“In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel.” (v. 14)

It’s a touchy subject, and it’s suuuper awkward for me to bring it up…but we ought to pay our pastors.

Most of these men are exactly who you hoped they would be. They are selfless and devoted. They are willing to shoulder the shepherding burden with joy and with gratitude—and they’re willing to do it while making do with a little less.

The Bible tells us what to do:

Pay them.

Paul is sometimes held up as a contrasting ideal: “See? Paul wasn’t paid! He served the church under Christ’s compulsion, and he didn’t want to burden the church! He did secular work while planting and pastoring!” And Paul’s is a remarkable example.

But…how did he teach the church through it? Paul, inspired by the Spirit, said that his own example isn’t the pattern. He opened the Word, and the Word has revealed from the start that Gospel ministers ought to be provided for by the church.

Not paying a pastor isn’t “keeping him humble.” It isn’t teaching him to rely on the Lord—because, believe me, he is doing that for everything every day. It’s simply a church behaving unbiblically, in a way we’d never permit anywhere else.

So pay him. Bless him. And strengthen him for ministry, with grace and freedom.

(Suuuper awkward to hear from a pastor.)

— Tyler