Ephesians 4:11 He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; NHEB
In Ephesians 2:20, Paul’s description of the church as being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets (with Jesus as the cornerstone) was referring to the Old Testament prophets and the capital “A” apostles associated with Jesus. Their specific and unique roles ended with the death of the last Apostle however there is a way that these two functions operate today. First is through lower case “a” apostles who are people sent as messengers or ambassadors of the Gospel by the church. Examples of this can be seen in Philippians 2:25 and 2Corinthians 8:23 although the majority of translations use “messenger” rather than “apostle” to better clarify what is meant.
The role of modern day prophets is to strengthen, encourage, edify and comfort. Dr. Martin Luther King, for example, has been called a prophet because he took Biblical truth and applied it to the world in which he lived.
1Thessalonians 5:19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt, 21 but test all things; hold firmly that which is good. NHEB
Paul is laying down three principles here. Of particular interest to us is to not treat prophecies with contempt but we should also test everything, i.e., to be discerning. Discernment can come about rationally or it can just be a gut feeling. On the rational side, if someone makes a statement that you know is wrong and you then show the statement as being contrary to Scripture. Other times you can’t put your finger on what is wrong but the Holy Spirit just thumps you on the head and says “don’t do it”.
The next three gifts are pretty straightforward. We are all witnesses but within us are some people with the gift of evangelism like Billy Graham. When asked late in life if he had any regrets, Reverend Graham replied that he regretted not going to seminary. One has to wonder about this since his compadre in the early days left the Youth for Christ ministry to enter the seminary and ended up losing his faith. (See: https://credohouse.org/blog/billy-graham-and-charles-templeton-the-sad-tale-of-two-evangelists).
Some will group pastors and teachers together although the Greek word translated here as pastor means “shepherd” (and is translated that way in several versions of the New Testament). This likely comes about because so many ministers are taught to be generalists in order to fulfill multiple roles within their churches. Conversely, there are some who will point instead to the elders of a church as being the shepherds rather than the minister.
Ephesians 4:12 toward the perfecting of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, BLB
Ephesians 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: KJ
Verse 12 tells us why these gifts in verse 11 are given. Regardless of your translation of choice, there is no punctuation in Greek so things such as the placement of commas are done at the discretion of the person translating the text. Note the difference a comma makes in the King James version versus the Berean Literal Bible version. (Just in case it hasn’t been stressed enough in the past, a lower case “s” saint is anyone who has been set apart by God and is being sanctified. In other words, a Christian).
There was a time when ministry was set aside for the professionals with the rest of us getting the benefit of their knowledge and abilities. This approach would be justified by the comma in verse 12. A different approach to ministry is taken when the comma is not there.
The word translated as “perfecting” is a little unusual in that this is the only place in the Bible where that particular Greek word is used. Strong’s (2677) defines the word as “a preparing, an equipping”. In use, they describe the word as “bringing to a condition of fitness, perfecting”.
So perfecting (equipping or to equip in many translations) means to prepare us so that we are complete and are able do what we are intended to do. To borrow from the U.S. Army, “To Be All That We Can Be”. For example, many (perhaps most) of us have a favorite coffee cup we use every morning. Our favored cup does what it is supposed to do as it holds the right amount of coffee, it doesn’t leak and it keeps the coffee warm. (Of course, each of our favorite coffee cups are different yet taken as a whole, they are all properly equipped for their intended purpose). Although it is a different Greek word, the same concept can be seen in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus tells us to be perfect.
Note that it is the saints who do the work and not just the people with these gifts of apostleship, prophecy, evangelism, pastoring and teaching. These five offices give the us what we need to be ministers in the world.