There is a great deal of conversation and comotion in the Body of Christ today about the reality of having Apostles, Prophets, Evangelist, Pastors and Teachers as discribed in Ephesians 4:11-13.
Some say these gifts do not all function today while others believe they are still functioning in the church today but under different names. Your Wineskin (church government and structure) along with the point in history and context of the birth of your fellowship, or church geoup will greatly determine how you understand the meaning and function of these gifts. It is not my objective to argue this point today.
Instead, I would like to look at the purpose or responsibility of these 'gifts to the church' and all who are callled into the leadership of God's people.
These verses when examined in a variety of translations and the Greek in which it was originally written help us to understand that 'the gifts' God has given have the responsibility to 'Equip believers to do the work of the ministry and to build up the believers and bring them into a place of full maturity.'
When we examine the words and their meaning in context we see that a part of this equipping is the mending or making whole of individual believer. We also see that another part of being equipped is to be fit properly into the body of Christ according to ones, gifts, skills, maturty and experience.
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