Quote:
1. Why does he say 'first... secondarily... thirdly... after that...'? Do those terms imply any sort of hierarchy, and if so, of what kind? If not, why not?
2. What does he mean that God has set in the church 'governments'? Why is that listed as a gifting of certain members of the body? How does that gift operate?
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First, I would like to preface my remarks as follows:
The term "hierarchy" always seems to imply a vertical relationship, between what is above and what is below, so for me, I would rather move away from that term (I note, too, how a very literal denotation of hierarchy is "priests who rule", ostensibly over other priests, something which I don't believe jives right with the greater testimony of New Testament Ecclesiology).
Notwithstanding, I don't have a better term to offer. Now then...
What I see in
1 Corinthians 12:28 is not a top down order of importance, but rather, a horizontal movement across a line, in which apostles necessarily come first, as those who primarily bear witness to the Resurrection, and so, were the ones entrusted with the rise of Christianity as an extension of the Judaic faith, and for the continued proliferation of the same into new territories, followed closely by prophets, or those who declare the intimate mind of Christ for the Christ-following believers, so that the Christ-following believers may remain in constant contact and spiritual fellowship with their Christ--upon which, along with Christ Himself acting as chief cornerstone, make up the foundation of the Body of Messiah;
Ephesians 2:19-21--after which comes teachers, or those who must indoctrinate the saints into the tenets of the faith, so that the "ever learning but never able" crowd from
2 Timothy 3:7 don't infiltrate and influence the community of believers.
Following these three gifts to the Church (cf.
Ephesians 4:11), Paul lists a few gifts of the Spirit, or those charismata that, in the 1st century, constantly drew in new members to the faith, more so than any of the others, when the testimony of Acts is taken into account.
Next on this horizontal line, Paul enunciates "helps", or those who offer various forms of assistance to the Body, whether physical, social, economical, or spiritual, as needed.
Finally, to get to the bones of your questions, we come to "governments", followed by diversities of tongues, or those other charismata necessary to a regular edification of the Body at large.
Governments, according to all the major lexicons, refers to "pilotage", as the ones responsible for steering or guiding a vessel as she goes (See Strong's, Vincent's, Robertson, and Vine's, for example).
If the church then, should be compared to a sailing ship, the pilot would be the one whose hand was on the wheel that controlled the tiller that controlled the rudder, that caused the vessel to veer this way or that, as the wind filled the sails. His was not to decide the direction or destination, but merely to follow the orders of the captain, so they could arrive safely to harbor.
In such an analogy, those who "pilot" the church don't decide the direction or destination; they merely receive their orders from the Captain, as it were, which is the Head, even Christ.
Said another way, they aren't in charge of the vessel, or own it whatsoever; rather they merely make sure it's going in the proper direction so she may arrive at her already decided upon destination, of which, for our purposes, is heaven. And as long as the winds of the Holy Spirit continue to fill her sails, she will one day arrive.
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