Functioning Gifts

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     Do you know what a metronome is? The word is a combined form of the Greek metron, measure, and nomos, law. A metronome is a device to measure time, especially in music. Perhaps you have seen a little triangular case sitting on a piano, with a waving pendulum which can be seen by an amateur player, who can develop a proper sense of rhythm by timing his beat with the sweep back and forth of the arm. I mention this because the word metron occurs in the original of Ephesians 4:7, "But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ."

     This is an important statement. It is important not merely because it originated with the Holy Spirit. It is significant because of its content and meaning. The theme of the chapter is the unity of the Spirit. We have just learned of the seven things which create and make possible that unity which we are told to guard within the bond of peace. The word for bond is sundesmos, that which binds together. It was used for a rope to bind limbs together to be carried home for fuel. It was also used for the chain with which prisoners were linked together. Peace is the chain which holds us all together. It is our heritage when we are justified by a faith which binds us to Jesus. The unity is the gift of the Spirit. Peace is the result of forgiveness which makes hostility no longer necessary.

     So we have seven things in common. But in addition to these things provided by divine love, each of us receives grace in a special way. We are one body but we are individually members of it. Each of us is given grace to enable him to function in his capacity. The arm must receive grace to function as an arm. The eye must receive grace to function as an eye. All of the members are essential. No one was added to the body as a mere afterthought. No one is a parasite.

     We have one Spirit but he dwells in each of us. The gift of the Spirit is to every person who is in Christ, but it is because every one has the Spirit that we have him in common. There is one faith but we embrace it as individuals. There is one baptism but we submit to it personally. There is a grace that is common to all but it is because each of us is given grace.

     The word for grace is charis. It is from this we have charisma, which refers to a grace-gift, that is, a gift which one cannot earn or secure by effort or practice. Any gift freely bestowed by God is a gift of the Spirit, regardless of how it is communicated to the recipient. That is why I object to designating any period of time "a charismatic age."

     There is no such thing as a charismatic age, for the simple reason that there is no non-charismatic age. There has never been a time when the will of God was not enhanced and promoted by gifts of grace. A gift is not charismatic because of its nature, method of reception, or effect, but because of its origin. It is charismatic be-

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cause it is a gift of charis, grace. In Romans 12:6-8 is given a list of gifts differing according to the grace that is given unto us. These gifts are called charismata in the original. They include gifts of prophecy, administration, instruction, exhortation, liberality in giving, supervision, and succoring the afflicted and needy.

     The man who has the enviable gift of understanding and relieving the needy is "charismatic" as surely as one who has the gift of prophecy. The one who can give cheerfully and freely as his contribution to the work of the saints is "charismatic." So is the gifted teacher or exhorter. In view of this, I am not turned on by such expressions as "The Spirit is working again in our time." The Spirit has never ceased working. Any theory which conveys the idea that the Holy Spirit was "on the ball" for a few hundred years, and then started relaxing and laying low for a few centuries is a mistake. The Holy Spirit has always been active in the universe. He is not more so now than he has been in the past.

     Our problem is that the church, which gets out of tune with God, periodically becomes so dead, sterile and unfruitful that the constituents die on the vine. They are so dehydrated and dried up on the inside that even a crusade or rally does little good. The people who "rally" are the ones who never miss anything. They are busy all of the time. When the folk get to the end of their tether and begin to agonize internally and call upon God and throw themselves upon his mercy, and commit themselves unto him in desperation, something starts happening.

     What happens is confused with "the power beginning to flow again." This is a little ridiculous. The same thing could have happened in any age since Jesus sat down on the throne. The power has been there all of the time. No one was plugging into it because they were trusting in their own power. When you plug in the percolator and it begins to perk it is not necessary to conclude that a divine electrician has just turned on the energy by pulling a master switch at the heavenly power plant. The power has always been there.

     The gifts of God are varied. Paul wrote to a congregation which came behind in no gift and told them that the ability to restrain sexual passion, making marriage unnecessary was a charisma of God. But he also implied that the gift of sexual need which could be gratified in marriage was a charisma. "I would that everybody lived as I do; but each of us has his own special gift from God--one in one direction and one in another" (1 Corinthians 7:7). It is quite evident to me that my gift is not in the same direction as was that of Paul.

     I rather suspect that it is a gift of God to be able to divest yourself of all earthly possessions and give the entire proceeds to the poor. Perhaps the same is true of going cheerfully to the stake and giving your body to be burned. Certainly these two are listed in conjunction with the gifts of tongues, prophecy, knowledge and the faith which can move mountains (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). If they are charismata, the one who can vow to remain in poverty should not expect every other person to do so. Nor should the one who uses the things of this world, not abusing them, look down upon those who disclaim a need of them, and even renounce them. I would hope that a man who has the gift of giving every bit of his goods to feed the poor while living in a tent with a dirt floor, would marry a girl with the same gift.

     I really doubt that there is such a thing as a non-charismatic member of the one body. If I am correct, it is not necessary to run around and tell everyone you are charismatic. "To everyone of us is given grace." Note that it is always given "in accordance with the measure of the gift of Christ." Weymouth renders this, '"measured out with the munificence of Christ." The Authentic Version reads, "And to each one of us there is granted some favor, corresponding to the extent of Christ's bounty." The New English Version has it, "But each one of us has been given a gift, his due portion of Christ's bounty."

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     The record in the verse under consideration says that to every one of us is given grace (charis), according to the measure (metron) of the gift (dorea) of Christ." W. E. Vine in his Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says of dorea that it "denotes a free gift, stressing its gratuitous character; it is always used in the N. T. of a spiritual or supernatural gift." In this passage, he says, "the gift is that given by Jesus Christ." The whole point Paul is making is that Jesus is a Lord who bestows gifts. He did not just give himself, but he gives of himself, of his bounty.

     "Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men" (Ephesians 4:8).

     This is a free translation of Psalm 68:18. The expression "he saith" can better be understood if we read "David said," or "The scripture said." Paul lifts the quote to apply to three actions of Jesus--he ascended to the Father, he led a multitude of captives in his train, and he bestowed gifts upon men. At this juncture the apostle inserts a parenthetical statement identifying Jesus as the one who first descended into the lower parts of the earth and then ascended up far above all heavens. This he did that he might "fill all things." This means that both the descent from heaven to be with man and the ascent into heaven to be with God were essential to the qualification required to supply every need and furnish every gift required for the growth and perfection of all.

     Recently I heard a brother on the radio who was sawing away at the traditional explanation which has, in some places, become a part of what may be properly called "Church of Christism." This is the collection of opinions, deductions and explanations which have become so much a part of the dogmatic declarations of members of the Church of Christ, that it is accepted as being the will of God, and any contrary opinion is regarded as heresy or "liberalism" in the quaint and eccentric vocabulary adopted or invented by our brethren.

     The brother was bent on proving that what he called "the age of miracles" had passed away. He was especially zeroing in on the gift of tongues. He insisted that Ephesians 4:11 taught that some "miraculous gifts," as he referred to them, were given to apostles, some to prophets, some to evangelists and teachers, until we all come to the unity of the faith. The faith was God's revelation. The unity of the faith was the completion of the apostolic writings. Therefore, when the new covenant scriptures were completed the gifts passed away.

     This constitutes a prime example of what happens when men desperately strive to validate an opinion and make it "scripturally sound." The brother was wrong on every count. He couldn't have missed it farther if he had been blind-folded and fired at random. The faith, in this context, does not refer to the scriptures at all. The unity of the faith is not the completed canon after it had been argued about for a century or so. The gifts were not given to the apostles and prophets. The apostles and prophets were the gifts that were given.

     Of course, we must not conclude that the translators appointed by King James I to prepare a revised version which he could authorize to be read in the Church of England, said that Jesus gave some gifts to apostles, some to prophets, etc. They did not put that in the passage. It remained for our brethren, caught up in the prooftext syndrome, to put that kind of slant on it. Such explanations do not

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so much depend for their effect upon the knowledge of the exposition as upon the ignorance of the auditors. I think it is a good thing for a lot of us that we live among spiritual illiterates. In the land of the blind a one-eyed man can be king!

     I have remarked before, and I repeat, that any argument which depends for its force and validity upon only one version should probably be suspect. That is why by the simple expedient of reading more than one rendering of a passage one can often be spared from making an egregious error. I just threw that "egregrious" in because it means "conspicuous for its bad quality." I guess all errors are bad enough, but some of them are worse than others, because they have been used to hound brethren out who were nearer right than the "hounders." Here is the way the passage under consideration appears in some other renderings.

     "And these were his gifts: some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers." (The New English Bible).

     "And He Himself appointed some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers" (The Modern Speech New Testament).

     "And he has given some men as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as shepherds and teachers" (The New Testament in Plain English).

     "And he it is who gave to the Church apostles, prophets, missionaries, pastors and teachers" (The Twentieth Century New Testament).

     "And he gave some to be apostles, and some, prophets; and some, evangelists, and some, pastors and teachers" (American Revised Version).

     "And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers" (Revised Standard Version).

     "And he gave to the Church some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers" (William Barclay).

     Whatever else may be involved, this passage does not refer to bestowing "spiritual gifts" upon apostles, prophets, evangelists, etc. For that reason it has not one thing to do with the cessation of those gifts. Whether they ceased or whether they did not is not alluded to in this verse. Some brethren are so uptight about the need for proving spiritual gifts have been abrogated that every time they see the word "gifts" they latch on to it and work it into their sermon outlines. At that, it may not be much farther off than some of the other things they include in those outlines.

     The called-out community was created to enable every person to develop to the fullest potential in service to others. This meant that training was required. Accordingly, Jesus bestowed upon the community, as his gifts, special functionaries to equip and develop all of the members of the body, so it could be edified or built up "by the effectual functioning of every part." M. R. Vincent says in his Word Studies in the New Testament, "Christ's ministers are gifts to his people."

     There were four categories of special servants bestowed as gifts. The record does not say, "He gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors, and some to be teachers." He gave some to be pastors and teachers. The word "and" is from an original which joins two words, the latter of which defines or explains the former. We should read, "He gave some to be pastors, even teachers." The pastors are the teachers. They are the elders, or bishops, and their duty is to instruct and train the gathered flock, to feed the sheep of God

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as shepherds. Do not forget that these offices are not positions. They are functions.

     Moses was an apostle of God under the old covenant. His commission is found in Exodus 3:10, "Come now, and I will send thee." Jesus is the apostle and high priest of our profession (Hebrews 3:1). "He was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all God's house."

     There were twelve apostles of Christ. They were his special envoys, first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and then to the whole world. They are unique and referred to as the twelve. They sit upon twelve thrones. Judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28). There are only twelve thrones and there are only twelve apostles. Their names are engraved upon the twelve foundations of that great city, the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:14). They are "the twelve apostles of the Lamb." In spite of some modern teaching to the contrary, there are no modern apostles of Christ Jesus, no new ambassadors.

     Any person sent forth upon a special mission by a congregation was an apostle of that congregation. This is true whether he was designated an apostle or not. Several such persons are named in the scriptures. In that sense, of course, there are apostles today. Our word "missionary" is applicable when such a person is sent on his way by others.

     Sometimes we are asked why, if we have evangelists and teaching pastors in the body now, we do not have apostles and prophets. We do! What was said by Paul in a wholly different context may well apply here. "For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable." We have the same apostles and prophets the reconciled community has always had, else we are a temple without a foundation. As surely as Christ is still the chief cornerstone, that surely the apostles and prophets are still in the foundation. And it is a living foundation!

     The office is still there, but the apostles and prophets had no successors, for the simple reason that they fulfilled their function. They were the recipients of God's revelation. That which was a mystery, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, was revealed to the apostles and prophets by the Spirit (Eph. 3:5). The mystery consisted of three parts, all related. The Gentiles would be fellow heirs. They would be members of the same body. They were to be partakers of the divine promise in Christ by the gospel, the good news of God's magnificent redeeming act. When that was fully revealed and the final triumph of the rule of heaven was assured, there was no further need of other apostles and prophets.

     God is not still laying the foundation. He is now building upon it and has been for centuries. To postulate that there are still apostles and prophets living among us is to imply that the mystery, the glorious secret, has not been fully declared. But Paul said it had been "now disclosed, and through prophetic scriptures by eternal God's command made known to all nations, to bring them to faith and obedience" (Romans 16:26).

     Even by the time Peter wrote, the func-

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tion of prophets was being displaced by that of teachers or instructors. "But there were false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you." There were prophets. There shall be teachers. If the office of the prophet was to continue why did the apostle make the distinction? W. E. Vine, in his Notes on Thessalonians (pages 196, 197) writes thus: "With the completion of the canon of Scripture prophecy apparently passed away, 1 Cor. 13:8, 9. In his measure the teacher has taken the place of the prophet. Compare the significant change in 2 Peter 2:1. The difference is that, whereas the message of the prophets was a direct revelation of the mind of God for the occasion, the message of the teacher is gathered from the completed revelation contained in the Scriptures."

     I do not believe there has been a single new truth revealed since the day that John wiped the ink from his reed pen on Patmos. The revelation of God was completed by "the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, which he sent and signified by his angel unto his servant John." There is much truth yet to be discovered, but discovery is not revelation. Discovery is the result of man's probing. Revelation is the result of God's providing. I am content to build upon the foundation. I shall not attempt to add to it and I will resist the attempt of any other man to do so.

     There is nothing in the original word for preaching to indicate whether the news was good or bad. A herald might bring tidings of defeat and rout of the home forces. But the news to be announced or proclaimed about God's program was inevitably good and glad. So the word evangel was adopted. The evangel is announcement of victory in Jesus. The gospel is not a law. It is not a code of ethics. It is not a bill of particulars to regulate the conduct of life. It is not a compilation of things we are to do for God. The gospel is the good news of what God did for us, when we were helpless to do anything for ourselves.

     It is the declaration of the divine breakthrough. The Word became flesh. He brought his own tent and shared our pilgrim lot. He died for us. He was laid in a cold dark sepulcher. He arose again on the third day. He conquered the dread foe. He extracted the venom of death from the fangs of the serpent. That is the gospel. It is this which saves us if we keep it in memory. Praise God!

     The evangelist was essentially an itinerant. He took the news to those to whom it was news. It really isn't news when you've heard it five hundred times, even if it is given a different title to keep you awake until you find out it is the same thing with only the label changed. Good news is exciting, exhilirating, effervescent, and world-shaking. There is not too much overwhelming joy in a diatribe on "Why We Sing and Do Not Play."

     When people enlisted and pledged allegiance to Jesus, the evangelist gathered them together, taught them, trained them, and developed them until men of stature in their own number could shepherd and feed them, then he moved on to new fields to repeat the process. That is no longer the way we do it since we have "restored the Lord's church." We now have three kinds of preachers. They are evangelists, missionaries and ministers. If we happen to be members of the Christian Church we're liable to call these last "pastors." Some of them are so far afield

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they even call themselves that!

     In our day evangelists are men who travel around and hold meetings in the United States. Does anyone know what it means to "hold a meeting"? I had a letter from a good brother who is a "located evangelist" whatever that is, and he wanted to know if I could recommend a place where he might "preach a meeting"? What in the world is that? Missionaries, in our vernacular, are men who are sent to heathen countries like Canada and Great Britain, and supported by money from Texas. They might even be sent to North Dakota or Idaho. These are foreign countries to some folks who live in Tennessee.

     Ministers are men who are hired to serve a congregation. Sometimes there are five hundred people in it, who are unable to feed themselves and must secure a professional to throw down the fodder. Ministers must be subjected to a try-out in which they contest for the prize against others who are also vying for the job. In some places, the one who gets the job is the loser, and the one who does not is lucky. Ministers are to visit the sick, conduct funerals, listen to complaints, referee dog-fights among the sheep, and try to keep in good with the wives of the elders, so they do not have to move on down the valley. Most of them are not too successful and their theme song is the dirge "We are going down the valley one by one!"

     What we have now is Church of Christism. It is related to the primitive ekklesia and the ancient order of things in the same manner that the spirit of the United States in this generation is to the Declaration of Independence. We have what one good brother calls a "pattern theology." We have developed a pattern, made up of traditional interpretations and opinions, partly borrowed and pilfered from our sectarian neighbors, and we have stretched and warped the scriptures to cover it. Worse than that, we've got two-dozen different patterns, everyone of which is faithful to the Book, and no two of which agree.

     It is amazing how, after we drummed up our modern complicated scheme, we discovered that God had anticipated it all nineteen hundred years ago just like we created it. I have sad news for you. We have developed a first-class, dyed-in-the-wool, Grade-A clergy system. We will deny that, of course, until we die. But we have painted ourselves into a corner. We have been caught in our own snare. We have tripped over our own invention. And wonder of wonders, we now have evangelists evangelizing saved persons. It is enough to make angels weep and strong men bow themselves in shame, to see the corkscrew methods by which we try to validate something which God never revealed and no apostle ever conceived.

     Bishops are pastors because of the nature of their relationship to the saints under their care. The word literally means "one who tends a flock, a shepherd." In the imagery of the Near East in which God's revelation was given, the people of God were always spoken of as sheep. Those entrusted with their supervision have accordingly been regarded as shepherds, or pastors. In order to understand the function and responsibility of spiritual shepherds, one needs to know the work regarded as essential to the natural shepherd in the Oriental mind.

     Fortunately, the revelation of God makes both casual and direct reference to the responsibility of the shepherd in the natural and figurative settings. A good

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example is found in Jacob's protest to Laban, his father-in-law, who was a desert sheik in the land of Padan-aram. Of particular interest is the statement that for twenty years he endured the heat of the sun by day and the chill of the frost by night, and often went sleepless (Genesis 31:40). The welfare of the flock took precedence over his own ease and comfort.

     I suspect that Ezekiel 34 should be required reading for every bishop who is to shepherd God's people. This remarkable chapter shows that the shepherds are to encourage the sheep and not exploit them. The flock must not be regarded as a source of personal gain. Shepherds must feed the flock and not feed on them. The diseased are to be strengthened, the sick are to be healed, the broken bound up, that which is driven away brought back, the lost searched for and found.

     The charge made against the shepherds that they ruled with force and cruelty (verse 4) might well be made against many bishops in the Churches of Christ today. Men who are jealous of assumed authority make arbitrary decisions, create unwritten creeds of their opinions and decisions, and ride roughshod over those saints who seek to stand fast in the freedom wherewith Christ made them free. Despotic control takes the place of loving concern and guidance. Ignorance and arrogance sometimes go hand-in-hand. The saints of God are reduced to the status of serfs under feudal lords. The congregation becomes a fief.

     A good example of this is before me as I write. It consists of a letter of charges and accusations made against a man and his wife, humble saints in a congregation whose house of meeting they sacrificed to help erect. The letter is drawn up in cold legalistic language even while professing a love for the souls of the accused. They are promised no opportunity to present their defence before the saints with whom they have met for years. The case has been judged and the verdict reached. They are summoned to come forward and make a public acknowledgment of sin under penalty of being read out of the congregational association, or, as the letter so quaintly and unscripturally puts it, "the fellowship of the church will be withdrawn." Contained in the official document of censure is the threat that a copy of the action taken will be mailed to every other "loyal church" in the area.

     What are the grave offenses of which this rather aged couple are adjudged guilty? What are the heinous crimes they have committed? You will be inclined to disbelief when I tell you. One of the accusations is that the couple held Bible studies in their home without first consulting the elders and gaining their consent. Another, and I suspect that this is the crux of the matter, is that they passed copies of Mission Messenger along to some of the brethren. The funny thing about this is that two of the "official party papers" are kept in the tract rack in the foyer for any and all to pick up!

     No greater honor can come to a person than to be excluded by such a sectarian group because they would not submit their minds to the tyrannical imposition of men. To be set free from such a system is to be promoted in the kingdom of heaven. To submit to such injustice through craven fear is to be less than a disciple of Jesus, for a follower of Christ can acknowledge but one Lord.

     Having said this, I must add in all fairness to such elders, that they also are victims of "the System." The restoration movement, losing its way and forsaking its ideal, has now fractured into a bevy of little sects. This is especially true of those who renounce the employment of instrumental music in conjunction with their public praise. These parties have little in common except a mutual adherence to immersion as essential to entrance into the fellowship and a mutual rejection of the instrument as essential to remaining in it. Each party has hoisted its own standard around which its members must encamp. The duty of the elders is to guard against erosion of the unwritten creed which is the official loyalty test, the term of communion or fellowship. The chief concern, therefore, is not for persons but

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for the status quo. Persons are valuable and worthy only as they support the party position.

     This is the price to be paid for losing the marvelous concept of a divine family consisting of brothers and sisters, and substituting a hardboiled institution or organization made up of dues-paying constituents who must come through under penalty of hell. In such an arrangement the love of the flock gives way to the law of the pack. The overseers cease to be encouragers by example and become enforcers by authority. The love letters of the Spirit are no longer a staff upon which to lean during the pilgrimage but a policeman's truncheon with which to batter into submission those who insist upon personally digesting their pasturage.

     Will the situation ever change? Of course it will. Such things always work their own rebuke. Already there are signs everywhere that revolution is taking place in the hearts and minds of men. Tomorrow is going to be brighter than today. The young men and women of the now generation who have caught the ideal of love will be the leaders of tomorrow. They will change things in God's good time. That is why I am content to labor and to wait!