And indeed He gave some to be apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11 LITV).

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11 NKJV).

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11 NIV).

There is teaching that uses the fingers on a hand to illustrate the ministry gifts that Jesus Christ gave to the Church. Read very carefully; Jesus gave the ministries to His body, “with a view to the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12 LITV). Fingers make a good illustration to explain working together and the ability to reach the entire body, some say, “We have five fingers but Paul only described four ministries.” The four are apostles – prophets – evangelists – pastors and teachers. The reason is punctuation and the use of the word “some.” It would be good to mention also that some teach that only two still exist today, namely evangelists – pastors and teachers. The scriptures above already takes care of that claim; Jesus gave and He has not taken anything back that He gave. But did Jesus give four or five ministry gifts?

The scripture does not read “He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastor teachers.” When we look at the ministries we see three that are given to minister to the Church body as a whole, namely apostles – prophets – evangelists and two that minister primarily within one fellowship, namely pastors and teachers. The reason it reads “two within the fellowship” is because pastors teach and so do teachers. But there are teachers that do not pastor. Also apostles, prophets and evangelists can pastor and teach. Can pastors also be prophets? Yes! Can teachers also be prophets? Yes! Jesus gave the Church ministers as gifts. The Holy Spirit gives ministering gifts to the ministers. The Father speaks, the Son is the Word spoken, and the Holy Spirit brings the powers and performs the Word spoken. The Father grants, the Son ordains, and the Holy Spirit moves. We are given a spirit of Power (Father), Love (Son) and a Strong Mind (Holy Spirit) – One God! Jesus gave One body different ministers as gifts and the Holy Spirit gives different ministry (Spirit) gifts to help the minister perform – produce.

Let’s look at the scripture again, “He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers” (Ephesians 4:11 NKJV). Does it say, “and to some nothing”? NO! Jesus gave everyone in the body something and so does the Holy Spirit. We are all called to be ministers and we are all gifted by the Spirit to perform (produce), “with a view to the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12 LITV). Read it, “to the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry.” Seed producing like seed. Ministers producing ministers. Jesus gave to the Church from His seed and in-turn we give to others of our seed – producing like ministries – “perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry.” We are all gifted ministers. We are all kings and priest of Jesus (of the gospel). Jesus is our King of kings and Lord of lords (the Priest of priests – not to the order of Aaron, but of Jesus Christ, who existed before Aaron). Praise God!

© 2006, Tim D. Coulter Sr.