Christ's gifts to his body: Ephesians 4 and the five gifts

Ephesians is a letter from 'Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus' (1:1) written while he was 'a prisoner' (3:1; 4:1; 6:20). Most who accept Pauline authorship place it in his Roman imprisonment of about AD 60 to 62, the time of Colossians and Philemon, with which it shares people and themes (Ephesians 6:21-22; Colossians 4:7-8). A minority prefer Caesarea or Ephesus. Many critical scholars hold that a close follower wrote it in Paul's name after his death, pointing to its long sentences and its stress on the universal church. Others answer that the vocabulary shifts with the subject and that the letter claims Paul as author. The class reads it as a letter of Paul, and nothing below depends on settling the question.

The words 'in Ephesus' (1:1) are missing from some of the oldest manuscripts, and the letter has no personal greetings, which is odd for a church where Paul spent about three years (Acts 20:31). Some scholars therefore think it circulated among the churches of Asia Minor. The readers are mostly Gentile believers (2:11; 3:1), and the letter's great theme is that Jew and Gentile have been made one new humanity in Christ (2:14-16).

The letter divides at 4:1. Chapters 1 to 3 describe what God has done: blessing, redemption, new life by grace, and the mystery that Gentiles are fellow heirs and members of one body. Chapters 4 to 6 describe the life that fits it. Chapter 4 opens with 'then' ('walk in a manner worthy of the calling'), so the gifts of verse 11 are given inside an argument about unity, not as a separate teaching on church structure.

Ephesians is an epistle, a letter meant to be read aloud to a congregation, and its argument runs in long connected sentences. Verses 11 to 16 are a single sentence in Greek: Christ gives (verse 11), for a purpose (verse 12), until a goal (verse 13), so that something results (verse 14), and the whole body grows (verses 15 and 16). Pulling verse 11 out as a free-standing list of jobs loses the sentence that explains it.

Two cautions apply.

• First, this describes what Christ gave. It is not a manual of church government. The passage does not say how any of the five are appointed, how many a church needs, or whether they are 'offices'. The Greek word for formal oversight (episkope) belongs to other passages (1 Timothy 3:1).
• Second, the lists in Paul's letters are occasional. Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4 overlap and differ because each answers a different situation, which is a reason against reading any one of them as complete.

Paul also quotes the Old Testament here (Psalm 68:18) and adapts it. The class reads the quotation in its own context first and then compares it with the original.

Verses 1 to 3. Paul 'urges' the readers, as 'a prisoner in the Lord', to 'walk in a manner worthy of the calling'. 'Walk' is the Bible's usual word for a way of life. The calling is the one described in chapters 1 to 3. The qualities he lists, humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another, are the ones a mixed community of Jews and Gentiles needed. The unity is something to 'preserve', not to create: it is 'the unity of the Spirit', already given.

Verses 4 to 6. Seven 'ones' set out the ground of that unity: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. The pattern runs Spirit, Lord, Father, and the unity of the church rests on the unity of God. Baptism here is the shared mark of belonging, not a point of division.

Verse 7

'Now to each one of us grace has been given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.' The word is charis, grace, and the gift is dorea, a free gift. Paul says 'each one', so what follows in verse 11 cannot be a list of everyone's gifts. It is a list of those Christ gives to the whole body for its good. The measure is set by Christ, not by the receiver.

Verses 8 to 10. Paul quotes Psalm 68:18: 'When He ascended on high, He led captives away, and gave gifts to men.' The psalm describes God marching in victory up to his holy hill. In the Hebrew the victor 'receives' gifts among men. Paul has 'gave'. Interpreters explain this in three main ways: a victorious king receives tribute in order to distribute it, so both are true; Paul follows a form known in Aramaic paraphrase, which reads 'gave'; or he applies the psalm freely under the Spirit. Either way the ascent is Christ's and the gifts come from him. 'He descended to the lower parts of the earth' is read as his coming to earth in the incarnation, or his descent to death, or, by some, the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost. He rose 'above all the heavens, in order to fill all things' (see Ephesians 1:20-23).

Verse 11

'And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers.' The Greek stresses 'He himself gave' (autos edoken). What is given is people, not abilities. The apostle (apostolos, 'one sent') is the first: the word is used of the Twelve, of Paul (1 Corinthians 15:7-9) and of messengers of the churches (2 Corinthians 8:23). Prophets (prophetai) speak by revelation from the Spirit (Acts 11:27; 13:1; 21:10; 1 Corinthians 14). The evangelist (euangelistes) occurs only here, of Philip in Acts 21:8 and of Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:5. Pastor (poimen, 'shepherd') is a noun for church leaders only in this verse; elsewhere it names literal shepherds (Luke 2:8) or Christ (John 10:11; Hebrews 13:20), while the verb poimaino is used of elders in Acts 20:28 and 1 Peter 5:2. Teacher (didaskalos) appears in Acts 13:1, 1 Corinthians 12:28-29 and James 3:1.

Verse 12

'To equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ.' The King James Version put commas so that the gifts equip the saints, do the work of ministry themselves, and build the body. Most modern translations read the second and third phrases as the purpose of equipping: the gifts equip the saints, and the saints do the ministry. The change of preposition in the Greek (pros, then eis, eis) can be argued either way. 'Equip' translates katartismos, found only here in the New Testament. Its verb is used for mending nets (Mark 1:19) and restoring someone (Galatians 6:1), so the picture is of making fit and ready. 'Ministry' is diakonia, service, the common word for any work done for others (Acts 6:4; 1 Corinthians 12:5), not a clerical position.

Verses 13 to 16. The goal is 'unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God' and maturity 'to the full measure of the stature of Christ'. The opposite is to be 'infants' (nepioi), 'tossed about by the waves' and carried by false teaching, so the gifts protect the church from error as well as build it. 'Speaking the truth in love' describes the whole body at work, and growth comes 'through the work of each individual part', with Christ as head (see Colossians 2:19). Every member contributes, which fits verse 7.

Verses 17 to 32 apply the unity in conduct. The readers must stop walking as the Gentiles do, 'put off' the old self and 'put on the new self', with concrete examples: truth-telling, controlled anger, honest work, speech that builds up, and forgiveness 'just as in Christ God forgave you'. The body language returns: 'we are all members of one another' (4:25).

Ephesians 4 holds together three truths.

• First, ministry belongs to the whole body. The 'saints' (hagioi, the holy ones, a name for all believers, as in Ephesians 1:1) are to be equipped for 'works of ministry', and growth comes through every part (4:16).
• Second, Christ gives people to the church with real tasks: to proclaim, to lead, to teach. Neither truth cancels the other.
• Third, the gifts serve unity and maturity, not status. The goal is the one faith, the knowledge of the Son of God, and the stature of Christ.

The gifts are placed at the ascension. Acts 2:33 also joins the exaltation of Jesus to the giving of the Spirit, and Ephesians 1:20-23 shows the ascended Christ as head over all things for the church. The Trinity shapes the passage: one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father (4:4-6). The same Lord who gives is also the one who is given to the church as its head.

Paul speaks of gifts in several places, and the lists differ. Romans 12:6-8 names graces (charismata): prophecy, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading and mercy.

• First Corinthians 12:28 says God appointed apostles, prophets, teachers, then miracles, healings, helps, administration and tongues.
• First Peter 4:10-11 gives two broad kinds, speaking and serving. Ephesians 4:11 names persons rather than abilities and omits tongues, healing and miracles. The lists overlap on apostles, prophets and teachers. None claims to be complete, and the New Testament nowhere says a church needs one of each kind. Ephesians 2:20 and 3:5 set apostles and prophets in the foundation of the church, which leads some readers to think those two gifts had a special role.

The passage is about the person of Christ before it is about gifts. Paul quotes Psalm 68:18, a psalm of God's triumph, and applies it to Jesus (fulfillment). The one who 'descended' and 'ascended' is Christ, and the descent and ascent are the pattern of Philippians 2:5-11 and John 3:13: he humbled himself, was raised, and is Lord over all. The gifts are the spoil, shared out, of a finished victory. Ephesians 1:22 and 4:15 name him as head, and Colossians 1:18 says the same. The measure of maturity is 'the stature of Christ' (4:13), so the church is judged by his fullness, not by the gifts themselves.

Each of the five gifts also points to what Christ is. He is the apostle sent from the Father (Hebrews 3:1; John 20:21). He is the prophet Moses promised (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18, promise; Acts 3:22, fulfillment). He is the evangelist: Luke 4:18 and 4:43 describe him proclaiming good news, and Ephesians 2:17 says he 'came and preached peace'. He is the shepherd (John 10:11), the great shepherd (Hebrews 13:20) and the chief shepherd (1 Peter 5:4), and Ezekiel 34:11-16 and 34:23, which promise that God himself would shepherd his flock through a Davidic shepherd, find their fulfillment in him. He is the teacher whom the disciples called Teacher (John 13:13), and Matthew 23:8 says they have one Teacher. The human gifts reflect and serve the one Lord. They do not replace him.