Equipping and Building
ministry
the saints
Commentary
Note, The great gift that Christ gave to the church at his ascension was that of the ministry of peace and reconciliation. The gift of the ministry is the fruit of Christ’s ascension. And ministers have their various gifts, which are all given them by the Lord Jesus.
The officers which Christ gave to his church were of two sorts—extraordinary ones advanced to a higher office in the church: such were apostles, prophets, and evangelists.
The apostles were chief. These Christ immediately called, furnished them with extraordinary gifts and the power of working miracles, and with infallibility in delivering his truth; and, they having been the witnesses of his miracles and doctrine, he sent them forth to spread the gospel and to plant and govern churches.
The evangelists were ordained persons (2 Tim. 1:6), whom the apostles took for their companions in travel (Gal. 2:1), and sent them out to settle and establish such churches as the apostles themselves had planted (Acts 19:22), and, not being fixed to any particular place, they were to continue till recalled, 2 Tim. 4:9
And then there are ordinary ministers, employed in a lower and narrower sphere; as pastors and teachers
Some take these two names to signify one office, implying the duties of ruling and teaching belonging to it. Others think they design two distinct offices, both ordinary, and of standing use in the church; and then pastors are such as are fixed at the head of particular churches, with design to guide, instruct, and feed them in the manner appointed by Christ; and they are frequently called bishops and elders: and the teachers were those whose work it was also to preach the gospel and to instruct the people by way of exhortation
11. And he gave. The government of the church, by the preaching of the word, is first of all declared to be no human contrivance, but a most sacred ordinance of Christ. The apostles did not appoint themselves, but were chosen by Christ; and, at the present day, true pastors do not rashly thrust themselves forward by their own judgment, but are raised up by the Lord. In short, the government of the church, by the ministry of the word, is not a contrivance of men, but an appointment made by the Son of God. As his own unalterable law, it demands our assent. They who reject or despise this ministry offer insult and rebellion to Christ its Author. It is himself who gave them; for, if he does not raise them up, there will be none.
Which is taken from Christ’s great end and design in giving gifts unto men. The gifts of Christ were intended for the good of his church, and in order to advance his kingdom and interest among men. All these being designed for one common end is a good reason why all Christians should agree in brotherly love, and not envy one another’s gifts. All are for the perfecting of the saints (v. 12); that is, according to the import of the original, to bring into an orderly spiritual state and frame
The meaning may be thus summed up. “The external ministry of the word is also commended, on account of the advantages which it yields. Certain men appointed to that office, are employed in preaching the gospel. This is the arrangement by which the Lord is pleased to govern his church, to maintain its existence, and ultimately to secure its highest perfection.”
Another inference is, that no man will be fit or qualified for so distinguished an office who has not been formed and moulded by the hand of Christ himself. To Christ we owe it that we have ministers of the gospel, that they abound in necessary qualifications, that they execute the trust committed to them. All, all is his gift.
I partly agree with them, that Paul speaks indiscriminately of pastors and teachers as belonging to one and the same class, and that the name teacher does, to some extent, apply to all pastors. But this does not appear to me a sufficient reason why two offices, which I find to differ from each other, should be confounded. Teaching is, no doubt, the duty of all pastors; but to maintain sound doctrine requires a talent for interpreting Scripture, and a man may be a teacher who is not qualified to preach.
Pastors, in my opinion, are those who have the charge of a particular flock
Apostles, Evangelists, and Prophets were bestowed on the church for a limited time only,—except in those cases where religion has fallen into decay, and evangelists are raised up in an extraordinary manner, to restore the pure doctrine which had been lost
But without Pastors and Teachers there can be no government of the church.
For the work of the ministry. God might himself have performed this work, if he had chosen; but he has committed it to the ministry of men. This is intended to anticipate an objection. “Cannot the church be constituted and properly arranged, without the instrumentality of men?” Paul asserts that a ministry is required, because such is the will of God.
Our true completeness and perfection consist in our being united in the one body of Christ
And yet this work, so admirable and divine, is here declared by the apostle to be accomplished by the external ministry of the word. That those who neglect this instrument should hope to become perfect in Christ is utter madness. Yet such are the fanatics, on the one hand, who pretend to be favoured with secret revelations of the Spirit,—and proud men, on the other, who imagine that to them the private reading of the Scriptures is enough, and that they have no need of the ordinary ministry of the church.
We must allow ourselves to be ruled and taught by men. This is the universal rule, which extends equally to the highest and to the lowest. The church is the common mother of all the godly, which bears, nourishes, and brings up children to God, kings and peasants alike; and this is done by the ministry. Those who neglect or despise this order choose to be wiser than Christ. Wo to the pride of such men! It
In employing human instruments for accomplishing their salvation, God has conferred on men no ordinary favour. Nor can any exercise be found better adapted to promote unity than to gather around the common doctrine—the standard of our General.
the emphasis in this passage [Eph. 4:11] does not lie on the apostles, prophets, etc. as officers, but as gifts of Christ to his church” (Roels, op. cit., p. 185).
3. In order that the church may be strong it must not only have good leaders (verse 11) but also good, active followers (verse 12). Full salvation cannot be obtained until all of God’s children obtain it together, a fact which Paul expresses beautifully in 2 Tim. 4:8, and which here in Ephesians he brings out by his constant use of the word all (1:15; 3:18, 19; 6:18).
as Christ’s gifts to the church, they should be the objects of the love of the entire church. If, when they truly represent Christ, they are rejected, Christ is thereby rejected.
5. And, on the other hand, there is also here an implied admonition for the leaders themselves, namely, that these gifts were not given to them for their own sake but in the interest of Christ’s body, the church.
of goal (aiming) at or (striving) toward
α. with conscious purpose for, for the purpose of, on behalf of
It is unmistakable that these four categories above named, so divide themselves, that the first three do not belong to a single congregation, but to the whole Church or a number of congregations, the last however is definitely appointed to one congregation.
Πρός marks the end aimed at, viz.: “the perfecting of the saints.
Through the ministers of Christ the Christians should become complete, perfect.*
1. Christ gives official persons (ver. 11). It is not so much that Christ established certain regulations binding on the Church, as that He has bestowed on it persons, charisms for the endowment of an office, a ministry.
“Christ gives the Church’s ministers, the Church takes those given and sets them in the service of the Church. Accordingly the Church, or he who represents the rights and duties of the Church, never has to choose the subjects arbitrarily, but to know and recognize those endowed by Christ as those given by Him, and to place them in the ministry; hence the highest idea of the ecclesiastical directory is to examine whether those concerned are given by Christ, without prejudice however to other requisites which are matters of ecclesiastical polity.” MEYER
3. The task of the official persons with their gifts for their special calling, over against the other members of the body of Christ with the general call, is “the perfecting of the saints,” and this reaches also to “the work of the ministry,” to “the edifying of the body of Christ.
but if the spiritual teachers do their duty, the church will not remain unspiritual
Do not reckon according to visible results; concealed and gradual is the progress of the work, reaching its mark at last and in glory. But do not think hastily and proudly, now is the time of maturity! You may in the end mistake the impulse of the spirit of the age for the showers of Christ’s Spirit and the Shibboleth of party-spirit for the word of life, and this deception would be fearful.
RIEGER: The goal of our growth is a long distance before us, the hindrances are many; but growth is the most certain way thither. For as little as in physical growth is advance made all at once with immoderate rapidity, but as in the use of the ordained means, with proper labor and exercise, in confidence on God and His bestowed blessing, in love and peace with one another, the body grows, not one member only, but one just as another, so we, through God’s word, prayer, embracing all the means afforded us in the church, the school and the home, reach the position of men of God furnished for every good work.
Teachers should not wish to keep the congregation in a state of immaturity, but their task is to render themselves unnecessary.
EADIE: Ver. 12. The spiritual advancement of the Church, is the ultimate design of the Christian pastorate. The ministry preaches and rules to secure this, which is at the same time the purpose of Him who appointed and who blesses it.