Why we need spiritual gifts – Ephesians 4:11-16
Last time, we saw that our Lord
is the source of spiritual gifts and that the significance of the spiritual
gifts lies in the fact that they are the fruit of our Lord’s redemptive
work. However, this does not fully
unpack the reasons for which the spiritual gifts have been given. Paul does that in the verses before us. In verse 12, we are given the purpose of spiritual
gifts: “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ.” The
main idea in that sentence is “perfecting” which can mean to equip, to
complete, to train, or to mend. The idea
that is common to all these meanings is taking something which is lacking in
some sense and completing it so that no longer lacks that thing. The church presently is imperfect and
incomplete, and so the Lord has given gifts to the church to make up for that
imperfection. You see it also in the
word “edifying,” which means to build up.
Again, you have this idea of taking a building which is incomplete and
adding to it so that it is a complete structure.
This immediately begs the
questions: in what sense is the church incomplete? The answer comes in verse 13: “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 fullness of Christ.” The apostle seems to be saying one thing in
different ways, namely, that the goal for which we are being perfected is
conformity to Christ (cf. Rom. 8:29; Phil. 3:20-21; 1 Jn. 3:2). We are incomplete in that we are not yet like
Christ. This does not take place in this
time, for it will happen when we shall see him as he is. However, it is the goal that we are all to be
striving after in this present time. It
is the main task of the church, to become more like Christ.
In verse 13, the apostle has
introduced another idea to fill out the need for the church to be perfected or
completed. It is the idea of
growth. We are to grow until we reach
the “measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” This idea is then reinforced in each of the
following verses. In verse 14, we are
not to remain as little children, but to grow so that we do not become the
victims of spiritual deception. In verse
15, we are told to speak the truth in love and so grow up into Christ, and then
in verse 16, Paul explains how this growth takes place: as each member
functions properly in the body of Christ.
Thus, Paul is talking about
spiritual growth in these verses. The
reason the spiritual gifts were given were so that we might grow spiritually so
that we might become more like Christ.
But then, how does this happen,
exactly? How do the gifts function so
that spiritual growth happens? Verse 16 shows
that this does not happen apart from every believer functioning properly in the
body. In other words, in some sense, my
spiritual growth depends upon your spiritual growth. We grow together. We need each other. You see this in that phrase which is found in
between “perfecting” and “edifying” in verse 12: “for the work of the
ministry.” The question has often been
asked whether this phrase is parallel to the other two or whether it is
dependent upon the first. The structure
of the Greek text seems to favor the view that it depends upon the first
phrase. In other words, the spiritual
gifts are given so that the church will be equipped for the work of ministry,
with the result that the church will be built up in edification.
Ministry, or “service,” is not
just done by a small group of people in the church. It ought to be done by the entire
church. The apostle is saying that the
spiritual gifts are given so that the church as a whole would be equipped to do
the work of ministry. It is only in this
way that the church grows.
Well, we have just given a quick
tour of the text. What I want to do now
is to go back through the text and highlight a feature of Paul’s treatment of
spiritual gifts in this text. It has to
do with the role of God’s word in the growth of the church. I think it is important to highlight this
feature for a couple of reasons. One is
that there is often confusion over the relationship between the spiritual gifts
and the Scriptures. Some, in order to
make room in the church for the spiritual gifts often seem to downplay the
importance of the Word of God in the church.
Others, in order to maximize the influence of the Bible in the community
of God’s people seem to want to downplay any role for spiritual gifts apart
from those recognized in the offices of elder and deacon. What we see in this text, however, is a
dynamic that weds the spiritual gifts with the Word of God in way that brings
about the spiritual growth of God’s people.
So how does this happen? How does the intersection of spiritual gifts
and the Bible bring about the spiritual growth of the church? The text shows us four ways in which this
happens.
First, we grow through the written word.
Paul begins in verse 11 by enumerating some of the gifts. Now, we need to remind ourselves that in the
four lists in the NT that mention specific spiritual gifts (Rom. 12:6-8; 1 Cor.
12:28; Eph. 4:11; 1 Pet. 4:10-11), none of them are the same. So, we should not think that the list the
apostle gives here is meant to be exhaustive.
However, there is a reason the apostle mentions these instead of
others. I think the reason lies in the
connection between the role of God’s word and the growth of the church. You see, every one of the gifts mentioned
here are in some way connected to the teaching and proclamation of God’s word.
The first two, however, are more
intimately connected to the written word which we have in the Scriptures. These are the apostles and prophets. It has often been noted that there are at
least two different ways that the word “apostle” is used in the NT. It can refer generically to anyone who is
“sent,” and so we read about those who were denoted as the messengers or
apostles of the churches (2 Cor. 8:23 and perhaps Rom. 16:7). However, the word “apostle” is mainly used to
denote a very limited and distinct group of men who were specially chosen by
Christ to bear his authority and to give his word to the church. The apostle gives the preeminent
qualification of an apostle in this sense in Gal. 1:1 – “Paul, an apostle (not
of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him
from the dead).” Apostles were not
appointed by men but directly by Christ himself. In addition, they were required to have seen
the risen Christ in order to be eyewitnesses to the resurrection (cf. Acts
1:22; 1 Cor. 15:5-10). So, we see that
in the nature of the case there can be no apostles in the church today.
However, that does not mean that
the apostles are lost to the church so that we cannot benefit from their
gift. For they remain with us through
their writings in the NT. It is not for
no reason that the early church discriminated between those writings which were
directly associated with an apostle (either written by an apostle or someone
who wrote under the authority of an apostle like Mark and Luke) and those that
were not. Those which were not were
discounted as Scripture. And for good
reason, for the apostles are the ones who were directly commissioned by our
Lord to give his authoritative word to the church. We have already seen how the apostle
described the process by which he received God’s word for the church as
“revelation” (Eph. 3:3).
Next, we come to the
prophets. The prophets in Ephesians are
always put together with the apostles.
Thus, in Eph. 2:20, we are told that the church is “built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief
cornerstone.” And in Eph. 3:5, we read
that the mystery of the gospel “in other ages was not made known unto the sons
of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the
Spirit.” And then we have Eph. 4:11,
“And he gave some, apostles, and some, prophets.” The fact that they are always mentioned
together has led some to believe that they are the same group. However, our text precludes that. Paul doesn’t say, “And he gave some apostles
and prophets,” but rather “some apostle, and some prophets.” So, they are a distinct group from the
prophets.
Nevertheless, it is difficult to
determine exactly where the difference between them lies. With the apostles, they spoke by inspiration
from God. Again, they are intimately
connected with the transmission of the Scriptures. The apostle Peter in fact denotes the process
by which Scripture is given to us as prophesy: “We have also a more sure word
of prophesy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that
shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your
hearts: knowing this first, that no prophesy of the scriptures is of any
private interpretation. For the prophesy
came not in old time by the will of man: by holy men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:19-21).
The 19th century Princeton theologian Charles Hodge believed
that the difference between NT prophets and apostles lay in the fact that the
inspiration of the apostles was permanent whereas for the prophets it was
occasional, and therefore the authority of the prophet was subservient to that
of the apostle.[1] I find this distinction persuasive and it
seems to fit well with the nature of the ministry of the prophet laid out in 1
Cor. 14.
One more question: are there
prophets today? I tend to think not, at
least not as the apostle Paul thinks of them in this epistle, for with the
apostles they are foundational to the church.
You only lay the foundation once.
So I don’t think this is necessarily an ongoing gift. And I certainly am very uneasy with people
who today claim to speak the very words of God and begin by saying something
like, “The Holy Ghost says . . .” This can
be a dangerous (and I think unscriptural) practice that often tends to
undermine confidence in the sufficiency of Scripture.
The fact that the apostle
mentions these two gifts first both in Ephesians 4:11 and 1 Corinthians 12:28
indicates that he considered these gifts of primary importance for the
church. The fact that they are so
intimately connected to the giving of Scripture tells us why the word of God is
so important for the growth of the church.
The starting point for any kind of spiritual growth is by taking
seriously the book that the Holy Spirit has given to us through the apostles
and prophets.
The importance of Scripture is
implied throughout this passage. The
“faith” that we are to grow toward in unity is the faith of the word of God
(13). The “knowledge of the Son of God”
does not come through our own musings but through the Bible (13). We grow as we speak, not our own words, but
the truth in love (15), truth whose boundaries are demarcated by the Scriptures
of the Old and New Testaments. As Paul
would later exhort Timothy: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and
is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto
all good works” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Do you
want to grow? Then get familiar with
your Bible.
However, we not only grow through
the written word; we also grow through
the preached word. The next two gits
Paul mentions are “evangelists” and “pastors and teachers.” Neither an evangelist nor a pastor is concerned
with creating new revelation. Rather,
their task lies in disseminating (proclaiming and teaching) already existing
revelation.
There are only three texts in the
NT that directly refer to evangelists, one of which is our text. The first of the other two are Acts 21:8
where Philip is called an evangelist, and the last is 2 Tim. 4:5 where Paul
exhorts Timothy to do the work of an evangelist. These texts seem to indicate that an
evangelist was simply a person who preached the gospel to others, especially to
those who had never heard (as in the case of Philip). On the other hand, a pastor-teacher is
someone who disciples and teaches those who have already received and believed
the gospel. “Pastor” literally means
“shepherd” and the way pastors shepherd their flocks is by giving them the word
of God, not their own word. Some have
commented that not every teacher is a pastor, but every pastor must be a
teacher. They must be “apt to teach,”
and the reason is because pastors are to lead by the preached word.
I think this is significant
because this shows that having your Bible is not enough. At least, this is not God’s normal way of
helping his people grow in grace. We
need to hear the preached word (this goes for the pastor as much as for those
who are shepherded). We need to have
others speak the truth into our lives, and one of the main ways God has
ordained for this to happen is through the preached word, especially as it
regularly comes to us in the weekly rhythm of the gathering of the local church.
You see the urgency of this in
Paul’s letter to the Titus. There, he
writes, “For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order
the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had
appointed thee” (Tit. 1:5). Paul did not
want there to be a single church without elders. The church was “wanting” as long as this
condition subsisted. And you can see how
important their function as teachers was as the following verses unfold,
especially verse 9. The elder/bishop is
to hold fast “the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by
sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.”
Some might question whether
“pastor” is a reference to the “bishop/elder.”
I believe it is. Elders are shepherds
(1 Pet. 5:1-4). Like shepherds on the
watch for potential predators, elders “watch for you souls” (Heb. 13:17). Paul exhorted the Ephesians elders himself
with these words: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock,
over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of
God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing
shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. . .. Therefore
watch” (Acts 20:28-29, 31).
You see the reason for this
function of the pastor-elder-bishop in verse 14: “that we henceforth be no more
children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by
the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to
deceive.” The word “sleight” in verse 14
literally means “dice-playing” and refers to the cheating and trickery that
often accompanies games of chance. False
teachers don’t just come out and announce that they are teaching something
different from the apostles. Rather they
will come in with teaching that sounds good, even orthodox. Thus the apostle anticipates those who would
take advantage of immature believers.
The only way to prevent their deception is for the believers to be well
grounded in the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, and thus to have
attained “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (13). And this happens as they take advantage of
the gifts of verse 11, which for us means taking advantage of the written word
and the preached word.
However, we all know that having
your Bible and regularly attending the sermon is not enough to guarantee
spiritual growth. Unfortunately, there
are multitudes who are pass by the pulpit as they go on their way to spiritual
destruction. So, that brings us to our
third point, which is that we grow
through the applied word. You don’t
just read God’s word, you don’t just hear it.
You must also apply it. In verse
13, Paul writes, “till we all come in the unity of the faith.” The word “come” means “to attain to,” or “to
reach a goal.” The goal is the unity of
the faith, the perfect conformity to the character of our Lord. We will not reach it until we are glorified
in the age to come, but Paul does not envision the Christian just sitting down
waiting for that to happen. Rather, we
are on a journey, working toward that goal.
We are applying God’s word to our own attitudes and situations. We are right now being perfected and edified
(12). We are right now growing up into
Christ (15). All this points to present
growth in grace and that doesn’t happen unless we are believing and obeying
God’s word ourselves.
The apostle James warns us
against being content with a bare knowledge of God’s word. “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers
only, deceiving your own selves. For if
any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his
natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and
straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of
liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of
the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (Jam. 1:22-25). In the next chapter, he remarks, “Thou
believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and
tremble” (Jam. 2:19). Saying that we
believe the doctrines of the Bible when we refuse to apply them to ourselves is
useless and dangerous.
Remember that the people who bore
the overwhelming brunt of our Lord’s denunciations were the Pharisees. The Pharisees knew their Bibles. They could quote them back to you forwards
and backwards. Their whole lives where
defined by their religion. And yet they
became the steadfast opponents of Christ.
And they persisted in their opposition to the point that they connived
in his crucifixion. Then they bitterly
persecuted his church after the resurrection.
Of course, our response to this should not be to chunk religion
altogether. But it should warn us
against the danger of thinking that having religion and a general knowledge of
the word of God is sufficient evidence that we are saved.
Indeed, the knowledge that Paul
speaks of in verse 13 is not the useless knowledge that the apostle James is
inveighing against. Hodge remarks that
the word Paul uses here denotes not just cognition, but recognition. This is knowledge to which the heart
responds. He goes on to comment, “Faith
and knowledge . . . express or comprehend all the elements of that state of
mind of which the Son of God, God manifested in the flesh, who loved us and
gave himself for us, who died on Calvary, and is now enthroned in heaven, is
the object – a state of mind which includes the apprehension of his glory, the
appropriation of his love, as well as confidence and devotion. This state of mind is in itself eternal
life. It includes excellence,
blessedness, and the highest form of activity.”[2] We not only know the word of God, we live it
out daily in our lives.
Finally, the church grows through the
shared word. We not only apply it to
our own lives. We share it with each
other. We speak into each other’s
lives. This is what the apostle is
referring to in verses 15-16: “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into
him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body
fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth,
according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase
of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” The main idea of verse 16 is that the body
grows as each member does its part.
Verse 15 shows that the main way this translates to the church is that
each member is speaking the truth in love.
As the apostle would tell the Colossians, “Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and
spiritual songs” (Col. 3:16). In
Hebrews, we read, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil
heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, what it is
called today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin”
(Heb. 3:12-13).
I think I need to emphasize that
the life that is being held forth in this passage is not that of a community of
people whose heads are full of religious knowledge and who are trying to see
how miserable they can make each other.
No, this is truth that is held with the heart, that brings the love of
Christ into the heart and overflows in love to others (15-16). It is truth that causes the heart to
sing. Did you hear what Paul said to the
Colossians? He goes from letting God’s
word dwell in you richly to singing to each other. This is not dry theology. This is not lifeless doctrine. It is truth that sings.
It is this to which that the
apostle is calling us. Grow through the
written word, the preached word, the applied word, and the shared word. It is a wonderful word because it centers
upon Christ and his redemptive work on our behalf. He came for us, he died for us so that our
sins might be forgiven, so that its power might be broken. He rose again so that we might join him in
everlasting glory and life. His word is
living and powerful because he lives and is sovereign over all things. His word is infinitely valuable because he is
infinitely valuable. So may we treasure
his word in all these ways.
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