In the early days of the Christian church, while the bishop was the overlooker or overseer of a specific group of workers, the familiar figure of the shepherd was used continually to describe his duties. In fact the bishop's crook or pastoral staff was made like the shepherd's staff, that by the very insignia his flock might be reminded of his spiritual office. The word "pastor" not so long ago was used to describe one who had charge of flocks and herds; but the world's interest in Christianity has made the Christian meaning of the word so largely prevail, that a pastor is now thought of as a spiritual guardian, a moral leader, a minister of a church. Because Paul was instructing Timothy and Titus in regard to their duty as pastors or spiritual shepherds, his letters to them have become known as pastoral epistles.
Paul was a careful student of the ancient law and of the prophets, and his counsel and warning to Timothy reveals a cherished ideal for the shepherd whose flock is a company of believers in Christ. Always there was the temptation for the priest to become personal and to rule by his own mind. Jeremiah speaks of this when he says, "The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit." Jeremiah as a true prophet was commissioned to bring the word of the Lord to backsliding Israel, saying, "Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord;" but his message had in it that beautiful promise, "I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding."
The prophet continued to complain of the inefficiency and unspirituality of the leaders, going so far as to say, "The pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the Lord: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered." He further arraigns the leaders who had charge of God's heritage, saying: "Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it desolate, ... the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart."
