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In the foregoing message we considered the offices in both the universal church and the local church. In this message we shall cover the relationship between the four special gifts and the church.
An office has a position with the right to do certain things. A gift, however, is not a position, and it does not give one any rights. A gift is an ability. If one has a certain gift, he has a particular ability but not any position. A gift does not bring any position to us; it only gives us the ability to do certain things. According to Ephesians 4, there are four special gifts — the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the shepherd-teachers. Actually, these gifts are not merely abilities but gifted persons. We need to see the relationship between these four special gifts and the church.
In Ephesians 4:11 Paul says that Christ, the Head of the Body, has given four categories of gifts to the Body: apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. These gifts are raised up by the Head and given by Him to the Body. They are not produced in a human way by education, selection, or ordination. Rather, among the saints who love the Lord and seek Him, some are gradually manifested to be apostles, evangelists, prophets, or teachers. They are produced by their manifestation in their Christian life and living.
The first of the four special gifts is the apostles. On the one hand, the apostleship is an office in the universal church; on the other hand, an apostle is a gift. Actually, the apostleship is more a gift than an office. For example, Paul had the office of apostleship, but he was also a gift. As an apostle, Paul was a gift more than he was one who had an office. He did not do much according to his office, but he did a great deal as a gift.
In their ministry to produce the churches, the apostles are a gift to the universal church, that is, a gift to all the churches. A gift is a present freely given to you. An apostle certainly is a gift to all the churches. Throughout the ages, certain ones have been raised up by God to be apostles and have been given to the church as a gift.
In 1 Corinthians 9:1 Paul asks, “Am I not an apostle?” The word “apostle” is an anglicized Greek word which means one who is sent. An apostle of the Lord is a believer who is sent out by Him with His authority to preach the gospel of God, to teach the divine truth, and to establish churches. Peter and John were such apostles among the Jews in the first section of the book of Acts, and Paul and Barnabas were such apostles among the Gentiles in the second section of Acts. Others, such as Silvanus and Timothy, also became apostles (1 Thes. 1:1; 2:6). As long as anyone has the power to preach the gospel, the gift to teach the divine truth, and the ability to establish churches, he is qualified and confirmed to be an apostle sent by the Lord with His commission and authority.
The apostleship is universal. When Paul and Barnabas were in the church at Antioch they were not apostles but prophets and teachers (Acts 13:1). However, when they went out to preach the gospel to establish the churches, they were the sent ones. A sent one is an apostle. They were prophets and teachers in the local church in Antioch, but by being sent out in the ministry they became apostles to establish the churches.
In their ministry to appoint the elders, the apostles have an office over all the local churches. Acts 14:23, for example, tells us that the apostles appointed elders in every church. Therefore, in their ministry the apostles are a gift given to the churches, and they also have an office with the position and right to set up the elders in all the local churches.
The apostles appoint the elders in the local churches (Acts 14:23). Because the elders in the churches are established and appointed by the apostles, the apostles are over the elders. The eldership is local, and it is under the apostleship.
First Timothy 5:19-20 indicates that an accusation against an elder should be made to the apostles. This shows that the elders are under the apostles.
The government of the church is very simple. The apostles go out and preach the gospel to establish the churches. Then they select the more mature believers and appoint them to be elders to shepherd, to take care of, a local church. The elders should take care of the churches according to the apostles’ teaching. Because all the churches are established by the apostles, and the elders are selected and appointed in different localities by the apostles, in taking care of the churches all the elders should take the word of the apostles.
The apostles are the first gift placed by God in the church. “God has placed some in the church: firstly apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers” (1 Cor. 12:28a). The church here refers both to its universal aspect and to its local aspect. The first gifts to be placed in the church are the apostles, those who are called and sent by God to preach the gospel that sinners may be saved to be the materials for the building of the church, to establish the churches, and to teach the divine truth. Their ministry is universal for all the churches.
The greatest apostle in the New Testament was Paul. In his fourteen Epistles he used many marvelous expressions. For instance, in Romans 8 he used the word “law” to refer not to the commandment given by God but to the innate ability of life. Therefore, there is the law of sin and of death and also the law of the Spirit of life. In Ephesians 1 Paul spoke of the surpassing greatness of the power that was wrought in Christ in raising Him from among the dead, seating Him in the heavenlies, subjecting all things under His feet, and giving Him to be Head over all things to the church, the Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all. The fact that Paul had such a revelation indicates that he was a great apostle. Although we cannot compare with him, we nevertheless may be little apostles, going to the villages and towns to bring the gospel of the truth to people, helping them to believe in the Lord Jesus, and planting local churches.
The prophets are those who speak for God and speak forth God by God’s revelation and who sometimes speak with inspired prediction. In order to be a prophet, one must have the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. This means that a prophet must have the proper knowledge of the Word and also receive much divine revelation. Without this knowledge and this revelation, we cannot speak for God or speak God forth. A prophet must be one who has the light, the revelation, concerning what is written in the Word. The prophets, therefore, must have the spiritual gift to speak the word of wisdom so that God may be spoken forth and by this speaking be dispensed into others. Sometimes the prophets also receive the miraculous ability to foretell, to predict. However, this is not often seen in the New Testament. The emphasis in the New Testament is not on the prophets’ foretelling but on their speaking for God and speaking forth God.
The prophets are a gift mainly for the local church (Acts 13:1; 1 Cor. 14:23-24). In the churches today there should be prophets receiving the divine revelation and the light, prophets who know the truth, who have the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge, and who speak for God and speak God forth into others. The more such prophets speak for God and even speak God, the more the Triune God is dispensed into others.
The prophets are not only a gift mainly for the local church but also for all the local churches. If the prophets can speak the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge, dispensing God into others, in a particular locality, they can do the same thing in every locality (Acts 11:27-28; 21:8-11; 15:22, 30, 32).
On the one hand, the prophets mainly speak for God and speak forth God spiritually (Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 14:1); on the other hand, occasionally the prophets predict for God miraculously (Acts 11:28; 21:11). In the Bible as a whole and in the New Testament in particular, the word “prophesy” does not mainly mean to predict. In both the Old and New Testaments to prophesy is to tell for, that is, to speak for others; to tell forth, that is, to speak things forth; and to foretell, that is, to predict, to speak things before they happen. Mainly prophesying is a matter of speaking for the Lord and of speaking the Lord forth. Hence, the main idea of prophecy in the New Testament is not prediction but speaking for the Lord and speaking forth the Lord under His direct inspiration, that is, speaking according to the revelation the Lord has imparted.
To prophesy in the sense of telling for and telling forth requires much growth in life. For this, we need to know God and experience Christ. If we do not have the adequate knowledge of God and experience of Christ, we do not have anything to say for Him, and we cannot speak Him forth.
To prophesy in the sense of foretelling, of predicting something before it happens, is miraculous and does not require the growth in life. The Spirit is the means by which the prophets foretell in this way. Acts 11:28 says that a prophet “named Agabus rose up and signified through the Spirit that there was about to be a great famine over the whole inhabited earth, which occurred at the time of Claudius.” Another instance of such miraculous foretelling by a prophet is in Acts 21:10 and 11.
Whenever a prophet speaks for God, speaks forth God, or speaks in the way of foretelling, he must speak by the Spirit of God. If we speak for God or try to speak forth God without the Spirit of life, our speaking will be ordinary human speaking, not prophesying. To prophesy, either to predict something for God or to speak for God and to speak forth God, must be a speaking by the Spirit of God.
The prophets are the second of the four special gifts placed by God in the church. In 1 Corinthians 12:28 Paul says that God has placed some in the church “secondly prophets.”
The third category of special gifts to the church mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 is the evangelists. The evangelists are experts in preaching the gospel, and all the saints need to learn of them. An outstanding example of an evangelist is Philip in chapter eight of Acts. This Philip was not the Philip among the apostles (Acts 1:13) but the Philip among the seven appointed by the apostles to serve tables (6:5). Through his ministry and preaching the gospel as recorded in Acts 8, he was manifested to be an evangelist. Because he had an outstanding gift of gospel preaching, he was eventually called “Philip the evangelist” (Acts 21:8).
The evangelists are for all the local churches. This is indicated by the record concerning Philip’s gospel preaching in Acts 8. In verse 40 we are told that “passing through he brought the good news to all the cities.”
An evangelist does the particular work of preaching the gospel. Acts 8:5 says, “Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.” Philip also preached the kingdom of God as the gospel. Acts 8:12 tells us, “When they believed Philip, bringing the good news concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.” He preached the kingdom of God as the gospel just as the Lord did (Mark 1:14-15; Luke 4:43). Acts 8:26 and 40 also indicate that, as an evangelist, Philip did the particular work of gospel preaching.
The fourth category of special gifts in Ephesians 4:11 is the shepherd-teachers. The shepherd-teachers here are not two kinds of persons; rather, they are one kind. This means that if a believer is to shepherd the saints, he must surely teach them. Likewise, if he teaches the saints, he will also shepherd them. Shepherding needs teaching, and teaching needs shepherding. Therefore, the shepherd-teachers are one category of persons.
The shepherd-teachers are a gift for the local church. This is indicated by Acts 13:1, which tells us that there were teachers in the church in Antioch. In Acts 7 Stephen was manifested as a teacher, and Acts 11 reveals that both Barnabas and Saul were teachers. Acts 11:26 says that Saul and Barnabas “were gathered in the church and taught a considerable number.”
The shepherd-teachers teach in the local church meetings. This is indicated by “a teaching” in 1 Corinthians 14:26. In the church meetings we need a word of teaching. Such teaching should minister Christ with the church as His Body.
Teaching is different from prophesying. Teaching is the speaking based on prophesying. The teachers take what is given in the prophets’ prophesying and teach the saints according to it. This is teaching. The prophets are those who speak for God and speak forth God by God’s revelation and who sometimes speak with inspired prediction. Teachers are those who speak the truths according to the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42) and the prophets’ revelation.
The shepherd-teachers are placed third by God in the church. For this reason, in 1 Corinthians 12:28 Paul says that God has placed some in the church “thirdly teachers.”
All the four special gifts — the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the shepherd-teachers — do not build the Body of Christ directly. Instead, these special gifts perfect the saints that they may build the Body of Christ directly (Eph. 4:12-16).
In Ephesians 4:12 we see the reason for Christ’s giving the four special gifts: “For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.” The Greek word rendered “for” in this verse is weighty and significant. It indicates that Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherd-teachers for the purpose of perfecting the saints. The saints are perfected “unto the work of ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.” The Greek word rendered “unto” here means “resulting in.” Therefore, the perfecting of the saints results in the work of ministry, the building up of the Body of Christ.
According to grammar, the phrase “unto the building up of the Body of Christ” is in apposition to the phrase “unto the work of ministry.” This indicates that both phrases refer to the same thing. Therefore, the work of ministry is the building up of the Body. In verse 12 the work of ministry refers in particular to the work of the saints in building up the Body of Christ directly.
Ephesians 4:16, referring to the Head, Christ, says, “Out from whom all the Body, fitted and knit together through every joint of the supply, according to the operation in measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love,” In this verse “every joint of the supply” refers to the four special gifts mentioned in verse 11. The article before the Greek word rendered “supply” is emphatic. It indicates that the supply should be a particular supply, the supply of Christ. The apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherd-teachers have the supply, the particular supply. Nevertheless, the Body is built up “according to the operation in measure of each one part.” “Each one part” refers to every member of the Body. Every member of the Body of Christ has its own measure, and this measure works for the growth of the Body. The Body causes the growth of itself through the supplying joints and working parts. Both the joints of the supply and every single part with its measure are needed for the church to build itself up. The growth of the Body is the increase of Christ in the church. This results in the Body building itself up.
The saints need to be perfected, equipped, furnished, unto the work of ministry. This work of ministry is the building up of the Body of Christ. Because so many saints are not yet doing the work of ministry, they need the special gifts to perfect them, to equip them, that they may be qualified to carry out the work of ministry for the building up of the Body of Christ. First, the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherd-teachers perfect the saints. This means that they build up the saints. The perfected saints then become the building members to build the Body of Christ directly. Therefore, the Body is not built directly by the four special gifts — it is built directly by all the members of the Body.
If we realize that the four special gifts are for the perfecting of the saints that they may build the Body of Christ directly, we shall avoid the great heresy of the clergy-laity system. In this system the leading ones are the clergy and the followers are the laity. In the church, the Body of Christ, there is no such thing as either clergy or laity, and there is no hierarchy, which annuls and kills the function of all the members. In the church we all are priests to God and members of Christ. This means that in the church every member of the Body functions to build up the Body of Christ directly.
