How Are We Doing?
Now that I’ve been meeting with you for almost a year, do you see any new tools in your Bible student toolbox? For myself and our time of study together, I’m going to redouble my efforts to keep the forest in sight and spend less time on trees.
This is a huge issue for me because I apparently LOVE individual trees. Which is why we’re only halfway through Ephesians in a year…
Looking back, we do have tools that I’ve tried to explain in detail: sentence diagramming, comparing scholarly English translations, using cross references, and creating original language word studies. Moving forward, we will continue to use these tools and if you want to refresh your memory about how-tos, I will try to include links within the articles so you may reference them.
But I am going to try to pick up the pace and get through more text in each article without (as much) painstaking detail. We’ve had a year of details, let’s practice more big picture together.
With the idea of big picture in mind, let’s bring our text here, considering the whole while we look at a (bigger) part.
Our Passage
1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord,
urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling
to which you have been called,
2with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another in love,
3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit—
just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
8 Therefore it says,
“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”
9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean
but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?
10 He who descended is the one who also ascended
far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets,
the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry,
for building up the body of Christ,
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith
and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
14 so that we may no longer be children,
tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine,
by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
15 Rather, speaking the truth in love,
we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together
by every joint with which it is equipped,
when each part is working properly,
makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.1
Review of Where We’ve Been
As we read through the passage, we can see where we’ve been. We’ve covered what Paul wants the audience to do (walk worthy-Ephesians 4:1-3), why they should do it (all the one’s-Ephesians 4:4-6), and some worship testifying about Christ’s ability to provide (hymn quote-Ephesians 4:7-10).
From there, Paul outlines what the gift was, what the grace was, that was given. We chatted about that last time in this Bite. Then Paul spends several verses explaining the effects and hoped-for effects of the gifts Jesus gave.
Why Were the Gifts Given?
Using the structural diagram to see the layout of the discourse, I see this skeleton of the section:
11 And he gave (the workers) 12 to equip the saints 14 so that we may not (be deceived) 15 rather we are to grow
On my structural diagram, I made these notes summarizing what I see.
There is one main effect: the equipping of the saints. Out of that preparation comes prevention and provision.
The Preparation of the Saints
There are details Paul fills in about the equipping of the saints.
I took a moment to look at the sticky that follows, wondering about a few of the words Paul uses. In my ongoing effort to be back far enough to see the trees, I paused only long enough to look up what I see as the “main” word, equip.
The only place in the NT this word is used is here, and Mounce says that this word means, “a perfectly adjusted adaptation; complete qualification for a specific purpose.”2
From that definition, I want to pay attention to what the “specific purpose” might be. I think that shows up when I outline on this sticky. I see one external, visible purpose and one internal, less visible purpose.
The saints are equipped for ministry. Work. Activity. That’s all Paul says here about this. It doesn’t seem to be his focus.
The saints are also equipped for the building of the body. Paul continues for the rest of our passage to discuss what this looks like. Since he writes more extensively about this aspect, we can discern that it is his focus.
Paul’s Focus on the Body of Christ
Once again Paul mentions this unity that we discussed earlier. What does Paul’s definition of unity involve? From the passage, faith and knowledge of Jesus. Huh. How does the body learn?
Oh, the gifts. Remember, that is what we are investigating. Why the gifts?
All the workers have to do with conveying information-even the definition of shepherding involves sharing truth in a group.
We recall that the workers had these tasks:
- Apostles brought the good news
- Prophets can explain the aspects of the good news which are difficult to understand
- Evangelists are those who proclaim the good news
- Shepherd/teachers are those who care for and teach the ones who receive the good news
And these workers are equipping until there is unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God. To unity as well as maturity, as we finish this aspect of building the body. As mature as all that Christ is (Ephesians 4:13).
Jesus Gives Gift for Prevention
Paul’s focus on the building up of the body of Christ then turns to a “so that this doesn’t happen” conversation. What does the building up prevent? Looking at Ephesians 4:15, I summarized the main points.
...not children
tossed to and fro
carried about
If we glance back, keeping the picture big(ger), the workers who have been given build the body until mature manhood is reached. Opposites here. Mature manhood vs children. Let’s contrast these. Given the opposites, what we extrapolate is highlighted in blue both on my sticky and in the table.
| Mature Man | Child |
| Standing firm | Tossed to and fro Tossed by waves |
| Rooted in truth | Carried about by winds of doctrine Carried about by human cunning Carried about by craftiness in schemes |
The gifts that Jesus gives his bride, the church, are workers for the purpose of equipping her to work in ministry and building her up in the unity of knowing her husband. Why does he do this? So that the church can stand on a firm foundation. Jesus doesn’t want his bride teetering on the brink of destruction when a new doctrine is presented to her. Or some wolf sneaks in and tries to take a bite out of her.
Basically, just like any good husband, he wants to empower her to stand firm and not be assaulted.
Jesus Gives Gifts for Provision
I’m telling you, I’m trying really hard to keep the picture big. In order to keep my gaze wider than it’s been, let’s look at that skeleton of the section I made for myself earlier.
11 And he gave (the workers) 12 to equip the saints 14 so that we may not (be deceived) 15 rather we are to grow
We’ve worked our way down to verse 15 there now. Rather we are to grow. Contrast word. Which is also an opposite. Not like immature believers, but the opposite of that. Oh, actually, my words in blue up in the previous section are now going to be replaced by Paul’s words. How does Paul explain not being a church of children?
Truth in Love
First off, I’ve had my share of women come and talk to me, “speaking the truth in love.” Quite frankly, I will give a hard pass to anyone else who wants to come by and “speak truth in love.” Those words in particular are in my backpack. I need to lay them down, just like anything else that I’ve got baggage about. But it causes me to furrow my brow and question whether or not this is really what Paul wanted to convey.
Comparing multiple translations, I’m NOT looking for a translation that agrees with me (Ha! Check out this Babylon Bee!). I’m wondering if there is any scholarship that I can find about how this is translated because in my reverse interlinear there is one word in Greek for the three words “speaking the truth” in ESV. So what is going on?
NET Bible
I don’t need to hold your hand through it, but the NET has a translator note that you may peruse here. Ephesians 4:15 and note 20. Basically, there’s another contrast here. Instead of being like the wolves who are in the church dressed like other sheep, tricking and deceiving, “be truthful,” say the translators of the NET in their Note #20. Here is the NET as they translate verse 15:
But practicing the truth in love,
we will in all things grow up into Christ,
who is the head.3
Finding that “speaking” isn’t really part of Paul’s meaning when he wrote this, what did he mean? If, according to the NET translators, practicing truth is really what he meant, how do the saints know what practicing truth is?
Pulling it All Together
Still answering the question “why?”, Jesus gave workers to equip the saints. I want to remember that apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherd/teachers all have the purpose of conveying truth?
By practicing truth, the church grows up to be like Christ. It grows into him. It’s from Christ that the whole body is connected. All the body parts, being taught how to work properly, makes the body grow and build up in love.
It appears to me, following the flow of this section, that there is a horse and cart situation.
Paul explains through this passage that knowledge comes first and love follows. If we really think about it, that makes sense, doesn’t it?
What is love? Have we ever seen a radical redefining of what it is to love one another? As one example just from the last four months, originally we were told loving one another was getting together and being in community groups and now we’re told to keep our distance from each other.
I’m not saying one is right and one is wrong. I’m asking who initially defined what loving one another is? Is love mutable? Is love actually relative and contextual?
Having the workers Jesus has given to the church for the conveyance of truth should be helpful for us to answer questions like these. Maybe these are questions for the workers in our own local churches. Are there questions this study of scripture raises for you?
Reflection
We have workers Jesus has given us to teach. This seems contrary to what we hold dear as students of the Word. Haven’t I been saying “you can dig truth out of scripture for yourself” for a year now? Yes, but have you ever noticed that when you learn more, you develop more questions? Even that your questions are more probing or more to the point? The more we learn for ourselves, the more we will be able to learn from others. And vice versa. Learning propagates learning.
Let’s encourage the God-given workers we have in our midst to do their jobs by not only asking the questions but being built up and unified in our knowledge of the Son of God.
Wrap Up
Our Bible Study Bite for today is notice contrast words. There were a few times in the section that Paul contrasts and he does it to help illuminate.
One contrast was his comparison between maturity and immaturity. Being an adult and being a child. Another was when he talked about children being deceived as opposed to being truthful, which was brought out more clearly in the NET Bible. A third contrast was the simple word rather.
It’s one thing to state the way things are. However, there is more emphasis when the reverse is also explained. Let’s put this tool in our Bible study toolbox in order to recognize an author’s meaning.
Thanks for studying with me today. As always, if you found anything useful in our time together, would you consider sharing this article with another student of the Word?
Share this:
- Ephesians 4:1-16 (ESV)
- Mounce, W. D. (2006). Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (p. 1184). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
- The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible (Eph 4:15). Biblical Studies Press.