An Argument for Paying the Pastor

Concerning the blog on Paying Pastors, my friend Ken writes:

1 Cor. 9 seems to speak to this question, particularly verse 14: "In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel."
Now, I recognize that sometimes someone who actually is gifted as a "pastor" may be doing the preaching that should be being done by a "teacher," and vice versa. But, as a general principle, this verse would support someone who felt that it was appropriate to pay someone for full-time service in teaching the Bible.
And personally, I see no reason why not to generalize this principle to anyone who works full time in spiritual things, whether in their gifting (pastor, teacher, prophet, mercy, servant, whatever...) or by role (elder, deacon). For this principle, look at 1 Cor. 9:11: "If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?"  The principle I see here is that spiritual things are at least as valuable as material things, so that if someone works full-time in the spiritual realm, it is appropriate to pay them.

This was a section that I considered when looking into "paying a pastor" and heard arguments using these verses in the past. The conclusion that I had come to was this: Paul begins by calling himself an apostle. The gift is unique and one that is not often seen today. It was identified, from my perspective, as one who had all the gifts (2 Cor. 12:12). These were men who traveled to different countries to bring the gospel.

Paul continues that he and the other apostles had a right to eat and drink and take along a believing wife.

He then explains from the Old Testament his argument. "Those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share with the altar? So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel". I concur with Paul's claim and believe this to be the case with the apostle (but we don't see this with any other gift once the church is established) and that it is specifically room and board only, not a stipend or wage. If one wants to travel to establish churches, he would be free, if he so desired, to live with someone and take their food but would not plan for a savings account and not save for his retirement. He would be required to trust God to supply his future needs and not the church.