Here is a question from Daniel Cordell:

Greetings Dave,

I had a question about Ephesians 4:11. I’ve heard multiple times (including in your podcast today) that there is no word “and” between “pastors” and “teachers” but isn’t the greek word καί there?

Is there a specific greek text being used that doesn’t include the conjunction?

Thanks for your help with this!

And here is my response:

Thanks Daniel!
Oops. That’s what happens when one begins to deviate from one’s notes to make a spontaneous point, as I do pretty much every week. So here, to be more thorough and accurate:

Yes, the word “kai” is there in all Greek texts as far as I know and that’s why we see it in our English texts. It’s the definite article (like our “the”) which would show up in translation as “some” that is missing before “teachers”.

Though there is some debate on the interpretive principle in question (Granville-Sharp rule), as far as I know, most guys that think about this stuff would say that the construction here indicates a strong (but not complete) overlap between the two words “pastors” and “teachers”. I’m not really enough of a Greek expert to do anything but parrot back what I’ve read, but I’ve seen it explained that the one group “pastors” is a part of the other group “teachers”. In other words, according to this view, not all who teach always need to hold the office of pastor, but those who hold the office of pastor ought to be able to teach. To go on a bit more, this would be confirmed by the lists of qualities for elders-overseers in 1 Tim 3 and Titus 1 who are supposed to be able to teach. I take elders, overseers and pastors to be roughly synonymous due to Paul’s speech in Acts 20 and 1 Peter 5:1-2, which then brings us back around to “sheperds” in Eph 4:11.

So thanks for pointing that goof out. And if the mere existence of the word “and” is all you were asking about, then the short answer would still be “yes, it’s there and I spoke off the cuff incorrectly.” All the rest of that stuff i just said was to help clarify the point I was making as I goofed. Perhaps the main lesson for me is to stick to my notes – as I hadn’t really intended to make this point at all!

But for anyone who is really interested in digging into this further, most commentaries probably have something to say on it.  An “exegetical commentary” would have something to say on this for sure.  Craig Blomberg and Harold W. Hoehner from Denver Seminary say it like this:

“The distinction between the gifted individuals in 4:11 proceeds along the following lines: evangelists win converts, apostles establish churches and prophets fill in needed revelation. With Wallace, “pastors and teachers,” since plural, are not an exact fulfillment of Granville Sharp’s criterion; all pastors should teach but not all teachers pastor. “

You can read that whole article here:
http://www.denverseminary.edu/article/ephesians-an-exegetical-commentary/