How to Understand the Gifts of Christ

© 2026 by C. O. Bishop

Ephesians 4:11-16

 Gifts given by Christ

These are “Office Gifts”, or “Ministry Gifts” to the Church

Introduction:

Jesus gave some gifts to the Church (as opposed to individuals.) His gifts are not exhaustively listed in this passage, but this particular type of gift is exhaustively listed here. The “ministry gifts” or “office gifts:” These gifts are people who have been gifted to serve. They serve either the universal church (the church-at-large) or the local assembly, each in a particular way.

The gifts named here, under the title, “the gift of Christ” are all ministry gifts, and specifically, “office” gifts. This is in the sense that, the person holds that “office” within the church. He is there for the benefit of the whole church. The four gifts are not  a “hierarchy” of church authority: they simply have different functions.

What Are the Gifts?

¹¹ And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets, and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

He Gave Some Apostles

The Apostles are named first, but it cannot mean just the original eleven apostles, nor even Paul and the Eleven. There are other apostles named in the book of Acts, including Barnabas, Apollos, and possibly Aquila and Priscilla. So, it has a broader meaning than we may like.

The word “Apostle,” (“apostolos”) means, “sent one.” It is a specific office in the Universal church (all the believers within the church age.) Most people believe this gift to have ended sometime soon after the book of Acts was completed. (Or, perhaps, whenever the last original Apostles finally died, about the end of the first century.) From my experience alone, I might tend to agree. I don’t know of anyone in history, after that time, who was “clearly identifiable” as an apostle.

Some teach that, “Only the Apostles could write down the Word of God.”

That is false teaching: Only four of the Apostles (Matthew, Peter, John, and Paul) even wrote scripture. All the other writers of the New Testament were not called Apostles, in scripture. The “James” of the epistle was evidently Jesus’s physical half-brother, not “James, the Apostle,” who was martyred much earlier. And Jude was another of his brothers. Mark is the same young man (John Mark) who was rejected for ministry by Paul. But he was salvaged, and taught discipleship by Barnabas.

The Time-Clause

However: Verse 13 gives the “time-clause,” the service period for all four of the “gifts of Christ” . It says,  “till we all come in the unity of the faith…etc.”

I don’t think anyone suggests that we already have “all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

So, there’s a possibility that apostles exist today. If they do, I would suggest that they are among the missionaries “sent” by God to reach people who have never heard the Gospel. Is there authority attached to that office? If you restrict it to the original twelve (including Paul) then, yes, there was. There did seem to be an “Apostolic Authority” given to the Eleven, and to Paul.

If  “apostles” includes church-planters throughout the 2000 years following the death of Christ, then I would guess it does not carry special authority, unless there is some sort of a “hidden authority” that we don’t see. I have known many church-planters and missionaries, and none of them claimed any such authority.

And, of course, it is possible that the “until” in v.13 does not actually indicate a time period, but rather a directive, only meaning “to the effect that.” But the Greek word translated “till” or “until” is “mechris,” and every single time it is used in the New Testament, it is translated “till, until, or up to”, in a “time” sense. As the things attached to it in this passage have not yet happened, I have to conclude that, in the sense Paul meant it, it has yet to be completed or fulfilled. You can make of that what you will….

Some Prophets

Prophets are a little easier, as a concept. The word “prophet” only means “someone who speaks for God:” a “mouthpiece, or spokesman, for God.” In the Old Testament, and through the book of Acts, it usually also carried the idea of predicting the future. But that was only a small part of the work of a prophet:

In 1^st Corinthians 14:3 and other places, Paul states that the current ministry of prophecy “…speaks to exhortation, edification and comfort.” That is called “preaching,” in our culture. Those who are called by God to encourage, build up and comfort the believers from the Word of God, thus, speaking for God, are the usual New Testament prophets. There are definite instructions given to them, as to how they are to carry out their work. There are also definite instructions given to others, as to how to respond to them.

Some Problems

Some have declared, on the strength of 1^st Corinthians 13, that prophecy has also ceased to exist. They say the phrase “when the perfect comes” means the completed scriptures, and that prophecy has therefore ceased. There is nothing in that passage (or any other) to suggest that this is what is in view. My first guess would be that the “perfect” is not the scriptures, but the Church—when the church is complete, there will be no further need for that gift. But the problem with that is that there will be a huge flock of prophets that arise during the Great Tribulation, after the completion of the Church. So that doesn’t really fit either. So, what is left?

Take a look at the rest of the passage: it says, “…now we know in part and prophesy in part, but when the perfect is come, then that which is imperfect shall be done away…Now we see through a glass, dimly, but then face-to-face! And, Now I know in part, but then shall I know (fully) even as also I am (fully) known.”

Does anyone today really think they have seen Jesus face-to-face? Or; do they know Christ as completely as He knows them? If not, then I would say that the “Perfect” has not come. What is that “Perfect”? I think it has to be Christ, returned in the flesh, and reigning on earth, or possibly the completion of the Church, the Bride of Christ.

Some Evangelists

Notice that the gift is not “evangelism” but “Evangelists.” Evangelism, the job of carrying the Gospel to others, belongs to the whole church: that is our stated task, for life. But an “evangelist” seems to be a person with a special gift for evangelism. Unfortunately, there is very little said about such people in the Bible.

We remember Phillip as “the evangelist.” We can see that he did take the Gospel everywhere he went, with great success.

Titus and Timothy

But in 2^nd Timothy 4:5, Paul told Timothy to “do the work of an evangelist.” The specific things he was also told to do, were to “strengthen the churches” and “to ordain elders (plural) in every church (singular.)”

He and Titus were given nearly identical tasks. But only Timothy was told to “do the work of an evangelist.” If the instructions to Timothy and Titus are characteristic of an Evangelist, then perhaps our modern-day view of an “evangelist” is somewhat skewed by our cultural viewpoint.

Present Day Contrast

Possibly men like Billy Sunday and Billy Graham, etc. are not what God calls evangelists. Perhaps an evangelist is supposed to have an itinerant ministry, going from area to area, preaching, teaching and ordaining leaders in local assemblies as needed. A person who trains up leaders within the local assembly, and then moves on, might be what is called an evangelist, in God’s Word.

So, What is an Evangelist?

Notice that both Timothy and Titus were told to get the job done and to report back to Paul. They did not have a stationary ministry. The Elders, on the other hand (See Acts 20:28) were told to stay put, and to feed that flock! I won’t quibble over someone being called an evangelist: there simply isn’t enough information to be certain: But if the work of (and the gift of ) an evangelist is just to “excel at evangelism,” then I have no problem with that definition being applied to anyone who seems to fit that description.

I have actively shared the Gospel of Christ with those around me for many years, but very few have responded in faith. So, I would guess that I am not an Evangelist. However, that does not release me from the job of evangelism: It is still the stated life-purpose of all believers.

Think: Of all the things we are to do as believers, what is the only thing which could not be “better done in heaven,” after we no longer have our earthly flesh and our old sin natures? We will certainly love more fervently, and we will worship from a purer heart, and we will obey perfectly. But we will never again share the Gospel with an unbeliever after we leave this earth. Only the living members of the Body of Christ have that privilege: Even the angels can’t do that work, in this age: (See Acts 10:1-6  the Angel said “…send for a man…”)

Some Pastors and Teachers

There seems to be “one office” meant by the joint term, “pastor and teacher.” The words for pastor, elder, and overseer, (alternately translated as “shepherd, presbyter, and bishop”) are all applied to the same group of men. The Ephesian elders (Acts 20:17, 28) are called all three: Paul called the elders (same word as presbyters…always plural) of the church (singular) at Ephesus (v. 17), and told them (v.28) that the Holy Spirit has made them overseers (same word as “bishops”), and then he told them to “feed” the flock of God. (the Greek word is “poimaine:” shepherd) Finally, he says they are to protect the flock against “wolves”—false teachers).

In 1^st Timothy 3:1-8, where Timothy is given instructions about ordaining elders, he is told that an elder has to be a teacher. There is no “office” of “teacher” in the local assembly: The elders are all supposed to be gifted to teach, whether they do so every week or not. Therefore, I see this as a joint gift, though there are teachers who are not called to shepherd the flock, but just teach.

Jesus used two different words when he confronted Peter about his ambivalence toward the job he had been assigned. He said “feed” my sheep, and “tend” my sheep. The word “bosko” is translated as “feed” and means just that. The word “poimaine” is translated as “shepherd, or tend”, and, as we saw earlier, it includes the entire skill-set of shepherding a flock, as laid out in Ezekiel 34:1-10.

The Seven Tasks Are:

1. Feed the Flock
2. Strengthen the diseased
3. Heal the sick
4. Bind up that which is broken
5. Bring back that which was driven away
6. Seek the Lost, and
7. Protect from predators (implied, here; spelled out in Acts 20:28)

It is a tough job…and it is always to be carried out by a team of two or more: never just one man. Diotrephes (See 3^rd John 9, 10) is the only counterexample in scripture…and a bad one.

Shepherds and Teachers

Interestingly, it is possible for a “shepherd” to not be an elder, or an overseer. A shepherd feeds the flock, and cares for the flock. Usually, that person is also an overseer, but not always. But an overseer must also be a shepherd: and an elder must be a teacher.

These people are the “gifts of Christ” to the church, and their job is to equip the believers for the work of the ministry. They are called to lead by example (1^st Peter 5:3), and not to simply “dictate” what the believers are to do. If a shepherd wants to see the flock behave in a certain way, then he and his team had better behave that way, themselves!

Shepherds as Sheep

The fact that they are to train the saints for the work of ministry does not release them from the work of the ministry, themselves; but it definitely means that they are not the only ones called to the work. The work of the ministry is the calling of the whole body of Christ, and we will talk more thoroughly about it later. In the meanwhile, the overall result of all of the “gifts of Christ” is as follows in verses 12-16. The office gifts are given,

¹² For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: ¹³ Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

(Why?)

¹⁴ That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; ¹⁵ But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: ¹⁶ From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

The rest of the gifts (plural, usually) named in the New Testament are given by the Holy Spirit, to all born-again individuals: Those who have received Eternal Life from God, through Jesus Christ.

Next week we hope to begin examining those gifts.

Lord Jesus, draw us along as Your followers, to be true disciples walking with You and earnestly desiring to be taught by Your Word. Guide us by Your Holy Spirit, and keep us from sin. Allow us to serve as Your hands and Feet, speaking as You speak, Loving as You love, and seeing the fallen World through Your Eyes,