Being the Brick Builder

What\’s wrong with this translation, you ask? Plenty.

One quick look at a Greek interlinear (http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/NTpdf/eph4.pdf)

will show the corruption. There are two different Greek words used to translate into the prepositions \’for\’ and \’unto\’: \’for\’ comes from the Greek word \’pros\’, and \’unto\’ from the Greek \’eis\’. Based upon this information you would assume that the Greek structure of the Ephesians 4:12 is \”pros … pros … pros\”, but you would be wrong, the prepositional structure is actually \”pros … eis … eis\”. How much of a difference does that make? It makes a huge difference.

Lets review the scripture again with some additional context, and with the prepositions properly applied:

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of the ministry, unto the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Most pastors will tell you, based upon this scripture, that the pastor/teacher is the hub of all ministry in the church, the CEO of the local representation of the body of Christ, which helps explain how our churches are designed, both physically and organizationally. They get there through their traditions, as follows:

• There are no more gifts of apostles (they\’re all dead), hence, apostles are no longer needed for the Church / Body of Christ.
• Prophecy has ended (we have the Bible and that\’s all we need), hence prophecy is no longer needed for the Church.
• Evangelists are not necessary for the Church since the Church/body of Christ is comprised of believers only, hence, the Church does not need Evangelists. 
• And lastly, since there\’s only one thing left, and due to the proximity of \”pastor and teacher\” to that which comes after, the pastor/teacher is the supreme fitter, joiner and effectual minster to the Church on earth.

It\’s disturbing to see how some change the Word of God to suit their needs, isn\’t it?

So, ignoring the fallacies of their arguments in their self-constructed doctrine lets simply observe how applying the proper translation of \”eis\” (twice) in the given scripture changes the meaning:

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of the ministry, unto the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Who\’s doing the majority of the work now? The \”we\” are, all of the saints are. Now consider again the rest of the thought and argument that Paul makes, based upon the entire body of Christ doing the majority of the work:

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine … but speaking the truth in love, {we} may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:14-16)

But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, \’In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.\’ These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.  Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.  (Jude 1:15-25)

So then, based upon these scriptures (and others, such as 1 Corinthians 2-3, and 12-14), where is the emphasis on a single ministry, or as Paul would put it, a single \”body part?\” It is not there, it does not exist in a single person. Why then do we suppose that the edification of the entire body of Christ happens through the single ministry of one man and his deacons, the pastor and his professional staff?

There is simply no scriptural support for our traditional, organizational structure of the local church with one minister, and his band of deacons, supplying and fitting the needs of the many. The only reason there appears to be such support is because of two things: careful manipulation and obfuscation of truth by the teaching of such pastor/teachers, and secondly, the eisegesis of the translators, whereby they imputed their world view of the church into their translation of the KJV.

Building the Temple

So, what does all of this have to do with being a brick maker? Well, consider 1 Corinthians 3:

According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

While Paul is referring here to the work of him and Apollos, he is in the bigger picture, referring to work of the Corinthians – \”you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men?\” What he is telling them is this: that as they walk through life – just as Paul and Apollos walked through their own lives, building into the Corinthians – they too (the Corinthians) are building to each other: \”if any man builds on the foundation … \” In other words Paul hasn’t discarded the previous thoughts: jealousy and strife are wood, hay and straw in this context. And as building materials into another persons’ life, they’re worthless – that is the point Paul is making. He further brings home the point of them thinking themselves something they aren’t when they say “I’m of Apollos” or “I’m of Paul”, when he says:

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise … So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.

And what makes this a tad bit scary is the relevance of “all things belong to you”, in the context of one of those things being us, a temple of God:

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

Which is precisely what happened to Ananias and Sapphria. (Acts 4-5)

So, are jealousy and strife, lying and stealing holy? Then why do we build them into our lives by not dying to self and discarding them? Why do we build them into others by repeatedly exposing and encouraging such things? There is a warning for these things: they are called wood, hay, straw and such things will be destroyed by God, just as will a person who tries to destroy a temple of God with such things.

A lot of times, we simply do not see the results of our work, but that does not mean our work has no value. Consider the brick maker. Day in and day out he makes bricks and trusts that they will be used to create wonderful and elegant buildings. Yet, he never constructs the buildings, nor does he see them. And yet again, what he does has value.

Just because you’re a brick maker doesn’t mean what you do does not have value. Just because you can’t see the results of your efforts and your work into the Kingdom of God, does not mean what you do doesn’t have value. Your only encouragement is to not build with wood, hay and straw. Die to self, trust God and build with gold, silver and precious stones. You are a member of the Body of Christ, of whom God has gifted. Find your purpose, exercise your gifts and love (build up) one another.