Reflection on God's Word

EACH OF US HAS A MINISTRY

by Tim Thomas

April 5, 2006

Ephesians 4:7-13

This passage is primarily about how God works through people to build up and strengthen His Church. God's plan is to build up the church through gifts He gives to various people. It is interesting, in fact, how the Amplified Bible reads in verse 11 (and also how the original Greek reads) because it leaves open the understanding that the "gifts" are not just what is given to the various people he uses to build the Church, but also could mean that these ministers are themselves God's gift to the Church.

We see the mention of grace right from the start in verse 7. Note how closely grace and gifts are related in this passage. Grace enables us to put to use the gifts God gives us. We read that "each one" of us is given grace. That means no one is excluded. We all have grace, though it appears that each of us has a different amount of grace. There is no mention of merit in the amount of grace we receive, rather the point is about Christ's wisdom in distributing the varying amounts of grace. The Amplified says (and the Greek confirms) that the grace is in proportion to the gift we receive, which means that some gifts take more grace to operate.

No where does it say that we should not ask for more grace or greater gifts. In fact, we as believers are exhorted in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 to desire greater gifts so that the Church can be built up. Sure, it's okay to pray for others to get gifts, but for whatever reason, it seems that God seems to want to answer the prayer in and through the one praying!

The verse quoted in verse 8 is from Psalm 68:18. The imagery here is one of a triumphant army general parading the defeated army before a cheering crowd. This says that in Jesus rising from the dead, He was demonstrating that He won a magnificent victory over Satan. Satan literally held humanity captive, and now by means of faith in Christ, we are set free, but Satan is bound. The verse also tells us that through Jesus's victory, gifts were given to the Church. Verses 10 and 11 support this understanding of Jesus's victory over Satan during the time between Jesus's death and resurrection.

Let's ponder more deeply what these verses mean for us as believers. One interpretation is that Satan is completely defeated now. It seems to me if by that we mean that Satan no longer operates in this world, that would be an overly optimistic interpretation. It seems clear that Satan's evil is still operational in this world. The pessimists among us would say that we won't see Satan bound until Christ returns. This is clearly a premillenial (i.e., that believers will be taken up to heaven before the Millenium arrives) viewpoint, though it is possible that a premillenialist might also perceive some kind of limiting of Satan's authority even now. I think that a better understanding of this verse is that Jesus removed the authority Satan once had, or at the very minimum limited his authority. Clearly Jesus's death and resurrection provided the means for us to be set free from Satan's kingdom so that we can become part of God's kingdom.

I believe that believers even now have a certain amount of authority over Satan. Consider James 4:7 which says "Resist the devil and he will flee from you". This doesn't say that Satan isn't there any more, just that if we resist him, he will flee. Also consider Jesus's words in Luke 10:19 that we have authority to trample on scorpions and snakes, and they will not harm us. Surely this is an allusion to demonic forces.

According to the Revelation 20, Satan will be bound by chains during the Millenium or Thousand Year Reign of Christ. An amillenialist (one who believes that we are in the Millenium now) might even point to how Christ leading "captivity captive" is confirmation that we right now are in the Millenium in which Satan is bound.

All this talk about the Millenium possibly broadens the scope of our understanding, but is not essential to understanding this passage. The bottom line is that Jesus won a great victory over Satan, and that Jesus provided a means to set Satan's captives free -- through faith in Jesus as the Son of God, Messiah, and Savior. Furthermore, He bestowed gifts on His people. Ultimately, these gifts trace back to the Holy Spirit being given to all who follow Jesus, so that we could have grace (Greek "charis") to use these gifts (Greek "domata").

Verse 11 lists the gifts or offices given, and these are sometimes referred to as the five-fold ministry. They are apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher. Some people suggest that this is really a four-fold ministry, since in the structure of the sentence, pastor and teacher are preceded with one "some", while all the other gifts are given one "some" apiece. While I agree that pastors have an important teaching role, I am completely comfortable with the idea that being a teacher is a ministry that can function independently from being a pastor.

There is some disagreement on the definition of apostle, complicated by the fact that some believers don't think the apostle is even an office in the Church any more. We have already read in Ephesians 2:20 that the Church is built on the fundation of apostles and prophets. That passage in context seems to mostly refer to the first century apostles and prophets in establishing the New Testament and laying a pattern for the Church. However, the fact that the passage refers to the first century church does not imply that apostles and prophets would cease to function in the Body of Christ. The Greek word for apostle means "one who is sent". Some have suggested that pioneer missionaries are apostles. That may well be true. But elsewhere, the Bible tells us that displays of God's power are signs of an apostle (2 Corinthians 12:12), and not all pioneer missionaries seem to display God's power. Apostles are builders of the church. They may be involved in bringing people to Christ, bringing correction to error in the Church, or helping churches to operate under Godly ideals.

Prophets are ministers of God who speak the heart of God by use of revelatory gifts. They speak forth things that in their application to specific situations are beyond general guidelines of the Bible -- but of course should not contradict the Bible. There has been much misunderstanding about this role in recent years, and some damage done to the Body of Christ as people have elevated others or sought to elevate themselves to the point where the word of the prophet superceded an individual's responsibility to make choices for themselves. Nevertheless, properly functioning, the prophet is an incredibly important resource for the Body of Christ, and we are instructed to eagerly desire to have this gift. See the Apostle Paul's emphasis on this gift in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14.

Evangelists are those who proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to unbelievers. In 1 Peter 3:15, we are all instructed to be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks us for the reason we have hope through our faith. So we are all called to give verbal witness. Evangelists are those particularly suited or gifted in leading others to Christ, and this term and those of the rest of the five-fold ministry tend to apply to people who have these roles as vocations, or at least who devote considerable time to these tasks.

Pastors are those individuals who are charged with the caring for a flock or congregation. The word is the same word described as a shepherd of sheep. The role of pastor usually includes teaching, but there is so much more involved in being a pastor than just teaching.

Finally, there are God-empowered teachers given to the Body of Christ. These men and women are given to help believers know more about the Bible, God, and living the Christian life. Other lists of spiritual gifts are given in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. The list here tends to focus on offices, while the other lists tends to focus on specific workings, which may be included in the set of gifts operational in servants filling these offices. While not every believer is called to fill one of these vocations, 1 Corinthians 12 tell us that each believer is given one or more spiritual gifts, that like these vocations, are to be used to build up the Body of Christ.

Verse 12 in this passage tells us that these 5 vocations are given to the Church for building up the entire Body, by means of every person in the Body ministering. Did you catch that? Each believer is to have an active role ministering, and if that really happens, the Body of Christ will be built up. Some of the ministering believers do is practical helps, but this is by far not the only ministry. Without holding a vocational position, believers can share their faith, teach, pray for healing, intercede in prayer, and every other outreach imaginable that are consistent with Christian life. The five-fold ministers are called to help the entire Body of Christ get trained up, healed up, filled up, and in all ways empowered to do whatever work of ministry God has prepared for each of them to do.

So is there any difference between the five-fold ministers and everybody else? Yes and no. If this passage in Ephesians describes God's ideal, it might be the case that in terms of demonstration of power minstries (e.g., healing), or teaching, or prophesy, many who are not technically part of the five-fold ministry might have as much or greater gifting than those who are called by God to the five-fold ministry. While this seems inefficient to us, God's plans are better than ours. Why wouldn't someone with great gifting be called to the five-fold ministry? These are just ideas, but there are a number of possibilities. First, people who are not "professional" ministers can reach people in the workplace and elsewhere that professionals could not reach. Second, there is a time and season for everything, and just because someone doesn't have a "call" now doesn't mean they won't ever have a call. Third, many of us need maturing in character and healing in our hearts before we would be ready to serve without doing damage to ourselves and others. Many who are "professionals" now could still benefit from healing and maturing! The bottom line is that whether we are called to the five-fold ministry or just "ordinary" believers, all of us are called to ministry, and all of us are called to humility, recognizing that any good gift we have was given to us by God.

The result of this equipping of believers by five-fold ministers and others is unity of faith in the Body of Christ. Verse 13 also says that the result is that we would also reach the measure of the fullness of Christ. This is the second time in just a few verses that we see the use of the word "fullness" with God or Christ. The previous time was Ephesians 3:19, which told us that as we become aware of the depth of God's love for us, we would be filled with the fullness of God. Verse 13 in our present passage also says that our unity would not just be in faith but in the knowledge of the Son of God. A key component of this knowledge is the awareness of the depth of His love for us. Perhaps this suggests that the five-fold ministers should put a lot of emphasis on making sure each believer really "gets it" when it comes to God's love. We see today a movement that emphasizes the Father's love for us. The need for such a movement suggests the great need for believers to have this truth deep in their hearts. This should be more than just a movement -- it should be the vital component of preaching the Good News and in establishing all believers in this vital truth.