The Faulty Foundation of the Five-Fold Ministry

by Robert M. Bowman, Jr.

It has recently become popular to speak of “the five-fold ministry,” a system of church government with apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.

The neo-Pentecostal “Restoration” movement and its offshoot, “kingdom now” teaching, claims that one of the things which God is “restoring” to the church is this five-fold ministry. …The sole proof text used to support this concept is Ephesians 4:11-13…11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.…It states that Christ gave “some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,…until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the full knowledge of the Son of God.” The word “until,”it is argued, proves that the church today needs apostles and prophets as much as evangelists, pastors, and teachers. However, it is the “building up” of the church (v.12) which must continue until the church is mature, not all five of the offices listed in verse 11. This is clear when the whole text is read as follows: “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers; [these offices were given] to equip the saints for the work of service, [which work has as its goal] to build up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith…” The offices of apostle and prophet would naturally cease in the church once their role in “equipping the saints” was completed; that is, once the New Testament canon was completed.

Some have objected that there is no reason to bracket off the apostles and prophets from the other three offices listed in verse 11. …However, in the very same epistle, Paul states inEphesians. 2:20 that the church His house20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.” …and that Christ’s mystery concerning the church was “revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit” Ephesians. 3:5…5 God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets.

These statements indicate that the role of apostles and prophets was fulfilled in the first century.

The New Testament is particularly clear about the temporary role of the apostles, since they were chosen to give eyewitness testimony of the risen Christ …Acts 1:21-26…21 "So now we must choose a replacement for Judas from among the men who were with us the entire time we were traveling with the Lord Jesus- 22 from the time he was baptized by John until the day he was taken from us. Whoever is chosen will join us as a witness of Jesus' resurrection."23 So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias.24 Then they all prayed, "O Lord, you know every heart. Show us which of these men you have chosen25 as an apostle to replace Judas in this ministry, for he has deserted us and gone where he belongs."26 Then they cast lots, and Matthias was selected to become an apostle with the other eleven.…Acts 5:32…32 We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him."…Luke 1:1-4…Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. 2 They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples.[a] 3 Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write an accurate account for you, most honorable Theophilus, 4 so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught.…Am I not as free as anyone else? Am I not an apostle? Haven't I seen Jesus our Lord with my own eyes? Isn't it because of my work that you belong to the Lord?.…Paul indicated that he was the last person to see the risen Christ and receive an apostolic commission …1 Cor. 15:8…8 Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him.…The epistles of 2 Peter and Jude, among the very last New Testament writings to be penned, exhort the readers to avoid false doctrines by recalling the teachings of the apostles…2 Pet. 1:12-15…12 Therefore, I will always remind you about these things-even though you already know them and are standing firm in the truth you have been taught.13 And it is only right that I should keep on reminding you as long as I live.[a] 14 For our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that I must soon leave this earthly life,[] 15 so I will work hard to make sure you always remember these things after I am gone.…2 Pet. 2:1…But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves.…2 Pet. 3:2…2 I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles.…2 Pet. 14-16…14 And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.15 And remember, our Lord's patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him- 16 speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.…Jude 3-4, 17…3 Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. 4 I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God's marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ├ö├ç┬¬├ö├ç┬¬├ö├ç┬¬.17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ:

…Peter and Jude did not say, “Listen to the apostles living today,” but instead urged believers to “remember what the apostles said.”

I am not arguing that only the Twelve and Paul were apostles. Barnabas (Acts 14:14), Silas (1 Thess. 2:6; cf. 1:1), and Andronicus and Junia (Rom. 16:7) all were apostles of Christ, and thus were no doubt among the more than 500 witnesses to the Resurrection (1 Cor. 15:6). However, none of these persons was chosen as a successor to an earlier apostle (Matthias was Judas’s replacement, not his successor, since Judas had forsaken his apostleship, Acts 1:21-26).

There are other senses in which the word “apostle” is used in the New Testament. Certain individuals, including Epaphroditus, were “apostles of the churches” (2 Cor. 8:23; Phil. 2:25). These “apostles” had no authority over the church; they were messengers sent by and subject to their churches. In this latter sense it would be perfectly legitimate to speak of church representatives as “apostles,” were it not for the confusion which might result from such usage.

Therefore, in the usual biblical sense of the term, there are no apostles today. …Nor are there any prophets in the usual sense, as they were part of the “foundation” laid in the first-century church.…This is not to deny the continuing validity of the gift of “prophecy,” since Paul does refer to prophesying as a basic activity in which all Christians are urged to participate to the extent God gifts them (Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 11:4-5; 12:10; 13:2, 8-9; 14:1-6, 20-33; 1 Thess. 5:20), and in a general functional sense persons exercising this gift are even called “prophets” (1 Cor. 14:32,37). Yet Paul also speaks of specific persons who occupied an office of “prophet” which was second in authority only to apostle (1 Cor. 12:28-29). It is this office of “prophet,” not all prophecy, which I am arguing passed away around the end of the first century.

Finally, some errors on this matter are worse than others. The loose use of the world “apostle” to refer to missionaries or church planters is not a serious error as long as this usage is sharply distinguished from the concept of an apostle who brings new doctrinal revelations and wields unquestionable authority. Nor is it a grievous error to interpret Ephesians 4:11 to refer to “apostles” in this sense of a church planter. The same would apply to those who hold that Ephesians 4:11 refers to the ongoing charismatic activity of prophesying. I do believe these interpretations are mistaken, but they are not in any way antagonistic to Christian faith.

On the other hand, to interpret Ephesians 4:11 as a call for a restoration of the office of apostle of Christ is not only a mistake in exegesis, it opens the door to heresy. …To claim that the church today needs visions and revelations through modern apostles and prophets of Christ is to deny the sufficiency of the Bible …2 Tim. 3:16…16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.…and to place the church at the mercy of false apostles, the likes of whom the apostle Paul warned us about in no uncertain terms …2 Cor. 11:13-15…13 These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.

The teachers of the “five-fold ministry,” in seeking to “restore” a foundation which has never been moved, are actually laying a false foundation which will not support the building up of the body of Christ.