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Eph_4:11.[214] And he has, etc. From the general πληροῦν τὰ πάντα , Eph_4:10, there is now brought into prominence in reference to the church, with a retrospective glance at Eph_4:7, the special point with which the apostle was here concerned, in order to give the clinching argument to his exhortation as to the keeping of the unity of the Spirit. Christ, who has ascended from the lowest depth to the loftiest height, in order to fill all things, precisely He, has—such is His autonomy in His church—given the different teachers and leaders of the church, until we all shall have attained to the unity of the faith, etc.
We are not to treat as a parenthesis either Eph_4:8-10 (Griesbach and others) or Eph_4:9-10 (Koppe), since the continuation of the discourse with καὶ αὐτός emphatically attaches itself to the preceding αὐτός .
ἔδωκε ] is not, any more than at Eph_1:22, equivalent to ἔθετο (Theophylact and many, including Meier, Harless, Baumgarten-Crusius), seeing that, in fact, the giving in the proper sense, to which Paul here looks back, has preceded, and Christ has in reality given the apostles, etc., to the church,[215] namely, through the specific charismatic endowment and, respectively also, by His own immediate calling ( ἀποστόλους ) of the persons in question. Calvin rightly remarks on ἔδωκε : “quia nisi excitet, nulli erunt.” This raising up and granting of the appropriate persons for the perfecting of the church as His body, not the institution of a spiritual office in itself, which as such has exclusively to administer His means of grace, is here ascribed to Christ. Comp. (in opposition to Münchmeyer) Hofmann, Schriftbew. II. 2, p. 283 ff.; Müller in the Deutsche Zeitschr. 1852, No. 21. The appointing to the service of the individual congregations (as ποιμένας καὶ διδασκ .) of such persons given by Christ lay in the choice of the congregations themselves, which choice, conducted by apostles or apostolic men, Act_14:23, took place under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Act_20:28. Thus Christ gave the persons, and the community gave to them the service. As regards the time of the ἔδωκε , it is to be observed that this was indeed a potiori the time after the ascension (among the apostles in the narrower sense, also as respects Matthias and Paul), but that, as was obvious for the readers, the earlier appointment of the original apostles was not thereby excluded. The latter, namely, are not alone meant by ἀποστόλους , but (comp. on 1Co_15:7) also men like Barnabas and James the Lord’s brother must be reckoned among them.
The order in which they are brought up is such, that those not assigned to a single church precede ( ἀποστ ., προφ ., εὐαγγ .), and these are arranged in the order of rank. Hence the ΠΟΙΜΈΝΕς , because belonging to particular churches, had to follow, and it is without reason that a Montanistic depreciation of the bishops (Baur) is found here.
ΤΟῪς ΜῈΝ ἈΠΟΣΤΌΛΟΥς ] some as apostles. Their characteristics are their immediate calling by Christ, and their destination for all nations. Comp. on 1Co_12:28.
προφήτας ] As to these speakers, who, on the receipt of revelation and through the Holy Spirit, wrought with highly beneficial effect, yet without ecstasy, who likewise in Eph_3:5 are mentioned after the apostles, see on 1Co_12:10; Act_11:27.
ΕὐΑΓΓΕΛΙΣΤΆς ] who ΠΕΡΙΪΌΝΤΕς ἘΚΉΡΥΤΤΟΝ , Theodoret (see Nösselt, ad Theodoret. p. 424); missionary assistants to the apostles. See on Act_21:8. Oecumenius would, at variance with the context (for Paul is speaking only of the exercise of teaching in the church), and probably also at variance with history (at least as regards our canonical gospels), understand the authore of the Gospels, which is adduced as possible also by Chrysostom.
τοὺς δὲ ποιμένας καὶ διδασκ .] denotes not the presbyters and deacons (Theophylact), nor the presbyters and exorcists (Ambrosiaster), nor yet the presbyters and teachers as two separate offices (Beza, Calvin, Zanchius, Grotius, Calixtus, and others, including de Wette), the latter in the sense of 1Co_12:28; but, as the non-repetition of τοὺς δέ shows, the presbyters and teachers as the same persons, so that the presbyters are designated by ποιμένας in stated figurative appellation (1Pe_5:2; Act_20:28; Joh_21:15 ff.) with reference to their function of guiding oversight over doctrine, life, and order in the church, consequently as ἐπίσκοποι (see on Act_20:28, and Ch. F. Fritzsche, in Fritzschior. Opusc. p. 42 ff.); and by διδασκάλους , with reference to their function of teaching. We may add, that the διδάσκαλοι were not, as such, at the same time presbyters, for the ΔΙΔΑΧΉ was imparted by a special ΧΆΡΙΣΜΑ , which even ordinary members of the church might possess (1Co_14:26); but every presbyter was at the same time ΔΙΔΆΣΚΑΛΟς , and had to be endowed with this ΧΆΡΙΣΜΑ ; hence Paul here puts together ποιμένας καὶ διδασκάλους , and, 1Ti_3:2, it is laid down as the requirement of an ἘΠΊΣΚΟΠΟς that he should be ΔΙΔΑΚΤΙΚΌς .
Comp. Tit_1:9. See also Augustine, Ep. lix. Comp. Jerome: “Nemo … pastoris sibi nomen assumere debet, nisi possit docere quos pascit.” 1Ti_5:17 is not opposed to this (see Huther in loc.).
[214] See Schott, Progr. quo locus Pauli Ephes. iv. 11 seq., breviter explic., Jen. 1830.
[215] Observe the importance, for the continued appointment of the ministers in the church, of the conception of the matter implied in ἔδωκε . Christ gives the ministers of the church; the church takes those given, and places them in the service of the church. Thus the church (or whoever has to represent the rights and duties of the church) has not in any way arbitrarily to choose the subjects, but to discern those endowed by Christ as those thereby given to it by Him, to acknowledge and to induct them into the ministry; hence the highest idea of the ecclesiastical scrutiny is, to test whether the persons in question have been given by Christ, without prejudice, we may add, to the other existing requirements of ecclesiastical law.