“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” [Ephesians 4:11-16]
- The ‘He Himself’ refers to Jesus. Look back a couple of verses and this is confirmed.
- Purpose:
a. ‘equipping of the saints for the work of ministry’
b. ‘edifying of the body of Christ’
c. ‘unity of the faith’
d. ‘the knowledge of the Son of God,’
e. ‘no longer be children’
f. ‘speaking the truth in love’
g. ‘grow up in all things into Him’
h. ‘every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of
itself in love’
Need I say more? That really does says it all. And yet…
Starting from the beginning. “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers…” and from verse 12 through 14 tells us why. Verse 15 and 16 tells us what the goal is and how we can identify it.
In some churches all the ‘gifts/offices’ were relegated for the time of the Apostles. Some decide some of the offices still remain… but only a handful believe that all the offices are still in existence. Why? Is the church without spot or wrinkle? Is the church displaying maturity and unity? Does the church need these Offices?
I suspect one question may be… does this mean that I have a gift but may not have an office? I think the answer is ‘yes’. But remember the parable. The servant who was given the most talents invested them and brought in a great harvest and the one who hid his talent was severely rebuked. The point being that those who are faithful in the little things will be given more important roles in the future. How does this relate to the question. I’m not sure but it seems that when we ‘prove’ ourselves faithful, we are given greater responsibilities and authority. Will this mean an office. No idea. But this is not something I or anyone but the Triune God has this understanding and ability.
“But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit [the spiritual illumination and the enabling of the Holy Spirit] for the common good.” [1 Corinthians 12:7]
The only and obvious conclusion is that if you have accepted Jesus as Lord will also have a gift. Why? Again, obvious – they are delineated above in point 2 and the subsequent 8 purposes. What everyone needs to realize is that those of us who have accepted the Lord, we have responsibilities, we are given opportunities to be His Ambassadors. We have become trusted to do our part and as we are faithful in the little things, we will be ‘promoted’ to positions of greater responsibilities (and authority).
