“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” – Ephesians 4.11-13 (KJV)
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” – Ephesians 4.11-13 (ESV)
Upon Christ’s ascension He gave gifts to men and He gave gifted men to the church for building it up. The first are apostles. This is the official title given to the twelve disciples.
“And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not” – Matthew 10.1-5
Apostles are to preach the word, be ambassadors for Christ, be witnesses to all nations, and make disciples.
The second group of called men are prophets. These men were both foretellers and forthtellers. They receive their message from God and deliver it for God to man. They have deep insight into spiritual truths as they interpret God’s message under the power of the Holy Spirit.
Next are evangelists. They travel from place to place preaching the gospel.
The final group is pastors and teachers (KJV) or shepherds and teachers (ESV). Some Bible scholars look at these as one office and others look at them as two distinct offices. Pastors are to guide, instruct, and feed the church and teachers are to also preach the gospel and to instruct the people by way of exhortation.
Breaking down the rest of the passage,
“For the perfecting of the saints” – equipping Christians for service. The purpose of Christ’s gifts is to completely prepare them to be vessels unto honor, sanctified and satisfying to be used by God.
“If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.” – 2 Timothy 2.23
“For the work of the ministry” – preparing Christians to do their work, not doing the work for them. “The work” is spiritual service. One commentary said it this way, “The church is not a spiritual rest home but a barracks for training soldiers of the cross.”
“For the edifying of the body of Christ” – this is a view of building up of the whole body of Christ. All Christians are to be equipped for the work of edification and then be engaged in the work of edification (building up).
“Till we all come in the unity of the faith” – this refers to the whole body of Christ; no one should be neglected. Our goal is to attain unity, not uniformity. This work is far from being accomplished.
“And of the knowledge of the Son of God” – as Christians we are to have a true, accurate, and full knowledge of God so that we are able to work together to work out God’s plans and purposes.
“Unto a perfect man” – we can never be mature Christians if our faith in Christ is imperfect.
“Unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” – the goal here is to become a full-grown person in Christ. To achieve Christlikeness.
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” – Romans 8:29
If the church is divided, broken, or immature, it will do little in the way of evangelizing the world, as we are commanded by Jesus to do.
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