Apostles and Prophets

Ephesians 2:20 says that the Body of Christ is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.”  So we know that the gifts of apostles and prophets were foundational in nature.  The apostles and prophets laid the foundation of “the church which is His Body” (Eph.1:22,23) two thousand years ago.  If we are still laying the foundation of the church today, two thousand years later, there is something seriously wrong!

The purpose of apostles and prophets was to speak for God by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  But now that the Bible is complete, we have a book that speaks to us by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and there is no further need of foundational apostles and prophets to speak to us that way.

That is, until the Bible was complete, the church needed men who could speak by inspiration of the Spirit, to lay the foundation of the Body of Christ.  But now that the Bible is complete, the gift of prophecy has “ceased,” as God predicted it would in I Corinthians 13:8.  For a man today to add to the inspired words that we have from God in the Bible would be to come under the curse of Revelation 22:18:

“…If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book”

Because of this curse, we believe it is spiritually dangerous to say that men today have the gift of prophecy.

Now the same is true for the gifts of pastors, teachers and evangelists.  Today there are no gifts of pastor, teacher or evangelist.  A gift is defined in the Bible as a miraculous, supernatural ability.  The first gift was the gift of tongues, when men were able to speak in languages they never studied (Acts 2:5-11).  That was a miracle!  However, no one can speak in a language they have never studied today, and so we know that this gift has been withdrawn.  And no one today has a miraculous, supernatural gift of pastor, teacher, or evangelist, so these gifts have also been withdrawn.

However, while the gift of these men has been withdrawn, the need for the office of pastor, teacher and evangelist continues.  The office of apostle and prophet, on the other hand, has ceased, for we no longer need men to speak for God by inspiration of the Spirit.  But we still need the office of pastors, teachers and evangelists.  And so I as a pastor function in that office, and just wish I had a miraculous gift of pastor!