Ephesians 4:11-16 is a crucial portion in the Bible; it is also a portion that is difficult to understand. If we want to know how to administrate the church and serve in the church, we must have a thorough knowledge of this portion. First, we must forsake all of our natural concepts from the past regarding the administration of the church. Whenever we do anything, we all have some natural concepts concerning how to proceed and how things should be done. Thus, when we come to the matter of administrating the church, we also have some natural concepts concerning the appropriate way to carry out and manage church affairs. These concepts may have come from our own thoughts or may have been imparted to us by others. In any case, because these concepts are traditional and natural, we should put them aside. At the same time, we need to enter into God’s Word and see how to administrate the church and serve in the church.
Although Ephesians 4:11-16 is not easy to study, it has a very clear structure. In this portion Paul speaks of how Christ produced the church and gave gifts to the church after His resurrection and ascension. These gifts are the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers spoken of in verse 11. The Lord gave these ones as gifts to the church. The producing of the church is based upon Christ’s resurrection and ascension. In order for the ascended Lord to produce and build up the church on the earth, however, He still needs a group of people who are gifts. We need to read chapter 4 and chapter 1 together. Verses 22 and 23 at the end of chapter 1 indicate that the church is produced through Christ’s ascension; then chapter 4 shows that after His ascension, Christ produces, establishes, and builds up the church by giving various gifts to the church.
There is a clear picture of this on the day of Pentecost. After ascending to heaven and sitting on the throne of glory, the Lord, who died and resurrected, produced the church. The Head in heaven did not produce the church directly but rather through the twelve apostles on the earth and the one hundred twenty (Acts 1:15; 2:1-4). In addition to these ones, there were prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. Christ, the Head, equipped these ones and gave them as gifts to the church; then three thousand and five thousand were saved, and they became the church in Jerusalem (vv. 41, 4:4). This shows that through these gifts—the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers—the church was produced by the Head. On one hand, the church was produced by the Head; on the other hand, the church was produced indirectly by the Head. The Head produced the church through the gifts.
Christ, the Head, gave these gifts for the perfecting of the saints (Eph. 4:11-12). In the Chinese Union Version, verse 12 is rendered, “For the perfecting of the saints, [for] each one to do the work of his ministry, [for] the building up of the Body of Christ.” Based on this translation, some people think that for each one to do the work of his ministry refers to the gifts in verse 11 doing the work of their ministry for the perfecting of the saints. They do not think that it refers to the gifts perfecting the saints so that each one of the saints may do the work of ministry. There is a great controversy on this point. Those in the Catholic Church probably think that this verse refers to each of the gifts doing their work to perfect the saints; this is the reason the Catholic Church has a pope, bishops, priests, and monks, each one doing his work to build up the church. According to the rendition of the Chinese Union Version, there might be two interpretations. If each one to do the work of his ministry refers to the gifts, the Catholic system is right. In actuality, however, the translation in the Chinese Union Version leans toward the meaning that each of the saints is doing the work of ministry, because verse 16 goes on to say, “Through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.” In this verse, whereas every joint of the rich supply refers to the gifts, each one part refers to each of the saints as members of the Body.
According to this portion in the Bible, the Lord’s workers should not replace the saints in the church service. In some churches, the workers have been replacing the saints in the service for years. Although these churches have been delivered from the ground of the denominations, they have co-workers among them replacing the saints and doing all the service for them. In the Baptist denomination there are pastors, preachers, elders, and deacons, but generally speaking, almost all the services are under the control of the pastors and preachers. Let us use the board of directors for a school as an illustration. When a school has a special need, the directors will call a meeting; however, the general affairs of the school are usually taken care of by the principal and teachers. In Protestantism, the pastors and preachers are comparable to the principal and teachers of a school, and the elders and deacons are equivalent to directors of the board. However, this is not the revelation of the Bible. The Head has given gifts to the church, but these gifts should not replace the saints in the service. Hence, the co-workers must see clearly before the Lord that they should not serve in place of the saints.
This is the principle. The service of the co-workers in the churches should not replace the service of the saints. The Head gave gifts to the church, but His intention is not for them to replace the saints. Rather, His intention is for the gifts to work in the church to the extent that all the saints in the church can rise up to serve. The gifts should not replace the saints but rather perfect the saints so that each one can carry out his function. We need to see in this portion of the Word that Christ, the Head, gives gifts to build up the church by perfecting the saints so that those who do not know how to serve may learn to serve and those who do not know how to work may learn to work. This is the reason Ephesians 4:12 says, “For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.” This verse includes the work of the gifts and the issue of the believers carrying out the work of the ministry; it also includes the purpose for the perfecting of the saints by the gifts and the fruit of the saints’ carrying out of the work of the ministry. The result of these two levels of service is the Body of Christ.
The work of the gifts is to perfect the saints. In the end, some saints may become elders and some may become deacons as a part of the perfecting work carried out by the gifts. Those who are sent directly by the Lord are the gifts spoken of in verse 11. These apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers work in the church for the perfecting of the saints so that each one will be able to do the work of the ministry. For example, the work of the evangelists is to gain believers as building material for the church. After the material is obtained, the shepherds and teachers need to do the work of shepherding and teaching so that the material can be useful, that is, so that the believers can serve in the church. Therefore, the gifts are joined together in coordination to perfect the saints so that each saint can do the work of the ministry. After the believers are perfected and have grown in life, those who can serve as elders will be appointed elders, and those who care for the church affairs and love to serve the saints will be appointed deacons. In this way, through the perfecting by the gifted ones, all the saints will do the work of the ministry, and in the end, the Body of Christ will be built up.
The building up of the Body of Christ is the result of a twofold work: the result of the work of the gifts and the result of the saints who have been perfected. The result of the work of the gifts may be considered indirect; the result of the saints who have been perfected is direct. The building of the Body of Christ requires the work of the gifts on one hand and the saints doing the work of the ministry on the other hand. The result of the work of these two added together is the Body of Christ. Christ, the Head, gives gifts to the church, and these gifts then perfect the saints in the church to bring out their function, each doing the work of the ministry unto the building of the Body of Christ. As far as the building of the Body of Christ is concerned, the work of the gifts is indirect, but the work of the saints is direct.