The Protestant Work Ethic

In the name of the most Merciful High King of Heaven:

Greetings.

Today in my Bible class, if it should be called that, there was such a great travesty committed against the Word of Christ that I have determined it must be answered with a billowing fury of wrath. Today it was put forth that there is a sacred calling to "The Ministry" that is full time and quite different from other believer's callings. Is this true? Why yes, on one level, the office of Bishop is a high calling to which there is much responsibility and reward. This I will not deny, yet I think it is a foolish and pranting knave that says there is the "Holy Order of Full Time Ministry" while the rest of the body of Christ works at a "Secular Opus". I was shocked to hear this dichotomy in a "Nominally Protestant" class, and I say this because, at the heart of the matter, this is one of the things that forever separates the Biblical from the Papal. One of the greatest contributions of the Protestant Revival to the world was it's concept of work. There is a very good thesis done on this subject by Max Weber entitled The Protestant Work Ethic. The following link will take you to a web site where the book can be read: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/WEBER/toc.html
The Catholics divided occupation into the "Holy Orders" of the clergy and monasticism and the lower, mundane, and secular jobs that, despite the fact that God has willed them to exist, are directly related to the flesh. Thomas Aquinas carries this same thought into his work. There is a book, The concept of Work: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, written by Herbert Applebaum which will lend proof to this point. Applebaum quotes a list, developed by a historian named LeGoff, of the lowest forms of work that were associated with the seven evil sins. The list does contain pimps, prostitutes, and justly so. However, some occupations like: doctors, surgeons, bankers, cooks, saddlers, also make the list for much more foolish reasons. The dish washer was the lowest on this list, even lower than pimps and whores, because it is a profession seen as dealing only with the unclean. (This book may be found online, however the url is too long to put in at the moment. So you will have to find that one yourself.) With this knowledge, one can understand how the Roman Church could tell the people that common man can not interpret the Bible without the trained clergy. Or how the Church could take the Bible and put a huge screen in front of it to keep the people from the Bible. This concept can not be found to be in the Bible at all, rather it is only in the dictates of men.
It was this concept of work that developed out of the monastic mentality that Luther broke with. He did not, nor could he be expected to, break completely with the thinking of his day, but he progressed toward the Biblical concept of a godly occupation. One authority on this subject, a man named Tilgher, stated that, "Protestantism is the moving force in the profound spiritual revolution which establishes work in the as the base key of life..." Luther did away with the concept that one work is superior to another, and put in its place the concept that whatever occupation that you have been placed in is pleasing to God. That a man, as long as he works the best he can and with the attitude of humble service to God, who works in the field glorifies and pleases God as much as the man that teaches the Scripture. The house wife washing dishes and wiping poop off the hind parts of her children is just as pleasing to the Lord as the missionary that goes to a foreign land. For Luther, the terms profession, vocation, and calling are all virtual synonyms. Therefore, Mister Tilgher concludes that, "Luther placed a crown on the sweaty forehead of labor. From his hands work came forth endowed with spiritual dignity." Please do not think Luther was perfect. He did not like profit, for he considered it to be in excessed, and he also thought that the work of the merchant was the work of the flesh. Despite his short comings he still came a long way from monastic catholicism. And it was Calvin and the Puritans that further developed the ideas of the Protestant Work Ethic into what it is today.
A minister should be compensated by the Church that he is a pastor of according to the teaching of Paul in I Timothy 5:18-19. However, it must also be noted that Paul would work in order that he might not be a burden on a congregation if he thought that situation called for it ( Acts 18:3; cf. with Acts 20: 34-35). Elders should be compensated, but there should be no distinction put between a job as "Secular" and a job as being "Sacred". The work of a pastor is a godly and honoring as the work of a housewife or a seamstress. The Bible does not put any dichotomy between working in the fields and working behind the desk of a pastor. If you fear the Lord and work to His glory you will be full filed by the works of your hands (Psalm 128:1-2). God has placed many different people in the Bride of Christ, some dig ditches, some flip burgers, some own businesses, and some teach the Word; but all have been called, all work for the glory of God, and all are part of God's providential plan. And in the end all Christian men and women have been called to the full time ministry.

The ReformationMan