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NASB | Ephesians 4:11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ephesians 4:11 And [His gifts to the church were varied and] He Himself appointed some as apostles [special messengers, representatives], some as prophets [who speak a new message from God to the people], some as evangelists [who spread the good news of salvation], and some as pastors and teachers [to shepherd and guide and instruct], |
Bible Question:
Dear RayV.H., Now I know what you meant by, "...everything has been done already..." Every revelation necessary to function as a church is presently available. Fine. I disagree, because obviously the church has not been able to overcome division, dissension and internal strife and prejudice. Bickering over personal opinion is rampant, not only here on this forum, but all over the world, even to the point of war. If we have the information, we are certainly not using it very efficiently, and "...until we all attain 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 which belongs to the fulness of Christ." Ephesians 4:13 NASB, is far off. BUT, HOWEVER, NONTHELESS, my question was a bit more specific. We have a list of 5 gifts, and I have been told by several colleagues (including you, now) that 2 of them are no longer valid in a contemporary sense. (Actually, I've been told a lot more than that! :-) But no one has made mention of the last 3 gifts. If the first two are gone, are the last three as well? Do we no longer have evangelists, pastors and teachers? In Christ Jesus. charis |
Bible Answer: Hi charis, Consider Romans 10:14 - ll:8..."for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.' How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in (Him) whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?" It goes on to say that all of the people didn't heed the good news from the preachers. "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Again, we have all that we need already. We have the word of God. It relates to the "priesthood of all believers" that I grew up with. We all can read the scriptures and apply it to our lives and the Bible will teach itself. Rom.11:8 says that the Jews were given a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day." Rom 11:20 But you "stand by your faith." Stand by the word of God. By the way, I'm not yelling at the start. :-) I think that some time ago someone appeared to be yelling but I think that he was showing the all caps Hebrew and the Jewish significance in his comment. Later, Ray |