Ascension Gifts (2) - Gifts for Everyone

A key point of Eph 4 is that while there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one of nearly everything else. The one thing that is not on this list is church leaders. There is not one church leader. A church needs more than one leader, because one person does not have all the gifts that are needed to be Jesus.

If we forget about modern practice, and start from scratch in looking at Eph 4:11 there is no reason to think they are some higher office. Paul is very clear that he is talking about gifts.

To each one of us, grace (charis) has been given (didomi), according to the measure (metron) of Christ’s gift (dorea) (Eph 4:7).

The gifts are for everyone.

To each one of us...

For all men, not an elite/ not leadership.

He gave (didomi) gifts (domata) to men (Eph 4:8).

The gifts in verse 7,8 and verse 11 must be the same.

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

Gifts, given for everyone! What are these gifts? 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 v.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.