In the church there are some brothers who serve as deacons (Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:8) and some sisters who serve as deaconesses (Rom. 16:1). The word service in Romans 12:7 refers to the service of the deacons and deaconesses in the local churches. Deacons are the serving ones. The deacons and deaconesses are those who serve in a local church under the direction of the overseers, the elders. The overseers take care of the church, and the deacons and deaconesses serve the church by taking care of the many practical matters. Those who serve as deacons and deaconesses should have the spirit and attitude of serving, and they should always keep themselves in such a spirit and attitude.
Acts 13:1 says, “Now there were in Antioch, in the local church, prophets and teachers.” This verse indicates that in the church there are some saints who have sufficient growth in life to serve as prophets and teachers. Prophets and teachers speak God’s word to release the divine revelation and teach the saints. Prophets and teachers are very much needed, especially in the meetings of the church. In the church meetings we need proper speaking ones to speak forth a word of wisdom and a word of knowledge. The word of wisdom is mainly spoken by prophets, and the word of knowledge is mainly taught by teachers.
For us to understand the services of the prophets and the teachers, we need to know the difference between prophesying and teaching. In the Scripture as a whole, especially in the New Testament, the word prophesy does not mainly mean to predict. In both the Old and New Testaments to prophesy means: (1) to tell for, to speak for others; (2) to tell forth, to speak things forth; and (3) to foretell, to predict, to speak things before they happen. Primarily, the meaning of the word prophesy is “to speak for” and “to speak forth.” A prophecy is a speaking for God under His direct inspiration. In Word Studies in the New Testament (vol. 3, p. 156) Marvin R. Vincent says this regarding prophecy: “In the New Testament, as in the Old, the prominent idea is not prediction, but the inspired delivery of warning, exhortation, instruction, judging, and making manifest the secrets of the heart. See 1 Cor. xiv. 3, 24, 25. The New-Testament prophets are distinguished from teachers, by speaking under direct divine inspiration.” Thus, the main idea of prophecy in the Bible is not prediction but speaking for God and speaking forth God under His direct inspiration, that is, to speak according to the revelation that the Lord has imparted.
In the sense of speaking for God and speaking forth God, prophesying requires the adequate growth in life. In order to speak for God, we must know God and experience Christ. Without the sufficient knowledge of God and the experience of Christ, we have nothing to speak on His behalf and cannot speak Him forth. In the sense of predicting, of speaking things before they happen, prophesying is miraculous and does not require growth in life.
Teaching is different from prophesying. Teaching is speaking based upon prophecy. Some brothers may take what others prophesy and teach people according to what was prophesied. This is teaching. The prophets are those who speak for God and speak forth God by God’s revelation, and who sometimes speak with inspired prediction (Acts 11:27-28). Teachers are those who teach the truths according to the apostles’ teaching (2:42) and the prophets’ revelation. Both the prophets and the teachers are needed in the church.
In the church some saints serve as elders, deacons, deaconesses, prophets, and teachers, but all the believers should be good stewards of the varied grace of God, ministering grace to one another. First Peter 4:10 says, “Each one, as he has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves as good stewards of the varied grace of God.” According to the New Testament, grace is what God is to us for our enjoyment (John 1:16-17; 2 Cor. 12:9). Grace is not mainly the work that God has done for us; grace is the processed Triune God Himself dispensed into our being for us to experience and enjoy. To put it simply, grace is the Triune God for our experience and enjoyment. The varied grace in 1 Peter 4:10, as well as “all grace” in 5:10, refers to the rich supply of life, which is the Triune God ministered into us in many aspects (2 Cor. 13:14). As good stewards, by means of the gift we have received, we should minister grace, not merely doctrine and vain things, to the church and to the saints. In the church we should all serve as good stewards of the varied grace of God, ministering grace to one another.