Since we have established the setting for the Holy Spirit’s work, and understand the purpose of His outpouring, we can now place leadership within that same context. The gifts God gave the ekklesia was a time of infancy. We may illustrate it with the stages of growth in a human being. When a baby is born into this world, it is dependent on his or her mother for care and feeding. The adults surrounding the child wonders what kind of adult will emerge from this infant. The infant is not even aware of such questions. They are just interested in one thing – getting what they want. They want to be fed, held, changed, and given anything they can put in their mouths during the teething stage. There comes a time when the child must cope with the experience of not getting what they want, re-channel their focus, and discover that the greater joy is how they can give what others need. They also learn about human relationships, the ones that are important to them, and with whom they feel secure and those with whom they do not feel secure. In many ways, the early disciples as a body of Christ were coming into manhood, not knowing exactly what their world would become. Paul uses this illustration of growth in 1 Corinthians 13 in which he likens the mature stage (“the perfect”) to becoming a man and putting away childish things (1 Cor. 13:10-11). This provides a good commentary for Ephesians 4:12-13 that contrasts children tossed about by false teachers versus the full-grown man who has attained the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. This is not a discussion of individual personal growth but the growth of the body into the one new man (cf. Ephesians 2: 14-16). It was the mystery revealed, according to the Ephesian letter.
To accomplish this unity, the Holy Spirit gave gifts to men or gifted men. Among the gifts that God gave the saints, four or five classifications are described in Ephesians 4 as being gifts of men that were also given to the early saints. The Ephesian passage will be our primary focus. It lists four gifts or to be more precise, gifted classes of men who had been given to God’s people (the ekklesia). Both the men and the gift given to them were a divine gift. Here’s the text again,
And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ: till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, even Christ; from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love. (Eph. 4:11-16)