Eph 4:11 And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, (12) For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ,
"And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers." Theses gifted ones are not high officials with a special rank. Rather, they are given for the perfecting of the saints [the believers] . The saints need to be perfected, equipped, furnished, unto the work of ministry. This work of ministry is the building up of the Body of Christ. Because so many saints are not yet doing the work of ministry, they need the gifted ones mentioned in verse 11 to perfect them, to equip them, that they may be qualified to carry out the work of ministry for the building up of the Body of Christ. The perfecting or equipping is related both to growth in life and to training in certain skills. The light on these verses has never been as bright and clear as it is today. We have seen that the work of ministry is simply the building up of the Body of Christ. This work should be carried out not only by the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers, but by all the members. Hence, all the saints are building members. We are not only members who have been built up, but we are also members who build up the Body. Firstly, the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers perfect the saints. This means that they build up the saints. Then the perfected saints become the building members.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 357. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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