Ephesians 4:12-14 …for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.

The second major misreading of Ephesians 4 is that the passage itself is mainly concerned with defining special gifts. What we tend to miss when reading the passage is Paul’s drive to speak of Christ and the ascension. While the purpose of 1 Corinthians 12 is focused on teaching what happens when the Holy Spirit is given to the church, and Romans 12 is concerned with how God gifts certain people to function within a community, Ephesians 4 is far more concerned with the nature of Christ and the ramifications of what He has accomplished.

The first thing that can be said about these gifts is that at no place in the history of Christianity has this list been referred to as five-fold ministry. Looking at these gifts as leadership positions is an invention of modern authors. Scripture does not treat them positionally and history does not as well. They are graces given to the body of Christ to affect the equipping of the saints. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

“Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”

Each of us has been dealt a measure of faith and we ought to think of ourselves in terms of that faith that has been afforded to us. That faith has to do with how we all tie in together as members of one body, it specifically has to do with how we function as members of one another. These gifts are not about how the Holy Spirit moves through you and empowers you. These gifts are not as directly tied into the life of love and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (though our giftedness is always tied to that to some degree). They are tied into how you approach who you are.

There arises a curious thing when you begin to study scripture from the lens of what it tells you about the inter-relationship between the members of the Trinity. Some of the great theologians of history have reflected on this extensively.

The life of love was seen as intrinsic to spiritual giftedness. Throughout history, there have been many examples of those that appeared to be gifted, impacted many people, and then later, having fallen away, result hurt many more people than they helped. The wake of destruction left by gifted, yet hard and calloused people has left much devastation.

We have already spoken extensively about the gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12 (word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, different kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues) heretofore in this series. We made the case that what we refer to as spiritual gifts, the bible calls the manifestation of the Spirit. But can we say anything more about the purpose and usefulness of these activities?

There are three fundamental lists of gifts in the New Testament. Ephesians 4, Romans 12, and 1 Corinthians 12. Without understanding the differences between these three lists, we will conflate the various ways the gifts are God are intended to function in church, in our lives, and in the world.

“The treasure of the secret place is that you would be moved by Me and nothing else.”

There is a reason I am so passionate about introducing people to their own hearts. This is because without knowing your heart, you will fail to know your fallibility.

Prophecy can speak to the past, present, or future, and can be limited by the degree of what is revealed.

Furthermore, in 1 Corinthians 14, a fascinating statement is made about the nature of prophecy. Speaking of unbelievers that would be the recipients of a prophetic word, Paul states…

There are numerous examples throughout scripture of the same taking place. The scope of prophetic ministry does not just cover the future and the present, as we have seen it can cover the past as well. Those who walk in some level of prophetic discernment can at times reveal future events, present circumstances, or past actions.

For many, the gift of prophecy implies a certain foretelling of future events. The assumption then is that that the function of prophecy carries a predilection for the future, and, if the aforementioned is true, then the measurement of efficacy is accuracy. This is not so far removed from the scope of prophecy as to be false, but it is a truncation of the gift.

Prophecy from the paradigm of the New Testament is to make known the heart of God for His people, creation, and His church. In the Old Testament it was to point forward to the mystery of God yet to be revealed, in the New Testament it is to make know the heart of God for the world.

As we understand the paradigm shift from gift-based to presence-based, we can begin to put into place some common misunderstandings of prophecy. In a gift based dynamic we will tend to look at the most excellently gifted to understand the function of prophetic ministry. Hence the focus upon Old Testament prophets and their function. But within the scope of prophetic ministry there will few called to speak into national and international situations. The call as a prophet to the nations is the exception and not the rule.

Jesus did all he did because of His communion with the Father. He was the exact representation of the Father in all that he did.

Hebrews 1:3a …being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person…

When we look at how Jesus modeled the movement of the Holy Spirit we find some striking contrasts with our present paradigm. Jesus never once concerned himself with what particular gift he was operating. He simply went about the business of healing, setting free, and prophesying. No one miraculous encounter with Jesus saw less than three manifestations of the Spirit

When it comes to any semblance of understanding God, His plan, or his purpose for your life, we must begin by acknowledging all that we do not know. The place we most often begin when it comes to our attempt to understand how to live, move, and have our being in God (Acts 17:28) tend to be what we know, rather than what we do not know.