For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
The ascended Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to prepare believers, equip them for work of service, and build up the church which is His body. Those gifts were to continue until all reach unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God unto full maturity in Christ, no longer children tossed by every wind of doctrine but grown up into Him as Head. No one worker is complete in himself, but different gifts, minds and methods are to blend in harmonious action like members of one body, each supplying what another lacks. The work is not preaching alone but watching for souls, teaching the same truth, feeding the flock, and awakening all believers to take their assigned part instead of remaining spectators. Its end is reached only in lowliness, meekness, longsuffering and forbearing love, where self, rivalry and strife for supremacy die and the whole body is knit together unto perfection of character.
Words and Immediate Context
The gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers were given for a threefold purpose: to bring the saints to completeness, to fit them for the work of service, and to build up the body of Christ, which is the church. Every faithful worker serves toward that growth of the saints and strengthening of the church, with each believer contributing his part so the whole body is strengthened in love and grows toward unity and maturity in Christ. These varied gifts help believers grow together toward unity in faith and in knowledge of the Son of God.
The three phrases form one connected purpose, not separate aims: the saints are prepared, they do their work of ministry, and through that service the church as a whole is built up. This is God's plan for keeping the church united in faith and agreement, so that believers display a healthful Christian life before the world. The Lord's grace guides every worker toward this shared end of completeness in Christ.
These gifts were bestowed by the ascended Christ, who after ascending up on high and leading captivity captive entrusted His earthly work to His servants and under-shepherds. He gave some to be apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for this perfecting, ministering, and edifying work. Unto every one grace is given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
That work continues until all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. It is a work carried forward to completion, by which the church through its many members is made complete and mature in Christian character. Its aim is that believers be no longer children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine through deceitful craftiness, but speak the truth in love and grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. From Him the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by what every joint supplies, according to the working of every part, makes increase and builds itself up in love.
The verse belongs with the call to walk worthy of the calling with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, and keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, even as all are called in one hope of the calling, with one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in all. It belongs also with the instruction no longer to walk as Gentiles in vanity of mind with darkened understanding and blindness of heart, but having learned Christ to put off the corrupt old man, to be renewed in mind, and to put on the new man created in righteousness and true holiness. That renewed life is shown as members one of another by putting away lying, anger, theft, corrupt speech, bitterness, wrath, clamor, evil speaking and malice, and instead speaking truth, laboring honestly to give to the needy, speaking only edifying words that minister grace, and being kind, tenderhearted and forgiving as God for Christ's sake forgave. These inspired words are to be studied, obeyed and lived in practice rather than ignored or treated with indifference, for living by the Bible makes believers strong in the Lord and laborers together with Christ, while bringing in personal ideas misleads others. God's plan is there stated so plainly and simply that all His children may lay hold upon the truth, revealing unity kept through obedience to the commandments of God and oneness in the faith of the Scriptures, with lives hid with Christ in God and bound together as one in Christ Jesus.
Continuance Until Maturity Fulfilled
By plainly naming its object, the verse shows indirectly that the gifts must continue until that object is accomplished, for unity, perfection and full stature in Christ were not complete in Paul's day and the purpose therefore extends until that unity and maturity are fulfilled. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers were given to equip the saints for ministry and to build up the body of Christ, and Heaven appointed them as the means for bringing the church into unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God unto growth to the full measure of Christ.
That goal had not been reached in the primitive church, and it was disrupted by apostasy and division, so it was not completed during the apostasy and wilderness flight nor since the time of Martin Luther. It reaches beyond to the future gathering and unity of God's people, with the promised completion extending to the last-day restoration of the unity of faith for which the gifts were given. The ultimate purpose will be realized in the last generation through the final warning message and the means God uses to prepare Christians for translation to heaven without death. Since all the gifts were given together for the same purposes and continue until that goal is reached, the gift of prophecy was not to cease while the other ministries continued.
The gifts and manifestations of the Holy Spirit are for the church in every age and to the end of time, serving its growth toward unity in the faith, knowledge of the Son of God, and mature Christlike fullness. This fulfills Christ's promise to send the Comforter to guide into all truth, with certain gifts of the Spirit placed in the church for its edification and instruction to the end of time. That continuing ministry is connected with preparing believers who await Christ's second coming. Scriptural unity for perfection cannot be secured by human creeds and church force, for these gifts are Christ's ordained means for the unity and perfection of the church. The Spirit, as Christ's representative on earth, is sent as teacher and guide to make real in hearts and lives what Christ made possible through His death, and the Spirit's gifts are to be acknowledged, prayed for and received according to the Spirit's own choice.
The treasures placed eighteen hundred years ago in the hands of chosen ministers, the twelve apostles, have descended to workers in this age from generation to generation, as faithful servants from age to age improve the talents lent them, giving them high privileges and the true position of ministers of grace. The perfecting of the saints is the last great work of preparation of God's people to stand in the last great day, and it is one united ministry in which medical care and gospel ministry are not separate, since the gospel includes both presenting sanctifying truths and ministering to the sick as Christ did with full care for salvation of the soul. Workers become useful in that ministry by leaning upon the judgment of those of experience, who steady their course as an anchor so they do not drift in confusion. The chapter is to be read and heeded with Ephesians 5 and Ephesians 6:10-18 for holding fast the foundation of faith in the third angel's message against every effort to tear it up, that foundation having stood sixty years with not a pin or pillar moved.
Diverse Gifts in Unity
No single person makes up the whole, and no one person's method is to be the rule for all, for different minds with different talents, gifts, plans and methods compose the body of believers. No single worker possesses all the wisdom needed, and no one is given an exclusive territory, so workers are to stand each in lot and place in fellowship with ministering brethren and share the burden together rather than one taking it alone. Christ gives different kinds of workers to prepare the saints for ministry and to build up the church, His body, and the work is shared because no one person is to be regarded as the whole. Different minds, gifts, plans and methods must unite in humility, keep self out of sight, counsel together and pray together, constantly learn and improve, and labor in harmony until every person is presented perfect in Christ.
No one has been qualified to bear the burden of the work alone, but men of different minds, talents, experience and abilities are associated together to counsel with and assist one another. The deficiency of one is supplied by the strength, experience and abilities of another, and work and plans are to be shaped through counsel with fellow members. The perfecting of the saints and the edifying of the body of Christ takes place as members learn and live their right relation to one another as members of that body, uniting weakness to Christ's strength, dying to self and living to Christ, having strong unchristlike traits softened, subdued and purified, and uniting with one another in order to be one with Christ in God. Believers are not to carry the work alone but as members of one body in the saints' service together.
Every gift is essential to the success of the work, the agencies of God are many, and no spiritual gift is to be lost. The different gifts placed in the church are precious in their proper roles and are all to contribute to perfecting the saints, and none is to be held in low esteem as inferior, treated with indifference, or carried in a superior independent way that is dangerous to self and others. The work must follow God's order and arrangements, and efforts are acceptable when willing and humble, without personal feelings or selfishness, including all who work according to God's plan as God's husbandry and God's building. This calls for experienced, broadminded workers with quick perception who hold will in abeyance to understand the ways and will of their Leader, and no one is to regard personal talent or position as fitness to work independently.
The verse means manifold instruments and agencies working together in concurrence and harmonious action for the prosperity and perfection of the Christian church. All members are interdependent like members of the human body, so that when even the finger, apparently the least important member, becomes afflicted it telegraphs the fact to the brain and the whole body suffers. The body depends on every member and grows toward unity in faith and knowledge of the Son of God, reaching the measure of Christ's stature, under Christ its living head, with grace given to each believer for the perfecting of the saints. That growth continues till all come in unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the fulness of Christ, no more children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine and deceitful craftiness but speaking truth in love and growing up into Christ the head, from whom the whole body fitly joined together by what every joint supplies according to the working in the measure of every part makes increase unto the edifying of itself in love.
The varied gifts are to blend together in love and unity as all draw near to God and are one with Christ in holy fellowship, each doing a distinct part and supplying what the other lacks instead of working independently or regarding own judgment as best. Workers must labor together in concert under Christ as one supreme Leader, walking worthy of calling with lowliness, meekness, long-suffering and forbearing love to keep the unity of the Spirit, leaving childish instability and deception in doctrine to grow up into Christ the head until the whole body fitly joined together increases and builds itself up in love as a perfect whole. God never designed believers to work apart in lines peculiar to themselves, and in these last days they must press together, for labors cannot be complete to the church unless there is a blending in spirit and labor. Each person needs the help that comes through other minds where God also works, and when all are one with Christ this blending brings unity and love with no discord. There are higher attainments and rest in Jesus for those who let Him bear their burdens and carry them and their load.
God carries on divine work through diversity of gifts, all essential and all working to one end, the expression of the mind and will of God through the perfection of the saints. Truth speaks its own language through diversity of gifts, and God works through different minds and different elements of character for the perfection of the church, so that every emergency in every kind of labor may be met. Different roles and gifts are assigned under Christ's supervision to meet the needs of the church, equipping the saints, carrying out ministry, building up Christ's body, and working together toward unity in faith and knowledge of the Son of God and spiritual maturity measured by Christ's fullness. God's servants are to use their distinct work in harmony rather than contend over one another's responsibilities.
The grace of Christ is to bring all into unity, love and harmonious action, with a precious bond of union between brother and brother, until all come to unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man. God does not give all the same work but gives apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints in the development of their different gifts, for the work of the ministry and the edifying of the body of Christ. All the gifts are to be blended together in building on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ Himself as chief cornerstone, fitly framed together with each doing respective part unitedly and growing into a holy temple in the Lord, laboring unitedly to one end. Each church member is to live and act individually before God, to form a symmetrical character by loving God supremely and neighbor as self, to put away selfishness, self-sufficiency, self-esteem, jealousy, evil surmising and evil-speaking under the Holy Spirit, and to conscientiously give fellow laborers a place to work and encourage one another. This guards against being tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight and cunning craftiness of deceivers.
Diversity of gifts and governments is placed in the church to discipline and fit up a people led out from the world upon the exalted platform of eternal truth, the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Through them all come to unity of the faith instead of being at variance with one believing one thing and another holding opposite views, each moving independently of the body and pressing peculiar views without regard to the brethren. They stand established together on the one great platform of faith in the harmony that exists between Christ and His Father.
God has appointed agencies to meet every case, giving varied gifts and influences for ministry and building up the body, and all are not to work in the same lines. Every gift is to be appreciated and each gift used in its different place until unity and full Christian maturity are reached. No one can stand alone, but each must let labor blend with the labor of those appointed, with perfect unity in diversity of gifts and a union of all gifts so the work is not one-sided. That perfecting requires obtaining all the help provided, fighting an individual battle no one else can fight, and revealing the love that dwelt in Jesus by loving one another as Christ loved. God's workers should recognize and use one another's gifts in unselfish fellowship, without envy or narrowness.
Ministry Roles and Tasks
The ministry of the Word is the appointed means for bringing believers to completeness, convicting minds and saving souls, with apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers given to prepare the saints for service and build up the body until unity of faith and knowledge of the Son unto full manhood is reached. There is no defect in the plan for salvation, yet when the gospel is not power unto salvation and professed believers are not complete in Christ as practical receivers of grace and righteousness, following afar off without personal religion, the fault lies in human instrumentalities without living connection with God. That deficiency in the churches is explained by a deficiency in the ministry that has failed to educate in vital principles and to bring the Word to bear on life through practical religion and faithful labor leading to deep experience, not by eloquent sermons alone. The work is not merely to preach truth but to watch for souls as those who must render account, to reprove, rebuke and exhort with longsuffering and doctrine, and to labor for the strength and unity of the church against diversity and division. Preaching is only a small part, for ministers are appointed and sent to minister and educate the people to be examples of piety rather than fighters, with workers in every department doing their own work. Those who enter with only a human commission educate themselves as debaters and produce churches showing a fighting character, proving hearts not right with God and only theory without true conversion and sanctification, and the near great issue will weed out whom God has not appointed, leaving a pure, true, sanctified ministry prepared for the latter rain.
The purpose is served when all workers faithfully teach the same truth, including the duty to return tithes and offerings to God, with those who first present truth and those who continue it urging the same obedience and giving plain instruction without neglect. Ministers have the sacred duty to give the flock meat in due season, to feed them and present essential truths, and Christ seeks to perfect His household through the perfection of its ministers. Those given teaching ability should exercise it rather than let administrative duties keep them from ministering, which develops the gift and benefits churches and themselves, with some teaching basic lessons while others teach more advanced lessons as people serve according to ability in shared growth. Bringing believers to character perfection, carrying on ministry, and building up the body is the united work of all who hold forth the Word of life, each doing a special part in a varied way until unity of faith, knowledge of the Son, full maturity, stability against false doctrine, and growth in love are reached. No one worker is to separate to labor alone over only the few brought to truth, claiming them as his own to train to perfection, and no man's ways are to be taken as perfect and copied exclusively, but an uplifted Saviour is to be kept before hearers so converts attach to Christ as example and not to a man.
The perfecting of the saints requires diverse instrumentalities acting together, not one man alone dealing with minds, for the Master Workman knows better than underlaborers what is needed and in providence brings different gifts with different aspects of truth to supplement one another, meet each soul's special case, arouse untouched hearts, and flash additional light. Therefore those who start an interest must not manage and mold it alone or treat indifferently those God sends, but must cordially receive, respect, encourage and unite with every new talent and humble laborer of greater or lesser ability and experience, lest the work be marred and the church be wrapped up in the first teacher and unable to be benefited by the very labor needed for its perfection. The work of ministry means making the burden of sinners perishing in sins one's own in sympathy with God, giving all the word to look to Jesus in faith and live, growing up into Christ the head with the whole body fitly joined and every part working to build itself up in love, no more children tossed by every wind of doctrine and cunning deceit. This requires ministers to examine their own hearts and to carry the gospel to all nations and peoples in meekness and lowliness with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love and keeping the unity of the Spirit in peace. The ministry is an order established by Christ, and those appointed to it are workers together with God to be respected, honored and loved, their influence and character giving evidence of calling.
These agencies — pastors, teachers, watchmen, shepherds, responsible ordained men and laborers — must be given honor, hearkened to for instruction, consulted for counsel, and cooperated with in harmony rather than passed by, despised, or acted independently of, for refusing them is working outside the Lord's agencies and on the enemy's side, producing strife, dissension, wounded souls and alienation. To neglect or despise appointed leaders to lead out and bear responsibilities for advancement and spread of truth as the ordained means for help, encouragement and strength, and to think light must come only directly from God, repeats the insubordination by which angels very beautiful and glorious yet dependent on God for happiness, light and intelligence fell in wanting independence, placing a person where he is liable to deception and overthrow. When professed believers oppose the gifts including instruction through vision that comforts believers and fight against the visions, souls are endangered and the weak may be led astray, and God's people must not cringe and yield liberty to such disaffected ones but must labor with them. Slighting and neglecting gifts living in the church brings the frown upon the people, while graciously reviving them brings smiles and mercy, for their work is to encourage the desponding and fainting soul and to correct and reprove the erring. As Christ's representatives ministers call people to be reconciled to God in teaching and serving that equips and strengthens the church, carrying grave responsibility that needs wisdom and power from above.
Each person has work assigned by God according to ability and grace, and doing that work fulfills part of the plan, with different workers and instrumentalities recognized for equipping saints, carrying out ministry, and building up the body. No one is required to take up another's work, do work untrained and uneducated for, or dictate to workers whose duties are not understood, for seeing only the part of the vineyard where he works he will enlarge where he should retrench and retrench where he should enlarge, and each is to faithfully cultivate talents to return to God. Not all can be medical missionaries in the full sense, for some must train to be faithful ministers and skillful shepherds bringing meat in due season for sheep and lambs, each cultivating an assigned part of the vineyard according to ability. The work is not meant to rest on one person alone or allow one to become sole head of an institution under Christ the head, but different people have appointed places and responsibilities to work together, and taking on unassigned responsibilities can crowd out sharing truth and preparing people for the coming crisis. Every worker from the lowliest to the most highly educated and efficient has a necessary place in soul-saving, and all are to advance together in harmony, with workers brought in to help carry forward what others began rather than assuming that starting a work fits one to lead it through every stage.
The church is built up as members work together with differing gifts helping meet deficiencies, and no one should assume personal talent or position fits him to work independently or occupy the highest responsibility, as ministry continues toward unity in faith and knowledge of Christ and mature likeness to Him. Christ gives special work not the same for everyone, and the Spirit impresses each to go to particular places and do particular work, so human authority must not arbitrarily forbid what God directed. People with different gifts need not agree on every point of doctrine to be united by the Spirit in winning souls, preserving unity by meekness, forbearance and love rather than wasting time in disputes while people are in danger. Medical missionary work and gospel ministry belong together as one united ministry toward unity and maturity, and must remain connected rather than separating workers from their field, with workers in each trained to understand and cooperate with the other and the Spirit bringing balance so every line advances solidly. Medical work is ministry in a high sense, for the gospel includes both presenting sanctifying truths and ministering to the sick as Christ did, caring for soul salvation as fully as gospel ministry does, and the variety of gifts is to blend in united service with ministers benefiting from understanding health.
An evangelist is a teacher who should also be a medical missionary, and medical missionary workers are gospel workers coming under the head of evangelists, since all are not given the same work. God assigns work to each according to ability so ministry does not rest on a few while others carry no responsibility, equipping workers and distributing work rather than requiring ceaseless toil from a small number. Those who shepherd the people are to awaken saints to duty and set many to work, the saints being prepared as they take part in serving and winning souls, and Christians are not to remain spectators but take part in systematic work connected with the church, with baptism pledging them to do what they can to strengthen it. At camp meetings faithful workers are to minister toward the perfecting of the saints, helping believers become mature in faith and service within the broad work for religious gifts and workers. Church members are to be equipped through instruction and practical training in missionary work developing their talents to serve both church and unbelievers so the church can be built up.
Ministers are to help build up churches and keep them in order with wholehearted service, undivided interest, steady zeal, patience and perseverance, their efforts building up the body and not exalting themselves. God appoints apostles, pastors, evangelists and teachers to prepare saints for ministry and build up the church until unity in the faith, and this calls for continual growth in which workers correct deficiencies, advance in faith, unity and likeness to Christ, guard sacred interests from weakening evils, and work wisely in the light so the church advances toward heaven and becomes more distinct from the world. The Lord teaches through appointed human agencies and the work of teaching is to continue until the work is finished, with the message entrusted to be proclaimed in united labor without obstructing one another. The teaching was given through one speaking under inspiration who had received instruction in holy vision, distributing gifts and offices to mature the people, prepare them for service, and build up the body until all come into unity of faith and knowledge of the Son and grow to full manhood, with God giving every man his own work in which each fulfills part of the great plan. Different gifts are given so believers can work together and strengthen the church, no one being sufficient alone, and humility with willingness to work in harmony prepares a people for the soon coming, while ministry remains needed even by those instructed in present truth lest growth remain incomplete and superficial.
Practical Christian Cooperation
The perfecting described requires walking in a worthy manner with lowliness, meekness, longsuffering and forbearing love in order to keep unity, and those who serve must depend on God rather than assume their gifts or wisdom make them sufficient. It leads believers toward unity in faith and knowledge of the Son of God, toward maturity in Christ, and toward steadiness against deceptive teaching, while warning against dissension, faultfinding over brothers and sisters, spiritual blindness, and determined following of one's own way. Refusal to be brought down to a negative level belongs to keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Each member is to live and act individually before God, forming a symmetrical character by loving God supremely and neighbor as self. That character is formed by putting away selfishness, self-sufficiency, self-esteem, jealousy, evil surmising and evil-speaking under the Holy Spirit, while conscientiously giving fellow laborers a place to work and encouraging one another. Recognizing that each serves in a different line under the same Spirit guards against rivalry, pride, envy and contempt while strengthening unity and mutual love. No one is to labor for supremacy with one eased and another burdened, and no one is to shirk responsibility and leave a heavy load on another while going lightly loaded himself. Every gift is precious in its place, and every worker is to cultivate personal piety with spirit, thoughts and words under subjection to Christ and do his best with devoted zeal.
Strife for supremacy, criticism and fault-finding of fellow workers, self-complacency, self-confidence and insistence on having one's own way and methods shut workers out from the one end of ministry and at last from the kingdom, forfeiting peace, faith and love. That end, the perfecting of believers and the building up of the body, is reached only by many laborers working together with gift blended with gift in unity. It is reached only where self dies, every root of bitterness is killed, the will is surrendered to Christ's method, self is emptied and lost in infinite love, and the soul knows the love of Christ and becomes complete in Him. As members are brought into harmony, trained and disciplined by the Spirit, and freed from selfishness and divisive barriers, they help the church grow in spiritual maturity and become an instrument for converting sinners. Christians are to work together in obedience to the truth, grow toward perfection of character, and lead others to Christ.
The perfecting of the whole body is the unity required in service, with Christians doing their work whatever it may be in the unity of the Spirit. One in whose heart Christ abides recognizes Christ abiding in the heart of his brother, for Christ never wars against Christ and never exerts an influence against Christ. This perfecting means the church is purified, refined and ennobled as members cast from their hearts the idols that hindered advancement in spirituality, and by the influence of the Spirit even the most discordant are brought into harmony. The work leads toward stability so believers are united, mature and no longer vulnerable to deceptive teaching and deceitful craftiness. It is a warning every soul must take, meaning setting the churches in order and closing the door of unbelief, urgent because seducing power will increase until, if possible, even the elect are deceived, and because those who do not make straight paths for their feet turn the weak out of the way.
Every facility has been provided for God's purchased possession to grow into a holy temple unto the Lord, complete in Him, with perfect character, coming off more than conqueror through the merits of Christ. Each person is only one member of the body under Christ as the one Head and Master, controlled by the Holy Spirit, never to seek to be controlled by men and never to be an independent whole with any human master. Unity is kept only as the different members each do their own office, whether preaching the word, teaching, practicing as a physician, cultivating the soil, following a trade, acting in councils, or going to foreign lands. In that office each looks to God as Companion, Counselor, Guide, Helper and Friend, never going beyond His domain, giving all tact and strength of mind and heart and body and doing his best, keeping clean and unspotted from the world.
Officers are appointed as co-workers with God for edification, and mothers and fathers who are doers of God's Word are part of that body. As part of the body they nurture and admonish their children in accordance with God's Word, raising up a little army to stand under Christ's banner, showing to the world as God's witnesses that they are under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, with Christ as their pattern, and educating their children to know God. God imparts different gifts to different ones so that workers feel their need of one another. The gifts are bestowed to be employed in His service for the good of all by representing truth, not to glorify the possessor, not to uplift man, but to uplift the Redeemer, and His people are to help one another in doing their various duties and in faithfully finishing the work given them to do.
Every faithful worker ministers for the perfecting of the saints, and all who have been benefited by the labors of God's servant should unite with him according to their ability in working for the salvation of souls. This is the work of all true believers, ministers and people, who should keep the grand object ever in view, each seeking to fill his proper position in the church, and all working together in order, harmony and love. The religion of Christ is not selfish or narrow but diffusive and aggressive, so its servants spread the knowledge of the truth far and near with zeal, earnestness and devotion, yet do not neglect to labor for the strength and unity of the church. Each worker, from the lowliest to the most highly educated and efficient, has a place in the work of saving souls, and all are to advance the work together in harmony. The Lord will take men now looked upon as common and put His words of warning into their lips, as all prepare to become intelligent teachers so believers are no more children tossed to and fro by deceit but grow up into Christ the head.
Gifts placed in the church are to be valued and used as believers take their part in the work appointed, and the church is perfected as people serve according to their abilities, some teaching basic lessons while others teach more advanced lessons. The church is to be perfected through a well-ordered life and godly speech. Workers learn these lessons by being much in prayer, coming right to the point in public prayer with heartfelt simplicity, praying with confidence as the Spirit indites petitions and claiming promises with faith. Then the congregation knows prevailing prayer has been learned, is encouraged that the Lord is present, opens hearts to receive rich blessing, trusts the sincerity of the worker, and listens with willing ears to instruction.
Living by the Bible makes believers strong in the Lord, while bringing in personal ideas and opinions misleads others, and holding to what God has said makes them laborers together with Christ. The perfecting means working like soldiers in an army in perfect harmony and order, each standing in his lot and place, not stepping out of the ranks to work on his own account and not pressing forward where not wanted to interrupt and divert from the work that must be done. It requires correction of mistakes and reorganization, with prayer and searching of heart, opening doors for the salvation of souls that His people may cooperate with Him. As the commands of Christ are obeyed in unity moving forward together, the salvation of God will be seen.
The ascended Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to prepare believers, equip them for work of service, and build up the church which is His body. Those gifts were to continue until all reach unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God unto full maturity in Christ, no longer children tossed by every wind of doctrine but grown up into Him as Head. No one worker is complete in himself, but different gifts, minds and methods are to blend in harmonious action like members of one body, each supplying what another lacks. The work is not preaching alone but watching for souls, teaching the same truth, feeding the flock, and awakening all believers to take their assigned part instead of remaining spectators. Its end is reached only in lowliness, meekness, longsuffering and forbearing love, where self, rivalry and strife for supremacy die and the whole body is knit together unto perfection of character.
Words and Immediate Context
The gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers were given for a threefold purpose: to bring the saints to completeness, to fit them for the work of service, and to build up the body of Christ, which is the church. Every faithful worker serves toward that growth of the saints and strengthening of the church, with each believer contributing his part so the whole body is strengthened in love and grows toward unity and maturity in Christ. These varied gifts help believers grow together toward unity in faith and in knowledge of the Son of God.
The three phrases form one connected purpose, not separate aims: the saints are prepared, they do their work of ministry, and through that service the church as a whole is built up. This is God's plan for keeping the church united in faith and agreement, so that believers display a healthful Christian life before the world. The Lord's grace guides every worker toward this shared end of completeness in Christ.
These gifts were bestowed by the ascended Christ, who after ascending up on high and leading captivity captive entrusted His earthly work to His servants and under-shepherds. He gave some to be apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for this perfecting, ministering, and edifying work. Unto every one grace is given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
That work continues until all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. It is a work carried forward to completion, by which the church through its many members is made complete and mature in Christian character. Its aim is that believers be no longer children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine through deceitful craftiness, but speak the truth in love and grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. From Him the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by what every joint supplies, according to the working of every part, makes increase and builds itself up in love.
The verse belongs with the call to walk worthy of the calling with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, and keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, even as all are called in one hope of the calling, with one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in all. It belongs also with the instruction no longer to walk as Gentiles in vanity of mind with darkened understanding and blindness of heart, but having learned Christ to put off the corrupt old man, to be renewed in mind, and to put on the new man created in righteousness and true holiness. That renewed life is shown as members one of another by putting away lying, anger, theft, corrupt speech, bitterness, wrath, clamor, evil speaking and malice, and instead speaking truth, laboring honestly to give to the needy, speaking only edifying words that minister grace, and being kind, tenderhearted and forgiving as God for Christ's sake forgave. These inspired words are to be studied, obeyed and lived in practice rather than ignored or treated with indifference, for living by the Bible makes believers strong in the Lord and laborers together with Christ, while bringing in personal ideas misleads others. God's plan is there stated so plainly and simply that all His children may lay hold upon the truth, revealing unity kept through obedience to the commandments of God and oneness in the faith of the Scriptures, with lives hid with Christ in God and bound together as one in Christ Jesus.
Continuance Until Maturity Fulfilled
By plainly naming its object, the verse shows indirectly that the gifts must continue until that object is accomplished, for unity, perfection and full stature in Christ were not complete in Paul's day and the purpose therefore extends until that unity and maturity are fulfilled. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers were given to equip the saints for ministry and to build up the body of Christ, and Heaven appointed them as the means for bringing the church into unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God unto growth to the full measure of Christ.
That goal had not been reached in the primitive church, and it was disrupted by apostasy and division, so it was not completed during the apostasy and wilderness flight nor since the time of Martin Luther. It reaches beyond to the future gathering and unity of God's people, with the promised completion extending to the last-day restoration of the unity of faith for which the gifts were given. The ultimate purpose will be realized in the last generation through the final warning message and the means God uses to prepare Christians for translation to heaven without death. Since all the gifts were given together for the same purposes and continue until that goal is reached, the gift of prophecy was not to cease while the other ministries continued.
The gifts and manifestations of the Holy Spirit are for the church in every age and to the end of time, serving its growth toward unity in the faith, knowledge of the Son of God, and mature Christlike fullness. This fulfills Christ's promise to send the Comforter to guide into all truth, with certain gifts of the Spirit placed in the church for its edification and instruction to the end of time. That continuing ministry is connected with preparing believers who await Christ's second coming. Scriptural unity for perfection cannot be secured by human creeds and church force, for these gifts are Christ's ordained means for the unity and perfection of the church. The Spirit, as Christ's representative on earth, is sent as teacher and guide to make real in hearts and lives what Christ made possible through His death, and the Spirit's gifts are to be acknowledged, prayed for and received according to the Spirit's own choice.
The treasures placed eighteen hundred years ago in the hands of chosen ministers, the twelve apostles, have descended to workers in this age from generation to generation, as faithful servants from age to age improve the talents lent them, giving them high privileges and the true position of ministers of grace. The perfecting of the saints is the last great work of preparation of God's people to stand in the last great day, and it is one united ministry in which medical care and gospel ministry are not separate, since the gospel includes both presenting sanctifying truths and ministering to the sick as Christ did with full care for salvation of the soul. Workers become useful in that ministry by leaning upon the judgment of those of experience, who steady their course as an anchor so they do not drift in confusion. The chapter is to be read and heeded with Ephesians 5 and Ephesians 6:10-18 for holding fast the foundation of faith in the third angel's message against every effort to tear it up, that foundation having stood sixty years with not a pin or pillar moved.
Diverse Gifts in Unity
No single person makes up the whole, and no one person's method is to be the rule for all, for different minds with different talents, gifts, plans and methods compose the body of believers. No single worker possesses all the wisdom needed, and no one is given an exclusive territory, so workers are to stand each in lot and place in fellowship with ministering brethren and share the burden together rather than one taking it alone. Christ gives different kinds of workers to prepare the saints for ministry and to build up the church, His body, and the work is shared because no one person is to be regarded as the whole. Different minds, gifts, plans and methods must unite in humility, keep self out of sight, counsel together and pray together, constantly learn and improve, and labor in harmony until every person is presented perfect in Christ.
No one has been qualified to bear the burden of the work alone, but men of different minds, talents, experience and abilities are associated together to counsel with and assist one another. The deficiency of one is supplied by the strength, experience and abilities of another, and work and plans are to be shaped through counsel with fellow members. The perfecting of the saints and the edifying of the body of Christ takes place as members learn and live their right relation to one another as members of that body, uniting weakness to Christ's strength, dying to self and living to Christ, having strong unchristlike traits softened, subdued and purified, and uniting with one another in order to be one with Christ in God. Believers are not to carry the work alone but as members of one body in the saints' service together.
Every gift is essential to the success of the work, the agencies of God are many, and no spiritual gift is to be lost. The different gifts placed in the church are precious in their proper roles and are all to contribute to perfecting the saints, and none is to be held in low esteem as inferior, treated with indifference, or carried in a superior independent way that is dangerous to self and others. The work must follow God's order and arrangements, and efforts are acceptable when willing and humble, without personal feelings or selfishness, including all who work according to God's plan as God's husbandry and God's building. This calls for experienced, broadminded workers with quick perception who hold will in abeyance to understand the ways and will of their Leader, and no one is to regard personal talent or position as fitness to work independently.
The verse means manifold instruments and agencies working together in concurrence and harmonious action for the prosperity and perfection of the Christian church. All members are interdependent like members of the human body, so that when even the finger, apparently the least important member, becomes afflicted it telegraphs the fact to the brain and the whole body suffers. The body depends on every member and grows toward unity in faith and knowledge of the Son of God, reaching the measure of Christ's stature, under Christ its living head, with grace given to each believer for the perfecting of the saints. That growth continues till all come in unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the fulness of Christ, no more children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine and deceitful craftiness but speaking truth in love and growing up into Christ the head, from whom the whole body fitly joined together by what every joint supplies according to the working in the measure of every part makes increase unto the edifying of itself in love.
The varied gifts are to blend together in love and unity as all draw near to God and are one with Christ in holy fellowship, each doing a distinct part and supplying what the other lacks instead of working independently or regarding own judgment as best. Workers must labor together in concert under Christ as one supreme Leader, walking worthy of calling with lowliness, meekness, long-suffering and forbearing love to keep the unity of the Spirit, leaving childish instability and deception in doctrine to grow up into Christ the head until the whole body fitly joined together increases and builds itself up in love as a perfect whole. God never designed believers to work apart in lines peculiar to themselves, and in these last days they must press together, for labors cannot be complete to the church unless there is a blending in spirit and labor. Each person needs the help that comes through other minds where God also works, and when all are one with Christ this blending brings unity and love with no discord. There are higher attainments and rest in Jesus for those who let Him bear their burdens and carry them and their load.
God carries on divine work through diversity of gifts, all essential and all working to one end, the expression of the mind and will of God through the perfection of the saints. Truth speaks its own language through diversity of gifts, and God works through different minds and different elements of character for the perfection of the church, so that every emergency in every kind of labor may be met. Different roles and gifts are assigned under Christ's supervision to meet the needs of the church, equipping the saints, carrying out ministry, building up Christ's body, and working together toward unity in faith and knowledge of the Son of God and spiritual maturity measured by Christ's fullness. God's servants are to use their distinct work in harmony rather than contend over one another's responsibilities.
The grace of Christ is to bring all into unity, love and harmonious action, with a precious bond of union between brother and brother, until all come to unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man. God does not give all the same work but gives apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints in the development of their different gifts, for the work of the ministry and the edifying of the body of Christ. All the gifts are to be blended together in building on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ Himself as chief cornerstone, fitly framed together with each doing respective part unitedly and growing into a holy temple in the Lord, laboring unitedly to one end. Each church member is to live and act individually before God, to form a symmetrical character by loving God supremely and neighbor as self, to put away selfishness, self-sufficiency, self-esteem, jealousy, evil surmising and evil-speaking under the Holy Spirit, and to conscientiously give fellow laborers a place to work and encourage one another. This guards against being tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight and cunning craftiness of deceivers.
Diversity of gifts and governments is placed in the church to discipline and fit up a people led out from the world upon the exalted platform of eternal truth, the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Through them all come to unity of the faith instead of being at variance with one believing one thing and another holding opposite views, each moving independently of the body and pressing peculiar views without regard to the brethren. They stand established together on the one great platform of faith in the harmony that exists between Christ and His Father.
God has appointed agencies to meet every case, giving varied gifts and influences for ministry and building up the body, and all are not to work in the same lines. Every gift is to be appreciated and each gift used in its different place until unity and full Christian maturity are reached. No one can stand alone, but each must let labor blend with the labor of those appointed, with perfect unity in diversity of gifts and a union of all gifts so the work is not one-sided. That perfecting requires obtaining all the help provided, fighting an individual battle no one else can fight, and revealing the love that dwelt in Jesus by loving one another as Christ loved. God's workers should recognize and use one another's gifts in unselfish fellowship, without envy or narrowness.
Ministry Roles and Tasks
The ministry of the Word is the appointed means for bringing believers to completeness, convicting minds and saving souls, with apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers given to prepare the saints for service and build up the body until unity of faith and knowledge of the Son unto full manhood is reached. There is no defect in the plan for salvation, yet when the gospel is not power unto salvation and professed believers are not complete in Christ as practical receivers of grace and righteousness, following afar off without personal religion, the fault lies in human instrumentalities without living connection with God. That deficiency in the churches is explained by a deficiency in the ministry that has failed to educate in vital principles and to bring the Word to bear on life through practical religion and faithful labor leading to deep experience, not by eloquent sermons alone. The work is not merely to preach truth but to watch for souls as those who must render account, to reprove, rebuke and exhort with longsuffering and doctrine, and to labor for the strength and unity of the church against diversity and division. Preaching is only a small part, for ministers are appointed and sent to minister and educate the people to be examples of piety rather than fighters, with workers in every department doing their own work. Those who enter with only a human commission educate themselves as debaters and produce churches showing a fighting character, proving hearts not right with God and only theory without true conversion and sanctification, and the near great issue will weed out whom God has not appointed, leaving a pure, true, sanctified ministry prepared for the latter rain.
The purpose is served when all workers faithfully teach the same truth, including the duty to return tithes and offerings to God, with those who first present truth and those who continue it urging the same obedience and giving plain instruction without neglect. Ministers have the sacred duty to give the flock meat in due season, to feed them and present essential truths, and Christ seeks to perfect His household through the perfection of its ministers. Those given teaching ability should exercise it rather than let administrative duties keep them from ministering, which develops the gift and benefits churches and themselves, with some teaching basic lessons while others teach more advanced lessons as people serve according to ability in shared growth. Bringing believers to character perfection, carrying on ministry, and building up the body is the united work of all who hold forth the Word of life, each doing a special part in a varied way until unity of faith, knowledge of the Son, full maturity, stability against false doctrine, and growth in love are reached. No one worker is to separate to labor alone over only the few brought to truth, claiming them as his own to train to perfection, and no man's ways are to be taken as perfect and copied exclusively, but an uplifted Saviour is to be kept before hearers so converts attach to Christ as example and not to a man.
The perfecting of the saints requires diverse instrumentalities acting together, not one man alone dealing with minds, for the Master Workman knows better than underlaborers what is needed and in providence brings different gifts with different aspects of truth to supplement one another, meet each soul's special case, arouse untouched hearts, and flash additional light. Therefore those who start an interest must not manage and mold it alone or treat indifferently those God sends, but must cordially receive, respect, encourage and unite with every new talent and humble laborer of greater or lesser ability and experience, lest the work be marred and the church be wrapped up in the first teacher and unable to be benefited by the very labor needed for its perfection. The work of ministry means making the burden of sinners perishing in sins one's own in sympathy with God, giving all the word to look to Jesus in faith and live, growing up into Christ the head with the whole body fitly joined and every part working to build itself up in love, no more children tossed by every wind of doctrine and cunning deceit. This requires ministers to examine their own hearts and to carry the gospel to all nations and peoples in meekness and lowliness with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love and keeping the unity of the Spirit in peace. The ministry is an order established by Christ, and those appointed to it are workers together with God to be respected, honored and loved, their influence and character giving evidence of calling.
These agencies — pastors, teachers, watchmen, shepherds, responsible ordained men and laborers — must be given honor, hearkened to for instruction, consulted for counsel, and cooperated with in harmony rather than passed by, despised, or acted independently of, for refusing them is working outside the Lord's agencies and on the enemy's side, producing strife, dissension, wounded souls and alienation. To neglect or despise appointed leaders to lead out and bear responsibilities for advancement and spread of truth as the ordained means for help, encouragement and strength, and to think light must come only directly from God, repeats the insubordination by which angels very beautiful and glorious yet dependent on God for happiness, light and intelligence fell in wanting independence, placing a person where he is liable to deception and overthrow. When professed believers oppose the gifts including instruction through vision that comforts believers and fight against the visions, souls are endangered and the weak may be led astray, and God's people must not cringe and yield liberty to such disaffected ones but must labor with them. Slighting and neglecting gifts living in the church brings the frown upon the people, while graciously reviving them brings smiles and mercy, for their work is to encourage the desponding and fainting soul and to correct and reprove the erring. As Christ's representatives ministers call people to be reconciled to God in teaching and serving that equips and strengthens the church, carrying grave responsibility that needs wisdom and power from above.
Each person has work assigned by God according to ability and grace, and doing that work fulfills part of the plan, with different workers and instrumentalities recognized for equipping saints, carrying out ministry, and building up the body. No one is required to take up another's work, do work untrained and uneducated for, or dictate to workers whose duties are not understood, for seeing only the part of the vineyard where he works he will enlarge where he should retrench and retrench where he should enlarge, and each is to faithfully cultivate talents to return to God. Not all can be medical missionaries in the full sense, for some must train to be faithful ministers and skillful shepherds bringing meat in due season for sheep and lambs, each cultivating an assigned part of the vineyard according to ability. The work is not meant to rest on one person alone or allow one to become sole head of an institution under Christ the head, but different people have appointed places and responsibilities to work together, and taking on unassigned responsibilities can crowd out sharing truth and preparing people for the coming crisis. Every worker from the lowliest to the most highly educated and efficient has a necessary place in soul-saving, and all are to advance together in harmony, with workers brought in to help carry forward what others began rather than assuming that starting a work fits one to lead it through every stage.
The church is built up as members work together with differing gifts helping meet deficiencies, and no one should assume personal talent or position fits him to work independently or occupy the highest responsibility, as ministry continues toward unity in faith and knowledge of Christ and mature likeness to Him. Christ gives special work not the same for everyone, and the Spirit impresses each to go to particular places and do particular work, so human authority must not arbitrarily forbid what God directed. People with different gifts need not agree on every point of doctrine to be united by the Spirit in winning souls, preserving unity by meekness, forbearance and love rather than wasting time in disputes while people are in danger. Medical missionary work and gospel ministry belong together as one united ministry toward unity and maturity, and must remain connected rather than separating workers from their field, with workers in each trained to understand and cooperate with the other and the Spirit bringing balance so every line advances solidly. Medical work is ministry in a high sense, for the gospel includes both presenting sanctifying truths and ministering to the sick as Christ did, caring for soul salvation as fully as gospel ministry does, and the variety of gifts is to blend in united service with ministers benefiting from understanding health.
An evangelist is a teacher who should also be a medical missionary, and medical missionary workers are gospel workers coming under the head of evangelists, since all are not given the same work. God assigns work to each according to ability so ministry does not rest on a few while others carry no responsibility, equipping workers and distributing work rather than requiring ceaseless toil from a small number. Those who shepherd the people are to awaken saints to duty and set many to work, the saints being prepared as they take part in serving and winning souls, and Christians are not to remain spectators but take part in systematic work connected with the church, with baptism pledging them to do what they can to strengthen it. At camp meetings faithful workers are to minister toward the perfecting of the saints, helping believers become mature in faith and service within the broad work for religious gifts and workers. Church members are to be equipped through instruction and practical training in missionary work developing their talents to serve both church and unbelievers so the church can be built up.
Ministers are to help build up churches and keep them in order with wholehearted service, undivided interest, steady zeal, patience and perseverance, their efforts building up the body and not exalting themselves. God appoints apostles, pastors, evangelists and teachers to prepare saints for ministry and build up the church until unity in the faith, and this calls for continual growth in which workers correct deficiencies, advance in faith, unity and likeness to Christ, guard sacred interests from weakening evils, and work wisely in the light so the church advances toward heaven and becomes more distinct from the world. The Lord teaches through appointed human agencies and the work of teaching is to continue until the work is finished, with the message entrusted to be proclaimed in united labor without obstructing one another. The teaching was given through one speaking under inspiration who had received instruction in holy vision, distributing gifts and offices to mature the people, prepare them for service, and build up the body until all come into unity of faith and knowledge of the Son and grow to full manhood, with God giving every man his own work in which each fulfills part of the great plan. Different gifts are given so believers can work together and strengthen the church, no one being sufficient alone, and humility with willingness to work in harmony prepares a people for the soon coming, while ministry remains needed even by those instructed in present truth lest growth remain incomplete and superficial.
Practical Christian Cooperation
The perfecting described requires walking in a worthy manner with lowliness, meekness, longsuffering and forbearing love in order to keep unity, and those who serve must depend on God rather than assume their gifts or wisdom make them sufficient. It leads believers toward unity in faith and knowledge of the Son of God, toward maturity in Christ, and toward steadiness against deceptive teaching, while warning against dissension, faultfinding over brothers and sisters, spiritual blindness, and determined following of one's own way. Refusal to be brought down to a negative level belongs to keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Each member is to live and act individually before God, forming a symmetrical character by loving God supremely and neighbor as self. That character is formed by putting away selfishness, self-sufficiency, self-esteem, jealousy, evil surmising and evil-speaking under the Holy Spirit, while conscientiously giving fellow laborers a place to work and encouraging one another. Recognizing that each serves in a different line under the same Spirit guards against rivalry, pride, envy and contempt while strengthening unity and mutual love. No one is to labor for supremacy with one eased and another burdened, and no one is to shirk responsibility and leave a heavy load on another while going lightly loaded himself. Every gift is precious in its place, and every worker is to cultivate personal piety with spirit, thoughts and words under subjection to Christ and do his best with devoted zeal.
Strife for supremacy, criticism and fault-finding of fellow workers, self-complacency, self-confidence and insistence on having one's own way and methods shut workers out from the one end of ministry and at last from the kingdom, forfeiting peace, faith and love. That end, the perfecting of believers and the building up of the body, is reached only by many laborers working together with gift blended with gift in unity. It is reached only where self dies, every root of bitterness is killed, the will is surrendered to Christ's method, self is emptied and lost in infinite love, and the soul knows the love of Christ and becomes complete in Him. As members are brought into harmony, trained and disciplined by the Spirit, and freed from selfishness and divisive barriers, they help the church grow in spiritual maturity and become an instrument for converting sinners. Christians are to work together in obedience to the truth, grow toward perfection of character, and lead others to Christ.
The perfecting of the whole body is the unity required in service, with Christians doing their work whatever it may be in the unity of the Spirit. One in whose heart Christ abides recognizes Christ abiding in the heart of his brother, for Christ never wars against Christ and never exerts an influence against Christ. This perfecting means the church is purified, refined and ennobled as members cast from their hearts the idols that hindered advancement in spirituality, and by the influence of the Spirit even the most discordant are brought into harmony. The work leads toward stability so believers are united, mature and no longer vulnerable to deceptive teaching and deceitful craftiness. It is a warning every soul must take, meaning setting the churches in order and closing the door of unbelief, urgent because seducing power will increase until, if possible, even the elect are deceived, and because those who do not make straight paths for their feet turn the weak out of the way.
Every facility has been provided for God's purchased possession to grow into a holy temple unto the Lord, complete in Him, with perfect character, coming off more than conqueror through the merits of Christ. Each person is only one member of the body under Christ as the one Head and Master, controlled by the Holy Spirit, never to seek to be controlled by men and never to be an independent whole with any human master. Unity is kept only as the different members each do their own office, whether preaching the word, teaching, practicing as a physician, cultivating the soil, following a trade, acting in councils, or going to foreign lands. In that office each looks to God as Companion, Counselor, Guide, Helper and Friend, never going beyond His domain, giving all tact and strength of mind and heart and body and doing his best, keeping clean and unspotted from the world.
Officers are appointed as co-workers with God for edification, and mothers and fathers who are doers of God's Word are part of that body. As part of the body they nurture and admonish their children in accordance with God's Word, raising up a little army to stand under Christ's banner, showing to the world as God's witnesses that they are under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, with Christ as their pattern, and educating their children to know God. God imparts different gifts to different ones so that workers feel their need of one another. The gifts are bestowed to be employed in His service for the good of all by representing truth, not to glorify the possessor, not to uplift man, but to uplift the Redeemer, and His people are to help one another in doing their various duties and in faithfully finishing the work given them to do.
Every faithful worker ministers for the perfecting of the saints, and all who have been benefited by the labors of God's servant should unite with him according to their ability in working for the salvation of souls. This is the work of all true believers, ministers and people, who should keep the grand object ever in view, each seeking to fill his proper position in the church, and all working together in order, harmony and love. The religion of Christ is not selfish or narrow but diffusive and aggressive, so its servants spread the knowledge of the truth far and near with zeal, earnestness and devotion, yet do not neglect to labor for the strength and unity of the church. Each worker, from the lowliest to the most highly educated and efficient, has a place in the work of saving souls, and all are to advance the work together in harmony. The Lord will take men now looked upon as common and put His words of warning into their lips, as all prepare to become intelligent teachers so believers are no more children tossed to and fro by deceit but grow up into Christ the head.
Gifts placed in the church are to be valued and used as believers take their part in the work appointed, and the church is perfected as people serve according to their abilities, some teaching basic lessons while others teach more advanced lessons. The church is to be perfected through a well-ordered life and godly speech. Workers learn these lessons by being much in prayer, coming right to the point in public prayer with heartfelt simplicity, praying with confidence as the Spirit indites petitions and claiming promises with faith. Then the congregation knows prevailing prayer has been learned, is encouraged that the Lord is present, opens hearts to receive rich blessing, trusts the sincerity of the worker, and listens with willing ears to instruction.
Living by the Bible makes believers strong in the Lord, while bringing in personal ideas and opinions misleads others, and holding to what God has said makes them laborers together with Christ. The perfecting means working like soldiers in an army in perfect harmony and order, each standing in his lot and place, not stepping out of the ranks to work on his own account and not pressing forward where not wanted to interrupt and divert from the work that must be done. It requires correction of mistakes and reorganization, with prayer and searching of heart, opening doors for the salvation of souls that His people may cooperate with Him. As the commands of Christ are obeyed in unity moving forward together, the salvation of God will be seen.