Able Ministers

By Prophet Jacob R. Blandford

"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." (2 Cor. 3:5-6 KJV)

Who enables or equips ministers for the ministry? It is God, not man (see Gal. 1:1). Specifically the Holy Spirit. And especially the regeneration and filling of the Spirit when a man gets saved. (Titus 3:5) God calls all of the saved to ministry. It looks different for every Christian, but we are all called to share Christ and his Good News; or a least do something for God. Notice Jesus said it is he himself who ordains us (John 15:16). I’m not against ordination services in churches; I think that is good. But I am against the hierarchal system in specially the Roman Catholic church. The Risen Christ called that Nicoliatism (see Rev. 2:6, 15). Some of that junk creeps into Protestant churches. But we as Baptists believe in the universal priesthood of the believer (1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6, 5:10, 20:6), or you could say the universal ministry of believers. These are the men I associate with—men who have had a true conversion and are called by God to serve him. Again, all born-again believers are “called” (Rom. 1:6-7; 1 Cor. 1:2) to serve, but it looks different for every saint. Basically, my point is this, ordination is ultimately from God, certainly often he uses men or churches, but that does not always have to be the case. The Holy Spirit enables us to understand the Bible (as a priest) and then propagate that word (as a preacher). To my knowledge, that’s how Bible-believers have viewed evangelism in the church age, beginning with the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the 12 apostles, and Paul. For more than four hundred years many Christians have learned how to preach from the King James Bible. Or in a foreign language: a reliable Textus Receptus translation. In Jesus Christ’s most holy name, Amen & Amen.