Passage

Ephesians 4.11

"And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers." (Ephesians 4:11, NASB95)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"9. (Now this, He ascended, what is it but that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10. He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)"

"11. And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;"

"12. for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ: 13. till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a fullgrown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:" (Ephesians 4:9-13, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"9. Now this, "He ascended," what is it but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10. He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things."

"11. He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;"

"12. for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13. until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;" (Ephesians 4:9-13, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"9. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10. He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)"

"11. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;"

"12. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13. 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:" (Ephesians 4:9-13, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"9. and that, he went up, what is it except that he also went down first to the lower parts of the earth? 10. he who went down is the same also who went up far above all the heavens, that He may fill all things --"

"11. and He gave some [as] apostles, and some [as] prophets, and some [as] proclaimers of good news, and some [as] shepherds and teachers,"

"12. unto the perfecting of the saints, for a work of ministration, for a building up of the body of the Christ, 13. till we may all come to the unity of the faith and of the recognition of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to a measure of stature of the fulness of the Christ," (Ephesians 4:9-13, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle (or, on critical reading, a Pauline disciple) writing from prison
Audience: the church at Ephesus, likely a circular letter for several Asia Minor congregations
Location: likely Rome, possibly Caesarea
Time period: c. AD 60-62

The verse falls inside Paul's unity-and-maturity exhortation (Eph 4:1-16). Christ's ascension (v. 8, citing Ps 68:18) yields gifts to the church, and those gifts are people. The roles named are Christ's gifts to the body, not titles to be claimed for status.

Theological reading

The five offices (or four, on the reading that "pastors and teachers" is a single role) are functional and gift-shaped, given for the perfecting of the saints and the building up of the body of Christ (v. 12). Paul does not isolate clergy from laity here; the offices exist so that every member can do the work of ministry. The shape of the gift is equipping, not gatekeeping.

The cessationist-continuationist debate runs through this verse. Cessationists typically argue that the foundational offices, apostle and prophet, were laid once for all (Eph 2:20) and have not been reissued; pastors, teachers, and evangelists continue as ordinary church offices. Continuationists read all five offices as Christ's ongoing gifts and look for contemporary expressions of each, while distinguishing between the unique, canon-shaping apostles of the first century and lower-case-a apostolic-type missionary roles afterward. Both sides ground their case in this verse, the apostolic-foundation clause of Eph 2:20, and the broader gifts material in 1 Corinthians 12.28 and Romans 12.6-8.

The apologist's vocation is not explicitly named among the five. The traditional placement is inside "teachers," with overlap into the evangelistic gift when the work is front-line gospel commendation rather than internal catechesis. Some readings also pull on the prophetic gift, in the broad sense of speaking truth to the surrounding culture rather than predictive utterance. See Apologist for the role-page treatment.

Key words

G4151 - pneuma, pneuma (Strong's G4151), the Spirit who distributes the gifts; cf. the parallel passage 1 Corinthians 12.28.

Cross-references

1 Corinthians 12.28, Paul's parallel gift-list, sets apostles, prophets, and teachers in the same triad and adds miracles, healings, helps, administrations, and tongues.
Romans 12.6-8, the seven-gift list using a different taxonomy (prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading, mercy).
Apostolic Succession, the historical Roman Catholic and Orthodox reading of the apostolic office.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.