Scripture Reference: Ephesians 4:1-16
Unity is Not Uniformity – Continued
Please read Ephesians 4:7-12 for the background to this section.
After apostles come “prophets.” These are people who receive revelation directly from God based upon His established word and faithfully transmit it to the church. There is no variation in the spirit of that word and based upon the Word, there is no new revelation, only a revealing of established truth. It was very important that there should be prophets in the New Testament churches. For many decades those churches had no Scriptures except the Old Testament. Many truths which the Christian church needs are not found in the Old Testament written out such as “the mystery” which Paul spoke about in chapter 3. These truths were revealed to the New Testament prophets just as God through His Holy Spirit revealed truths to Old Testament prophets and thus were written down in this new dispensation of grace. Apostles and prophets exercise very different gifts! Yet it is Christ who sends them both, for both are necessary.
After prophets come “evangelists.” “Evangel” means “gospel,” so we could translate evangelist as “gospel proclaimer.” As soon as local churches are founded, false teachers try to infiltrate them. These people have all the right vocabulary but they use it in a different sense. They twist the spirit of the Word. Because the gospel is so recent to new Christians, they can easily be taken in by them and very soon believe a “gospel” which is not the true gospel at all, but only someone’s invented and twisted version of it. So “gospel proclaimers” are needed to keep on defining the true gospel in the face of subtle enemies who would destroy it. Timothy was such an evangelist and Paul sent him to ward off false teachers in Ephesus, as well as in other churches he had founded. We read about this in 1 and 2 Timothy, and especially in 2 Timothy 4:5. Titus was another. Paul’s epistle to him reveals how he had sent him to resist false teachers who had come to Crete.
The word “pastor” means shepherd. Christ sends certain men to be His under-shepherds. Their responsibility is to tend His sheep. Their supreme task is to lead them into good pasture and to nourish them, all the time protecting them from what might harm them. Spiritual shepherds should be able to teach, but teaching isn’t all they do. They also serve the sheep in various ways. For an excellent insight into what pastors should truly be engaged in, read Psalm 23, and notice the diverse duties involved in pastoring/shepherding.
In a local church, because pastors also have other functions that require not just teaching, but leading the congregation by example, (again, actions), churches also need teachers to help clarify the Word of God and especially among young and new believers. But “pastors and teachers” are not sent that God’s people might remain passive. Christ has sent them “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” As these men teach and serve by example, those who listen to them should begin to realize and understand that they themselves have a task to perform. The teaching and examples they receive equips them spiritually. In this way each member of the church sets off to do his particular work. The gifts which are exercised are extremely diverse, but everyone works “for the profit of all” (1 Corinthians 12:7). In this way the whole body is edified, or built up. Unity is maintained but diversity is not destroyed.
Our different abilities and opportunities have been given by Christ Himself. The unity of the church and the diversity of its members should become more and more evident as we walk in our gifts, and we shall be unable to hold back our praise and admiration for the Head who has arranged things this way.
To Be Continued
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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