lives of others by the Scripture as the Word of God. He seeks
2 JoHN MacArTHur: SERVANT OF THE WORD AND FLOCK
which has no time for the creation of religious celebrities. When
Paul says, 'Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and
stewards of the mysteries of God', MacArthur understands him
to be saying; 'Don't make anything out of me. P''m just a servant
of Christ. ?''m an under-rower, a third-level galley slave; I pull
my oar, and that's what 'm supposed to do, nothing worthy
of special attention."
Tyndale was 'a gospeller', or, as we would say, an evangelical.
I use the term in its traditional meaning. In brief, an evangeli-
cal is a person who believes the 'three Rs': Ruin by the Fall,
Redemption through Jesus Christ, and Regeneration by the Holy Spirit. It follows that an 'evangelical leader' is a person
who stands out in the advancement and defence of those truths.
The title does not necessarily imply success judged by numbers
and immediate results. On that basis neither Paul nor Tyndale
might qualify.
1. An evangelical leader is one who leads and guides the
lives of others by the Scripture as the Word of God. He seeks
to repudiate every other form of influence and pressure. His
great concern is to teach Scripture accurately, and to see lives
submitted to its authority.
2. An evangelical leader inspires the affection of followers
because they learn Christ through him, and see something of
Christ in him. They follow him because he follows Christ. And
they love him because he loves them in Christ's name. 'The
apostle Paul summarized the spirit of the true leader when he
' Hard to Believe (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2003), p. 46. An 'underrower' is a favourite simile with MacArthur and he explains it further in The Master's Plan (Chicago: Moody, 1991), p. 39: 'There are several words in
the Greek for servant, and Paul used the one that best conveyed the idea of
a lowly servant (GK., huperetes, "an under-rower").' It was the name for the slaves on the lowest deck of a three-tiered ship propelled by oars.