In Scripture all of God's people are presented as priests, living stones being built into a holy sanctuary. Yet not all of the covenant people are ministers. All are sheep, but not all are shepherds under the Great Shepherd (as Paul especially argues in 1 Cor. 11 and 12). There are different gifts and different callings within the one body. Christ is the sole mediator between God and humanity (1Titus 2:5), but he has given "the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers" to his body, "building [it] up" (Eph. 4:5-16). These differing gifts generate special offices of ministry and oversight. Such graces, however, are not qualities (or, as in Roman Catholic terminology, an indelible "character") sacramentally infused into ministers so that they might be elevated ontologically above the laity. They are simply gifts for particular offices, given in order to serve the rest of the body. As Christ has promised, he has not left us orphans but is present by the Spirit through the ministry of the Word. Admittedly, this is a difficult interpretation to affirm, especially since most of our modern translations (in contrast to older ones) render Ephesians 4:11-12 as follows: "The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry" (NRSV, but also essentially the same construction in other modern translations, including the ESV). However, there are good reasons for preferring the older translations (for example, the King James Version), which render the verses, "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."
Reflecting the actual construction of the Greek, the older translation draws three lines of purpose clauses from the offices given that newer translations obscure. The same officers who are given for the completion (not equipping) of the saints are also given for the work of ministry and edification of the body. (1) On this reading, Christ has given apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers for the ministry of the Word that brings the whole body to unity, maturity, and completion in the truth. This is not to say that the body is complete in and through these offices alone, for there are other gifts mentioned elsewhere (esp. Rom. 12 and 1Cor. 12). The focus here, however, is restricted to that work of bringing unity and maturity to the body through sound doctrine. Favoring this interpretation of Ephesians 4, commentator Andrew Lincoln notes, "An active role for all believers is safeguarded by vv. 7, 16, but the primary context here in v. 12 is the function and role of Christ's specific gifts, the ministers, not that of all the saints. Rendering katartismon 'completion' has a straightforward meaning which does not require supplementing by a further phrase, and diakonia, 'service,' is more likely to refer to the ministry of the ministers just named." Thus it is "hard to avoid the suspicion that opting for the other view is too often motivated by a zeal to avoid clericalism and to support a 'democratic' model of the Church." (2)
It is significant that the gifts mentioned in Romans 12:3-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:4-28 include hospitality, giving, administration, and other acts of service, but Ephesians 4 only mentions Christ's gift of officers to his church for the maturity of the whole body in sound doctrine. So the point is that in his ascension Christ has given the ministry of the Word to his people as a gift. This does not mean that those who are not ministers are not gifted and called to love and serve each other, but that comes later in verses 17 through the whole of chapter 5. Before they serve, they are served. This underscores again the remarkable generosity of the church's victorious head, that he would make his people receivers first and active givers as a result. While every member and every gift is needed in order for the body to be fully operative, the very life of the body depends on the faithful maintenance of the ministry of Word and Sacrament. Not all members of the body can devote themselves exclusively to the Word and prayer as Peter observed (Acts 6:2-7), but if some do not (especially out of a misguided assumption that every member is a minister), the sheep will not be fed and the body will not be built up into Christ. In fact, when the apostles were freed for this work by the appointment of deacons, we read, "So the word of God continued to increase" (Acts 6:7). If Peter needed to be freed up for this work, then certainly ordinary ministers must be preserved as much as possible from secular affairs and even the necessary and important details of church administration.
Through this ministry, we are all recipients of the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the Son of God, and maturity in Christ. Therefore, that which we all possess jointly already in Christ (one God and Father, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism) is preserved by Christ from generation to generation. On the basis of this gift of ambassadors, the other members of the body receive what they need so that they may "no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds" (Eph. 4:17), but live out their calling in the world (vv. 18-24). They even participate in the service, not only as recipients but also as actors, "addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with [their] heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ" (5:15-21). For all of this, a formal ministry of the Word is essential.
Not only as a community but as a church the body is connected to its head in audible and visible bonds. For example, the Westminster Confession declares,
The Lord Jesus, as king and head of his Church, hath therein appointed a government in the hand of Church officers, distinct from the civil magistrate.
To these officers the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven are committed, by virtue whereof they have power respectively to retain and remit sins, to shut that kingdom against the impenitent, both by the word and censures; and to open it unto penitent sinners, by the ministry of the gospel, and by absolution from censures, as occasion shall require.
In addition to the local church, there are broader assemblies of the church, whose conclusions "are to be received with reverence and submission, not only for their agreement with the Word, but also for the power whereby they are made, as being an ordinance of God, appointed thereunto in his Word."
2 [ Back ] Andrew T. Lincoln, Ephesians (WBC; Dallas: Word, 1990), 253; cf. T. David Gordon, "'Equipping' Ministry in Ephesians 4," JETS 37, no. 1 (March 1994): 69-78. It is also interesting to read Calvin's commentary on this passage (Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul to the Galatians and Ephesians, trans. William Pringle [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996], 277-86), especially since the more recent translation does not even occur to him. For this very reason, he seems to capture the flow of the passage's argument more smoothly than many commentators who follow the newer translation.
