D. A providential opportunity and proper ecclesiastical recognition for the office and work of a specific pastoral charge
1. Principal axiom
The crowning validation of a man’s call to the pastoral office is the recognition of a specific congregation judging and acting by the rule of Christ, leading to his formal ordination and installation in that office.
2. Proof of this axiom
Acts 1:15-26
Acts 6:1-7
Acts 14:23
Acts 20:28
Titus 1:5
John Owen, The Church and the Bible, vol. 16 ofThe Works of John OwenEdinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1967), pp. 54-55.
Robert J. Breckinridge, “The Christian Pastor, One of Christ’s Ascension Gifts,” The Southern Presbyterian Review 35.3 (July 1884), footnote pp. 471-472, 479-480.
Letters of John Newton (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1960), pp. 55-56.
John Owen, The Work of the Spirit, vol. 4 of The Works of John Owen (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1967), p. 494.
John Owen, The Work of the Spirit, vol. 4 of The Works of John Owen (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1967), p. 496.