Church Governance (15)

If forget about modern practice, and start from scratch in looking at Eph 4:11 there is no reason to think that Paul is describing a higher office or special role. He is very clear that he is talking about gifts, not offices or ministries, or church governance.

To each (ekasos) one of us, grace (caris) has been given (edoqh, didwmi),
according to the measure (metron) of Christ’s gift (dwrea).(Eph 4:7).

The gifts are for everyone.

To each one of us... (Eph 4:8).

There is a gifting for each one of us. They are for all people, not just an elite, and not just for leadership.

He gave gifts to people (Eph 4:8).

This verse tends to be ignored. Most interpreters assume that these gifts are just for a few special people in a leadership role, but that is not what the passage says. Paul is clear that these gifts are for all sorts of ordinary people.

He gave (edwken, didwmi) gifts (domata, doma) to men” (Eph 4:8).

The gifts in Eph 4:7,8 and Eph 4:11 must be the same.

He gave (didwmi) some to be …… (Eph 4:11).

The ascension gifts are given for everyone.

Paul say that “grace was given to each of us as measured by Christ's gift”, and then quotes a verse saying He gave gifts to (all) men. Surely, the gifts given to each of us must be the gifts described in verse 11. If they are not, we cannot call them ascension gifts. Therefore, these gifts cannot be limited to a few people; they must be diffused widely.

The men de construction used in verse 11 suggests that the list is exhaustive, ie “some to be this”, “some to be something else” and the “rest to be that”. This suggests that everyone should have one of these gifts.