Foundations of Christian Leadership, Student Workbook, SW07

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F O U N D A T I O N S O F C H R I S T I A N L E A D E R S H I P

A Theological Overview of the Equipping Gifts Described in Ephesians 4.11 (continued)

8. “One of the principal functions—indeed, the primary function–of an apostle (in the special Christian use of the word) was the preaching of the gospel. The apostles, as an order of ministry in the church, were not perpetuated beyond the apostolic age, but the various functions which they discharged did not lapse with their departure, but continued to be performed by others-notably by the evangelists and the pastors and teachers listed here [in Ephesians 4.11] . . . The apostles preached the gospel before they planted churches and gave their converts further teaching; they were in effect evangelists (as well as pastors and teachers) though they are not specifically called so” (F. F. Bruce, “Epistle to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians,” The New International Commentary on the New Testament , Vol. 10., Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984, pp. 346-347). 9. “The word apostle means one who is sent , and is used for others in addition to the original twelve. Today, he is the missionary to new areas” (Avery Willis, Jr. Biblical Basis of Missions , Baptist Doctrine Series, Nashville: Convention Press, 1979, p. 108). 10. “In light of [Ephesians] 2.20 and 3.5 and the fact that Paul himself functioned as both apostle and prophet, the first three designations [apostles, prophets and evangelists] refer primarily though in the case of prophets and evangelists not exclusively, to itinerant ministries among the early churches. Itinerant workers founded churches by evangelizing and built them up through prophetic utterances. There can be little question that this is the understanding of the term “apostle” in Paul’s letters” (Gordon D. Fee, God’s Empowering Presence , Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994, p. 707). The idea that the broad sense of apostleship used in the Pauline letters and the modern term missionary are functionally equivalent has widespread support in current biblical and theological scholarship and this understanding is commonly (although not universally) found both in the Reformed and the Arminian sectors of evangelical theology. 5 In this wide sense the apostolic gifting is strongly associated with those called to a ministry of itinerant church-planting mission.

5 Likewise, Roman Catholicism which promotes an active office of apostle in a way that Protestants do not (i.e. the bishops of the church are successors of the Apostles narrowly defined and exercise their office authoritatively through a direct line nevertheless, also retain a distinction between the narrow and wide sense of the term “apostle.” Thus, the Catholic Church can teach the existence of a wider kind of apostolic ministry in the broad sense of missionary and ministry outreach saying, “Indeed, we call an apostolate ‘every activity of the Mystical Body’ that aims ‘to spread the Kingdom of Christ over all the earth’” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Liguori, MO: Liguori Publications, 1994, p. 229). of apostolic succession),

C. Summary