Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

The biblical concept of leaders as ’empty, useful vessels’

The leader as a vessel, an empty, but useful vessel, refers to a person that is receptive and ready to be filled by the Spirit and the power of God. The concept vessel appears several times in the Bible in various ways and with different connotations. In some cases a vessel is referred to as being a utensil such as in 1 Samuel 21:5 or a holy object. In 1 Samuel 21:8 the term denotes a weapon and in Isaiah 30:14 it is a jar or a pot. According to the Wisdom of Solomon 14:1, a vessel is a boat and in Solomon 14:5, 6 the vessel is in fact a weak boat. Ezekiel 8:28 refers to vessels as holy utensils; they were made of precious material such as gold and silver and in Numbers 5:17, they were made of earthenware and can contain water, whereas in Kings 25:14 they are referred to as pots, shovels and spoons made of bronze and used in the temple service. Vessels became special utensils that were used in the temple and in the houses of the kings and nobility. There is, however, an additional meaning concerning the biblical use of vessels as they became natural illustrations for different sorts of human beings as were portrayed in Hosea 8:8, Isaiah 22:24 and Jeremia 22:28. In Hosea 8:8, Israel is swallowed up! Now they are among the nations like a worthless vessel. When it comes to the New Testament, as illustrated in Acts 9:15, the word vessel has passed into Christian theology as simply signifying a human being (ISBE). As is conveyed in Romans 9:21 and 23, the human person is a ‘vessel of God’:

Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

The human person is symbolised as a vessel of God. In this instance the vessel is a container, which is different from a utensil or an instrument. This vessel is meant to contain God. The potter in Romans 9 desires that the human, as a vessel, is to contain God himself. The potter (God) created vessels in God’s honour, glory and mercy, and the human vessel is unto God.

The same idea is furthered in 2 Timothy 2:20-21:

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honour and some for dishonour. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honour, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.

It is clear that some vessels are useful and others not so useful; some bring honour and others dishonour – the choice belongs to each individual. All the same, while the human body is frail like an earthen vessel, the excellence of the power vested in the authority or leadership comes from God, and not from humans as is illustrated in 2 Corinthians 4:7: ‘… we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us’.

The metaphor of the earthen vessel, although weak or fragile, is filled with treasures and Christ is the treasure and the Apostles as leaders, minister Christ who is the treasure that is stored within humans. The ‘we’ here refers to the apostles, ministers of Christ and all believers. The ‘treasure’ is the gospel and the ‘earthen vessels’ is the frail human being, but vessels in which the treasure is housed and upon which value and dignity are conferred. Ananias reminded the Lord that Saul was a notorious person who persecuted the Christians, but Jesus Christ was adamant that Ananias, as a leader, must go his way and tend to Paul who was a chosen instrument or vessel with the task to be an Apostle to the Gentiles (Ac 9:15). Despite Paul’s previous tarnished reputation, the most valuable treasure can also be deposited in him.