Ephesians 4:11 (King James Version): “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers<\/em>“<\/p>\n Question: Since all offices were given for the same reason according to verse 12, how do we decide which offices still remain?<\/p>\n\t By the qualifications for the offices.<\/p>\n Apostles were selected by God as eye-witnesses to Jesus Christ (I John 1:1-4; Acts 1:21-22). Now that it has been 2,000 years since Christ was here, there can no longer be living eye-witnesses. But that is alright because the apostles left us written records, so in this way, the apostles are still with us (II Peter 1:12-15).<\/p>\n Prophets have to cease because the power to speak the words of God directly were passed on by the laying on of the apostles’ hands (Acts 8:14-17), but the apostles are no longer physically with us, so prophets too would die out. Besides I Corinthians 13:8-10 says it was going to go away. So does Zechariah 13:1-4 by the way.<\/p>\n The remaining offices remain because people can continue to qualify for their duties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Ephesians 4:11 (King James Version): “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers“ Question: Since all offices were given for the same reason according to verse 12, how do we decide which offices still remain? Answer: By the qualifications for the offices. Apostles were selected by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[170,123,667,1511,483,936],"class_list":["post-9831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-apostles","tag-elders","tag-organization-of-the-church","tag-preachers","tag-prophets","tag-teachers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10908,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-explain-the-gifts-mentioned-in-ephesians-411-16\/","url_meta":{"origin":9831,"position":0},"title":"Can you explain the gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4:11-16?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Regarding Ephesians 4:11-16, can you help clarify the scope of this context with regards to the \"spiritual gifts\" mentioned in verse 11? Do all Christians in the Lord's one true church have spiritual gifts? If so, how does a Christian determine the gifts given to them? Also, why does\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2648,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-sunday-morning-bible-classes-an-unauthorized-innovation\/","url_meta":{"origin":9831,"position":1},"title":"Are Sunday morning Bible classes an unauthorized innovation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 14, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm studying with a friend who objects to Sunday schools. I don't know how to approach her objection. She says that where she worships the service is very simple.\u00a0 They don't have choirs, musical instruments, or Sunday Schools or classes.\u00a0 She said they try not to incorporate anything in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18959,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-did-christians-use-before-the-bible-was-compiled\/","url_meta":{"origin":9831,"position":2},"title":"What did Christians use before the Bible was compiled?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, During the first century, the Bible was not yet compiled. So what was the basis of Christianity during that time? Thanks. Answer: \"For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25557,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-all-the-books-of-the-new-testament-written-by-apostles\/","url_meta":{"origin":9831,"position":3},"title":"Were all the books of the New Testament written by apostles?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I need to know some things. I was reading on your site The New Testament Canon\u00a0outline. I came across this: I-5. 5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0From these early Christians we learn that Mark took the various stories told by Peter and placed them in a book as accurately as he could. Peter did\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6949,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-about-prophecy-in-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":9831,"position":4},"title":"What about prophecy in the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 23, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What about prophecy in a church? Should the prophet ask the minister to check the word before it is given? Should a prophet first be 'released' into the ministry of prophets before they are free to prophesy or give words in a meeting? Answer: Just because a role was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18213,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-meant-by-speaking-the-truth-in-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":9831,"position":5},"title":"What is meant by “speaking the truth in love?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: \"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9831\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Answer:<\/h2>\n