Read my note entitled A Word to Preterists to consider the validity of church leaders.
Paul’s teaching in his regional essay entitled Ephesians and in his letter to the Corinthians are his essential statements for evaluating the current status of church leaders.
In Ephesians he said, “He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things. And He gave some indeed as apostles, some as prophets, some as good-message tellers, some as pastors and teachers, toward the complete furnishing of the holy ones for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the full-knowledge of the Son of God, to a complete man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
To the Corinthians he said, “Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with. For we know in part and prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror obscurely, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
What do these two statements share? They both view the life, existence, and experience of believers in the partial realm - with maturity as the goal. The first one regards the supernatural gifts of leadership which were bestowed to the body of Christ. The second one regards the supernatural gifts of the Spirit, which were distributed among various members of the body of Christ. They both have growth to maturity as the goal and terminus.
Supernatural assembly leaders, like the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit, are no more. They fulfilled their purpose. They functioned to equip God’s holy ones until the goal was reached; which was (and is) the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ - the mature man!
Jesus, the Love of God, the Perfect One has come. The partial has been done away with in the full-knowledge of the Son of God. Now we see face to face.
All that was of the partial realm has been fulfilled in the completed realm of Jesus Christ.
Jahveh is Here! – Jerusalem has descended! – God’s tabernacle fully dwells among us!