He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
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Ephesians 4:11-13 sits inside this longer paragraph.
He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ, from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love.
Parallel Translations
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He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;
for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ,
until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
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And the very same made some Apostles some prophetes some Evangelistes some Sheperdes some Teachers:
that the sainctes might have all thinges necessarie to worke and minister with all to the edifyinge of the body of christ
tyll we every one (in the vnitie of fayth and knowledge of the sonne of god) growe vp vnto a parfayte man after the measure of age of the fulnes of Christ.
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Hee therefore gaue some to be Apostles, and some Prophets, and some Euangelists, and some Pastours, and Teachers,
For the repairing of the Saintes, for the woorke of the ministerie, and for the edification of the bodie of Christ,
Till we all meete together (in the vnitie of faith and that acknowledging of the Sonne of God) vnto a perfite man, and vnto the measure of the age of the fulnesse of Christ,
Cross-references (83)
- Jeremiah 3:15 (v11) I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
- 1 Corinthians 12:28-29 (v11) God has set some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps,…
- Ephesians 2:20 (v11) being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone;
- 2 Timothy 4:5 (vv11–12) But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.
- Colossians 1:28 (vv12–13) We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus;
Show all 78 cross-references
- Acts 20:28 (vv11–12) Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:11-14 (v12) Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as you also do. But we beg you, brothers, to know those who labor among you,…
- Matthew 28:20 (v11) teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
- Romans 10:14-15 (v11) How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear…
- Ephesians 4:8 (v11) Therefore he says, “When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to people.”
- Ephesians 4:16 (v12) from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each…
- Romans 12:7 (vv11–12) or service, let’s give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching;
- 2 Chronicles 15:3 (v11) Now for a long time Israel was without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law.
- Ephesians 3:5 (v11) which in other generations was not made known to the children of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the…
- 1 Peter 5:1-3 (v11) Therefore I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and who will also share in the glory…
- John 17:21 (v13) that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that…
- Hebrews 5:12 (v11) For although by this time you should be teachers, you again need to have someone teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the…
- 1 Corinthians 12:27 (v12) Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
- Revelation 18:20 (v11) “Rejoice over her, O heaven, you saints, apostles, and prophets; for God has judged your judgment on her.”
- Acts 21:8 (v11) On the next day, we who were Paul’s companions departed, and came to Caesarea. We entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was…
- Ephesians 4:3 (v13) being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
- Ephesians 4:5 (v13) one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
- Acts 13:1 (v11) Now in the assembly that was at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene,…
- Romans 15:14 (v12) I myself am also persuaded about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to…
- Jude 1:17 (v11) But you, beloved, remember the words which have been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Romans 14:19 (v12) So then, let’s follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up.
- 1 Corinthians 14:4-5 (v12) He who speaks in another language edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the assembly. Now I desire to have you all speak with…
- 1 Corinthians 14:20 (v13) Brothers, don’t be children in thoughts, yet in malice be babies, but in thoughts be mature.
- Hebrews 5:14 (v13) But solid food is for those who are full grown, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.
- 2 Peter 3:18 (v13) But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
- Revelation 21:14 (v11) The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.
- Jeremiah 32:38-39 (v13) Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their…
- 1 Corinthians 14:26 (v12) What is it then, brothers? When you come together, each one of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has another language, or…
- Philippians 3:8 (v13) Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered…
- Zechariah 14:9 (v13) Yahweh will be King over all the earth. In that day Yahweh will be one, and his name one.
- 1 Corinthians 14:12 (v12) So also you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek that you may abound to the building up of the assembly.
- Colossians 2:2 (v13) that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that…
- 1 Timothy 1:12 (v12) I thank him who enabled me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he counted me faithful, appointing me to service;
- Ephesians 1:23 (vv12–13) which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
- Acts 4:32 (v13) The multitude of those who believed were of one heart and soul. Not one of them claimed that anything of the things which he possessed was…
- Zephaniah 3:9 (v13) For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on Yahweh’s name, to serve him shoulder to shoulder.
- Luke 22:32 (v12) but I prayed for you, that your faith wouldn’t fail. You, when once you have turned again, establish your brothers.”
- Acts 14:22-23 (v12) strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many afflictions we must enter into…
- 2 Corinthians 5:18 (v12) But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation;
- Hebrews 6:1 (v12) Therefore leaving the teaching of the first principles of Christ, let’s press on to perfection—not laying again a foundation of repentance…
- Acts 9:31 (v12) So the assemblies throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace, and were built up. They were multiplied, walking in the fear of the…
- 1 Corinthians 4:1-2 (v12) So let a man think of us as Christ’s servants, and stewards of God’s mysteries. Here, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be…
- 2 Corinthians 4:1 (v12) Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we don’t faint.
- 2 Corinthians 6:3 (v12) We give no occasion of stumbling in anything, that our service may not be blamed,
- Philippians 2:1-3 (v13) If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and…
- Hebrews 13:17 (v12) Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with…
- 1 John 5:20 (v13) We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, that we know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in…
- Ezekiel 37:21-22 (v13) Say to them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, where they have gone, and will…
- John 16:3 (v13) They will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.
- John 17:3 (v13) This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
- John 17:25-26 (v13) Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me. I made known to them your name, and will…
- John 21:15-17 (v12) So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?” He said to him,…
- Acts 11:23 (v12) who, when he had come, and had seen the grace of God, was glad. He exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they should remain near to…
- Acts 20:24 (v12) But these things don’t count; nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I…
- Romans 15:2 (v12) Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, to be building him up.
- Romans 15:29 (v12) I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of the Good News of Christ.
- 1 Corinthians 1:10 (v13) Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions…
- 1 Corinthians 12:7 (v12) But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all.
- 1 Corinthians 14:14 (v12) For if I pray in another language, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.
- 2 Corinthians 3:8 (v12) won’t service of the Spirit be with much more glory?
- 2 Corinthians 4:6 (v13) seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory…
- 2 Corinthians 7:1 (v12) Having therefore these promises, beloved, let’s cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear…
- 2 Corinthians 12:19 (v12) Again, do you think that we are excusing ourselves to you? In the sight of God we speak in Christ. But all things, beloved, are for your…
- Ephesians 2:15 (v13) having abolished in his flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man…
- Ephesians 4:12 (v13) for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ,
- 2 Peter 1:1-3 (v13) Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our…
- Isaiah 53:11 (v13) After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied. My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of…
- Acts 1:17 (v12) For he was counted with us, and received his portion in this ministry.
- Acts 1:25 (v12) to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas fell away, that he might go to his own place.”
- Philippians 1:25-26 (v12) Having this confidence, I know that I will remain, yes, and remain with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, that your rejoicing…
- Philippians 3:12-18 (v12) Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold…
- Colossians 1:24 (v12) Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his…
- Colossians 4:17 (v12) Tell Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you fulfill it.”
78 distinct cross-references across this passage (83 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (26 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv11–13 He returns to explain the distribution of gifts, and…
He returns to explain the distribution of gifts, and illustrates at greater length what he had slightly hinted, that out of this variety arises unity in the church, as the various tones in music produce sweet melody. The meaning may be thus summed up. “The external ministry of the word is also commended, on account of the advantages which it yields. Certain men appointed to that office, are employed in preaching the gospel. This is the arrangement by which the Lord is pleased to govern his church, to maintain its existence, and ultimately to secure its highest perfection.”
It may excite surprise, that, when the gifts of the Holy Spirit form the subject of discussion, Paul should enumerate offices instead of gifts. I reply, when men are called by God, gifts are necessarily connected with offices. God does not confer on men the mere name of Apostles or Pastors, but also endows them with gifts, without which they cannot properly discharge their office. He whom God has appointed to be an apostle does not bear an empty and useless title; for the divine command, and the ability to perform it, go together. Let us now examine the words in detail.
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11. And he gave. The government of the church, by the preaching of the word, is first of all declared to be no human contrivance, but a most sacred ordinance of Christ. The apostles did not appoint themselves, but were chosen by Christ; and, at the present day, true pastors do not rashly thrust themselves forward by their own judgment, but are raised up by the Lord. In short, the government of the church, by the ministry of the word, is not a contrivance of men, but an appointment made by the Son of God. As his own unalterable law, it demands our assent. They who reject or despise this ministry offer insult and rebellion to Christ its Author. It is himself who gave them; for, if he does not raise them up, there will be none. Another inference is, that no man will be fit or qualified for so distinguished an office who has not been formed and moulded by the hand of Christ himself. To Christ we owe it that we have ministers of the gospel, that they abound in necessary qualifications, that they execute the trust committed to them. All, all is his gift.
Some, apostles. The different names and offices assigned to different persons take their rise from that diversity of the members which goes to form the completeness of the whole body, — every ground of emulation, and envy, and ambition, being thus removed. If every person shall display a selfish character, shall strive to outshine his neighbor, and shall disregard all concerns but his own, — or, if more eminent persons shall be the object of envy to those who occupy a lower place, — in each, and in all of these cases, gifts are not applied to their proper use. He therefore reminds them, that the gifts bestowed on individuals are intended, not to be held for their personal and separate interests, but to be employed for the benefit of the whole. Of the offices which are here enumerated, we have already spoken at considerable length, and shall now say nothing more than the exposition of the passage seems to demand. Five classes of office-bearers are mentioned, though on this point, I am aware, there is a diversity of opinion; for some consider the two last to make but one office. Leaving out of view the opinions of others, I shall proceed to state my own.
I take the word apostles not in that general sense which the derivation of the term might warrant, but in its own peculiar signification, for those highly favored persons whom Christ exalted to the highest honor. Such were the twelve, to whose number Paul was afterwards added. Their office was to spread the doctrine of the gospel throughout the whole world, to plant churches, and to erect the kingdom of Christ. They had not churches of their own committed to them; but the injunction given to all of them was, to preach the gospel wherever they went.
Next to them come the Evangelists, who were closely allied in the nature of their office, but held an inferior rank. To this class belonged Timothy and others; for, while Paul mentions them along with himself in the salutations of his epistles, he does not speak of them as his companions in the apostleship, but claims this name as peculiarly his own. The services in which the Lord employed them were auxiliary to those of the apostles, to whom they were next in rank.
To these two classes the apostle adds Prophets. By this name some understand those persons who possessed the gift of predicting future events, among whom was Agabus. (Acts 11:28; 21:10.) But, for my own part, as doctrine is the present subject, I would rather define the word prophets, as on a former occasion, to mean distinguished interpreters of prophecies, who, by a remarkable gift of revelation, applied them to the subjects which they had occasion to handle; not excluding, however, the gift of prophecy, by which their doctrinal instruction was usually accompanied.
Pastors and Teachers are supposed by some to denote one office, because the apostle does not, as in the other parts of the verse, say, and some, pastors; and some, teachers; but, τοὺς δὲ, ποιμένας καὶ διδασκάλους, and some, pastors and teachers Chrysostom and Augustine are of this opinion; not to mention the commentaries of Ambrose, whose observations on the subject are truly childish and unworthy of himself. I partly agree with them, that Paul speaks indiscriminately of pastors and teachers as belonging to one and the same class, and that the name teacher does, to some extent, apply to all pastors. But this does not appear to me a sufficient reason why two offices, which I find to differ from each other, should be confounded. Teaching is, no doubt, the duty of all pastors; but to maintain sound doctrine requires a talent for interpreting Scripture, and a man may be a teacher who is not qualified to preach.
Pastors, in my opinion, are those who have the charge of a particular flock; though I have no objection to their receiving the name of teachers, if it be understood that there is a distinct class of teachers, who preside both in the education of pastors and in the instruction of the whole church. It may sometimes happen, that the same person is both a pastor and a teacher, but the duties to be performed are entirely different.
It deserves attention, also, that, of the five offices which are here enumerated, not more than the last two are intended to be perpetual. Apostles, Evangelists, and Prophets were bestowed on the church for a limited time only, — except in those cases where religion has fallen into decay, and evangelists are raised up in an extraordinary manner, to restore the pure doctrine which had been lost. But without Pastors and Teachers there can be no government of the church.
Papists have some reason to complain, that their primacy, of which they boast so much, is openly insulted in this passage. The subject of discussion is the unity of the church. Paul inquires into the means by which its continuance is secured, and the outward expressions by which it is promoted, and comes at length to the government of the church. If he knew a primacy which had a fixed residence, was it not his duty, for the benefit of the whole church, to exhibit one ministerial head placed over all the members, under whose government we are collected into one body? We must either charge Paul with inexcusable neglect and foolishness, in leaving out the most appropriate and powerful argument, or we must acknowledge that this primacy is at variance with the appointment of Christ. In truth, he plainly rejects it as without foundation, when he ascribes superiority to Christ alone, and represents the apostles, and all the pastors, as indeed inferior to Him, but associated on an equal level with each other. There is no passage of Scripture by which that tyrannical hierarchy, regulated by one earthly head, is more completely overturned. Paul has been followed by Cyprian, who gives a short and clear definition of what forms the only lawful monarchy in the church. There is, he says, one bishoprick, which unites the various parts into one whole. This bishoprick he claims for Christ alone, leaving the administration of it to individuals, but in a united capacity, no one being permitted to exalt himself above others.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv11–13 The Prophet’s office was one of the chiefest, which…
The Prophet’s office was one of the chiefest, which were men of marvellous wisdom, and some of them could foretell things to come.
Pastors are they which govern the Church, and Teachers are they which govern the Schools.
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First of all he reckoneth up the Ecclesiastical functions, which are partly extraordinary and for a season, as Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, and partly ordinary and perpetual, as Pastors and Doctors.
The Apostles were those twelve, unto whom Paul was afterward added, whose office was to plant Churches throughout all the world.
These the Apostles used as fellows in the execution of their office, being not able to answer all places themselves.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv11–13 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets;…
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
Ver. 11. Some pastors and teachers] Distinct officers, Rom 12:7-8, yet one man may be both, 1Co 12:28-29. The essential differences between pastors and teachers in each congregation is much denied by many learned and godly divines.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv11–13 And he gave; distributed several gifts, (which are spoken…
And he gave; distributed several gifts, (which are spoken of in general, Eph 1:7), according to his Father’s appointment, who is said to set in the church what Christ is here said to give, 1Co 12:28.
Objection. Nothing is here said of gifts, but only of offices.
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Answer. Christ never gave offices without suitable furniture; this diversity therefore of offices includes diversity of respective gifts.
Apostles; extraordinary officers, with an immediate call, universal commission, infallibility in teaching, and power of working miracles, appointed for the first founding the Christian church in all parts of the world, Mat 28:19; Act 19:6.
Objection. The apostles were appointed by Christ before his death.
Answer. The apostle here speaks not of Christ’s first calling them, but:
1. Of his fully supplying them with gifts necessary to the discharge of their office, which was after his resurrection, Act 1:4; Joh 7:39. And:
2. Of their solemn inauguration in their office, by the pouring out of the Holy Ghost upon them in a visible manner, Act 2:1-47.
Prophets; extraordinary officers who did by immediate revelation interpret the Scriptures, 1Co 14:4,5, and not only such as did foretell things to come, Act 11:27; 21:10.
Evangelists; these were likewise extraordinary officers, for the most part chosen by the apostles, as their companions and assistants in preaching the word, and planting churches in the several places where they travelled. Such were Timothy, Titus, Apollos, Silas, &c.
Pastors and teachers; either two names of the same office, implying the distinct duties of ruling and teaching belonging to it; or two distinct offices, but both ordinary, and of standing use in the church in all times; and then pastors are they that are fixed to and preside over particular churches, with the care both of instructing and ruling them, 1Th 5:12; Heb 13:17; called elsewhere elders, and bishops, Act 20:28; Phi 1:1; 1Ti 3:1; Tit 1:5,7; 1Pe 5:1,2.
Teachers; they whose work is to teach the doctrine of religion, and confute the contrary errors.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv11–13 And he gave some apostles,.... That is, he gave…
And he gave some apostles,.... That is, he gave them gifts by which they were qualified to be apostles; who were such as were immediately called by Christ, and had their doctrine from him, and their commission to preach it; and were peculiarly and infallibly guided by the Spirit of God, and had a power to work miracles for the confirmation of their doctrine; and had authority to go everywhere and preach the Gospel, and plant churches, and were not confined to anyone particular place or church; this was the first and chief office in the church, and of an extraordinary kind, and is now ceased; and though the apostles were before Christ's ascension, yet they had not received till then the fulness of the Spirit, and his extraordinary gifts to fit them for their office; nor did they enter upon the discharge of it in its large extent till that time; for they were not only to bear witness of Christ in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, but in the uttermost parts of the earth:
and some prophets; by whom are meant, not private members of churches, who may all prophesy or teach in a private way; nor ordinary ministers of the word; but extraordinary ones, who had a peculiar gift of interpreting the Scriptures, the prophecies of the Old Testament, and of foretelling things to come; such were Agabus and others in the church of Antioch, Act 11:27
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and some evangelists; by whom are designed, not so much the writers of the Gospels, as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, some of which were also apostles; as preachers of the Gospel, and who yet were distinct from the ordinary ministers of it; they were below the apostles, and yet above pastors and teachers; they were the companions of the apostles, and assistants to them, and subserved them in their work; such were Philip, Luke, Titus, Timothy, and others; these were not fixed and stated ministers in anyone place, as the following officers be, but were sent here and there as the apostles thought fit:
and some pastors and teachers, or doctors; these may be thought to differ, but not so much on account of the place where they perform their work, the one in the church, the other in the school; nor on account of the different subject of their ministry, the one attending to practical, the other to doctrinal points; but whereas the pastors are the shepherds of the flock, the overseers of it, and the same with the bishops and elders, and the teachers may be the gifted brethren in the church, assistants to the pastors, bare ministers of the word; so the difference lies here, that the one has the oversight, and care, and charge of the church, and the other not; the one can administer all ordinances, the other not; the one is fixed and tied to some certain church, the other not: though I rather think they intend one and the same office, and that the word "teachers" is only explanative of the figurative word "pastors" or shepherds; and the rather because if the apostle had designed distinct officers, he would have used the same form of speaking as before; and have expressed himself thus, "and some pastors, and some teachers"; whereas he does not make such a distribution here as there; though the Syriac version reads this clause distributively as the others; and among the Jews there were the singular men or wise men, and the disciples of the wise men, who were their companions and assistants; and it is asked (y),
"who is a singular man? and who is a disciple? a singular man is everyone that is fit to be appointed a pastor or governor of a congregation; and a disciple is one, that when he is questioned about any point in his doctrine, gives an answer:''
wherefore if these two, pastors and teachers, are different, it might be thought there is some reference to this distinction, and that pastors answer to the wise men, and teachers to their disciples or assistants; and so Kimchi in Jer 3:15 interprets the pastors there of , "the pastors of Israel", which shall be with the King Messiah, as is said in Mic 5:5 and undoubtedly Gospel ministers are meant: from the whole it may be observed, that as there have been various officers and offices in the Gospel dispensation, various gifts have been bestowed; and these are the gifts of Christ, which he has received for men, and gives unto them; and hence it appears that the work of the ministry is not an human invention, but the appointment of Christ, for which he fits and qualifies, and therefore to be regarded; and that they only are the ministers of Christ, whom he makes ministers of the New Testament, and not whom men or themselves make and appoint.
(y) T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 10. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv11–13 And, among other his free gifts, he gave some…
And, among other his free gifts, he gave some apostles - His chief ministers and special witnesses, as having seen him after his resurrection, and received their commission immediately from him. And same prophets, and some evangelists - A prophet testifies of things to come; an evangelist of things past: and that chiefly by preaching the gospel before or after any of the apostles. All these were extraordinary officers. The ordinary were. Some pastors - Watching over their several flocks. And some teachers - Whether of the same or a lower order, to assist them, as occasion might require.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv11–13 Verse 11. He gave some, apostles] He established several…
Verse 11. He gave some, apostles] He established several offices in his Church; furnished these with the proper officers; and, to qualify them for their work, gave them the proper gifts. For a full illustration of this verse, the reader is requested to refer to the notes on 1Co 12:6-10; 1Co 12:28-30; and to the concluding observations at the end of that chapter.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv11–12 Eph 4:11. And — Among other his free gifts;…
Eph 4:11. And — Among other his free gifts; he gave some, apostles — His chief ministers and special witnesses, as having seen him after his resurrection, and received their commission immediately from him. The office of an apostle was to declare, in an infallible manner, the whole gospel doctrine: to qualify them for which they were endowed with the plenary and most abundant inspiration of the Holy Spirit, imparting to them a perfect knowledge of all those truths and mysteries which they were to publish to the world. And some he gave to be prophets — Whose office it was to explain infallibly the true meaning of the ancient prophecies, and also themselves to predict future events, by virtue of the extraordinary revelations made to them. And some, evangelists — Who were to preach the gospel in different Gentile nations, either before or after the apostles, under whose direction they seem generally to have acted. To fit them for this office Christ gave them the gift of tongues, and such other miraculous endowments as were necessary for the exercise of their ministry, and the confirmation of their doctrine. All these were extraordinary officers: the ordinary were some, pastors, (called επισκοπους, bishops, Act 20:28,) watching over and feeding their several flocks. To fit them for which work, it appears from 1Co 12:28-31; 1Co 14:1-5; 1Co 14:23-26, that Christ bestowed, at least on some of them, the gifts of miracles and tongues, also the gift of prudence, to enable them to govern their particular churches in a proper manner. And teachers — Whether of the same or a lower order, to assist them as occasion might require. It is probable the peculiar office of those here termed teachers, as distinguished from those called pastors, was to instruct the young and ignorant in the first principles of the Christian religion. And they likewise were doubtless fitted for their work, by such gifts as were necessary to the right discharging thereof; and some infer from 1Co 12:28, that supernatural gifts, such as those of miracles and tongues, were also conferred on some of them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv11–13 And he gave some, apostles - He gave some…
And he gave some, apostles - He gave some to be apostles. The “object” here is to show that he has made ample provision for the extension and edification of his church On the meaning of the word “apostles,” and on their appointment by the Saviour, see the notes on Mat 10:1.
And some, prophets - He appointed some to be prophets; see the Rom 12:7, note; 1Co 12:28, note; 1Co 14:1, notes.
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And some, evangelists - see the notes on Act 21:8; compare 2Ti 4:5. The word does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament. What was the precise office of the evangelist in the primitive church, it is now impossible to determine. The evangelist “may” have been one whose main business was “preaching,” and who was not particularly engaged in the “government” of the church. The word properly means “a messenger of good tidings;” and Robinson (Lexicon) supposes that it denotes a minister of the gospel who was not located in any place, but who traveled as a missionary to preach the gospel, and to found churches. The word is so used now by many Christians; but it cannot be proved that it is so used in the New Testament. An explanation of the words which here occur may be found in Neander on the Primitive Church, in the Biblical Repository, vol. iv. pp. 258ff The office was distinct from that of the “pastor,” the teacher, and the “prophet:” and was manifestly an office in which “preaching” was the main thing.
And some, pastors - Literally, “shepherds” - ποιμένας poimenas; compare Mat 9:36; Mat 25:32; Mat 26:31; Mar 6:34; Mar 14:27; Luk 2:8, Luk 2:15, Luk 2:18, Luk 2:20; Joh 10:2, Joh 10:11-12, Joh 10:14, Joh 10:16, where it is rendered “shepherd and shepherds;” also Heb 13:20; 1Pe 2:25; in Mat 26:31; Mar 14:27; Heb 13:20; 1Pe 2:25, it is applied to the Lord Jesus as the great shepherd of the flock - the church. It is rendered “pastors” only in the place before us. The word is given to ministers of the gospel with obvious propriety, and with great beauty. They are to exercise the same watchfulness and care river the people of their charge which a shepherd does over his flock; compare the notes on Joh 21:15-16. The meaning here is, that Christ exercised a special care for his church by appointing “pastors” who would watch over it as a shepherd does over his flock.
And teachers - see the notes on Rom 12:7.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv11, 13 Some indeed he gave to be apostles, &c. It…
Some indeed he gave to be apostles, &c. It is said (1 Corinthians xii. 28.) that God (even with the Greek article) gave some to be apostles, &c. and here it is said of Christ: another proof that Christ is the true God. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v11 c. The organization and organism of the Church
c. The organization and organism of the Church
(Eph_4:11-16.)
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11And he gave some, apostles [some to be apostles]; and some, prophets; and 12some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For [Unto]22 the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry [or of ministration], for the edifying [building up] of the body of Christ: 13Till we all come in [unto] the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect [full-grown] man, unto the 14measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more [To the end that we be no longer] children, tossed to and fro [tossed as waves], and carried about with every wind of doctrine [teaching], by [in] the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive [in craftiness tending to 15the system23 of error]; But speaking [holding]24 the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which [who] is the head, even Christ:25 16From whom the whole [all the] body fitly joined [framed] together and compacted [,]26 by that which every joint supplieth [by means of every joint of the supply], according to the effectual [omit effectual] working in the measure of every [each several] part,27 maketh increase [the growth] of the body unto the edifying [building up]28 of itself in love.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Eph_4:11. Christ’s gift for the Church.—And he gave [καὶ αὐτὸς ἔδωκεν].—“And” joins with what precedes (“that he might fill all things”), what follows, which has the former as its aim. As the clause of design (Eph_4:10) refers to the beginning (Eph_4:7 : “according to the measure of the gift of Christ”), so the clause “he gave,” αὐτὸς ἔδωκεν, refers back also (Eph_4:10 : αὐτὸς Eph_4:8 : ἔδωκε, Eph_4:6 : ἐδόθη).29 Αὐτός gives emphatic prominence to the Person of the Giver, the Exalted One: He and none other. Ipse, summa potestate; and repetitur Exo_5:10. Ministri non dedere se ipsos (Bengel). It is not=ὁ αὐτός (Schenkel), nor is ἔδωκε=ἔθετο (Theophylact, Harless) in accordance with 1Co_12:28. [Eadie remarks (and Alford approves): “The idea is, that the men who filled the office, no less than the office itself, were a Divine gift.”—R.] Nor should the aorist be pressed, so as to express only something momentary, passing; Paul is himself included, as one whom the Exalted One gave to be an Apostle; the historical fact is indicated. Calvin has justly said: et suscitat interdum prout temporum necessitas postulat, although he accepts the first three classes of officers as belonging only to the beginning of the Church (Institutes, IV. 3, 4).
Some to be Apostles [τοὺς μὲν ἀποστόλους].—Τοὺς μέν, τοὺς δέ is not=ἑνίους, some [i.e., some Apostles], since this is only a numeral, while the former expression points as a demonstrative to definite persons, whom He has prepared to be the gift, and given as ἀποστόλους. “Apostles” are those immediately called and equipped by the Lord to extend His work; they were especially endowed by Him, and had personally great advantages and prerogatives. First of all there were twelve; after the apostasy of Judas, Matthias was chosen by the disciples somewhat precipitately, before the day of Pentecost, while Paul was called by the Lord Himself as the twelfth.30 Still Barnabas was called an apostle in connection with Paul (Act_14:4; Act_14:14) and others also (Rom_16:7; 2Co_8:23; Php_2:25), hence this is not an abuse of the term (Bleek), so that one might thus name those men, chosen and specially endowed by the Lord, appointed to found churches, as Boniface the Apostle of the Germans, Egede the Apostle of Greenland, Ziegenbalg and Schwartz the Apostles of India.
Some prophets.—“Prophets” are (Eph_2:20; Eph_3:5) men, who receive revelation (ἀποκάλυψις) from God, and, perceiving God’s will and thought with clearness, announce the same with discretion and power; the prophet is μάντις, as far as he has revelation (1Co_14:26); the latter becomes a prophet through interpretation; “glossarily” (to be distinguished from the Pentecostal miracle) is a morbid species of prophecy (1Co_14:27 ff.). They appear in Act_11:27; Act_13:1; Act_15:32; Act_21:10. They are concerned, not so much with the future (Bengel) as with the eternal. To them correspond in the progress of ages those theologians with more profound insight into God’s truth and will, as well as into the character and course of His Kingdom, such as Luther. [Comp. the excellent note of Eadie in loco. Hodge: “As the gift of infallibility was essential to the Apostolic office, so the gift of occasional inspiration was essential to the prophetic office.”—R.]
And some evangelists.—“Evangelists,” such as the deacon Philip (Act_21:8; Act_8:4-12), περιϊόντες ἐκήρυττον (Theodoret), as travelling missionaries31 (Neander), but also in permanent positions (2Ti_4:5; comp. 2Co_8:18), in consequence of their own view of the facts of the Gospel (Joh_16:26 ff.), or mediate tradition (Luk_1:1-4). It must not be referred to “those writing the Gospel” (Chrysostom); Bengel also goes too far in ascribing to them præterita; they hare to do with the life of the Lord in prophecy and fulfilment.
And some pastors and teachers, τοὺς δὲ ποιμένας καὶ διδασκάλους.—Jerome: Non ait, alios autem pastores et alios magistros, sed alios pastores et magistros, ut qui pastor sit, esse debeat et magister et nemo pastoris sibi nomen assumere debet, nisi possit docere quos pascit. Bengel: Pastores et doctores hic pinguntur, nam pascunt (and regunt) docendo maxime, tum admonendo, corripiendo, etc. The pastors are=προἵστάμενοι (Rom_12:8), who have the office of κυβέρνησις (1Co_12:28) and must be “apt to teach,” διδακτικοί (1Ti_3:2; 2Ti_2:24; Tit_1:9), they are “bishops,” ἐπίσκοποι (Act_20:28). Οἱ κατὰ πόλιν καὶ κώμην ἀφωρισμένοι in distinction from εὐαγγελισταί (Theodoret). Bleek takes them as distinct; and he is right to this extent only, that the “teachers” are not always “pastors;” it is as “apostles and prophets” (Eph_2:20; Eph_3:5); hence despite this distinction, they form one category beside the previous ones.
[There has been much dispute whether these terms refer to two classes of stationary church officers, or to one whose twofold duty is indicated by two titles. The latter view is favored by the absence of the distinctive τοὺς δέ, and is accepted by Augustine, Jerome, Bengel, Harless, Olshausen, Meyer, Hodge, Eadie and Alford.32 The former is accepted by Theophylact, Calvin, Grotius, Neander, De Wette, Stier, though the definitions of the distinction vary greatly. Ellicott says: “The ποιμένες (a term probably including ἐπίσκοποι and πρεσβύτεροι) might be and perhaps always were διδάσκαλοι, but it does not follow that the converse was true. The χάρισμα of κυβέρνησις is so distinct from that of διδασκαλία, that it seems necessary to recognize in the διδάσκαλοι a body of men (scarcely a distinct class) who had the gift of διδαχή, but who were not invested with any administrative powers and authority.” Is the teacher then the parish schoolmaster or the professor of theology? or a preacher who does no pastoral duty? The Reformed Church polity has usually recognized the distinction (Westminster Directory, Constitution of Reformed [Dutch] Church in America, etc.), but practically it has amounted to nothing, as indeed little good has ever resulted from the attempt to reproduce accurately or jure divino those distinctions which expositors discover in the offices of the primitive Church. It may be remarked that while this phrase shows that every pastor ought to be a teacher, putting the former phase of duty first, it will ever be the case that through native endowment some ministers are better adapted for one part of the duty than for the other, though there is no warrant for total neglect of either, or for appointing in one congregation one minister to be pastor and another to be teacher; for the latter would now-adays take undue precedence of the former. Those who are “teachers,” in our sense of the word, are also in the most important sense “pastors.”—R.]
It is unmistakable that these four categories above named, so divide themselves, that the first three do not belong to a single congregation, but to the whole Church or a number of congregations, the last however is definitely appointed to one congregation. A gradation from higher to lower is noticeable also, in this manner, that the higher includes the lower grade or grades. Thus Jesus is called and calls Himself “Apostle” (Heb_3:1, after Joh_20:21); “Prophet” (Mat_13:57; Luk_13:33; Act_3:22 ff; Act_7:37); εὐαγγελιζόμενος (Luk_4:18; Luk_4:43; Luk_20:1); “Shepherd,” ποιμήν (Joh_10:11; 1Pe_2:25); “Teacher” (Mat_23:8; Joh_13:14). Accordingly Bengel says: Cum summis gradibus conjuncti poterant esse inferiores; omnes Apostoli simul etiam vim propheticam habuerunt. Sed prophetæ et evangelistæ non simul etiam Apostoli fuerunt. Finally it must be noticed, that the offices themselves are not named here, and that in distinction from 1Co_12:28, the official persons stand in the foreground as gifts, in Corinthians the gifts of office, the offices themselves falling into the back-ground in both cases. See further, Doctr. Notes 1, 2.
Eph_4:12. The immediate aim of the activity of the persons in office. [Note on the relation and dependence of the clauses of this verse. There is great difference of opinion, but of the various views those numbered (4) and (5) are most worthy of consideration. Braune adopts (4); but (5) seems to be preferable.
1. The clauses are taken as co-ordinate (Chrysostom, Zanchius, Bengel, E. V.), but this is opposed by the change of preposition, and in that case we would have a different order, the second clause would come first.
2. The trajection (Grotius, Koppe and others), which actually put that clause first, is altogether unwarranted.
3. The second and third clauses are taken as parallel (by Harless and Olshausen), but as dependent on the first, in a partitive sense: some to teach, others to be edified. But there is nothing to indicate such a sense, and it is logically inadmissible, since the “saints” of one clause and “the body of Christ” of the other are identical.
4. Braune follows Erasmus, De Wette, Meier, Flatt, Rueckert, Schenkel and many others, in taking the second and third as dependent on the first, or rather the second dependent oh the first and the third on the second. The meaning then is: “For the perfecting of the saints unto all that variety of service which is essential unto the edification of the body of Christ.” As this view is fully presented below, the objections to it alone require mention at this point. These as urged by Meyer are: a. That as the context treats of offices in the Church, it is improper to enlarge the meaning of διακονία beyond that of official service (Rom_11:13; 2Co_4:1; 2Co_6:3; comp. Act_6:4; 2Co_3:7 ff; 2Co_9:12, etc.). b. That with such a meaning πάντων would have been so essentially necessary with ἅγίων that it could not have been omitted. These objections are sufficiently strong to lead him to adopt the next view.
5. The second and third clauses are taken as co-ordinate, and dependent on ἔδωκε “he gave;” the first expressing the more ultimate and final purpose (πρός) of the action, the other two the more immediate end (εἰς). This view is adopted by Alford, Ellicott, Hodge, Eadie (2d ed.), and gives this sense: “He gave Apostles, etc.,—to fulfil the works of the ministry, and to build up the body of Christy, His object being to perfect His saints.” So Hofmann substantially. The great objection is the strange order which place the more ultimate end first, but as the difficulty seems to inhere in the Apostle’s own choice of prepositions, it is not decisive against this view. While preferring it, I would not insist on its correctness, but, leaving Dr. Braune’s notes as they stand, add in footnotes the requirements of this interpretation.—R.]
Unto the perfecting of the saints [πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων].—Πρός marks the end aimed at, viz.: “the perfecting of the saints.” Καταρτισμός, occurring only here, like κατάρτισις in 2Co_13:9 designates the re-establishment of an affair, so that it is ἄρτιος (only 2Ti_3:17, τέλειος various reading), integer, as it should be (1Co_1:10; 2Co_13:11; Gal_6:1; 1Th_3:10; Heb_10:5; Heb_11:3; Heb_13:21; 1Pe_5:10). Non potuit honorificentius verbi ministerium commendare, quam dum hunc illi effectum tribuit (Calvin). Through the ministers of Christ the Christians should become complete, perfect.33 For what purpose?
For the work of the ministry [or of ministration, εἰς ἔργον διακονίας].—Hence there is no thought of merely external increase (Pelagius, Beza). Εἰς marks that for which the saints should become expert, complete. The nouns, without the article, have here a more general meaning: ἔργον indicates the efficiency of the διακονίας, and the latter denotes that every work which it does, is a service to our neighbor and then to the whole. Διακονία is a general service (2Ti_4:11; 2Co_11:8). This meaning is demanded here by the context, the connection with the saints, the members, each one of which has his office (Rom_12:4) and needs the other (1Co_12:21). Comp. 2Ti_3:17 : πρὸς πᾶν ἐργον ὰγαθὸν ἐξηρτισμένος. It must not be referred to church service, ecclesiastical office, the diaconate in a technical sense (Meyer).34 Comp. on Eph_4:16.
For the building up of the body of Christ, εἰς οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ.35—The aim of the “ministry” is again subjoined with the preposition εἰς. So great is the significance of the preparing of Christians through the ministers of the Church to ministering activity in the congregation! The body of Christ is there, it exists, but new members are continually incorporated in it, it extends and increases; hence both of the figures derived from the body (Eph_1:23; Eph_2:20-22) are included. Luther is very good: “that the saints may be fitted to the work of the ministry, that thus the body of Christ may be edified.” Accordingly the three clauses are not co-ordinate (Chrysostom, Bengel and others); nor are the two subjoined with εἰς co-ordinate (Rueckert, Meyer, Harless and others), nor yet dependent on ἔδωκε as some think, while others make them dependent on καταρτισμόν. Quite as little can we accept a trajection of the second number before the first (Grotius, Koppe and others). [See above for a classification of opinions.—R.] Comp. Doctr. Note 3.
Eph_4:13. The end of the perfecting. Till we all come [μέχρι καταντήσωμεν οἱ πάντες].—Μέχρι denotes the final, highest aim, not the beginning and entrance of the same, ἄχρι, but the presence and enjoyment of it (Tittmann, Syn. 1. p. 33 ff.). [Comp. Dr. Schaff’s note, Romans, p. 181]. Καταντήσωμεν, the conjunctive without ἄν denotes simply the future; the verb itself however is=φθάνειν (Œcumenius), the arriving at the destination, as frequently in the Acts (Act_16:1; Eph 18:19, 24, etc.), in a local sense; here and Php_3:11 however in the spiritual sense, prominence being given to the free movement, which is occasioned, strengthened and animated by the educating καταρτισμός.36
Under the term οἱ πάντες, “all,”=οἱ ἅγιοι, as a complete whole, the Apostle includes himself; it is therefore implied that those in whom there has been a beginning of πίστις (Harless), even the greatest, the Apostles, are in need of progress towards the goal, are not yet there, even although in advance of others, but further their own progress when they labor for others (Php_3:13-14; Rom_1:11-12). Accordingly “all” is not to be extended to all men (Jerome). Bengel is excellent: Ne apostoli quidem se putarunt metam assecutos, nedum ecclesia. Semper proficiendum fuerat, non standum, nedum deficiendum. Et nunc ecclesia ideam sui optimæ non a tergo respiciat oportet, sed ante oculos habeat, ut futuram, etiam num assequendum. Notate hoc, qui antiquitatem non tam sequimini, quam obtenditis.
Unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, εἰς τὴν ἑνότητα τῆς πίοτεως καὶ τῆς ἐπιγμώσεως τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ.—The preposition marks the goal. The repeated article demands absolutely, that “faith” and “knowledge” be kept apart as distinct, independent ideas, although the genitive which they have in common (“of the Son of God”) occasions a connection by means of the copulative conjunction. “Faith” designates the immediate possession, “knowledge” the assurance obtained by means of knowing (Matthies); the former is applicable to an ethical, the latter to an intellectual sphere; the latter proceeds constantly anew from the former, the former is itself the permanent beginning, the constant principle, not merely an initiatory stage to be surpassed; both belong together accordingly. The unity of both, since “one faith” is presupposed: (Eph_4:5), refers to the various degrees of clearness and power in the individual members (οἱ πάντες), to littleness of faith, weakness of faith, want of maturity, etc. Accordingly the genitive, “of the Son of God,” defines both more closely, indicating that they are as strong, as He possessed them, and that thus we, being God’s children who will grow up and become educated, should possess them; He is the Author and Finisher of our faith (Heb_12:2) and knowledge, thus Example and Standard. If He is not the object, there is neither faith nor knowledge at all. Hence it is the genitive subjecti (Stier), not objecti, as most consider it. But unity of faith and knowledge is not meant, either alone (Olshausen), or in connection with the other meaning (Stier); we should rather refer it to the unity of the individuals, of the church-members, which is effected by the faith and knowledge of Christ.
[The view of Olshausen is, that the unity is the state in which faith and knowledge are identified; fides implicita developing into fides explicita (Bisping). Eadie and Alford virtually accept this as included here, the latter citing De Wette: “True and full unity of faith is then found, when all thoroughly know Christ, the object of faith, alike, and that in His highest dignity as the Son of God.” But the second term is not epexegetical of the first, and faith is not to be lost in knowledge, but abides (1Co_13:13).—The strong word ἐπίγνωσις must be noticed. If any prefer the more common view of the genitive as that of the object, the following statement (Hodge) will be satisfactory: “Faith and knowledge express or comprehend all the elements of that state of mind of which the Son of God is the object—a state of mind which includes the apprehension of His glory, the appropriation of His love, as well as confidence and devotion. This state of mind is in itself eternal life.” “The unity of faith is now confined to the first principles; the unity of faith contemplated in this place is that perfect unity which implies perfect knowledge and perfect holiness.”—R.]
Unto a full-grown man, εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον.—The singular marks the unity of the Church, which grows up into a perfect man.37 Here a “development” (werden) is spoken of, which is involved in the καταντᾳν; the Church, the body of Christ, becomes a personality educated and completed to the perfect life-degree of Christ. For τέλειος is the opposite of νήπιος (Eph_4:14); like 1Co_3:1; 1Co_2:6 and Heb_5:13-14, it means one in ripe, full manhood.
Unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ [εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας τοῦ πληρώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ].—“Unto the measure of the stature” points to a definite measure; it does not therefore extend in infinitum. Ἠλικία from ἧλιξ, qui adultæ et maturæ ætatis est, certainly designates, as in Luk_19:2, the stature, the bodily size, elsewhere (Mat_6:27; Luk_12:25; Luk_2:52; Heb_11:11; Joh_9:21; Joh_9:23) however, the age, generally the age of manhood; it is, more fully expressed, the maturity, the full growth, and in accordance with the context the spiritual maturity (Stier).38 The genitive: τοῦ πληρώματος τοῦ Χριστοῡ, “of the fulness of Christ,” defines more precisely the measure of the maturity: it is conditioned by the fulness, the state of being filled, which comes from Christ, accordingly by Himself, who lives in it and by His gifts and powers. We should become perfect, as He, the Head was, 1Co_12:12. Hence Luther is incorrect: in the measure of perfect age; for πληρώματος is not to be made an adjective qualifying ἡλικία. The explanation: full gracious presence of Christ (Harless) is insufficient; still more so the meaning given by Rueckert: Christ stands before us as the ideal of manly size and beauty.—Whether this goal will be reached in this life or only in the next, is decided by πίστις in the context, to this extent, that we must refer it to this life also, although indeed many a one first attains unto it in the future life, since this coming to the appointed goal extends through centuries. Comp. Doctr. Notes 4, 5.
The purpose, Eph_4:14-15. a) negatively, Eph_4:14; b) positively, Eph_4:15.
Eph_4:14. To the end that we be no longer children [ἵνα μηκέτι ὧμεν νήπιοι].—Ἵνα sets forth the purpose, which aims at the fulfilment of μηκέτι ὤμεν νήπιοι, and this must accordingly take place before the goal is reached, “unto a perfect man.” It is not to be joined to Eph_4:13 (Schenkel),39 but to Eph_4:11-12, more particularly to ἔδωκε, and unfolds wherein the “perfecting of the saints” consists. As the Apostle, who, although the most advanced, still in humble sense of fellowship, bears and suffers in the imperfection of the Church, includes himself (ὦμεν), we must not find here a reproach, but a point or state of transition, which does not continue, hence μηκέτι, which does not recall false teachers in Christendom generally (Meyer). The Gentiles are not yet νήπιοι; Christians in their incipiency are such (Mat_11:25; Luk_10:21; 1Co_3:1; 1Co_8:11; Gal_4:13; Heb_5:13); they should not however remain so, but advance to ripe manhood.
Tossed to and fro [as waves] and carried about [κλυδωνιζόμενοι καὶ περιφερόμενοι].—This describes more closely the νηπιότης, with reference to appearances and experiences observed and felt in the churches, inclusive of the false teachers who had appeared and would appear. “Tossed as waves”40 (fluctuantes, Vulgate), moved as waves, intrinsecus, sursum deorsum, etiam citra ventum (Bengel), “and carried about,” extrinsecus, hue illuc, aliis nos adorientibus (Bengel), describes the ready excitability of the unsubstantial, the immature (Jam_1:6; Heb_13:9; Judges 12); they are dependent on their surroundings, on influences and insinuations, are moved:
By every wind of teaching, παντὶ ἀνέμῳ τῆς διδασκαλίας.—The wind has a great variety (παντί), from the aura seculi, levis aura popelli to the strong continuing trade-wind, and as to its origin from coarse to refined carnal interests, as well as in its tendency toward aims against the Church or in favor of a false church. [The dative is the dynamic dative, Krueger.—R.] “Teaching” is introduced under the figure of the wind, because it is something pneumatic and because, as the wind in proportion to its strength or the free situation of the water, stirs this from ripples to foam, so the teaching sets in motion the spirit of the νήπιος, which is so easily tossed to and fro. The νήπιος will learn, know; that is the proper way to perfection. But beside the one wholesome teaching of truth there appears the multifarious teaching of error as a great danger,41 and the greater because it works, moves, attracts and hurries along:
In the sleight of men.—Ἐν τῇ κυβείᾳ, belonging to the participles, refers with the article to “teaching;” through the sleight befitting the doctrine, and with the substantive (from κύβος, die), to dice-playing, in order to denote, that the teachers deal with the Scriptures and the truth and men, as players with dice (Luther). [Braune agrees with De Wette, Meyer, Hodge, and the E. V., in regarding ἐν as instrumental, but as this seems pleonastic after the dative, “and would mar the parallelism with ἐν ἀγάπῃ (Eph_4:15), the preposition appears rather to denote the element, the evil atmosphere as it were in which the varying currents of doctrine exist and exert their force” (Ellicott). So Harless, Olshausen, Eadie and Alford.—R.] The genitive (“of men”) indicates that the νήπιοι stand under the influence of men, instead of their placing themselves under the guidance of Christ (Meyer), and also under that of many instead of one. But this is not all; the added parallel clause carries the matter further; there is not only human sleight, temeritas, but a plan also:
In craftiness tending to the system of error [ἐν πανουργίᾳ πρὸς τὴν μεθοδείαν τῆς πλάνης].—Ἐν connects with the previous phrase. Πανουργίᾳ corresponds with κυβεία, and gives prominence to what the latter does not indicate, the nequitia, the conscious malice; hence it is incorrect to find this in the previous phrase (Harless, Stier). The article can be dispensed with, since the closer qualification is added. The preposition, as in Eph_4:12 (πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμόν), denotes toward what the craftiness proceeds (Winer, p. 378). This is τὴν μεθοδείαν (only here and Eph_6:11, where the plural is used), which is derived from μεθοδεύειν, to follow in order to track up something, then machinare, meaning therefore machinatio, crafty pursuing (Luther: erschleichen, to sneak upon), to follow and come upon in a sneaking manner; in this there is found pre-arrangement, system. The principle which μεθοδεύει is indicated by the genitive τής πλάνης. This is not error mentis, but lying, the opposite of ἀλήθεια (1Jn_4:6); hence, especially as τοῦ διαβόλου is added in Eph_6:11, Bengel is on the right track when he says: i.e., Satanæ.42 It is true the πλάνη is in the main only personified (Meyer); but it has a kingdom and a πνεῦμα, that operates through men, the false teachers (τῇ κυβείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων), as through serviceable tools, proper instruments.
Eph_4:15. But holding the truth in love, may grow up into him, ἀληθεύοντες δὲ ἐν ἀγαπῃ αὐξήσωμεν εἰς αὐτόν, is to be joined with ἵνα (Eph_4:14) as the antithesis (δέ) to “no longer children.” Hence Luther is incorrect: “but let us be honest in love and grow.” Christiana (οἱ πάντες, Eph_4:13), not merely teachers, are the subject. Αὐξάνειν is simply to grow, not to remain νήπιος, to come out of the νηπιότης. Hæc αὔξησις, augmentatio (Eph_4:16), media est inter infantes et virum (Bengel). Accordingly εἰς points to the goal; hence “into Him” (Matthies, Stier); it corresponds to the εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον, we should become a perfect man, as He is. The phrase “Head” from the following relative clause should not be pressed (Hofmann, Meyer), in order to make the meaning still; more difficult; τὰ πάντα stands between, and this accusative of reference will not allow εἰς αὐτόν to be=grow in respect to Him (Meyer), whatever that may mean. [“Unto and into Him,” as the goal and standard of our growth, with a secondary thought apparently of the incorporation of all the Church in Christ, which is developed in the subsequent context. The phrase is not to be joined with “in love” (Harless).—R.] Still less can it mean: ipsius cognitions (Grotius), virtute et influxu (A-Lapide).
While εἰς αὐτόν denotes the goal of the growth, ἀληθεύοντες ἐν ἀγάπῃ designates the condition under which, the state in which it takes place. Hence the two are to be joined: true in love. Ἀληθεύειν is—ἀληθὴς εἶναι (Passow, sub voce); the context explains it further. In the New Testament only here and Gal_4:16. There ὑμῖν indicates that it means speaking the truth, here the context is a different one. While αὐξήσωμεν forms an antithesis to νήπιοι ὦμεν, ἀληθεύοντες stands in contrast to the manner of such (“tossed as waves and carried about”) and to “teaching” in general, as well as that of the deceitful false teachers in particular. Bengel is excellent: verantes, Luther (Gen_42:16): if you design truth. The whole personality is spoken of, in walk and nature, and the meaning is more than merely; to be true in speech, verum dicere (Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, II. 2, p. 130, Meyer).43
Ἐν ἀγάπῃ sets forth the sphere or element in which the ἀληθεύειν moves; ἀγάπη and ἀλήθεια are correlative ideas.44 Comp. 1Co_13:6. Love is here entirely undefined, hence genera: love for the truth, for the brethren, who come into danger through false teachers, or themselves become false teachers, to the Church as a whole, to God. There is accordingly no reference to forbearance toward error (Harless), or love towards those of different profession (Meyer), or something of the same; nor is ἐν=διά (Schenkel), or σύν, on merely upright in love (Luther and others).
In all things who is the head, even Christ [τὰ πάντα, ὸς ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλή, Χριστός].—Τὰ πάντα.45 without a preposition, as 1Co_9:25; 1Co_10:33; 1Co_11:2, or with κατά (Col_3:20) denotes, on account of the article, all, to which reference has been made, into which we must grow: faith, knowledge, truth, love, etc. “Who is the Head, even Christ,” with great emphasis, in order to furnish a motive for growing up into Him. We might have found τὸν Χριστόν, in apposition to εἰς αὐτόν, but it can either be in apposition to ἡ κεφαλή, or in the first instance still be in the nominative (Winer, p. 495).
Eph_4:16. Comprehensive conclusion.—From whom, ἐξ οὖ, marks the cause, the source, and as the context demands, a continuing one. Christ is the goal (εἰς αὐτόν) and the source of the life-development of the Church (Meyer). If then Chrysostom says: σφόδρα ἀσαφῶς ἡρμήνευσε τῷ πάντα ὁμοῦ θελῆσαι εἰπεῖν, an exact analysis of the sentence will show what is incorrect (ἀσαφῶς). Col_2:19 is parallel.
a. The subject.—All the body fitly framed together and compacted [πᾶν τὸ σῶμα συναρμολογούμενον καὶ συνβιβαζόμενον ].—“All the body” takes the term “all” (Eph_4:13) as a unity; the main idea is that of totality. [“All the body,” which the E. V. gives in Col_2:19, is perhaps preferable to “the whole body,” the idea being of the entire body as including every member, rather than of the body as a whole (τὸ πᾶν σῶμα more accurately expresses this). The latter notion becomes the stronger one in the close of the verse.—R.] The double definition, “fitly framed together and compacted,” describes the Church in its present development (present participle). The first adjective (see Eph_2:21; of a building) indicates the individual parts and members (ἁρμός, groove, joint, member), which are printed together (σύν), the other, used more precisely of men who enter into a society, marks these members as individuals, as persons. In this the difference and the reason of the double expression is found. In such a union the Church is conceived of, because it is a building; besides a society is spoken of, a society of persons, a congregation. Accordingly such a two-fold designation sets forth, either the figure and fact (Meyer) or harmony and solidity (Bengel). Ellicott suggests, in accordance with the simple meaning of the words, that the latter term refers to the aggregatim, the former to the inter-adaptation of the component parts.—R.]
[By means of every joint of the supply.—This phrase, which presents more difficulties than any other in our verse, is discussed below by Dr. Braune, who joins it with the predicate, not with the subject (i.e., as a qualification of the participle) as is done in the E. V. The latter view of the connection is adopted by the majority of commentators (so Hodge, Eadie, Ellicott), and is favored by the position of the phrase and the parallel, Col_2:19. The former is defended by Meyer, Stier, Alford, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Bengel). It may be remarked in favor of this, that it gives more perspicuity to the passage, “the whole instrumentality and modality here described belonging to the growth” (Alford), the repetition of σῶμα is more natural in an involved predicate, while the complicated subject is much more awkward. As regards the parallel, the position there is totally different. It ought to be added that the earlier defenders of this view advocated a sense of the word ἁφή(=αἴσθησις, the perception of the vital energy imparted from the head), which did not admit so readily of the connection with the participles. Still Braune’s view is preferable.—R.]
b. The predicate.—Maketh the growth of the body, τὴν αὔξησιν τοῦ σώματος ποιεῖται.—Col_2:19 : αὔξῃ τὴν αὔξησιν The repetition of τοῦ σώματος (“of the body”) instead of ἑαυτοῦ (“itself”) marks the permanent effect proceeding from the cause, and as compared with Christ’s continued influence, puts into the background the self-development as an entirely independent one. Only when the principle of life in the Church has grown and been strengthened through Christ, does it become perceptible (εἰς οἰκοδονὴν ἑαυτοῦ); yet it is already indicated by the middle (ποιεῖται). This repetition is therefore not to be explained by the distance of the predicate from the subject (σῶμα) as an effort at distinctness (Meyer), or as negligence (Rueckert), or as a Hebraism (Grotius), or because the interest of individuals is not under discussion (Harless, Stier).46
The predicate is then enlarged by a designation of the means: by means of every joint of the supply [διὰ πάσης ἁφῆς τῆς ἐπιχορηγίας].—Ἀφή (from ἄπτεσθαι) cannot according to Col_2:19, where it is put in one category with συνδέσμων and connected with ἐπιχορηγούμενον καὶ συνβιβαζόμενον mean the same band, yet must be something similar.47 It cannot be=αἴσθησις (Chrysostom), sensation (Meyer), contact (Hofmann). Since ἁφὴν ἔχειν, means to have something enchaining, enticing (Passow, sub voce), and the singular is found here, the most natural and correct meaning will be: connection or grasp. Ἐπιχορηγία (from χορηγία) means to lead a choir, to defray the expenses of a choir, to render a public service, the contribution to expenditures, public, common rendering of service; accordingly the growth of the Church is by means of every grasp of contribution or service rendered (genitive objecti, and not of apposition, Schenkel, nor=πρός, Grotius, Hofmann and others).
[To this view of Dr. Braune it may be objected that it loses sight of the strict anatomical figure without substituting for it the subtler interpretation of Chrysostom and others. It seems better to take ἁφή in the sense indicated by Col_2:19, and render it “joints.” The qualifying genitive is as Ellicott remarks: “a kind of genitive definitions, by which the predominant use, purpose, or destination of the ἁφή is specified and characterized.” “The joints are the points of union where the supply passes to the different members, and by means of which the body derives the supply by which it grows” (Alford). Hodge is undoubtedly correct in interpreting this supply as “the Divine life or Holy Spirit communicated to all parts of the Church” (against, Braune, who seems to refer it to the service rendered by the individual members), but it is very doubtful whether he is right in saying that the άφαί “are the various spiritual gifts and offices which are made the channels or means of this Divine communication.” Most recent commentators have wisely refrained from thus particularizing. Certainly when these αφαί are taken as meaning the officers mentioned in Eph_4:11, despite all saving clauses, a step is taken toward the Romanist and High Anglican view of the clergy. The figures of Scripture, through wrested and strained interpretation, have been made subservient to great error.—R.]
According to the working in the measure of each several part [κατ̓ ἔνέργειαν ἐν μέτρῳ ἑνὸς ἑκάστου μέρους]. —This qualifies the phrase which precedes. κατʼ ἐνέργειαν, without the article on account of the following qualification (Eph_1:19; Eph_3:7), defines the ἐπιχορηγία as an efficient one, while the proportion of this efficiency rests “in the measure of each several part,” in the measure, which every part, the individual member of the Church in himself has from Christ. The service rendered proceeds therefore from the individual parts, from each one, so that it is not to be referred merely to the ministry, the officers of the church (Harless). This efficient service of the individuals is to the advantage of the whole and conditions the growth of the whole. Comp. Eph_4:7; Eph_4:12. This part of the sentence is therefore to be closely connected with ἐπιχορηγίας and not joined immediately with αὔξησιν ποιεῖται (Meyer), with which it is connected only through the former.48
Unto the building up of itself in love, εἰς οἰκοδομὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ.—The aim is thus set forth, and as in Eph_4:12 it is οἰκοδομή; the self-development is here marked, since the powers of growth thereto are given from Christ. This self-edification is consummated only in love, as the life-sphere rendering it possible. “In love” therefore depends grammatically on “edifying” (Bleek), not on “maketh increase”
(Meyer).49 With this so emphatic conclusion (“unto the building up of itself in love”) the Apostle is brought back to his starting-point (Eph_4:1-3), to the bond of peace.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Christ gives official persons (Eph_4:11). It is not so much that Christ established certain regulations binding on the Church, as that He has bestowed on it persons, charisms for the endowment of an office, a ministry. He is the Author and Possessor of the office, not only the first, but the only one, who has never relinquished it and never will to the very end. “Christ gives the Church’s ministers, the Church takes those given and sets them in the service of the Church. Accordingly the Church, or he who represents the rights and duties of the Church, never has to choose the subjects arbitrarily, but to know and recognize those endowed by Christ as those given by Him, and to place them in the ministry; hence the highest idea of the ecclesiastical directory is to examine whether those concerned are given by Christ, without prejudice however to other requisites which are matters of ecclesiastical polity.” Meyer. Concerning the double aspect of the office, which is both diviniand humani juris, a divine institution as well as a human, ecclesiastical arrangement, the passage does not speak more definitely. But three things are plain: 1) It is incorrect to affirm that Christ now raises up no apostolic men, no prophets nor evangelists, but only pastors and teachers. See the Exeg. Notes. He does this according to the necessity of the times. 2) It is also erroneous to find no offices at all appointed, and to be unwilling to institute any, as if it were only a human notion to establish a teaching ministry. So the Quakers (according to Barclay in Guericke, Christl. Symbol, p. 626) and Schenkel, Ephesians, p. 66, 5; the former accept only the authority of the Divine endowment of persons, the latter regards the service alone as from the Lord, but the office as a human regulation. 3) Just as little however should these official persons whom the Lord gave at the beginning and still gives to the Church, be fixed in number, as the Irvingites would do, or be stiffened into a hierarchy as among the Roman Catholics.50
2. The distinction between the official persons, involving as it does no subordination of one class to the other, since indeed the Apostle Matthew is specially designated as Evangelist, John as prophet and Evangelist, while Peter calls himself “presbyter” (1Pe_5:1), is altogether irrelevant as respects the teaching office: this individualizes itself in the other offices. Subordination exists only as respects Christ who gives them. They have no reason for self-exaltation on account of their gifts or special calling, nor has the congregation any for aversion to recognize and respect them and their calling: the Lord works with His word and Spirit in them and through them (Act_13:21; Act_15:28), and this arrangement belongs to the living and animating organism of the Church, in which the life of Christ develops itself. The officers should be called neither clerics nor Geistliche, nor should the Church be divided into ecclesia repræsentans and repræsentata. For every Christian belongs to the κλῆρος θεοῦ, has a part in the κληρονομία (Eph_1:11; Eph_1:15), should be “geistlich,” and have to τὸ πνεῦμα and the ministers as the Lord’s servants must labor in and for the Church, to serve her, not to represent her, but the Lord.
3. The task of the official persons with their gifts for their special calling, over against the other members of the body of Christ with the general call, is “the perfecting of the saints,” and this reaches also to “the work of the ministry,” to “the edifying of the body of Christ.” As certainly then as the servants of the Lord have to serve the Church and its individual members, hence not in the commission of the Church, as though this were always and everywhere the only efficient impulse, nor yet out of their own authority, so certainly should these ministers be prepared for their special service by their labors in the Church, as they have been called and installed by her. As the Lord works upon the Church, and this should permit itself to be acted upon, so she has the duty of working again according to His purpose, of leading back to Him under His guidance and the help of God, which He will grant and furnish for her welfare. The first link in the chain of congregational activity is the officers, the second is every Christian in healthy activity at his post, and thus the joyous upbuilding of the whole is advanced, which reacts on the ministers and individual members of the Church. Thus it goes from above to below, from the ministers in immediate rapport with the Lord to the individuals, the Church, the whole, and from individual to individual, and through them to the whole, and from this back again to the individuals. The lay element must be cultivated, set in motion, sustained, animated and guided. The design is to bless men, to serve the people, the people, the people, as Luther (1 Adv. Kirchenpostille, ed. Franke I. p. 42) preaches. In avoiding the Scylla of priestly rule, many fall into the Charybdis of congregational or lay rule.51 This is of importance for all Church polity.
4. Like all pedagogy, the pedagogy of the church also should make itself superfluous and unnecessary. The utility of the ecclesiastical office is appointed to this end, and should be managed accordingly.52 But this gives neither right nor occasion to undervalue at the time what will and should cease after its time. Fidelity to the Master demands that it should be left to Him, when and how He will break up the form, lest we in doing so should spill and lose its contents and substance.
5. In connection with the prospect that we all (Eph_4:13) shall attain unto the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, it must be remarked:
(1) That this is not spoken of in any way (see Exeg. Notes) of the apocatastasis: “A communion of the enjoyment of salvation” (Schneckenburger.) is not indicated, but the progress from the militant to the triumphant church, the development, not from unbelief to blessedness, not from eternity to God, to heirship with Him, but from faith to sight, from service according to God’s will to participation in the glory of His Nature.
(2) A uniformity of expression, of forms and formulas, is not meant, but that condition is meant which the Lord Himself foretells (Joh_10:16), when there shall be “one fold” and “one Shepherd,” when the church of Christ is developed out of and beyond all “fermentation,” is ripened, ministers and members furthering each other’s advance, the individual parts and the whole in accord, and on the basis of a deeper unity the proper variety existing in glorious harmony.
It cannot be overlooked, that, although the differences, which divide, will disappear, because error attaches to them, or at least immaturity, the removal of differences cannot be anticipated, unless the church, instead of growing up unto a perfect man, should become an assembly of offensively over-prudent children. Even the distinction of sex shall be removed (Mat_22:30), as that of corporealness in general; but that is no reason why we should treat the body as a prison of the soul, and desire to be without sex, before we enter the company of the angels. Let each one be faithful to his own church and to his Lord! Beyond Christ we cannot go, without Him or against Him there is no progress.
6. He who allows himself to be determined by external influences, is still immature, is as yet no man, independent, firm and clear, unless these influences come from the source of truth and life, from Christ: from Him and to Him our life comes and goes. Influences of an unchristian character are brought by the spirit of this world into every age, and many a one may unconsciously serve this spirit against the truth; as in the history of the world there is presented a plan of God, so in these there is a method which points beyond them into the kingdom of darkness and lies.
7. Truth and Love, which belong together, since the former has an ethical character, and the latter is not blind, are the fundamental elements of growth, requiring Christ as the aim and spring of our life, the gifts of Christ and the acceptance on the part of the church, her receptivity and self-activity, the reciprocity of the whole and each individual member. By this we may judge the wrong and error of the separate divisions and generations of the church. The Catholics do not let Christ work as a fresh streaming fountain, nor rightly value the life of the members of the church, but put the apostolic power of the Pope with his hierarchy in the front and centre; they undervalue the Head and members and overvalue the ministers of the church, who become masters. The Lutherans have hampered the lay element, and suffer the consequences of the abridgement: the fellowship of the church is too little developed. The Reformed are wanting in the sacramental element; they foster what is individual and social, rather than that which is formative and established, as the sects proceeding from them plainly show.—By this passage every position and every age regulate itself.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Take heed, pastor, that thou not only hast an office and ministry shown to thee, which thou administerest, but that thou art and becomest more and more thyself a gift of Christ to His church.—Rejoice, O church, that the servants of Christ are Christ’s gifts for thee and use them according to His will against thy lust and errors.—Thou shouldst not say, that Christ raised up Apostles, prophets, evangelists, only in the first century and never since; nor deny that He raises up the pastors and teachers of His church.—All ministry, even the most important minister is in vain, if he does not labor further into the house and the bye-ways, so that each in his place may do his duty as a Christian; but if the spiritual teachers do their duty, the church will not remain unspiritual.—Do not reckon according to visible results; concealed and gradual is the progress of the work, reaching its mark at last and in glory. But do not think hastily and proudly, now is the time of maturity! You may in the end mistake the impulse of the spirit of the age for the showers of Christ’s Spirit and the Shibboleth of party-spirit for the word of life, and this deception would be fearful.—No one is so much a minor as to be without responsibility and strength to resist; have regard to this, proving all things by the truthfulness in love, by Christ, the End and Source of all growth! Preach the word simply and purely! Certainly, but not less: love it in the same way. Love does not, indeed, work by means of injustice, untruth, deception, counterfeiting, intrigue, misrepresentation and pretence. But she creates fellowship, and truth is the cause, not of the isolated individual, but of the fellowship of heaven and earth, of the nations, of the earth, and of centuries, aye of thousands of years.
Starke: For as rogues so manage dice that they must fall according to their wish, so do schismatics and fanatics act with the sacred Scriptures.—Truth and love must be side by side. True teaching and lovely living. That is the sum of all Christianity. Love and unity edify.
Rieger: The goal of our growth is a long distance before us, the hindrances are many; but growth is the most certain way thither. For as little as in physical growth is advance made all at once with immoderate rapidity, but as in the use of the ordained means, with proper labor and exercise, in confidence on God and His bestowed blessing, in love and peace with one another, the body grows, not one member only, but one just as another, so we, through God’s word, prayer, embracing all the means afforded us in the church, the school and the home, reach the position of men of God furnished for every good work.
Heubner: Christ’s kingdom embraces even the invisible kingdom of God. Would this be conceivable, if He were a mere man?—The variety of offices should not lead to ambition and place-hunting, but to the service of the church.—The stature of manhood in a Christian consists in this, that he, irrespective of men has spiritual majority and independence. Teachers should not wish to keep the congregation in a state of immaturity, but their task is to render themselves unnecessary.—It is the duty of the Christian to strive after this maturity.—Humanity is capable of an ever-increasing perfection by means of Christianity. Progress in Christianity is, however, no advance beyond Christianity.—The Christian is firm in his faith and free from the miserable dependence on foreign and worldly opinion.—How much is still wanting in the mutual support of all in the Christian church. All should be for the furtherance of the Christian life: for example, the household life should be a school of Christianity, the State should further the church, and the schools of learning educate for Christianity, all arts and sciences should subserve religion.—It is child’s play, even when not detrimental, to speculate how far this figure of the body can be carried out into detail, who, for example, is eye, ear, breast, back, etc. This can lead to results of as revolting a character, as the Hindoo system of caste.
Passavant: One class, as well as another, is chosen to their particular service by the Master of the church; and He who on earth was in the form of a servant, will regard the more lowly of His servants with special looks of love. He sees the heart, and fidelity in what is little is precious in His sight.—To seek truth always and everywhere, in all things and among all persons; to act in truth with all, towards all, with one’s self and before God; to base one’s inmost thoughts and impulses always in and on the truth—this keeps the heart, amid all the lies, lusts and illusions of this false world, firm and quiet, as the ship that has escaped the waves and cast anchor in the harbor.—All genuine truth and love come alone from Christ upon us and into us, leading us back again to Christ.
Gerlach: In every false teaching which separates men from Christ and His word, the Apostle shows us also a work of wickedness. Human nature was not created by God so perverse as to choose without the fault of man, a lie instead of the truth.
Zeller: These are the instruments by which the Lord has chosen to build His Church, not Popes, not Emperors and kings, not princes and great ones, the mighty monarchs of this world, but Apostles, Evangelists, pastors and teachers, men illuminated by His spirit, endued with power from on high, not merely by men, but given and appointed by Himself. It is to take place through the peaceful means of preaching, pastoral care, instruction.
[Eadie: Eph_4:12. The spiritual advancement of the Church, is the ultimate design of the Christian pastorate. The ministry preaches and rules to secure this, which is at the same time the purpose of Him who appointed and who blesses it.
Eph_4:13. Christians are all to attain to oneness of faith, that is, all of them shall be filled with the same ennobling and vivifying confidence in this Divine Redeemer—not some leaning more to His humanity, and others showing an equally partial and defective preference for His Divinity—not some regarding Him rather as an instructor and example, and others drawn to Him more as an atonement—not some fixing an exclusive gaze on Christ without them, and others cherishing an intense and one-sided aspiration for Christ within them—but all reposing a united confidence in Him—“the Son of God.”—The Christian church is not full grown, but it is advancing to perfect age.
Eph_4:14. How many go the rounds of all sects, parties, and creeds, and never receive satisfaction. If in the pride of reason they fall into rationalism, then if they recover, they rebound into mysticism. From the one extreme of legalism they recoil to the farthest verge of antinomianism, having travelled at easy stages all the intermediate distance.
Eph_4:15. That character is nearest perfection in which the excessive prominence of no grace throws such a withering shadow upon the rest, as to signalize or perpetuate their defect, but in which all is healthfully balanced in just and delicate adaptation.
Eph_4:16. The church is built up, for love is the element of spiritual progress. That love fills the renewed nature, and possesses peculiar facilities of action in edifying the mystical body of Christ. Whatever parts it may have, whatever their forms, uses, and position, whatever the amount of energy resident in them, still, from their connection with the one living Head, and from their own compacted union and mutual adjustment, they compose but one growing structure “in love.”—R.]
[Hodge: Eph_4:12. If Christ has appointed the ministry for the edification of His body, it is in vain to expect that end to be accomplished in any other way.
Eph_4:14. Error can never be harmless, nor false teachers innocent. Two considerations, however, should secure moderation and meekness in applying these principles. The one is, that though error implies sin, orthodoxy does not always imply holiness. The character most offensive to God is that of a malignant zealot for the truth. The other consideration is, that men are often much better than their creed: that is, the doctrines on which they live are much nearer the truth than those which they profess. They deceive themselves by attaching wrong meaning to words, and seem to reject truth, when in fact they only reject their own misconceptions.
Eph_4:16. The church is Christ’s body. The body grows. Concerning this growth, the Apostle says: 1. It is from Him. He is the causal source from whom all life and power are derived. 2. It depends on the intimate union of all the parts of the body with the Head, by means of appropriate bands. 3. It is symmetrical. 4. It is a growth in love.—R.]
Footnotes:
[22]Eph_4:12.—[Unto is substituted for the preposition for, to indicate the difference in the Greek prepositions. In order to, with a view to, would express one view of the meaning of the verse, but unto suits the view of Dr. Braune better. Ministration is preferable to ministry, since the latter is now confined by usage to the office of the preacher and pastor. Building up is Saxon, edifying Latin.—R.]
[23]Eph_4:14.—[א. B. 1 D. 1 F. K. L. support the form μεθοδίαν, adopted by Tischendorf (ed. 7); but μεθοδείαν (Rec.) is preferable, “as changes in orthography which may be accounted for by italicism or some mode of erroneous transcription must always be received with caution” (Ellicott).—The periphrasis is necessary to express the force of πρός.—R.]
[24]Eph_4:15.—[See Exeg. Notes, especially the additional footnote.—R.]
[25]Eph_4:15.—[The article is found in the Rec., א³ D. F. K. L., most cursives, and is accepted by De Wette; but it is omitted in א¹ A. B. C., and rejected by Lachmann. Tischendorf, Alford, Ellicott (now by Meyer). It occurs with Χριστός 31 times, and is omitted in 53 instances (Ellicott).—R.]
[26]Eph_4:16.—[The view of the connection taken in the Exeg. Notes requires the insertion of a comma here, to indicate that the subsequent phrases qualify the main verb.—The less usual form: συνβιβασόμενον is sustained by א. A. B. (?) C. D.¹ F. G., adopted by Tischendorf, Ellicott and others. Comp. Eph_3:6, where the usual euphonic changes in the prefixed preposition are ignored in the best MSS.—Effectual is omitted to avoid conveying the impression that the working is God’s ἐνέργεια.—R.]
[27]Eph_4:16.—[A. C., some versions and fathers sustain the reading μέλους, but it is probably a gloss occasioned by σῶμα; μέρους is found in א. B. D. F. K. L., and accepted by all recent editors.—R.]
[28]Eph_4:16.—[א D. 1 F. read αὐτοῦ, but ἑαυτοῦ is sustained by most authorities.—R.]
[29][Ellicott: “There is here no direct resumption of the subject of Eph_4:7, as if Eph_4:8-10 were merely parenthetical, but a regression to it; while at the same time the αὐτός is naturally and emphatically linked on to the αὐτός of the preceding verse. This return to a subject, without disturbing the harmony of the immediate connection or the natural sequence of thought, constitutes one of the high excellences, but at the same time one of the chief difficulties in the style of the great Apostle.”—R.]
[30][On the position of Matthias, comp. Eph_1:1 and Acts (in loco). Eadie thus enumerates the essential elements of the apostolate: 1. That the Apostles should receive their commission immediately from the living lips of Christ. 2. That having seen the Saviour after He rose again, they should be qualified to attest to the truth of His resurrection. 3. They enjoyed a special inspiration. 4. Their authority was therefore supreme. 5. In proof of their commission and inspiration, they were furnished with ample credentials. 6. Their commission to preach and found churches was universal and in no sense limited. This statement, approved by Alford and Ellicott, involves further: That they have no personal successors, can have none; that no supreme authority exists in any ecclesiastical office, unless that office be the Apostolate. See further, Gal_1:1-5, Doctr. Notes; Romans, p. 59.—R.]
[31][Dr. Hodge, in an excellent note here, remarks that the prevalent view at the time of the Reformation (see Calvin in loco) regarded this term as applied to “vicars of the Apostles,” such as Luke Timothy, Titus. This is altogether untenable, and no doubt arose from the effort, made by Calvin and others, to prove that all the offices referred to except that of “pastors and teachers,” were of a temporary nature, and thus to establish the principle of “parity of the clergy.”—R.]
[32][Alford remarks that the figure in ποιμένες, if pressed, would imply that they were entrusted with some special flock, which they tended; and then the “teaching” would necessarily form a chief part of their work. Eadie says the former term implies careful, tender, vigilant superintendence and government, being the function of an overseer and elder. The official name ἐπίσκοπος (“bishop”), he adds, is used by the Apostle in addressing churches formed principally out of the heathen world (Ephesus, Philippi, Crete), while πρεσβύτερος (“elder”), the term of honor, is more Jewish in its tinge (Acts, Epistles of James, Peter and John). “Speaking to Timothy and Titus, the Apostle styles them elders (and so does the compiler of the Acts, in referring to spiritual rulers); but describing the duties of the office itself, he calls the holder of it ἐπίσκοπος.”—R.]
[33][Hodge gives the following meanings which have been suggested here: 1. The completion of the saints (“the number of the elect”). 2. Their renewing or restoration. 3. Their reduction to order and union as one body. 4. Their preparation for service (so Braune). 5. To their perfecting. The last he prefers, as is required by the view taken of the relation of the clauses.—R.]
[34][The term is not to be restricted to the diaconate, nor to the ministry, i.e., the office of pastor and teacher (Hodge), but seems to refer to “spiritual service of an official nature” (so Meyer). Hence ministration is preferable to the more technical word ministry, though Braune extends the signification in accordance with his view. On the absence of the article Ellicott remarks: “Δισκονία may possibly have been left studiously anarthrous in reference to the different modes of exercising it alluded to in Eph_4:11, and the various spiritual wants of the Church; ἔργον however seems clearly definite in meaning, though by the principle of correlation (Middleton, Art. iii. 3, 6) it is necessarily anarthrous in form.”—R.]
[35][Ellicott remarks that this clause is parallel to, but at the same time more nearly defining the nature of the ἔργον. The article is not required, as edifying generally is the object. There is no confusion of metaphors, since both words have a distinct metaphorical meaning, where the original allusion is in a measure lost.—R.]
[36][All reference to coming together from different starting-points, or coming out of previous wanderings is imaginary (Meyer). Ellicott remarks that too much weight must not be laid on the omission of ἄν as giving an air of less uncertainty to the subjunctive, since there was an evident tendency in later Greek to omit it in such cases, adding: “the use of the subjunctive (the mood of καταντᾶν is represented not only as the eventual, but as the expected and contemplated result of the ἔδωκεν.”—R.]
[37][“Metaphorical apposition to the foregoing member, the concrete term being probably selected rather than any abstract term, as forming a good contrast to the following νήπιοι (Eph_4:14), and as suggesting by its ‘singular’ the idea of the complete unity of the holy personality, further explained in the next clause into which they were united and consummated” (Ellicott). As a curiosity Alford cites from Augustine (Civ. Dei, xxii. 17): “Nonnulli. propter hoc quod dictum est, Eph. iv. 13, nec in sexu fœmineo resurrecturas fœminas credunt, sed in virili omnes aiunt.”—R.]
[38][As the word undoubtedly means either stature or age, the latter being more common, or perhaps includes both, like the German Erwachsenheit, the sense here must be determined by considerations drawn from the passage itself. Koppe, Holzhausen, Harless, Meyer, Hodge prefer the sense: age, because “full-grown men,” “children” (Eph_4:14), point to this; the phrase which follows is then a characterizing genitive. But “measure” seems more appropriately used in reference to “stature” and the idea of magnitude is indicated by the words “fulness,” “grow up” (Eph_4:15) and by the figure of Eph_4:16. This sense is adopted by Erasmus, Grotius, Bengel, Rueckert, Stier, Eadie, Ellicott, Alford. It may be added that πλήρωμα does not refer to the Church (Storr and others), nor to the knowledge of Christ (Grotius). The genitive τοῦ Χριστοῦ is a genitive subjective: Christ’s fulness: “This stature grows just as it receives of Christ’s fulness; and when that fulness is wholly enjoyed, it will be that of a ‘perfect man’ ” (Eadie). Some of the Fathers referred this passage to the resurrection, teaching that man shall rise from the grave in the perfect age of Christ, having the form and aspect of thirty-three years of age, the age of Christ at His death. See Meyer, who has a note on the time of fulfilment in which he brings out his favorite views about the Second Advent and Paul’s expectation of its speedy coming.—R.]
[39][Schenkel’s view is somewhat novel. He takes our verse as giving the purpose of Eph_4:13, and to the objection that this places perfection before the state of childhood answers, that the last verse refers to the whole Church, this to individuals. Because the whole Church is perfect, the members should be no longer children. But this is very unsatisfactory. The two leading views are those of Harless and Meyer. The former takes our verse as co-ordinate with Eph_4:13, and immediately dependent on Eph_4:11-12, giving the purpose of the ministry (so Flatt, Bleek, Hodge). Meyer, who has a clear statement of the case in loco, takes this verse as sub-ordinate to Eph_4:13, and remotely dependent on Eph_4:11-12. He holds that Eph_4:13 defines the “terminus ad quem,” which characterizes the functions of the Christian ministry, while Eph_4:14 thus explains the object, our ceasing to be children, contemplated in the appointment of such a “terminus,” and thence more remotely in the bestowal of a ministry so characterized. To the former view there is the decided grammatical objection that a clause introduced by ἵνα is made co-ordinate with those introduced by εἰς, in that case too Eph_4:13 would follow Eph_4:14-15. The latter view avoids these difficulties without being open to the logical objection which probably led to the adoption of the former.—R.]
[40][Not by the waves, like a deserted ship, as Meyer and others hold, but like the billow itself.—R.]
[41][Eadie: “The article τῆς before διδασκαλίας gives definitive prominence to ‘the teaching,’ which, as a high function respected and implicitly obeyed, was very capable of seducing, since whatever false phases it assumed, it might find and secure followers.” The substantive is abstract and general; teaching is preferable to doctrine, because it brings out the active agency employed with more distinctness.—R.]
[42][On the reading μεθοδείαν see Textual Note2. As to its meaning, we may remark that the bad sense is not necessarily inherent in the term, which signifies: “a deliberate planning or system.” Still here the bad sense is fixed on it by the genitive which follows, and we might render it: stratagem, though in the full phrase, “system of error,” the meaning is sufficiently evident. Eadie renders “a system,” but “the system of error” is one. The force of the preposition can be brought out in English only by a periphrasis: tending to, leading to, not according to. The word πλανῆς here includes the idea of deceit no doubt, but is perhaps better expressed by error, “error in its most abstract nature.” The genitive is subjective, the error plans and machinates. That the Apostle meant to characterize “error” as evil, morally as well as intellectually wrong, is evident enough from the context. When Rueckert says that this was Paul’s weak side, to stigmatize those in error, in a spirit of dogmatical defiance, he betrays his usual incapacity for comprehending the Apostle. If truth be not sanctifying, and error demoralizing, then the Scriptures and human experience are alike at fault.—R.]
[43][Though the more extended meaning is stoutly denied by Meyer, it is accepted by Calvin, De Wette, Rueckert, Alford, Hodge, Eadie and Ellicott. The difficulty is to express the sense in English: being true is literal, but not satisfactory; walking truthfully, walking in truth, though giving the correct sense, would be inapt here; holding the truth is the best rendering, if the care is taken not to give an objective sense to truth.”—Comp. the remarks of Alford (who renders: being followers of truth) and Ellicott.—R.]
[44][The question of connection is much disputed. Many, perhaps most, join “in love” with the participle (Calvin, Grotius, Alford, Rueckert, Hodge, Stier, Bleek among others), while Harless, Meyer, Olshausen, Eadie and Ellicott connect it with the verb “grow.” In favor of the former, the order, the parallelism of structure with Eph_4:14, the otherwise feeble and awkward position of the participle at the beginning of the sentence, Paul’s habit of subjoining his qualifying phrases, and the vital association between love and truth, may be urged. The latter view is supported by Meyer as better agreeing with his rendering of the participle: speaking the truth; he urges also that “in love” ought to be joined with the same verb as in Eph_4:16, and that thus “in love,” at the beginning here and at the close there, receives its due emphasis. Still the other seems preferable, for the connection in Eph_4:16 is equally open to discussion. It is not “a ‘fiat justitia, ruat cœlum’ truthfulness: but must be conditioned by love; a true-seeking and true-being with loving caution and kind allowance” (Alford).—R.]
[45][This the accusative of the quantitative object (Ellicott); “we are to grow in all those things in which the Christian must advance” (Olshausen).—R.]
[46][The repetition is generally regarded as made for the sake of perspicuity, especially as ἑαυτοῦ is found in the next clause. Perhaps however the body as a whole comes more into view now.—The middle is apparently not so much reflexive as intensive and indicative of the energy with which the spiritual process is earned on (Eadie, Wordsworth, Ellicott).—R.]
[47][In Colossians (p. 55) Braune seems to limit the word to “nerves,” in accordance with the view which joins each of the substantives there used with one of the participles. As this is scarcely tenable (see in loco), and as the article is not repeated with the second substantive in that passage, the category “joints and bands” decides yet more definitely against any interpretation of this word which removes it out of the general class of the anatomical arrangements.—R.]
[48][It is difficult to decide the question of connection. In favor of the view taken by Braune “is the position of the words, and also the congruity of the figure. It is more natural to say that the Divine influence is according to the working of every part—i. e., according to its capacity and function—than to say, ‘the growth is according to the working,’ etc.” (Hodge). Ellicott and Alford connect it with the verb however. The “working” is the functional energy of the body, not Divine inworking, as seems to be indicated by the E. V.: “effectual working.”—R.]
[49][Meyer’s view overloads the verb with qualifications. “Love is just as much the element in which the edification, as that in which the growth takes place” (Alford).—In the hope of giving clearness to the exegesis of this verse, a summary is added: From whom (Christ) all the body (each and every member) fitly framed together (jointed together) and compacted (forming one whole) grows (as if possessed of life in itself) by means of every joint (every special adaptation in gift and office) of supply (which Christ grants to these joints as means and instruments, the supply being) according to the working in the measure of each several part (Christ’s vital energy is serviceable only as supplied by the means He has chosen, and He chooses to supply it as the several parts of the body exercise their functions, so that the growth is not only from Him, but symmetrical and organic also) unto (the end being) the building up of the body itself in love (as the element of edification).—R.]
[50][Eadie: “We are ignorant to a very great extent of the government of the primitive Church, and much that has been written upon it is but surmise and conjecture. The Church represented in the Acts was only in process of development, and there seem to have been differences of organization in various Christian communities, as may be seen by comparing the portion of the Epistle before us with allusions in the three letters to Rome, Corinth and Philippi. Offices seem to be mentioned in one which are not referred to in others. It would appear, in fine, that this last office of government and instruction was distinct in two elements from those previously enumerated; inasmuch as it was the special privilege of each Christian community—not a ministerium vagum, and was designed also to be a perpetual institute in the Church of Christ. The Apostle says nothing of the modes of human appointment or ordination to these various offices. He descends not to law, order or form, but his great thought is, that though the ascended Lord gave such gifts to men, yet their variety and number interfere not with the unity of the Church.” As this Epistle has for its fundamental thought, “the Church which is in Christ Jesus,” it is remarkable how the Apostle in it scarcely touches upon those points, which seem to fill the minds of many who profess to hold an exalted estimate of the Church: Nothing about the ministry constituting the Church though enough to show the necessity for the ministry; nothing about the Church maintaining the succession through fixed forms, but a good deal about Christ’s giving real pastors and teachers (the Church sometimes fails to receive such through the most ancient order of succession); nothing about Church polity, but much about the means of her advancement toward unity of faith and knowledge, toward perfection, toward the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.—R.]
[51][All questions of Church polity assume an entirely different aspect, when viewed in the light of the voluntary principle, which totally deprives the State of any control in the internal affairs of the Church. There can be no question that the Erastianism prevalent in Germany has done as much to hinder the development of the lay element in Church work in that country, as the opposite principle has to further that development in America. But the latter state of things has its dangers, e.g., incapable Sunday School superintendents and teachers, elders or deacons or church wardens or whatever they may be called, who, while contributing little to the spiritual advancement of the Church, take advantage of their office, or of the influence of their purse in the annual estimates, to control and annoy him whom God gave to be “pastor and teacher.”—R.]
[52][Eadie: “The meaning (Eph_4:13) is, that not only is there a blessed point in spiritual advancement set before the church, and that till such a point be gained the Christian ministry will be continued, but also and primarily, that the grand purpose of a continued pastorate in the church is to enable the church to gain a climax which it will certainly reach; for that climax is neither indefinite in its nature nor contingent in its futurity.” On the question whether the goal plainly set before the church in Eph_4:13, is attainable here in this world there is great difference of opinion. That it will first be reached hereafter is held by Theodoret, Calvin, Hodge and others, and that it is attainable here is affirmed by Chrysostom, Theophylact, Jerome, Luther, De Wette, Meyer, Stier, Schenkel. That πίστις is mentioned does little to decide the matter, nor is there anything to indicate that the distinction of here and hereafter, entered into the Apostle’s mind. He regards the church as one, speaks of the goal set before her on the earth, not stating whether it is to be attained on earth (So Harless, Olshausen, Eadie, Ellicott). Besides eschatological views do much to give indefiniteness to the terms “here and hereafter” in our use of them. “In such sketches the Apostle holds up an ideal which, by the aim and labor of the Christian pastorate, is partially realized on earth, and ought to be more vividly manifested; but which will be fully developed in heaven, when, the effect being secured, the instrumentality may be dispensed with” (Eadie). That effect has not yet been secured, that instrumentality may not yet be dispensed with: yet those who are tossed as waves, who are carried about by every wind of doctrine, who according to the Apostle show most clearly the present necessity for the ministerial office, are readiest to cry out that it is useless. Would that the church needed ministers less! Then they might go out into the world more frequently to win souls for Christ! Paul here certainly does not prophesy of that “church of the future,” in which there shall be neither pastor nor teacher, because each member is able to take care of himself, and there is nothing to be held up to “faith.” That “Church” in the view of those who proclaim its coming, will be based on “knowledge;” but it will be γνῶσις not ἐπίγνωσις perception of some fragments of truth, not the grasping and knowing with “faith and knowledge” all Truth, in the Person “of the Son of God.”—R.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv11–13 Greek, emphatical. "Himself" by His supreme power. "It is…
Greek, emphatical. "Himself" by His supreme power. "It is HE that gave," &c.
gave some, apostles--Translate, "some to be apostles, and some to be prophets," &c. The men who filled the office, no less than the office itself, were a divine gift [EADIE]. Ministers did not give themselves. Compare with the list here, Co1 12:10, Co1 12:28. As the apostles, prophets, and evangelists were special and extraordinary ministers, so "pastors and teachers" are the ordinary stated ministers of a particular flock, including, probably, the bishops, presbyters, and deacons. Evangelists were itinerant preachers like our missionaries, as Philip the deacon (Act 21:8); as contrasted with stationary "pastors and teachers" (Ti2 4:5). The evangelist founded the Church; the teacher built it up in the faith already received. The "pastor" had the outward rule and guidance of the Church: the bishop. As to revelation, the "evangelist" testified infallibly of the past; the "prophet," infallibly of the future. The prophet derived all from the Spirit; the evangelist, in the special case of the Four, recorded matter of fact, cognizable to the senses, under the Spirit's guidance. No one form of Church polity as permanently unalterable is laid down in the New Testament though the apostolical order of bishops, or presbyters, and deacons, superintended by higher overseers (called bishops after the apostolic times), has the highest sanction of primitive usage. In the case of the Jews, a fixed model of hierarchy and ceremonial unalterably bound the people, most minutely detailed in the law. In the New Testament, the absence of minute directions for Church government and ceremonies, shows that a fixed model was not designed; the general rule is obligatory as to ceremonies, "Let all things be done decently and in order" (compare Article XXXIV, Church of England); and that a succession of ministers be provided, not self-called, but "called to the work by men who have public authority given unto them in the congregation, to call and send ministers into the Lord's vineyard" [Article XXIII]. That the "pastors" here were the bishops and presbyters of the Church, is evident from Act 20:28; Pe1 5:1-2, where the bishops' and presbyters' office is said to be "to feed" the flock. The term, "shepherd" or "pastor," is used of guiding and governing and not merely instructing, whence it is applied to kings, rather than prophets or priests (Eze 34:23; Jer 23:4). Compare the names of princes compounded of "pharnas," Hebrew, "pastor," Holophernes, Tis-saphernes (compare Isa 44:28).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv11–13 11. He gave—The fact that St. Paul here makes…
11. He gave—The fact that St. Paul here makes the gifts consist, not of the offices bestowed, but of the officers, seems to indicate that he nevertheless retained in thought the other interpretation, “he received gifts in men.” Hereby St. Paul impresses upon his Ephesians that one of the best gifts Christ bestows upon the Church is endowed leaders and inspirers. Some to be apostles—As to the apostolic office, consult notes on Mat_10:2; Mat_28:20; Luk_1:2; Act_6:2-4.
Prophets— Utterers of inspired truth; whether of prediction, as Agabus (Act_21:10) and Paul, (2Th_2:1-12,) or of inspiration of doctrine or exhortation, as in 1Co_14:4. Every preacher of the present day who is “moved by the Holy Ghost” to his office, or in its performance, is a true New Testament prophet. And to him the success of his work in the conversion of souls and the upbuilding of the Church, as described in Eph_4:12-16, is a blessed proof that he is a genuine prophet.
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Pastors and teachers—Are these two classes, or two functions of one class? The fact that the distinctive some covers both, has induced many commentators to hold them as one class. But it must be noted that St. Paul names the offices in the order of anti-climax, the greatest first, the least last. The distinctive some was due to the dignity of each of the first three; one some will do for the last two. And as they are very subordinate officers, history has lost their real nature. But under a similar revival in modern times, Methodism called into existence its class leaders, who are truly the under pastors of the flock, watching over the spiritual interests of a certain assigned number. The early catechists, who drilled the convert into the history of Jesus and other elementary truths of Christianity, were, very probably, these teachers. The Sunday-school teachers of the present day are, we think, justly entitled to be held their true successors.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–13 11. And he gave] The “He” is emphatic; it…
11. And he gave] The “He” is emphatic; it was He who gave. See above on Eph_4:7.—Immediately, the Holy Spirit is the Giver (1Co_12:8, &c.; cp. Act_2:4; Act_13:2). But His action is in Divine union with that of the Son, and vicariously for Him.
some apostles] I.e., some men as apostles, and so through the passage. Cp. 1Co_12:28.—The gift is to the Church, from the Lord, of spiritually called and enabled human ministers.—“Apostles”:—see above on Eph_1:1.
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prophets] In the enumeration, 1Co_12:28, this “ministry” comes second, as here. On the “prophets” of the N. T. see above on Eph_2:20, and Appendix F.
evangelists] The word occurs thrice in N.T.; here, Act_21:8, and 2Ti_4:5. It seems, like our word “missionary,” to indicate not a defined ecclesiastical order (for Timothy “does the work of an evangelist,” while also an authoritative superintendent of pastors and churches), but rather a special kind of personal function in the ministry; the work of one called and devoted to direct proclamation of the Gospel message. It was thus an elastic word, like “missionary,” sometimes and oftenest denoting a minister’s special function, sometimes one only of his functions. “This passage,” our present passage, “would lead us to think of the evangelists as standing between the two groups,” (apostles and prophets, pastors and teachers,) “sent forth, as missionary preachers of the Gospel, by the first, and as such preparing the way for the labours of the second” (Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, under the word Evangelist). “The omission of evangelists in the list of 1 Corinthians 12 may be explained on the hypothesis that the nature of St Paul’s argument there led him to speak of the settled organization of a given local Church” (Ibidem).
pastors and teachers] Not, “some pastors and some teachers.” The two functions are regarded as coinciding and combining in the one settled guardian of a local flock; an instructive fact.—Such a “pastor-teacher” had St Paul himself been at Ephesus (Acts 20), where indeed he had also been so conspicuously the “evangelist.”—On the pastoral aspect of the Christian ministry cp. Joh_21:16 (Gr. “shepherd my sheep”); Act_20:28 (Gr., “shepherd the church of God”), 29; 1Pe_5:2-3. See also Luk_17:7 (Gr., “a slave … shepherding”). And note the Lord’s own references to His supreme Pastorate, Mat_25:32; Mat_26:31; John 10; and Heb_13:20; 1Pe_2:25; 1Pe_5:4; and Mat_2:6 (Gr., “shall shepherd my people”). On the teaching aspect of the ministry, cf. esp. Act_13:1; Act_15:35; Rom_12:7; 1Co_12:28-29; 1Ti_3:2; 2Ti_2:24.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–13 (11) He gave.—In the original “He” is emphatic—He and…
(11) He gave.—In the original “He” is emphatic—He and He alone, as the ascended Head of humanity. The word “gave,” instead of the more obvious word set, or appointed (used in 1Co_12:28), is, of course, suggested by Eph_4:8. They who are ministers of His gifts are themselves gifts from Him to the Church.
Some, apostles; and some, prophets . . .—With this passage we must compare 1Co_12:28, “God hath set some in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings,” &c.; and, perhaps, Rom_12:6-8, “Having then gifts . . . whether prophecy . . . or ministry . . . or teaching . . . or exhortation . . .,” although this last passage is lass formally apposite. In all three cases there is the same general idea, first of the one body, and then of the one Spirit, guiding and animating it through various ministries. The parallel between this passage and the passage in 1 Cor. is very close; for in the latter all that follows the words “after that” may be put aside, as describing, not special offices or ministries, but special gifts. We have, therefore, in both, “first apostles, secondly prophets.” Then come, in the earlier Epistle, “teachers;” and this class, in our own later Epistle, is subdivided into “evangelists” and “pastors,” both being teachers—the one in conversion of those still aliens from Christ, the other in edification of those already brought into His flock.
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Some, apostles.—The name “apostles” is certainly used here in its technical and restricted sense, as applying to the Twelve, whom “the Apostle” of God Himself (Heb_3:1) named as His Apostles (Luk_6:13), and with whom St. Paul claims equality (see 1Co_9:1; 1Co_15:9-11; Gal_1:1) on the ground of his own special mission and revelation from the same Lord. It is, indeed, used in a wider sense; sometimes with words distinctly implying a derivation and human mission, as in 2Co_8:23, “apostles (or, messengers) of the churches;” Php_2:25, “Epaphroditus, your apostle (or, messenger);” sometimes without such qualification, as in 2Co_11:5; 2Co_11:13; 2Co_12:11-12; 1Th_2:7; and, perhaps, Rom_16:7. But such use is rare, and cannot be applied to a passage like this, which is distinctive of a special and primary class. In direct charge from the Lord, universal scope of mission, special inspiration and power of miracle, which are “the signs of an apostle” (2Co_12:12), the Apostles, properly so called, stood out in office absolutely unique and supreme. What was said of the first age of the Church is true of all ages—“of the rest durst no man join himself unto them” (Act_5:13).
Some, prophets.—For the nature and function of prophecy in the Church, see the detailed treatment of the subject by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 14. It is sufficient here to note (1) that from very early times the “prophets” are mentioned as a separate class (see Act_11:27; Act_15:32; Act_21:10), distinguished from teachers (Act_13:1), and that, in this Epistle especially, they are spoken of, in connection with the Apostles, as receiving the revealed mystery of the gospel (Eph_3:5), and being (or, laying) “the foundation of the Church;” (2) that their office, like the Apostolate, is clearly extraordinary, distinct from the ordinary and permanent teaching of the evangelists and pastors, and, probably, best described by the two phrases so constantly applied to the prophets of the Old Testament—“the word of the Lord came to me;” “the Spirit of the Lord was upon me.” As all God’s extraordinary gifts and workings are closely correlated with His ordinary laws of operation, so in this case the apostolic and prophetic offices gradually melt away into the regular functions of government and teaching, belonging in all times to the ministry of the Church.
Some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.—In these two phrases (corresponding to the simple word “teachers” in 1Co_12:28) we find described the two-fold office of the regular ministry of the Church—first, to preach the gospel to the heathen or the unconverted, and next, to fulfil our Lord’s pastoral charge (Joh_21:15-17) of feeding and shepherding those who are already His sheep. It is clear that the same person may be invested with the two offices, as Timothy, when in pastoral charge at Ephesus, is bidden “to do the work of an evangelist” (2Ti_4:5); and that in some degree the two offices must always be united, for the evangelist, like the apostle, is generally called upon to organise and “confirm the churches” (Act_14:22-23; Act_15:41), and the pastor must always find men unconverted, to whom he must be an evangelist. But the two elements of duty will co-exist in different proportions in different persons. Some were then, and are now, especially called to be “evangelists”—that is, as is shown by the career of Philip, to whom the name is first given (Act_21:8), to be, under the apostolic guidance, missionaries to the unconverted; others to be “pastors and teachers,” feeding now with “pure milk of the word,” now with “solid meat” (see 1Co_3:2, and Heb_5:12), those already gathered into the fold, and exercising over them the pastoral authority solemnly committed by our Lord to His ministers. Yet both can discharge only under limitation the functions which in the Apostles were practically unlimited.
On the question whether this celebrated passage describes the regular orders or the functions, ordinary and extraordinary, of the ministry, we may fairly say that while no doubt the very genius of the passage points to the latter alternative, yet the ultimate appeal must be made to history. It is clear, from the nature of the case, that none could inherit the direct and universal commission from Christ held by the Apostles; it is certain historically that the supernatural gifts of prophecy and miracle passed away; it is hardly less indisputable that the two functions of evangelism and pastorate were always shared among the three orders of bishops, priests, and deacons after the close of the Apostolic age.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv11–13 And he gave some (to be) apostles. Coming back…
And he gave some (to be) apostles. Coming back to the diversity of gifts (ver. 7), He enumerates some of these, as Christ (aujtov, he, emphatic) bestowed them. The organization of the Church is not a mere human arrangement; its officers are of Divine appointment. The first gift is, his apostles. It is not meant that he gave to some the gifts needed to constitute them apostles, though that is true; but that, having qualified some to be apostles, he gave them to the Church. An apostle had his commission direct from Christ; (Mat_10:5) he possessed supernatural gifts; (Mat_10:8) it was necessary for him to have seen the Lord; (Act_1:22) his diocese was the whole world (Mat_28:19; Mar_16:15) The apostles were the constituent body of the Church they had all necessary gifts for setting it up, and as all Christian history has testified, they were a marvelous gift of Christ to his Church. And some, prophets. Next to the apostles in point of value, as gifts to the Church, having supernatural knowledge of God"s will present and future. (Act_21:11) Prophets were indispensable before the New Testament was given as the Church"s infallible guide to the will of God, but not apparently necessary after the will of God was fully recorded. And some, evangelists. The nature of this office is known only from the meaning of the term and the work of those who bore the designation (Act_21:8; 2Ti_4:5) persons not attached to a particular congregation, but who went about preaching the glad tidings, and otherwise building up the Church, but without the full powers of apostles. And some, pastors and teachers. The more ordinary settled ministers of congregations, called pastors, because they watched over the flock, trying to lead all in right ways; and teachers, because they communicated Divine knowledge. Some have thought that each expression denotes a separate office, but, coupled as they are together, it is better to regard them as indicating two functions of one office. (see 1Ti_5:17; Act_13:1)
The variety of the gifts.
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The Lord himself gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Provision is thus made for three great objects.
I THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH. It needed a special order of inspired men to lay the foundations. Hence believers are said "to be built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets". (Eph_2:20) The foundation, however, had only to be laid once for all, and these apostles and prophets passed away in the first age of Christianity. There is no place, therefore, now in the Church for either class; for the "apostles" of the Irvingite sect possess no single qualification of the original apostles of Christ. As the apostles wrote nearly the whole of the New Testament Scriptures, which supply the literary foundation of Christianity, they may thus be regarded as still identified with the progress of the gospel in all lands and all ages.
II THE EXTENSION OF THE CHURCH. Evangelists were specially designed to preach the gospel in districts where it had not been previously known. They are on this ground distinguished from pastors and teachers. They itinerated from place to place, carrying with them the wonderful story of the cross, and were quite exempt, as such, from the labors of organization or discipline. Our missionaries in modern times do the work of evangelists.
III THE CONTINUANCE OF THE CHURCH. Pastors and teachers were stationary ministers appointed for the continuous edification of the flock. They represent, not two classes of office-bearers, but two aspects of one and the same office. They are distinguished alike from prophets and from evangelists, and had to do with the permanent instruction and guidance of the flock. The existence of such an order of teachers proves that the Christian Church was not to be propagated or maintained by mere gifted persons. Why, in that case, should the Lord have appointed such ordinary officers at all? The pastors of Ephesus and Corinth were distinct from the prophetically gifted persons in both Churches (1Co 14 Eph_4:11) Private persons, no matter how gifted, were not allowed to take the place of apostles and prophets at Corinth, and therefore net of pastors and teachers. If they could not take the place of the one, they could not take the place of the other. If all believers were to exercise the gift of ministry in the Christian dispensation, why should not the apostles have started with this arrangement from the first? Why should the Lord give pastors and teachers to one generation and that a generation provided with at least two inspired orders of teachers and make no similar provision for all future generations? T.C.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv11–13 And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and…
Eph_4:11
And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.
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The Christian ministry
I. From this passage we learn, that the institution of the Christian ministry--the appointment of pastors and teachers--is from God, is of Divine authority. The object which the Christian ministry is designed to effect is the conviction and conversion of sinners, and the edification and consolation of saints; but these are effects which no human, and, indeed, no created, power is able to produce. The office of the Christian ministry--that is, the institution of a separate order of men to attend, more peculiarly, to the religious instruction of others--is admirably adapted in its own nature as a means to effect the object intended, and its adaptation is evident even to the eye of human wisdom; but it was not devised by human wisdom, and it must not be judged of, or regarded, solely from its extrinsic fitness.
II. Since, then, the text informs us, in the first place, that the appointment of pastors and teachers is a Divine institution, intended to be instrumental in accomplishing certain objects, and of course deriving all its efficacy from the blessing of Him who appointed it, we shall now consider what objects it was designed to effect. For what purpose did God give pastors and teachers? It was for the perfecting of the saints, for the edification of the Body of Christ. The perfecting of the saints may here mean the completion of their number. It may also mean, making them perfect in holiness. We are further informed by the apostle, that God gave pastors and teachers for the edifying of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is an expression often used in Scripture to denote the Church of Christ. And the great object of this figurative mode of speaking is to represent the absolute dependence of believers upon their great living Head at all times for nourishment and strength, and, indeed, for existence or vitality, as well as the close and intimate connection that subsists between the Head and all the members--that is, between Christ and His people--and between the members with each other. The word edify properly means to build; and it is taken from another figurative idea, sometimes given us in Scripture, of the Church of Christ, or of true Christians in their connection with and dependence upon Christ, namely, that of a building or temple, of which Christ is the foundation, and in which all His people are represented as stones. And in this work of edification or sanctification, pastors and teachers whom God has appointed are master builders, whose great duty and privilege it is to be employed as instruments in edifying the Body of Christ--in building up the saints in their most holy faith--in carrying on the great work of which our Saviour laid the foundation while He lived upon the earth--in not only bringing men to the knowledge and belief of the truth, but also in leading them to walk in the paths of holiness--to walk in harmony and in love--and to contribute to one anothers spiritual progress.
III. We would now consider the statement which the text contains of the more comprehensive and ultimate objects for which the Christian ministry was instituted, and which the labours of pastors and teachers are intended to serve, namely, that Christians may grow up in all things unto Him who is the Head--that they may all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man--unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. And here we would notice the description the apostle gives of the direct objects and effects of the labours of pastors and teachers, namely, that Christians speak the truth in love. Speaking the truth is contrasted with being tossed to and fro like children, or carried about with every wind of doctrine; and as the appointment of pastors and teachers, with their regular and faithful ministrations, are intended by God to preserve the Church, or Body of Christ, from the latter of these, so they are also fitted to produce and secure the former. To speak the truth means here to hold and to maintain sound and correct views of Christian doctrine--of the great principles of the oracles of God. And this is an acquisition of great importance, lying at the very foundation of all true religion, which is built upon right views of the Divine character, and of the Divine plans and purposes with regard to the human race. But, besides this, it is also necessary that men speak the truth in love--that is, that their assertion and maintenance of the truth, even against its opposers, should never lead them into any violation of the great law of Christian charity and love. Not that either ministers or private Christians are bound to speak or to think more favourably of opposers of the truth than the fair and impartial examination of their conduct may seem to warrant and to require. But when our opinion is really and sincerely fair and impartial, it is no objection to it that it is unfavourable; for that must just depend upon the grounds and merits of the case. Our opinions upon all points should be exactly conformable to truth--to the intrinsic merits of the subject; but the expression of these opinions, and the conduct which they may lead us to adopt, should be at all times regulated by love. The great terminating object of the Christian ministry--and indeed of all Gods dealings with His people--is stated by the apostle in the eighteenth verse--that we may all come in--or rather into--the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God--unto a perfect man--unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. This describes the state of the Church in its collective capacity--when the objects of the Christian ministry, and indeed of all other means of grace, shall have been accomplished. At present, there is nothing like complete unity of faith and knowledge. There is reason, however, to think that times are in reserve for the Church, even upon earth, when these evils shall be greatly lessened, if not altogether removed--when the Church shall indeed resemble a great and a holy Society, founded upon one rock, and that rock Christ:--devoted to the one great purpose of manifesting the glory and making known the manifold wisdom of God. But whatever degree of harmony and purity the Church of Christ shall attain upon earth, when God shall pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, and introduce the glory of the latter days, certain it is that there will be a time when all His people shall come into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, when there shall be nothing whatever to hurt or to offend, when His people shall be all righteous--freed from everything that may pervert either the judgment or the conduct--made perfect in holiness, and altogether restored to the lost image of their great Creator and their living Head. (W. Cunningham, D. D.)
Ministers in the Church appointed by Christ
I. A remarkable instance of our exalted Lords liberty to His Church in bestowing divers gifts upon her.
1. The gifts.
2. The Giver.
3. The act of donation.
4. The time to which it relates.
II. The end or design of this gift.
1. In respect of the saints, these who are in Christ already, the ministry is to perfect them, πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμὸν. The word signifies the restoring and setting dislocated members again in their proper place. It signifies also, the perfecting and establishing them in the restored state. So the Corinthians, who by their factions and divisions were rent asunder, and as a disjointed body, are exhorted to be κατηρτισμένοι, perfectly joined together, as a joint well knit (1Co_1:10). The saints being, by reason of remaining corruption, so ready to turn aside both from Christ the Head, and from their brethren fellow members. God gave ministers to be spiritual surgeons to set them right again, and to fix them in nearer union to Christ by faith, and to their brethren in love.
2. In regard of themselves, for the work of the ministry. It is for work that they are appointed. This work, for the kind of it, is διακονία, a ministry or service, the first excluding idleness, the second excluding a lordly dominion.
3. In respect of the Body of Christ; it is to edify, viz., the mystical Body of Christ. (T. Boston, D. D.)
Service the purpose of the Church
The text is clouded by a wrong punctuation. If a single comma be dropped, so as to make the text read, He gave some, pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints for the work of ministering, it will clearly express what some expositors believe is its meaning, and be in harmony with what is taught elsewhere in the New Testament as to the duty which is owed by the Church to the world. The saints have a ministry if the Body of Christ is to be edified. The Church is not to be as a lake without any outlet--a mere glass in which the sky is reflected--but a reservoir that yields what it receives for the health of mankind. Every member has something to do. Every Christian is to be a channel of blessing to others, even as the Son of Man came, not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.
I. In the development of this theme let us consider, first, the disparity in circumstance and condition between ourselves and the vast multitude of our fellow men; the contrast between our and their moral experience. If there be anything approaching the truth in our oft-repeated confessions, we have entered, through Christ, upon an ample inheritance of privilege and honour and power. Our sins are forgiven; a new life has been given us; we live in Gods fellowship. All things are yours, says the apostle, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours. And what deed ever conveyed riches like these? Why am I, honest and industrious, harassed and tormented, while dishonesty thrives, and has the world, cap in hand, at its feet? Where is the evidence of the love, or the wisdom, you preach? Where even is justice? It is a bad world; and the best thought about life is, that it will soon come to an end.
II. This brings us, second, to the principle which is expressed in the text, and on which alone these inequalities can be justified. Every variety implies in some sense superiority or inferiority. But who would wish for a mere uniformity, which would be the destruction of all that is interesting, of all that is beautiful, of all emulation, of all excellence? Who cannot see that to receive from one another and to impart to each other what we mutually lack, is a far better thing than to be born to an exact equality of advantages? Variety is essential to the proper development of society; and whilst God alone can explain why the obvious advantage is with one man, or with one class instead of another, still He takes from it all that is invidious by associating with privilege the responsibility of service. Turn, for illustration of this, to the account of the calling of Abraham. He was chosen out of the ranks of his countrymen, and out of the world of his day, for special enlightenment; to hear a Divine voice that was unheard by all others, and to realize a communion more elevated and purer than theirs. And why? Did it denote that he monopolized the Divine favour? that those who were left in the dark had no part in the thoughts and the purposes of Jehovah? On the contrary, he was elected for their sakes; in him, who was thus favoured and quickened, all the nations of the earth were to be blessed. And this is always the end which God has in view in the appointment of any to superior possession and privilege. Their endowment is to bring good to the many. Every great movement in social or political life may be traced to some individual, or to some company of men, who have been privileged to originate the high enterprise. The diffusion of truth is not by the equal instruction of all men at the same moment, but by circles and schools who have found out the truth, and through whom it spreads out until it becomes the possession of all. The preference is shown to the few in the interest of the many. And it is the same in respect of the Church. Those in its fellowship are to serve; for it exists not for itself, but for man, for humanity at large; because man is comprehended in the great love of the Father and in the scope of the redemption which Christ came to accomplish. (Chas. De Witt Boardman, D. D.)
The Divine choice of ministers
For if no prince will send a mechanic from his loom or his shears in an honourable embassage to some other foreign prince, shall we think that the Lord will send forth stupid and unprepared instruments about so great a work as the perfecting of the saints and perpetual dishonour of that wicked king Jeroboam, who made no other use of any religion but as a secondary bye thing, to be the supplement of policy, that he made of the lowest of the people those who were really such as the apostles were falsely esteemed to be, the scum and offscouring of men, to be the priests unto the Lord. (Bishop Reynolds.)
Pastors needed
In the church of San Zeno, at Verona, I saw the statue of that saint in a sitting posture, and the artist has given him knees so short that he has no lap whatever; so that he could not have been a nursing father. I fear there are many others who labour under a similar disability: they cannot bring their minds to enter heartily into the pastoral care. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Charles Kingsley as a pastor
On one occasion Kingsley was visiting a sick man suffering from fever. The atmosphere of the ground floor bedroom was horrible, but before the rector said a word he ran upstairs, and, to the great astonishment of the people of the cottage, bored with a large auger he had brought with him several holes above the beds head for ventilation. And when diphtheria, then a new disease in England, made its appearance at Eversley, he might have been seen running in and out of the cottages with great bottles of gargle under his arm, and teaching the people to gargle their throats as a preventive. (Life of Charles Kingsley.)
A good pastor
Father Taylor said of a certain member of his flock who kept continually falling back into drunken ways, He is an expensive machine; I have to keep mending him all the time; but I will never give him up. (C. A. Barrel, D. D.)
Careless pastors
St. Francis, reflecting on a story he heard of a mountaineer in the Alps who had risked his life to save a sheep, says, O God, if such was the earnestness of this shepherd in seeking for a mean animal, which had probably been frozen on the glacier, how is it that I am so indifferent in seeking my sheep? (W. Baxendale.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v13 Chapter 18
Chapter 18
THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH
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Eph_4:13-16
We must spend a few moments in unravelling this knotty paragraph and determining the relation of its involved clauses to each other, before we can expound it. This passage is enough to prove St. Pauls hand in the letter. No writer of equal power was ever so little of a literary craftsman. His epistles read, as M. Renan says, like "a rapid conversation stenographed." Sometimes, as in several places in Colossians 2, his ideas are shot out in disjointed clauses, hardly more continuous than shorthand notes; often, as in this epistle, they pour in a full stream, sentence hurrying after sentence and phrase heaped upon phrase with an exuberance that bewilders us. In his spoken address the interpretation of tone and gesture, doubtless, supplied the syntactical adjustments so often wanting in Pauls written composition.
The gifts pertaining to special office in the Church were bestowed to promote its corporate efficiency and to further its general growth (Eph_4:11-12). Now the purpose of these endowments sets a limit to their use. "Christ gave apostles, prophets," and the rest-"till we all arrive at our perfect manhood and reach the stature of His fulness." Such is the connection of Eph_4:13 with the foregoing context. The aim of the Christian ministry is to make itself superfluous, to raise men beyond its need. Knowledge and prophesyings, apostolates and pastorates, the missions of the evangelist and the schools of the teacher will one day cease; their work will be done, their end gained, when all believers are brought "to the unity of faith, to the full knowledge of the Son of God." The work of Christs servants can have no grander aim, no further goal lying beyond this. Eph_4:14, therefore, does not disclose an ulterior purpose arising out of that affirmed in the previous sentence; it restates the same purpose. To make men of us (Eph_4:13) and to prevent our being children (Eph_4:14) is the identical object for which apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers are called to office. The goal marked out for all believers in the knowledge and the moral likeness of Christ (Eph_4:13), is set up. that it may direct the Churchs course through dangers shunned and enemies vanquished (Eph_4:14) to the attainment of her corporate perfection (Eph_4:15-16). The whole thought of this section turns upon the idea of "the perfecting of the saints" in Eph_4:12. Eph_4:16 looks backward to this; Eph_4:7 looked forward to it.
So much for the general construction of the period. As to its particular words and phrases, we must observe:-
(1) The "perfect [full-grown] man" of Eph_4:13 is the individual, not the generic man, not "the one [collective] new man" of Eph_2:15. The Greek words for man in these two places differ. The apostle proposes to the Christian ministry the end that he was himself pursuing, viz., to "present every man perfect in Christ."
(2) "Sleight of men" (A.V and R.V) does not seem to us to express the precise meaning of the words so translated in Eph_4:14. Kubeia (from kubos, a cube, or die) occurs only here in the New Testament; in classical Greek it appears in its literal sense of dice-play, gambling. The interpreters have drawn from this the idea of trickery, cheating-the common accompaniment of gambling. But the, kindred verb (to play dice, to gamble) has another well-established use in Greek, namely, to froward: this supplies for St. Pauls noun the signification of sport or hazarding, preferred by Beza among the older expositors and by von Soden amongst the newest. In the sport of men, says von Soden: "conduct wanting in every kind of earnestness and clear purpose. These men play with religion, and with the welfare of Christian souls." This metaphor accords admirably with that of the restless waves and uncertain winds just preceding it; while it leads fittingly to the further qualification "in craftiness," which is almost an idle synonym after "sleight."
(3) Another rare word is found in this verse, not very precisely rendered as "wiles"-a translation suiting it better in Eph_6:11. Here the noun is singular in number: methodeia. It signifies methodising, reducing to a plan; and then, in a bad sense, scheming, plotting. "Error" is thus personified: it "schemes" just as in 2Th_2:7 it "works." Amid the reckless speculations and the unscrupulous perversions of the gospel now disturbing the infant faith of the Asian Churches, the apostle saw the outline of a great system of error shaping itself. There was a method in this madness. Unto the scheme of error-into the meshes of its net-those were being driven who yielded to the prevailing tendencies of speculative thought. With all its cross currents and capricious movements, it was bearing steadily in one direction. Reckless pilots steered ignorant souls this way and that over the windswept seas of religious doubt; but they brought them at last to the same rocks and quicksands.
(4) As the contrast between manhood and childhood links Eph_4:13-14, so it is by the contrast of error and craftiness with truth that we pass from Eph_4:14-15. "Speaking truth" insufficiently renders the opening word of the latter verse. The "dealing truly" of the Revised margin is preferable. In Gal_4:16 the apostle employs the same verb, signifying not truth of speech alone, but of deed and life. {comp. Eph_5:9} The expression resembles that of 1Jn_3:19 : "We are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him," where truth and love are found in the like union.
(5) The last difficulty of this kind we have to deal with, lies in the connection of the clauses of Eph_4:16. "Through every joint of supply" is an incongruous adjunct to the previous clause, "fitly framed and knit together," although the rendering "joint" gives this connection a superficial aptness. The apostles word means juncture, rather than joint. The points of contact between the members of Christs body form the channels of supply through which the entire frame receives nourishment. The clause "through every juncture of the supply"-an expression somewhat obscure at the best-points forwards, not backwards. It describes the means by which the Church of Christ, compacted in its general framework by those larger ligatures which its ministry furnishes (Eph_4:11-12), builds up its inward life, through a communion wherein "each single part" of the body shares, and every tie that binds one Christian soul to another serves to nourish the common life of grace. We may paraphrase the sentence thus: "Drawing its life from Christ, the entire body knit together in a well-compacted frame, makes use of every link that unites its members and of each particular member in his place to contribute to its sustenance, thus building itself up in love evermore."
These difficult verses unfold to us three main conceptions: The goal of the Churchs life (Eph_4:13), the malady which arrests its development (Eph_4:14), and the means and conditions of its growth (Eph_4:15-16).
I. The mark at which the Church has to arrive is set forth, in harmony with the tenor of the epistle, in a twofold way, -in its collective and its individual aspects. We must all "unitedly attain the oneness of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God"; and we must attain, each of us, "a perfect manhood, the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."
The "one faith" of the Churchs foundation (Eph_4:5) is, at the same time, its end and goal. The final unity will be the unfolding of the primal unity; the implicit will become explicit; the germ will be reproduced in the developed organism. "The faith" is still, in St. Paul, the tides qua credimus, not quam credimus; it is the living faith of all hearts in the same Christ and gospel. When "we all" believe heartily and understandingly in "the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation," the goal will be in sight. All, our defects are, at the bottom, deficiencies of faith. We fail to apprehend and appropriate the fulness of God in Christ. Faith is the essence of the hearts life: it forms the common consciousness of the body of Christ.
While faith is the central organ of the Churchs life, the Son of God is its central object. The dangers assailing the Church and the divisions threatening its unity touch His Person; and whatever touches the Head, vitally affects the health of the body and the well-being of every member in it. Many had believed in Jesus as the Christ and received blessing from Him, whose knowledge of Him as the Son of God was defective. This ignorance exposed their faith to perversion by the plausible errors circulating in the Churches of Asia Minor. The haze of speculation dimmed His glory and distorted His image. Dazzled by the "philosophy and empty deceit" of specious talkers, these half-instructed believers formed erroneous or uncertain views of Christ. And a divided Christ makes a divided Church. We may hold divergent opinions upon many points of doctrine-in regard to Church order and the Sacraments, in regard to the nature of the future judgment, in regard to the mode and limits of inspiration, in regard to the dialect and expression of our spiritual life-and yet retain, notwithstanding, a large measure of cordial unity and find ourselves able to co-operate with each other for many Christian purposes. But when our difference concerns the Person of Christ, it is felt at once "to be fundamental." There is a gulf between those who worship and those who do not worship the Son of God.
"Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him and he in God.". {1Jn_4:15} This is the touchstone of catholic truth that the apostles have laid down; and by this we must hold fast. The kingship of the Lord Jesus is the rallying-point of Christendom. In His name we set up our banners. There are a thousand differences we can afford to sink, and quarrels we may well forget, if our hearts are one towards Him. Let me meet a man of any sect or country, who loves and worships my Lord Christ with all his mind and strength, he is my brother; and who shall forbid us "with one mind and one mouth to glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ"? It is nothing but our ignorance of Him, and of each other, that prevents us doing this already. Let us set ourselves again to the study of Christ. Let us strive "all of us" to "attain to the full knowledge of the Son of God"; it is the way to reunion. As we approach the central revelation, and the glory of Christ who is the image of God shines in its original brightness upon our hearts, prejudices will melt away; the opinions and interests and sentiments that divide us will be lost in the transcendent and absorbing vision of the one Lord Jesus Christ.
"Names and sects and parties fall: Thou, O Christ, art all in all!"
The second and third unto of Eph_4:13 are parallel with the first, and with each other. A truer faith and better knowledge of Christ, uniting believers to each other, at the same time develop in each of them a riper character. Jesus Christ was the "perfect man." In Him our nature attained, without the least flaw or failure, its true end, -which is to glorify God. In His fulness the plenitude of God is embodied; it is made human, and attainable to faith. In Jesus Christ humanity rose to its ideal stature; and we see what is the proper level of our nature, the dignity and worth to which we have to rise. We are "predestinated to be conformed to the image of Gods Son." All the many brethren of Jesus measure themselves against the stature of the Firstborn; and they will leave to say to the end with St. Paul: "Not as though I had attained, either were already perfect. I follow after; I press towards the mark." A true heart that has seen perfection will never rest short of it. "Till we arrive-till we all arrive" at this, the work of the Christian ministry is incomplete. Teachers must still school us, pastors shepherd us, evangelists mission us. There is work enough and to spare for them all-and will be, to all appearance, for many a generation to come. The goal of the regenerate life is never absolutely won; it is hid with Christ in God. But there is to be a constant approximation to it, both in the individual believer and in the body of Christs people. And a time is coming when that goal will be practically attained, so far as earthly conditions allow. The Church after long strife will be reunited, after long trial will be perfected; and Christ will "present her to Himself" a bride worthy of her Lord, "without spot or wrinkle or any such thing." Then this world will have had its use, and will give place to the new heavens and earth.
II. The goal that the apostle marked out did not appear to him to be in immediate prospect. The childishness of so many Christian believers stood in the way of its attainment. In this condition they were exposed to the seductions of error, and ready to be driven this way and that by the evil influences active in the world of thought around them. So long as the Church contains a number of unstable souls, so long she will remain subject to strife and corruption. When he says in verse 14, "that we may be no longer children tossed to and fro," etc., this implies that many Christian believers at that time were of this childish sort, and were being so distracted and misled. The apostle writes on purpose to instruct these "babes" and to raise them to a more manly style of Christian thought and life.
It is a grievous thing to a minister of Christ to see those who for the time ought to be teachers, fit for the Churchs strong meat and the harder tasks of her service, remaining still infantile in their condition, needing to be nursed and humoured, narrow in their views of truth, petty and personal in their aims, wanting in all generous feeling and exalted thought. Some men, like St. Paul himself, advance from the beginning to a settled faith, to a large intelligence and a full and manly consecration to God. Others remain "babes in Christ" to the end. Their souls live, but never thrive. They suffer from every change in the moral atmosphere, from every new wind of doctrine. These invalids are objects full of interest to the moral pathologist; they are marked not unfrequently by fine and delicate qualities. But they are a constant anxiety to the Church. Till they grow into something more robust they must remain to crowd the Churchs nursery, instead of taking part in her battle like brave and strenuous men.
The appearance of false doctrine in the Asian Churches made their undeveloped condition a matter for peculiar apprehension to the apostle. The Colossian heresy, for example, with which he is dealing at this present moment, would have no attraction for ripe and settled Christians. But such a "scheme of error" was exactly suited to catch men with a certain tincture of philosophy and in general sympathy with current thought, who had embraced Christianity under some vague sense of its satisfaction for their spiritual needs, but without an intelligent grasp of its principles or a thorough experience of its power.
St. Paul speaks of "every wind of the doctrine," having in his mind a more or less definite form of erroneous teaching, a certain "plan of error." Reading this verse in the light of the companion letter to Colossae and the letters addressed to Timothy when at Ephesus a few years later, we can understand its significance. We can watch the storm that was rising in the Graeco-Asiatic Churches. The characteristics of early Gnosticism are well defined in the miniature picture of Eph_4:14. We note, in the first place, its protean and capricious form, half Judaistic, half philosophical-ascetic in one direction, libertine in another: "tossed by the waves, and carried about with every wind." In the next place, its intellectual spirit, -that of a loose and reckless speculation: "in the hazarding of men,"-not in the abiding truth of God. Morally, it was vitiated by "craftiness." And in its issue and result, this new teaching was leading "to the scheme of error" which the apostle four years ago had sorrowfully predicted, in bidding farewell to the Ephesian elders at Miletus. {Acts 20} This scheme was no other than the gigantic Gnostic system, which devastated the Eastern Churches and inflicted deep and lasting wounds upon them.
The struggle with legalism was now over and past, at least in. its critical phase. The apostle of the Gentiles had won the battle with Judaism and saved the Church in its first great conflict. But another strife is impending; {Eph_6:10} a most pernicious error has made its appearance within the Church itself. St. Paul was not to see more than the commencement of the new movement, which took two generations to gather its full force; but he had a true prophetic insight, and he saw that the strength of the Church in the coming day of trial lay in the depth and reality of her knowledge of the Son of God.
At every crisis in human thought there emerges some prevailing method of truth, or of error, the resultant of current tendencies, which unites the suffrages of a large body of thinkers and claims to embody the spirit of "the age." Such a method of error our own age has produced as the outcome of the anti-Christian speculation of modern times, in the doctrines current under the names of Positivism, Secularism, or Agnosticism. While the Gnosticism of the early ages asserted the infinite distance of God from the world and the intrinsic evil of matter, modern Agnosticism removes God still further from us, beyond the reach of thought, and leaves us with material nature as the one positive and accessible reality, as the basis of life and law. Faith and knowledge of the Son of God it banishes as dreams of our childhood. The supernatural, it tells us, is an illusion; and we must resign ourselves to be once more without God in the world and without hope beyond death.
This materialistic philosophy gathers to a head the unbelief of the century. It is the living antagonist of Divine revelation. It supplies the appointed trial of faith for educated men of our generation, and the test of the intellectual vigour and manhood of the Church.
III. In the midst of the changing perils and long delays of her history, the Church is called evermore to press towards the mark of her calling. The conditions on which her progress depends are summed up in Eph_4:15-16.
To the craft of false teachers St. Paul would have his Churches oppose the weapons only of truth and love. "Holding the truth in love," they will "grow up in all things unto Christ." Sincere believers, heartily devoted to Christ, will not fall into fatal error. A healthy life instinctively repels disease. They "have an anointing from the Holy One" which is their protection. {1Jn_2:20-29} In all that belongs to godliness and a noble manhood, such natures will expand; temptation and the assaults of error stimulate rather than arrest their growth. And with the growth and ripening in her fellowship of such men of God, the whole Church grows. Next to the moral condition lies the spiritual condition of advancement, -viz., the full recognition of the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. Christ assumes here two opposite relations to the members of His body. He is the Head into (or unto) which we grow in all things; but at the same time, from whom all the body derives its increase (Eph_4:16). He is the perfect ideal for us each; He is the common source of life and progress for us all. In our individual efforts after holiness and knowledge, in our personal aspirations and struggles, Jesus Christ is our model, our constant aim: we "grow into Him" (Eph_4:15). But as we learn to live for others, as we merge our own aims in the life of the Church and of humanity, we feel, even more deeply than our personal needs had made us to do, our dependence upon Him. We see that the forces which are at work to raise mankind, to stay the strifes and heal the wounds of humanity, emanate from the living Christ (Eph_4:16). He is the head of the Church and the heart of the world.
The third, practical condition of Church growth is brought out by the closing words of the paragraph. It is organisation: "all the body fitly framed {comp. Eph_2:21} and knit together." Each local ecclesia, or assembly of saints, will have its stated officers, its regulated and seemly order in worship and in work. And within this fit frame, there must be the warm union of hearts, the frank exchange of thought add feeling, the brotherly counsel in all things touching the kingdom of God, by which Christian men in each place of their assembling are "knit together." From these local and congregational centres, the Christian fellowship spreads out its arms to embrace all that love our Lord Jesus Christ.
A building or a machine is fitted together by the adjustment of its parts. A body needs, besides this mechanical Construction, a pervasive life, a sympathetic force knitting it together: "knit together in love," the apostle says in Col_2:2; and so it is "in love" that this "body builds up itself." The tense of the participles in the first part of Eph_4:16 is present (continuous); we see a body in process of incorporation, whose several organs, imperfectly developed and imperfectly co-operant, are increasingly drawn to each other and bound more firmly in one as each becomes more complete in itself. The perfect Christian and the perfect Church are taking shape at once. Each of them requires the other for its due realisation.
The rest of the sentence, following the comma that we place at "knit together," has its parallel in Col_2:19 : "All the body, through its junctures and bands being supplied and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God." According to St. Pauls physiology, the "bands" knit the body together, but the "junctures" are its means of supply. Each point of contact is a means of nourishment to the frame. In touch with each other, Christians communicate the life flowing from the common Head. The apostle would make Christian intercourse a universal means of grace. No two Christian men should meet anywhere, upon any business, without themselves and the whole Church being the better for it.
"Wherever two or three are met together in my name," said Jesus, "there am I in the midst." In the multitude of these obscure and humble meetings of brethren who love each other for Christs sake, is the grace supplied, the love diffused abroad, by which the Church lives and thrives. The vitality of the Church of Christ does not depend so much upon the large and visible features of its construction-upon Synods and Conferences, upon Bishops and Presbyteries and the like, influential and venerable as these authorities may be; but upon the spiritual intercourse that goes on amongst the body of its people. "Each several part" of Christs great body, "according to the measure" of its capacity, is required to receive and to transmit the common grace.
However defective in other points of organisation, the society in which this takes place fulfils the office of an ecclesiastical body. It will grow into the fulness of Christ; it "builds up itself in love." The primary condition of Church health and progress is that there shall be an unobstructed flow of the life of grace from point to point through the tissues and substance of the entire frame.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv11–13 11–13. And he gave. It has just been shown…
11–13. And he gave. It has just been shown that Christ “gave gifts to men” (verse 7, 8). Of these gifts were various offices. The object of all these offices was to promote “the unity of the faith” (verse 13). Christ has appointed the offices, and gives the men in the church who are fitted for these offices. In the matter of those offices that continue, it is the duty of the church to recognize and call out the men who meet the conditions Christ has given. Some to be apostles. The apostles were all chosen by Christ. All had to be witnesses of his resurrection (Acts 1:22). They, therefore, could have no successors, but their own office continues. They still remain teachers and in authority by their writings and example. And some, prophets. An inspired office, essential in the church for its teaching until the New Testament was completed. And some, evangelists. Such as Philip (Acts 8:4–12; 21:8), Timothy, Titus, etc. This office is to preach the gospel, and will be necessary as long as the church continues on earth. As this office did not require extraordinary gifts, it is permanent. Pastors and teachers. These were not distinct offices. Bishops, or elders, and especially those “who labored in word and doctrine,” came under this head. A pastor should always be an elder, but it is not certain that a teacher was always an elder. These offices were all given for the purposes indicated in the next verse.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v13 Eph_4:13. Till we all come.—Suggestive of standing opposite to…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Eph_4:13. Till we all come.—Suggestive of standing opposite to something towards which we have been toiling. Can one think without a tremor of joy, of the moment when he will find himself in perfect correspondence with the divine Archetype? In the unity of the faith.—The world has seen many attempts to bring about uniformity of creed, after the manner of Procrustes, by stretching or chopping. “The unity of the faith” is a very different thing, and much to be desired. The knowledge of the Son of God.—Lit. the complete knowledge. Unto a full-grown man.—As above intimated, a child does not become a man by means of the rack. The significance of the word “man” here is as great as when we bid some one who has lost his self-respect to “be a man.”
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Eph_4:14. That we henceforth be no more children.—In what respects his readers are not to be children the apostle makes plain, viz. in helplessness and credulity. Tossed to and fro.—With no more power of resistance than a cork on the waves. By the sleight of men and cunning craftiness.—As some poor simpleton, who thinks himself capable, falls a victim to card-sharpers, so unstable souls fall victims to those who say with Falstaff, “If the young dace be a bite for the old pike, I see no reason in the law of nature but I may snap at him.”
Eph_4:15. But speaking the truth in love.—If it be possible to make the medicine palatable without destroying its efficacy—to capsule the bitter pill—its chances are so much the greater of doing good. The A.V. margin gives “being sincere,” and the R.V. “dealing truly,” the different renderings indicating the difficulty of finding an English equivalent. May grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ.—The embodied Truth of God, who could say without blasphemy, “I am—not simply I teach—the Truth.”
Eph_4:16. Fitly joined together and compacted.—R.V. “fitly framed and knit together.” Bengel suggests that the first expression means the fitting together, and the second the fastening together. Meyer, denying this, says the distinction is that the former corresponds to the figure, the latter to the thing represented. The grammar, like the physiology, of this verse is difficult. Are we to read, “The whole body … maketh increase of the body”? Apparently we must, for the body “builds itself up in love.”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Eph_4:13-16
True Christian Manhood—
I. Attained by the unity of an intelligent faith in Christ.—
1. This faith must be based on knowledge. “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God” (Eph_4:13). A faith, so called, not based on knowledge is fanaticism. True faith is the result of conviction—a profound consciousness of the truth. Many reach this stage. They have heard the evidence, examined it, and are clearly persuaded of its truth; but they never get beyond that. They are like the neap tide that comes rolling in as if it would sweep everything before it; but when it arrives at a certain point, it stops, and with all the ocean at its back it never passes the mark where it is accustomed to pause. It is well to get to the neap-tide mark of conviction; but there is no salvation till the soul is carried by the full spring tide of conviction into a voluntary and complete surrender to Christ. It is weak, it is cowardly, when convinced of the right, not to do it promptly and heartily. Faith acquires its full-rounded unity when it is exercised, not on any abstract truth, but on a person who is the living embodiment of all truth. The final object of faith is “the Son of God,” and any truth is valuable only as it helps us to Him. Christ has Himself revealed the truth essential to be believed in order to salvation: He is Himself that truth.
2. Perfect manhood is a complete Christ-likeness.—“Unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph_4:13). Man is so great that he is perpetually striving after a loftier ideal; nothing that has limits can satisfy him. “It is because there is an infinite in Him which with all his cunning he cannot quite bury under the finite. Will the whole finance ministers and upholsterers and confectioners of modern Europe undertake in joint-stock company to make one shoeblack happy? They cannot accomplish it above an hour or two; for the shoeblack also has a soul quite other than his stomach, and would require, if you consider it for his permanent satisfaction and saturation, simply this allotment, no more and no less—God’s infinite universe altogether to himself, therein to enjoy infinitely and fill every wish as fast as it arose. Try him with half a universe of an omnipotence, he sets to quarrelling with the proprietor of the other half and declares himself the most maltreated of men” (Carlyle). True manhood does not consist in the development of a fine physique, or of a brilliant mentality, or in the pursuit of heroic ambitions. It lies in the nobleness of the soul at peace with God, seeking in all things to please Him, and to possess and exhibit the mind of Christ. The pagan hero is the warrior, the ruler, the poet, the philosopher; the Christian hero is the Christ-like man. The supreme type of manhood is Christ-likeness. The ideal is conceived by faith, and the actual is attained only by the exercise of the same grace.
II. Superior to the childish vacillation induced by deceptive teaching (Eph_4:14).—The false teachers played with truth, as men play with dice, with the reckless indifference of gamblers, and they and their victims were swayed to and fro, with ruin for the ultimate goal. Like a rudderless ship they were tossed about at the caprice of every current, with the inevitable result of wreckage among the rocks and quicksands. Professing a zeal for truth, they deceived themselves and others by ever changing their point of view, and craftily avoiding the practical bearing of truth in its aims to change the heart and reform the life. The moment the application of truth pressing upon the conscience made them uncomfortable, they tacked about and sailed off under another issue. As the restless seaweed, waving to and fro in the ever-changing tide, can never grow to the dignity of a tree, so those who are swayed by every changing phase of error can never grow up to the strength and stability of true Christian manhood. We can sympathise with the doubts and perplexities of an earnest seeker after truth; but our sympathy changes into impatience when we discover that the seeker is more in search of novelty than truth, of variety rather than certainty. To be for ever in doubt is to be in the fickle stage of mental and moral infancy. It is the worst phase of childishness.
III. Is a continual growth in the truth and love of Christ (Eph_4:15-16).—It is the high distinction of man that he is susceptible of almost unlimited growth in mental and moral attainments. One of the greatest distances between animalism and man is seen in the unbridged gulf of progress. The animal remains where he was, but man has been progressing in every department of life from the very first. There is between them all the breadth of history. The animal builds its nest as it ever did, the ant by the same marvellous instinct constructs its geometrical cells now as at the first; but man is a genius—he creates. His first rude efforts in shaping his dwellings have gone on progressing and improving until we have the architectural development of to-day. In every kind of art it is the same—rude flint knives, lance heads, needles, were his first weapons and implements; to them succeeded bronze, and then iron—each marking stages in that history of progress up to the beautiful cutlery, stores, and arsenals of the present day. The animal roars or chatters to-day as it has done all along. It has made no progress towards intelligent speech—a rubicon the animal will never cross. But man, who began with one speech, and a very limited vocabulary of words, has developed speech into the great languages of ancient and modern literature. A wider gulf than this is hardly conceivable. But the moral growth of man is more remarkable. The era of the gospel is a revelation of the power of love. With the ancients a mere sentiment, Christianity teaches that love is the essence of religion; and that nature is the manliest and noblest that advances in the knowledge of divine truth and in the self-sacrificing love of Christ. The whole fabric of the Christian character is built up in the ever-increasing exercise of Christ-like love.
Lessons.—Christian manhood is—
1. Acquired by an intelligent faith in Christ.
2. Developed by an imitation of Christ.
3. Maintained and strengthened by constant fidelity to Christ.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Eph_4:13-16. The Growth of the Church.
I. The goal of the Church’s life (Eph_4:13).—The mark at which the Church is to arrive is set forth in a twofold way—in its collective and its individual aspects. We must all unitedly attain the oneness of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God; and we must attain, each of us, a perfect manhood, the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. All our defects are, at the bottom, deficiencies of faith. We fail to apprehend and appropriate the fulness of God in Christ. The goal of the regenerate life is never absolutely won; it is hid with Christ in God. But there is to be a constant approximation to it, both in the individual believer and in the body of Christ’s people. And a time is coming when that goal will be practically attained, so far as earthly conditions allow. The Church after long strife will be reunited, after long trial will be perfected. Then this world will have had its use, and will give place to the new heavens and earth.
II. The malady which arrests its development (Eph_4:14).—The childishness of so many Christian believers exposed them to the seductions of error, and ready to be driven this way and that by the evil influences active in the world of thought around them. So long as the Church contains a number of unstable souls, so long she will remain subject to strife and corruption. At every crisis in human thought there emerges some prevailing method of truth, or of error, the resultant of current tendencies, which unites the suffrages of a large body of thinkers, and claims to embody the spirit of the age. Such a method of error our own age has produced as the outcome of the anti-Christian speculation of modern times, in the doctrines current under the names of Positivism, Secularism, or Agnosticism. Modern Agnosticism removes God farther from us, beyond the reach of thought, and leaves us with material nature as the one positive and accessible reality, as the basis of life and law. Faith and knowledge of the Son of God it banishes as dreams of our childhood. This materialistic philosophy gathers to a head the unbelief of the century. It is the living antagonist of divine revelation.
III. The means and conditions of its growth (Eph_4:15-16).—To the craft of false teachers St. Paul would have his Churches oppose the weapons only of truth and love. Sincere believers, heartily devoted to Christ, will not fall into fatal error. A healthy life instinctively repels disease. Next to the moral condition lies the spiritual condition of advancement—the full recognition of the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. He is the perfect ideal for each, the common source of life and progress for all. He is the Head of the Church and the heart of the world. Another practical condition of Church growth is organisation—“all the body fitly framed and knit together.” A building or a machine is fitted together by the adjustment of its parts. A body needs, besides this mechanical construction, a pervasive life, a sympathetic force, knitting it together. And so it is in love that this body of the Church builds up itself. The perfect Christian and the perfect Church are taking shape at once. Each of them requires the other for its due realisation. The primary condition of Church health and progress is that there shall be an unobstructed flow of the life of grace from point to point through the tissues and substance of the entire frame.—Findlay.
Eph_4:13-15. Christian Manhood.
I. Christian manhood is a growth.—
1. A growth having its inception in the simple fact of becoming a Christian. This is a decided advance upon the most moral and cultivated state otherwise attainable. It involves the quickening into a new life which is to grow.
2. A growth marking a continual advancement till we all come in the unity—the respect in which one grows—the union, conjunction of faith and of knowledge.
3. A growth resulting from culture under divinely appointed agencies. The most splendid growth, other things being equal, is the result of the highest culture. The highest culture is possible only through the most rigid conformity to the laws of development and the appliance of the best agencies.
4. A growth the standard of whose completeness is the fulness of Christ. The stature—the adultness, the full-grown manhood of Christ—is the standard of growth, whose attainment is the Christian’s noblest zeal.
II. The elements of Christian manhood.—
1. Largeness—in the Christian’s views of truth, of man’s need, of Christ’s work, of schemes and plans for its greater furtherance.
2. Dignity.—That deep, inwrought sense of the true worth and greatness of his nature, as a renewed man, and of his position as a child of God and joint-heir with Christ. Christian ethics are the best ethics; highest, purest, noblest, safest. He lives by these naturally who has a well-developed Christian manhood.
3. Courageousness and strength.—Courage makes a man put forth his best strength, while strength enables courage to achieve its best deeds.
III. The outworking of Christian manhood.—It gives:—
1. Steadfastness.—No more children. No more carried about—borne round and round as in the swiftly whirling eddy of the sea—by every wind of doctrine.
2. Sincerity.—“Speaking the truth in love” refers both to the sincerity of life and our relation to the truth.
3. A further growth.—As the full-grown tree, leaves and blossoms and bears; as fruit, after it is full-grown, mellows, matures, sweetens: ripening as wheat for the garner.—J. M. Frost.
Eph_4:14-16. Christian Maturity.
I. The negative part of this description.—
1. Christians must not remain children.—In humility, meekness, and teachableness, let them be children; but in understanding, constancy, and fortitude they should be men. Children have but little knowledge and a weak judgment. They believe hastily and act implicitly. They are governed by passion more than reason, by feeling more than judgment.
2. The apostle cautions that we be not tossed to and fro like a ship rolling on the waves.—The man without principle, knowledge, and judgment is at the mercy of every rude gust. He is driven in any direction, as the wind happens to blow. He makes no port, but is every moment in danger of shipwreck.
3. We must not be carried about with every wind of doctrine.—False doctrines, like winds, are blustering and unsteady. They blow from no certain point, but in all directions, and frequently shift their course. The light and chaffy Christian, the hypocritical and unprincipled professor, is easily carried about by divers and strange doctrines. He shifts his course and changes his direction, as the wind of popular opinion happens to drive.
4. We are in danger from the cunning craftiness of men.—True ministers use plainness of speech, and by manifestation of the truth commend themselves to the consciences of men. Corrupt teachers use sleight and craft, that they may ensnare the simple, decoy the unsuspecting, and thus make proselytes to their party. They pretend to superior sanctity. They are watchful to take advantage of an unhappy circumstance in a Church. They unsettle men’s minds from the established order of the gospel, and prejudice them against the regular maintenance of the ministry, representing all order in Churches as tyranny and all stated provision for the ministry as oppression. They promise men liberty, but are themselves the servants of corruption.
II. The positive part.—
1. The mature Christian must speak the truth in love. Be sincere in love. We should acquire a good doctrinal knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. We should be well established in the truth. We should see that our hearts are conformed to the truth. We must walk in the truth.
2. We must grow up in all things into Christ.—A partial religion is not that which the gospel teaches. We must have respect to the whole character of Christ, to the whole compass of duty, to every known doctrine and precept of Scripture. All the graces of the gospel unite in forming the Christian’s temper. They all operate in harmony. His religion is one continued, uniform, consistent work.
III. How Christian maturity is attained.—From the growth of the human body the apostle borrows a similitude to illustrate the spiritual growth of the Christian Church. It is as absurd to expect growth in knowledge and holiness without the means instituted for the edifying of the body of Christ as it would be to expect the growth of a natural body without supplies of food.
Lessons.—
1. There is no Christian growth where love is wanting.
2. Christians are bound to seek the peace in order to the edification of the Church.—Lathrop.
Eph_4:14. The Case of Deceivers and Deceived considered.
I. Consider the case of deceivers or seducers such as by their sleight and cunning craftiness lie in wait to deceive.—The particular motives by which men may be led to beguile others are reducible to three—pride, avarice, and voluptuousness: love of honour, or profit, or pleasure.
1. There is often a great deal of pride and vanity in starting old notions and broaching new doctrines. It is pretending to be wiser than the rest of the world, and is thought to be an argument of uncommon sagacity. Upon this footing some are perpetually in quest of new discoveries. Nothing pleases them, if they have not the honour of inventing it or of receiving it in their times. When once a man has thus far given loose to his vanity and thinks himself significant enough to be head of a sect, then he begins first to whisper out his choice discoveries to a few admirers and confidants, who will be sure to flatter him in it; and next to tell aloud to all the world how great a secret he had found out, with the inestimable value of it. And now at length comes in the use of sleight and cunning craftiness and all imaginable artifices; first to find out proper agents to commend and cry up the conceit, next to spread it in the most artful manner among the simple and least suspecting, and after that to form interests and make parties; and so, if possible, to have a public sanction set to it or a majority at least contending for it. Love of fame and glory is a very strong passion, and operates marvellously in persons of a warm complexion.
2. Observe how avarice or love of profit may sometimes do the same thing. There is a gain to be made in some junctures by perverting the truth and deceiving the populace. Men who are not worthy to teach in the Church, or who have been set aside for their insufficiency or immorality, may bring up new doctrines and draw disciples after them, for the sake of protection and maintenance or for filthy lucre. With such the vending of false doctrine is a trade and preaching a merchandise. Thus has avarice been the mother of heresies and has brought many deceivers into the Church of Christ; but they have contrived generally to give some plausible turn and colour to their inventions through their “sleight” and “cunning craftiness,” in order to deceive the hearts of the simple and to beguile unwary and unstable souls.
3. One motive more—voluptuousness, or love of pleasure. As religious restraints set not easy upon flesh and blood, but bear hard upon corrupt nature, so men of corrupt minds will be ever labouring to invent and publish smooth and softening doctrines, such as may either qualify the strictness of the gospel rule or sap the belief of a future reckoning. Many ancient heretics had such views as these in the first broaching of their heresies. Their design was to take off the awe and dread of a future judgment, and thereby to open a door to all licentiousness of life and dissoluteness of manners.
II. Consider the case of the deceived who suffer themselves to be “tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.”—They are supposed to be ignorantly, and in a manner blindly, led on by others, otherwise they would be rather confederates and confidants in managing the deceit, and so would be more deceivers than deceived.
1. Now as to those who are so ignorantly imposed upon. They are more or less to blame, according as their ignorance is more or less blamable; and that, again, will be more or less blamable, according as it is more or less affected or wilful. There are, I think, three cases which will take in all sorts of men who suffer themselves to be deceived in things of this kind. The first is of those who have no opportunity, no moral possibility of informing themselves better; the second is of those who might inform themselves better, but do not; the third of those who might also be better informed, but will not. If they be “like children tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine,” yet if they are really children in understanding and are overborne by others in such a way as is morally irresistible considering their circumstances, then it seems to be their misfortune to be so imposed upon rather than their fault, and so is not imputable.
2. A second case is of those who may inform themselves better but neglect to do it. I suppose it to be merely neglect in them, not design. Perhaps they have little or no leisure for inquiries; they are taken up with worldly cares and business. They have a very great esteem and value for the man who so misleads them, and they know no better, but swallow everything he says without considering; or they are not aware of any ill consequences of the doctrine, see or suspect no harm in it. They are much to blame in this affair, because God has given them the faculty of reason, which ought not to be thus left to lie dormant and useless. Men who can be sharp enough in secular affairs to prevent being imposed upon may and ought to have some guard upon themselves with respect also to their spiritual concernments.
3. There is yet a third sort of men, worse than the former, who suffer themselves to be deceived and might know better, but will not; that is to say, their ignorance is affected and wilful, they “love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.” These are such as readily run in with “every wind of doctrine” which hits their taste and chimes in with their favourite inclinations. They admit the doctrine because they like it, and they easily believe it true because they would have it so. It is with this kind of men that deceivers prevail most and make their harvest.
III. Some advices proper to prevent our falling in with either.—The best preservative in this case is an honest and good heart, well disposed towards truth and godliness, having no by-ends to serve, no favourite lust or passion to indulge. If any man is but willing to know and to do God’s commandments, he will easily discern in most cases whether a doctrine be of God or whether it be of men. The evidences of the true religion and of its main doctrines are so bright and strong when carefully attended to, that common sense and reason are sufficient to lead us, when there is no bias to mislead us. For several years last past rude and bold attacks have been made against the important doctrines of Christianity and against all revealed religion, and this is what they are still carrying on with exquisite subtlety and craftiness many ways and with a great deal of fruitless pains and labour. For I may have leave to suppose that no man can in this case be deceived who has not first a desire to be so, and is not the dupe and bubble to his own lust and vices.—Dr. Waterland.
Eph_4:15. Speaking the Truth in Love—
1. A different thing from the irritating candour of the professed friend.
2. Implies an experimental knowledge of the truth and its spiritual mission.
3. Is the most effectual way of winning a hearing and gaining adherents.
4. A method conspicuously exemplified in the teaching of Christ.
Growth into Christ in Love and Truth.
I. The standard of Christian excellence—Christ’s headship.—
1. The prominent notion suggested is His rank in the universe. He rules as God in creation. But evidently the apostle does not mean this in the text. We are to grow into Him as Head. Growth into Christ’s Godhead is impossible. God-like we may, God we cannot even by truth and love, become.
2. He is the Head as being the Source of spiritual life. This is implied in metaphor. The highest life-powers—sensation, feeling, thought—come from the brain. To one who has read the history of those times, there is an emphatic truth in Christ’s being the life of the world. The world was like a raft becalmed in the tropics—some of its freight dead and baking in the sun, some sucking as if for moisture from dried casks, and some sadly, faintly looking for a sail. Christ’s coming to that world was as life to the dead, imparting new impulse to human heart and human nature. It was like rain and wind coming to that bark—once more it cuts the sea, guided by a living hand. So also with each man who drinks Christ’s Spirit. He becomes a living character. Not sustained on dogmas or taken-up opinions, but alive with Christ.
3. He is Head as chief of the human race. Never had the world seen, never again will it see, such a character. Humanity found in Him a genial soil, and realised God’s idea of what man was meant to be. He is chief. Nothing comes near Him.
II. Progress towards the standard of Christian excellence.—“We grow up into Him in all things.
1. Growth in likeness to Him.—The human soul was formed for growth, and that growth is infinite. The acorn grows into the oak, the child into the philosopher. And at death the soul is not declining; it is as vigorous as ever. Hence nothing but an infinite standard will measure the growth of the soul of man.
2. Growth in comprehension of Him.—Christ is not comprehensible at first. Words cannot express the awe with which a man contemplates that character when it is understood. This is the true heroic, this the only God-like, this the real divine. From all types of human excellence I have made my choice for life and death—Christ.
III. The approved means of growth the mode of progress.—“Speaking the truth in love.” Truth and love—and these joined. To “grow into Christ” we must have both traits of character. Would you be like Christ? Cultivate love of beauty and tenderness. His soul was alive to beauty. He noted the rising and the setting sun, the waving corn, the lily of the field. His was love which insult could not ruffle nor ribaldry embitter, and which only grew sweeter and sweeter. Would you be like Christ? Be true! He never swerved. He was a martyr to truth. Would He soften down truth for the young man whom He loved, or make it palatable? No; not for friendship, not for love, nor for all the lovely things this world has to show. “One thing thou lackest: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow Me.” That was “speaking the truth in love.” There is no good to be got out from Christ, except by being made like Him. There is no pardon, no blessing, separate from inward improvement. Sanctity of character alone blesses. Each man is his own hell and his own heaven. God Himself cannot bless you unless He gives you His own character.—F. W. Robertson.
Eph_4:16. The Law of Mutual Dependence.
I. This text admonishes us of the manifold instruments and agencies on whose concurrence and harmonious action the prosperity and the perfection of the Christian Church depend.—It likens the Church to that most complicated, admirable machine, the human body, which only produces its proper results, the preservation and comfort of human life, by the healthful tone and right performance of its various powers and functions. We live, and are at ease, in virtue of the sound condition and regular operation of all the multitude of parts and organs which compose our corporeal frame. Should the heart refuse to circulate the blood, and to diffuse through all the various channels of inter-communication with the members of the body its life-sustaining pulses, death ensues in a moment.
II. The same law of mutual dependence reigns in improved civilised society.—In man, social as well as individual, the body politic and social must prosper, or its members suffer. The individual too cannot suffer without inflicting, by so much, an injury on the community. The ruler and the subject, the capitalist and the operative, the merchant, the farmer, the scholar and the artisan, the manufacturer and the sailor, perform functions alike indispensable to the great result aimed at or desired by all communities. They are mutually dependent, are indissolubly united in interest by ties not always visible, but yet real and essential to the well-being of all parties.
III. I hasten to apply my subject to the Church, where the text finds illustration yet more pertinent and affecting. The Church is a community, organised, with special ends to be accomplished, and endowed with special capabilities and adaptations, yet having many points of resemblance to human society in general. All the members and all the officers of the Church are appointed and honoured of God to be co-workers with Himself, co-agents with the Holy Ghost, in the edification of the body of Christ. The pastor, not less in the study, when he gathers things new and old from holy books and common, than in the pulpit, or in breaking the bread of the sacrament at the altar, or in the sick-chamber—all the subordinate lay ministries devoted to godly counsel, to faithful admonition, or to the management and conversation of the material interests of the Church—the pious mother nurturing up her children in God’s love—the sufferer on a bed of languishing, giving forth blessed examples of patience and resignation and faith—the teacher of the Sabbath school—they who, in the Spirit, lift up our joyous songs of praise in the sanctuary—all who pray in the closet or in the congregation, are, and should be deemed, essential parts of that good, great system through whose wondrous, harmonious working God is pleased to renew and sanctify souls and train them up to be heirs of glory. Who, in this great co-partnership for honouring Christ, has any ground of complaint?—the foot, that it is not the head? the eye, that it is too feeble to do the functions of the brawny arm? the ears, that they cannot do the office of locomotion? Every part is indispensable. None can say which is most important in God’s plan; and achievements, ascribed hastily to the eloquence of the preacher, often stand credited in the record kept above to the prayer of faith.—Dr. Olin.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v11 11. Here, we see, the ministerial curriculum of the…
ARGUMENT 17
GIFTS FOR PERFECTING THE SAINTS
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11. Here, we see, the ministerial curriculum of the gospel dispensation includes “apostles,” who are the pioneers sent out into every country under heaven; e.g., Bishop Taylor in Africa, and Hudson Taylor in interior China, and many others exploring the heathen world at the present day. “Prophets,” (1Co 14:3)
“He that prophesieth speaketh to men edification, exhortation, and comfort.”
The Greek and Hebrew words for prophecy mean to boil up and flow out like an artesian well, never ceasing. On the day of Pentecost their tongues were split, each prong on fire, one to preach hellfire to sinners, and the other heavenly fire, to sanctify the Christians. It is the privilege of all sanctified people to receive the spirit of prophecy, which is the normal qualification for preaching the gospel. O how the world is perishing today for the spirit of prophecy! The Lord raise them up in platoons! Next “evangelists.” This word in Greek is the concrete of which gospel is the abstract. The evangelist travels to the end of the earth in the fulfillment of the latter-day prophecies. Dan 12:4
“Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”
In the last year I have traveled in twenty-one States, having more calls everywhere I went, and in many other places, than I knew what to do with. The evangelist has a message to the world, which he goes expeditiously to deliver. He is an auxiliary of apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers. How strange to find preachers and Churches clamorous against the very existence of a ministerial order which the Bible positively reveals, instituted and sent of God! The bitter opposition to evangelists reminds me of the old Latin proverb, “Quem Deus vit perdere primum dementat,” — whom God wisheth to destroy, he first maketh mad. When preachers and laymen flatly contradict God Almighty, and audaciously oppose his revealed Word, the omens are appalling.
“Pastors.” You see in this catalogue “bishop” does not occur, from the simple fact that the New Testament bishop is always synonymous with pastor; the latter Latin, and the former Greek. The pastor is the abiding custodian of the Lord’s flock, whose duty it is to “lead them beside the still waters, and have them lie down in green pastures.” Our Savior condemns the hireling shepherd, certifying that he can not be relied on when the robber attacks the flock, but he will skedaddle away, leaving them a prey to the enemy. The saddest phenomenon of the present day is to see the devil’s wolves and robbers making sad havoc of the flock of God, while the hireling shepherds are
“drinking their milk, feasting on their flesh, and clothing themselves in their wool, reveling in their tents.” (Ezekiel 44)
“Teachers.” This office has long ago been dead and forgotten in the popular Churches. An old ex-missionary of Bishop Taylor from India told me that the heathen know more about the Bible than the Church members in America, because the missionaries teach a regular Bible school every day, which they are permitted to attend and enjoy. Sad to say, the Church is no longer the school of Christ; as the little degospelized, despiritualized sermonettes on Sunday morning and evening are not entitled to recognition in Biblical didactics. The Lord has long used your humble servant as the teacher of his people; but I have to go to the holiness movement for an appreciative audience. The Word of God is bread, meat, water, milk, honey, wine, grapes, pomegranates, and all the luxuries of the kingdom. But a dead man does not want his dinner. Hence, if you would turn a popular Church into a Christian school, you must first bring to them the resurrection power.
12. “For the perfecting of the saints in the work of the ministry, unto the edification of the body of Christ:
13. “Until we all arrive into the unity of faith and of the perfect knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” We see clearly in these Scriptures that these different ministerial orders are God’s provision for the perfecting of his saints. No wonder the Church of the present day is lamentably shorn of her power by the Delilahs of the world, and miserably enslaved in the mills of Dagon, when all these ministerial orders given for her perfection are practically abnegated with the single exception of the pastor, and he a poor hireling, who, Jesus said, could not be relied on.
God has raised up the holiness people in every Church and country, to restore New Testament truth and simplicity, leading the people out of legal bondage into the glorious liberty of full salvation the Bible loved and appreciated as the only guide and authority.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v13
EPHESIANS
THE GOAL OF PROGRESS
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Eph 4:13
The thought of the unity of the Church is much in the Apostle’s mind in this epistle. It is set forth in many places by his two favourite metaphors of the body and the temple, by the relation of husband and wife and by the family. It is contemplated in its great historical realisation by the union of Jew and Gentile in one whole. In the preceding context it is set forth as already existing, but also as lying far-off in the future. The chapter begins with an earnest exhortation to preserve this unity and with an exhibition of the oneness which does really exist in body, spirit, hope, lord, faith, baptism. But the Apostle swiftly passes to the corresponding thought of diversity. There are varieties in the gifts of the one Spirit; whilst each individual in the one whole receives his due portion, there are broad differences in spiritual gifts. These differences do not break the oneness, but they may tend to do so; they are not causes of separation and do not necessarily interfere with unity, but they may be made so. Their existence leaves room for brotherly helpfulness, and creates a necessity for it. The wiser are to teach; the more advanced are to lead; the more largely gifted are to encourage and stimulate the less richly endowed. Such outward helps and brotherly impartations of gifts is, on the one hand, a result of the one gift to the whole body, and is on the other a sign of, because a necessity arising from, the imperfect degree in which each individual has received of Christ’s fulness; and these helps of teaching and guidance have for their sole object to make Christian men able to do without them, and are, as the text tells us, to cease when, and to last till, we all attain to the fulness of Christ. To Paul, then, the manifest unity of the Church was to be the end of its earthly course, but it also was real, though incomplete, in the present, and the emphasis of our text is not so much laid on telling us when this oneness was to be manifested as in showing us in what it consists. We have here a threefold expression of the true unity, as consisting in a oneness of relation to Christ, a consequent maturity of manhood and a perfect possession of all which is in Christ.
I. The true unity is oneness of relation to Christ.
The Revised Version is here to be preferred, and its ‘attain unto’ brings out the idea which the Authorised Version fails to express, that the text is intended to point to the period at which Christ’s provision of helpful gifts to the growing Church is to cease, when the individuals composing it have come to their destined unity and maturity in Him. The three clauses of our text are each introduced by the same preposition, and there is no reason why in the second and third it should be rendered ‘unto’ and in the first should be watered down to ‘in.’
There are then two regions in which this unity is to be realised. These are expressed by the great words, ‘the unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God.’ These words are open to a misunderstanding, as if they referred to a unity as between faith and knowledge; but it is obvious to the slightest reflection that what is meant is the unity of all believers in regard to their faith, and in regard to their knowledge. It is to be noted that the Apostle has just said that there is one faith, now he points to the realisation of that oneness as the very end and goal of all discipline and growth. I suppose that we have to think here of the manifold and sad differences existing in Christian men, in regard to the depth and constancy and formative power of their faith. There are some who have it so strong and vigorous that it is a vision rather than a faith, a trust, deep and firm and settled, to which the present is but the fleeting shadow, and the unseen the eternal and only reality; but, alas! there are others in whom the light of faith burns feebly and flickers. Nor are these differences the attributes of different men, but the same man varies in the power of his faith, and we all of us know what it is to have it sometimes dominant over our whole selves, and sometimes weak and crushed under the weight of earthly passions. To-day we may be all flame, to-morrow all ice. Our faith may seem to us to be strong enough to move mountains, and before an hour is past we may find it, by experience, to be less than a grain of mustard seed. ‘Action and reaction are always equal and contrary,’ and that law is as true in reference to our present spiritual life as it is true in regard to physical objects. We have, then, the encouragement of such a word as that of our text for looking forward to and straining towards the reversal of these sad alterations in a fixed and continuous faith which should grasp the whole Christ and should always hold Him. There may still be diversities and degrees, but each should have his measure always full. ‘Thy Sun shall no more go down’; there will no longer be the contrast between the flashing waters of a flood-tide and the dreary mud-banks disclosed at low water. We shall stand at different points, but the faces of all will be turned to Him who is the Light of all, and every face will shine with the likeness of His, when we see Him as He is.
But our text points us to another form of unity-the oneness of the knowledge of the Son of God.
The Apostle uses an emphatic term which is very familiar on his lips to designate this knowledge. It means not a mere intellectual apprehension, but a profound and vital acquaintance, dependent indeed upon faith, and realised in experience. It is the knowledge for which Paul was ready to ‘count all things but loss’ that he might know Jesus, and winning which he would count himself to ‘have apprehended.’ The unity in this deep and blessed knowledge has nothing to do with identity of opinion on the points which have separated Christians. It is not to be sought by outward unanimity, nor by aggregation in external communities. The Apostle’s great thought is made small and the truth of it is falsified when it is over-hastily embodied in institutions. It has been sought in a uniformity which resembles unity as much as a bundle of faggots, all cut to the same length, and tied together with a rope, resemble the tree from which they were chopped, waving in the wind and living one life to the tips of its furthest branches. Men have made out of the Apostle’s divine vision of a unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God ‘a staunch and solid piece of framework as any January could freeze together,’ and few things have stood more in the way of the realisation of his glowing anticipations than the formation of the great Corporation, imposing from its bulk and antiquity, to part from which was branded as breaking the unity of the spirit.
Paul gives no clear definition here of the time when the one body of Christian believers should have attained to the unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, and the question may not have presented itself to him. It may appear that in view of the immediate context he regards the goal as one to be reached in our present life, or it may be that he is thinking rather of the Future, when the Master ‘should bring together every joint and member and mould them into an immortal feature of loveliness and perfection.’ But the time at which this great ideal should be attained is altogether apart from the obligation pressing upon us all, at all times, to work towards it. Whensoever it is reached it will only be by our drawing ‘nearer, day by day, each to his brethren, all to God,’ or rather, each to God and so all to his brethren. Take twenty points in a great circle and let each be advanced by one half of its distance to the centre, how much nearer will each be to each? Christ is our unity, not dogmas, not polities, not rituals: our oneness is a oneness of life. We need for our centre no tower with a top reaching to heaven, we have a living Lord who is with us, and in Him, we being many, are one.
II. Oneness in faith and knowledge knits all into a ‘perfect man.’
‘Perfect,’ the Apostle here uses in opposition to the immediately following expression in the next verse, of ‘children.’ It therefore means not so much moral perfection as maturity or fulness of growth. So long as we fall short of the state of unity we are in the stage of immaturity. When we come to be one in faith and knowledge we have reached full-grown manhood. The existence of differences belongs to the infancy and boyhood of the Church, and as we grow one we are putting away childish things. What a contrast there is between Paul’s vision here and the tendency which has been too common among Christians to magnify their differences, and to regard their obstinate adherence to these as being ‘steadfastness in the faith’! How different would be the relations between the various communities into which the one body has been severed, if they all fully believed that their respective shibboleths were signs that they had not yet attained, neither were already perfect! When we began to be ashamed of these instead of glorying in them we should be beginning to grow into the maturity of our Christian life.
But the Apostle speaks of ‘a perfect man’ in the singular and not of ‘men’ in the plural, as he has already described the result of the union of Jew and Gentile as being the making ‘of twain one new man.’ This remarkable expression sets forth, in the strongest terms, the vital unity which connects all members of the one body so closely that there is but one life in them all. There are many members, but one body. Their functions differ, but the life in them all is identical. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of thee,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ Each is necessary to the completeness of the whole, and all are necessary to make up the one body of Christ. It is His life which manifests itself in every member and which gives clearness of vision to the eye, strength and deftness to the hand. He needs us all for His work on the world and for His revelation to the world of the fulness of His life. In some parts of England there are bell-ringers who stand at a table on which are set bells, each tuned to one note, and they can perform most elaborate pieces of music by swiftly catching up and sounding each of these in the right place. All Christian souls are needed for the Master’s hand to bring out the note of each in its place. In the lowest forms of life all vital functions are performed by one simple sac, and the higher the creature is in the scale the more are its organs differentiated. In the highest form of all, ‘as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.’
III. This perfect manhood is the possession of all who are in Christ.
The fulness of Christ is the fulness which belongs to Him, or that of which He is full. All which He is and has is to be poured into His servants, and when all this is communicated to them the goal will be reached. We shall be full-grown men, and more wonderful still, we all shall make one perfect man, and individual completenesses will blend into that which is more complete than any of these, the one body, which corresponds to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
This is the goal of humanity in which, and in which alone, the dreams of thinkers about perfectibility will become facts, and the longings that are deeply rooted in every soul will find their fulfilment. By our personal union with Jesus Christ through faith, our individual perfection, both in the sense of maturity and in that of the realisation of ideal manhood, is assured, and in Him the race, as well as the individual, is redeemed, and will one day be glorified. The Utopias of many thinkers are but partial and distorted copies of the kingdom of Christ. The reality which He brings and imparts is greater than all these, and when the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven, and is planted on the common earth, it will outvie in lustre and outlast in permanence all forms of human association. The city of wisdom which was Athens, the city of power which was Rome, the city of commerce which is London, the city of pleasure which is Paris, ‘pale their ineffectual fires’ before the city in the light whereof the nations should walk.
The beginning of the process, of which the end is this inconceivable participation in the glory of Jesus, is simple trust in Him. ‘He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit,’ and he who trusts in Him, loves Him, and obeys Him, is joined to Him, and thereby is started on a course which never halts nor stays so long as the faith which started him abides, till he ‘grows up into Him in all things which is the head, even Christ.’ The experience of the Christian life as God means it to be, and by the communication of His grace makes it possible for it to become, is like that of men embarked on some sun-lit ocean, sailing past shining headlands, and ever onwards, over the boundless blue, beneath a calm sky and happy stars. The blissful voyagers are in full possession at every moment of all which they need and of all of His fulness which they can contain, but the full possession at every moment increases as they, by it, become capable of fuller possession. Increasing capacity brings with it increasing participation in the boundless fulness of Him who filleth all in all.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv11–12 In 1Co 12:8-28 the Spirit is seen as enduing…
gave
In 1Co 12:8-28 the Spirit is seen as enduing the members of the body of Christ with spiritual gifts, or enablements for a varied service; here certain Spirit-endued men, viz. apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, are themselves the gifts whom the glorified Christ bestows upon His body the church. In Corinthians the gifts are spiritual enablements for specific service; in Ephesians the gifts are men who have such enablements.
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some
The Lord, in bestowing the gifted men, determines, providentially (e.g.) Act 11:22-26 or directly through the Spirit (e.g.); Act 13:1; Act 13:2; Act 16:6; Act 16:7 the places of their service. "Some" (churches or places) need one gift, as, (e.g.) evangelist; "some" (churches or places) need rather a pastor or teacher. Absolutely nothing in Christ’s service is left to mere human judgment or self-choosing. Even an apostle was not permitted to choose his place of service Act 16:7; Act 16:8.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v11 The organization and work of the ministry of the…
The organization and work of the ministry of the Church:
v. 11. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers,
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v. 12. for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ;
v. 13. till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
v. 14. that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
v. 15. but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ,
v. 16. from whom the whole body, fitly joined and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
The thought here expressed is connected with that of v. 7. but Paul now speaks in detail of the gifts of God to the Church: He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers. The ministers of the Church at all times are gifts of the exalted Christ. "The apostles were and are the infallible teachers of all Christendom, their doctrine is authoritative for the doctrine of the Christian teachers of all times. Prophets and evangelists were special gifts of the primitive Church. The prophets, in this connection the New Testament prophets, received special revelations for special purposes, which they then in inspired speech declaimed to the Christian assembly. See Rom 12:6. The evangelists, to whom, for example, Philip, Act 21:8, belonged, proclaimed the Gospel in missionary activity,... spread the apostolic word in places where the apostles themselves had not come; to their calling corresponds probably the service of our present missionaries. With ’pastors and teachers’ the apostle describes the regular ministry of the Word, which in all periods of the Church has been and remained the same, the public office of preaching. The expression ’teachers’ probably refers chiefly to the public activity as preachers, the other, ’pastors,’ to the pastoral activity which applies the Word to the individual members of the congregation. " In speaking of all these ministers as gifts of Christ, the apostle does not exclude specific preparation for the ministerial office. But it is the exalted Christ that makes these persons willing, that works in their hearts the resolution to serve the Church, that blesses their study, that adds spiritual enlightenment to intellectual gifts, that distributes gifts for individual stations and special circumstances.
Of the immediate aim of the ministerial activity St. Paul writes: With a view to the perfecting of the saints for the work of ministration, for the edification of the body of Christ. All the servants of the Church in their various offices have been given by Christ to be active in ministering to the spiritual needs of the congregation; through their work the Church is to be built up, edified. The apostle uses the figure of the growth of a healthy body, which must be supplied with proper food in sufficient quantity. In this way the ultimate object of Christ is gained, the full equipment, the final perfection of the saints. Whatever is still incomplete in their spiritual condition and makeup, due to the attacks of the enemy and their own natural weakness, is to be supplied by the ministers of the Gospel through the preaching of sin and grace.
This goal of all ministerial work must be held before our eyes as the ideal: Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the understanding of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The apostle here has in mind the congregation of the elect in heaven, and he refers to the time at which the great end in view is to be realized. At the present time many of these chosen children of Christ are still without the knowledge of their Savior. But when these all, through the preaching of the Gospel, have become one with the present believers, one in faith and in the knowledge of their Savior, the Son of God, then the object of the ministry of the Word will have been realized, then the assembly of the believers will stand there as a mature, full-grown man. Then the Church will have entered upon its majority, will have reached the age and the maturity of Christ, the First-born of the Father; the perfection of His graces and virtues will rest upon the believers. This aim will indeed never be realized fully in the present temporal life, but only in that to come. For all that, however, the teachers of the Church will ever be mindful of the external and internal growth of the Church and, in particular, of their own congregations; they will not cease to add new members to the flock entrusted to them, and to strengthen their people in faith and in all Christian virtues.
The results of such faithful labor cannot fail to materialize, first of all in overcoming defects: To the end that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of teaching, in the sleight of men, in craftiness tending toward the system of error. The work of perfecting the saints, carried on through the Word of the Gospel, should effect so much that the believers are no longer infants, minors, immature, and untaught in the knowledge of sin and grace, of the holy will of God. As children in spiritual knowledge they enter the Church; but the Lord wants spiritual growth and progress, He wants them to reach the maturity and stature of Christ. So long as a person is weak in Christian knowledge, having no thorough understanding of Christian doctrine, so long he is apt to be tossed to and fro, driven back and forth, like a rudderless ship in a storm. Every new temptation from within, every new attack from without, makes some new inroad upon such a person’s firmness. Every new wind of false doctrine takes such a person along, because the ship of his faith is not anchored firmly enough in the knowledge of Christ. The false teachers that attack the weak Christians deal with the Scriptures and with the truth and with the men whom they try to beguile with their oily voice, just as gamblers play with dice. One never knows what new trick is coming next, what new doctrine will be invented to deceive the souls of men. Their entire behavior tends to treacherous tricks, they practice carefully planned deceitful devices. The Christian, therefore, that is not yet firmly grounded in all the doctrines of the Bible as they pertain to man’s salvation, is apt to stray from the way, to wander hither and yonder, and thus to be lost forever. Thus the deceitful schemes of the false teachers and seducers lead to the false way of life that strays fatally from the truth. Note: It belongs to the business of the pastors and teachers whom Christ has given to His Church that they point out the dangers threatening on the part of false teachers, that they refute their arguments, that they expose the tricks and the jugglery which false prophets practice upon the Word of Grace, that they continue the instruction of all the church-members by means of doctrinal sermons and discussions, so that all the Christians in their care are furthered in the knowledge of truth and learn to distinguish between falsehood and truth and to try the spirits.
This point is brought out by the apostle in the next verse: But (that we) holding fast the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ. For that purpose Christ has given teachers to His Church, that they might enable the believers themselves to confess and defend the truth of the Scriptures, and not only for the purpose of upholding the truth, but in love, that their testimony of the truth may be of service to others; for that is always the sphere of the true Christian’s activity. The result will be that we Christians will grow up into Christ, the Head of the Church, in all things. It is not intellectual growth, but spiritual growth that is of the greatest value in the Church. By growing in the knowledge of Christ, by understanding the truth more perfectly day by day, by gaining in Christian faith and life, we enter into ever more intimate fellowship with Christ. Our spiritual growth is always directed to Him, to the perfection of His stature. In all things that belong to our growth this will be true, all the circumstances of our growth will be controlled by it.
The apostle now concludes his sentence: From whom the whole body, being firmly connected and compactly joined together by means or’ every joint of the supply, in keeping with the efficiency in the measure of each individual part, effects the growth of the body to its building up in love. The entire body, of which St. Paul here speaks, brings about, causes, the growth of the body itself. The directing and effecting power for this growth goes forth from Christ, the Head. The growth is expressed by the fact that the joints and ligaments are connected ever more firmly, framed together more fitly, put together more compactly. This is clone by means of the cords of the ligaments and the sinews of the muscles. The whole body, when it acts and moves, is served by the muscles and sinews, as they are contracted; every individual cord thus performing its duty, the members of the body are enabled to act and operate conjointly. Each individual member and part supplies its measure of energy and working force, and the better they all act together, the better will be the opportunity for even development and steady growth. The application of the figure does not offer unusual difficulties. If every Christian uses the special gift of grace which he has received of the Lord in the right way, the entire congregation and Church will thereby be benefited, since there will be a closer connection between the various organs. Just as soon as every Christian performs the service for which the grace of Christ has fitted him, the consciousness of union in the Christians will be strengthened, all the members will be joined in a closer union and will further the work of the Lord with their combined strength. The growth of the entire body of the Church takes place in proportion to the energy and willingness with which each member exercises Christ’s gift of grace. Thus the Church, internally and externally, grows toward perfection. Note that the apostle makes the growth of the Church dependent upon the willing cooperation of each individual member of the Church, that He ascribes to everyone some gift of grace. But mark also that the determining and directing power is that of Christ alone.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v11 He gave these offices
He gave these offices
The one to whom Christ gave the gifts can be stated clearly. AT: "Christ gave these offices to the church" or "He gave people with these responsibilities to the church (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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to equip the saints
"to prepare the people he has set apart" or "to provide the believers with what they need"
for the work of service
"so they can serve others"
for the building up of the body of Christ
Paul is speaking of people who grow spiritually as if they were doing exercises to increase the strength of their physical bodies. (See: Metaphor and Idiom)
building up
"improvement"
body of Christ
The "body of Christ" refers to all of the individual members of Christ's Church.
reach the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God
The believers need to know Jesus as the Son of God if they are to be united in faith and mature as believers.
reach the unity of faith
"become equally strong in faith" or "become united together in faith"
Son of God
This is an important title for Jesus. (See: Translating Son and Father)
become mature
"become mature believers"
mature
"fully developed" or "grown up" or "complete"
translationWords
apostle
prophet
evangelist
pastor
teacher
saint
servant
body
Christ
faith
know
Son of God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv11–13 4:11 In his letters, Paul has four different lists…
4:11 In his letters, Paul has four different lists of God’s gifts (see also Rom 12:4-8; 1 Cor 12:8-10, 28), none of which is comprehensive. Here the focus is on the gifts of leadership most needed for the growth of the church. • Apostles are divinely commissioned missionary evangelists. • Prophets speak messages from God for his people. • Evangelists proclaim the Good News. • Pastors (literally shepherds) care for God’s people (see 1 Tim 3:1-7). • Teachers expound Scripture and God’s truths to the church. • Pastors and teachers might refer to separate ministries or to two aspects of the same ministry.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.