The elders of Ephesus were exhorted by Paul to feed the ecclesia of God (Acts 20:28), the word feed in this text being the verb, poimaino, of which the word pastor (poimen) in the passage in Ephesians (Eph. 4:11-12) is the noun. Many elders would therefore be teachers ... Paul singled out for special honor those elders who labored in the word and doctrine.
It is well today not to overlook the pastoral aspect of Christian teaching. The ideal is not so much to have pupils learning a set of doctrines, which may be more correct than nutritious, but to have them first realize their starving condition, then lead them to the Chief Pastor who said: "I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." The true pastor does not lead his flock to rich grass on cliff edges, nor does he always keep them in one small field.
