And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ ... (Ephesians 4:11-12)
Two of these—apostleship and prophecy—were temporary gifts. When the Apostle John finished writing the last books of the Bible and died, both apostleship and prophecy passed from the scene. The other teaching gifts are given for the purpose of equipping believers for service.
The Greek word katartizo, "equip," was used three ways in the ancient world: medically, it meant to set a broken bone; militarily, it meant to get supplies to an army on the front line; economically, it meant to provide needed funds. The word means "to equip according to the need." In the spiritual sense in this passage, it means for the believer to find his spiritual gift and function in it.
After we have sat in Bible class and received the Word, the next step is to go out into the world and act on what we have heard. If we have no service, no function, no operation in the supernatural exercise of our spiritual gift, we will have no spiritual maturity.
The purpose of service is for the building up of the Body of Christ. "Building up" is oikodomeo, from oikos, "house," and domeo, "to build." The word means "edification" The pastor teaches the congregation; the members of the congregation—having been equipped by the pastor—now all function in their spiritual gifts. Because the spiritual gifts are all functioning, the believers are edifying each other and strengthening each other so they can do what the Church is supposed to do: evangelize, tell the world about Jesus Christ. This is what makes for a dynamic local church.
... until We all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:13)
The ultimate objective is expressed in four pictures of what we want to attain:
1. The unity of the faith. "Faith" here is not subjective but objective, referring to that which we believe. "The unity of the faith" means that because the Word of God is taught in its entirety, we have a systematic development of our understanding of the Word of God.
2. The knowledge of the Son of God. This is functional, experiential knowledge. We know Jesus Christ not because we have heard or studied about Him, but because we have experienced Him. We see His power in our lives, His confidence, His boldness, His courage, His humility. And we see these things in the live of others in the local church, and we come to a practical, experiential knowledge of the person of Jesus Christ. He is not someone who is absent; He is someone who is present. He is not someone who is weak; He is someone who is powerful. He is someone who lives and breathes within individuals and within a local church.
How will we ever come to the experiential knowledge of the Son of God? Only one way, we have to come to systematic unity in our understanding of Bible doctrine. If we do not accept the full counsel of God, we will never see the full glory Christ.
3. A mature man. "Mature," from teleios, can also be translated "complete. This means that we have put all the pieces of the puzzle together. We have a clear understanding of the full scope of doctrine and have applied it to life. We have been taught and because we have the unity of the faith and because we have the experiential knowledge of the person of Jesus Christ, we are mature.
4. The fulness of Christ. To reach this point means that we are filled with quality, controlled by our occupation with Christ and influenced by Him in everything we do. We start out in the Christian life just working toward Christ and, in time, begin to be occupied with Him. But then what happens? As we develop a systematic understanding of the written Word, Jesus Christ the Living Word becomes alive to us. He becomes real, more real than anything else. He becomes important to us. As He does, we begin to have epignosis, experiential knowledge of the Son of God. We reach spiritual maturity and then He fills our life, controls our thinking, influences our actions. Jesus Christ has become the most important thing in life.
As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ. (Ephesians 4:14-15)
If we persist in the teaching and application of the Word, we will not have to be children all our lives. The Greek meketi, "no longer," says, "It is time to move on." The writer of Hebrews admonishes his readers by telling them that by now they ought to be teaching others, they ought to be functioning in their spiritual gifts, but they are not. Why? Because they have become dull of hearing, reversionistic (Hebrews 5:11-14).
The word Paul uses here for "children" is nepios. The word refers to an adult who is childish. In the spiritual realm, this is someone who has been a believer for a long time, but who is still trying to make Christianity an outward thing instead of an human production, human effort, human good, instead of the inward thing. He still doesn't understand that Christianity is supernatural and invisible; he is still trying to make an issue of invisible divine production.
"Tossed" and "carried about" are both in the present tense, indicating persistent action. This is the childish believer's lifestyle—constantly shifting, constantly unstable, constantly affected by external shifts in the wind, living a life built on circumstances. No believer can attain maturity if his life is built on conditions around him.
But instead of remaining children, we may grow. "Speaking the truth in love" means communicating Bible doctrine in the power of the Holy Spirit. The phrase takes us back to where Paul began in Ephesians 4:11 with the communication of the Word by gifted teachers in the filling of the Holy Spirit. When doctrine is taught this way, we will grow up in all aspects. Auxano refers to natural, normal growth. This is the normal Christian life—spiritual advance from the cross to the crown.
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