11And his
gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some
pastors and teachers, 12to equip the saints for the work of
ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
By apostles
Paul means bishops, and by prophets he means expositors of the Scriptures. It
may be true that in the early days there were prophets like Agabus and the four
virgins, as is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, but this was in order to
support the beginnings of the faith. Nowadays it is interpreters [of Scripture]
who are called prophets. The evangelists are deacons, as Philip was. Although
they are not priests, they are free to evangelize without their own pulpit,
just like Stephen and the above-mentioned Philip. The pastors may be readers,
who instruct the people with readings, because man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. The
teachers are the exorcists because in the church they are the ones who restrain
and beat the unruly. They are also the ones who used to teach children their
lessons, a custom which is found among the Jews and which was inherited by us,
but which has become obsolete through neglect. Among these people, who came
after the bishop, it is further to be understood that there were those who were
said to prophesy because they expounded the hidden meaning of Scripture,
particularly because they brought out the words of future hope, which is not
the function of the presbyterate. All the orders are found in the bishop, who
is the chief priest, that is to say, the prince of the priests, as well as the
chief prophet, evangelist and so on, in order to fill the offices of the
church’s ministry.
However,
once churches were established all over the place and offices set up, the
system changed from what it had originally been. At the beginning they had all
preached and baptized on whatever day and at whatever time was convenient.
Philip did not fix a day or a time for the eunuch’s baptism, nor did he assign
a period of fasting beforehand. Paul and Silas did not waste any time in
baptizing the jailer and all his household, nor did Peter have clerks or set a
day when he would baptize Cornelius with all his household. He did not do it
himself in fact, but ordered the brethren from Joppa who had gone up with him
to Cornelius to do so. Up to that time too, no one had been ordained, apart
from seven deacons.
It was to
allow the people to grow and multiply that at the beginning everyone was
allowed to evangelize, to baptize and to expound the Scriptures in the church.
But when the church became established in every place, congregations were
formed and rectors and other officials were appointed, with the result that
after that no clerk who was not ordained would dare perform a function which
was not appointed or assigned to him. Thus the church began to be governed by a
different order and system, because if everyone could do it, there would have
been chaos and the whole thing would have looked vulgar and improper. This is
why nowadays deacons do not preach in public nor do they (or laymen) baptize,
nor are believers anointed on any day whatsoever, unless they happen to be
sick.
Therefore
not everything written by the apostle coincides with the order of things which
now exists in the church, because the apostolic writings describe what happened
at the beginning. For example, Paul calls Timothy, whom he had made a
presbyter, a bishop, because at first presbyters and bishops were the same
thing, and when he eventually left the scene Timothy succeeded him. Even today
in Egypt presbyters perform confirmations if the bishop is not present. But
because succeeding presbyters were not fit to hold the chief offices, the
system was changed by judicious foresight, so that it would not be his order
but his merit which would create a bishop who would be elected by the judgment
of many priests. This was done in order to prevent some unworthy person from
claiming the office and becoming a scandal to many. In the law priests were
Levites born into the tribe of Aaron. But now everyone belongs to the priestly
tribe, as the apostle Peter says: For we
are a royal and priestly nation, and therefore anyone can become a priest.
Paul says
that church order is designed so that the entire human race will be on the same
page in the unity of their confession, so that although they are different in
dignity they are all one in Christ, having Christ as their head, who is the
author of life.
13until we
all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to
mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ;
Paul says
that this order will continue until all those who are predestined to life are
united in faith and acknowledge Christ. Paul exhorts the Ephesians to grow so
that they may come to a mature faith, which is this: Christ is full and perfect
God and is not to be measured in human terms, but recognized in the fullness of
his divinity as perfect God. When he talks about mature manhood he is not
thinking in terms of age and physical stature, but by what he says here, that
he wants us to be perfect in the full understanding of the divinity of the Son
of God.
14so that we
may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind
of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles.
Paul wants
us to be rooted and grounded in the doctrine of the catholic faith, which the
apostle Peter confessed by God’s revelation. He does not want us to be blown
about or to go astray because of the pestilential attacks of different heresies
which have been invented by men and which open the door to error which creeps
in by the wiles of the enemy and poses as truth. Falsehood’s technique is to
introduce error in the guise of truth. And not only in the guise of truth, but
also so that now that we have become believers, we should not be weak and
doubtful and turn away from the hope promised to us, as we once wandered quite
innocently through various errors before we were converted. Paul reminds us
that now that we are Christians we must be grounded, because there is no
ambiguity in our faith, which is backed up by the power of miracles.
(Ambrosiaster, Commentaries on Galatians–Philemon [trans. Gerald L.
Bray; Ancient Christian Texts; Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic: 2009], 48–50
