FIVE GRACIES OF JESUS CHRIST

Unity among us is not created but maintained by recognizing Christ in each person. His manifestations, also known as the fivefold ministry, are apostle, prophet, teacher, evangelist, and pastor (Ephesians 4:11). The phrase "fivefold ministry" is not found in the Bible but is used as a collective term to describe the various graces of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We can compare these five graces to five parts of the brain next to each other, working together to help the church remain healthy and reach its full potential. Just as the active functioning of only some parts of the brain could cause the body to deteriorate or become paralyzed, in the Body of Christ, we need all the expressions of Christ's mind to grow healthily, equipped and built up to attain unity in faith, knowledge of God, and the fullness of Christ.

The brain is in the head, symbolizing leadership that guides and directs the body. There is also another term for the "fivefold ministry," which is "office" (apostle, prophet, teacher, evangelist, pastor). From one perspective, there are individuals called to stand in one of these offices, whose lives are a gift to the Body of Christ. However, we are moving from the service of an individual to expressing the community as a family.

Just as one of the five parts of the brain consists of many cells, we are entering a time when, for example, the office of the prophet will consist of multiple prophetic voices working together as a team. Individually, we see partially, but together we see more, and only as a whole can we express a fuller picture of Christ's mind.

Unity supports diversity, within which we seek to understand the specific function and unique design of the people around us. While the brain is an essential part of our body, there are other vital organs without which we could not survive. This is one reason we need each other so much. Needs do not show a lack but an opportunity for another member of the Body of Christ to step into their function at the God-given place.

We are all together the fullness. Our human body has all the elements to create an atomic bomb, yet it does not explode. The beneficial function and synergy of the brain and other organs help us remain balanced, live, move, and dwell in God, whose visible manifestation includes our mutual relationships on earth as in heaven.

1 Corinthians 13:12-13 says, "For now, we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."