READ IT AGAIN
By Professor E M Blaiklock MA PhD
XL.
"ORDINATION."
Please read John 15.
Does John 15:15
Which reads:
“Henceforth I don’t call you servants; for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you”
Does that verse limit Christian usefulness to those especially commissioned to serve in the organised Church?
No!
The word "ordained" has no ecclesiastical significance. Nor is it strictly a mistranslation. Since the Authorised Version was published, the verb has narrowed in meaning. In 1611 it meant "to put in place." In Psalm 8:3 it is applied to the ordered heavens; "the moon and the stars which thou hast set in place." Thus it was not an unreasonable translation for the simple verb
"put" or "place," which is in the Greek text of this
verse.
The "ordination" of the Church may formally "place" a minister in a sphere of service, but this is not the meaning of the text. The Lord addresses those who have responded to His call, and through them down the centuries all who tread their path, and says "I have chosen you, and so placed you, that you should go and bring forth fruit." The fruit is defined in the Epistle to the Galatians. It is worth noting that the Greek word
"place," could (like its English equivalent) mean in "invest" money. The metaphor will bear working out.