Ephesians 4.11b-The Gift of Prophecy
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday February 6, 2025
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:11b-The Gift of Prophecy
Lesson # 225
Ephesians 4:7 Now, however, to each one of us grace was given corresponding to the incomparable Christ’s proportionate gracious giving. 8 Therefore, it says, “When he ascended to the highest place, he captured captives. He generously gave gifts to certain members of the human race.” 9 In other words, what is the meaning of the statement, “he ascended?” Namely that, he also descended into the lower regions, which are part of the earth? 10 He, the very one who has descended is the one who also has ascended above each and every one of the heavens in order that He would enter into the state of bringing to completion each and every animate and inanimate object. 11 Therefore, on the one hand, He Himself generously gave some to be apostles but on other hand, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors, specifically, teachers. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 4:11 begins a section in the Ephesian epistle, which ends in Ephesians 4:16.
In verse 11, Paul presents a list of four communication gifts.
The function of apostleship, prophecy and teaching is for the spiritual growth of the body of Christ while on the other hand, the function of the gift of evangelism is for the numerical growth of the body of Christ.
In verses 12-14, Paul presents the purpose of these gift, namely, to provide capacity the members of the body of Christ to function in their spiritual gifts and also to provide spiritual nourishment in the form of sound doctrine to facilitate spiritual growth (vs. 12-13) and protection from false doctrine (vs. 14).
Lastly, in verses 15-16, Paul addresses the subject of spiritual growth by asserting that the teaching the members of the body of Christ received from the apostles, prophets and teachers provides them the capacity to obey the command to love one another as Christ loved the believer.
He reiterates in verse 16 the importance of the function of these three gifts in relation to the spiritual growth of the members of the body of Christ.
In this verse, he uses the ligament metaphor to describe these three communication gifts.
Now, Paul states in Ephesians 4:13 the ultimate purpose of these communication gifts is to promote unity in the body of Christ.
This supports my contention that the purpose of Ephesians is to maintain unity experientially in the body of Christ with emphasis upon the Jewish and Gentile wings of the church maintaining this unity experientially by practicing the love of God when interacting with each other.
As was the case in Ephesians 2:20 and 3:5, the noun prophētēs (προφήτης) here in Ephesians 4:11 refers to the exercise of the temporary or discontinued spiritual gift of being a prophet, which is no longer existent.
It has been discontinued because it only existed during the pre-canon period of the church in order to fill the void until the New Testament canon had been completed (See 1 Corinthians 12:10; 13:2; 14:22; Ephesians 2:20; 3:5; 4:11).
The completed canon of the New Testament is God’s final say to the human race in writing (Heb. 1:1-3). Thus, there is no need for this gift.
These New Testament prophets are also mentioned in Acts 11:27, 13:1, 15:32, 21:10, 1 Corinthians 12:28, 14:29, 32, 37 and Ephesians 4:11.
Like the gift of apostleship, the gift of prophet was bestowed upon people at justification.
The Spirit worked through those who possessed this gift when they communicated the gospel.
The temporary spiritual gift of prophecy is the second spiritual gift mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:28 and Ephesians 4:11.
Like the spiritual gift of apostle, this gift was temporary and is no longer extant today.
The prophets were given to the church for the purpose of communicating God’s will, purpose and plan for the church age before the canon of Scripture was completed in 96 A.D.
Now that the canon of Scripture has been completed there is no longer a need for prophets.
Everything that God desires to say to us today is found in the completed canon of Scripture.
We now have the completed revelation from God now that the canon of Scripture is closed.
God does not communicate to man in the church age through dreams or visions or through prophets because everything He desires to communicate to the church is found in the completed canon of Scripture (Hebrews 1:1-2).
Paul taught in Ephesians 2:20 and 3:5 that these first two spiritual gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4:11, namely, apostles and prophets, are foundational gifts to the church.
Ephesians 2:11 Therefore, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of remembering that formerly each of you who belong to the Gentile race with respect to the human body, specifically, those who receive the designation “uncircumcision” by the those who receive the designation “circumcision” with respect to the human body performed by human hands, 12 each one of you used to be characterized as without a relationship with Christ. Each one of you used to be alienated from the nation of Israel’s citizenship. Specifically, each of you used to be strangers to the most important promise, which is the product of the covenants. Each of you used to not possess a confident expectation of blessing. Consequently, each one of you used to be without a relationship with God in the sphere of the cosmic world system. 13 However, because of your faith in and your union and identification with Christ Jesus each and every one of you as a corporate unit who formerly were far away have now been brought near by means of the blood belonging to this same Christ. 14 For He Himself personifies our peace. Namely, by causing both groups to be one. Specifically, by destroying the wall, which served as the barrier, that is, that which caused hostility (between the two and the two with God). 15 In other words, by nullifying by means of His human nature the law composed of the commandments consisting of a written code of laws in order that He might cause the two to be created into one new humanity by means of faith in Himself at justification and union and identification with Himself through the baptism of the Spirit at justification. Thus, He caused peace to be established (between the two and the two with God). 16 In other words, in order that He would reconcile both groups into one body to God (the Father) through His cross. Consequently, He put to death the hostility (between the two and the two with God) by means of faith in Himself at justification and union and identification with Himself through the baptism of the Spirit at justification. 17 Correspondingly, He as a result came proclaiming peace for the benefit of each and every one of you, namely, those who were far off likewise peace to those were near. 18 Consequently, through the personal intermediate agency of Himself each and every one of us as a corporate unit, namely, both groups are experiencing access by means of the omnipotence of the one Spirit to the presence of the Father. 19 Indeed therefore, each and every one of you as corporate unit are no longer foreigners (to the covenants of promise), that is, foreign citizens. But rather each and every one of you as a corporate unit are fellow citizens with the saints, that is, members of God’s household 20 because each and every one of you as a corporate unit have been built upon the foundation, which is the communication of the gospel to each one of you by the apostles as well as prophets. Simultaneously, He Himself, namely, Christ Jesus is the cornerstone. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 3:1 For this reason, I myself, Paul, the prisoner owned by and under the authority of the one and only Christ who is Jesus for the benefit of each and every one of you as a corporate unit, who are Gentiles—2 if and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that each and every one of you as a corporate unit have surely heard about the stewardship, which is unique to the grace, which originates from the one and only God, which was given to me for the benefit of all of you as a corporate unit without exception. (Of course, every one of you have in fact heard about it.) 3 Namely that, the mystery was made known for the benefit of myself as revelation as I wrote beforehand in a concise manner. 4 Concerning which, that is, by each one of you making it your habit of hearing read publicly, all of you will for your own benefit become able to comprehend my insight into this incomparable mystery, which is produced by your unique union and identification with Christ. 5 This mystery was by no means made known to members of the human race in previous generations as it has now been revealed through the personal agency of His holy apostles as well as prophets by means of the omnipotence of the Spirit. (Lecturer’s translation)
