Christ’s Gifts to the Church
EPHESIANS 4:11-12
THIS WEEK WE ARE GOING TO STUDY A SUBJECT THAT SHOULD greatly interest all of us who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is definitely a subject that affects every believer. This week we are going to learn about leaders in the Church and about how those leaders got in the positions they occupy. Our focus this week is not on what are these gifts but who are these gifts…
LEADERS ARE “CHRIST’S GIFTS TO THE CHURCH.” “The gifts are the people.” – Foulkes… “Christ’s gifts were gifted people.” – Hoehner (B.K.C.)
AS WE HAVE LEARNED, CHRIST GIVES GIFTS OF GRACE TO INDIVIDUALS…
NAS Ephesians 4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
“GOD WANTS TO USE OUR GIFTS TO PRODUCE TWO PROFOUND RESULTS in our lives: (1) prepare us for ministry, and (2) make us mature in Christ.” – Steadman
AND LAST WEEK WE LEARNED THAT CHRIST IS SINGULARLY ENTITLED TO give spiritual gifts…
NAS Ephesians 4:8-10 Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, And He gave gifts to men.” 9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
NOW WE ARE GOING TO LEARN THAT CHRIST ALSO GIVES GIFTS TO THE Church. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4 that Christ not only gives gifts to individual Christians but to the Body of Christ, the Church, overall.
“TO EACH BELIEVER JESUS GIVES SPECIAL GIFTS OF DIVINE ENABLEMENT, AND to the church overall He gives specially gifted men as leaders.” – MacArthur
THIS WEEK WE WILL LOOK AT APOSTLES, PROPHETS AND EVANGELISTS; next week, Lord willing, we will look at pastors and teachers…
NAS Ephesians 4:11-12 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
“HE” IS CHRIST, NOT GOD THE FATHER. “The emphatic personal pronoun αὐτός (au-tos) picks up the αὐτός (au-tos), which, as we learned, is inarguably Christ. Jesus Christ has given these ministers as part of the overall purpose for which He ascended – that His work of filling all things might be brought to completion.” – Lincoln/TAR
“THE ONE WHO HAS BEEN GIVEN TO THE CHURCH AS COSMIC LORD, HIMSELF gives to the Church to equip is for its cosmic task.” – Lincoln
YOU COULD RIGHTLY SAY THIS IS THE BOTTOM LINE OF THIS PASSAGE.
I NEED TO TELL YOU OUR PASSAGE FOR THIS WEEK IS PART OF a longer context. Verses 11-12 are part of another of the elongated sentences we find in the book of Ephesians. You will remember that vv. 3-14 back in chapter 1 comprise just one long sentence. Another extended sentence is vv.1-6 of chapter 4. And now we have another long sentence in vv. 11-16 in the Greek text. So I am, in a sense, violating a principle of contextual unity in breaking the sentence up as I intend to do here in this blog and in the weeks ahead. I do that simply because there is just so much material in these verses and, of course, because we are limited in the time we can spend each week. Just want to make that acknowledgement…
ANOTHER THING I WOULD LIKE TO SAY IS THAT THIS PASSAGE SHOULD NOT be seen as a complete theology on how to do church. By that I mean, Paul’s words should not be seen as a paradigm for us to follow today. The most along the lines of general assessment, I believe, we can say about this passage is that it is a good foundational pattern for us to keep in mind as we do church. The passage is very valuable, to be sure, full of valuable information from a first-century perspective, but it is not an all-comprehensive, ironclad guideline.
“MOST OF THE CONCERN IS FOR INTERNALLY BUILDING UP OF THE CHURCH, rather than for mission outside the church. Thus it is incomplete, but no text should be seen as a comprehensive theological statement. For all its emphasis, Ephesians is still not a complete ecclesiology.” – Snodgrass
NOTE IN V. 11 THE WORDS “HE GAVE.” “’He gave’ emphasizes the sovereign choice and authority given to Christ because of His perfect fulfillment of the Father’s will. Not only apostles and prophets but also evangelists, pastors and teachers and teachers are divinely called and placed.” – MacArthur
THERE IS A CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER IN THE LISTS OF LEADERS in the N.T.…
IN 1 CORINTHIANS 12:28, PAUL WROTE THESE WORDS (Note the words “first,” “second,” and “third”)…
NAS 1 Corinthians 12:28 And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.
BECAUSE THE N.T. HAD NOT YET BEEN WRITTEN, GOD APPOINTED GIFTED MEN to provide leadership and to lay the foundation for the Church. The special supernatural powers these men possessed were given by God to authenticate this sanction they had been given…
NAS 2 Corinthians 12:12 The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles.
SIGNS AND WONDERS WERE PERFORMED BY THE ORIGINAL 12 APOSTLES and marked them as such. Since we no longer have apostles today, and since the church has been established, we no longer have signs and wonders and miracles, such as are recorded in Scripture. I humbly and lovingly believe that individual believers and churches that insist these special “sign gifts,” as they are referred to by theologians, are extant today are mistaken and distort the Scripture.
SO WHAT EXACTLY WAS AN APOSTLE? We get the English word “apostle” from the Greek word ἀπόστολος (a-pa-sta-los), which literally may be defined as one who is sent. When I teach this word at the seminary, I like to add that an apostle is one who is sent out with a message. And I also make sure that I say that there are three different classes of apostles. Aside from the 12 apostles chosen by Jesus and Paul’s special apostleship, in biblical times there were also messengers called “apostles” who held no extraordinary status. Epaphroditus, for example, was an ordinary apostle…
NAS Philippians 2:25 But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need;
“JAMES (1 Cor. 15:7; Gal. 1:19), Barnabas (Acts 14:4, 14; 1 Cor. 9:6), Andronicus and Junias (Rom. 16:7), possibly Silas and Timothy (1 Thes. 1:1; 2:7), and Apollos (1 Cor. 4:6, 9) would fall into this “ordinary” category, men who were not among the special Twelve and later Paul. This group had the gift of apostleship but not the apostolic ‘office’ as did the Twelve and Paul.” – Hoehner (B.K.C.)
BUT, OF COURSE, THE APOSTLES PAUL IS REFERRING TO IN EPHESIANS 4 were messengers with extraordinary status, men who could do miraculous things in order to establish their credentials as God’s special messengers and authenticate their work in building the early Church.
“APOSTLES, THEN, WERE THOSE WHO CARRIED THE GOSPEL MESSAGE WITH God’s authority. “Apostle” means “one sent as an authoritative delegate.” – Hoehner (B.K.C.)
NKJ Acts 1:21-22 “Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 “beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”
“THE MINISTRY OF APOSTLES, AS PAUL IS SPEAKING ABOUT THE WORD in Ephesians 4:11, ceased with the passing of the first generation of Christians. The foundational ministry of prophets ceased also. Their work, receiving and declaring the Word of God under direct inspiration of the Spirit, was most vital before there was a completed New Testament.” – Foulkes
“PROPHETS” COMES FROM THE GREEK WORD προφήτης (pra-fay-tace). A biblical prophet was “1. a person inspired to proclaim or reveal divine will or purpose, prophet a proclaimer or expounder of divine matters or concerns that could not ordinarily be known except by special revelation.” (BDAG)
JOHN THE BAPTIST IS IDENTIFIED IN SCRIPTURE AS A PROPHET…
NAS Matthew 14:5 And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they regarded him as a prophet.
AND JESUS, OF COURSE, WAS A PROPHET…
NAS John 4:19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
NAS Matthew 21:11 And the multitudes were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”
NAS Matthew 13:57 And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his home town, and in his own household.”
“NEW TESTAMENT PROPHETS WERE GIFTS TO THE CHURCH TO provide edification, exhortation, and comfort (1 Cor. 14:3). They revealed God’s will to the church when the biblical canon was incomplete. Since the apostles and prophets were foundational, they did not exist after the first generation of believers. – Hoehner (B.K.C.)
FINALLY FOR THIS WEEK, EVANGELISTS: The Greek word for evangelist is εὐαγγελιστής (eu-ang-ge-lis-tace), proclaimers of the good news. “Evangelists” were those engaged in spreading the gospel, similar to present-day missionaries.
“’PASTORS AND TEACHERS’” ARE LISTED TOGETHER BECAUSE they are governed by one article (‘the’ occurs before ‘pastors’ but not before ‘teachers’) and because the word ‘and’ (kai) differs from the other conjunctions [‘and’s’ (de)] in the verse. This may imply that these are two kinds of gifted people whose ministries are among settled congregations (rather than itinerant ministries like those of the apostles and evangelists). More likely, they refer to two characteristics of the same person who is pastoring believers (by comforting and guiding) while at the same time instructing them in God’s ways (overseers or elders are to be able to teach; 1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:9).” – Hoehner (B.K.C.)
AGAIN, “V.11 DOES NOT LAY OUT A UNIVERSAL CHURCH ORDER, AND none of the four categories is to be seen as a church office. This passage describes how Christ equips the church for service.” – Snodgrass
THAT ONE TELLING, UNFORGETTABLE FACT CAME OUT OF MY STUDY OF V. 11 this week: Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers; all of the leaders Paul mentions here have to do with proclaiming the God’s Word. Isn’t that interesting? Isn’t that significant?
“THEY ARE ALL MINISTRIES OF THE WORD. Leaders in the Church must communicate God’s message.” – Snodgrass
IN V. 12, WE ARE GIVEN THE PURPOSE OF “CHRIST’S GIFTS TO THE CHURCH”…
NAS Ephesians 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
THAT IS SUCH A GREAT VERSE. It tells us clearly why we have leaders in the church. I believe any thinking person can easily understand what Paul is saying in v. 12.
THE GREEK WORD FOR “EQUIPPING” (καταρτισμός (ka-tar-tis-mos) is a fascinating word. The noun is found only here in all the N.T. but the verb from which it is derived (καταρτίζω [ka-tar-teed-zo]) is found 13 times. It is used, for example, in Matthew 4:21 for mending the nets of fishermen…
NAS Matthew 4:21 And going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them.
IT IS FOUND IN GALATIANS 6:1 IN THE SENSE OF RESTORING – restoring in the sense of restoring to proper use…
NAS Galatians 6:1 Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted.
BDAG, THE LEADING GREEK LEXICON, SAYS THAT THE WORD MEANS “to cause to be in a condition to function well, to put in order.” I like that. Consider that; the purpose of leaders in the church is to cause other believers to “function well,” to put them “in order.”
ONE COMMENTATOR PUT IT THIS WAY: “The purpose of the gifted men is to prepare God’s people for works of service.” – Hoehner (B.K.C.). That’s the sense of what v. 12 is saying. “Gifted people (Eph. 4:11) are to minister the Word to others so that they in turn are readied to get involved in ministering to others (cf. 2 Tim. 2:2).” That’s the purpose of leaders.
PASTOR MATT IS TO BE COMMENDED FOR REMINDING US THAT the Mission Statement of Barabbas Road is to (I’m paraphrasing) make disciples who will in turn make other disciples.
THE GOAL OF ALL THIS IS THE BUILDING UP OR EDIFYING OF THE BODY of Christ. Look for yourselves at what Paul is saying in v. 12. It is all but impossible to mistake his meaning…
ESV Ephesians 4:12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
EVERYONE IN THE CHURCH IS TO BE ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF THE CHURCH, not just leaders. As a matter of fact, if you think this through carefully, beginning with v. 7, where we read that all believers are gifted to serve others spiritually, you can easily come to the conclusion that it’s not the leaders who are to do all the work, but the purpose of the leaders is to prepare others to do the work.
LEADERS AND SO-CALLED “LAY” PEOPLE ALIKE ARE TO BE SERVING. Listen to what Paul says in v. 16…
NAS Ephesians 4:16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
THAT’S US! THAT’S WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE ARE TO BE DOING! We’ll talk more about this next week when we return to v. 11 and look closely at “Pastors and Teachers.” Let me close our study for today with this grand thought…
“ALL OF THE GIFTS THAT CHRIST GIVES TO INDIVIDUALS AND TO THE CHURCH as a whole are gifts which He Himself perfectly exemplified. If ever there was a preacher, it was Christ; if ever there was a teacher, ruler, administrator, servant, helper, or giver, it was Christ. Jesus Christ is the perfect illustration and example of every gift, because His gifts to us are gracious gifts of Himself.” – MacArthur
AS RECIPIENTS OF “CHRIST’S GIFTS,” OUR RESPONSE SHOULD BE ONE OF obedience to the leaders He has given us and recognition of the responsibility we have in building His Church on earth.
CHRIST’S GIFTS ARE GIVEN TO BE RECEIVED!
– Professor Thomas A. Rohm
