Church Organization – Gifted Leaders (Part Two)

Ephesians 4 does not mention all the leaders given to the Church, but most of them:

¹¹ So Christ himself gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13)

We’ve looked at apostles, now we look at…

Prophets

Prophets were also gifted leaders given to Israel, Moses being the premier prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15). Prophets announced Yahweh’s judgment, foretold Israel’s history, corrected immoral and doctrinal error, did miracles, all under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. Are the prophets of the New Testament era the same?

Paul, in describing the Corinthian Lord’s day gathering, describes it this way,

²⁴ But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, ²⁵ as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!” ²⁶ What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up….²⁹ Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. ³⁰ And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. ³¹ For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. (1 Corinthians 14:24-26,29-31)

The receiving of a revelation, the baring of the hearts of sinners, instructing and encouraging, all seem like the work of Old Testament prophets. We also see prophets predicting the future in Acts 11:28 and 21:10,11. Women were prophets (Acts 21:9). Judas and Silas are mentioned as prophets (Acts 15:32). Paul lists prophets as second in importance to the apostles (1 Corinthians 12:28) and says they, with the apostles, form the foundation of the Church, with Christ as the cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20). The spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets, that is, they can help when and what they say (1 Corinthians 14:32) and their utterances must be evaluated to see if they are from the Lord (1 Corinthians 14:37; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22).

Evangelists

Not much is said in the New Testament about these gifted leaders. Timothy is told to do the work of an evangelist (2 Timothy 4:5), which we may suppose to mean declaring the gospel to unbelievers and, perhaps, to believers also. Evangelists may also be peripatetic, traveling to multiple locations to preach the gospel. They might have been missionaries in our lingo, reaching those places where the gospel has not been preached (Romans 15:20).