December 04 2025

Thursday December 04

The Office of Apostleship

Ephesians 4:7-11

“But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift… And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.”

Today we continue to look at Ephesians 4:7-11. These verses continue to teach about the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace in the local church and in the body of believers wherever we are. We are so thankful that God has given us His Holy Spirit, who has richly given us of His mercy and His grace that we might be a people of God, showing forth to the world around us that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior of all the earth. Only by Him can you find true salvation, hope, and security in this life. There is no other way. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me.” (John 14:6).

We need to understand the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the unity of the church is vitally important to sharing this great message of the Gospel of Christ to the world around us. God has chosen the church today to do this. The New Testament church can best be describes as a local body of baptized believers, under the discipline of the Word of God, being led by the Holy Spirit, exercising the gifts of the Spirit, organized under spiritual leadership for the purpose of worship, fellowship, discipleship, evangelism, and ministry, and fulfilling the ordinances of the church—the Lord’s Supper and baptism. That is the local church.

In that church God has placed people with various spiritual gifts to make sure that body functions properly in such a way that they are able to fulfill, complete, and carry out God’s great commission. That is the purpose of the spiritual gifts. We see that specifically as we look at the passage here in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 7-11.It says in verse 11, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.”

Interesting, as you look at all three passages in the New Testament speaking specifically about spiritual gifts, you will find that in Romans 12, and also 1 Corinthians 12-14, that Paul lists many gifts. Some people estimate up to 18 different spiritual gifts were given to the church initially. But here in Ephesians 4:7, it appears that Paul is talking not so much about the gifts of the Spirit as he is talking about some of the offices that are being fulfilled because of the gift of the Spirit that were given to particular people in his day.

The first one Paul mentions was the Apostles. “He gave some to be apostles”. The word apostle means one who is sent with a commission. Jesus had many disciples—even one time 70 disciples are mentioned—but we know that He only selected 12 apostles (Matthew 10:1-4). The disciple is a learner, a follower. But an apostle is a divinely appointed representative. For someone to be an apostle, he had to have witnessed the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Acts 1:21-22). In Acts 1, when they were replacing Judas as one of the twelve apostles, they prayed about it, sought God’s will about it, and particularly chose one person, Matthias, to become that twelfth Apostle (Acts 1:26).

Today, there are no apostles in the strictest New Testament sense. These apostles laid the foundation of the church along with the prophets as we are told in Ephesians 2:19-20, “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone.” 

Once the foundation of the church, the New Testament church, was laid, there was no longer a need for apostles. Today when I hear someone saying, “I’m an apostle,” I hope they mean that they are one who is sent with a commission. Because all of us as believers are sent. As Jesus said to the disciples and to the apostles, “As the Father has sent Me, even so send I you.” Every believer in that sense is sent. We are sent with a commission to share the good news of Jesus Christ.

But there were only twelve who laid the foundation of the church in the New Testament. That is very important to know. Today we should not claim to be an apostle. We should claim to be a follower, a disciple of Jesus Christ. We have been sent even as an Apostle was sent, but we are not apostles because we did not physically witness the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That was the qualification given in Acts 1.

As we study these four offices of the church that are mentioned by Paul here, they should encourage us to be what God wants us to be with our spiritual gift in the church so the body of Christ can function as it should.

God bless!