The Diversity Of Spiritual Gifts In Contributing Toward Unity Series

The prophets were wanderers throughout the time of the “EarlyChurch.” Their message was believed to be not the result of thought and study but the direct result of the Holy Spirit. They had no homes and no families and no means of support. They went from church to church proclaiming the will of God as God had told it to them.

He gave “some prophets.” Here, as in other epistles, this has reference to New Testament prophets. They were men who were given, as were the apostles, particular insight into the doctrines of the faith (Ephesians 3:5{8]). They were under the immediate influence and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which distinguishes them from teachers (1 Corinthians 12:10{9]). The prophets did not so much for-tell the future as fourth-tell the will of God. In fourth-telling the will of God, they necessarily to some extent forth-told the future, because they announced the consequences which would follow if men disobeyed that will.

The purpose of prophesy is “edification, encouragement, and consolation” (1 Corinthians 14:3, translation). Christians today do not get their spiritual knowledge immediately from the Holy Spirit, but through the Holy Spirit teaching the word. There is no one around today with the office of apostle or prophet in that sense; because they were a once-for-all gift. They themselves passed off the scene long ago, but they are still members of His Church. His Church exists not only on earth; part of the Church is up in Heaven with Him. They are part of that host, which is in the presence of God. In another sense they are still with us today. Are we studying the Epistle to the Ephesians right now? And who wrote it? The Apostle Paul and he is still with us even though he is up in heaven with Christ. He is absent from the body but present with Christ. Yet he is still a member of the Church and he is still an apostle to us.

Apostles and prophets hold first place in this list, as in 1 Corinthians 12:28. The reason for this prominence is given in 2:20{10], namely that these leaders in the early church bore witness to the incarnate and risen Lord and were the vehicles through which he continued to express His mind to the church.

“Some, evangelists.” The evangelists were traveling missionaries. These men traveled from place to place to preach the Gospel and win the lost (Acts 8:26-40; 21:28). Paul was an evangelist (bearer of good news). They were not evangelists as we think of them today. There was no committee or organization to set up a campaign. They went into new territory, and they did it all alone with the Spirit of God who went before them. All ministers should “do the work of an evangelist,” but this does not mean that all ministers are evangelists (2 Timothy 4:5). The Apostles and prophets laid the foundation of the church, and the evangelists built on it by winning the lost to Christ. Of course, in the early church, every believer was a witness (Acts 2:41-47; 11:19-21{11]), and so should we be witnesses today. But there are also people today who have the gift of evangelism. The fact that a believer may not possess this gift does not excuse him from being burdened for lost souls or witnessing to them. Only Philip is explicitly described in the New Testament as an evangelist (Acts 21:8). Paul urged Timothy, however, to “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Timothy 4:5).