In | Workbook: Paul’s Titles—Images for Ministry

Grab your Workbook Journal!

[Record your answers in the workbook provided at the beginning of this course.]

As we might expect from a group with these kinds of organic leadership roles, the titles and metaphors that Paul uses throughout his letters to describe his role in the church are diverse. An example we saw in the Old Testament, for example, was the comparison of kings and shepherds. 

2. These kinds of references to authority and leadership roles in church communities are perhaps more revealing than official titles or institutional status. In your workbook, write “yes” or “no” to indicate whether each title or metaphor was one Paul used in his letters when referring to church leaders.

Tables adapted from: Lars Kierspel, Charts on the Life, Letters, and Theology of Paul, 2012, pp. 61-62.

3. Choose two of the titles or metaphors in the exercises above and briefly explain what they tell us about Paul’s role in the early church.