Eph. 4:1-16, Gleanings from Ephesians (7)

 Here are various notes from Eph. 4:1-16.

·       4:1-3: Paul the prisoner (Greek desmios, a person in bonds) encourages us to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond (Greek sundesmo, that which binds together) of peace.  We need to be bound, prisoners with peace.  And also bound in love: But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection (Col. 3:14).  We ought not be bound by iniquity as was Simon Magus (Ac. 8:23).  We are “bound” to Christ, our Head, that we might grow spiritually (Col. 2:19, NKJV translates the same term ligaments).

·       4:10: Some view this as reference to Jesus’ descent into hell to preach to the spirits in prison and then ascension to heaven to pour out His blood in the heavenly sanctuary.  However you understand this, it must be tied to the mystery of God mentioned in Eph. 1:9-10.  We know this because both 4:10 and 1:9-10 come to the same conclusion: the filling of all things by Christ (1:23; 4:10).  In other words, 4:10 is necessary for Christ to be Lord of all.

·       4:11-16: How do we, the Church, become those who are full of Christ?  In 4:8 Paul quotes Ps. 68:18 which connects Jesus’ ascension with the giving of gifts.  Paul sees these gifts as the men given to the Church (v11) to equip the saints to do the ministry (v12) so we come to maturity in three senses: 1)the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God; 2) a finished man; 3) the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.  These describe not only a Christian but the Church itself, when it has reached its fullness in Christ.  Meditate on this.  Do we understand this to be the point of “church”?  If not, we do not have the heart of Christ.

·       4:7,13,16: Measure (Grk. metro, to the degree) appears in each of these verses. 

o   4:7: Grace is given to each believer/church according to the measure of Christ’s gift.  He gives all He wants us to have, exactly what He wants us to have, precisely what we need! 

o   4:13: The perfect man is the Church. In 2:15 we saw that Christ made one new man of Jew and Gentile believers.  How do you define perfection? It is the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.  The comparison is to Christ, not to any other person or any other church.

o   4:16: The NKJV says, according to the effective working by which every part does its share (Grk. metro).  So the goal is Christ-likeness (v13).  Christ gives gifts to make it happen (v7).  It then depends on each part effectively working together according to what each part brings to the body.  This causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Let us pick this up tomorrow.