Who does the Ministry in Ephesians 4:12?
Ephesians 4:11-12 is an important text for a theology of ministry and the church.
The issue in v. 11 is whether there are four or five offices, since pastors and teachers are both governed by the one article, so are they two distinct offices (pastors and teachers) or one combined office (maybe pastors-who-teach)?
Then, in v. 12, are the three prepositional phrases in v. 12 co-ordinate (see Lincoln in WBC) or else is the second phrase subordinate to the first (O’Brien, Martin, Best, etc.)? Concerning v. 12, let me break it down for you.
1. Co-ordinate view (= Christ gives ministers to do this ministry)
to (pros) perfect the saints,
for (eis) the work of ministry,
for (eis) building up the body of Christ
Translation: “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (KJV)
2. Subordinate view (= Christ gives ministers to equip others to do the ministry)
to (pros) equip the saints for (eis) the work of ministry,
for (eis) building up the body of Christ”
Translation: “for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ (CSB)
Issues:
1. Do you put a comma after saints and treat the three phrases as three coordinate clauses?
Whereas scholars now, almost universally, treat the second phrase as an extension of the first one, i.e., equipping the saints for the work of ministry, Lincoln argues that: “However, the change in preposition cannot bear the weight of such an argument, and there are, in fact, no grammatical or linguistic grounds for making a specific link between the first and second phrases. … In line with this, as we shall see, katartismos, ‘completion,’ has a meaning which does not require supplementing by a further phrase, and diakonia, ‘service,’ is more likely to refer to the ministry of the ministers just named. What is more, stringing together a number of prepositional phrases, all dependent on the main verb and coordinate with each other, is a characteristic feature of this writer’s style. Three such phrases are found in 1:3; 1:20, 21:2:7 and, significantly, in the following verse here, 4:13 and 4:14, as well as four in 6:12 and five in 1:5, 6. It is certainly preferable, therefore, to see the three prepositional phrases here as each dependent on the notion of the giving of ministers, and hard to avoid the suspicion that opting for the other view is too often motivated by a zeal to avoid clericalism and to support a ‘democratic’ model of the Church” (Lincoln, Ephesians, 253).
2. Does katartismos means restoration as per “training/equipping” or more like “perfecting.”
BDAG here is disappointing by treating katartismos as “equip, equipping” but the verbal cognate katartizō pertains to: “1. to cause to be in a condition to function well, put in order, restore” and “2. to prepare for a purpose, prepare, make, create, outfit.” I think katartismos is the over-arching concept behind the verbal idea of bringing something to its intended purpose or perfected state, not training or equipping. Better, then, is L&N 75.5 for katartismos and its semantic domain as meaning: “to make someone completely adequate or sufficient for something – ‘to make adequate, to furnish completely, to cause to be fully qualified, adequacy.” In Eph 4:12 then katartismos means “fully qualified” though L&N wrongly takes it as pertaining to the work of ministry by the saints.
3. Who does the ministry?
I side with Andrew Lincoln (WBC) since I think grammatically and contextually it makes better sense that the ministry is to be performed by the very apostles, prophets, evangelists and teaching-pastors just named. Pastors must pastor, evangelists should evangelise, prophets should prophesy, etc. When pastors and teachers do their ministry, then the saints are perfected, and the saints attain maturity in Christ. Importantly, this means that ministers are not simply coaches or in-house trainers for others to do ministry; no, they are actually ministers and their ministry matters. I think an all-church participation in ministry is guaranteed by vv. 7, 12, but I don’t think Christ gives evangelists so that other people can do the evangelism, etc.
The problem in the modern church world with this passage, is it has been interpreted for a long time as three functions strung together, *with no context* to the rest of the chapter, especially V14, about other members of the body being necessary to function, as "each part does its work". The emphasis on these leadership gifts being the ones to do "the work of the ministry" has resulted in a picture of the pastor doing the bulk of the ministry in a given church, with a result of burnt out ministers, and lazy saints in the pews! The whole idea of perfecting vesus equipping is, to me, a distinction without a difference. These gifts fulfill perfecting or equipping, a hybrid of those 2 is probably accurate, simply by *being* that gift! A pastor pastors. An evangelist evangelizes. Their names describe function. But a huge part of the result of that is to activate ministry action in the saints. I think that's definitely on Paul's mind as part of these verses, and a 1 to produce 2 and 3 picture is best I think. But even a 3 string picture is not a problem if one treats it in the context of V14 being part of the reason for this section. Too many have tried to use Vs.11-12 to pin ALL *ministry* on the pastor, and the results are not good. I pastored for 38 years with a strong leadership model, yet continually emphasizing the people were being called to, prepared for, and actvated for ministry. The result was my sanity and a growing church! :-)
Then, how should we read Romans 12:6-8? Who is “we” and “us” in vv. 5 and 6 respectively? Who does the things mentioned in vv. 6-8? Who does the “ministry” in v. 7? Does this passage relate in any way to Ephesians 4:11-12? For what is the body of Christ being “perfected”? Is perfection an end in itself? Don’t we “ministers” perfect the body of Christ for the work of “ministry”? If disciples are charged with the making disciples, don’t evangelists perfect the church for the work of evangelism? For what do teaching-pastors teach—what is the ultimate end?