HERALDS AND HERDSMEN
W. Carl Ketcherside

The aged seer upon Patmos, whose task it was to close the prophetic revelation, fulfilled his mission with a written description of an unfolding panorama depicting the dramatic events in the lives of the saints until the tree of life is regained. His vision, like that of Isaiah and Ezekiel, began with a glimpse of the throne scene in heaven. John saw an open door, and heard a voice calling, “Come up hither and I will show you what must take place after this.” He writes, “At once I was in the Spirit, and lo, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne!”

John had also been present with the other envoys after the resurrection of Jesus, when they had questioned if it was time to restore the kingdom to Israel. He had heard the reply, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority.” The authority which places a ban, or creates a restraint, has the power to suspend it, and no doubt the last survivor of the twelve original envoys was filled with joy at the thought of being allowed to see the destiny of the movement which had been his very life since he was summoned from the chore of mending nets in the boat of Zebedee. His anxiety may have been heightened by the threat of Gnosticism which was then seducing the hearts of the believers, for he had been forced to publicly refute this false system being advocated by Cerinthus, who also lived in Ephesus.

He saw the scroll of the future held in the right hand “of him who was seated on the throne” and beheld that it was complete, for it was written within and on the back, and sealed with seven seals. If the scroll could be unrolled and spread open to his gaze, he would be able to know the fate of the saints unto the consummation of the age, for there was no room for addenda or appendix. His attention was arrested by a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seal?” The disappointment of the aged envoy was so intense when no one in heaven or on earth was located that he burst into uncontrolled weeping. At that juncture, one of the celestial elders bade him dry away his tears, and informed him that “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” Only one who had triumphed over the limitations of death could remove the seals concealing the future.

As John looked he saw a Lamb standing as it had been slain, and recognized that the Lion of Judah was the Lamb of God, for he saw him go and take the scroll from the right hand of the one who sat upon the throne. This was the signal for a new song by the heavenly chorus:

“Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals,

for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom

men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation,

and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

and they shall reign on earth.”

From this ascriptive chant we learn four things: (1) The Lamb demonstrated a worthiness to share in the purposes of him who sat on the throne, to which no other being in heaven, on earth, or under the earth, could attain, and this was by virtue of his having been slain; (2) the supreme purpose of his submission to death was to ransom men for God by his blood; (3) the universality of the sacrifice as applicable to men “from every tribe and tongue and people and nation;” (4) the present status of the ransomed ones who have been made “a kingdom and priests to our God.” The saints of God constituted a kingdom of God while John was still living on earth. All who had been ransomed by blood, regardless of tribal origin, language, dialect, or nationality, are priests to God, a royal priesthood of all the holy ones.

Among the accountable beings on earth, there are but two relationships which can be sustained to such a kingdom. One is either a citizen or an alien. Regardless of how much one may admire the constitution, government, and benefits enjoyed by the citizens of a kingdom, he does not by mere feeling or regard become a citizen, but can only become such by compliance with the terms and regulations established by proper authority. The authority which determines the right or method of admissibility does not reside with the alien, but is vested in the sovereign state. The alien cannot dictate the terms upon which he will be received. Those terms are proposed by the government, and the alien can accept or reject them, depending upon his evaluation of the blessings to be enjoyed which do not accrue to his former allegiance. It is obvious that the induction of one into citizenship status does not by that act make of him either an informed citizen or a good one. He may, by virtue of prior reading of the laws and statutes, and because of an interest in jurisprudence, have acquired a considerable knowledge of the responsibilities of citizenship, but this is not necessarily a requirement of induction, else no one could ever become a citizen except the most learned and erudite.

The design of the kingdom of heaven is to so qualify and stimulate men that they may be zealous to confirm their call and election, so that there may be richly provided for them an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This requires a transformation which can only be wrought when “we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another.” This change is not an instantaneous one. It is a growth, not a gift. The induction into citizenship, once accomplished, requires no repetition, but the citizen practices over and over those things inherent in his new state, and as he does so becomes proficient and skilled.

Since there is a difference in the process of becoming a citizen, and in the fulfillment of the responsibilities of citizenship, it was necessary that the King of kings provide two distinct messages; one addressed to aliens and adapted to their needs, the other addressed to citizens and adapted to their changed condition. The first of these messages was to be a proclamation; the second a course of instruction. In view of the nature of these messages, two distinct types of servants or functionaries were provided, each requiring special qualifications consonant with the office or function to be performed. Each of these was designated by terms in common usage among the Greeks, and employed by them to denominate separate and specific agents in the natural or political realms, whose operations would never be confused, one with another.

The message to aliens was a proclamation of glad tidings, and since the bearers of tidings were heralds, it was appropriate to so regard those who carried the message of the Great King decreeing amnesty to all who would acknowledge his sovereignty and enroll as citizens under his rule. The word for herald was kerux; the message he carried was a kerugma. For this reason the envoy from Tarsus, declared, “It pleased God through the folly of the thing preached to save those who believe.” The King James Version leaves the impression that God chose to save men by preaching, or by the act of proclaiming. There was no reason for the Greek philosophers to regard public proclamation as foolish, for the announcement or proclamation of news was a regular feature of their civic and social life. But the word here is kerugma. It refers to the message, not to the method. The envoy declared, “We proclaim Christ crucified.” This was the thing regarded as folly!

Not all of the news proclaimed by a herald would be propitious or favorable. There is nothing inherent in the word “herald” to indicate the nature of his tidings, although some men became associated with auspicious and inspiriting news until the very sight of them was reassuring. A good example is found in the circumstances surrounding the death of Absalom. David was sitting between the two gates of the city awaiting word from the battle. His watchman was standing on the roof of the gate with his eyes trained toward the plain.

When the ten young men who constituted Joab’s private bodyguard had dispatched Absalom, Ahimaaz asked permission to carry tidings to the king. Joab, knowing that Ahimaaz was recognized as a bearer of good news, refused to allow him to go “because the king’s son is dead.” Instead, he ordered the Cushite to run. Ahimaaz persisted in trying to secure consent to run, and Joab, thinking the Cushite was far enough in advance, finally allowed him to go. Ahimaaz ignored the shortest route over the hills, and ran by way of the Jordan valley through level country, so out ran the Cushite. The watchman on the wall called out to David that he saw a man running alone. The king, knowing that this could not represent a routed army fleeing, said, “If he is alone, there are tidings in his mouth.” When the watchman announced the identity of the runner as Ahimaaz, the king said, “He is a good man, and comes with good tidings.” Ahimaaz was reserved for special dispatches of an optimistic type.

Since the message offered by Jesus to aliens is one of good news, another term is used to designate the proclaimers of the divine kerugma —evangelists. This is a transliteration of the Greek term, which consists of a prefix meaning “good” and a word meaning “news, or tidings.” Even the casual reader will observe the word “angel” in the Anglicized form, and realize that a message and a messenger are inherent in the term. So Thayer says of euaggelistes, “A biblical and ecclesiastical word, ‘a bringer of good tidings, an evangelist.’ The name is given in the N. T. to those heralds of salvation through Christ who are not apostles.” One is a preacher or herald because he proclaims; he is an evangelist because the message he bears is good news.

Among the Greeks, Hermes, son of Zeus and Maia, was both the herald of the gods, and the god of the heralds. In the Odyssey he is depicted as the messenger of the gods, and the conductor of the dead to Hades. Because a herald was regarded as one who traveled about constantly carrying messages, Hermes was reputed to be the god of roads and doorways, the guardian of travelers, and the regulator of communications and commerce. A tradition existed in Phrygia that Zeus and one of his sons had long before visited the area in human form. When Paul and Barnabas arrived in Lystra and healed the congenital cripple, the superstitious natives cried out, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.” They called Barnabas Zeus, and because Paul was the chief speaker, they called him Hermes. Little did they realize that these men were truly heralds of the One God.

We are occasionally asked why the RSV uses the names Zeus and Hermes, whereas the King James Version employs the names Jupiter and Mercury. The latter are the Roman names, the former the Greek names, for the same characters in mythology. With the overthrow of Targuinius Superbus, and the founding of the Roman Republic, grave times were experienced because of the unsettled conditions. Intestine warfare disturbed the agricultural economy and rendered commerce difficult. Famine was ever a threat because of the scarcity of grain. It was decided to propitiate the gods by importing Hermes to Rome, where he was given the Italian name Mercurius, as the god of merchandise (merx) and of merchants (mercatores). The temple constructed for the god on Aventine Hill, became the board of exchange for the corn merchants. “The Winged Mercury” is but the Italian version of Hermes.

The mythological figure is familiar to us today, having been adopted as the symbol for various commercial organizations. He is the emblem of the florist trade whose promoters offer to carry your messages of congratulation and condolence to any part of the land through use of the telegraph. The motto “Say it with flowers” always appears in conjunction with Hermes wearing the petasos, or winged cap; the talaria, or winged sandals; and carrying the caduceus, or herald’s staff. The word caduceus is merely a Latin adaptation of the Greek kerukeion.

Because of etymology and derivation the words “herald” and “evangelist” have inherent in them the idea of travel, or of going from place to place, bearing a message. It is this fact which lends strength to the quotation by Paul in Romans 10:15, “And how can men preach except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!” Literally, this would be, “How can men fulfill the mission of a herald unless they are sent . . .  How beautiful are the feet of those who evangelize.” The figure is even more striking in the passage in Isaiah (52:7) from which the quotation is taken, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good, who publishes salvation . . .” We note that heralds are sent, they travel across the mountains, they bring good news, they publish salvation.

But in these days we are treated to something novel in the way of interpretation. Men have created a system for gain, and to sanctify it they have borrowed or appropriated the livery of heaven. We hear of “located evangelists” and we are solemnly informed that travel is not inherent in the word evangelist. The wings have been clipped from the cap and sandals of Hermes, being no longer required. The caduceus has been planted in the pulpit, and the herald now has a “sacred desk” to lean upon. The news is no longer taken, those who want it must come after it. The feet of the evangelist are no longer beautiful. He does not need feet. It is the feet of the needy that must travel. One reads reports of “gospel meetings” and learns how many came across the mountains to hear “the preaching.” The “angel” has been knocked out of evangelist, and a new “angel” has been devised by which hired heralds evangelize the saved!

It is axiomatic that not even a divine power can provide a rule of action which is proof against tampering and wresting by men who have a personal axe to grind. Man seeks always to rationalize in behalf of his own desires and acts. He is predisposed to justify what appeals to him. This temperament has been responsible for many of the abuses which are tolerated to the detriment of the plea for restoration. In the particular area of this thesis it has resulted in creation of a one-man pastor system, rendered the God-ordained office of bishop a hollow mockery and satire, robbed the saints of their rights and prerogatives, and made the sacred doctrine of the priesthood of all believers an empty profession. In all too many instances the motivating factor has been a love for money, a desire for gain, which makes of the disciples of Him who became poor for our sakes, mere tributaries to those who would profit from recounting the story of His impoverishment.

Professional dispensers of the water of life, hard pressed to find some semblance of justification for their official status, seek to disguise the fact that they are pastors by labeling themselves evangelists. One might as well call the factory superintendent a “traveling salesman,” or designate a stationary engineer as a “field agent.” These have confused Hermes the herald, with his son Pan, the shepherd god. They have swapped the caduceus for the shepherd’s crook. The unbiased scholarship of the world is against them. The distinction between the message to the alien and the citizen is understood by the unprejudiced, and the nature of the evangelist is clearly portrayed. Only those who are ignorant of the language of the Spirit would ever argue that the saved can be evangelized. Consider the following quotations gleamed from several sources.

1. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Under “Evangelist”):

It will be seen that as an order in the ministry, the evangelist precedes that of the pastor and teacher, a fact which harmonizes with the character of the work each is still recognized as doing. The evangelist has no fixed place of residence, but moves about in different localities, preaching the gospel to those ignorant of it before. As these are converted and united to Jesus Christ by faith, the work of the teacher and pastor begins, to instruct them further in the things of Christ and build them up in the faith.

2. Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible (Footnote to article “Church”):

The evangelist was a wandering missionary working on new ground and not concerned with the organization of churches already established. In 2 Timothy 4:5 the word is used in a general (preacher of the gospel), and not in a special sense.

3. The Temple Dictionary of the Bible:

The higher functions did not exclude that of the Evangelist, since both Apostles and Prophets were also bringers of the good news. But the Apostles were possessed of special authority, and the Evangelist could not, like them, bestow the Holy Ghost (Acts 8:14) nor did he enjoy the special inspiration of the prophet. He simply communicated the good news to those who had not heard it. He was not a Pastor with oversight of a particular flock, nor a Teacher whose business it was to instruct the saints.

4. Buck’s Theological Dictionary:

One who publishes glad tidings; a messenger or preacher of good news. The persons denominated evangelists were next in order to the apostles and were sent by them not to settle in any particular place, but to travel among the infant churches, and ordain ordinary officers, and finish what the apostles had begun. Of this kind were Philip, Mark, Silas, etc. The office of a modern missionary, in some respects answers to that of a primitive evangelist.

5. Life and Epistles of Saint Paul (Conybeare and Howson):

The term evangelist is applied to those missionaries, who like Philip and Timothy, traveled from place to place, to bear the glad tidings of Christ to unbelieving nations and individuals. Hence it follows that the apostles were all evangelists, although there were also evangelists who were not apostles.

6. Lectures On The Ephesians (R. W. Dale, Birmingham, England):

“Evangelists” were in our modern phrase “Missionaries.” Their work was to effect the conversion of men by preaching the gospel, and to bring them into the fellowship of existing churches, or to found new churches where no churches already existed.

7. Harpers Bible Dictionary:

Evangelist is the name given in the New Testament to one who traveled from place to place proclaiming the gospel.

8. Dictionary of the Bible (John D. Davis, D.D., Ph.D., LL.D.):

An order of men in the primitive church distinct from apostles, prophets, pastors and teachers (Eph. 4:11). Their name implied that their special function was to announce the glad tidings to those before ignorant of them, and as they were not pastors of particular churches, they were able to go from place to place, preaching to those who were without the Christian pale.

9. Encyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature (John McClintock, D.D. and James Strong, S.T.D.):

The name of an order of men included in the constitution of the Apostolical church. The term is applied in the New Testament to a certain class of Christian teachers who were nor fixed to any particular spot, but traveled independently, or under the direction of one or more of the apostles, for the purpose of propagating the gospel . . . It follows from what has been said, that the calling of the evangelist is expressed by the word kerussein “preach,” rather than didaskein “teach” or parakalein “exhort.” It is the proclamation of the glad tidings to those who have not known them, rather than the instruction and pastoral care of those who have believed and been baptized. This is also what we gather from 2 Timothy 4:2, 5. Timotheus is to “preach the word” and in doing this he is to fulfill the work of an evangelist.

10. General History of the Christian Religion and Church (Augustus Neander):

This word (evangelist) is to be understood in the sense of the New Testament, i.e., as designating a teacher not connected with any particular church, but traveling about as a missionary to preach the gospel.

11. History of the Christian Church (Philip Schaff):

Evangelists. Itinerant preachers, delegates and fellow-laborers of the apostles—such men as Mark, Luke, Timothy, Silas Epaphras, Trophimus and Apollos. They may be compared to modern missionaries.

12. Church History (Professor Kurtz):

From 2 Timothy 4:5 and Acts 21:8 (8:5) it follows that Evangelists are itinerant preachers of the gospel and assistants of the apostles.

13. The Christian Ecclesia (Fenton John Anthony Hart, D.D.):

First there are evangelists, doubtless men like Titus and Timothy (2 Tim. 4:5) and Tychicus and Epaphras, who went about from place to place preaching the gospel. Speaking generally the basis of this function was preaching the gospel to those who had not heard it, the work of an evangelist.

14. Ecclesiastical History (Eusebius Pamphilius):

Afterwards leaving their country, they performed the office of evangelist to those who had nor yet heard the faith, whilst with a noble ambition to proclaim Christ they also delivered to them the books of the holy gospels. After laying the foundation of the faith in foreign parts as the particular object of their mission, and after appointing others as shepherds of the flocks, and committing to these the care of those that had been recently introduced, they went again to other regions and nations with the grace and cooperation of God.

15. The History of Israel (Heinrich Ewald):

For his office the name of an Evangelist at once became customary; and as everything Christian still continues to spring as an original activity from its higher necessities, so Philip became undoubtedly the first of the numerous Evangelists. The office demanded especially a life of itineracy.

There is no point in multiplying further the quotations available in our research files, for all agree in substance. The modern “minister” of a congregation with elders is not an evangelist at all. He operates under false pretense when he so designates himself. He is a pastor, a hired pastor—nothing more nor less. If he believes that the office of pastor belongs to the bishops, he should in all honesty abdicate his position, and cease to sail under false colors. If he wants to be an evangelist, let him do the work of an evangelist. He has no right to call himself an evangelist while performing a function not related to the term as the Holy Spirit used it.

To those who feel that the survival of the church is dependent upon the wisdom of men, rather than upon the providence of God; and who fear that with the dismissal of an unscriptural system, truth will perish from the earth, we commend the following article by G. S. Judd, entitled “Churches in Kentucky,” which appeared in Apostolic Times, July, 1876.

Theoretically, we are commonly considered to be scripturally organized when the congregation has a plurality of elders and deacons. Practically, however, a congregation is not considered to be in efficient working order unless there are, in addition to this, a clerk and a preacher or what we are in the habit of calling an evangelist, which is a misnomer and a solecism, since the preachers are called, and not sent, unless the church gets tired of a preacher and sends him adrift; then he is, perhaps, an evangelist after the modern sort. The eldership is expected to be rather a small volume, a compend or epitome of all the Christian graces and excellencies, and then to be “lookers on in Venice.” It is always held that an elder, especially at his election, must be apt to teach, but the notion that they should ever attempt it is obsolete or obsolescent, so much so that in a general way an elder is thought to be a little presumptuous who undertakes it. From sheer disuse the eldership has become a mere cipher placed before the preacher. The whole expression as it now stands, is only a sort of religious decimal instead of a unit of any value. The question has not yet been decided whether or not we would not know more about the Bible, and be better off in every particular had we not one single solitary preacher in any congregation in Kentucky as a pastor. Will you please think about it?

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Mr. Ketcherside is publisher of Mission Messenger, 2360 Gardner Dr., St. Louis, Mo.