Excellence and Earthiness:
Servant Leadership from a Biblical Perspective
In attempting to understand the concept of ministerial excellence from a biblical perspective, I have been captivated by the message of Second Corinthians, since in that letter Paul writes forthrightly about issues directly related to congregational leadership. Indeed, the epistle deals with concerns such as money and authority in a very straightforward manner. One important matter, for example, was Paul’s insistence that the Corinthians make ready for his visit by completing a collection for the poor who lived in Jerusalem, a collection which they had begun but had failed to finish. Paul was disappointed with the Corinthian church, and in the letter he compared the Corinthians unfavorably to the Macedonians—who had given magnanimously out of their relatively meager resources.
Secondly in this letter, Paul had to deal with false teachers who claimed to be apostles, and who had infiltrated the ranks of the Corinthian church. In promoting their own claims, these false teachers had gone out of their way to discredit Paul and to call into question the genuineness of his apostleship. The epistle was written with the purpose of refuting the accusations and insinuations against him; it is a defense of Paul’s integrity.
We see Paul addressing this issue of legitimacy at the beginning of chapter 3, where he asks his Corinthian readers some rhetorical questions: Do I commend myself to you? Do I need reference letters in order to be accepted as legitimate? It is interesting that Paul could have claimed his authority on the basis of his priority as the first to preach the gospel to the Corinthians or on the basis of his reputation, or on the basis of his superior credentials, especially his education. But he did not choose to do so. Rather, Paul chose to assert his authority from a radically different source: “Our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant” [3:5-6].
The term “competence” [Gk: ikanotes] refers to fitness, qualification, capability, giftedness, or sufficiency that is authorized or empowered. Paul was certainly successful and well-educated, known as a scholar and as a gifted leader. But Paul states that all of our abilities are gifts from God, and the full use of them is possible only when enriched by God’s Spirit. Paul’s credentials are from a divine source. Though very accomplished, his confidence is not from his own skill, but is through Christ, directed not to self but to God. Paul does not depend on his own wisdom, great as it is. Only someone who is humbly aware of his or her own limits can understand the total sufficiency of God’s grace. Everything we have, Paul asserts, is from God, not from any human source, and thus we must depend on Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 3:6, Paul states that this competence from God is what qualifies us to serve as “ministers” [diakonos], God’s agents of the new covenant. This term, used throughout 2 Corinthians, is sometimes transliterated as “deacon.” The term can refer to the church official by that name or—more generally—to any helper or intermediary who, through humble activity, is entrusted with God’s message.
“Diakonos” is the first of two terms in 2 Corinthians that Paul uses to describe the concept that I would refer to as servant leadership. A diakonos is one who undertakes actions for another, either for God or for other people, a liaison who has both a divine mandate and a divine obligation. God has chosen us to be go-betweens [diakonos] in bringing people to faith and in declaring God’s intent to bring the reign of righteousness to fruition. Christ is the inaugurator of the eschatological kingdom, but we are to be God’s administrators in the interim.
Paul expands on the notion of servanthood in chapter 4. In 2 Corinthians 4:5, Paul says: “We do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Christ as Lord, ourselves as your servants [doulos] for Jesus’s sake.” This is the second term that Paul uses to describe servant leadership. Paul frequently employs the mental image of a bondservant or slave. On many occasions throughout his letters, he delights to call himself a bondservant of Jesus Christ. But here, in 2 Corinthians (the only time in the Pauline corpus), Paul also calls himself a bondservant of those to whom he ministers. He assumes the role of servant of others. He brings himself to favor the needs of others before his own. He is a leader, but a servant as well. In this, Paul admonishes us to imitate Jesus, who “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant” [doulos]. Christ, the heavenly Lord, comes to earth in the form of a slave. Paul’s language and attitude in 2 Corinthians are consonant with his own injunction in Philippians: “let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” [Philippians 2:5-8]. Paul, and we, should follow our savior in living out a life of service.
We are to be bondservants of others. And the incarnation of Jesus Christ becomes the supreme model of how God has entered into human experience as a servant in order to accomplish the divine purpose. We see this as we proceed further into the 4th chapter of 2 Corinthians. God has chosen to use the things of this world. More specifically and amazingly, God has chosen to use us as God’s ministers. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us” [4:7]. Eugene Peterson phrases it in this way: “We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives.”
There is a startling contrast between the splendor of “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God” [4:6] about which Paul has just been speaking and the plain receptacle in which this gospel message, or “treasure,” is contained. There could be no contrast more striking than that between the greatness of divine glory and the frailty of the vessels in which it dwells and through which it is manifested to the world. This discrepancy between the treasure and the vessel serves simply to attest that God’s power is made perfect in weakness, a common theme in 2 Corinthians [see 12:9-10].
It may be that Paul had in mind earthenware vases or urns. It was not unusual for precious items to be concealed in plain containers. In Roman triumphal processions, it was customary for gold and silver to be carried in clay pots. Paul had a fondness for graphic similes taken from the spectacle of Roman triumph (2:14; 1 Cor. 4:9) and it is possible that his intention here is to suggest a picture of the victorious Christ entrusting his riches to the poor earthen vessels of his human followers.
In the opinion of biblical scholars T.W. Manson and James Moffatt, the earthen vessels from which Paul draws his analogy are the small pottery lamps, cheap and fragile, that could be bought in the shops of Corinth. The followers of Christ may be likened to such lamps, since they bear about in their mortal bodies a light derived from the central source of light in the face of Christ, the lamp of frail ware in which the light of Christ’s glory shines for the illumination of the world. These inexpensive and easily breakable receptacles bear the treasure of the universe.
Paul describes himself—and all believers—as humble, transient jars of clay who receive surpassing strength from God. He, and we, suffer from physical ailments, mental anxiety, and spiritual weakness. But Paul is not disparaging the human body or implying that the body is merely the receptacle of the soul, as in many Hellenistic texts. For him, the “clay jar” refers to the whole person, physical and spiritual, who, although vulnerable in one’s own self, becomes God’s powerful instrument in communicating the treasure of the gospel. In fact, it is precisely because the proclaimers of the gospel are themselves frail and fragile that other people clearly recognize the transforming power of the gospel, which is God’s alone. Eloquence, polished speech, or high intellectual attainment, good as these achievements are, may actually prevent people from realizing that our human abilities are all from God and are intended for divine service. It is precisely the Christian’s frailty which lays us open to the experience of the all-sufficiency of God’s grace, and which astonishes and baffles a culture which thinks only in terms of human ability and self-sufficiency.
These concepts of excellence and earthiness are also found in a passage in 2 Corinthians that is often overlooked by many readers of the epistle because it is in a section of the letter (chapters 8-9) that many incorrectly assume to be irrelevant to their situation. Here, Paul strongly admonishes the church in Corinth to fulfill its monetary obligation to give to the hurting Christians in Jerusalem. He negatively compares the Corinthians to the Macedonians—who have already given sacrificially. But right in the middle of Paul’s scolding, he actually pays a compliment to the Corinthians. He commends the church at Corinth for their excellence [2 Corinthians 8:7]. The term “to excel” [given in the second person plural—“you excel”—perisuette], means to be outstanding or prominent. It refers to the high quality of skills and knowledge exemplified by the Corinthians. They were clearly very gifted. Paul acknowledged their superior abilities and honors them with a word of praise.
Paul lists the Corinthians’ ways of excelling in five specific spheres of activity: in faith (personal trust in Christ and a life of piety); in speech (skill in elocution); in knowledge (roughly equivalent to our idea of scholarship); in all earnestness (enthusiasm, zeal, and devotion to Christ); and in “the love that is in you for us” (the Corinthians’ benevolence for Christ and for Paul himself. Eugene Peterson rephrases the passage in this way: “You do so well in many things—you trust God, you’re articulate, you’re insightful, you’re passionate, and you love us.”
When Paul pays a compliment, a pointed retort often follows. In this case, after commending the Corinthians for the excellence of their achievements, Paul immediately entreats them to excel in their generosity [8:7]. The word that is translated as “generosity” could be interpreted as “grace overflowing to others,” and is rendered felicitously in the Good News Bible as “service of love.” The Corinthians were outstanding in so many things, even in their scholarship and their devotion, but not in reaching out beyond themselves. Paul is chiding them for their lack of vision related to the needs of others and, thus, by implication, he is calling into question the value and fruitfulness of the rest of their excellent qualities. Though superior proficiency and expertise are certainly useful and important, the depth of one’s character cannot be measured on the basis of such qualities alone.
Excellence in piety, skill, erudition, zeal, and benevolence—all of the marks of competent church leadership—must also issue in a corresponding excellence in serving others. In our desire to enhance ministerial leadership, of course it is necessary that we insist on theological knowledge, skill in preaching, and a life of piety. But we must also insist, along with Paul, that excellence in any field of activity without a corresponding emphasis on character—servant leadership—is not excellence at all. “Just as you excel in faith, in speech, [and] in knowledge… may you also excel in your service of love.”
Douglas M. Strong is professor of history of Christianity at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.
