📖 Biblical Definition
To feed is to provide nourishment — in Scripture especially of pastoral feeding. Christ fed the five thousand and the four thousand by miracle (Matthew 14:13-21; 15:32-39), He commanded Peter three times after the resurrection, "Feed my lambs... Feed my sheep... Feed my sheep" (John 21:15-17), and He charged the Ephesian elders through Paul to "feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20:28; cf. 1 Peter 5:2). Pastoral office is feeding-office. The minister’s primary task is not management, vision-casting, or entertainment; it is bringing the Word to the flock week after week. Where the Word is preached, sheep grow strong; where it is withheld, they starve and scatter.
📜 KJV Continual Tense
In KJV: feedeth — sustained nourishing, the pastor’s irreducible work.
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Matthew 6:26: "your heavenly Father feedeth them." Continuous providence — the Father is feeding the birds right now.
John 21:17: "Feed my sheep." Christ’s threefold charge to Peter is in the present tense each time — sustained feeding is the office.
Revelation 7:17: "the Lamb... shall feed them." The eschatological Shepherd’s feeding is forever.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
To nourish; to provide food.
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To furnish with food; to nourish; to graze (intransitive); in Scripture especially of pastoral feeding — Christ feeding the multitudes, the Father feeding the birds, the Shepherd feeding the flock, and pastors feeding their congregations on the Word.
📖 Key Scripture
John 21:17 — "He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? ... Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep."
1 Peter 5:2 — "Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof."
Matthew 6:26 — "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Pastoral office reduced to entertainment, vision-casting, or counseling, with the irreducible feeding-the-flock work outsourced or omitted.
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Christ’s threefold charge to Peter was not "vision-cast my sheep" or "manage my sheep" but "feed my sheep." The pastor’s irreducible work is Word-feeding through preaching and teaching. Programs may help; nothing replaces the meal.
Recover the office: a pastor who does not feed is not pastoring. Sheep need food.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek boskō, poimainō; Hebrew ra'ah.
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['Greek', 'G1006', 'boskō', 'to feed, graze']
['Greek', 'G4165', 'poimainō', 'to shepherd, feed']
['Hebrew', 'H7462', "ra'ah", 'to feed, shepherd']
Usage
"Feed my sheep — Christ’s threefold charge."
"The Father feedeth the birds."
"Feed the flock; do not entertain it."