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MINISTRY GIFTS Theme: “God is continuing to set apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers as ministry gifts to the Body today.” Jesus has given gifts to men that are actually men themselves (anywhere you see “men” here, you can read it “men and women”). He has called men to different ministries. It is possible for a person to stand in more than one ministry office (Jesus stood in all five), and it is possible to have God move you from one ministry office to another. We don’t explain the offices here to try to put people into pigeonholes; we just want to explain what these different functions are. Most churches only recognize the office of pastor (he’s that guy behind the pulpit on Sunday morning) and evangelist (assumed to be any minister who doesn’t pastor a church). But the ministry gifts are more varied than that. Ministers are not a special priest class; that was the Old Covenant setup. Under the New Covenant, ALL believers are priests (1 Peter 2:9, Revelation 1:6, Revelation 5:10). No one stands between you and God or has a higher position before God than you have! New Testament ministers are supposed to be servants; the very word minister means one who serves! You should also know that God does not call the “cream of the crop” to be ministers. A ministry call is not an honor you get after a while because you are a better-than-average Christian! It is solely based on grace! Some men called to the ministry are hopelessly unfaithful to their calling and end up wasting their lives in secular endeavors. Some men who aren’t called to the ministry are as pure and zealous as you could ever hope to see. And everyone will get rewarded based on his faithfulness to the station to which God called him; there are not bigger rewards for ministers, only bigger responsibilities. A faithful minister will get a reward, of course, but so will all the people who supported him financially, without whom he would never have touched the lives he did. God sees things a lot differently from man and his “superstar” mentality. You cannot decide whether you are called, call yourself or decide which office you will stand in if you are called. That is solely up to the Lord. “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers” (Ephesians 4:11) “And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.” (1 Corinthians 12:28) “Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead)” (Galatians 1:1) “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God” (2 Corinthians 1:1, Ephesians 1:1, Colossians 1:1, 2 Timothy 1:1) “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope” (1 Timothy 1:1). In Acts 13:2, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” He called them; they did not call themselves. If God did not call you to the ministry, man’s ordination means nothing. If you are called of God, God will use you whether man ordains you or not! Rosie and I are ordained and it’s nice to have the recognition from man, but I had been preaching for over twenty years before I actually got ordained! It made no difference in terms of the anointing on me in services; ALL it amounted to was a recognition that someone else agrees that I should be doing what I’m doing. The New Testament did not have formal “ordination” as we would, but there was a “laying on of hands” to install people into leadership positions. If you’re really called of God, you won’t have too much trouble convincing people that His call is on your life because the anointing on your ministry will make that obvious. You shouldn’t have to advertise which office you’re anointed to stand in, either – if you have to tell someone, you probably aren’t called to that office! You don’t have to struggle to figure out which office you’ll be in before you start preaching, since the Great Commission gives you the green light to preach anyway! Let God lead you into your place. You may be very surprised where you end up! For years, I was sure two things I would never do were pastor a church and travel overseas. I was sure I’d hate both of those and wouldn’t have what it takes! Besides, I had been a teacher for years. But now I love both these other things! A Bible example of people being moved from one ministry office to another is Paul and Barnabas; they were among the “prophets and teachers” in Acts 13:1, yet they were separated to do the work of apostles. Some have taught that the offices of apostle and prophet (and sometimes teacher) have been done away with, but that can’t be true because all these ministry gifts were given “till we call come to the unity of the faith and to a knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). Since we’re not there yet, and we’ll always have new believers who aren’t there yet, we need all five of these ministry offices today. In particular, some have the impression that apostles have been done away with. They read in Revelation 21:14 about the twelve apostles of the Lamb, but forget that there were other apostles (“sent ones”) in the Bible, most notably Paul, who was not one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Paul notes that Andronicus and Junia were of note among the apostles, and they were not apostles of the Lamb, either. No one can become one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb – those positions are filled! – but others can still be called as apostles. Let’s take a look at the “job descriptions” associated with these offices: The Apostle The apostle is a “sent one”, called of God to pioneer some kind of work, generally including the planting of one or more new churches. Many who we call “missionaries” who go overseas to establish and head up works (at least for a season) could be considered apostles. One apostle may be involved in planting dozens or even hundreds of churches; I’ve had the pleasure of meeting such people. They love taking the gospel where people have not heard of Jesus before (Romans 15:20). They can be assigned a specific sphere of influence; Paul was called as an apostle to the Gentiles (non-Jews) while Peter was called as an apostle to the Jews. A real apostle will have signs, wonders and mighty deeds follow his ministry to convince the unbelievers that Jesus really rose from the dead and is Lord today. “Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.” (2 Corinthians 12:12) “Many wonders and signs were done through the apostles” (Acts 2:43). “With great power the apostles gave their testimony” (Acts 4:33). “And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people” (Acts 5:12). In Bible times, there were false apostles, and there are today, too! One way, but not the only way, to distinguish them is to see if they have the signs, wonders and mighty deeds following them. In practice, it is common for an apostle to do the works associated with the other ministry gifts under God’s anointing. A small work may not have the means to bring in prophets, teachers and evangelists, so the apostle (who functions as the new church’s pastor) will flow in these other “specialties” for a season while the work is built up. However, we all need each other, and no church should function long-term just having one person preaching every single service with no guest speakers. The Pastor The word for “pastor” can also be translated “shepherd”. There is only one Great Shepherd, Jesus, but there are “undershepherds” of local congregations. The pastor is to care for the sheep! Like the apostle, the pastor must be called of God to his office. Paul said told people who appeared to be pastors in Acts 20:28 that the Holy Spirit had made them overseers. The pastor needs to feed the sheep the Word. “Feed my lambs” (John 21:15). He is to lead by example, not to be a dictator over them: “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain by eagerly; not as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.” (1 Peter 5:2-4) All sheep need a pastor. For that matter, the pastor needs a pastor, too! It is unscriptural not to be in a local church with a local pastor if there is one around! You cannot grow as a believer by staying home and watching Christian television. You may learn a lot, but you learn the love walk in the local church. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up (1 Corinthians 8:1). You can’t possibly serve other people (and possibly ones you don’t like or think they’re so lovely) at home in front of your TV set. You need to be around other believers, some of whom you might find irritating! And they might find you irritating! That’s where you really learn where-the-rubber-meets-the-road walking in love. Also, the TV pastor isn’t going to come visit you in the hospital or come pray with you if there is a sudden crisis in your life. An apostle would be assumed to be one who would plant a church, but the pastor of a church does not need to be its founder. An apostle who starts multiple churches usually can’t pastor them all, so he will need to have God raise up pastors for the congregations. In the early days of the church, elders would be set up over a church while it got going. Later, it appears that people like Timothy and Titus were raised up to pastor churches, rather than have them be run by the elders. Some churches are more board-run than pastor-run, and ALL churches at least on a legal basis are board-run even if the pastor seems to call all the shots. (Otherwise, you won’t get IRS blessing to be tax-deductible.) But a church where the board keeps voting the pastor(s) in and out is likely to be unstable and stay small, or at least not be much fun to attend. You need a divine call to walk in any ministry office. You don’t start pastoring a church just because (1) you see a need in the area for one, (2) you got upset with another church, so you caused a church split and took some people with you or (3) people talked you into doing it when you wouldn’t have done it anyway. If there is a need and you’re NOT called to be a pastor, pray and believe that God will raise some someone who IS called. We don’t see “pastor” listed after apostles, prophets and teachers in 1 Corinthians 12:28, but we do see “administrations” (or “governments”), which I believe can refer to the pastor’s office. The pastor also must guard the sheep from wolves. Paul instructed Titus to reject divisive people after two warnings. Jesus had a few things against churches that permitted bad doctrine to circulate (Revelation 2:14-15) and permitted immorality to run rampant (Revelation 2:20). Paul had this to say to those who would be overseers: “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch…” (Acts 20:28-31) So one popular way to put it is that the Pastor’s job is to guide, guard and govern. The Evangelist The only person explicitly called an evangelist was Philip. He preached Jesus and had signs and wonders following his ministry. (See Acts 8:5-8.) While any believer should expect signs and wonders to follow him, Philip had a notable ministry in that area in Samaria when he preached there. We sometimes refer to people as evangelists who fit the description of preaching Jesus publicly to multitudes, but a New Testament evangelist should also have signs and wonders accompany him. Thank God, people can be won to Jesus in rallies where there are no signs and wonders just because they hear the Word and faith comes, but God’s design is for there to be supernatural advertising of the good news. It is not the evangelist’s job to do all the soulwinning; all believers are called to follow the Great Commission. But the evangelist’s anointing, in particular for the “power gifts”, will cause things to happen that will attract the attention of sinners. Signs and wonders don’t save anyone, but they get the attention of sinners so that they will listen to the good news and be saved. Timothy was not an evangelist, but Paul urged him to do the work of an evangelist. A church planter would usually have to do this to get the church going. We don’t see “evangelist” listed after apostles, prophets and teachers in 1 Corinthians 12:28, but we do see “miracles” and “gifts of healings”, both of which I believe would refer to the evangelist’s office. The Teacher All leaders are to be able to teach, but some have a special anointing to impart truth to the Body. This doesn’t mean that they have a “special revelation” that no one else has; in fact I am leery of anyone who thinks he is the only one around with some new, unique insight. I know of one teacher who published his “special revelation” far and wide and had to recant it later because it wasn’t really Biblical! I listened to another moderately-known preacher who shared his hot new cutting-edge insight into something that was totally ludicrous, but I don’t know that he ever repented! All he did was waste a perfectly good service at a convention. The teacher is not marked by teaching what no one else would teach, but rather by the effectiveness of his teaching of Bible truths. There’s isn’t anything beyond the Bible you need to know to be successful spiritually because the Word is able to make you thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Beware of fads! There seems to be plenty of “fad teaching” going around. Paul warned that in the last days, people would heap up teachers who would teach what their itching ears wanted to hear rather than sound doctrine (2 Timothy 4:3-4). A good rule of thumb is that a good teacher will make a big deal of what the Bible makes a big deal about (like walking in love) and not make a big deal out of things the Bible doesn’t say much about. Otherwise, he can end up like the teachers in 2 Peter 3:18, who take “hard to understand” things and twist them to their own destruction. When you sit under the ministry of a Holy Spirit-anointed teacher, there is a refreshing and usually a lot of “Aha! Now I get it!” going on. Some people equate teaching with college classes and college classes with intense boredom, but there’s nothing boring when a really anointed teacher is speaking. We know that there were teachers in the early days of the church (Acts 13:1). A man named Apollos (Acts 18:24-28) seemed especially gifted to teach, as was Paul, of course (2 Timothy 1:11). God warns teachers that they will be held to a higher standard (James 3:1); God hates hypocrisy. It would better not to teach something than to teach it and live the opposite way! The Prophet Prophesying in a service does not make you are a prophet, and you don’t have to be a prophet to prophesy in a service. “Prophet” is a ministry office that some people are set apart to. No one-week school can make you a prophet other than a one-week school can make you an apostle or a pastor. There’s a lot of fanaticism out there regarding prophets where laypeople are being led to believe that they are suddenly “prophets”. Perhaps someone can give you some pointers about prophesying in a service that would be helpful, but that is completely different from being a prophet. We see proof that prophesying in a service and being a prophet are two different things below: 1 Corinthians 14:29-31: This looks on the surface like Paul and the Bible are contradicting themselves. How many can prophesy, just two or three, or everyone one by one? Look more carefully at the verses. Two or three prophets should speak in a service, but all can prophesy one by one. There is your proof that there is a difference between being a prophet and prophesying! Someone called to the office of prophet would flow in that manifestation more than most people, and it seems that there would be some revelation (see the “revelation gifts” in the prior lesson) associated with their prophecies, because the passage above says the first should stop if something is revealed to another (prophet) who sits by. The New Testament prophet does not have the kind of authority that an Old Testament prophet did. In the Old Testament, you had to obey and honor them or you could get mauled by a bear or struck by fire from heaven. There is no such thing as an “obey him or else” prophet in the New Testament other than Jesus Himself, who is referred to as the prophet of whom Moses spoke, that anyone who would not listen to Him would be cut off from the people. John the apostle was a special New Testament prophet; the entire book of Revelation (which he wrote) is basically a prophecy and is part of God’s Word for al believers to read. There are no prophets today authorized to write additional Scripture. Those who have come along and claimed to have written additional “Scripture” or “another testament of Jesus Christ” are fakes and frauds. To some degree, we could call all those who were used in writing Scripture prophets. We could also call them “foundational” prophets; Ephesians 2:20 talks about the church being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. We do not have “foundational” apostles and prophets today, obviously. I see Ephesians 2:20 as referring to the teaching of the apostles and prophets, since the Church today is built on their teaching. I would not say, however, that the modern church is built on the foundation of people who are currently apostles and prophets; I wouldn’t wish that kind of load on anyone! Besides, the Bible says that, at least as far as people go, there is only one person who can be a foundation you can build a church on: “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). Agabus was a New Testament prophet. He told that a famine was coming so that the church could prepare for it (Acts 11:28) and told Paul that he would be bound at Jerusalem (Acts 21:10-11). Note that in neither case did he order or even suggest any course of action over another; his words were not to guide but to inform. He wasn’t telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem; he was just warning him about something that would happen there so that Paul wouldn’t freak out and think he missed God by going there when these things happened. Agabus wasn’t the only one; he was one of several who came down to Antioch in Acts 11:27 and there were several prophets in Antioch in Acts 13:1. Another Anointed Ministry Positions 1 Corinthians 12:28 talks about “miracles” and “gifts of healings”, which would seem to flow in the evangelist’s office. There do seem to be some evangelists with special anointings for miracles and gifts of healings. Then there are “helps”. That would include any ministry that helps the other ministries flow. I would include positions often referred to as intercessor (someone who prays a lot), psalmist (songwriter/singer) and minstrel (instrument player) in this category. These are NOT in the same category as the ministry offices in Ephesians 4:11, and sometimes people who excel at these things get puffed up a bit thinking they are in a “ministry office” like the pastor or apostle. I am not saying that God doesn’t call people to specialize in these things, just as God might anoint someone to be especially good in the church nursery. But we can’t create additional ministry “gifts” like intercessor, psalmist, minstrel or nurseryist just because of that. I would advise you to “chill” when it comes to titles anyway; titles mean nothing when it comes down to it – it’s function that matters. When it comes to intercessors, by the way, we are all called to be priests who intercede for others; it is not a special ministry office for a select few, though some people give themselves more to it and get better at it than others. Then there are “administrations” or “governments” (depending on your translation); I believe the office of the pastor would include that. Then we see “varieties of tongues”, which is interesting, since it seems to indicate that some will have a special ministry along the lines of giving messages (to be interpreted, of course) in tongues. We don’t really see any more about this anywhere else, so I don’t have any more to say about it! Qualifications for Leadership Positions It is a good thing to desire to be a leader (1 Timothy 3:1), and I am interested in training people to become good leaders, not just training them to be good followers. But you have to be a good follower before you can be a good leader. If you aren’t faithful with that which is another’s, who will give you your own? (Luke 16:12) Leaders are told to look for faithful men who can teach others also (2 Timothy 2:2). The key is to be faithful. God will promote a faithful person over an unfaithful person with more talent and training! Here are other specific things God is looking for, and we must look for, in someone who wants to be a leader – I think these can speak for themselves. 1 Timothy 3:1-7: Titus 1:5-9: These qualifications would apply to all the offices in Ephesians 4:11 (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher). There are separate qualifications in 1 Timothy 3:8-12 for servants, or deacons, in the church, and you might be surprised how strict the qualifications are! We don’t see much detail about what a deacon does, but it seems this would be a position of oversight over an area of service, like what we might call a department head. The Bible doesn’t really explain the deacon’s role explicitly. Question 21-1: Can women preach or hold ministry offices? Yes! Some might argue that a woman can’t meet the qualification of being the husband of one wife, but if we take that in the strictest sense, no widowed or single person could ever serve, either, which can’t be the case because Jesus walked in all five offices and He was not the husband of one wife. I believe the “husband of one wife” phrase prohibits polygamy but doesn’t restrict ministry to married men. God can and has used women in ministry – for example, Anna was a prophetess (Luke 2:36), Miriam was a prophetess (Exodus 15:20), Deborah was a judge over Israel and also a prophetess (Judges 4:4), Huldah was a prophetess (2 Kings 22:14), and another prophetess is mentioned in Isaiah 8:3. Priscilla helped teach Apollos (Acts 18:26). It is possible that Nymphas in Colossians 4:15, who hosted a church at home, was actually Nympha, since one manuscript actually reads, “Nympha, and the church which is at her house.” (We can’t be sure on that one, since other manuscripts say Nymphas and his.) Also, Paul specifically commended Pheobe to the Romans and told them to help her with anything she needed (Romans 16:1-2); He commended Priscilla as his helper in Christ Jesus (Romans 16:3), spoke of the labor Mary bestowed on him (Romans 16:4), saluted other women laborers who “labored in the Lord” named Tryphena, Tryphosa and Persis (Romans 16:12). He greeted Julia (Romans 16:15) by name; we don’t know what she did. In Philippians 4:2-3, he urged women named Euodia and Synthyche to be of the same mind in the Lord and referred to them as women who had labored with him. The one fact we know about Phillip the evangelist’s four daughters is that they “did prophesy” (Acts 21:9), which would likely indicate that they were prophetesses, though that one verse isn’t absolute proof, since you can prophesy without being a prophet. Also, since “preach” means “proclaim”, consider who first told the very “apostles of the Lamb” about the resurrection of Jesus – they found out from a woman! Two women named Mary were sent to tell the disciples about the resurrection (Matthew 28:1-7), and we see that Joanna and other women who were with them also went to tell the apostles about the resurrection! A woman in Samaria incited the men in her city to go to Jesus (John 4:28-30). Since Joel prophesied, and Peter affirmed, that our “sons and daughters” would prophesy (Acts 2:17), it is obvious that the Holy Spirit wants to use women. (By the way, I’ve heard it taught that the great “company” that proclaimed the Word in Psalm 68:11 was female, but I always check these things out for myself, and I don’t see anything in the text or the Hebrew word for “company” to indicate that, so I would not use that as an argument.) There are two main “Bible-based” objections to women preachers that keep coming up, so we need to discuss them. The first is the assertion in 1 Corinthians 14:34 that women are to be silent in the churches. This can’t possibly mean that they can’t ever open their mouths, because your “daughters” aren’t going to prophesy with their mouths shut! The context is that the women had questions that they asked their husbands about while the service was going on, and it was disruptive. The WEB Bible clarifies verse 35, usually rendered “it is shameful for women to speak in church” as “it is shameful for a woman to chatter in the assembly”, which gives Paul’s obvious intent and avoids confusion. You can see the context from the command that if they want to learn something, they should ask their husbands at home (1 Corinthians 14:35). This clearly shows that the issue was not whether a woman could be the one teaching, but the behavior of women sitting in the congregation who were talking when they shouldn’t have been. The second is 1 Timothy 2:11-12, “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.” The first part seems to cover what we already discussed; if the woman is doing the learning (as opposed to the teaching), she should be quiet instead of disruptive. The kicker here seems to be verse 12, when the woman is not permitted to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. But this all goes together; the woman who is learning (sitting in the congregation at church) should not try to teach a man or boss a man around. Again, verse 11 says she should learn in silence, and verse 12 tells her to be in silence. Her being in silence is talking about the same thing, which is when she is learning; it can’t mean that she must always be in silence in church. Let’s consider the implications if this verse were to really mean that a woman must be in silence all the time in church. If she must be silent the whole time, under any circumstances, then she can’t sing and praise and worship with us, and we have to kick all the worshipettes off the worship team. But women have breath, and everything that has breath is commanded to praise the Lord (Psalm 150:6)! So women certainly don’t have to be silent during praise and worship! Also, if she must be silent the whole time, she can’t pray, either. But women prayed with men present in a gathering in Acts! Acts 1:13-14 says plainly, “And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying. Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.” Furthermore, they were all (this would include the women) in one accord in one place one day (Acts 2:1) and they were all (this would include the women) filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues (Acts 2:4). And what were these women doing speaking in tongues? Preaching! People from around the world heard the people speaking about the wonderful works of God in their own languages. So the Holy Spirit used Mary and the women to preach in other languages! Is it then unreasonable to assume that He would use women to preach in their own language? You can’t prophesy silently, the instructions to Timothy can’t be a ban on women addressing the assembly on behalf of the Lord! Paul said that all can learn when we all prophesy one by one, meaning that people are learning something when women prophesy! So at least in that regard, they must be authorized to teach. What about in private? Priscilla taught Apollos in Acts 18:26 and there’s no record of her being rebuked for that, this can’t be a blanket assertion that a woman can never teach a man anything either. Besides, we know it can’t be wrong for a woman to teach in general because Titus exhorts the older women to be teachers of good things, teaching the younger women certain things (Titus 2:3-4). If it’s wrong for a woman to teach a mixed crowd, it’s a sin for a woman to teach Sunday school with boys there! If she has to be in silence and not teach young men in Sunday school, I guess she would be restricted to teaching young girls through mime routines. (If you have to fire all the women, that will probably empty out your Sunday school teaching staff in a hurry!) So the question for most of us is whether this passage forbids a woman to be in a position to be in front of both grown men and women teaching the Bible, since few people have any problem with ladies teaching children’s church. Now let’s consider the authority issue. Since Deborah was a judge of Israel, meaning that she had authority over men, we can’t say that God would never raise up a woman to a position of authority over men! Also, Paul told the Romans to help Phoebe with any business she had; if she said she needed something, the Romans were supposed to help her. Paul named women among gospel workers, so it is clear that women can have positions of authority. The issue is not one of having authority as much as usurping it. “Wait just a minute,” someone will object, “you can’t rewrite the Bible, and the Bible says that a woman is forbidden to have authority over a man, not that she is forbidden to usurp it.” Now I do respect anyone who would at least use the Bible to argue any points. But before raising an objection like that, you should check your Greek concordance and find out the exact words used in the original language. You’re in for a surprise! The word authority in that verse where it forbids a woman to have authority over a man is Strong’s Greek word #831, and it means – are you ready for this? – “to act of oneself, dominate, usurp authority over.” None of these definitions precludes pulpit ministry or a leadership position for a woman. A woman can teach from the pulpit or lead a ministry without “acting of herself”, i.e., being self-willed. A woman can teach from the pulpit or lead a ministry without “dominating” the men she is teaching. You can be in leadership without being a dictator! A woman can teach from the pulpit or lead a ministry without usurping authority over anyone. A woman is out of line if she challenges the pastor’s authority openly and tries to get her own following in another man’s church. But if the pastor allows her to teach or have a leadership position, she is not usurping authority; she is simply having and following authority, and that is not what this word is talking about! Question 21-2: Can a divorced (or divorced and remarried person) ever hold a ministry office? Once again, the “husband of one wife” phrase is invoked by some to mean that if you are married to a second wife, you cannot be a minister. I would say the same thing as above – this means you can’t be a polygamist, but doesn’t mean you can’t serve if you are divorced or remarried. As I said above, Jesus was not the husband of one wife and He served in all five ministry offices in Ephesians 4:11. Some have suggested that Paul must have been married at one point to be in Jewish leadership and became single later, but that is speculation. Bans on remarried people in the ministry usually stem from the idea that a remarried person is in sin (adultery) and thus unfit for leadership. But is that person in sin just because he or she is remarried? What about Paul telling people in 1 Corinthians 7:27-28 that if they are loosed from a wife (divorced) and they do marry, they have not sinned? Paul’s instructions for the church age allow remarriage after divorce and declare it not to be sin. People sometimes point to some things Jesus told the Jews when they had questions about the Law of Moses or things Paul said when he was focusing on another topic, but in the passage in question, Paul directly addresses the issue. We would have to go with the verses that explicitly deal with the issue. So if you are divorced from a wife and remarry, you have not sinned. Some translations say “free from a wife”; perhaps they didn’t dare make clear what the word (Strong’s Greek word #3080) really means, which Strong gives as: “a loosing, divorce, to be loosed”, a derivative of word #3089 which means “loosen, break (up), destroy, dissolve, loose, melt, put off”. There is no way this word just means free from a wife because you never had one. Paul is definitely addressing men who have been divorced from a wife! The tragedy is that the Body of Christ has shunned many valuable ministry gifts because they were once divorced or remarried. It has become the “unpardonable sin” in some circles; leading people called to the ministry with the awful conclusion that it would be better to kill your wife, which the church will eventually forgive you for, than to be divorced from her. I’m not teaching that divorce is the will of God because it isn’t. But when it happens, remarriage in the church is not a sin, and thus certainly no reason on its own to bar anyone from the ministry. There is sometimes a guilty party and an innocent party in a divorce, and the church world has largely barred even an innocent party (i.e., the wife took off with another man) from the ministry. If someone caused the divorce and dumped his wife to marry someone else he had his eyes on, you would not want such a man in the ministry, but the issue then would not be remarriage but the person’s heart for other reasons. (This is the end of our “The Basics of Christianity” Bible Study.) [Basics Index][Bible Study Index][Home]
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