Ecclessiology - The Five-Fold Ministries in the Church.

1. Multiple church leadership.

Today there seems to be in many churches a single person leadership which is more Catholic or Episcopal than Biblical. Note theses Scriptures for Multiple Ministries in leadership of a local congregation.

Act_14:23  And having chosen elders for them in every church, and having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Act_15:4  And having come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they declared all that God had done with them.

Act_20:17  Now from Miletus, having sent to Ephesus, he summoned the elders of the church.

Act_21:18  On the next day Paul was going in with us to James, and all the elders were present.

2. James, the Lord’s Brother seems to be the Presiding Elder at Jerusalem.

Referring to the Book of James the Bible Illustrator says, “The first special claim of the Epistle is, then, that it presents us with the earliest view of the truth as it is in Jesus which obtained in the Christian Church; and the second is, that it was written by that “brother of the Lord” who was the first bishop, i.e., the first chief pastor, of the first Christian Church, viz., the Church of Jerusalem. And this “James the brother of the Lord” had much, not of the mind only, but of the very manner of the Lord.” He was not one of Twelve but he was the leader of the Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem.

Tit_1:5  For this reason I left you behind in Crete, so that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and you should appoint elders in every city as I commanded you:

The decision-making body in the Early church was much more inclusive than we have today.

3. The Five-fold Ministries of the Epistle to the Ephesians.

Eph 4:11  And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,

Eph 4:12  for the perfecting of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ,

Eph 4:13  until we all arrive to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

Eph 4:14  that we may no longer be infants, being tossed as by waves, and being carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in regard to deceitful scheming,

Eph 4:15  but speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ;

4. Ephesians 4 11-15 Notes
1. These Ministries are Gifts from Christ to the Church

He gave

He is emphatic.It is Uniquely and Only He It is He that gave. Compare given in Eph_4:7.

Eph 4:7  But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.

5 . some as apostles.     apostolos Thayer Definition:

1) a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders

1a) specifically applied to the twelve apostles of Christ

1b) in a broader sense applied to other eminent Christian teachers 1b1) of Barnabas

1b2) of Timothy and Silvanus

Mat 10:1  And when He had called to Him His twelve disciples, He gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.

Mat 10:2  And the names of the twelve apostles are these: First, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee and John his brother;

Mat 10:3  Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector; James the son of Alpheus, and Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus;

Mat 10:4  Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

Mat 10:5  Jesus sent out these twelve, commanding them, saying, Do not go into the way of the nations, and do not enter into any city of the Samaritans.

Mat 10:6  But rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Mat 10:7  And as you go, proclaim, saying, The kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

Mat 10:8  Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. You have received freely, freely give.

Notes: On the Twelve

Apostles - This is the first place where the word is used. ΑποϚολος, an apostle, comes from αποϚελλω, I send a message. The word was anciently used to signify a person commissioned by a king to negotiate any affair between him and any other power or people. Hence αποϚολοι and κηρυκες, apostles and heralds, are of the same import in Herodotus. See the remarks at the end of chap. 3.

It is worthy of notice, that those who were Christ’s apostles were first his disciples; to intimate, that men must be first taught of God, before they be sent of God. Jesus Christ never made an apostle of any man who was not first his scholar or disciple. These twelve apostles were chosen.

1. That they might be with our Lord, to see and witness his miracles, and hear his doctrine.

2. That they might bear testimony of the former, and preach his truth to mankind.

Jesus and the twelve Apostles.

Act 1:2  until the day He was taken up, having given directions to the apostles whom He chose, through the Holy Spirit;

The commandments of the Lord Jesus therefore were, to direct their minds to the expectation of the Lord the Spirit, in his coming. Some more visible, more open display of His Almighty presence and power, they were taught to look for. And not a foot were they to go out of Jerusalem, until this had been accomplished, Luk_24:49. I would pray the Reader, therefore, to open this Chapter with the expectation of these momentous things. I would entreat him to be on the lookout, at every step he takes. The subject connected with the ministry of God the Holy Ghost, in his Person, Godhead, and Covenant offices, can never be too thoroughly understood, neither too closely regarded May the Lord the Spirit be our Teacher! (Hawker).

Act 2:43  And fear came on every soul. And many wonders and miracles took place through the apostles.

God owned them, and gave them signal tokens of his presence with them (Act_2:43): Many wonders and signs were done by the apostles of divers sorts, which confirmed their doctrine, and incontestably proved that it was from God. Those that could work miracles could have maintained themselves and the poor that were among them miraculously, as Christ fed thousands with a little food; but it was as much for the glory of God that it should be done by a miracle of grace (inclining people to sell their estates, to do it) as if it had been done by a miracle in nature.

But the Lord's giving them power to work miracles was not all he did for them; he added to the church daily. The word in their mouths did wonders, and God blessed their endeavours for the increase of the number of believers. Note, It is God's work to add souls to the church; and it is a great comfort both to ministers and Christians to see it.

6..The Apostle Paul

ISBE says “. Paul

The very fact that the name “apostle” means what it does would point to the impossibility of confining it within the limits of the Twelve. (The “twelve apostles” of Rev_21:14 is evidently symbolic; compare in Rev_7:3 the restriction of God's sealed servants to the twelve tribes.) Yet there might be a tendency at first to do so, and to restrict it as a badge of honor and privilege peculiar to that inner circle (compare Act_1:25).

If any such tendency existed, Paul effectually broke it down by vindicating for himself the right to the name. His claim appears in his assumption of the apostolic title in the opening words of most of his Epistles. And when his right to it was challenged, he defended that right with passion, and especially on these grounds: that he had seen Jesus, and so was qualified to bear witness to His resurrection (1Co_9:1; compare Act_22:6); that he had received a call to the work of an apostle (Rom_1:1; 1Co_1:1, etc.; Gal_2:7; compare Act_13:2; Act_22:21); but, above all, that he could point to the signs and seals of his apostleship furnished by his missionary labors and their fruits (1Co_9:2; 2Co_12:12; Gal_2:8). It was by this last ground of appeal that Paul convinced the original apostles of the justice of his claim. He had not been a disciple of Jesus in the days of His flesh; his claim to have seen the risen Lord and from Him to have received a personal commission was not one that could be proved to others; but there could be no possibility of doubt as to the seals of his apostleship. It was abundantly clear that “he that wrought for Peter unto the apostleship of the circumcision wrought for (Paul) also unto the Gentiles” (Gal_2:8).

So we see that an Apostle is a sent One, an envoy or Missionary sent with a commission to carry out the Orders of the King.

7. Christ Jesus as the Apostle and High Priest of our Confession

Heb 3:1  Therefore, holy brothers, called to be partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus,

Consider - Attentively ponder all that is said of the Messiah. Think of his rank; his dignity; his holiness; his sufferings; his death; his resurrection, ascension, intercession. Think of him that you may see the claims to a holy life; that you may learn to bear trials; that you may be kept from apostasy.

The character and work of the Son of God are worthy of the profound and prayerful consideration of every man; and especially every Christian should reflect much on him. Of the friend that we love we think much; but what friend have we like the Lord Jesus?

The apostle - The word “apostle” is nowhere else applied to the Lord Jesus. The word means one who “is sent” - and in this sense it might be applied to the Redeemer as one “sent” by God, or as by way of eminence the one sent by him. But the connection seems to demand that; there should be some allusion here to one who sustained a similar rank among the Jews; and it is probable that the allusion is to Moses, as having been the great apostle of God to the Jewish people,

and that Paul here means to say, that the Lord Jesus, under the new dispensation, filled the place of Moses and of the high priest under the old, and that the office of “apostle” and “high priest,” instead of being now separated, as it was between Moses and Aaron under the old dispensation, was now blended in the Messiah. The name “apostle” is not indeed given to Moses directly in the Old Testament…………………………………...

The object of Paul is to show that the Lord Jesus in the Christian system - as the great apostle sent from God - sustained a rank and office similar to this, but superior in dignity and authority. Barnes Notes