Christ gave these gifted persons to the church for the perfecting of the saints that the saints may participate in the work of the ministry, that is, in the building up of the Body of Christ. The saints need to be perfected and equipped unto the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:12). “Unto” in the original language means resulting in. The perfecting of the saints by the gifted persons results in the work of the ministry. According to the grammatical construction, the work of the ministry is the building up of the Body of Christ. What the gifted persons do is to perfect the saints to do the same thing as they do, which is the work of the ministry, the building up of the Body of Christ.
The building up of the Body of Christ should not be carried out only by the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherd-teachers; it should be done by all the members. Hence, the saints are the building members. Furthermore, the work of the ministry, as mentioned in Ephesians 4:12, does not refer merely to the work of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherd-teachers, but it even the more refers to the work of the saints. Hence, the building up of the Body of Christ is not carried out directly by the gifted persons in Ephesians 4:11; it is accomplished by the perfected saints. The gifted persons should learn how to perfect others, and after finishing the perfecting work, they should leave the building work to all the members of the Body and let all the members build up the Body of Christ directly.
Ephesians 4:16 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.” This indicates that all the members, having been perfected by the apostles, prophets, and other gifted persons, operate according to each one’s own measure, performing each one’s own function, and thus build up the Body of Christ directly. The perfecting work done by the gifted persons does not build up the Body of Christ directly; their work builds up the Body indirectly.
The center of God’s New Testament economy is the building up of the church, the Body of Christ. For this work, Christ separates a group of gifted persons out of His saved ones, and gives them as gifts to the church. He gives four classes of persons: apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherd-teachers. Apostles are the greatest gifts given by Christ to the church, and their office is placed highest in the universal church. The work of the apostles is to preach the gospel, teach the truth, and establish the churches. Prophets are those who speak for God. They not only speak for God, but they also speak forth God, and sometimes they also predict for God. Their ministry brings in God’s revelation. At times they speak for God and speak forth God in an ordinary way through the spiritual power of the Holy Spirit; at other times they predict for God in an inspired way by the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit. Both are for the edification of the believers and the building up of the church. Prophesying is the greatest gift in the local church, and it can build up the local church more than the other gifts. The evangelists are also gifts received by the church from Christ. Their work is to preach the gospel. They do not preach the gospel in an ordinary way; they are wholly devoted to the work of gospel preaching. Whereas the evangelists can merely go to different places to preach the gospel, the apostles can preach the gospel everywhere and also establish the churches. Shepherds and teachers are one class of persons who have the gift of shepherding and teaching. Their work is to shepherd and teach the church of God, to nourish, nurture, instruct, and lead the believers. The prophets speak God’s word with revelation; the shepherd-teachers interpret God’s word in an ordinary manner. The shepherd-teachers instruct others according to the revelation spoken by the prophets, and thus cause others to be edified in the light of the truth. Christ gives these four kinds of persons as gifts to the church for the perfecting of the saints, that the saints may participate in the work of the ministry, which is the building up of the Body of Christ. They do not build up the Body of Christ directly; they perfect the saints to build up the Body of Christ directly. Hence, their building of the Body of Christ is indirect.