Whose Ministry? a Re-appraisal of Ephesians 4:12

Eph. 4:12 consists of three prepositional phrases that indicate why Christ gave the Church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Recent translations take the second of the three phrases as dependent on the first, so that together the two phrases refer to the single purpose of equipp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Novum Testamentum 2005, Vol.47 (1), p.26-46
Main Author: Page, Sydney
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Apostles
Churches
Coordinate systems
Ephesians
Epistles
Exegesis and biblical criticism
History and sciences of religions
New Testament
Nouns
Prepositional phrases
Prepositions
Prophets
Religious buildings
St Paul
Verbs
Citations: Items that cite this one
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Summary:Eph. 4:12 consists of three prepositional phrases that indicate why Christ gave the Church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Recent translations take the second of the three phrases as dependent on the first, so that together the two phrases refer to the single purpose of equipping the saints for the work of ministry. However, a careful examination of the prepositions used in verse 12, the grammatical structure of the verse, the key terms found here, the literary context, and the way the text was understood by Chrysostom suggests that the three phrases ought to be seen as parallel to one another, in which case they describe three distinct purposes for the giving of the individuals mentioned in verse 11.
ISSN:0048-1009
1568-5365
0048-1009
DOI:10.1163/1568536053602631