A Christian testimony

I struggled with anxiety-depression and addictions, alongside the many trials of being a "child of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3), for circa 40 years, even as I read the Bible and worshipped at churches (which did not properly honour God's Word). Then in 2013 I faced up to the truth: the Holy Bible was right, I was wrong. Thanks to the testimonies of many courageous people, I had come to believe that the entire Bible is God's Word, and that I could entrust my rescue to Christ Jesus. 

Encouraged by a preacher who with her husband had established a church in Kibera, Kenya, I prayed for baptism in the Holy Spirit, and people laid hands on me. Like the Holy Bible and Bob Dylan say: a great deed of power took place. I know that, and can witness to that truthfully, not only because of what happened in that moment, when I experienced something like the power of a very strong sun radiating into me, if only for a few seconds. It's also a sure witness because 4 years later, I see that I haven't been the same person since. I have experienced liberation from slavery to sin, just as the Holy Bible testifies:

"But gratitude be to the God,
because you were slaves of the sin,
yet you obeyed from heart unto that
to which you were delivered—
that form of teaching. Then, having
been liberated from the sin, you were
enslaved to the righteousness." 
(Romans 6:17-18)

The Holy Bible is true in saying that God does rescue people through Christ Jesus. I know this because I have the same experience as countless other Christians: when I put ALL my trust in Jesus, I was set free from many kinds of slavery (to sins, wrath, addictions, etc.). But I had to walk free, choose freedom. For example, I continued to use filthy language, because I hadn't read in the New Testament the commandment not to.

The Holy Bible is perfect, but all people stumble (even in what they say)

Update: The Holy Bible can, I believe, indeed be said to be perfectly designed with conflicts between the words of the Lord Jesus and other words in it. Please see my Translator's Preface to The Christ Family Bible.

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Several years ago, in early 2012, I began researching how Israelites, Jews and Christians preserved memories. What is the primary example of this for Christians? Christ Jesus of Nazareth instructed His disciples to celebrate their meals together in a memorial to Jesus, with the two witnesses of bread commemorating Jesus's broken body and wine commemorating Jesus's spilt blood.

The research work led to the progressive realization that these communities followed memory traditions and very strict witness rules, which together explain the form of the Holy Scriptures. 

The two main rules for testimony were (1) No false testimony, and (2) Multiple corroborating witnesses required. Even Jesus of Nazareth is described as following these testimony rules. If He followed them, it is highly likely that His disciples did too. And that gives us a key for understanding a range of difficulties with the New Testament texts. 

In one and the same book, The Acts of the Apostles, an incident is reported in two conflicting ways. What is the best explanation for this? One explanation is that the book is assembled from different original texts: it doesn't have one author. If that were so, why wouldn't the editor(s) edit away the conflict between the two reports of St. Paul's encounter with the Lord on the road to Damascus (Acts 9 & 22)? If instead a single human author wrote Acts, and he followed the two rules of testimony that Christ Jesus did, we have an excellent explanation of why he preserved the conflicting testimonies:

(1) When Luke himself needed to record the history of St. Paul's conversion, he wrote it in Acts 9, in his own voice. 

(2) When Luke recorded the history of St. Paul's later speech in Jerusalem, he wrote it in Acts 22, and followed what St. Paul said.

(3) It is entirely acceptable and predictable that even St. Paul could have stumbled in his own words about a detail of the events on the road to Damascus (e.g. mixing up whether his travelling companions did not hear the voice or did not see the light; compare 9:7 with 22:9). This is because Holy Scripture itself tells us, when reasoning about why very few should be Christian teachers, that "we all stumble" in many ways, or a lot (James 3:1-2).

The collision of theology with God

Update: I no longer agree with the statement I made here 7 years ago, that "Gentile Christians have the NT commandments to obey. Jews and Jewish Christians have both the OT and NT commandments to obey." Instead, I believe that all people have to obey the words of the Lord Jesus, which are recorded mainly in 5 Bible books, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the Revelation. Please see my Translator's Preface to The Christ Family Bible.

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Humility, and tremendous caution and honesty when making truth claims, are necessary in all sciences, and yet most of all in theology, whose subject both is entirely unique and warns credibly that He is willing and able to limit, severely, the scope of theology's knowledge. When theologians start talking as authorities, disaster is usually not far off. Evidence of this is plentiful: one can look first of all at the record of theological councils (which have tended to create schisms, rifts, between people otherwise inclined to fraternity) and university theology (whose onset coincides with the age of a continuous avalanche of schisms). If one is willing to look, more controversially, at the personal life histories of people influenced by theologians, far more heart-rending evidence appears readily. This is because theologians have as a rule 

(a) ignored the warnings of the Old Testament and the New Testament that universal human understanding of these texts is blocked; 

(b) ignored the OT and NT warnings that human understanding of these texts is granted divinely as a consequence of human obedience;

(c) therefore engaged in scientific / theological discourse without the necessary limitation (that only people who are actively working to obey God could possibly have sufficient comprehension);

(d) therefore made theological claims that are not just untrue, but easily deceive because they travel with the accoutrements of credibility. 

How can you avoid a run-around away from theological truth into the various rocky shoals? According to the OT and NT, the safe path is to fear God and obey God's commandments. Gentile Christians have the NT commandments to obey. Jews and Jewish Christians have both the OT and NT commandments to obey. 

Is it obvious what these commandments are, and how to obey them? Not for the rebellious-at-heart. Both the OT and NT clearly state that the rebellious-at-heart are not going to be able to understand God's Word. 

So, who translated your modern-language version of the Bible? People who are rebellious at heart, or people who put obedience to God first and foremost? If rebellious people have tried to translate the Bible, which has most certainly happened, they will produce abominable translations where for example the commandments will likely be impossible to follow. The common mistranslation of Matthew 5:28, where hearers are told that if anyone looks at a woman in order to lust after her has committed adultery, is perhaps the most common example of bad translation misleading readers to think they cannot actually obey the commandments of the NT. The logical and doable commandment here given in the Ancient Greek, recognized by scholars for more than 100 years, is that a person must not look at a married woman (someone else's wife) in order to lust after her (cf. the dictionary by Moulton & Milligan under the word γυνή, the Swedish 1917 translation, etc.).

How can a so-called church display monstrous behaviour?

If a church is teaching people that they are Christian and inheritors of eternal life, although they do not imitate Christ and obey Christ's commandments, it will display monstrous character, according to 2 Peter 2. (Is there a different prediction to be found in Christ's words?)

¹⁷ These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. ¹⁸ For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. ¹⁹ While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. ²⁰ For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. ²¹ For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. ²² But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. (2 Peter 2, AKJV)


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Notes

AKJV: KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.

Life and love by Christ: Is that what 2 Timothy 1 says?

How should we understand the following Ancient Greek phrases found in 2 Timothy 1? One possibility that is rarely found in English translations is presented below:

epaggelían zo:ê:s tê:s en /X/ristô:i Ie:soû (verse 1)
a proclamation of life that is by Christ Jesus 

agápé:i tê:i en /X/ristô:i Ie:soû (verse 13)
love that is by Christ Jesus

In favour of this way of understanding these phrases are the following considerations:

(1) The eternal life that the gospel announces is always and forever by Christ Jesus, and not only in Christ Jesus (after the final judgement it is not life in Christ, as far as the New Testament says).

(2) Similarly, by the salvation that Christ Jesus provides, a human being can be filled with God's love (Romans 5). This love is not only in Christ Jesus, but is always and forever thanks to, that is to say by, Christ Jesus.

The New Testament shows the divide between the Cooperative Principle and the Competitive Principle of linguistic communication

Eiséltʰate dià tè:s stenês púle:s
Go in through the narrow gate,

hóti plateîa he: púle: kaì eurú/x/o:ros he: hodòs he:
because wide is the gate and roomy the way that

apágousa
is leading away

eis tè:n apó:leian kaì polloí eisin
into the destruction, and many are

hoi eiser/x/ómenoi di' autê:s
the in-goers through it,

hóti stenè: he: púle: kaì tetʰlimméne:
because narrow is the gate and hard-pressured

he: hodòs he: apágousa
the way that is leading away

eis tè:n zo:è:n kaì olígoi eisìn
into the life, and few are

hoi heurìskontes auté:n
the finders of it.

     The Lord Jesus Christ, Matthew 7:13-14 (CFB)


Eàn agapâté me
If you would love Me,

tàs entolàs tàs emàs
the commandments of Mine

te:ré:sete
keep / you will keep,

kagò: ero:tè:so: tòn patéra
and I will ask the Father

kaì állon parákle:ton dó:sei
and another helper He will grant

humîn hína metʰ' humôn
to you, so that with you,

eis tòn aiô:na ê:i
into the aeon, It will be,

tò pneûma tê:s ale:tʰeías hò
the Spirit of the truth, whom

ho kósmos ou dúnatai labeîn
the world cannot receive,

hóti ou tʰeo:reî autò
because it does not see It

oudè ginó:skei
nor recognise It.

humeîs ginó:skete autó hóti
You know It, because

par' humîn ménei kaì
beside you It abides and

en humîn éstai
in / among you It will be.

        The Lord Jesus Christ, John 14:15-17 (CFB)

Knowledge and science instead of a useless even injurious run-around

How can a person stick to knowledge and science, and avoid a run-around into falsehood, confusion, deception, wastefulness, injury, etc?

God says that humanity needs to study and obey His Word (cf. Proverbs 1; John 14). 

The philosopher Socrates is reported to have said that he was wisest in Athens because he was honest in admitting when he did not know a true answer to a question. 

University of Oxford professor John C. Lennox (mathematics) observed that science has been highly productive in producing knowledge (i.e. facts) by asking extremely limited questions. This is effective for two well-known reasons: 

(1) It is possible for the scientific community to test extensively (in different ways and by different people) a hypothesis-answer to an extremely limited question. That testing filters out false hypotheses and obtains knowledge (facts, true statements). 

(2) The true answers to extremely limited questions help science to ask and answer more (extremely limited) questions. Reductionism accumulates and links together facts.

So we have three highly credible (and tested) answers to our question. 

From these answers, one can evaluate claims about scientific methodology made at a Swedish university recently (U. of Gothenburg), that "research traditions" are important, and that doing research using hypotheses is dangerous and unnecessary. [1]

Are research traditions (where a disciplinary field preserves specific methods) important for producing knowledge and science? Absolutely not: the history of science proves resolutely that research traditions have usually been the greatest obstacle to knowledge and science (cf. Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions). They should be treated like nuclear waste (figuratively speaking). 

Are hypotheses dangerous and unnecessary in research whose goal is to produce knowledge and science? No. A hypothesis is a tentative claim that is made the object of evaluation. It is impossible to do research effectively unless one evaluates one's claims. A scientific work must identify what new claims it is making (i.e. what hypotheses it is raising for evaluation), so that these can be evaluated as either true or false.

Here is a useful distinction: science, journalism, churnalism. Science produces knowledge through critically evaluating claims in a way that can be agreed upon objectively or inter-subjectively. It cannot claim to produce knowledge if "only some people can see it". When only some people believe something, and cannot prove it to all other people, they have produced belief, not knowledge. Although they may claim to have produced esoteric (hidden) knowledge, verifying that in a way that all people can agree on is a demanding task in and of itself. 

Journalism seeks to describe the world in a factual way. It claims, "This is what happened." It produces purported knowledge of the world. It is not scientific knowledge because journalism's process does not work with testing claims (hypotheses) that can then be tested by any other person (with the required research resources like microscopes or field-time). Journalism produces less reliable information about the Universe, and as such cannot participate in the highly productive process of reductionism and accumulation that science does. One cannot build on journalism's facts reliably, the way that one is supposed to be able to with science's facts.

Churnalism is a relatively new form of journalism, where the journalist simply takes the statements of others and assembles them into a new publication. There is no attempt to be factual beyond accurately repeating what others have said. Those statements may be complete falsehoods. No attempt to verify those statements is made at all. The onset of churnalism is related to the financial interests of journalistic publications, or perhaps more accurately named information media. Churnalism has few risks (of lawsuits for example) and low costs (information can be produced simply by "churning" information that others provide, through for example "press releases"). 

Astoundingly, a lot of what is published in the humanities field is closest to churnalism, in terms of informativeness, factuality, tendency to mislead, and method. Humanities academics often simply "churn" the contributors of others into a new publication, adding no knowledge (scientific or purported) at all. The typical method is to critique the work of other humanities academics using the theories of yet other humanities academics, thus merely churning. Without going into the self-defeating foundational ideas of the humanities dating from the early 19th century (ideas concerned with meetings of minds and similar romantic, poetical, unscientific concepts), one can conclude from the patent and ubiquitous churnalistic bankruptcy of the humanities that the entire project ought to be turned out of the universities, where the production of new knowledge should be the rule for all intellectual work.

This brings us back to the need for hypotheses, tentative truth claims that are subjected to rigorous testing to decide whether they are true or not. If they are true, then presto, one has produced knowledge (so long as the hypothesis is new). 

What can we say of Gothenburg University regarding hypotheses as dangerous because its students do not know how to handle them? It is a confirmation that the humanities are not really in the business of producing knowledge. Again, the growth of knowledge can only come through making and testing tentative truth claims (hypotheses). If a humanities department (e.g. for the study of religions) has not trained its students to handle hypotheses, then it is unlikely that its focus is knowledge, and much more likely that it is engaged in a highly manicured form of churnalism. That is, although it will claim society's prestige and resources to focus on knowledge, its ineptitude and fear in regard to hypotheses unmasks it as a churnalistic organization.

Once one has made the decision to stick to knowledge and science and to avoid a useless (even injurious) run-around, there still remain a huge number of pitfalls that the history of science and knowledge-production informs us of. One of the best summaries here is by the Cornell University agricultural scientist and theory of science scholar Hugh G. Gauch, Jr., Scientific Method in Brief (Cambridge University Press, 2012).

Many scientists can attest to hitting unjust obstacles set up within their community. Gauch gives various examples of the kinds of unjust obstacles appearing regularly in the scientific community. A particularly important type of obstacle also appears regularly in the humanities: "the fallacy of unobtainable perfection". Let's let the talented Dr. Gauch describe it for us:

An alluring fallacy for scientists is unobtainable perfection, or at least excessive perfection. This fallacy discredits a result by requiring greater accuracy or scope. For instance, if a paper under review compares methods A and B, a reviewer might say that it must also compare method C in ordre to be publishable. But simply to complain that more could be done is irrelevant because this is always the case. Rather, the relevant criteria are whether that paper adds to what was known before and whether it has some theoretical interest or practical value. [2] 

Again Gothenburg University furnishes a cautionary case-example. An obligatory course for a BA degree in theology sets up a range of requirements for students to meet, but some of these requirements are defined so vaguely that a student must hope that the university official's arbitrary decision will be favourable so that the student can receive a degree for several years' work. Specifically, students in this course (RKT 145) should at the course's completion be able to:

"describe central theoretical perspectives in one of the five disciplinary areas and connect these to identified problems" [3]

"communicate scientific problems and solutions" [4]

What are "the central theoretical perspectives" in any humanities field? There is a continuous upheaval and expansion in the theories of a humanities field, not least because of churnalism (where theory is substituted for knowledge). So this is an arbitrary decision to be made by a university official, a situation exacerbated by requiring a student to "connect" these theoretical perspectives to "identified problems". The spectre of unobtainable perfection appears quite clearly here. But that spectre really gets to spook when armed with the requirement to communicate "scientific solutions" to problems established in the humanities. What are these? Only the university official can say, using his or her arbitrary calculation. 

Science outside engineering and other applied areas rarely talks about "scientific solutions" to "scientific problems", not least because science doesn't progress that way. Science asks questions and then tries to answer them truthfully. Hey do you have a solution on gravity? What's your solution on the effects of sucrose on mammals? Science doesn't orient to solutions but to questions and hypotheses.  



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Notes:

[1] The context was theology and the study of religions. The assertion that hypotheses are dangerous focused on the inability of university students to handle them properly. 

The associate professor who made these claims has disagreed that I have understood what he said, and requested I publish an apology. At present I do not yet see any evidence that I have misunderstood the points at issue. In lieu of an apology, I asked if I could publish the email where he argues I've misunderstood and requests an apology, to which he agreed. Here is the main body text of the email.

Jag menar inte att hypoteser per se är farliga; det är en uppenbar missuppfattning.

Den fråga som ställs i en uppsats kan antingen inbegripa en hypotes eller inte. Det är fortfarande en fråga: dvs. Är denna hypotes hållbar? Man anför då argument och bevis mot och för hypotesen som på detta sätt prövas. Detta är helt oproblematiskt.

Sedan är det ett empiriskt faktum att många studenter inte är så pass insatta i sitt fält att de har formulerat en hypotes.

Vissa studenter har dock en kvasireligiös tro på sin hypotes, med andra ord oavsett vilken kritik som framförs eller vilka motbevis som läggs fram så håller man fast vid den. Då är det inte längre en fråga om hypotesprövning utan om ett slags religiös tro.

Jag önskar dig lycka till med ditt uppsatsarbete, men i fortsättningen skulle jag stämma av med den person som du kritiserar innan du gör det offentligt på en blogg. Det skulle vara trevligt om du kunde föra in en ursäkt på din blogg att du missuppfattat det jag sa på presentationen.

To understand the associate professor's email with more context, I include here the immediately preceding email from me to him.

Jag ber om ursäkt om jag har missuppfattat din presentation. Jag har ett starkt minne av att du sade:

(a) grundutbildningsstudenter har ofta svårt att hantera hypoteser, exempelvis de fokuserar på att driva på och stödja sin egen idé. Min sammanfattning var att presentationen håller hypoteser för farliga (en universitetsstudent kan ej nödvändigtvis hantera dem).

Jag står kritiskt till dessa påståenden i din presentation, och står fast vid min sammanfattning (dock det kan förbättras genom att bakgrundsfakta läggs fram. Jag bör göra det.)

(b) grundutbildningsstudenter behöver inte ha en hypotes. Min sammanfattning var därför att din presentation höll hypoteser för icke nödvändiga.

Jag hoppas att du inte tar det personligt att jag tar upp kritiska invändningar. Jag menar inte att göra personpåhopp eller dylikt. Jag tar på största allvar universitetets uppgift att producera kunskap och vetenskap, och i linje med denna uppgift försöker jag dela mina kritiska invändningar med dig och offentligt. En definition av vetenskap som finns i literaturen är "a community of scepticism". Ingen perfekt definition kanske, men den närmar sig det som krävs för att universitetet ska vara vetenskapligt (producerar kunskap).

[2] Gauch, Scientific Method in Brief, p. 125.

[3] "redogöra för centrala teoretiska perspektiv inom något av de fem ämnesområdena samt koppla dessa till identifierade problem"

[4] "kommunicera vetenskapliga problem och lösningar"

Biblical infallibility is masked by use of the Competitive Principle

Update: My understanding of the infallibility of the Bible has progressed since writing this 7 years ago. Please see my Translator's Preface to The Christ Family Bible.

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Is the Holy Bible infallible? Infallibility here means entirely consistent and correct in theological teaching. The Bible itself says this with other words (2 Timothy 3:16). Having worked on Biblical theology for several years, I witness with joy and praise for God Almighty that I have found no evidence that the Bible is not infallible. 

But I have also found much evidence of the operation of the Competitive Principle, both in how the Bible teaches and how readers treat the Bible. That is, there are two directions of competition: the writer's competitiveness and the reader's competitiveness. The result of this competition we can see today: many readers "discover" huge amounts of fake evidence that the Bible is not infallible. They wanted to find it and did; they approached their reading of the Bible competitively rather than cooperatively. Similarly, Almighty God is described in the Bible as wanting that very same outcome (Proverbs 1:7; Matthew 13:10-15; Luke 8:9-10).

What is the Competitive Principle? See the articles at this website about it.

Is theology an esoteric science?

Update: Schisms and apostasy may have been caused during the first and second millennia AD by factors other than the professional practice of theology. I.e. schism and apostasy may have been largely caused by lack of genuineness about being a disciple of Christ.

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Theology does appear to be an esoteric science, having secret, for some people inaccessible knowledge on certain central topics, when one considers any of a number of facts.

Firstly there is the testimony from God's Holy Word. 

(1) Christ Jesus is described repeatedly by different sources (Mt 13:10-15; Lk 8:9-10) as having taught deliberately in an esoteric way about the Kingdom of God.

(2) Christ Jesus also is described as having said that few people find the way to eternal fellowship with God (Mt 7:13-14).

(3) Christ also is reported to have said that only the obedient can and will receive the spirit of truth (John 14:15-17). This is echoed in Christ's warning that the way to life is difficult, through a narrow gate, suggesting obedience that is highly demanding (Mt 7:13-14).

(5) Saint Paul the Apostle described that the announcement of God's Kingdom and the rescue through Christ Jesus could not be perceived by people going into eternal condemnation, whose minds were blinded by "the god of this aeon", i.e. the Devil, the Satan (2 Cor 4:3-4).

(6) God is described also in the Old Testament as having a personal quality of following a principle of competition in communication, rather than cooperation, with certain types of people (Ps 18:26; Ps 25:12-14; Prov 1:7).

Secondly, the testimony of the Holy Bible is confirmed by what (perhaps) anyone can see in the experience of the universe.

(7) Simultaneous with the establishment of theology as a discipline of a university, i.e. as a universally accessible science, there was a catastrophic and since-then unretrieved loss of consensus among the community of nominal Christian theologians and practitioners on how a human being gains eternal fellowship with God (i.e. inherits the Kingdom of God). Although the first milennium also witnessed schisms (also thanks to the inability of theologians to preserve agreement), it is the second millennium of Christianity, when theology detaches from churches and runs its own course, that could be called the Age of Schisms. 

This, despite the conditions for inheriting eternal life being the central topic of the New Testament's 27 books, whose study was already then circa 1000 years old. 

As of A.D. 2017, the absence of consensus has persisted. For example, teaching on the topic of how to enter eternal life differs radically among the three main groups of churches, the Orthodox, the Catholic, and the Protestant.

(8) The academic/scientific interpretation of the New Testament is fractured and confused, lacking consensus on most or all of the texts that are focused on inheriting eternal life. The field of New Testament Studies can be compared with illegal genetics modification research, for its chaos and destructiveness. Only rarely does it produce beneficial (actual, relevant) knowledge (see for example the scholarship of Joachim Jeremias).

(9) Outward evidence of citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven is found only among few. There are only few Christians who are martyrs, in the classical, original sense of losing earthly foundations (life, health, property, etc.) for the sake of their testimony and loyalty to their heavenly foundations. It is also very rare to observe the fruit of the Holy Spirit (cf. Galatians 5) among nominal Christians.

(10) Rationality requires obedience to God, given the incontrovertible evidence that a supreme God created the Universe and the infinite cost of being condemned to eternal Hell fire and torment (cf. Pascal's Wager). However, most people do not choose obedience.

(11) Rationality would also suggest that God, when making an eternal choice of who will live with Him and His family, will create severe tests of loyalty, where 'faking it' isn't possible. This would make it less plausible that eternal life could be inherited on the basis of making a certain confessional statement or doing certain actions (that could be performed mechanically).

Now, is there a way to prove objectively the existence of esoteric knowledge? Some pathways are worth considering:

(a) If the proper interpretation of the New Testament is hidden, then one would expect certain phenomena to be observable. 

- No consensus on the interpretation of the New Testament. 
- All attempts to formulate an objective description of how to inherit the Kingdom of God and eternal life will fail to gain agreement.
- Widespread claims by practising Christians that there is esoteric knowledge (cf. Christian mysticism) central to the practise of Christian discipleship.

(b) A technology whose operation is kept secret (hidden, esoteric) provides a simple example of being able to prove the existence of esoteric knowledge. The operation (work) of the technology can be seen; for example, a mobile phone is able to perform some operation. However, the way that the mobile phone does this is kept secret. 
       Generalising, the hypothesis that "how to do X is esoteric knowledge" fails to be refuted so long as it is possible to see X being performed, and yet no explanation (knowledge) of how to do X is forthcoming.
       Returning to our case of the New Testament, and specifically its teaching on how to inherit the Kingdom of God (and eternal life), we see that if one can see that inheritance, and no explanation of how the inheritors have done so is forthcoming, then the knowledge of how to inherit can be said to be esoteric (hidden, secret).  
       Can one see inheritance of the Kingdom of God? One of the key texts that helps to answer this question is Romans 8:14-17.

¹⁴ For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. ¹⁵ For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. ¹⁶ The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (AKJV)

This text clarifies that one can see the preconditions of inheritance: (a) being led by the Spirit of God; (b) suffering with Christ; (c) glorification with Christ. It is difficult to believe that a person evidencing all these three preconditions would not inherit God's Kingdom and eternal life.
       A very similar picture of the road to eternal life is found in  Philippians 3:8-14.

⁸ Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, ⁹ and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: ¹⁰ that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; ¹¹ if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. ¹² Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. ¹³ Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, ¹⁴ I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (AKJV)

Certainly, these texts from Saint Paul are consistent with the warning by Christ Jesus that the way to eternal life is hard-pressured and few find it. It is notable that both Pauline texts talk about the process of suffering with Christ and being glorified with Christ, in a way that is at least a little cloudy (mysterious? hidden? esoteric?). 

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Notes

AKJV: KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.

God's Word is perfect, but Christians "all stumble a lot"

Update: on infallibility, please see my Translator's Preface to The Christ Family Bible.

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The Holy Bible can be translated so as to preserve its perfection and infallibility, for example by avoiding the common way of translating the Lord Jesus's teaching in Matthew 5:48, where He is made to say that listeners will be "perfect". Christians actually "all stumble a lot", God's Word in James 3:2 says. 

The infallible translation of Matthew 5:48 would instead read, "Thus you will be absolute [i.e. unqualified, in loving all], as the Father of yours, the Heavenly [one] is absolute."

Here as most elsewhere in the Holy Bible we see the operation of the Competitive Principle, where God's Word allows for misunderstanding by the uncooperative reader.

Tragedies of mistranslation: the case of snake, poison and illness protection

Mark 16:17a

Greek: semeîa dè toîs pisteúsasin taûta parasoloutʰèsei

Proposed solution: And signs will accompany them having been faithful to these things [i.e. Christ’s commandment in Mark 16:14 to go into the entire world and preach the good news to all Creation]

Importance: The dominant translation tradition (at least from the KJV onward) opens the door for the tragic and possibly entirely wrong practice of testing Christian belief by handling poisonous snakes, or insisting on healing without medical doctors or medicines (cp. Ecclesiasticus / Ben Sira 38:1-15), etc.

Evidence in favour of the proposed solution:
(1) The New Testament repeatedly describes precisely these miraculous signs accompanying Christ’s apostles.

(2) The logic of the text fits with the rest of the New Testament: God does miracles so that people will believe God’s messengers.

(3) That logic—of apostles being confirmed and aided by God’s provision of miraculous signs—is explicitly described in the immediately following text (Mark 16:20).

(4) The Christian Bible explicitly gives place to medical science as a gift from God (Ecclesiasticus / Ben Sira 38:1-15). If every church (or every Christian) could heal, there would be no need for Holy Scripture to exhort believers to go to physicians (who pray to God).

What's the worst mistranslation of Christ's teaching?

Could it be saying that Christ commends unrighteousness, in Luke 16:8-9? 

NKJV: So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail [or “it fails”],  they may receive you into an everlasting home.

Proposed solution: And the master approved of the house-manager of the unrighteousness, because he acted shrewdly, because the sons of this aeon are shrewder than the sons of light, in their own generation. And I say to you, “Make friends for yourselves from the mammon of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they should welcome you into the eternal dwellings!”?

Importance: The dominant translation tradition describes the Lord Jesus Christ as recommending that his disciples act like the house-manager who first squanders his master’s property, and then when caught, pulls other people into fraud, lying, and stealing.

For analysis, read on at A Guide to Misleading Bible Quotes

The perfecting symmetry: an example from the Psalter

"Virtuous is a man who is being gracious and lending;

he will steward the accounts of his with judgement."

                            Psalm 112 (LXX 111), verse 5

"By doctrines changeful and strange do not be carried away..."

From The Letter to the Hebrews, chapter 13:

7  Remember them leading you, whomever has spoken to you the Word of the God, of whom—examining carefully the outcome of the conduct—the faith imitate.

8  Jesus Christ yesterday, and today, is the same, and into the ages.

9  By doctrines changeful and strange do not be carried away. Good, indeed, it is for the heart to be established by grace*, not by foods, by which they walking in accordance with them have not been profited. (CFB)

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Notes

* The Ancient Greek word used here is cháris, which has many possible meanings. The sense of "thanks" or "gratitude" can have been meant instead of or in addition to "grace".

CFB: Scripture quoted from the Christ Family Bible. Copyright © 2017 by J.J. Thomas. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Theological views on the "sustainability problem"

Update: I no longer believe the claims made in the paragraph marked now in brown text below.

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Theology gives us important principles through which to view the problem that societies are locally and globally undermining the environmental-economic-social-institutional basis for future generations. 

(1) Rationality is guaranteed only to people who "deem God worthy to have in knowledge" (Romans 1:28-31). Compare with the Lord's teaching that the Spirit of the Truth will only be given to those who keep the commandments of Jesus (John 14:15-17).

(2) Divine wrath is expressed in part through mega-scale environmental-economic-social-institutional disasters (Revelation 7-18). 

(3) The divine "economy" (or "plan of salvation") explicitly details that God does not direct the global human society toward sustainability (Matthew 24, Revelation 7-22). This current period of history is a time of testing, focused on the salvation of souls for eternal life, not focused on building an earthly (material) prosperity.

A brief look at sustainability over the past 2000 years (the aeon, or historical period, starting with Jesus's resurrection) shows that sustainability is better achieved by societies that are obedient to Christ's commands, especially Christ's command to make disciples of all nations. 

These theological principles can be summarized:

(1) The Christus Rex Principle

(2) Limited Sustainability Principle

Why is the NT ambiguous?

Why is the New Testament ambiguous?

The simple answer is: God has allowed it for some reason, given that nothing happens without the consent of God, who is all-powerful (Matt. 10:29, 2 Cor. 6:18, Rev. 1:8, 4:8, 11:17, 15:3, 16:7, 16:14, 19:6, 19:15, 21:22).

The detailed, studied answer is that the New Testament—the 27 texts that constitute the New Covenant through Christ Jesus—is  sometimes ambiguous due to a "competitive principle"* explained repeatedly in the Holy Bible.

[1] In Christ Jesus's teaching
"And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: for this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." (Matt. 13:10-15, AKJV)

"Go in through the narrow gate, because wide is the gate and roomy the way leading away into the destruction and many are the in-goers through it, because narrow is the gate and hard-pressured the way leading away into the life and few are the finders of it.." (Matt. 7:13-14, CFB)

[2] In Isaiah

"Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." (Isa. 6:10, AKJV)

[3] In the Psalter
"a good understanding have all they that do his commandments..." (Ps. 111:10, AKJV)

"with the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure;
and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward."
(Ps. 18:26, AKJV)

"Who is the human who is fearing the Lord?
He will furnish law for him, in a way that He selected.
The soul of his will lodge among good things,
and the seed of his will inherit land.
The Lord will strengthen them fearing Him,
[and the name of the Lord, them fearing Him,]
and His covenant He will make known to them."
(Ps. 25:12-14, CFB)

[4] In Proverbs "Wisdom's beginning is fear of God,
and good comprehension is to all them practising it [wisdom].
And piety unto God is perception's beginning,
yet wisdom and fostering impious people will hate." (Prov. 1:7, CFB)

[5] In Ecclesiasticus / Sirach
"When ye glorify the Lord, exalt him as much as ye can; for even yet will he far exceed: and when ye exalt him, put forth all your strength, and be not weary; for ye can never go far enough. Who hath seen him, that he might tell us? and who can magnify him as he is? There are yet hid greater things than these be, for we have seen but a few of his works. For the Lord hath made all things; and to the godly hath he given wisdom." (Sir. 43:30-33, AKJV)

[6] In Baruch
"But they were destroyed, because they had no wisdom, and perished through their own foolishness. Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds? Who hath gone over the sea, and found her, and will bring her for pure gold? No man knoweth her way, nor thinketh of her path. But he that knoweth all things knoweth her, and hath found her out with his understanding: he that prepared the earth for evermore hath filled it with four-footed beasts.... He hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it into Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved." (Bar. 3:28-32, 36, AKJV)


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Notes

* In the language science of Pragmatics, the Competitive Principle is a corollary (and competitor) to the Gricean and Neo-Gricean hypotheses about a Cooperative Principle that guides human communication. It appears that many Biblical texts, not least St. Paul the Apostle's texts, are guided by a Competitive Principle, made explicit in several places (cf. Matt 13:10-15; Mark 4:10-12; Luke 8:10; John 6:22-68). For further discussion, see "A Competitive Principle Hypothesis", "What can language sciences do for readers of St. Paul's letters?", "A Christian reflexion on Pragmatics", "Sanctification methods, the Competitive Principle, etc.", "Reading the Holy Bible sympathetically".

CFB: Scripture quoted from the Christ Family Bible. Copyright © 2018 by J.J. Thomas. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

AKJV: Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.

The New Covenant through Christ Jesus is not unconditional

Update: It would be better to list the conditions named by the Lord Jesus and then in a separate list the conditions named by Paul and others in the Bible, due to the potential differences (on which, see my Translator's Preface to The Christ Family Bible.)

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[1] Jesus Christ's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount

"Not everyone who is saying to me 'Lord! Lord!' will enter into

the kingdom of the heavens, but the one who is doing the will

of the father of mine who is in the heavens." (Matt. 7:14, CFB)

[2] The apostle St. Paul's warning in 1 Corinthians

"Or do you not know that unrighteous people will not inherit God's kingdom?

Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, 

nor adulterers, nor malakoì,* nor arsenokoîtai,*

nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor the abusive, 

nor the rapacious will inherit God's kingdom." (1 Cor. 6:9-10, CFB)

[3] The apostle St. Paul's warning in Galatians
"Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are 

fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, pharmakeia,*

enmity, strife, rivalry, rages, factiousness, divisions, heresies,

envy, bouts of drunkenness, revelries, and the things like these,

of which I say beforehand to you, just as I said before, that 

they practicing the things like these will not inherit God's kingdom." (Gal. 5:19-21, CFB *This term had multiple senses. Possibly meant here is use of poisons and use of sorcery.)

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Notes

1 Cor 6:9-10  The Greek term malakós (plural: malakoí) has a large number of senses (refer please to Liddell Scott Jones for a description of these). It is not clear what sense, or senses, that St. Paul means here in 1 Corinthians 6:9. The immediate context and the New Testament give the best support for the sense of "cowardly". The term arsenokoîtai is a compound of the terms for "male" (ársen) and "sexual intercourse" (koíte), and the leading hypothesis among dictionaries (e.g. Thayer's, LSJ, DGE) is that it refers to men having sex with each other.

CFB: Scripture quoted from the Christ Family Bible. Copyright © 2017 by J.J. Thomas. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Expect perfect governance systems from God for His people

Update: I no longer believe that the Lord wants for there to be elevated positions of authority in churches such as pastors or elders or deacons, given the commandments of the Lord Jesus in Matt. 23 and John 21. 

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The New Testament warns repeatedly about false preachers, false teachers, false evangelists, false missionaries, using strong terms like "wolves" (Acts 20:29) and "self-destruction" (2 Peter 3:16). It is reasonable to expect, therefore, that God would provide church-governance systems that would protect God's people. Read the New Testament and consider whether you see divinely intelligent, even perfect governance systems. 

Consider for example these governance structures specified in the New Testament:

(1) Obedience to Christ and His apostles is the foundation of the church. 
"If they listened to Me they will listen to you", Jesus observes, in John's Gospel (15:20). 

We have the 27 books of the NT as the word of Christ's apostles. This is where the New Covenant between God and humanity is described. 

(2) A huge range of types of divine evidence of church obedience and church disobedience is clearly described.
See for example John 8:31-47; Romans 1:16-31; 1 Corinthians 11:30-32; 2 Corinthians 3:1—4:6; Galatians 5:19-24; James 5:14-18; Revelation 2:19-23.

(3) Highly qualified elders pastor and oversee the church.
The necessary qualifications are listed in 1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9. The NT describes a powerful and elegantly simple church-governance model: co-elders pastor and oversee together, they shepherd and manage God's household to be obedient, and the ones who are doing their work well are given a double honour (1 Tim. 5:17-18).

(4) The entire Holy Scriptures, especially the New Testament, are taught to the church.
Knowledge of the Scriptures by the members of the church is vital for governance. Church members understand what is sin (and needs to be challenged), what is false teaching, who qualifies to be an elder, etc. 

"The Word of the Christ must dwell abundantly in you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing yourselves, with psalms, with hymns, with odes spiritual in gratitude singing in the hearts of yours to the God." (Col. 3:16, CFB) 

"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work." (2 Tim. 3:16-17, NRSV)

(5) Elders are rewarded (or penalized) through performance-based honours. 
Consider for example 1 Timothy 5:17-18.

Οἱ καλῶς προεστῶτες πρεσβύτεροι διπλῆς τιμῆς ἀξιούσθωσαν,
"The elders who are leading well must be deemed worthy of double honour,

μάλιστα οἱ κοπιῶντες ἐν λόγῳ καὶ διδασκαλίᾳ·
especially they who are working with the word and the teaching. 

λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφή· Βοῦν ἀλοῶντα οὐ φιμώσεις,
For the Scripture says, 'An ox treading you shall not muzzle',

καί· Ἄξιος ὁ ἐργάτης τοῦ μισθοῦ αὐτοῦ. (SBLGNT)
and, 'Worthy is the worker of his wage.'" (1 Tim. 5:17-18, CFB)

This is a commandment that church members—not evangelists like Timothy, or the elders themselves!—have to carry out. 

(6) Sin by members (or by elders) leads to explusion unless there is repentance.

See for example Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Corinthians 5:9-13.

(7) Christians are required to endure any consequence for the sake of love, work that includes the rebuking of false preaching. 
See for example John 15:9-14; 2 Timothy 4:1-2.

In sum, layers of defence is what one finds. Furthermore, these layers of defence are mutually reinforcing. 

But it all depends on knowledge of the foundational texts, especially the New Testament. One could say that disrespect of God's Word carries with it disaster, because perhaps none of the layers of defence will work without complete knowledge of the New Testament. 

Indeed God's Word warns: "God opposes the arrogant, but gives grace to the humble" (Jas. 4:6b, CFB), and "Just as they did not deem the God worthy to have in knowledge, the God gave them over to an unworthy mind" (Rom. 1:28, CFB). 

Mutually reinforcing layers of defence for churches:
(1) A brief text (circa 138,000 words) describes the New Covenant.

(2) All church members are to be taught this text.

(3) All church members are given a duty by Christ to prosecute sin until there is either repentance or expulsion.

(4) Elders must have multiple qualifications listed in the text.

(5) God provides evidence of obedience and disobedience to the New Covenant. This too is described in the text. 

(6) Church members must doubly honour elders working well, especially those working with God's Word and teaching. 

(7) Christians are commanded to give up anything and everything in order to protect each other's eternal salvation.

Now take a good long hard look at systematic deception. How are people led away from the New Covenant? How are people made defenceless?

Fraudulent "retailers" of God's Word (2 Cor. 2:17) pervert the church-defence system, by teaching a message that is at odds with the New Testament. Then people develop perhaps not at all as Christians, and could hardly ever hope to, so long as they believe in an anti-gospel, a false version of the New Covenant that sets itself in opposition to the actual New Covenant. 

For example:

"Christ demands nothing from you except belief that He died for your sins."

"Obey your priest and your church, because only we can guarantee eternal salvation."

"We're all sinners and must not judge others. Only Satan wants us or others to feel guilty."

Such false preaching is the norm today. It is astounding to see the continual bassooning out of radically false, perverting, misleading messages about the New Covenant. It is rare to hear any opposition, in the form of a person quoting the New Testament accurately in order to lead people back into following Christ Jesus as lord, shepherd, king of kings, God in fact. 

How often do you hear for example these warnings by Christ?

"Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God." (Rev. 3:2, NRSV)

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." (Matt. 7:21, NRSV)

"If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love." (John 15:10, NRSV)

Astounding as the oceanic proportions of false preaching are, Christ Jesus warned of this from the start, as did other apostles like Paul and Peter:
"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matt. 7:13-14, NRSV)

"And if our good news is also veiled, it is veiled among those perishing, among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unfaithful, so that the light of the good news of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine." (2 Cor. 4:3-4 CFB)

"For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths." (2 Tim. 4:3-4, NRSV)

"But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive opinions. They will even deny the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Even so, many will follow their licentious ways, and because of these teachers the way of truth will be maligned. And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation, pronounced against them long ago, has not been idle, and their destruction is not asleep." (2 Pet. 2:1-3, NRSV)

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Notes

CFB: Scripture quoted from the Christ Family Bible. Copyright © 2017 by J.J. Thomas. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

NRSV: New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

SBLGNT: Scripture quotations marked SBLGNT are from the SBL Greek New Testament. Copyright © 2010 Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software.

Among the sons of the disobedience, when you lived by the limbs that are on the earth

The astounding, liberating, knowledge-giving text of The Letter to the Colossians, chapter 3 (vv.1-10), in the Christ Family Bible translation:

1  If, therefore, you were raised with the Christ, seek the things above, where the Christ is, sitting by the right hand of the God. 
2  Mind the things above, not the things upon the earth. 
3  For you have died, and the life of yours is hidden together with the Christ, by the God. 
4  Whensoever the Christ is revealed—the life of ours—then also you together with Him will be revealed in glory. 
5  Mortify, therefore, the limbs that are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, bad yearning, and the greediness (which is idolatry), 
6  because of which things the wrath of the God comes upon the sons of the disobedience, 
7  among whom also you once walked, when you lived by these things. 
8  Now, though, put away—also you—all of them; wrath, soulish feeling, evil, abusive speech, shameful language from the mouth of yours;
9  do not lie to each other; you having stripped off the old human being together with his practices, 
10  and having put on the new who is being renewed unto recognition according to the image of the creator of him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but where instead the all are also by all things Christ.

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Notes

CFB: Scripture quoted from the Christ Family Bible. Copyright © 2017 by J.J. Thomas. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Christ and His apostles defined the New Covenant—don't try to re-define it!

Update: I believe that the New Covenant is defined by Christ's words, and that other words in the Bible can support understanding of Christ's words. However, contradictions and tensions can also be found. Please see my Translator's Preface to The Christ Family Bible.

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Also in ancient times, people depended on agreements. The most dependable agreement was (and still is) the agreement that God offers to humanity. This is because God is not only all-powerful, able to perform what He promises, but also perfectly honourable. God has exalted His word above all His name (Ps. 138:2, cp. Num. 23:19, Deut. 7:9).

What is the New Covenant in Christ? What is the agreement here? That is what the New Testament is for. Its 27 books define the agreement. 

What then can we say and observe of people who claim that the New Covenant in Christ can be defined differently?

Proper church governance

Update: I no longer have confidence in any church hierarchy, given that the Lord Jesus is recorded as saying in Matthew 23 that all disciples are siblings, none of whom should be called rabbi or guide, because we have one teacher (the Christ), and that anyone who exalts themselves will be brought low. In John 21, the Lord's commission to Peter can be read without any permission for hierarchy: the two Ancient Greek verbs used there, bosko and poimaino, had several senses each, such as "feed" and "tend" respectively.

____________

Why is there so much disappointment surrounding church pastors, and church governance in general? Why is there widespread evidence of churches failing in their duties?

One factor may be that churches ignore and disobey God's Word on how a church is to be led. Ignorance of God's Word and disobedience toward God's Word will usually lead to the lack of God's blessing. One can choose blessing and order, with God's Word, or chaos and curse, without God's Word.

How are churches to be governed, according to the New Testament? 

(1) Christ Jesus is the head of the church (Eph. 4:23; Col. 1:18).

The implications of this are that there is no room for disobedience to Christ, who warns of consequences such as loss of church status through the removal of the Holy Spirit (Rev. 2:5), loss of eternal salvation (Matt. 7:21-23), and divine punishments like illnesses even unto death (1 Corinthians 11:30-32). 

Many churches replace Christ in the head position with their own favourite "theologian" / "bishop" / "pastor" whose false teaching veers away from the New Testament.

(2) Elders are overseers responsible for obedience to Christ (1 Tim. 3:4-5).

These men are compared to parents or shepherds, responsible for the wellbeing of those in their care. They have responsibility for teaching, alongside church discipline, and they are to be compensated economically for this work. 

Οἱ καλῶς προεστῶτες πρεσβύτεροι διπλῆς τιμῆς ἀξιούσθωσαν, 

The elders who are leading well must be deemed worthy of double honour, 

μάλιστα οἱ κοπιῶντες ἐν λόγῳ καὶ διδασκαλίᾳ·

especially they who are working with the word and teaching. 

λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφή· Βοῦν ἀλοῶντα οὐ φιμώσεις, 

For the Scripture says, "An ox treading you shall not muzzle",

καί· Ἄξιος ὁ ἐργάτης τοῦ μισθοῦ αὐτοῦ. (SBLGNT)

and, "Worthy is the worker of his wage." (1 Tim. 5:17-18, CFB)

What this and related NT texts appear to show is that each church is to have conciliar leadership: not a pastor who dictates, but a council of elders who together take the vital responsibilities for the wellbeing of the church. 

Πρεσβυτέρους οὖν τοὺς ἐν ὑμῖν παρακαλῶ 

Elders, therefore, who are among you, I exhort,

ὁ συμπρεσβύτερος καὶ μάρτυς τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ παθημάτων, 

I who am a co-elder and witness of the sufferings of the Christ,

ὁ καὶ τῆς μελλούσης ἀποκαλύπτεσθαι δόξης κοινωνός, 

who am also a sharer of the glory destined to be revealed, 

ποιμάνατε τὸ ἐν ὑμῖν ποίμνιον τοῦ θεοῦ, 

shepherd the flock of the God that is among you,

ἐπισκοποῦντες μὴ ἀναγκαστῶς ἀλλὰ ἑκουσίως κατὰ θεόν,

overseeing not compulsorily but voluntarily according to God,

μηδὲ αἰσχροκερδῶς ἀλλὰ προθύμως,

nor shamefully for gain but zealously, 

μηδ’ ὡς κατακυριεύοντες τῶν κλήρων ἀλλὰ τύποι γινόμενοι τοῦ ποιμνίου·  (SBLGNT)

nor as bemastering the lots but being models of the flock. (1 Pet. 5:1-3, CFB)

So whereas the NT appears to provide a simple, transparent and fairly wolf-proof model of governance, where God's Word is applied by church co-governors (elders, overseers) whose work can be evaluated by simply comparing it to what the New Testament says, many churches veer away into complex and perverse set-ups, where for example a professional "pastor", with his own Bible interpretation, is given the responsibility to run the church by elders with little knowledge of God's Word. 

A key mistake here appears to be that people misunderstand the New Testament's terms of "elder", "pastor", and "overseer"/"bishop". These appear to be terms for one and the same office. That is to say, an elder is described by the New Testament as a pastor and as an overseer. One of several indications of this is that the apostle Paul addresses the church in Philippi as follows:

Παῦλος καὶ Τιμόθεος δοῦλοι Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ 

Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, 

πᾶσιν τοῖς ἁγίοις ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τοῖς οὖσιν ἐν Φιλίπποις 

to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi,

σὺν ἐπισκόποις καὶ διακόνοις, (SBLGNT)

together with overseers and deacons.... (Phil. 1:1, CFB)

Paul mentions only two types of church offices. Likewise, and perhaps even more compelling, the Letter to Titus (1:5-7) describes an elder as an overseer:

Τούτου χάριν ἀπέλιπόν σε ἐν Κρήτῃ ἵνα τὰ λείποντα ἐπιδιορθώσῃ,
For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting,

καὶ καταστήσῃς κατὰ πόλιν πρεσβυτέρους, ὡς ἐγώ σοι διεταξάμην,
and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:

εἴ τίς ἐστιν ἀνέγκλητος, μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἀνήρ,
if any be blameless, the husband of one wife,

τέκνα ἔχων πιστά, μὴ ἐν κατηγορίᾳ ἀσωτίας ἢ ἀνυπότακτα.
having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.

δεῖ γὰρ τὸν ἐπίσκοπον ἀνέγκλητον εἶναι ὡς θεοῦ οἰκονόμον,
For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God;

μὴ αὐθάδη, μὴ ὀργίλον, μὴ πάροινον, μὴ πλήκτην, μὴ αἰσχροκερδῆ, (SBLGNT)
not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; (AKJV)

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Notes

CFB: Scripture quoted from the Christ Family Bible. Copyright © 2018 by J.J. Thomas. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

AKJV: Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.

SBLGNT: Scripture quotations marked SBLGNT are from the SBL Greek New Testament. Copyright © 2010 Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software.