SPIRITUAL GIFTS – Part Four

The Equipping Spiritual Gifts

By Michael K. Farrar

God’s Breath Publications

 

Ephesians 4:11-13

“And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

 

The first category of spiritual gifts I wish to cover is the “equipping” spiritual gifts. These are gifts given by Christ to the church through the agency of the Holy Spirit that are called “foundational gifts.” These gifts were given to Christ’s church as a whole to equip the first followers of Christ in their commitment to God. The individuals who possessed these gifts played a critical role in laying the proper foundation so that Christ’s church could be built and continue to grow. Jesus Christ is the “chief cornerstone” upon which the church was constructed (Matthew 21:42, Psalms 118:22, Acts 4:11, Romans 9:33, 1 Peter 2:7) and the spiritual gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers formed the base upon which the first century churches were established according to the divine blueprint God had ordained. These gifts are called “equipping” gifts because through the Apostles the Holy Word was written. Through all of those possessing these equipping gifts Biblical doctrine was systematically taught, the gospel proclaimed and the spiritual applications for a godly life explained. People were ministered to and equipped to live as Jesus Christ through exhortation and explanation of spiritual principles.

 

Are there Apostles and Prophets today? In the sense of Apostles who are continuing to write new scripture or receive revelations from God, NO. In the sense of Prophets predicting future events (foretelling) AND speaking revelations directly from God (forth telling), NO. Once the foundation of the church was established by the original Apostles and Prophets, including the completion of the Holy Scriptures, there was no further need for these spiritual gifts. Once a foundation is built, there is no further need to continue to build the foundation, but there is a need to continue to build UPON the foundation. The original Apostles appointed by Jesus, Matthias, who replaced Judas, and Paul, formed the original Apostles who laid the foundation of the church. Once they passed away their divinely appointed spiritual office of Apostle did as well. Following are some quotes from pastors and theologians on this matter.

 

“Now I personally believe that there are no successors to the Apostles in the fullest sense of that term, the reason being because there is a sense in which these men are still with us. You and I have been listening to the Apostle Paul for months, teaching us here every Sunday morning. We can turn to John, Peter, James, and other apostles too. They laid the foundations way back at the beginning of the Christian era, but they are still speaking to us through their letters and through their words. Therefore there is no need for other apostles to come.”

Ray Stedman

 

“The fact is Apostle is not just a generic term for the church to throw around and apply as it sees fit. The term signified specific people doing specific work at a specific time in the life of the church.”

John MacArthur

 

“The Apostle’s ministry was foundational to the establishment of the Church and appears to have been given only during those early groundbreaking days.”

Charles Swindoll

 

“The gift of prophecy included receiving a message directly from God through special revelation, being guided in declaring it to the people, and having it authenticated in some way by God Himself…This too was a gift limited in its need and use, for it was needed during the writing of the New Testament and its usefulness ceased when the books were completed.”

Charles Ryrie

 

“As there is no further revelation given today, since the canon of Scripture is completed, the gift (Apostle or Prophet) is no longer present with us, nor has it been present since the days of the early church.”

William McRae

 

“The gifts of Apostles and Prophets were foundational and unique to the early church. We have missionaries (sent ones) and preachers today, but we do not have Apostles and Prophets. Those gifts were temporary and transitional, intended to help the church become established according to the Holy Spirit’s plans.”

John Phillips

 

Today any one of us who are a follower of Christ could be called an apostle, a disciple and/or a follower of Jesus Christ, but not in the same sense as the original Apostles. The Greek word for apostle means “sent out ones.” We are all called to fulfill the great commission, live by the Holy Word and make disciples, so in some sense we might be called secondary apostles, but this is not the same as the primary Apostles of the first century.

 

There are no longer Prophets who “foretell” future events, but there is still a need for prophets who can continue to “forth tell” or preach and teach God’s message of how to live as Jesus, grow spiritually and spread the gospel. The spiritual gift of a modern day prophet would best be called “pastor/teacher.” These individuals preach and/or teach God’s Word to followers of Christ who are the “living stones” of Christ’s church (1 Peter 2:5). A contemporary pastor/teacher does not predict the future nor give new revelation, but they do the work of a prophet in the sense that they “stand before a crowd” (the true meaning of a prophet), and proclaim the gospel, motivate people to action, help them understand how to apply Jesus’ teachings to their life as well as edify, exhort and comfort followers of Christ (1 Corinthians 14:2-4). Today, there are false teachers and various unscriptural individuals who claim to be Apostles and Prophets according to the first century definition and in the full sense of the gift but this is in error. The evidence of their lives and their doctrine reveal that they have ulterior motives for seeking and proclaiming who they portray themselves to be.   

 

When we seek to understand what constitutes an original Apostle in the first century we discover four attributes discussed in scripture.

 

APOSTLES (Greek = Apostolous) “Sent Out One” “A Messenger of Christ

 

1. The original Apostles were hand-picked by Jesus himself.

 

Mark 3:13-19 “And He went up on the mountain and summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, and to have authority to cast out the demons. And He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter), and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”); and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot; and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.

 

Matthew 4:18-21 “Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.”

 

Acts 9:3-6 “As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”  And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.”

 

Galatians 1:15-16 “But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles,”

 

1 Timothy 1:1 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus”

 

2. Jesus gave the apostles the ability to perform miraculous signs.

 

2 Corinthians 12:12-13, “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles.”

 

3. They witnessed Him alive after His resurrection.

 

Acts 1:21-23 “Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”

 

“According to Peter, the new apostle needed to be someone who was associated with Christ, who had consistently sat under His teaching, and who had witnessed firsthand His ministry and life. It wasn’t enough to know about Christ—the replacement apostle needed to know Him personally. In particular, he needed to have known Christ after His resurrection.”

John MacArthur

 

4. They formed the foundation of the early church which has already been laid down.

 

Ephesians 2:19-22 “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

 

The original 12 Apostles plus Matthias, who replaced Judas, and Paul, are considered to be the only true Apostles chosen by divine authority according to the above requirements (Acts 1:21-23, 9:3-6).

 

Matthew 10:2-4 “Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him.

 

I should mention that while the true original Apostles as qualified above were able to perform miraculous signs, there were other disciples that were also able to do miraculous signs as well. Examples were the seventy disciples sent by Jesus to “heal the sick” (Luke 10:9). Stephen “did great signs and wonders among the people” (Luke 10:17). Philip is mentioned as doing miraculous sings in Acts 8:6, “the multitudes gave heed to what was said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs which he did.” Christians in Galatia were also working miracles (Galatians 3:5) according to the power of the Holy Spirit. This was also true of some of the followers of Christ in the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 12:10, 28, 29).

 

There were also other followers of Christ, disciples who were also called apostles but not in the same sense of the word as the original twelve, Matthias and Paul were. The Greek word used for these apostles was “apostoloi” and examples were Timothy (1 Thessalonians 2:6-7), Titus (2 Corinthians 8:23), Barnabus (Acts 14:14) and several others. An apostle is one who is a “missionary,” “one who is sent out,” an “evangelist.” So while we could consider ourselves today as “apostles” in one sense, there are not “Apostles” living today, such as the original twelve, Matthias and Paul who were divinely appointed by God.

 

In the commentary on 2 Corinthians by Charles Hodge, he lists seven characteristics of the original Apostles appointed by Christ. They are as follows:

 

1. An absolute and complete knowledge of the gospel derived from immediate revelation from Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:12, 1 Corinthians 15:3).

 

2. Inspiration from the Holy Spirit which rendered the Apostle infallible in the communication of the Truth of God (1 Corinthians 2:10-13, 12:8 in connection with 12:29 and 14:37).

 

3. Faithful and absolutely loyal to the preaching and teaching of God’s Truth (Galatians 1:8-9).

 

4. Success in preaching the Gospel (1 Corinthians 9:2, 2 Corinthians 3:2-3).

 

5. The power of communicating the Holy Spirit with the laying on of hands (Acts 8:18, 19:6).

 

6. The power of performing miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:18-19, Hebrews 2:4, Acts 5:12, 14:3).

 

7. A holy walk and demeanor (2 Corinthians 6:4-10).

 

Pastor Ray Stedman states that the qualifications of the original Apostles were,

 

“Certain authenticating signs that only the original apostles had; a selfless spirit that loves and does not demand anything in return; a sense of accountability to God alone and not ultimately to the congregation or to any man; a reliance upon the power of God to carry out the work of God on earth. If we base our faith on men with these qualifications we will find ourselves standing firmly, in spite of all the shaking that is going on in our day.”

 

PROPHETS (Greek = Prophetas) “A Foreteller” “An Inspired Speaker”

 

New Testament Prophets are mentioned in several verses in the New Testament; Acts 11:27-28 (Agabus), Acts 15:32 (Judas, Silas), Acts 13:1 (Unnamed individuals in the Church of Antioch), 1 Corinthians 14:29 (Unnamed individuals in the Church of Corinth). As I mentioned beforehand, Prophets in the New Testament had a dual role which included both predicting future events (fore telling) AND speaking revelations directly from God (forth telling). This “forth telling” also took the form of expounding and explaining what had been revealed to the prophet by God. Once the Bible was completed and the necessity for “foretelling” future events diminished this spiritual gift became more limited in function to that of “forth telling” truth as contained in scripture, but not adding any additional scripture to the completed Bible canon. This gift is now manifested in Christ’s church as the gift of pastor/teacher. I will cover the spiritual gift of pastor/teacher in more detail in a future part of this series.

 

Apostles and Prophets were used by God for the following tasks and ministries.

 

1. Forming the Foundation of the Church of Christ – Ephesians 2:20 (see Biblical reference above)

 

2. They were often used to Reveal the Revelation about the Church by writing Holy Scripture

 

Ephesians 3:1-6 “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles —  if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you; that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;”

 

3. They Verified and Confirmed the Word of God

 

Mark 16:20 “And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.”

 

Hebrews 2:3-4 “…how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.”

 

EVANGELISTS (Greek = Euangelistas) “A Preacher of the Gospel”

 

The term evangelist means “gospelizer,” one who declares the good news. Evangelists are those followers of Christ with a special passion for introducing the gospel to sinners. This was especially necessary in the first century as God desired to grow the early church in both numbers and quality of spirituality.

 

Evangelists are only mentioned in the New Testament three times;

 

Ephesians 4:11-2 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;…”

 

Acts 21:8 “On the next day we left and came to Caesarea, and entering the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we stayed with him.”

 

2 Timothy 4:5 “But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

 

Philip is the only one to be specifically called an evangelist in the New Testament. He traveled to Samaria, the cities of the Plain of Sharon, Caesarea and he also shared the gospel with the Ethiopian eunuch. Timothy was also instructed to “do the work of an evangelist.”

 

Today, we should all consider ourselves called to be an evangelist because of the great commission;

 

Matthew 28:18-20 “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

 

While we are all called to be an evangelist, those with the spiritual gift of evangelism have a special empowering of the Holy Spirit to seek out those who do not know Christ and witness to them. They have a unique passion and desire to share the gospel and introduce people to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. They have a godly confidence in relating the message of Christ as Savior to people. God continues to divinely appoint certain individuals to have this gift and Jesus gives them this gift of evangelism through the agency of the Holy Spirit. We can also consider modern day missionaries as having the gift of evangelism as well, because their prime ministry is to bring others to Christ.

 

In the next part of this series I’ll begin to cover the next category of spiritual gifts; that of the speaking gifts. These include prophecy (pastor), teaching, and exhortation, word of wisdom and word of knowledge.