Malpractice is defined as a dereliction of professional duty or a failure to exercise an ordinary degree of professional skill or learning by one (such as a physician) rendering professional services which results in injury, loss, or damage (Webster’s Dictionary).
How our hearts ache within us as we are confronted with pastors who have labored among us with what our eyes consider significant fruit. Some of these men possessing great gifts and apparently strong convictions. Men whom we have looked up to and encouraged our young men to emulate. Many of these cases of malpractice have come from those whose theology is sound and whose confessional position is found in the historic streams flowing from the Protestant Reformation.
I find myself putting my thoughts on paper because for several months I have been asked a similar question which can be expressed like this, “How or Why do some very good ministers fall into sin?” Obviously, the material answers would be different in each case, and I would not have the means of knowing the particular reasons that contributed to those moral failures. But I would like to offer an explanation by digging down into what might be a root cause.
Before I proceed let me confess that it is my heart’s desire that I would refrain from judging in an unbiblical manner or with any sinful motives. I am offering my thoughts on this subject with a desire for anyone who has been overtaken by unconfessed sin to be restored to the Lord and the church in the way that is according to the instructions given in the Word of God (Matt. 18:15-18; 1 Cor. 5:1-13). I also desire to be full of a spirit of gentleness while considering that I am not better than any other member of the family of God and able to be tempted and drawn away by my own lusts and enticed to sin against my blessed Savior. My prayer is that I might increase in hatred of sin in all its forms because all sin is designed to diminish the glory of God.
The Apostle Paul makes the following profound statement in his First Epistle to Timothy which helps us identify the possible root cause for some pastors being guilty of malpractice (i.e. moral failures). In that passage Paul writes, “Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside….” (1:5-6). What each one has turned aside to is different in each case but the cause for that turning aside would at least be in part associated with the failure to love which is necessary for the proper living of the Christian life.
The purpose (end or goal) of the commandment (God’s moral law) was that God’s people might love (1 John 4:10-11). This is that selfless, sacrificial, and unconditional love best summarized in the greatest and the second greatest commandment.
Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 22:36-40).
From the teaching of Jesus on this occasion and in all of Scripture it can be seen with ease that love is the goal of the Christian life. This love, toward both God and man is obedience to the commandments of God. Pastoral malpractice is a failure to love God and man with our all.
Paul identifies for us that the failure to love God and man in some professed believers is evidence that they have turned aside or strayed from the faith. The evidence that he gives for this is described in the lack of three witnesses: a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. May God help each of us to evaluate our lives to relationship to these three witnesses so that if there is any lack in us we might throw ourselves on His mercy as we confess our sins and seek for His pardon.
A pure heart is the result of regeneration (Ezek. 36:26-27). Unbelievers do not possess a pure heart. Even though we as believers have a pure heart we are also plagued with indwelling sin. Therefore, how are we to continue to maintain a pure heart? Only by unapologetic confession of our sins to God seeking for His forgiveness. In Hebrews 10:22 the author writes, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” Thus showing that believers persist in confessing their sins and continue to be purified. The failure to do so leaves us with an impure heart. In Paul’s Second Epistle to Timothy, he exhorts him to “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2:22). This is necessary and relevant advice considering the subject of pastors who have fallen into sin and experienced moral failures. Pastors who are failing to maintain a pure heart will be much more likely of being guilty of malpractice.
A good conscience is valuable to every Christian but essential to the man of God who would seek to feed the flock of God as an under-shepherd of the Lord Jesus. Speaking about his ministry, the Apostle Paul told Felix that he always strived to have a conscience without offense toward both God and man (Acts 24:16). Dr. Knight wrote on this verse, “Paul means by the ‘good conscience’ an honest self-evaluation that one’s conduct has been obedient rather than disobedient, as one evaluates the direction and perspective of one’s life at the particular moment.”[1] Once a pastor continues to serve the flock of God with unconfessed sin, he is searing his conscience (1 Tim. 4:2). Therefore, we cannot say that we have a good conscience unless we have done what we believe is right and refrained from doing what we believe is wrong, as informed by the Word of God.
Sincere faith exists when one believes from the heart that which he professes to believe. If one acts contrary to the faith which he professes his life contradicts his profession and attracts the accusation that his faith is hypocritical rather than sincere or genuine. This third witness is especially acute when found in one who has been called to pastor and looked up to for many years. May we all, but especially those of us who are pastors, examine our lives regularly to confirm that we have a sincere faith. It would be better to leave the ministry and seek the Lord while He may be found rather than the professional life of a pastor without a sincere faith.
The world system of rebellion, the demons of Satan, and our own fleshly nature begin to sing in chorus that if the pastor can be guilty of malpractice, then no one can really live the Christian life successfully. The temptation posed by the world, the flesh, and the devil is that living for God is impossible and therefore it doesn’t matter how you live.
Pastoral malpractice is not a new problem. It has existed since the days of the Apostles. In fact, Paul in this very epistle to Timothy charges him to wage the good warfare against those who have rejected faith and a good conscience and thereby have suffered spiritual shipwreck (1 Tim. 1:18-20).
If you are guilty of pastoral malpractice, I plead with you to repent and enjoy forgiveness from God. But I must also warn you that if you are guilty of malpractice and delay repentance you might find yourself disqualified or worse (1 Cor. 9:24-27).
While we recognize the dangers that are found on the pathway of pilgrims traveling to Zion, let us also examine our own lives for hearts that are pure, consciences that are good, and faith that is sincere. And, where we find deficiencies in our lives, may God’s grace enable us to admit our sins and ask for pardon from our ever gracious Father (Psalm 51:1-2). Pastoral malpractice is a serious malady and one that adversely affects the life of the church.
[1] George Knight, III, The Pastoral Epistles: A Commentary on the Greek Text, p 78.