Ephesians 4:11

καὶ αὐτὸς ἔδωκε τοὺς μὲν ἀποστόλους : and He gave some Apostles. That is, “He gave some as Apostles,” or (with RV) “some to be Apostles”. At this point Paul reverts to the statement in Ephesians 4:7, and having shown that the declaration in Psalms 68. applies to Christ, he proceeds to set forth the purpose (Ephesians 4:12) with which the gifts of the exalted Giver are bestowed and His grace given to such. But before he explains that purpose he specifies a series of gifts given with that in view. We have a somewhat similar enumeration in 1 Corinthians 12:28. But while the ruling idea there is that of appointments (ἔθετο) and the subject is God, here the particular idea is that of gifts (ἔδωκε) and the subject is Christ. Further, while the list in Ephesians begins with Apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers, and continues in terms of persons, the statement in 1 Cor. takes note indeed of Apostles, prophets, and teachers, but thereafter passes from persons to gifts or ministries miracles, healings, helps, governments, tongues. This has its significance, as we shall see. The αὐτός is again emphatic, = “he himself,” “he and no other”. The ἔδωκε is not to be taken as = ἔθετο, appointed or set. That it has its proper sense of gave is clear from its relation to the preceding ἔδωκε δόματα. The “giving” refers to the call of the Church's Head, the point being the gift of Christ to the Church in the form of certain men chosen by Him and equipped by Him to do service toward the building up of His body and the bringing of all its members to the measure of the stature of His fulness. Further, the exhortation to unity (Ephesians 4:3) is still in view, Christ having given these “Apostles” and others in order that all His disciples may come to the unity of the faith (Ephesians 4:13). All through the statement, too, the primary thing is the persons, not the offices. Nothing is said of any special order or orders in the Church possessing exceptional prerogatives, or any office or rank to which peculiar or exclusive powers of grace were attached. The men are Christ's gifts to the Church and to every member of it; and they are given to do a certain work looking to a great end, viz., to furnish His people and every individual believer among them (Ephesians 4:7; Ephesians 4:16) for their particular service and their particular contribution to the building up of Christ's body. Nothing is said of the time when these gifts were given. But as they are the gifts of the exalted Christ, it is plain that the ἀποστόλους are not to be restricted to the original Twelve, but are to be taken in the wider sense, including not only Paul, but Barnabas (Acts 14:4; Acts 14:14), probably James (1 Corinthians 15:7; Galatians 1:19), Silvanus (1 Thessalonians 2:6), perhaps also Andronicus and Junias (Romans 16:7). The “Apostle” is described as one called by Christ (Galatians 1:1); one who has seen Christ and been a witness of His resurrection (1 Corinthians 9:1-2; Acts 1:8; Acts 1:21-23); one whose “signs” were “wrought … by signs, and wonders, and mighty works” (2 Corinthians 12:12); whose office also was not limited to a single church or locality, but was related to the world generally and to all the churches (Matthew 28:10; 1 Corinthians 11:28). See also on chap. Ephesians 1:1. τοὺς δὲ προφήτας : and some as prophets. These are referred to along with the Apostles also in Ephesians 2:20; Ephesians 3:5, and in 1 Corinthians 12:28. With NT prophets we have also NT prophetesses. Agabus, those of Antioch Judas and Silas, the four daughters o Philip, are mentioned as having the gift of prophecy. As in the case of Agabus this gift of prophecy included the prediction of events (Acts 11:28; Acts 21:10), but its chief function was edification. The prophets were preachers or exhorters, to whom revelations of spiritual truth were imparted, and who spoke in the Spirit (ἐν πνεύματι; Ephesians 3:5; Revelation 1:10), but not in ecstacy or as one in a trance (ἐν ἐκστάσει, Acts 10:10; Acts 22:17). Further, he was usually, if not always, itinerant. This order of prophets continued to have a place in the Church for a considerable period. Large mention is made of it in the Didaché, and in Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., v., 17, reference is made to Quadratus and Ammia in Philadelphia. This may take the order on to Hadrian's time; cf. Selwyn, The Christian Prophets, and Gwatkin's article in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, iv., p. 127. See also on Ephesians 2:20 above. τοὺς δὲ εὐαγγελιστάς : and some as evangelists. In 1 Corinthians 12:28 the evangelist is not mentioned. Here he is distinguished from the Apostle and the prophet and named as the third in the order of Christ's gifts to the Church. The εὐαγγελιστής is mentioned only twice again in the NT, viz., in Acts 21:8, where Philip, one of the seven deacons is so designated; and 2 Timothy 4:5, where Timothy is charged to “do the work of an evangelist”. Like the prophets the evangelists were generally itinerant preachers or missionaries, though sometimes they had a stated place of abode or ministry. The term seems, therefore, to belong to the Pauline vocabulary. These evangelists were inferior to the Apostles, assisting them or delegated by them, but without their authority. They had the gift (χάρισμα) of the Spirit, as in the case of Timothy (1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:6); but, if we may judge by Philip's case (Acts 8:5-18), they could not impart the Holy Ghost. Nor do they seem to have had the special revelations which were given to the prophets. τοὺς δὲ ποιμένας καὶ διδασκάλους : and some as pastors and teachers. The ποιμένες and διδάσκαλοι are distinguished from the former orders as being connected with particular churches, resident and not missionary or itinerant. The absence of the τοὺς δέ before διδασκάλους indicates also that the ποιμένες and the διδάσκαλοι were not two distinct orders, but designations of the same men (cf. the πρεσβύτεροι or ἐπίσκοποι; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 2:25; 1 Peter 5:2), in different functions, the former defining them according to their office of oversight, the latter according to their office of instruction and guidance. The ποιμήν would naturally also be a διδάσκαλος; but there is not the same reason for supposing that every διδάσκαλος would also be a ποιμήν. Nothing is said here of πρεσβύτεροι, ἐπίσκοποι, διάκονοι. The absence of such official terms points perhaps to the comparatively early date of the Epistle.