91 EPHESIANS 4,12. A REVISED READING istries ” could be interpreted as a depiction of a second generation apo- stolic Church with distinct functions defined. Nevertheless, three (evangelists, pastors and teachers) of the five ministries here enumerated are hapax legomena in Ephesians, and the other two (apostles and proph- ets) do not describe an ecclesiastical institution. The combination “apo- stles and prophets” indicates rather a reconciliation of both old and new in one building whose cornerstone is Christ (Eph 2,20) 43. If mentioning the “ministries” does not have as its main purpose the depiction of a real ecclesiastical hierarchy, what then is its goal? As it has already been stated, these “ministries” reflect God’s grace given to the church through Christ’s gift. Paul considers himself the first recipient of God’s grace and the servant (diakonov) of this gift. The service entrusted ¥ to Paul is preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles (Eph 3,7) ; his commitment is a ministry of the Word. Thus, naming the ministries as an expression of Christ’s gift is consequently a participation in Paul’s ministry of the Word. In fact, the enunciated ministries are related to the ministry of the Word 44. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are all involved in different ways with the same service: preaching the Word. The main purpose of mentioning them does not stem from a depiction of the early Church organization but from Christ’s gift fully given for each one in the Church. Too much importance has been given to the ministerial differences, since the text seems to stress in different ways the unity of ministries and their one and the same source. IV Coordination vs. Subordination in Eph 4,11 . Some recent interpretations of Eph 4,12 have opposed the group of the saints to the ministries enunciated in Eph 4,11. But then, to whom does the word agioi refer in the phrase prov ton katartismon twn ™ ù ù ù ˜ ag¥wn ? In Ephesians, agiov is clearly used as an adjective in 1,4.13; 2,21; Ωı ™ 3,5 ; 4,30; 5,27 45 ; but sometimes it is used as a noun: 1,15.18; 2,19; 3,18; 4,12 ; 5,13; 6,18. Paul seems to address Christian believers as “saints” and to include them among the recipients of God’s call (1,4). Making a dis- tinction between ministries and saints does not correspond to the thought in 4,7-16, nor to the larger context of the letter. The main reason is given ognizes that from this passage it is impossible to frame the subordination and the precedence. It must be noted that only the last two categories (poimenav kaı didas- ¥ ù 43 kaloyv) are joined by a conjunction. ¥ MERKLEIN, Das kirchliche Amt, 75. 44 See also 2 Tim 4,5; 1 Tim 5,17. 45