Ministries & Manifestations, Part 1

"Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.

And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God that worketh all in all.

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." (1 Cor. 12:4-7)

Diversities (Greek diairesis: distribution, division);
gifts (Greek charisma: divine grace, favour with which one receives without any merit of his own);
administrations (Greek diakonia: service, ministering);
operations (Greek energema: thing wrought, working );
worketh (Greek energeo: put forth power, to aid one or enable one);
manifestation ( Greek phanerosis: manifestation, synonymous with unveiling or laying bare, in this case, "seeing" that which is of God);
given (Greek didomi: given, furnished, bestowed upon);
profit withal (Greek symphero: to bear or bring together).

In other words:

The graces (gifts) which we have received by the Holy Spirit through no merit of our own have been distributed or divided up amongst the members of the church.

These gifts are administered to the body through various ministries or services for the purpose of serving our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Head of the body that we serve.

These operations or "workings" of these ministries (the results or "things wrought" from the gifts being administered through the ministries) come not from the power of man but from the power of God, and taking various forms, are the unveiling or revealing of God to man and are furnished to every man (or woman) in Christ in order to bring the members of the body of Christ together in unity.

Apostles [Greek apostolos: messenger, delegate, one sent forth with orders] Paul refers to himself, Timothy and Silvanus as "the apostles of Christ" in 1 Thessalonians 2:6. This scripture alone should be enough to let us know that this is not speaking of an office, but of a ministry, for neither Timothy nor Silvanus were given their orders directly by Jesus Christ as both Paul and the twelve were. Paul, therefore, must be referring to the ministry of apostles, or of those who have been delegated to establish a new work that aids the church, whether the apostles in this modern day and age are men or women. (More on this later.)

[JAS Note: I think confusion comes into the church because we try to assign "offices" to these gifts of ministry, rather than just keeping them as ministries. Scotland's Presbyterian pastor, Edward Irving, who first came up with the "five-fold ministry" teaching in 1824, probably had no idea what trouble would be stirred up in the church as a result of that teaching which has carried on into this modern day and age. It has done much to encourage the clergy/laity divide that I, in my perhaps limited understanding, find to be unbiblical. But until that debate is finally settled once and for all, I think we would do best by taking Paul's words in Ephesians 4:11 as just a continuation of the gifts.]

Prophets [Greek prophetes: speaks forth] The daughters of Philip prophesied (Acts 281:8-9). Judas and Silas were called "prophets" (Acts 16:32). The meaning of the word "prophet" used in the OT is the same for the word "prophet" used in the NT. As a ministry, this would be any activity in which the Word of God (Jesus Christ) is proclaimed and, as evidenced by Philip's daughters, is not limited to men, but includes women also. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 11:5, Paul states that women can both pray and prophesy when the church comes together.

Evangelists [Greek euaggelistes: messenger of good] Philip was called "the evangelist" (Acts 21:8). As he traveled from city to city, he preached, spreading the Good News of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 8:40). The evangelist will be where the lost are, bringing them into the local church to be discipled. He or she will not leave them stranded on a street corner.

Pastors [Greek poimen: herdsmen or shepherds] and Teachers [Greek didaskolos: a teacher, one who teaches the things of God] Many scholars believe this to be a dual gift or dual ministry. I believe that is because those with this ministry gift must teach others the things of God and man's responsibilities toward God as a part of discipling, nurturing and protecting the sheep. Men and women both are called to pastor and teach others within the body; only women will not pastor/teach men.

This is just a briefing on these ministry gifts. We will discuss in more detail tomorrow while looking at the practical application of these ministries.