Post
by _Steve » Thu Oct 06, 2005 2:19 pm
Hi Paidion,
I have no internal resistance to accepting the continuance of the "five-fold ministry" to the present time. Nothing could please me more, in fact, than to be in the presence of genuine prophets of the sort I read about in scripture. If they are still with us, may their tribe increase.
I think, however, that the wording of the Ephesians passage is capable of more than one possible interpretation. Clearly, something is said to continue until we all come to a perfect man, in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, and I agree that that goal is yet to be realized in the future.
But what is it that Paul says must continue until that goal is reached? Is it the presence of all five categories of leadership, listed in verse 11, or is it the process described in verse 12, which might be continued (conceivably) even if one or two of the offices originally given were discontinued?
Here is what Paul affirms:
After His ascension, Christ gave the church gifted men, including apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (Eph.4:11). This is historically indisputable.
Why did he give such gifts as these to the church? It was "for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph.4:12).
And how long must the work of the saints' ministry continue to edify the body of Christ? "Until we all come, in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man..." (Eph.4:13).
Following this train of though backward, we see that the church must reach maturity in unity. How so? Through the ongoing ministry of the saints and the building up of the body. How are the saints equipped to perform such ministry? Through the aid of men with special callings who provide this equipping. What kind of special men? Well, several kinds, including (originally) apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.
What if a couple of these types of men were provided primarily to spearhead the work, and to leave the continuance of it to the evangelists, pastors and teachers (as Jesus left His work to the apostles)...would this prevent the work from going on and the movement from reaching stated goal? Hard to say. Not obviously.
That is, if the original apostles and prophets were given to lay the foundation of the work (Eph.2:20), and to leave the completion of the building for others to "build upon it" (1 Cor.3:10), would the evangelists, pastors and teachers not be adequate to carry on the work left in their hands? Only if the apostles and prophets performed tasks that others could not do.
Since anyone might prophesy, the vanishing of the prophetic office would not deprive the work of the continuing revelatory guidance of Christ through the prophetic Spirit. The Spirit can speak through a child, a donkey, or even a stone, if He wishes. What is so indispensable about the officer called "the prophet"?
Did apostles evangelize frontier territories? Well, that can be done by evangelists (as Philip the evangelist did, in Acts 8).
Did the apostles disciple the new converts? That's what pastors and teachers are for, isn't it?
Did apostles work miracles and healings? Well, those gifts are still in the list of gifts and among the things that may be performed by "the elders of the church," i.e. pastors (James 5:14), by evangelists, like Philip (Acts 8:5-6), or even simply by "those who believe" (Mark 16:17-18).
What, then, was the distinctive value of apostles and prophets? Was it not to found in their special rank and authority, rather than any distinctive function? Was it not to provide infallible norms, and to write the inspired writings for the new movement? This being done, what is left for modern apostles and prophets to do that cannot be done by believers in other roles?
These are questions to which I do not know the answers. I have no reason to wish for the cessation of apostolic and prophetic offices. I simply am not sure that the Bible suggests that these two offices would necessarily remain after they have served their distinctive purposes. The church is not deprived of their services. Their ministries and authoritative decisions have been preserved in their writings, and they are still among us.
Also, to be quite frank, I am perplexed, if such offices really do exist, why is it that, after 35 years in charismatic circles, I have never run across a genuine apostle or prophet? Where is God hiding them? And why?
In my travels around the world, I have encountered numberless leaders who call themselves apostles or prophets, but none yet who measure up to scriptural standards for such offices. We are told that many false prophets have gone out into the world, and they do not seem hard to locate! Where is God hiding the REAL prophets? We are urged to test any alleged prophet (1 John 4:1ff) and the church of Ephesus was commended for testing alleged apostles (Rev.2:2). After a third of a century of perfoming such tests, and finding none who pass, it begins to look like those people could be right who think that these two offices were only around in the beginning.
I would be delighted to be proven wrong.
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Reason: In Jesus,
Steve
