Offices and Gifts in the Church

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 11
Source and Purpose of the Offices and Gifts
Ephesians 4 teaches that the risen and ascended Head of the body is the source of all gifts. He gives: man does not appoint, nor come in mediatorily. There are some apostles, some prophets: these are foundation gifts (Eph. 2:2020And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; (Ephesians 2:20)), not intended to be continued, though in a secondary sense there may be prophets still, through whom the written Word is sometimes ministered in soul-reaching power. There have been at any solemn crisis in the church’s history special servants raised up to recover apostolic foundations — Luther, for instance — and who in that sense have approached to apostolic service.
Evangelists are to bring in, as it were, recruits from the world. Pastors and teachers are closely connected, and are often perhaps found in the same person. The pastor has an aptitude to care for souls, entering into the details of their needs in this world; a teacher is one able to open up Scripture, and to exhibit the mind of God from the Word.
Apostles, or apostolic delegates, appointed to offices; but never ordained any one to preach the gospel, or to teach the saints, as is now done in Christendom. The apostles were appointed by Christ while in the flesh, and sent forth again from Him risen; but the gifts for the body are from the glorified Head.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit was conferred through their laying on of hands, and in Timothy’s case the apostle conveyed to him also a gift of the Spirit, and even associated the elders with himself in the laying on of hands (2 Tim. 1:66Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. (2 Timothy 1:6); 1 Tim. 4:1414Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. (1 Timothy 4:14)).
In all the instances of appointing to offices it is either Paul himself, or those authorised by him, that made the appointments. This is what we might have expected when we remember that to him was committed the gospel of the glory and the mystery of the church. Paul had no successor, nor had those to whom he gave authority any power to communicate it to others: so that all such pretension is entirely without Scriptural warrant. Godly men may do the work of bishops, elders, and deacons without any appointment, as we read of some who addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints, and to whom the saints were exhorted to submit themselves (1 Cor. 16:1616That ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us, and laboreth. (1 Corinthians 16:16); see also 1 Thess. 5:1212And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; (1 Thessalonians 5:12)).