Church "Offices"

Mitch Senti wrote, “In my opinion, until the five-fold offices are reinstated, the church will remain divided over disputable matters. We now ordain pastors, but have no place for apostles, or prophets. Evangelists do their work without being trained or recognized as such; teachers do little more than pass along information in an age where accountability is greatly lacking. Without sent out leadership, the vision of prophets and the accountability of true teachers, the church in North America continues to lack maturity. “
Matthew Henry wrote, “The apostles were prime officers in the Christian church, being extraordinary ministers appointed for a time only. [1] (emphasis added)
They were furnished by their great Lord with extraordinary gifts and the immediate assistance of the Spirit, that they might be fitted for publishing and spreading the gospel and for governing the church in its infant state[2].” (emphasis added)

If that is the case, why do we read in Ephesians 4:11-14 says, “And mhe gave the napostles, the prophets, the oevangelists, the pshepherds2 and teachers,3 12 qto equip the saints for the work of ministry, for rbuilding up sthe body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to tthe unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, uto mature manhood,4 to the measure of the stature of vthe fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, wtossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in xdeceitful schemes. [3]” Since the church has not yet attained to tthe unity of the faith nor of the knowledge of the Son of God, uto mature manhood, nor4 to the measure of the stature of vthe fullness of Christ, do these offices still not continue?
Ephesians seems to be saying they do continue UNTIL these things are accomplished.
Are the offices of apostles, pastors, prophets, evangelists, and teachers for our day? Is the church hindered if these offices are not restored? Or were certain offices for Biblical days only? If so, which ones? When and why did some stop? Why does the church ordain pastors, but not train or send out people who are gifted with these other offices?
In certain Pentecostal church, the offices of apostles and prophets are acknowledged today, but do not operate in the same way as in the Bible; there is a great show, but little substance or godly instruction shown by those who profess such offices. So what are we to believe in this regard?
An apostle is defined as:
1) One who is sent on a mission
2) one of an authoritative New Testament group sent out to preach the gospel and made up esp. of Christ’s 12 original disciples and Paul
3) the first prominent Christiian missionary to a region or group

The English transliteration of a Greek word meaning ‘one who is sent out.’ An apostle is a personal messenger or envoy, commissioned to transmit the message or otherwise carry out the instructions of the commissioning agent.
.

Some have claimed that an apostle must have been one who walked with Jesus while he was here on earth and was an eyewitness to the resurrection. This was true in Acts 1:21-22 when the Apostles chose Matthias to replace Judas, saying he must be “one of the men who have accompanied us during tall the time that the Lord Jesus uwent in and out among us, 22 vbeginning from the baptism of John until the day when whe was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us xa witness to his resurrection.”[4]
But, whereas this was true of Matthias, it was not true of the Apostle Paul, and so some people make an exception for this rule for Paul because he “saw” the glorified Christ and was struck blind by His glory. Further proof of his apostleship was derived from the nature and role he occupied in the mission and expansion of the church among the Gentiles (Acts 9:15-16; 15:1-35; Gal. 2:1-10)[5] . Are there people among us who have had life-changing visions of our risen Lord and are sent by Him to carry the gospel to places where people have never heard? Does that definition make such a person an apostle?
If one did not need to walk with Christ in person and be a witness to the Resurrection, what precludes one from being an apostle today? Were the twelve Apostles with a capital A, and others a different kind of apostle? And what of Junia a Christian to whom Paul sends greetings in Rom. 16:7. It is unclear whether a masculine (Junias) or a feminine name (Junia) is intended (the masculine is not found elsewhere ). If a woman, Junia may be the wife of Andronicus. It is significant that the two are perhaps referred to as ‘apostles.’ who was greeted by Paul as one who was an apostle before he was.

Junia brings up the question of women as pastors since women were leaders in the church until the Catholic church masculinized the name Junia to Junias reasoning that it MUST have been a man because this person was an apostle. On that basis, all women were forbidden to be priests and that tradition has been followed by many Protestant churches—even though they acknowledge that we are ALL a kingdom of priests. What a change was wrought in the church by the addition of one small letter “s.” No wonder we were warned not to change one jot or tittle of Scripture.

The case of Junia presents another question for church offices: are all offices proper for both men and women?
I would welcome comments from my brothers and sisters in Christ.

The designation of Barnabas (Acts 14:14) and Andronicus and Junias (Rom. 16:7) as apostles is more difficult to explain[6]

We have four lists of the apostles, one by each of the synoptic evangelists (Matt. 10:2–4; Mark 3:16; Luke 6:14), and one in the Acts (1:13). No two of these lists, however, perfectly coincide. [7]

By the second century, the term no longer identifies an office of the church.
In Heb. 3:1 and John 20:21, Jesus is the ‘apostle,’ the one sent by God.

[1]Henry, M. (1996, c1991). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (Eph 1:1). Peabody: Hendrickson.
[2]Henry, M. (1996, c1991). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (Eph 1:1). Peabody: Hendrickson.
m [1 Cor. 12:5, 6]
n See 1 Cor. 12:28
o Acts 21:8; 2 Tim. 4:5
p Jer. 3:15; [Acts 20:28]
2 Or pastors
3 Or the shepherd-teachers
q See 2 Cor. 13:9
r ver. 16, 29
s See 1 Cor. 12:27
t [ver. 5]
u Heb. 5:14
4 Greek to a full-grown man
v ch. 1:23
w [Matt. 11:7; Heb. 13:9; James 1:6; Jude 12]
x ch. 6:11
[3]The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Eph 4:11-14). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
t [ver. 5]
u Heb. 5:14
4 Greek to a full-grown man
v ch. 1:23
t [John 15:27]
u Num. 27:17; Deut. 31:2; 1 Sam. 18:13
v ch. 13:24; Mark 1:1–4
w ver. 2, 9
x ch. 4:33; [ver. 8; 1 Pet. 1:3]; See Luke 24:48
[4]The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Ac 1:21-22). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
[5]Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.) (40). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
[6]Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.) (40). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
[7]Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.