out the twelve disciples to evangelise, he said, “No bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.” According to Luke 10:7, when Christ sent out the seventy two disciples to evangelise, he also said that if they entered a house to evangelise, “Remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages.” From these teachings of Christ, we can see that it was the idea of Christ himself who sent the evangelists that the evangelists should be rewarded for their works.
Furthermore, in 1 Timothy 5:17-18, Paul quotes the Old Testament teaching that “you shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and the teaching of Christ that “the worker earns his pay,” and says, “Elders who give good service as leaders should be reckoned worthy of a double stipend, in particular those who work hard at preaching and teaching” (REB). Today, the word “pastor” refers to these elders “who work hard at preaching and teaching.” Since pastors are elders “who work hard at preaching and teaching,” they are also called “teaching elders.”
In this way, it was already being taught in the churches of the New Testament times that those who preached the gospel of Christ should be provided with a reward. In the midst of the severe persecution by the Jewish people and the Roman Empire, the work of “the one who teaches the word,” i.e., those who preached the gospel of Christ, and pastored the flock of believers and nourished them, must have been extremely difficult. And even today, fulfilling the tasks of a pastor properly is not an easy thing. In addition to the ability to read the Bible in its original language, interpret it correctly and preach, a pastor also needs to be able to teach Christian doctrine in a logical way, have good communication skills to interact with the congregation, have the capacity to handle the paperwork for session, presbytery and general assembly without any misunderstandings, and have the ability to develop the works of the church in today’s society. Furthermore, these things must be carried out with love and patience. It is in line with the teachings of the Bible that the work of a pastor, which requires so many abilities and high ethics, is valued as a profession and is provided with sufficient reward. And the pastor himself is also required to be aware of the importance of his professional duties and to carry them out faithfully in accordance with the teachings of the Bible. I myself keep this in my mind.