What does Ephesians 4:11-16 really mean?
At church I’ve been talking with two friends about what “the ministry” is all about. Both are graduates from Regent College which has a unique take on “the ministry.” Based on Ephesians 4:11-16 they believe that every member of the church is a minister. Of course not all are called to be elders, but that doesn’t mean that everyone isn’t a minister of the gospel. The purpose then of the pastor is to equip all members for the “real work” of the ministry. One book that seems to have been really influential for this view is R. Paul Stephens’ Liberating the Laity (an ex-Regent professor).
This view can be clearly seen in how various versions of the Bible translate Ephesians 4:11-16. See the NKJV:
And [Christ] 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 …
Not all versions translate the passage this way. See the KJV and notice the lack of the comma and what that does to the meaning of the passage:
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:
In a 1994 article for the Journal for the Evangelical Theological Society, T. David Gordon defends the older interpretation of Ephesians 4:
Given the implied subject of all three clauses (“gifted ones”), the use of katartismon (“gathering or ordering into visible communion,” not “equipping”), and the use of ergon diakonias (“the work of ministry”), there is no basis for the notion that Paul sees the ministry’s importance in terms of preparing the laity for the “real work” of ministry. Furthermore, this flies in the face of the many passages that clearly distinguish the calling of a minister from the general Christian calling that belongs to all believers. Rather, ministers are given by Christ so that they can build up the flock by exercising their office faithfully.
Commenting on Gordon’s work, Michael Horton says:
Professor Gordon is, I think, quite justified in his alarm concerning the practical effects of American egalitarianism here. “Those preparing for ministry (and the institutions that prepare them),” he writes, “are turning their energies away from those skills associated with the distinctive ministry of the Word (original-language exegesis) and toward organizational, managerial, motivational (coercive?) skills.”
Now certainly I agree with Horton and Gordon’s concern for the pastorate turning into a Fast Company reading shill house, but I’m not sure about their exegesis.
What do you guys think? Have you come across this before?
The exegesis makes sense to me, but I’m not sure any significant disagreement would be resolved by this verse alone… what do you think?
I don’t know how the ancients communicated meaning without punctuation. Heck, they didn’t even have spaces or lower case letters in Latin. EVERYTHINGWASWRITTENLIKETHISALLTHETIME
ITWOULDMAKEMYEYESBLEED
With just a quick on-line check, it appears to me that none of the widely used modern English translations have a comma between “equipping the saints” and “the work of ministry, “no matter what their translation philosophy or method. I checked NASB, ESV, NRSV, NIV, NKJV, etc. Therefore, I think the burden of proof is on someone who wants to put the comma in this verse, with the interpretive change that might imply.
I think the burden has been discharged by Gordon precisely in his exegetical argument…
You cant trust Regent people they are all liberals
That last post was intended as tongue in check!
I just read some articles on this topic (one by Page, “Whose Ministry? A Re-appraisal of Ephesians 4:12.” Novum Testamentum 47:1 (2005): 26-46) and I must say I am convinced that Paul here gives the teaching leadership of the church a greater responsibility in teaching, the ministry of the Word and the building up of the church (in 4:12), while the next verse (13) gives three ways in which the church as a whole matures and grows. Through the whole passage, there’s a delicate tension between the reponsibility of those with teaching gifts and the responsibility of every believer. It even shows in v. 16 where the whole body grows, supported by the joints and ligaments. The whole body doesn’t consist of these joints and ligaments, does it? No, that the believers with teaching gifts, while every part contributes as well.
See my post on this at http://passingthebaton.wordpress.com/
thats what is wrong with the church system. It raises up clergy above the laity. Jesus said we were all brothers and sisters on the same level. We are a kingdom of priests. We should not see one gift as more important. the body is retarded because of the nicolations which were the deeds Jesus hated. think of the unity if we loved the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and stength and loved our neighbor as our selves. If we washed each others feet. think of the unity. but the knowledge of men puffs up. We all need to walk in the Spirit . We have an annointing and we need know one to teach us . We have the Spirit of God. We just need each other for true fellowship and to encourage each other daily to keep our hearts from becoming hard. So it is more of a brother to brother issue than. who is the greatest! Recongizing God gift and abilities in its members. Not who can we pay that is smart and can lead us. Follow after God and hunger and thirst after righteousness! SIMPLE Faith in Yeshua.