In the book of Ephesians, Paul tells us that the gifts—the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers—are for the perfecting of the saints (4:11-12). Then Acts 20 shows us how the writer of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul, perfected the saints in Ephesus. The book of Ephesians presents the teaching given to the saints in Ephesus, while Acts 20 presents the practice of the writer. The teaching in Ephesians 4 and the practice in Acts 20 are by the same apostle. Paul taught the perfecting of the saints and he practiced it.
The record of Paul’s practice in Acts 20 opens a window for us to see how to perfect the saints. In Acts 20 Paul said that he did not shrink from declaring to the saints in Ephesus all the counsel of God (v. 27). According to his word in Acts 20, Paul surely taught prophesying to them. If Paul had not taught the Ephesians to prophesy, how could he have said that he declared all the counsel of God to them? According to 1 Corinthians 14, prophecy is a great thing. Prophecy is the excelling gift, the gift above all gifts. Surely Paul taught the Ephesians concerning the excelling gift of prophecy as a part of the entire counsel of God. Furthermore, Paul wrote his first Epistle to the Corinthians from Ephesus (1 Cor. 16:8). While Paul was in Ephesus writing to the Corinthians concerning the excelling gift of prophecy, he was surely teaching the Ephesians the same thing.
In Acts 20 he told the elders of the church in Ephesus, “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you all the time” (v. 18). Paul was with the saints in Ephesus for three years. He not only taught them publicly in meetings but also taught them from house to house (v. 20). Night and day, he did not cease admonishing each one of the saints with tears (v. 31). This teaches us how to perfect the saints. When Paul was teaching the saints publicly and from house to house in Ephesus, he surely instructed them how to prophesy.
If you ask me how to perfect the saints, I will tell you to read Acts 20. The way is there. First, we need to be with the saints. If I have the burden to perfect the saints in a certain locality, I need to go there, following Paul’s pattern to stay there for three years. Paul even went to Ephesus and stayed there without being asked or invited by the brothers. He volunteered to stay with the Ephesians for three years. Second, we have to teach the saints everything we know concerning the counsel of God. We need to be like Paul, who did not shrink from declaring to the saints all the counsel of God (v. 27). While we are staying with the saints, we have to open up all the things concerning God’s New Testament economy, His eternal plan. We would share how, according to His economy, He became a man, acquiring humanity in addition to His divinity, and how He died on the cross in a sevenfold way to solve all the problems in the universe. We would also teach many other things concerning His economy.
In addition to teaching the saints, Paul also admonished them. As an illustration of what it means to admonish, let us consider a father speaking to his son about his need to study diligently. The father might say: “I have taught you to study hard, but you are still so sloppy in doing your schoolwork. As your father, I admonish you with tears to study hard. If you do not get a degree, you will have no future. If you want to live a better life, you must study, son.” This is not to teach but to admonish. Paul was so concerned for the saints in Ephesus that his admonishing was with tears. In verse 19 Paul said that he served the Lord with tears, and in verse 31 he said that he admonished each saint with tears.
As we have pointed out, Paul should have definitely taught prophesying to the saints in Ephesus since he did not shrink from declaring to them all the counsel of God. I also believe that Paul taught the Corinthians about prophesying before he wrote 1 Corinthians. We know that Paul had contact with them before he wrote 1 Corinthians because he referred to a previous letter that he wrote them (1 Cor. 5:9). Before writing 1 Corinthians to them, he must have definitely taught them to prophesy, to speak for Christ, to speak forth Christ, to speak Christ into others in their meeting. If he had never taught them this matter in the past, he could not have referred them to it. In 14:1 he can say, “Pursue love, and desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy.” If he had not taught them prior to that time, the Corinthians would not have even known the term prophesy. How could Paul have charged them to prophesy if he had not taught them something about it and if they had no knowledge of it? First Corinthians 14 indicates that prophesying was taught beforehand to the Corinthians by the Apostle Paul. Therefore, in writing this Epistle, he can refer them to prophesying. Paul was perfecting them to prophesy. Based upon Ephesians 4 and Acts 20, it is clear that the saints need to be perfected to prophesy.
The gifted members were given to the Body for the perfecting of the saints. Acts 5:42 says, “And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and bringing the good news of Jesus as the Christ.” We need to ask who “they” are. In Acts 2 the three thousand new disciples met from house to house, but in 5:42 “they” refers to the apostles mentioned in verses 40 and 41. The apostles did not cease in two things: teaching and gospel preaching. They did this in two places: in the temple and from house to house. I believe that they were preaching in the temple and teaching in the houses. The first group of apostles taught from house to house to perfect the three thousand new ones who were saved on the day of Pentecost and those who were saved afterwards. On the one hand, the apostles preached the gospel to the public in the temple, and on the other hand, when people were saved, they went to their homes to teach them. To teach is to perfect. This is the great lack among us.
In the past, we may have baptized some new ones, but not many of them remained because we left them as orphans. Who went to their homes again and again to teach them? To bring people into the Lord’s salvation and then to leave them without perfecting them is a traditional poison that we have inherited from Christianity. In Christianity there are big gospel campaigns in which thousands may be saved, but eventually these saved ones become orphans with no one to care for them. Very few pastors or preachers in Christianity still go out to visit people in their homes. In the old way, we preached the gospel in our meeting halls and invited the new ones to come to us. If some did believe and get baptized, very few picked up the burden to take care of them. This old way has to be condemned and abandoned. If we do not abandon the old way, we will not receive the divine blessing. We need to pick up the burden to go out to visit people with the gospel by knocking on their doors. When some believe and are baptized, we need to go back to their homes again and again to teach them. Some have asked, “We baptize many, but where are they today?” When I hear this, I would ask, “Where are the ones to go back to their homes to teach them day after day?” If a mother delivers a child and does not give any care to the child afterwards, the child will die.