In 1 Timothy 1:16 Paul says, “For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.” According to this verse, Paul was made a pattern of God’s salvation. Paul, however, was a model not only of God’s salvation, but also of one called by the Lord.
In the book of Ephesians the matter of God’s calling is of great significance. In 1:17-18 Paul prayed that we would have a spirit of wisdom and revelation to “know what is the hope of His calling.” In 4:1 Paul besought us, God’s called people, to walk worthily of the calling with which we were called.
Not many Christians know the goal of God’s calling. Many think that this goal is simply to receive grace and to be saved. Grace and salvation, however, are not the ultimate goal of God’s calling. According to Ephesians, the unique goal of God’s calling is the building up of the Body of Christ. In Matthew 16 the Lord Jesus said that He would build His church. The book of Acts and the Epistles reveal that the church is built up not by the Lord directly, but through the members of the Body. Christ builds the Body by the Body. God has called us for the fulfillment of this goal.
Ephesians 3:2 speaks of the stewardship of the grace of God, and 4:12, of the building up of the Body of Christ. Hence, the portion of Ephesians from 3:2 to 4:12 begins with the stewardship of the grace of God and ends with the building up of the Body of Christ.
The stewardship of the grace of God is not limited to Paul and the other apostles. Do not think that Paul was such a steward and that you are not. Paul’s intention here is to impress the saints with the fact that they all have received the stewardship of the grace of God for the building up of the Body of Christ. According to 4:12, the building up of the Body is not the work of the apostles alone; it is the responsibility of all the saints. This verse reveals that the saints are perfected unto the work of ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ. The Greek word rendered “unto” in this verse also means “for the purpose of,” “with a view to,” or “resulting in.” The perfecting of the saints results in the work of ministry, which in turn results in the building up of the Body of Christ. The Body is not built up directly by the apostles and the other leading ones; it is built up directly by the saints.
In 4:16 Paul says, “Out from Whom all the Body, fitted and knit together through every joint of the supply, according to the operation in measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.” Verse 12 speaks of the saints, and verse 16 mentions “each one part.” According to verse 16, the Body causes the growth of itself unto the building up of itself in love. In order for this to take place in a practical way, all the saints need to be perfected by the apostles and the other leading ones.
As we read this book of Ephesians, we need to get into Paul’s burden and feeling. Paul’s expectation was that every believer would be an apostle. This means that Paul expected every saint to be the same as he was.
Paul was not only an apostle; he was also a prophet, an evangelist, and a shepherd and teacher. Many of us, however, may classify the gifted ones mentioned in verse 11 into four distinct categories: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the shepherds and teachers. But Paul, the pattern of God’s called one, was all of these. Paul certainly was a prophet. In his Epistles he uttered some great prophecies, such as those found in 1 Corinthians 15 and in 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Paul was also an evangelist. Who was a greater evangelist than he was? He preached the gospel wherever he went. Furthermore, Paul was a shepherd and a teacher. Day and night, he cared for all the churches and all the saints. Finally, who can deny that Paul was a teacher? If Paul was not a teacher, then no one in the New Testament was a teacher. Therefore, Paul was an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, and a shepherd and teacher. His burden and intention in chapters three and four was to point out that every saint should be the same as he was in these respects.
Chapters three and four are part of Paul’s charge concerning a walk worthy of God’s calling. If we would have a walk worthy of God’s calling, we need to be like the Apostle Paul. To have a worthy walk, we should devote our attention not only to such things as humility, kindness, and love, but to the important matter of being apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. If we are not such persons, then we do not have a walk worthy of God’s calling. In these chapters Paul is an example, not of a victorious Christian nor even of a believer who is full of life, but of one who is an apostle, prophet, evangelist, and shepherd and teacher.