The Holy Spirit applying the word is ultimately necessary for convincing the person of their sin and only Christ can sanctify the sinner. When pastors forget this truth, that Christ alone saves, they can quickly fall into the messiah complex.

One of the great dangers in the pastorate is that a minister might develop a messiah complex. What do I mean? Most well-respected pastors have many people that look up to them for a number of reasons. Certain men have been identified as suitable ministers because their lives are exemplary—they are models of godliness and piety. Pastors are often wise and offer sage counsel to those in need. They are typically supposed to be very knowledgeable about the Bible, something that many in the church long to study, know, and understand. These are all good and desirable things.

The pitfall comes, however, in that when so many people begin to look to the minister as the “go-to” person on many different issues, the pastor can easily develop a messiah complex. In other words, the pastor can deceive himself into thinking that he can solve any problem that comes his way and that if people only listen to him, things will run smoothly in the church. Confidence in God’s word and the power of the Spirit to transform lives can easily shift to arrogance and pride in one’s own abilities to fix things. This situation easily can arise in the sphere of counseling.

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