Ascension Gifts (3) - Gifts not Offices

In Ephesians 4, Paul is talking about gifts, so he does not call them ministries. A gift is not a role. It is something that someone in a role can use.

Shepherding is just one of the tasks that some elders will be gifted to do. Silas was an elder and a prophet, so propheting is also a task that some elders do. In 1 Tim 5:17 Paul refers to elders who work at preaching (evangelists).

Some elders are gifted to be apostles. For example, John is referred to as an elder and an apostle. We have caused problems with apostle by translating the Greek word as “sent” when it is a verb, and transliterating it as “apostle” when it is a noun. If we translated consistently, we would get a different picture, as the word is used all over the place. The seventy-two in Luke 10:1 were apostled. Two men were apostled to get a donkey for Jesus to ride on. Correct translation would bring the word apostle down to earth.