Every Believer Can Walk In The 4-Fold Ministry Part 1

Every Believer Can Walk In The 4-Fold Ministry Part 1

One may wonder why I say 4-fold instead of the usual 5-fold ministerial offices that we normally talk about.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭. - Eph 4:11-13

In the Greek, it says "some indeed apostles, some now prophets, some now evangelists, some now 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬." Apparently, 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞. Because a shepherd's responsibility is to tend and care for his flocks, he must also be able to teach (Acts 20:28-29; John 10:7-11; 1 Peter 5:2; 1 Tim 3:1-3). Otherwise, his sheep will not be able to discern between truths and lies, right and wrong doctrines.

We see Jesus' example as a Shepherd who teaches truths.

When He went ashore He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion on them, because they were like 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 them many things. - Mark 6:34

A shepherd, thus, must be able to teach. You can't separate the office into a shepherd (pastor) OR a teacher. It's not either or. It's one.

Eph 4:11-13 says that the purpose of the 4-fold ministerial offices is to equip the Body of Christ (normal believers) to do the work of ministry, eventually reaching 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭.

Christ Himself walked out the 4-fold ministerial offices. He is the Apostle (Heb 3:1). He is the Prophet (Acts 3:22). He is the Evangelist (Matt 9:38). He is the Shepherd and Teacher (John 10:11; John 13:13).

The 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 no longer talks about gifts because he embodies a Person: 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲 (Col 1:27). We will talk about it more in Part 2.

P.S: Apostle Paul taught the Corinthians about gifts and manifestation. But they were immature and carnal believers. They were NOT given solid food. Paul said that he gave them MILK (1 Cor 3:2). Ephesians are the mature ones that we should focus on (Rev 2:2-3).