Ephesians 4

How does a disciple of Yeshua live? Paul provides a quick summary of the path of discipleship as it applies to both Jews and Gentiles, distinguishing between the old life and the new.

The first three chapters of Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians should be considered the foundation of Pauline theology by which the rest of his epistles are interpreted.

Recap

He began in chapter 1 by laying out the terms of distinction between Israel-the Jewish people as represented by the apostles of the Jewish community of disciples-and the nations-strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. He then demonstrated how the Gentile disciples of the Messiah had crossed over from that hopeless and godless place to be brought near, past the dividing wall of partition that once separated Israel from the nations, to become fellow heirs with Israel, like redeemed slaves, set free by the Son and elevated to the status of sonship to share in the citizenship of the kingdom.

Moreover, he indicated that this redemption of people from the nations was actually God's whole plan all along. From the beginning, God's eternal purpose was the redemption of the nations. The redemption and calling of Israel was only a necessary precursor to this ultimate objective-the redemption of humanity.

As Paul delivered this discourse, he presented deep, spiritual, esoteric ideas that have close analogs in Jewish mysticism. He spoke of the indwelling of the Messiah within each of his disciples; the body of Messiah of which each disciple is a member, forming a collective entity; and the fullness of God, which is vested into the Messiah and thereby into the body of the Messiah.

These inspiring and cosmic ideas about the spiritual realities involved in Yeshua-faith should utterly transcend human concerns over caste, class, status, prestige, rank, race, and gender. We are all members of one body, each body part has a different purpose, the Messiah dwells in each individual, and God fills the Messiah, all in all.

After having presented an entire discourse on Jewish and Gentile identity in Messiah, which concludes at the end of chapter 3, the Epistle to the Ephesians makes an abrupt shift, moving away from the realm of the theological and the mystical to start a new discussion on the practical ramifications of the first three chapters. This is similar to something a disciple of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev once said when asked why he had become a Chasid. He said, "Rabbi Levi teaches halachah (law) as if it is mysticism, and he teaches mysticism as if it is musar (ethics)." In Hasidic thought, mysticism, halachah (law), and musar (ethics) are not distinct compartments but progressive manifestations of the same spiritual truth:

• Halachah as mysticism means that outward obedience is itself a revelation of divine mystery; every commandment, properly understood, channels divine light into the world.

• Mysticism as musar means that spiritual experience is not abstract ecstasy but moral transformation — it refines the heart and molds character. Likewise, beginning in chapter 4, Paul's epistle descends now from the lofty and ethereal to the practical and the personal.

Paul’s pattern follows the same rhythm: after unveiling the heavenly mystery of divine unity in Messiah, he moves to earthly application — how to live out that unity in humility, patience, and love. The mystical leads to the ethical, and the ethical expresses the mystical.

Paul and Jewish Mysticism

Paul often presents ideas that go beyond simple moral instruction — they touch on ontological and mystical realities of divine-human relationship. When he speaks of the Messiah dwelling within believers (e.g., “Christ in you, the hope of glory” – Colossians 1:27), he is describing an inner indwelling presence of the divine that transforms the individual and the community. This goes far beyond mere imitation of Christ — it’s participation in the divine life through union with the Messiah.

While Paul’s letters predate the systematized Kabbalah, they share conceptual DNA with earlier forms of Jewish mysticism, such as the Merkavah (chariot) and Hekhalot traditions, as well as later mystical themes found in the Zohar.
Some key parallels include:

• The Divine Indwelling (Shekhinah):
  In Jewish thought, God’s presence (Shekhinah) dwells among or within His people. Similarly, Paul describes the Messiah (Christ) as dwelling in believers, making them temples of God’s Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). The Shekhinah and the Spirit/Messiah within both signify divine immanence within a sanctified people.

• The Collective Divine Image (Adam Kadmon / Corporate Humanity):
  In mystical Judaism, Adam Kadmon (the primordial human) represents the divine image encompassing all humanity in unity. Paul’s “body of Messiah” (1 Corinthians 12; Romans 12) echoes this concept — believers collectively form one anthropos, one mystical person whose head is the Messiah. It’s an image of cosmic unity between heaven and earth, divinity and humanity.

• The Fullness of God (Plērōma):
  In Colossians 1:19 and 2:9, Paul says the fullness (πλήρωμα) of God dwells bodily in the Messiah, and through Him, believers are filled with that same fullness. Jewish mysticism uses a parallel concept: Ein Sof (the Infinite) manifests through the Sefirot, the channels of divine fullness that flow into creation. In both cases, divine plenitude is mediated — not dissolved — into the material realm through a chosen vessel (in Paul’s case, the Messiah).

Paul’s idea that believers form the body of Messiah is not merely metaphorical but mystical and participatory.

• Each believer is a “member” (melos) of this body.

• The Messiah is both the head and the indwelling life-force that animates the whole.

• This unity is both spiritual and eschatological — a foretaste of the future resurrection when divine life will fully permeate humanity.

This collective body represents restored creation, echoing the Jewish vision of Israel as the corporate embodiment of God’s covenantal presence among the nations. Paul, as a Jew, expands this to include the Gentiles who now participate in that same covenantal life through the Messiah.

When Paul says “the fullness of God dwells in Him bodily” (Colossians 2:9), he’s making a profound claim:

• The divine presence that once dwelled in the Temple now resides in the Messiah.

• That same divine fullness extends into those who are united with Him — the ekklesia, the gathered people of God.

• Thus, believers collectively become a living Temple, a mystical body infused with divine life.

In Jewish mystical terms, this parallels the idea that the divine presence flows through a sanctified people, connecting heaven and earth through devekut (clinging to God).

In essence, Paul’s theology of indwelling, unity, and fullness expresses the Jewish mystical vision of divine immanence and cosmic restoration—but through the person and work of the Messiah. His message reframes Israel’s mystical heritage around the crucified and resurrected Messiah as the locus of divine fullness and the agent of new creation.

What Would a Disciple Do?

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3)

Paul referred to himself as "a prisoner for the Master" because he wrote the epistle while in chains awaiting trial, presumably in Rome. He asked the Gentile disciples in Ephesus to "walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called." This refers to the "calling" to follow Yeshua as a disciple, even as he said to his first disciples, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."

Calling Verses Predestination

The distinction between calling and predestination is subtle but crucial, especially if we want to stay faithful to the Hebraic framework in which Paul thought and wrote. In Jewish thought, a calling (keri’ah, קריאה) is an invitation to partnership — not an arbitrary decree. When God calls Israel, He calls them into covenant, vocation, and relationship. It’s an offer that carries responsibility, not a mechanical fate.

“You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:6)

This wasn’t forced upon Israel — they responded by saying, “We will do and we will hear.”
So calling presupposes response, not inevitability. The calling is divine; the participation is human.

When Paul exhorts the Ephesians to walk worthy of the calling, he is reminding them that they have been invited into a holy vocation — to manifest the unity of Jews and Gentiles as one new humanity in Messiah.

The Greek word klēsis (κλῆσις) means “invitation,” as to a banquet (cf. Matthew 22:14: “Many are called, but few are chosen”). It implies:

• a summons from God,

• and a decision to respond in faithfulness.

So, Paul’s use of “calling” is relational and ethical, not deterministic. He’s saying: Live up to the invitation you’ve already accepted.

Predestination, especially as interpreted in later Western theology (e.g., Augustine and Calvin), often implies a fixed, eternal decree determining salvation or damnation apart from human choice.

But in a Jewish and Pauline frame, “election” (bechirah) is corporate and vocational, not fatalistic.

• Israel was chosen for a purpose, not to the exclusion of others.

• Likewise, believers in Messiah are chosen to serve, to bless, to display the wisdom of God to the nations (Ephesians 3:10).

In this sense:

Election is unto function, not unto fate.
Calling is an invitation to participation, not a predetermination of outcome.

Paul’s exhortation presumes moral agency. If the calling were predestined in the deterministic sense, exhortation would be meaningless. He writes:

“Walk worthy…” — implying choice, discipline, and growth.

This fits seamlessly within the Jewish worldview of covenantal responsibility:

God initiates; humanity responds.
The relationship is covenantal, not mechanical.

Paul does acknowledge divine foreknowledge and grace (Ephesians 1:4–5), but this should be read not as a metaphysical blueprint but as the assurance of God’s intent and faithfulness — that His redemptive plan will not fail. It’s about the security of the covenant, not the automation of individuals.

So when Paul urges us to walk worthy of the calling, he’s saying:

“Live as people who have heard and accepted the divine invitation to reflect Messiah’s character in the world.”

It’s not about being chosen instead of others — it’s about living up to what you’ve been called to become.

Foreknowledge and Pre-Destination Explored

We have already established the foundational meaning of what it means to be “called” by God. From a proper Jewish perspective, this understanding prevents the common misinterpretation of calling or election as equivalent to predestined salvation. Furthermore, those who advocate for the doctrine of predestination often appeal to the concept of divine foreknowledge as evidence that individual salvation is predetermined. Even Christians who reject a strict doctrine of predestined salvation often repeat the idea that “God knows your choice before you do.” Yet few who make this claim take the time to examine what that statement truly means, or to consider it within its original Jewish context and understanding.

In much of later Christian thought, particularly under the influence of Augustine and later Calvin, passages like Ephesians 1:4–5 (“He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world… having predestined us to adoption as sons”) are read as God’s individual foreknowledge of who will be saved. That is:

• God knew before time began who would believe in Jesus,

• therefore, those individuals were chosen for salvation,

• and their salvation is irrevocably decreed by divine will.

This interpretation reads foreknowledge as foresight of individual choice, and predestination as divine decision regarding individuals’ eternal destiny.

But this is foreign to Paul’s Jewish worldview.

In Jewish theology, foreknowledge (yedi‘ah) is covenantal, not causal.

Foreknowledge does not mean God determines every human choice, but that God’s plan of redemption — His covenantal purposes — are known, fixed, and will be brought to fulfillment.

When the Tanakh says, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth” (Amos 3:2), it doesn’t mean God was unaware of other nations. It means He entered into intimate covenantal relationship with Israel.

So to foreknow is to forelove, to set apart in purpose — not to predict future decisions.

Paul, as a Jewish thinker, uses foreknowledge (prognōsis) in the same sense. God’s “knowing” is relational and purposeful — it speaks of God’s commitment to His people, not His clairvoyance of individual choices.

When Paul writes that God “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world,” he is not talking about you or me as isolated individuals being pre-selected for heaven. Paul is describing the corporate plan of redemption established before creation — that God would redeem humanity through the Messiah and in the Messiah.

In other words:

• The plan was foreknown, not the individual’s choice.

• The means of redemption (Messiah) was chosen, not the specific roster of who would believe.

• The goal (adoption, restoration, holiness) was foreordained, not a predestined elect few.

This aligns perfectly with the Hebrew mindset: God’s purposes are sure, His covenant stands, and His plan to redeem Israel and the nations through the Messiah will not fail. That’s the assurance Paul celebrates — the security of God’s promise, not the automation of human destiny.

Paul’s phrase, “He chose us in Him,” is crucial. The “choosing” happens in the Messiah, not in isolation. Anyone who enters that covenantal relationship by faith is now part of the elect community. The election is corporate and covenantal, not individualistic or exclusionary.

This means:

• God did not choose who would be in Messiah,

• but what kind of people those in Messiah would become — holy, blameless, and adopted children.
  Thus, the “predestination” Paul speaks of refers to the destiny of the covenant community, not a predetermination of who enters it.

So when Paul speaks of foreknowledge, he’s not revealing a divine spreadsheet of future believers. He’s giving comfort and confidence:

“God’s plan to redeem humanity through the Messiah was set before time began, and no power can overturn it.”

That’s the Jewish way of speaking about God’s sovereignty — faithfulness, not fate. His purposes are unstoppable, but our participation in them still requires faithful response.

In short, Paul’s idea of foreknowledge and predestination is not about who gets saved, but about how God saves — through the faithful unfolding of His redemptive plan in the Messiah.

It’s not about God knowing you will follow Him; it’s about God assuring that His plan to redeem and restore humanity through Israel’s Messiah will succeed.

Paul’s Rule for the Assemblies as They are Called (And Respond to the Calling)

The "calling" language also reminds us of Paul's rule for all the assemblies:

Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision ... So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God. (1 Corinthians 7:18, 24)

At this point, however, Paul urges us to conduct our lives in a manner worthy of a disciple of Yeshua. This verse is a good rule of thumb for life, similar to the oft-invoked maxim, "What would Jesus do?" In this case, the question we should ask ourselves, in every decision, large and small, and in every interaction with one another and with other human beings, is simply, "What would a disciple of Yeshua do?" That's the manner worthy of your calling, and it's primarily about how we interact with one another, exhibiting a spirit of humility, gentleness, patience, putting up with the failings of others "in love"" and being concerned about keeping the peace with one another, which he refers to as "the unity of the Spirit."

What does he mean by "the unity of the Spirit"? This refers to the unity of the spiritual bond that disciples of Yeshua share with one another as members of the spiritual body of Messiah, a unity created by the investment of God's Spirit within us. When we divide from one another, we separate ourselves from that spiritual unity. When there are factions and discord among the disciples of Yeshua, "the unity of the Spirit" is broken.

One Body, One Spirit

There is one body and one Spirit-just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call-one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)

With these words, Paul reminded the Gentile disciples that they were no longer polytheists going in different directions. Instead, they had all joined the same club and were following the same Master and worshiping the same God - "the one God."

Let's look at each one of these items in turn.

The "one body" is the spiritual body of the Messiah, which Paul described in the previous chapter as "one new man." Each disciple is like a single body part. Together, we combine to make the body of the Messiah. Yeshua himself is the head of the body.

The one Spirit" is the Spirit of God, which connects all the disciples of Yeshua into the one body. The term "one Lord" should be read not as a circumlocution for God's name but rather as "one Master." This alludes to Yeshua's teaching to his disciples: "You are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ" (Matthew 23:8-10).

"One faith" refers to the disciple's confession and conviction that Yeshua is the promised Messiah, who was crucified and rose on the third day and will return to bring the final redemption. For that reason, the disciple casts his allegiance with King Yeshua and submits to his authority.

"One baptism" refers to immersion in the name of Yeshua, which means "in the authority of Yeshua." Immersion was a ritual to ceremonially mark entrance into the school of Yeshua's disciples. Elsewhere, Paul explains the symbolism as that of death and resurrection. When a person becomes a disciple, he or she surrenders his or her life, dying with the Messiah, so to speak, and then rising to newness of life with the Messiah. It symbolizes a spiritual transformation that happens when a person becomes a disciple of Yeshua.

The "one God and Father of all" is "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 1:3).

The Apostolic Leaders

But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." (In saying, "He ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:7-12)

This passage will be explored more fully later as it pertains to the ascension of Yeshua and deserves its own treatment. Suffice it to say that while many have understood the terms at the end of this passage to refer to offices and ministries that might exist in any local church, Paul here refers exclusively to the community of the Jewish believers, particularly the apostles and the first generation of Yeshua's disciples in Jerusalem. These are the "apostles, the prophets, the evan-gelists, the shepherds and teachers" who are equipping the saints for the work of ministry and for the building of the body of Messiah.

Here, grace (Greek: charis) doesn’t just mean forgiveness or salvation — it refers to divine empowerment or a spiritual gift given for service.

• Each believer receives a portion (“measure”) of grace that fits the role Christ has assigned.

• It’s not about hierarchy but about function — different gifts for different purposes, all working together under one Head.

Think of it as Jesus, the risen Lord, distributing His own ministry among His people — like a king sharing portions of his authority with his representatives.

The purpose of these gifts is not to create a clergy class, but to equip all believers (“the saints”) to serve and strengthen one another.
When each person uses their measure of grace, the entire Body grows — unified, mature, and reflecting Christ’s fullness on earth.

Imagine a victorious king who, after conquering his enemies, ascends to his throne.
Instead of hoarding the spoils, he distributes gifts among his people so they can participate in building his kingdom. Each gift strengthens the realm — builders, messengers, guardians, teachers — all connected by the same lifeblood, all serving under one Head.

That’s what Paul is describing:

• Messiah descended to redeem.

• He ascended to reign.

• He now fills the world through His Spirit, equipping His people to build up His Body in preparation for the age to come.

Full Stature

Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:13)

Paul says that the Jewish Yeshua community is building the body of Messiah toward the objective that the whole body of Yeshua's disciples—Jew and Gentile together—will "attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God." In other words, he's talking about his job as an apostle and what he's trying to accomplish among the Gentiles. The "unity of the faith" is their common confession about Yeshua and allegiance to him as King. "The knowledge of the Son of God" is to know the Messiah-not just knowing about him, but knowing him as one person knows another. The "mature manhood" refers back to the image of the body of the Messiah and the idea that we are all members of one metaphysical body.

However, the body of Messiah is not yet an adult. It's a child, and it has a lot of growing to do. As each member of the body grows into spiritual maturity, the metaphysical body of the Messiah on earth will do so also, as it says regarding the Master in the Gospel of Luke, "Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man" (Luke 2:52). As each disciple in the body of the Messiah develops and matures, the whole body develops and matures toward "the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Messiah."

No Longer Children

So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (Ephesians 4:14)

Paul warned the Ephesians against falling under the influence of teachers from outside the apostolic community, those he elsewhere referred to as "false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:13) and as "fierce wolves" (Acts 20:29). He refers to the work of ascetics, mystics, and proto-gnostics in Colossae as those who "delude you with plausible arguments" (Colossians 2:4), teaching "philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ" (Colossians 2:8).

Until we obtain spiritual maturity, we remain vulnerable to the excitement of the new and the novel. Young people are notorious for trying out all sorts of things and experimenting their way through life, like the college student who changes his major three times in just as many years and burns through twice that many relationships. However, you expect a young person to grow up, mature, and settle down at a certain point.

It's not surprising to find Paul expressing frustration over the influence of other teachers on his disciples. The message of the gospel has disrupted the lives, belief systems, and worldviews of the Gentile disciples. They are still rebuilding. It reminds me of what happens when people encounter Messianic Jewish teaching. It's disruptive to the established status quo, forcing people to rethink what they thought they knew. All their assumptions are up for review. As a result, they become open to other new ideas and continue reshuffling the deck for a while. They become vulnerable to theological quackery and conspiracy theories. But you can't live like that forever. At some point, we need to grow up and take ownership of who we are and what we believe, no longer carried away by the next charismatic speaker or persuasive teacher or the next sensationalist idea.

Paul wanted his disciples to continue building their lives and communities on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets of the Jerusalem assembly, the community of disciples he represented which to us, is the equivalent of the authority and testimony of the New Testament.

Each Part Working Properly

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:15-16)

Rather than falling into the trap of following every new sensational teacher and trend, Paul points his disciples back to apostolic authority, which, to them, represents the authority of Israel and the Jewish people in their role as a holy priesthood to the nations. The apostles are "speaking the truth in love" and in that truth, the whole body of Messiah finds nourishment for growth. Again, each individual is compared to a body part. When the body is acting according to the truth they receive from the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers of the apostolic community, it can grow together into Messiah, who remains at the head of this metaphysical body. When each part knows its job and understands its function, working properly, the body is healthy, and it grows to maturity in the love of God.

No Longer Walk as the Gentiles Do

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. (Ephesians 4:17)

Since the Gentile disciples in Ephesus were part of this body and shared in this new identity in Messiah, they were obligated to separate themselves from their former way of life when they lived as idolaters. We aren't supposed to be like everybody else. Disciples of Yeshua are not supposed to be ordinary people who fit in with the rest of the world. If there's little or no difference between us and the rest of the people around us, we are walking "as the Gentiles do" that is, "in the futility of their minds."

Futility of Mind

The term "futility of mind" is related to the idea presented in the book of Ecclesiastes, "Vanity of vanities ... all is vanity." It's the same Greek word used to translate that concept in Ecclesiastes, where it refers to a materialistic worldview that encourages one to eat and drink, for tomorrow we die, to get as much out of this life as possible because there is nothing else. It's that state of mind oblivious to the spiritual dimension, the mission of the soul, relationship with God, the existence of God, reward and punishment, and future redemption. Futility of mind is about finding happiness in this world by pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain. It's the selfishness of the human ego, the fool who says in his heart, "There is no God" (Psalm 14:1).

Paul describes it this way:

They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. (Ephesians 4:18-19)

That's how the world lives and behaves-ignorant of the knowledge of God, and not just ignorant, but willfully ignorant and hard of heart (a term that means "unwilling to repent"). From such a perspective, life is all about satiating the appetites, "the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life" (1 John 2:16). The Gentile world is obsessed with consumerism, materialism, power, wealth, sex, and prestige. These things can never satisfy the hunger of the human soul. Paul, therefore, calls the disciples of Yeshua to separate themselves from this empty value system.

Paul's words continue today to be an apt description of the pornographic secular world around us-greedy to practice every kind of impurity, celebrating indiscretion, brazen and unblushing, without shame, constantly pushing the envelope to call evil good and to call good evil. That's not us. That's not the manner of our calling.

The New Self

But that is not the way you learned Christ!-assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:20-24)

The Gentile disciples once lived according to the futility of mind that chases vanity like a man chasing the wind, but no longer. Having received the testimony of the apostolic community, primarily through the teaching of Paul and his colleagues, the Gentile disciples gave themselves to Yeshua. They died with him, putting off their old lives of egoic materialism like a person shedding an old pair of clothes. They were resurrected with him to new life, a new self, like a person putting on a new pair of clothes.

The new clothes are "created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." The "likeness of God" is that original image of God, the heavenly Adam, in whose pattern the earthly Adam was made when he was given the task of bearing God's image in this world. Adam failed in that high calling when, in futility of mind, he pursued "deceitful desires." But now, in the Messiah, the heavenly Adam and the second Adam, humanity has a new beginning and a new chance to fulfill the mission of bearing God's image. But it's not going to work if we continue to live like the rest of the world. We need to shed the old identity, die to the self, and put on the new identity, which is the life of Messiah that he now lives in and through us.

What does that mean in practical terms?

Put Away Falsehood

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. (Ephesians 4:25)

The old man, the egoic identity, is a liar, constantly spinning and stretching the truth or just lying to protect and aggrandize himself. He's always concerned with making himself look better in the eyes of others. But that guy is dead. Take off that identity and put on the new one.

The new self in Messiah is a person of integrity and honesty. We have no desire to deceive one another because we recognize that we share a common mutual connection as members of one body. The eye does not lie to the hand; the foot does not swindle the ear. No more lies. Lies and deceit are the language of the old man who is always looking to shield himself from criticism and make excuses for his failures. We are to regard that egoic identity, so concerned with protecting and exalting the self, as dead in Messiah. There's no need to lie to protect that person any longer. Instead, we are members one of another; that single egoic sense of self and self-protection should be subsumed into the larger metaphysical reality of connection in the body of Messiah.

Anger

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. (Ephesians 4:26-27)

The old man, the egoic self, is easily offended, holds grudges, and seethes with anger against anyone who crosses him. His fragile ego is always getting wounded and hurt. Don't be that guy. Take that identity off. Put on the new.

Of course, we are not perfect, and people are not perfect. We will inadvertently or advertently step on one another's feelings from time to time, and there will be cause to be offended or angry. Paul gives his readers a rule of thumb for dealing with anger: Don't sleep on it, and don't carry it into the next day. The bedtime Shema in the Siddur contains a similar passage in which a person makes a declaration of forgiveness for anyone who has wronged him or her in any way during the day or at any time, whether in this lifetime or another. It's a beautiful text and a beautiful prayer, in keeping with the teaching of our Master regarding forgiveness of sins. The Torah warns us not to carry a grudge but to love one's neighbor as oneself. Part of this is not letting the sun go down on one's anger. If you remain angry, you give opportunity to the accuser to accuse you before the heavenly court. If you forgive others for their trespasses, your trespasses also will be forgiven, robbing the devil of the opportunity to level an accusation against you in the heavenly court.

Theft

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. (Ephesians 4:28)

The old man, the egoic self, is a thief. In the words of the sages, he is the one who says, "What's mine is mine and what's yours is mine" (Pirkei Avot 5:13). He covets and wants what others have, and if he can take what belongs to others without getting caught, he'll do it. That's because his identity is not in the Spirit but the material world. He's jealous and resentful, feeling that he deserves what others have. Sure, he might keep his selfishness concealed under a veneer of piety, but the reality is that he feels as though he is being mistreated unless he gets what he wants.

He's lazy, too, always coming up with excuses about why he doesn't need to work or can't work but should instead receive a handout or some credit for effort he has not made. But in Messiah, that old thief is dead. Take off that identity and put on the new one.

The new identity in Messiah does not take what does not belong to him. Instead, the new identity labors to provide for himself and others in need. Rather than being motivated to take what does not belong to him (or her), the new person in Messiah is motivated to share what belongs to him with others. In the words of the sages, he is the person who says, "What's mine is yours, and what's yours is yours" (Pirkei Avot 5:13).

Corrupting Talk

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. (Ephesians 4:29)

The old man, the egoic self, never ceases to speak corrupting talk. "Corrupting talk" does not refer to cussing or dirty jokes. (That gets mentioned later.) "Corrupting talk" refers to lashon hara (evil speech) —the complaining, murmuring, and malcontent spirit that feels it must air its grievances and share its gripes with listening ears. Paul refers to this as "corrupting talk" because the sages likened it to leprosy, which corrupts the flesh.

This is how the people of the world talk. They love to tear down, criticize, and complain. They love to speak evil of others, speaking behind people's backs with slander, gossip, and malicious speech. The old man, the egoic self, draws energy and vitality for itself from corrupting talk. It tastes delicious to him, like delightful morsels. He sits in the seat of scoffers and loves nothing more than to find a listening ear upon which to vent his dissatisfaction. He will tell you everything that's wrong with everything, especially what's wrong with the community, the leadership, and other members of the assembly. But in Messiah, the old man is dead. Take off that identity and put on the new one.

The new man speaks "only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." The new man is constantly looking for the right word of spiritual encouragement to turn the conversation into something constructive, something good, something edifying, "as fits the occasion." Rather than looking for every opportunity to spill the venom he's been storing up inside, the new man looks for the right moment to speak a word of the Spirit.

Grieving the Spirit

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)

Corrupting talk grieves the Spirit of God who is within us and among us. Paul refers to the Holy Spirit as the one "by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." To be sealed means to be marked. A scroll with a seal bore a clay mark with an insignia belonging to the sender. To be sealed with the Spirit of God means that we bear God's impression upon our being. A seal is intended to keep a scroll closed and its contents concealed until it is delivered into the hands of the recipient. Likewise, the seal of the Spirit preserves us until the day of redemption, the future Messianic Era, when the Spirit will be poured out on all flesh. Until then, the Spirit is within us and moves among us, but we risk offending the Spirit with our corrupting talk, lashon hara, and relentless negativity.

It reminds me of the mitzvah of the shovel:

Because the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you. (Deuteronomy 23:14)

The old man, the egoic self, loves to sit around and complain, but this grieves the Spirit of God. It's offensive to the Spirit of God, as we learn from the stories in the book of Numbers. The children of Israel murmured and complained; God heard it, and he punished them. What is it that grieves the Holy Spirit? It's the words that come out of our mouths. It's how we talk about one another and how we talk about the community in general.

The old man is dead. Put off the old identity and put on the new one. How so?

Do this:

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:31-32)

The One Who Also Ascended

An obscure midrash about Moses is concealed behind Paul's cryptic allusion to Psalm 68 in Ephesians 4:9-10. Here's an apostolic teaching about the ascension of the Messiah that likens it to Moses ascending Mount Sinai.

What does Paul mean by saying "grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift" (Ephesians 4:7)? You might suppose he speaks about the forgiveness of sins-Christ's gift of grace for his disciples. If so, you would expect that the same equal measure of grace should be bestowed upon everyone. But that's not what Paul is saying. He says this grace is to be doled out "to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift," implying that some people receive more grace than others.

It makes sense only when we remember that the word translated as "grace" should be understood as analogous to the Hebrew term chen, which means "favor." In the New Testament, "grace" usually refers to the favor that Messiah found in God's eyes through the merit of his righteousness and his suffering. Because Yeshua found such an abundance of favor in God's eyes, he has ample favor to share with his disciples. His disciples, in turn, rely upon the Messiah's favor for the forgiveness of sins. That's how the theology of grace works in the New Testament.

But the word "grace" does not always have that specific theological meaning. It can also refer, as it does in Hebrew, to selective favor, which favors one person above another. That's the case here. Paul indicates that some are favored with specific spiritual gifts, tasks, and roles, and he counts himself among the favored ones.

The same terminology appears in Galatians 2 where he said that the other apostles recognized "the grace that was given to me." They concluded that Paul "should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised" (Galatians 2:9). He used the same term in Ephesians 3 to refer to his specific calling to work as an apostle to the Gentiles: "the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you" (Ephesians 3:2):

Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. (Ephesians 3:7-8, emphasis mine)

In Romans 12:3, Paul again refers to his authority as an apostle to the Gentiles as "the grace given to me." This authority was given to him but not to everyone else:

As in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching. (Romans 12:4-7, emphasis mine)

Likewise, he says in Romans 15, "I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles" (Romans 15:15-16, emphasis mine). God favored him with this assignment as the minister to the nations, the apostle to the Gentiles.

Again, in 1 Corinthians 3, he speaks of his work as an apostle in Corinth:

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. (1 Corinthians 3:10, emphasis mine)

God's grace through the Messiah for the forgiveness of sins is not in view here. Paul refers instead to a specific measure of God's favor. Suffice it to say that not everyone receives this same measure of God's favor. Paul felt special because he had been singled out for a specific role, a specific task within the body of Messiah. God had favored him with this mission.

In Ephesians 4:7, he says, "But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift." Again, this is not the general grace we find in Messiah for the forgiveness of sins. Instead, it's the specific favor bestowed upon an individual. What is that gift? We'll see what it is a few verses later, but first, Paul takes us on a brief midrash about the ascension of the Messiah and the Festival of Shavu'ot.

Psalm 68 and Shavu’ot

Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." (Ephesians 4:8)

The quotation comes from Psalm 68, a psalm that Jewish interpretation associates directly with the first Shavu'ot at Mount Sinai. In the Apostolic Era, Psalm 68 and Psalm 29 were considered Psalms of the Day for the Festival of Shavu'ot.

We spend a long time preparing for Shavu'ot. During the forty-nine days of the Counting of the Omer that lead up to Shavu'ot, we recite Psalm 67, a harvest psalm containing forty-nine Hebrew words and predicting that God's salvation will extend to all nations. Then, on the day of Shavu'ot itself, we read Psalm 68, which makes allusions to the story of the revelation of the Torah at Mount Sinai. It may be argued that the main point of Psalm 67 being read throughout the forty-nine days of the Omer is to point us to Psalm 68 for the day of Shavu'ot.

Tongues and Torches

Jewish tradition has richly embellished certain passages from Psalm 68 to connect them with the giving of the Torah on Shavu'ot. For example, Psalm 68:12(11) says, "The Lord gives the word; the evangelists (HaMevasrot,) are a great host" (my translation). The word I'm translating as "evangelists" is the Hebrew word Mevasrot, which literally means "proclaimers of good news."" The Talmud interprets this same verse to refer to the giving of the Torah in every language: "Every single word that went forth from the Almighty divided into seventy languages" (b.Shabbat 88b). Thus Jewish tradition ties Psalm 68 with the story of the giving of the Torah on Shavu'ot, and apostolic tradition ties it with the story of the giving of the Spirit on Shavu'ot when the LORD gave "the word," and the disciples of Yeshua who were gathered in the Temple proclaimed the good news in every language.

Psalm 68:18 is also understood to refer to the descent of God upon Mount Sinai. It says, "The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary" (Psalm 68:18[17]). This is also why the story of the chariot in Ezekiel 1 became the haftarah (the portion read from the prophets) for Shavu'ot.

Ezekiel's vision of the chariot also speaks of "the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the living creatures" (Ezekiel 1:13), alluding to the passage in Exodus that says, "All the people saw the voices and the torches" (Exodus 20:18, my translation). The apostles experienced this phenomenon as "tongues of fire [that] appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave utterance" (Acts 2:3-4). So, as you can see, there's a great deal of Shavu'ot tradition invested into this psalm.

The Ascent of Moses

Several other Shavu'ot traditions are tied to Psalm 68, including a story about the specific verse Paul quotes in Ephesians 4. Here's what the verse says:

You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there. (Psalm 68:19[18])

Jewish interpretation explains that this verse describes Moses' ascent of Mount Sinai. When Moses went up the mountain to get the Torah, he ascended into the heavenly Temple. The supernal heights of the dwelling place of God had descended to the top of the mountain.

As Moses stepped onto the top of the mountain, he found himself in heaven. However, when the angels saw a mortal man of flesh and blood standing among them, they objected to his presence there, and they objected to the idea that the holy Torah should be put into the hands of human beings:

When Moses ascended on High to receive the Torah, the ministering angels said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, what is one born of a woman doing here among us? The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to them: He came to receive the Torah. The angels said before Him: The Torah is a hidden treasure that was concealed by you 974 generations before the creation of the world, and you seek to give it to flesh and blood? "What is man that You are mindful of him and the son of man that You think of him?" (Psalm 8:5). Rather, "God our Lord, how glorious is Your name in all the earth that Your majesty is placed above the heavens" (Psalm 8:2). The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses: You answer them. (b.Shabbat 88b)

Moses answers the angels by pointing out that the Torah is not given to angels. Commandments such as "remember the exodus when I brought you out of Egypt," and "honor your father and mother," and "rest on the Sabbath," and "You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal" do not pertain to angels. Moses wins the argument and prevails over the angels, fulfilling what it says in Psalm 8:5, "You have made him a little lower than the [angels] and crowned him with glory and honor." (The apostles associated the same psalm with the ascension and exaltation of Messiah.) In the Talmud, the story continues:

Immediately, each and every one of the angels became an admirer of Moses and gave some gift to him, as it is stated: "You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts for] men, even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there" (Psalm 68:19[18]). That is to say, "In reward for the fact that they called you a mere man, you took gifts from the angels." (b.Shabbat 88b-89a)

In this explanation, the "host of captives" that Moses took refers to the five books of the Torah. The "gifts for men" he received are the commandments of the Torah along with spiritual secrets and spiritual gifts from the angels, which exist today as the esoteric mystical tradition. The Targum on the Psalms paraphrases the verse to say, "You ascended to the heavens, O prophet Moses; you captured captives, you taught the words of Torah, you gave gifts to the sons of men, and even the stubborn who are converted turn in repentance, and the glorious presence of the LORD God abides upon them."

Ascent of the Messiah

This explanation of the verse should be compared to a midrash on Deuteronomy 30:11-14 that explains that since Moses had already ascended to heaven to retrieve the Torah on behalf of the Jewish people, no one should say that the Torah is too difficult or too far off. It's not up in heaven; it's not beyond the sea. Instead, Moses had already done the hard work to bring the Torah near: "The word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it" (Deuteronomy 30:14). Paul invokes that same explanation in Romans 10:

The righteousness based on faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?" (that is, to bring Christ down) or "Who will descend into the abyss?" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:6-9)

In other words, no one needs to ascend into the heavens to bring the Messiah down to earth or descend into Sheol to bring him up from the dead because God has already accomplished these things through Yeshua of Nazareth. The righteousness of God has already been obtained by him, just as Moses had already obtained the Torah.

In Ephesians 4, Paul makes a similar, but not identical, comparison between Moses and Messiah. Moses ascended into the heavens, defeated the angels, took the Torah captive, received gifts from the angels, and then descended to bestow these gifts upon human beings. Likewise, Messiah, who was "a little lower than the angels," has ascended to heaven to be "crowned with glory and honor" (Psalm 8:5; cf. Hebrews 2:7-9). He has taken captive spiritual authorities and has been seated "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named" (Ephesians 1:21) to fill all in all. He has received gifts to be distributed among men. Like Moses, he bestows these gifts upon human beings. Paul referred to these gifts when he said, "Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift" (Ephesians 4:7).

Now we finally have enough information to read and interpret the rest of the passage.

He Who Descended

In saying, "He ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. (Ephesians 4:9-10)

There are three valid ways to understand "He also descended into the lower regions, the earth." The first is in reference to his incarnation, as it says in John 3, "No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man" (John 3:13).

The second is in reference to his death and burial, which is elsewhere referred to as a descent into Sheol and is paralleled in Romans 10.

However, many scholars suggest a third possibility. They believe that it should be understood as the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Shavu'ot. Yeshua is likened to Moses, who ascended to plunder heaven and acquire the gift of the Torah. Moses descended back to earth with the Torah and gave it to human beings. Likewise, Yeshua ascended to get the gift of the Spirit, and through the outpouring of the Spirit, he descended, so to speak, into the lower regions of the earth to bestow that gift on the day of Shavu'ot when the Holy Spirit was poured out on his disciples. According to that idea, one would translate the passage like this:

In saying, "He ascended," it implies that he also had to descend [back] to the lower regions of the earth. He who descended [to bestow the Spirit] is the same one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. (Ephesians 4:9-10, paraphrased)

I don't know which interpretation best fits what Paul is getting at, but I am sure that the ascent of the Messiah refers to his resurrection from the dead and his ascent to the right hand of God. I am also confident that the gifts he obtained in heaven and bestows upon human beings are referred to here as the "grace given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift" (Ephesians 4:7). What is that gift? It's the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers:

He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13)

This passage parallels an earlier one: "You are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone" (Ephesians 2:19-20, emphasis mine). In other words, Paul is speaking about the apostolic community of Jewish believers, the original apostles and the prophets of the Jerusalem community. They are the foundation. As an apostle, Paul represented this community of Yeshua's Jewish disciples to the Gentiles in Ephesus, fulfilling the role of Israel's priestly duty of ministering to the nations, "the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:16).

This is the "grace" that was "given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift" (Ephesians 4:7). Those designated as apostles received that calling as a gift of God's favor. The Messiah obtained it for them as a spiritual gift wrested from heaven. Likewise, with the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers. Soon, we will look at each office and see how Paul uses these titles to describe the leadership of Jerusalem's community of Jewish disciples.

They are the "gift of Messiah" to human beings, filled with the Spirit on the day of Shavu'ot. The apostolic community attributed the outpouring of the Spirit on Shavu'ot to the ascension of Yeshua. Elisha did not receive a double portion of his teacher Elijah's spirit until Elijah ascended. It all started on Shavu'ot, the day God poured out his Spirit on the disciples of Messiah: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers. Before his ascension, Yeshua told his disciples, "I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if l do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you" (John 16:7).

Under the authority and instruction of those original apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, the whole body of Messiah grew, the Messiah himself at the head. We, too, are members of the same body, tracing our spiritual ancestry back to those disciples until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Messiah.

The Fivefold Gift

It is commonly taught that Ephesians 4:11 presents fivefold gifts of ministry for leadership and service in a congregation. A post-supersessionist perspective on the passage comes to a completely different conclusion.

Earlier, we worked through Ephesians 4:7-11, in which the Apostle Paul presents himself to the Gentile disciples living in Ephesus as an emissary and representative of the Jewish people bringing the message of Messiah's revelation to the nations. He sees himself and his colleagues as missionaries (so to speak) acting in accordance with Israel's national destiny to be a priestly people among the nations and a light to the nations. He says regarding himself and his colleagues, "Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of the Messiah's gift." (Ephesians 4:7)

"Grace" here refers to the favor that Paul and the other apostles enjoyed as official emissaries for the Messiah. The Messiah's gift is the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon them, a gift that Yeshua obtained through his ascension to the right hand of the Father. The gifting is the Spirit of God that rested upon Yeshua while he was among his disciples and was subsequently invested into those upon whom he poured this Spirit out.

Two similar stories from the Hebrew Scriptures illustrate the idea. In the Torah, Moses asks God to help him with the task of leadership. He selects seventy elders. The Torah says, "Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied" (Numbers 11:25). In this way, the Spirit of the LORD that rested upon Moses was shared with the elders.

They formed the first Sanhedrin, and they represent the beginning of the chain of spiritual authority that extends through the ages all the way to the prophets and the men of the great assembly, to the sages, the Sanhedrin, the establishment at Yavneh, the Jewish courts, and to the rabbinic authority today. This spiritual authority began with the Spirit of God that rested upon Moses, but it was transferred thereafter through the laying on of hands, through discipleship, through the office, and through the title. This is why Yeshua ascribed spiritual authority to them, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat" (Matthew 23:2). That's not the same as claiming that scribes and Pharisees are inerrant; it's simply a concession that their authority has a spiritual basis. God's Spirit is involved in shaping Judaism and has been since the beginning.

Another similar story is that of Elijah and his disciples. When the Prophet Elijah was about to ascend, his disciple Elisha requested a double portion of the Spirit of God that rested upon Elijah. He asked Elijah to bequeath it to him. This means that all of Elijah's disciples (the school of the sons of the prophets) received a portion of the Spirit that rested upon their teacher Elijah. Elisha wanted twice the amount that the others would receive. Elijah told Elisha that the request would be granted him if he saw him ascend. Elisha saw him ascend, and the Spirit that was upon Elijah came to rest upon Elisha. God's Spirit rested upon the prophets.

The story of Yeshua's ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit on Shavu'ot uses some of the same terminology:

Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." In saying, "He ascended" what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. (Ephesians 4:8-10)

The gift that he gave was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples who were gathered in the Temple to celebrate the Festival of Shavu'ot:

He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-12)

If you have ever heard this passage taught from a pulpit before, you might be familiar with the concept of "the fivefold gifts." The idea is that God distributes these various roles and titles among an assembly of disciples. Some people receive the calling to be apostles, which may be a type of church-planter or a missionary. Some receive the calling to be prophets, which may be understood as one with the gift of prophecy or as one who preaches with a prophetic type of authority. Some receive the calling to be evangelists, usually understood as those most adept at persuading others to become believers, sometimes in the context of large meetings to present the gospel, like the Billy Grahams of the world. Some are called to be shepherds, that is, pastors who care for and tend the local community. Some are called to be teachers, that is, Bible teachers. Someone who feels called to ministry just needs to figure out which job description God has best suited them to fulfill.

There is no dispute that there is a division of labor like this in the assembly of Messiah. Compare Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12, both of which speak of the body of the Messiah and the variety of gifts at work among its members-spiritual gifts that have been bestowed upon the disciples of Yeshua. In one passage, Paul illustrates the point by naming various titles, roles, offices, positions, and gifts within the assembly of Messiah:

You are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the community of Messiah| first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? (1 Corinthians 12:27-30)

But that general gifting of the whole body is not what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 4:11-12. Instead, his point here must be understood in the context of what he had written previously: "You are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone" (Ephesians 2:19-20, emphasis mine). In other words, he's speaking about the apostolic community of Jewish believers, the original apostles, and the prophets of the Jerusalem community. They are the foundation. As an apostle, Paul represented this community of Yeshua's Jewish disciples to the Gentiles in Ephesus, fulfilling the role of Israel's priestly duty of reaching to the nations, "the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:16).

Some English Bibles obscure this point by omitting the definite articles and implying that these five titles are simply general categories distributed among all believers:

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

Correctly translated, each one should have a definite article ("the"). The gift that the Messiah took from heaven and gave to human beings is "the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers" (Ephesians 4:11). The definite article is significant because it implies that we are not speaking about general categories. Not just any apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers are in view here, but specifically, the ones anointed and appointed from the Jerusalem assembly of Yeshua's original disciples. This passage speaks of the ones upon whom the Spirit was poured out on Shavu'ot and those appointed by them.

As we see in 1 Corinthians 12:28, Paul even ranks them: "God has appointed in the community of Yeshua first apostles, second prophets, third teachers."

The Apostles

And he gave the apostles... (Ephesians 4:11)

Not just anyone can be called an apostle. It's a measure of grace given to only a few. To be favored by God as an apostle, one had to have been one of those disciples of Yeshua to whom he appeared during the forty days between his resurrection and his ascension. During those forty days, he commissioned the apostles to serve as his witnesses, testifying to his resurrection. Simon Peter described the apostles as follows:

"[The risen Yeshua did not appear] to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead." (Acts 10:40-43)

There were more than just twelve apostles. According to Paul, the Master appeared to more than five hundred of his disciples:

He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. (1 Corinthians 15:5-7)

There seems to have been a ranking of authority in the Jerusalem community. James and the brothers of the Master stood at the top, stewarding the Master's chair at the head of the assembly. The three of the inner circle, Simon Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, are next. Mary Magdalene was over the women. The rest of the twelve were one rung lower, and after them, the seventy. After them come the rest of those men and women who saw the risen Master, ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead and received his commission to testify.

Last but not least comes Paul himself. He refers to himself as an apostle "untimely born" only because the Messiah did not appear to him until after the ascension. He says, "Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me" (1 Corinthians 15:8).

All the apostles functioned as Yeshua's official representatives. They had the authority to speak in his name and on his behalf. That was especially true of the original disciples, the twelve and the sev-enty, who were all present on the day of Shavu'ot for the outpouring of the Spirit. Paul refers to them as the "chief apostles" (2 Corinthians 12:11). They were entrusted with Yeshua's teaching and his message, and they had the authority to perform miracles in his name, as it says regarding the Twelve, "[He] gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction" (Matthew 10:1). He told them, "Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:12-13). But the signs and miracles were not limited only to the chief apostles. While living in Ephesus, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, saying, "I was not at all inferior to these chief|-apostles, even though I am nothing. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works" (2 Corinthians 12:11-12).

Nevertheless, it should now be clear that "the apostles" were a specific group of Jewish believers in Yeshua-his disciples. Many of them were present in the Temple on the day of Shavu'ot when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them. Paul said that "grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift" (Ephesians 4:7). To be favored as one of the apostles was a special measure of God's grace-Messiah's gift.

The Prophets

He gave the apostles, the prophets ... (Ephesians 4:11)

Paul here refers not to the Old Testament prophets but to "the prophets" of the Jerusalem assembly—men and women from among the disciples of Yeshua invested with the gift of prophecy. The early apostolic community had a special class of prophets, Jewish men and women who had been commissioned by the Messiah as prophets in fulfillment of the words, "in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy" (Acts 2:18). The Prophet Agabus and his colleagues, of whom it says, "Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch" (Acts 11:27), were among them. They predicted a famine that was about to come upon the land, one that other Jewish historical accounts corroborate. It happened just as the prophets of the Yeshua community predicted.

We know that the spirit of prophecy was very much at work in the first generation of Yeshua's disciples. We see it in the book of Acts, but I also think of the story about the flight to Pella. A tradition of the early Jewish believers explains that before the First Jewish-Roman War, a prophecy in the Jerusalem community of Yeshua-followers issued a warning to flee the city and withdraw to the Transjordanian Decapolis city of Pella. The community received a sign on Shavu'ot that year, and they heeded the warning. They withdrew from Jerusalem and relocated to Pella. When the Jewish Revolt broke out later that year, the Gentiles in all but a few of the Decapolis cities turned against their Jewish populations and slaughtered them. Pella was among those where the Jewish community survived.

Prophets don't always predict the future. To prophesy means to speak on behalf of a deity; while that might include a prediction, it also might not. The gift of prophecy is not limited only to people officially commissioned as prophets. Not everyone with the gift of prophecy qualified for this role. Paul rhetorically asks, "Are all apostles? Are all prophets?" (1 Corinthians 12:29). To be favored as one of the prophets was a special measure of God's grace.

Other disciples who joined the community later, as well as individuals among the Gentile communities of Yeshua's disciples, also received the gift of prophecy, but Paul does not include them in this specific designation of "the prophets."

The Evangelists

He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists... (Ephesians 4:11)

"The evangelists" here refers not to just anyone with a knack for winning converts and persuading people to believe in Yeshua. It refers to the proclaimers of the good news from the Jerusalem community of Yeshua's original disciples. The title "evangelist" seems to be derived from Psalm 68: 12(11), which says, "The Lord gives the word; the evangelists are a great host" (my translation). As I explained above, the psalm (which is the Psalm for the Day of Shavu'ot) uses the word Mevasrot, which literally means "proclaimers of good news." The Talmud interprets this same verse to refer to the giving of the Torah in every language: "Every single word that went forth from the Almighty divided into seventy languages" (b.Shabbat 88b).

The book of Acts refers to the evangelists as those who went out from Jerusalem proclaiming the Master:

Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. (Acts 11:19-21)

Chief disciples of the apostles carried the title "evangelist" as well. For example, the twelve apostles appointed seven servants, "men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom" (Acts 6:3). The apostles laid hands on them, commissioning them to act on their behalf as apostles of the apostles. These included Philip, who is referred to as "Philip the evangelist" (Acts 21:8). Likewise, Paul appointed Timothy as his agent over the assembly in Ephesus, and he said to him, "Do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry" (2 Timothy 4:5). The evangelists are the direct agents of the apostles.

That's not to say that other disciples who joined the community later, including some disciples among the Gentile communities, did not also evangelize and proclaim the good news, but Paul does not include them in this specific designation of "the evangelists." The original evangelists were those favored disciples of Yeshua who received the Spirit on Shavu'ot in Acts 2 and went out from Jerusalem, or, as in Timothy's case, those who became direct agents of the apostles.

The Shepherds and Teachers

He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers ... (Ephesians 4:11)

The shepherds and teachers are others from among the original disciples of Yeshua, probably also among those who received the outpouring of the Spirit on Shavu'ot. This is where we get the title "pastor," which literally means "shepherd. However, the original shepherds and teachers were not just anyone with the gift of pastoring or teaching; they were Jewish disciples of Yeshua commissioned to teach and shepherd the community of Yeshua, as when Yeshua said to Simon Peter, "Feed my sheep." Apparently, Paul had in mind specific Jewish believers acting in these roles as representatives of the Jewish believers in Jerusalem. He probably had in mind his own colleagues and traveling companions. That's not to say that other disciples who joined the community later, including some disciples among the Gentile com-munities, did not also become pastors and teachers, but Paul does not include them in this specific designation.

None of these categories are mutually exclusive. It's possible to belong to several. Paul might have considered himself as belonging to all five categories. Both Paul and Barnabas seem to qualify as apostles, prophets, and teachers. We also meet Simeon Niger, Lucius of Cyrene (Luke), and Manasseh, who were teachers and prophets in the community of disciples that formed at Antioch (Acts 13:1).

To recapitulate, Paul tells the Gentiles living in Ephesus that God favored specific individuals from the original community of Jewish disciples by designating them with authority to serve the body of Messiah as the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers. Those are the five. Contrary to the traditional view, this passage does not refer to fivefold ministry gifts generally distributed among Yeshua followers such that every assembly of Yeshua might expect to have some who are apostles, some who are prophets, some who are evangelists, and some who are shepherds and teachers. That seems self-evident regarding the category of apostles, but Lionel Windsor's commentary Reading Ephesians & Colossians after Supersessionism makes a compelling case that all five categories are best understood as descriptions of the offices of specific individuals within the original community of Jewish disciples-not general giftings to be anticipated in all Yeshua communities.

Windsor emphasizes the continuity between the first part of Ephesians and this section. Remember that the first three chapters of Ephesians lay out Paul's teachings about the distinction between Israel and the nations, between the Jewish disciples and the Gentile disciples. This discussion of the five offices naturally continues that discussion in that these five offices-the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers-represent the Jewish community and the Jewish religion to the nations. They are fulfilling their role of being a light to the nations, introducing the world to the one God, the God of Israel, and his Messiah. They are the Messiah's gift to human beings, a gift he obtained by ascending like Moses into heaven and taking it from the angels. Paul counts himself among that select group of chosen ones when he says, "Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift" (Ephesians 4:7). They represent Israel and the Jewish people to the nations. It's their job to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Messiah.

A Lamp that Lights Many Lamps

We discover how the gift of the Holy Spirit was transmitted through the disciples of Yeshua, through the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, teachers, and pastors who first received it during the outpouring that took place on Shavu'ot.

The flame at a single candle can light many candles without suffering any diminishment of its own brightness. Rashi cites a midrash on Numbers 11:17 that uses this illustration to describe how the Spirit of the LORD that rested upon Moses could be transferred to the seventy elders without diminishing Moses' own spiritual endowment:

To what can Moses be compared at that moment? He was like to a light that is placed in a candlestick at which everybody lights his lamps and yet its illuminating power is not the least diminished. (Rashi on Numbers 11:17, cf. Sifre Bamidbar 93)

Just as a man who kindles a thousand flames from one does not lessen the first in communicating light to the others, so God did not diminish the grace imparted to Moses by the fact that he communicated of it to the seventy. (Theodoret)

An oil lamp can light many oil lamps without its own flame suffering diminishment. Likewise, when it came time to appoint a successor, God told Moses, "Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him" (Numbers 27:18). Moses did so, and he transferred the Spirit and authority God had invested in him to Joshua through the laying on of hands.

This idea of transmitting the Spirit of God is pertinent to the story of the ascension, the story of the outpouring of the Spirit, and also to our studies in Ephesians 4 regarding the gift that Messiah attained in his ascension: "The apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry" (Ephesians 4:11-12).

I want to test a hypothesis about this text.

Hypothesis: The gift of the Holy Spirit was transmitted through the disciples of Yeshua, through the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, teachers, and pastors who first received it during the outpouring that took place on Shavu'ot.

The idea is that the disciples present that day on Shavu'ot to receive the outpouring of God's Spirit then became the initial vectors through which the Spirit of the LORD was transmitted to subsequent generations of Yeshua's disciples. They are "the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the teachers and pastors" to whom Paul refers. Like lamps lighting other lamps by passing the gift of flame from wick to wick, the apostles spread out into the world, from Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria, and the ends of the earth, transmitting the Holy Spirit. To test the hypothesis, we will examine a series of ten incidents involving the transmission of the Holy Spirit.

Incident One: Immersion of Yeshua

When Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:16-17)

Yeshua himself is the initial flame that ignites the other lamps. The Spirit of God descended to rest upon him in full measure at his immersion in the Jordan. That's not to say that he was the first person ever to receive an endowment of God's Spirit, but all previous prophets, seers, poets, craftsmen, sages, kings, and holy men received only a portion of that endowment. From the least to the greatest of them, they received only a measure of the Spirit of God, whereas Yeshua received the Spirit without measure. God lavished his Spirit upon his Son as if to say, "You are my Son in whom my Spirit delights. Today I have begotten you."

Before his ascension, Yeshua bequeathed the Spirit of God that rested upon him to his disciples. On the eve of his ascension, he appeared in their midst in Jerusalem, and he said to them, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:21-22). He told them, "John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now" (Acts 1:5). He commissioned them as witnesses and apostles, saying, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

Incident Two: Outpouring in the Temple

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4)

Ten days after the ascension, on the day of Shavu'ot, something extraordinary happened. Like a lamp that lights many lamps, Yeshua distributed the Spirit of God that rested upon him among his disciples. That transference of Spirit can be compared to the story of Elijah and Elisha, where the disciples of the prophets declared, "The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha" (2 Kings 2:15). The outpouring of the Spirit upon the apostles signified the beginning of a new era.

This by no means indicates that the Holy Spirit had never before been active. New Testament readers sometimes mistakenly assume that before the outpouring of the Spirit in Acts 2, nobody experienced the Holy Spirit. This is a troubling premise. It implies that Christians have greater spiritual endowment than men like Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets. Abraham spoke with God, and God spoke to him. Moses was the greatest of the prophets. David received the Holy Spirit when Samuel anointed him, and he spoke by the Holy Spirit when writing the Psalms. All the prophets prophesied by means of the Holy Spirit, the "Spirit of Messiah within them" (1 Peter 1:11). It would be arrogant to suppose that believers in Yeshua have the Spirit and such men did not.

On the contrary, the Holy Spirit of God was active in the lives of men and women long before the days of the apostles. The term "Holy Spirit" is merely a circumlocution for the Old Testament term "Spirit of the LORD." God's Spirit remains active in Israel, even among people of Jewish faith who have not yet discovered the identity of the Messiah.

In that case, what was so extraordinary about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the believers? What does the Gospel of John mean when it says that "the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:39)? The outpouring of the Spirit upon the believers refers to a unique investment of God's Spirit in that he distributed the same Spirit that had rested upon Yeshua to each of his disciples. Similarly, when Elijah ascended, his disciple Elisha received a double portion of the Holy Spirit that anointed him. After Elijah's ascension, Elisha walked in a special anointing of God's Spirit. So too, the seventy elders in Numbers 11 received a special anointing of God's Spirit that had been upon Moses. In Acts 2, the disciples of the Master received an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, a special share in the anointing of the Messiah. They are henceforth called "the body of Messiah" because the Spirit that rested upon Yeshua's human body now rests upon this corporate body of his disciples. They have become Messiah on earth, so to speak-the image of God.

A Sign of the Kingdom

Peter explains the significance of the moment in reference to the Messianic Era. He interpreted the outpouring as a fulfillment of a prophecy uttered by Joel:

This is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. (Acts 2:16-18)

The prophets predicted a unique endowment of God's Spirit in the Messianic Age. "I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, the LORD promised (Joel 2:28). The messianic outpouring of the Holy Spirit brings the exalted revelation of God that people in the kingdom will enjoy. "They shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest" (Jeremiah 31:34).

This Messianic-era endowment of the Holy Spirit will not only reveal the knowledge of God but also will transform human beings, quenching the rebellious sin nature and inspiring obedience: "I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules" (Ezekiel 36:27). When John says, "the Spirit was not yet given," he alludes to these Messianic-era endowments of the Spirit.

The Down Payment

However, a problem emerges. How does the outpouring of the Spirit on a small collection of Yeshua's disciples fulfill the prophecy that predicts a universal outpouring of the Spirit on all of humanity? It doesn't. Instead, the idea is that the outpouring of the Spirit upon the disciples began a process that will culminate in the universal outpouring of the Spirit. The apostles who received the outpouring on Shavu'ot were to become the vectors of transmission that would eventually infect all of humanity with the revelation of God's Spirit.

According to John, the Spirit had not yet been given because the Messiah was not yet glorified. The glorification of the Messiah refers, on the one hand, to his resurrection and ascension, and on the other hand, to his advent in glory in the Messianic Era.

After Yeshua's resurrection and ascension, a portion of the Spirit was distributed to his disciples on Shavu'ot as a deposit against the full principal yet to be paid out in the Messianic Era. Notice how Paul explains that the Holy Spirit is given as a pledge, a guarantee, a down payment against the future outpouring of the Spirit:

It is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)

He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. (2 Corinthians 5:5)

Therefore, the Holy Spirit on the disciples should be understood as the Spirit of the LORD that rested upon Yeshua. This same Spirit has now been imparted to his disciples in the outpouring at Shavu'ot in anticipation of the general outpouring, which will be universal, uniting all things in the Messiah. The goal of the outpouring is a universal enlightenment, at which point the Spirit of the LORD that was upon Yeshua will come to rest upon all humanity. Then all things will be reconciled into Yeshua. This is the ultimate destiny of the nations and all of humanity: to be absorbed into the body of the Messiah on earth. Then the Son of Man ("the Human Being") will be all in all because all humanity will be members of his body.

Incident Three: A Second Outpouring

When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:31)

The third incident occurs in Acts 4. By then, the community of Yeshua's disciples had significantly grown, and the Spirit was active through the apostles. When the religious leadership prohibited the apostles from further testifying about Yeshua, they met for prayer. God's Spirit again shook the place in which they were gathered, again filled them with the Holy Spirit, and again enabled them "to speak the word of God with boldness." This corresponds to what Yeshua had said:

When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. (Matthew 10:19-20)

This story (the third incident) implies that the Spirit of God filled the apostles and the disciples of Yeshua with special endowment on occasion. Being filled with the Spirit is not a static experience. It includes exceptional moments that might be characterized as spiritual recharges.

After this, we read that "many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles" (Acts 5:12). It does not say that all disciples of Yeshua were performing signs and wonders regularly, but the apostles did so. The apostles explained, "We are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him" (Acts 5:32).

Incident Four: Appointment of the Seven

Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty ... These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. (Acts 6:3-6, emphasis mine)

The apostles spread the message throughout Jerusalem and into Judea. The community of disciples grew so rapidly that they found themselves unable to administer the whole assembly. The apostles appointed seven men to act as their representatives in the administration of the community. This story should be compared to the story of Moses appointing the seventy elders in Numbers 11 to assist with the administration of the community. The apostles selected men from among the disciples of Yeshua who were already "full of the Spirit and of wisdom," and they "laid their hands on them" to commission them as their agents. This incident illustrates the mechanism of laying on of hands as an investiture and act of commissioning. It was a rite considered pertinent to "the elementary doctrine of Christ" (Hebrews 6:1) and a transference of spiritual power.

Incident Five: Samaria

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:14-17, emphasis mine)

Incident five is the story of how the apostles brought the Holy Spirit out from Jerusalem and Judea to Samaria.

After the death of Stephen, persecution against the disciples scattered the Yeshua community abroad. Philip, one of the seven, took refuge in a Samaritan city where he began to raise up disciples of Yeshua among the Samaritans. But he was not able to transmit the Spirit himself.

The apostles in Jerusalem sent Peter and John to investigate the reports of Samaritan disciples. Peter and John found that Philip had immersed Samaritan disciples under the authority of the name of the Master, but the Samaritan disciples had not experienced the spiritual manifestations of God's Spirit as the Jewish disciples had.

Peter and John laid hands on the disciples and prayed for them "that they might receive the Holy Spirit." The apostles are depicted transmitting the Spirit they received at Shavu'ot, not unlike Moses laying hands upon Joshua and the elders. The Spirit fell upon the Samaritan disciples. Simon Magus was so impressed that he sought to obtain the same power-the power to convey the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands.

Incident Six: Paul and Ananias

So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." (Acts 9:17, emphasis mine)

Incident six involves a disciple of Yeshua named Ananias, one of the original disciples who were present in the Temple for the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Shavu'ot. He had since relocated to the Syrian city of Damascus. The Master appeared to him in a vision and told him to go to a particular house, lay hands upon Paul of Tarsus, and pray for him to receive the Spirit. He found Paul still fasting in the aftermath of his encounter with Yeshua, still blinded from the light. Ananias laid hands on him. Paul's vision returned, and he received the Holy Spirit. The story illustrates the principle of the original disciples serving to transmit the Spirit to subsequent disciples.

Incident Seven: Cornelius and Peter

While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. (Acts 10:44-46)

Incident seven involves the household of Cornelius the Centurion in the city of Caesarea. As Peter testified about Yeshua to the Gentiles gathered there, the Holy Spirit fell upon them. He did not even need to lay hands on them, and he probably would not have done so because he and the rest of the apostles did not anticipate transferring the Spirit to Gentiles. Nevertheless, that's what his presence in the home of Cornelius accomplished, thereby moving a step closer to the fulfillment of the prophecy about God's Spirit being poured out "on all flesh." Peter asked, "Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" (Acts 10:47). In this way, the apostles moved the Spirit from Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria, and out to the ends of the earth.

Peter later explained the significance of the moment to the other apostles back in Jerusalem:

As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, "John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way? (Acts 11:15-17)

When the rest of the apostles heard about how the Spirit had crossed over the divide between Jews and Gentiles, they dropped their objections. They blessed God, observing, "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life" (Acts 11:18).

Incident Eight: The Laying on of Hands over Timothy

This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you ... Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. (1 Timothy 1:18, 4:14)

Incident eight involves the immersion, laying on of hands, and transfer of the Spirit to Paul's Jewish disciple Timothy. Timothy is described as "A disciple... the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer" (Acts 16:1). Paul was apparently present at Timothy's immersion and the laying on of hands. In this story we see that the laying on of hands was a standard part of the ritual for receiving a new disciple, most probably because it symbolized the transference of the Holy Spirit like the flame of one candle igniting the wick of another.

Incident Nine: Twelve Disciples of John

When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. (Acts 19:7)

Incident nine involves twelve disciples of John the Immerser. On arriving in Ephesus, Paul encountered twelve Jews in the synagogue who identified themselves as disciples of John the Immerser. Paul asked them if they had received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They replied that they were unaware of what he was speaking about. Paul realized that although they were disciples of John, they did not hear about Yeshua. John had only baptized them. He told them, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Yeshua." He persuaded them to become disciples of Yeshua. They agreed to transfer to Yeshua's school. This time they were immersed in the authority of Yeshua's name. Paul laid hands on them and prayed for them. "The Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying."

In this story, we see that Paul was serving in his capacity as an apostle, transmitting the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to other Jews.

Incident Ten: The Ephesian Disciples

Paul served as a vector for the transference of the Spirit, just like the other apostles. But as he passed the flame, he did not limit himself to Jewish disciples. He also passed the Spirit to the Gentile disciples of Yeshua in Ephesus. Speaking to the Gentile disciples in Ephesus, Paul indicated that as members of the Jewish people, he and his colleagues (the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the teachers, and pastors) transmitted this anointing of the Spirit to the Gentile disciples of Yeshua:

In him you (Gentile disciples also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)

Toward Heavenly Adam

The endowment of the Spirit is a guarantee, a pledge on the Messianic Era, "the redemption of God's own possession, the people of Israel. But it's also a down payment on the outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh. It is the gift that the Messiah obtained to be given to human beings, to be passed through the apostles and those who originally received the Spirit. He received the Spirit at the Jordan. He passed it to his original school of Jewish disciples. They passed it on to those who followed in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and ultimately to the ends of the earth-to Jews, to Samaritans, and ultimately to all nations.

The Spirit didn't come upon people in isolation, but only under the investment of the body of Messiah, through the laying on of hands and in conjunction with immersion in Messiah's name. This is not to limit God or deny the outliers such as Eldad and Medad or the story of the unknown exorcist who was commanding spirits in the Master's name. However, at least during the Apostolic Era, the ordinary way to receive this gift was through the apostles or through those who had received the anointing by them. They transferred the Holy Spirit like one lamp lighting many lamps, and those lamps lighting others, but none were diminished in the process. The goal of the process was to ignite the whole world, lighting up the whole earth with the brilliant light of God's revelation, one human being at a time. This was the work of "the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ" (Ephesians 4:11-12) toward that eventual goal when the Spirit will be upon all flesh and all humanity will be joined together into the messianic identity-the metaphysical body of the heavenly Adam.

The spiritual life they conveyed also belongs to us who are heirs of this process that has been preserved by faith through the hands of those who have clung to the confession of Yeshua before us. If so, let us be diligent to walk by the Spirit and transmit this gift to those who come after us, not letting its light go out of the world with us.