In separating these gifts, we will note some key similarities and differences between them and why they are linked together as they are in the text. The reason these distinguished classes are listed together appears to be their common role in teaching. Both 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4 share the emphasis of the first two on the list. The difference in the two passages is that the “teachers” of 1 Corinthians 12 are the “evangelists”, “pastors”, and “teachers” of Ephesians 4. Their work overlapped in the area of teaching. This same arrangement is found among the early Gentile Christians in Antioch. There was an ekklesia in that town, meaning there were called out people living there. Among them were “prophets and teachers, Barnabas, and Symeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen the foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul” (Acts 13:1).
The saints are edified (built-up) and equipped to serve through the work of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. They didn’t all have the same beginning point, but all of them stand together as a packaged deal to accomplish the same goal for the same duration of time. It is common for today’s Bible students to take these texts out of the New Testament context and apply them to this present day. An example of one commentary explains, “Paul makes provision for the continuance of leadership. Every organization has to have leadership. The pastoral office is an office that Paul gave characteristics that transcends the miraculous. He did not have to have miraculous power to be qualified.” We question this statement on several accounts. The first two sentences identify the root problem. He perceives this text to be referring to the leadership of an organization. His logic is based on this presumption. Since every organization needs leadership, Paul makes provision for the continuance of it. However, neither the apostles nor the other gifts were “offices” in the ecclesiastical sense of the word. They were given a work to be done by the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if we wish to argue for the present need of pastors and evangelists, they will certainly not be this kind.