richardwbelcher

Evangelist, Evangeloen, & Evangelizo

Another of the gifts to the body of Christ is the evangelist.  In the church we have people that are identified as evangelists.  Most view them as full-time ministers who go to various locations and preach revival messages. The noun evangelist occurs only three times in the New Testament [Eph 4:11, Acts 21:8, and  2Tim 4:5] and is defined as a “good news bearer”.

Because Phillip is designated as an evangelist, his preaching to the Ethiopian Eunuch has apparently led to the notion that evangelists travel and introduce others to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This IS part of the picture.  However, if evangelists are gifts to the Body of Believers, then the emphasis on their ministry does not fit the Ephesians 4:8-13 passage.  Building a definition of evangelism and evangelizing is important because Jesus’ commission includes “Go into all the world and preach (G2785) the gospel (G2098) [Mark 16:13].

 

The Mission of the Apostle

 The missionary is defined as a person sent by a church into an area to carry on evangelism or other activities.  They generally have a mission or a calling; hence the designation “missionary.”  The word does not occur in the Bible as such, although missions are defined by the context of sending for a task.

   A word for “sent ones” does exist in the Bible.  It is the word apostle, and it is derived from the Greek word for sent, a fact is easily established by a word study. Most Christians understand the reference to the Twelve Apostles whom Jesus chose.  Acts 15:4 separates those apostles from church elders.  “And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.”  Some today think that the term apostle was reserved for the first century church because it only refers to those who have seen Jesus (see Acts 1:21). 

     However when Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:11 “Christ gave indeed the apostles; and the prophets; and the evangelists; and the pastors and teachers” was he referring to the Twelve only?  I do not think so for the following reasons. 

The Church and Ministry

Ephesians 4:11-12  [Christ gave gifts unto men.]  He gave indeed  the apostles; and the prophets; and the evangelists; and the pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of saints, for work in the ministry, for the edifying in the body of Christ:

 

 This is the first in what will be a series about the “gifts” that Christ has given to the church for its perfecting [i.e. for individual Christian growth].  The apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are those gifts.  I have heard several sermons about this “five-fold ministry” which gave me a religious view on this subject that, frankly, does not match what the scripture indicates.  I am reformulating what I used to think.

 

 One sermon involved the word “some” as in “He gave some of each”.  While this conclusion may be valid, the Greek Interlinear Bible indicates that the KJV could have used a better translation.  The first word translated as “some” is the word for indeed (G3303) and the other words translated “some” are the conjunction de ((G1161) and the demonstrative article (G3588).  Therefore I have edited the verse above to reflect these facts from the original Greek.  Christ has given indeed the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors as well as teachers to the body of believers.

Part One Atlanta Live Interview

Here's Part One of the Atlanta Live interview I did this month.

Part Two Atlanta Live Interview

Here is Part Two of the interview I did on Atlanta Live.