Wherefore he says, Having ascended up on high, he has led captivity captive, and has given gifts to men.
In the middle of writing about the church's unity, Paul quotes an old song of victory and applies it to Christ, risen and gone up. Two questions follow: why does the quotation differ from the psalm, and who are the captives He led away?
In the psalm Christ receives gifts; in Ephesians He gives them. One writer traces that change and the new period it points to:
Notice that the Spirit of God, in quoting this passage, has changed and widened its scope a little. The psalm, after declaring Christ's victory, says: "You have received gifts for men," or, "in the man." The apostle quotes it this way: "and gave gifts to men." The Old Testament shows Christ, as man, receiving gifts because of His triumph. But in the New Testament the Holy Spirit applies the passage to show these gifts actually handed out to those for whom He won them… In the epistle Christ hands out these gifts before that reign and that time of earthly blessing begin. He gives them in the sphere of His present interests, "to every one of us."
The change is the Holy Spirit's own, and that settles its standing:
When the Holy Spirit quotes Scripture in the New Testament, the quotation is as much Scripture in its New Testament place as in its Old. Any change the Holy Spirit makes in the quotation is itself Scripture.
Older translations read "he led captivity captive." The phrase is war language, and its earlier uses set the sense. One writer answers a question about it:
The expression first occurs in Judges 5:12. There it means that Barak was called to lead captive those who had oppressed Israel in their pride. Psalm 68:18 does the same. It celebrates the risen and ascended Lord in the language of war, as victor over the mightiest powers of evil… it says plainly and strongly how completely He beat them. Colossians 2:15 describes the same victory over him who had the power of death, and over his angels… The cross cancels their might. It looked like Christ's defeat, but it is the ground of His triumph.
The scene is a captor taken captive. One writer draws the reversal out as a picture:
When He came into this world He found Satan the captor, and man chained, so to speak, to the wheels of his victory chariot. Man was in captivity, led or driven through the scene by the devil. Now the whole thing is turned around… He is risen from the dead, the mighty Victor, and Satan is chained to the wheels of His chariot… Satan beaten, and man set free to become Christ's willing servant.
Some have taken the captives to be Old Testament believers, carried up to heaven with Christ. One writer answers that:
In ascending, Christ led captive the evil powers that had held man captive before. It had nothing to do with the Old Testament saints or any others. After His death the Lord went to Paradise, where His Father received His Spirit… When the converted robber died, he joined the Lord in Paradise.
Christ received these gifts before He gave them, and He received them as Man:
Thus exalted, He has received gifts in man, that is, in His human character (compare Acts 2:33). It is in this way, "in man," that Psalm 68 puts it, and the quotation comes from there. Here, having received these gifts as the Head of the body, Christ is the channel of their communication to others. They are gifts for men.
The gifts He hands down are people, and the Greek word marks them off from another kind of gift:
The Lord Jesus led captivity captive, went up on high, and from there gave gifts to men. Psalm 68:18. These were apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the building up of the body of Christ. Here persons are the gifts, δόμα… Another list is given in 1 Corinthians 12, where the word is χάρισμα, "grace, favour."
The gift comes to a person, and then the person becomes the gift:
He makes you the holder of a certain gift, and then He takes you, gift and all, and makes a present of you to His church.
The gifts come from the ascended Christ, and He keeps giving even when His people are weak:
Here is another weighty fact. His going up to heaven did not interrupt the gifts. Ephesians 4:8-10 proves that they were given only from Him on high… Outward power in testimony may not adorn the church when it is unfaithful… Yet the love of Christ cannot refuse all that is needed for the perfecting of the saints.
- Victory first. The words are war language. Christ beat the powers that held man captive, and the cross that looked like defeat is the ground of His triumph.
- Spoil second. He does not keep the victory to Himself. The ascended Man received gifts and passed them down at once.
- Persons, not powers. He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers — people handed to His body as presents.
- Reach. The psalm's fuller blessing waits for a coming day. The epistle shows the gifts already flowing to every one of us.
- Result. The supply comes only from Him on high, so it cannot fail while the saints still need perfecting.
But that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth?
Paul has just quoted a psalm about a conqueror going up on high with gifts for men. Now he stops to ask what going up must mean. The answer goes down before it goes up. How far down do "the lower regions" reach? And why does a verse about the gifts of Christ take this turn at all?
This verse breaks into the flow. One writer explains why the descent comes second in the telling, and gets only a passing mention:
In Ephesians 4:9-10, the eighteenth verse of Psalm 68 is quoted, and then comes the comment that His ascent means He first descended into the lower parts of the earth. The descent came first in time. But it gets only a passing mention, because His triumphant ascension is the main point before the mind of the Spirit.
One writer traces two stages in His going down:
To say that He ascended means that He first descended into the lower parts of the earth. The point He departs from here is not heaven but earth. When He came down from heaven He came only as far as earth. He came here to reveal the Father and bring the love of God to men. But when men would have nothing to do with Him, He went down further, even into the lower parts of the earth. He said in the day of His rejection: "For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matt. 12:40).
One writer sets a firm limit on how far down the phrase reaches — to the grave, the place of the dead, and no further:
Ephesians 4:9 gives no support to any descent of the Lord to carry the departed saints on high. True, the verse does not speak of His descent as the Son from heaven to become man. It goes no further than His descent to the grave, as a man on earth. He tasted death, truly died, and was buried. Jehovah would not leave His soul in Sheol or Hades, nor let His holy One see corruption. He who descended so low ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.
Not everyone stops at the grave. Others read the descent as the whole way down, from becoming man to the cross:
He had the highest place above, if I may say so, naturally and in His own being. It belonged to Him as the Son of God, who was equal with God by right; yet He stooped to be made flesh. God's purpose required that He should be man. Without His becoming man there could have been no undoing of the whole ruin of mankind, and of the dishonour done to God by sin. There could have been no defeat of Satan, and no full and righteous deliverance for man... To have stooped to become man, and to live as He lived, rejected and humbled on earth, would have been much. But what is that compared to the cross? He went down to the very lowest, and because of that humiliation He is now, as man, exalted to the highest.
One writer sets the descent inside a bigger story — man's captivity, and his rescue:
This Deliverer has proved Himself not only mighty in this way, but glorious. He fills all things. He has both descended and ascended. He has been in the lower parts of the earth — the grave, the very stronghold of the Captor. He is now far above all heavens... He carried out the deliverance in the lower parts of the earth. Now, in the highest places, far above all heavens, He has received gifts for those who were once the victims of the Serpent. He has handed them out.
One writer answers a worry: could this supply of gifts ever end?
Perhaps some have already asked: Will this ever end? Will the assembly one day be left without building up? But then we look into the open heaven and see Christ there. He is still there, and He is still the One who gives the gifts. He so loved the assembly that He descended into the lower parts of the earth. So the ministry which those gifts carry out cannot stop while Christ is there!
- Down first. The descent came first in time. It gets only a passing mention, because the triumphant ascension is the main subject.
- Down from earth. He came from heaven only as far as earth. When men rejected Him, He went lower still, into the heart of the earth.
- Down to the grave. Commentators differ here. Some limit the phrase to His death and burial. Others trace the whole stoop, from becoming man to the cross.
- Down into enemy ground. The grave was the Captor's stronghold. He went in, won the deliverance there, and came out.
- Down, therefore up. The One who went lowest now gives from the highest place, and while He is there the supply for His body cannot fail.
He that descended is the same who has also ascended up above all the heavens, that he might fill all things;
This verse is a short aside, and it reaches from the grave to the highest heaven. Two questions sit at its centre: who is the One who travelled both ways, and what does it mean that He fills all things?
The One in the depths and the One in the heights are not two figures but one.
This is the One, the same One, the only One. He has left His memorial in "the lower parts of the earth," and borne it with Him upward, "far above all the heavens." He fills all things. God has been here; Man is there. In earlier days faith was told that God was here on earth in full glory — the Son among the children of men. In these days faith is told that Man is now in heaven. He entered there from the slight and the scorn, the weakness and the humiliation of the scene here.
The descent went below the earth — into the grave and hades, the unseen world of the dead.
He went down into the lower parts of the earth, the grave, but hades for His soul. He went into the under world, the lower parts of the earth, and then He is far above all the heavens. He has been below creation, for death and hades are in a sense below it. Then He is above it. In this way He fills all things. We see Christ in His redemption power filling everything. All service and ministry have their place in that, and they flow from it.
Other passages put the ascension in milder words. This one goes further.
"Far above all the heavens" is a remarkable expression. In Mark 16 we have the Divine Servant "taken up into heaven." In Hebrews 4 the great High Priest has "passed through the heavens." Here the victorious Man has "ascended far above all the heavens." The very heaven of heavens is His. And it is His so that He may "fill all things" — another remarkable word. Even today each believer should be filled with the Spirit, as we see a little further on in this letter. A believer filled with the Spirit must be filled with Christ, and so Christ comes out of him. The day is coming when Christ will fill all things, and then all things will display Him and His glory. The "all things" spoken of here means everything that in any way comes under His headship — everything within the universe of blessing.
What is this fullness? One answer looks past Godhead alone.
The fullness of Him that fills all in all is not just Godhead, but Christ in redemption. Ephesians 4:10 leads one to this. It is redemption. He who went into the lower parts of the earth is now far above all the heavens.
That filling is God's answer to how low His Son went.
We may not be able to fathom this profound language. Still, it cannot mean less than this. Because Christ humbled Himself, and because of the work He then carried out to accomplish the purposes of God, He will one day flood the whole universe with His own redemption-glory. And this, and nothing short of this, will be God's answer to the humiliation of His beloved Son.
The road He took is what qualifies Him to give gifts.
If Christ has ascended on high, it must mean that He first descended into the lower parts of the earth. He has been into death, and from that lowest place He has ascended far above all the heavens. So He has passed through "all things." In doing so He has gained, as Man, perfect knowledge of every circumstance of life and death the believer may have to pass through... Knowing "all things," He can give gifts that meet our every need as we travel through this world of sorrow and trial on our way to glory.
Look for a place where Christ has not been, and the search closes both ways.
He has gone right down to the very depths where He overcame Satan, and ascended to God's right hand. His present position and His glory give Him this privilege: He makes those who were Satan's captives the vessels of His power to deliver others... God fills the whole horizon of the soul here with Christ. Look as deep down as you like, He has been there. Look as high as you like, He is there.
- One Person. The One in the grave and the One above every heaven are the same, the only One — this is the hinge the verse turns on.
- Down first. The descent went below creation itself — into death and the unseen world, where the enemy held power.
- Up furthest. Not just into heaven, and not just through the heavens, but far above them all, as a victorious Man.
- Filling, not just occupying. What fills the universe is Christ in redemption. One day the whole creation will be flooded with redemption-glory — God's answer to His Son's humiliation.
- Filling us now. He knows every step of the road, so His gifts meet our real needs. Filled with His Spirit, believers start to display Him here.
and *he* has given some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers,
The gifts in this verse are not offices men hand out, but people the risen Christ Himself hands down to His church. Everything turns on two questions: who is the "He" who gave, and what did He give — abilities, or persons?
Before naming a single gift, the passage stops to describe the One doing the giving. One writer draws attention to that pause:
The answer is in verse 11 of Ephesians 4: "He gave." Who is the He? The person who ascended and took His seat at God's right hand. And before telling us that He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, the Holy Spirit turns aside to tell us who this person is — "He who ascended is the same also that descended into the lower parts of the earth, that he might fill all things." Before He touches the question of ministry, He fixes our eyes on this person, on some sides of His divine and moral glory.
The verse does not say He gave gifts of apostleship or teaching. He gave apostles. He gave teachers.
I do not know any scripture that gives ministry according to God stronger divine backing than this. All true ministry — that is to say, gifts, persons, remember, not qualifications — flows from Him, the Head in heaven. Notice that Ephesians 4 speaks of persons: "He gave, some apostles." An apostle is a person, a pastor is a person, an evangelist is a person. It is not a question of the qualification at all. He gave the persons.
Apostles and prophets come first on the list. One writer explains why they came first, and why they are not given now:
Why were the prophets given? Because the written Scriptures were not yet complete. Now that they are complete, we do not have such gifts. The apostles and prophets are at the bottom of the building. You do not put the foundation stones of a building in the middle. You put them at the bottom. The apostles and prophets are the foundation — the Church began with them — and Jesus Christ Himself is the chief corner stone. I say this because some people who call themselves Christians tell us they have the power to appoint apostles. They must be false apostles, for you do not find apostles at the top of the building. They are at the bottom.
The other gifts divide the work between those outside and those inside. One writer then separates the pastor from the teacher:
Evangelists go out to bring others in and so enlarge the building. Pastors and teachers care for what is inside… Clearly the pastor has the people more in view, while the teacher is taken up more with the truth.
Paul does not repeat "some" before "teachers". Commentators read that wording in two ways. Some take it as one double gift resting in one man:
Only it is important to see that the pastor and teacher are joined in one person — "some pastors and teachers", not "some pastors and some teachers". It is a double gift in one individual. This matters greatly. Many teachers have almost become mere scholars and theorists, and many pastors almost philanthropists. The pastor's practical work keeps the gift of teaching wise and useful in practice.
Others hold that the link is real but not fixed. The two are "closely allied, although they are distinct gifts and one may have the one without the other, or may have them both" (Raymond K. Campbell). The ESV calls this pair "shepherds and teachers".
Because the Giver is the Head of the whole body, no group can fence a gift in:
They are given for the whole Church, not for one part of it only. An evangelist or a teacher is given for the whole Body of Christ. No denomination can claim them. No local assembly can keep their service to itself. A pastor may never work outside one assembly, yet he is a gift for the whole Body.
These gifts come from Christ, not from man. That is also why they do not run out:
But apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are different. They are Christ's gifts and need no permission from man… The evangelists call people in from the world to God, and those people become members of Christ. The pastors and teachers then build them up in His grace and truth, holy and beloved. Notice that bishops or elders, like deacons, are not "gifts" and never appear among them… But the gifts that build up come from the ascended Christ. They are as sure today as on the day of Pentecost, and they last until the last members of His body who need them are brought in.
- Giver — the verse begins with a Person, not a programme: the One who descended and ascended is the "He" who gave.
- Gift — what He gave was people, not abilities; the man with his gift is the gift.
- Shape — apostles and prophets lay the foundation. Evangelists work outside. Pastors and teachers care for those inside.
- Reach — every gift is given to the whole body, so no denomination or assembly can claim ownership.
- Duration — these gifts come from the ascended Christ, not from man. So they need no human licence, and they will not fail until the last member is brought in.
for the perfecting of the saints; with a view to [the] work of [the] ministry, with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ;
Ephesians 4:11 lists the gifted people Christ gave when He ascended; verse 12 tells us what He gave them for. It names more than one aim, and how those aims relate shapes how we see all Christian service.
The Greek uses one preposition for the first clause and a different one for the two that follow, which sets the first aim apart as the goal and the other two as the means.
The primary and full object was the perfecting of the saints — their being formed and fashioned according to the pattern of this fulness and into it; but there was a formal and instrumental object as the medium of this. As to this in its twofold character, the Greek preposition is changed, and the article omitted: "for [pros] the perfecting of the saints; with a view to [eis] the work of the ministry, with a view to [eis] the edifying of the body of Christ." This ministerial work was clearly merely ancillary, and the edifying of the body of Christ, for the perfect enjoyment of the fulness by the saints, is the direct and positive object.
The ESV translates this word as "equip." Elsewhere the same word covers mending, restoring and fitting together.
There is another word, katartizo, which is sometimes translated "makes perfect" or "perfection." In other places it carries the thought of "mending" nets (Matthew 4:21). Christians were to be "perfectly joined together" (1 Corinthians 1:10). Someone caught in a fault was to be "restored" in a spirit of gentleness (Galatians 6:1). A body was "prepared" for the Son (Hebrews 10:5). The worlds were "framed" by the word of God.
Two of the three aims are personal and one is collective, and the order matters.
Here in Ephesians the individual saints are the first object: "for (pros) the perfecting of the saints." Then it adds, "for (eis) the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ." The first thing is that each saint should grow up to Him who is the head, that is, Christ. There are three objects... You must not lose sight of the individual when you get into the body.
Christ Himself gave these gifted people. Who gave them decides who they answer to.
This affords us a most important principle. The gifts were not bestowed upon the Church, but upon men for the benefit of the Church. So those who have received them are responsible for their exercise, not to the Church, but to the Lord. So it is impossible for the Church to appoint pastors and teachers, or any of the gifts named. The Church's responsibility is to receive the ministry of everyone the Lord has qualified to build it up.
The first aim is Christ's own. Its outcome does not rest on how well His servants do.
The gifts are for the perfecting of the saints. The ministry may fail, but the Lord never fails in accomplishing His end. It may happen in a slower way, and some of it may be very weak and even distressing. But He accomplishes His purposes... These two latter clauses come in as subordinate to the first. It is a wonderful thing to see the saints acting together. But the work of the ministry may fail or be spoiled in man's hands. The great end that the Lord commits Himself to, and for which He gave these gifts, is carried through despite everything.
This verse says what Christ is doing now. It also shows what He is not doing.
The object that God had in committing all this administration to Christ is at the present time the perfecting of the saints. If you understand that, you will see that Christianity did not come into the world to make the earth better. The whole service of Christ now, and His whole administration now, is for the perfecting of the saints, not for the improvement of the world. The way He carries it on is by constant ministry from Himself... The evangelist is just as much for the perfecting of the saints as the apostle. The evangelist who thinks he is only there to save souls is mistaken... If there were no evangelists there would be no saints to perfect.
Not all New Testament gifts work the same way. The gifts named here come with a promise attached.
There are two kinds of gifts entirely distinct... when I come to Ephesians 4, I find no gifts that are signs at all. After the foundation of apostles and prophets, I find evangelists, pastors and teachers — those the Lord uses to build up His church, "until we all come." I see Christ caring for His own body to build it up, and also the plain statement that these gifts go on to the end.
- Source. Christ ascended and gave the gifts to men, for the church's good. So those who hold them answer to the Lord, not to a committee.
- Goal. The leading aim is the perfecting of the saints — mending, restoring, fitting together.
- Means. The work of ministry and the building up of the body are the channels Christ uses to reach that first aim.
- Reach. Each believer growing up to Christ comes first. The growth of the whole body follows, and no individual is lost in it.
- Result. Ministry can falter in human hands. But Christ carries His own aim through, and the gifts continue until we all reach full growth.
until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at [the] full-grown man, at [the] measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ;
Paul has just listed the gifts the ascended Christ gave to His people, and here he names the goal of all that ministry. Three questions follow: which unity does he mean, what is "mature manhood," and when do we reach it?
The word "until" fixes how long Christ's gifts to His people last. One writer argues that no one can claim we have reached the goal, so the supply has not stopped:
His ascension to heaven did not interrupt these gifts. Ephesians 4:8-10 shows the opposite: only from Him on high were they given, and given until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God… to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. No right-minded Christian will claim we have reached this yet, so neither should he doubt the unfailing grace of Christ… the love of Christ cannot refuse all that is needed for the perfecting of the saints, for ministerial work, for building up His body.
"The faith" here means a body of truth, and the unity it produces is not one that people arrange:
The faith the apostle speaks of is the whole system of Christian truth. The unity is not agreement on a creed, and not an alliance that people arrange. It is a unity of mind and heart, produced by grasping the truth as God teaches it in His word.
Another writer marks off this unity from the unity of the Spirit:
The unity of the faith, in verse 13, is another matter. The activity of the gifts has the building up of the body of Christ in view, to this end: "Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God." We must not confuse the two. The unity of the faith is objective — something the saints are to arrive at. The unity of the Spirit is more subjective, and involves the living oneness of the members of the body of Christ.
The verse joins the faith to a Person, and the knowing it asks for is acquaintance, not information:
This knowledge is not a mere taking in of truth. It is a personal acquaintance with the Person of the Son of God. And it is knowing Him not only as Saviour, but as Son of God. The world will know Him as Judge and King, the Jew as Messiah; our special privilege is far above their knowledge. Take any gathering of believers: where you find some measure of this knowledge of the Son of God, you may be sure there is a matching measure of the unity of the faith.
Does this mean every believer must first become perfect? One writer answers no:
I do not think that means until every person is perfect. The point is not that I become a perfect man on my own. It is the full-grown man: the one body, made up of all its living members, grown to its fullest extent, so that it gives a full and well-proportioned picture of the life of Christ.
Why does Paul add the knowledge of the Son of God? Kelly answers that, and names the standard our growth aims at:
Adding the knowledge of the Son of God was necessary, because it is up to His stature, known in this way, that we are to grow… The perfect man simply means the state: a full-grown man. But the measure of the stature of a full-grown man in Christ is Christ Himself. All the fulness that is in Him is worked into the soul, and the soul takes its shape from it. The soul becomes like Him and is filled with Him in all its thoughts. Christ's outward fulness measures and forms the soul's inward state, so that there is no mismatch and no separation from Him — the believer grown up to Him in everything.
Commentators differ here. Some read the goal as a maturity possible now, in contrast with the childishness of verse 14:
The perfection spoken of here seems not to be perfection in glory, where all will no doubt be according to Christ. It seems to be a state of full growth on earth, in contrast with the infancy and weakness of verse 14.
Others hold that only heaven can answer to the words:
The gifts will continue until the Church is complete in heaven, and until the building up of the body reaches its finished state: the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. No partial perfection reached before then can fill out the meaning of this verse.
- Gift — Christ gave ministry from heaven, and "until" keeps the supply coming while the goal is still ahead.
- Faith — the first target is one mind in the whole body of truth, formed by God's word, not by human arrangement.
- Knowledge — that truth is not a subject but a Person; the aim is personal acquaintance with the Son of God.
- Man — the outcome is one full-grown man: the whole body showing Christ, not a crowd of people each finished on their own.
- Measure — the standard is Christ's own fulness worked into the soul; writers differ on whether we reach it on earth or only in glory, but nothing less than Christ is the aim.
in order that we may be no longer babes, tossed and carried about by every wind of *that* teaching [which is] in the sleight of men, in unprincipled cunning with a view to systematized error;
Paul has just described the goal of every gift Christ gave His church: full growth measured by Christ Himself. This verse states the other side of that goal — what we are meant to leave behind.
The word rendered "children" describes infancy, and the exhortation assumes movement out of it.
"That from now on we may no longer be children (infants), tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive." (Eph. 4:14.) This exhortation involves the fact of growth. The immature, easily-imposed-upon state is looked at as the one out of which believers should emerge.
The verse does not tell us to become clever. It ties our steadiness to the maturity described in the verse before it.
The first result of this maturity in Christ is a soundness of judgment in spiritual things. It makes even the least educated believer proof against the clever arguments of the human mind. It is important to notice how we gain this ground. It is not by human learning, or by skill in argument. This verse connects with the one just before it. Our stability among the shifting currents of human opinion and speculation is the result of being full-grown in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God. That means an intelligent acquaintance with the word of God, and a heart acquaintance with the blessed Lord Himself. Scripture proposes no other safeguards against error and false doctrine, and none that man sets up is of the smallest use.
One commentator, quoting an older translation, shows why ignorance leaves a believer open to deceit.
The effect of this full growth would be that we should no longer be babes in Christian knowledge. While we are ignorant, we are liable to be "tossed and carried about by every wind of that teaching which is in the sleight of men, in unprincipled cunning with a view to systematized error." Sadly, there are those in the Christian profession who, with sleight and cunning craftiness, are ready to deceive those not established in the truth. Whenever someone in the history of God's people plainly denies a great truth, or puts forward some special error about the Person of Christ, you will usually find a whole system of error behind that one wrong doctrine.
One writer traces this plot back past the men who carry it out.
"The sleight of men" is set in this passage against the wisdom of God, and the method of deceit against the counsel of saving truth in Christ. Men are indeed the actors in this intricate plot of craft and falsehood; but Satan is its first inventor, and the ruling mover of its action.
Christ keeps giving gifts to His church. One writer explains what they are meant to produce.
God wants His saints firmly established in His grace and truth, and in the knowledge of His Son. Then they will be proof against the ever-changing tricks of the enemy. The church of God will never be without souls needing help on to full growth. So the ever faithful Head will continue the gifts of His grace until the end: "till we all come." Christ does not give gifts to make the saints helplessly dependent on them. It is the opposite: by means of the gifts the saints become firmly rooted and grow up into Him who is the Head — Christ.
One writer looks at what good men reached for when false teaching came in.
You are aware that at an early date false doctrines and heresies of all kinds came in. What was the resource of good men in those days? They invented creeds and confessions by which they tried to test suspected persons. But where was the authority for this course? Or was it found that these defences kept the evil out? Never, at any time or place. There is only one power for maintaining truth and love — Christ Himself.
Many people try to master every false system so they can answer it. One writer points the other way.
We do not escape error by enquiring into all the details of the error, but by the knowledge of the truth. The Lord can say of His sheep, "A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers" (John 10:5). Our safety, then, is found not in investigating evil, but in holding the truth in love.
- Childhood — Infancy in the faith is real, but it is a stage to grow out of, not a settled Christian condition.
- Danger — An unsettled believer is easy prey for cunning men. Behind one wrong doctrine there is usually a whole system of error.
- Provision — Christ gives gifts so that saints take root and grow, not so that they lean on the gifted.
- Safeguard — Not learning, debating skill, creeds, or the study of error. Safety is knowing the word of God and knowing the Lord Himself.
- Outcome — The grown believer holds a steady course while opinion shifts. He grows up into Christ the Head.
but, holding the truth in love, we may grow up to him in all things, who is the head, the Christ
Ephesians 4 has just described believers in danger of being blown about by every new teaching. Against that danger stands one short answer: hold the truth in love, and grow up into Christ.
The phrase covers more than accurate words. One commentator says it goes deeper than speech:
It is "being truthful in love," not just "speaking the truth in love." Speaking the truth is a very important part of being truthful, but it is not everything. We all know it is quite possible to be untruthful in thought and feeling while the words are perfectly correct. "Being truthful in love" implies truth in the inward parts.
That inward reality is why holding the truth cannot stop at the mind:
Knowing the truth in your head is not enough. You must hold it in your affections and show it in your life. Only then can we grow up to Christ, the Head, in whom every feature of the truth exists.
Truth and love are not a balance we invent. We take both from the One we grow toward.
The Christian is to grow up in line with all that Christ reveals, and to keep growing more like his Head. He uses love and truth for his own soul — the two things Christ expresses perfectly. Christ is our pattern, and our pattern as One who has overcome and gone up to heaven. He is our Head, and we are members of His body, joined to Him. From this Head, through its members, flows the grace we need to do the work of becoming like Him.
This verse answers the drifting described just before it. How we hold the truth matters as much as how firmly we hold it.
There are plenty of people ready to do Satan's deceptive work. They scheme, manipulate and make excuses, always on the watch to trap others and undermine any honest faith in the living God. But God has made provision to keep us safe from this, in the positive instructions of verse 15... Such growth needs a settled decision to hold the truth God has given us securely, in mind and in practice — not in a harsh, legal way, but in genuine love.
Growing up "in every way into him" sets no ceiling short of Christ Himself. So what is the measure of a mature believer?
The measure of the stature of a full-grown man in Christ is Christ Himself. It is all the fullness that is in Him worked into the soul. The soul is then shaped by that fullness, made like Him, and filled with Christ in all its thoughts. Its inner state is measured and formed by the fullness that really is in Christ, so that there is no gap and no separation from Him. The saint has grown up to Him in everything.
Two limits are removed by the wording. The growth covers every part of life, and it is not measured one believer at a time.
As I understand it, this is a growing together; the "all" of verse 13 growing up to Christ as one. How harmonious! If a man grows on one side only, we call him a hideous sight, a monstrosity... But holding the truth in love we are to grow up to Him in all things, until we come under the influence of the Head in every direction. Private life with God, service in the church, family life, business life — in every circle we learn to own the Lord Jesus Christ as the mind that directs us.
The work is shared out, and no part is too small.
Everybody has his or her part in God's Assembly, the ministry of each member in its place tending to the building up of the body in love... Perhaps you will say, My part is a very small one. Never mind. Do the thing the Lord gives you; it might be only to give a cup of cold water — that would be a very useful thing to a thirsty soul.
- Held — we do not just speak the truth; we hold it inside. Correct words can still hide untruthful thought and feeling.
- In love — truth and love belong together, because Christ expresses both perfectly, and He is our pattern.
- Against drift — God gave this to guard believers from schemers who trap and unsettle them.
- Toward Him — the goal is Christ Himself, not a level of knowledge. He works His fullness into the soul until nothing in us is out of step with Him.
- In every way — the growth is even and shared: every area of life, every member with a part, or the body grows lopsided.
from whom the whole body, fitted together, and connected by every joint of supply, according to [the] working in [its] measure of each one part, works for itself the increase of the body to its self-building up in love.
Paul has just described the gifts the risen Christ gave. Now he shows where the growth itself comes from: everything flows down from Christ the Head, yet nothing moves unless each part works.
The verse opens with "from whom." One writer marks the difference between what comes from the Head and what comes through the members:
All the power for growth, all the supplies, come from the Head. So the whole is said to be "from," or "out of" Him. But the "compacting" of the whole is through — not from — what every joint supplies. This happens according to the working in its measure of each part. Though everything comes from Christ, each believer still takes his proper place. So through him, in his measure, the cementing and filling up of the body goes on.
The body is joined together first; the growth comes after. We did not arrange it, and we cannot rearrange it:
The body is not only united to Christ the Head. It is also fitted together by divine workmanship. All the members depend on one another, and the living Head controls and supplies them. So that the supply from the Head might reach every member of the body, He has provided the body with the joints of supply. … How different this divine idea and formation is from man's thoughts about the church. We are not held together by a loose human bond that people can alter. We are not in the church by our own choice, or with companions we picked for ourselves. The body of Christ is not a mixture of believers and unbelievers. Only those who share the life of their living, heavenly Head belong to it, because they are joined to Him in a living way.
The gifts are not the whole story, and they are not given to everyone:
In verse 16 we move on from what the Lord is graciously doing through the gifts. Now we learn what He Himself is doing as the Head of the body. What every joint supplies is not the exercise of gift, because the gifts are not given to everyone. But every true Christian has something given from the Head to pass on to fellow members of the body. In the human body, if every member is under the direct control of the head, all the members work together for the good of the whole. In the same way, if every member of the body of Christ were under the direct control of Christ, the body would increase and build itself up in love.
The ESV says "when each part is working properly." Older translations read "the effective working in its measure of every part." One writer presses that phrase home:
Of course, we are meant to grow together. But it happens according to the effective working in its measure of every part. I wish I knew how to convey to you the comfort of that phrase. There are some who seem to be dormant Christians, some who seem to be silent Christians. You wonder whether it could be said of them that each one is working according to the measure of his part. So much depends on your filling the role assigned to you by the Head in glory.
One writer looks at the Greek behind "makes the body grow":
I have said "makes for itself," because the form of the Greek expression implies it. However that may be, the teaching is clear. The whole body, acting through its members, gains and produces its own increase. The body is there. It grows, but it is a body all along, and it grows here on earth, not in heaven.
The verse does not stop at growth. Growth happens in love, or it does not happen:
Notice too the place love has in the self-edification of the body. Without love nothing can be achieved among the saints of God. This is not only implied here, it is taught forcefully in 1 Corinthians 13. Love is the great builder! Knowledge may puff up, but love will build up.
So what happens when a few teachers carry the whole load?
People have too often put all the responsibility of the church on those who labour in the Word. They have been content just to receive whatever such men have to give. If that changed, would there not be more real fellowship and a more general care for the increase of the body? … Are we longing for the increase of the body of Christ, and helping it forward as far as we can?
- Source. All supply comes from the Head; the compacting happens through what each joint gives.
- Structure. The body is joined and held together by God, not by a human bond people can rearrange.
- Share. Gifts are not given to everyone, but every Christian receives something from the Head to pass on.
- Scale. Each part works "in its measure" — your assigned function, no more and no less.
- Self. The body builds itself up, and it does so in love: knowledge puffs up, love builds up.