EPH 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head - Christ - 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
The passage clearly tells us that the full five-fold purpose is to equip the saints so that they can do the work of ministry which is the edification or building up of the body of Christ.
Even though I studied the passage diligently I failed to connect the ministry function of the saints (believers) with vs. fifteen. I think I got bogged down in the parenthetical statement of vs. 13 and 14. Here Paul tells us first that the five-fold ministries will remain in place until, “..we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ..”
I think we will all agree that this has not taken place and therefore those ministries have not passed away. Some also assert that this level of maturity will not happen until the age to come, however, the passage also makes that concept an impossibility unless the five-fold ministries are still functioning in heaven.
After the three-fold fulfillment in vs.13 Paul gives a three-fold negative comparison in vs. 14 “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive,” This serves as a warning; don't be children caught up in strange teachings, and the trickery of men who are out to deceive and influence followers after themselves. Then Paul tells us what the actual ministry of the saints is: “speaking the truth in love…”
I had been reading True Fellowship by Art Katz and one of the verses he keeps coming back to is this one. Katz asks the question, “When in your Christian experience have you ever been asked or invited to exercise this verse of scripture?” My immediate thought was that more than likely if one was to try to exercise this injunction that he or she would be admonished by someone on pastoral staff that this was definitely not their prerogative, that they should leave that kind of thing to the pastor and that they should be careful not to offend anyone.
The words, “Speaking the truth” are translated from one Gk. Word, aletheuo, which is the simple verb form of alethia (truth) It could be correctly translated “truther” which wouldn’t make very good English but it gets the point across. It’s not just truth tellers but truth doers that we are dealing with here.
In F.F. Bruce‘s commentary on Ephesians he points out a direct connection between Paul’s statement here using truth and love together with numerous Old Testament statements using mercy of covenant love (hesed) and truth (emeth) together, that express two vital components of the nature of God.
The first occurrence of these two words together is found in GEN 24:27 “where the unnamed servant of Abraham is sent out to obtain a bride for his son Isaac, “And he said, "Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master.” This entire chapter is pivotal in its application to the position and future glory of the Church.
Another very interesting occurrence of this is found in Joshua 2; where Rehab is about to lower the spies down the wall on a rope so that they might escape from Jericho. Rehab wisely presses the spies for an oath, using some of the strongest covenantal language in the scriptures,
"For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now therefore, I beg you, swear [shaba`--to seven oneself, i.e. swear as if by repeating a declaration seven times] to me by the LORD, since I have shown you kindness, (hesed) that you also will show kindness to my father's house, and give me a true token, [emeth, owth] and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death." (10-13)
So the men answered her, "Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be, when the LORD has given us the land, that we will deal kindly [hesed]and truly [emeth] with you." (vs.14)
God only deals in truth. Wherever we choose to deal in deception for whatever reason, God to that degree is not involved in the situation.
I have found both of these Old Testament passages to be very fruitful meditations. We see the same truth continued in the New Testament. Consider what Rehab might represent in the biblical typology.
As Katz also points out, true maturity is extremely difficult to attain without the activity of this “one another” ministry. As we read on in the passage it became increasingly clear that this is a fact.
“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.”
This, Paul says is the means by which we “grow up into Him who is the head..”
This is of crucial importance, Paul continues, in vs. 16 “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
It needs to be mentioned that the words, “… joined and held together..” carry extreme emphasis here. Paul uses words here that basically say the same thing five different times. He really wants us to understand that these ligaments or tendons exercise a powerful function of holding the body together.
Just like the human body is “joined and held together” by ligaments the spiritual body is also held together the same way. Imagine a body with no ligaments. It would be incapable of functional movement. It couldn’t stand up or walk or do any task, it would be a literal bag of bones.
In the body of Christ the supporting ligaments provide supply to the entire body through this function of truth working with love.
So my question is, how does this function of the body of Christ take place in the present system or in today’s customary form of meeting where we come together and sit together in neat rows singing songs and then listening to a person who gives a teaching once or perhaps twice a week? The extent of our fellowship is usually no more than a handshake or a hug and a “God bless you,” and we go home until next time. We are together in the same building but in reality we maintain our separate space and live in isolation. Even in church structures where they meet in small groups, they seldom go past the superficial level of fellowship. I have stood after church meetings listening to conversations that most of the time have nothing to do with Jesus, the Bible or the kingdom of God. It almost seems that we are almost as embarrassed by him as the world is. Do we find it awkward to talk about him?
It becomes obvious that this process of developing real fellowship will not take place across a church pew and when we live dozens of miles apart in our little isolated lives.
I realize that I have asked many more questions than I have given answers. I am finding that after being one of the appointed “answer men” for years I am discovering a new freedom in joining the “askers.” Are you among the satisfied that don’t have a clue as to why anyone might be discontent? If so you probably stopped reading a few pages back and went on to face book. But, if you are among the discontented who love Jesus and want to do his will but can’t figure out what is happening and even why you are discontent then take some time and think about the questions I have posed here. Let your imagination soar and see what church might look like. Read the Acts, Ephesians and Colossians again with this in mind. Let’s talk, dialogue on the subject maybe we can actually “stir one another up to love and good works.”
pablo
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