Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 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 of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 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.

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

Ephesians 4: 13-19 NKJV

4:13 “Till we all come…” The goal of the 5-fold ministry is equip the whole body of Christ into a maturity of oneness in faith. The “faith” referenced here denotes both expectation and obedient faithfulness. We need these gifts operating within the body until we come into oneness regarding the knowledge of the Son of God.

This unity in faith and knowledge in the Son of God is unto complete maturity, equal in measure to the maturity and fullness of Christ. Interestingly, the word man in this passage is the same word often rendered as husband. The goal is for such a measure of oneness to exist within the body of Christ that we become a pure reflection of the nature and character of our Bridegroom, Jesus. As I mentioned earlier, I will explore the bridal covenant between Christ and His body in greater detail later, but I mention it here because Paul is leaving a trail for us to follow until he makes his point.

4:14 The idea behind no longer being children (or infants) is to convey spiritual maturity, but also to convey the idea that we need to be a people of mature speech and response regarding doctrine and deception. Not only is our goal to not live under deception, but our goal is also to reflect the character of Christ in response to errors.

4:15 Our response should be one that speaks truth in love. Here is another use of agapē, which denotes affectionate and benevolent love. When we correct errors among members of the body of Christ, we are called to do so with affectionate love and kindness, so that we may grow up together into Him who is the head- Christ. The body has been raised up together with Christ, seated together with Christ, and now we see that we also grow up (or become greater) together into Christ as well.

4:16 In Christ, we are as individuals our brothers and sisters supply of that which unifies and brings into oneness. The effective working mentioned in this verse denotes a supernatural ability beyond what we are capable of attaining in our own strength. The grace of God, which freely grants to us these ascension gifts, is the same grace working in us individually for unity in love for the sake of the whole body. We cannot afford to put down even one of these supernatural and heavenly spiritual gifts and still expect to accomplish the fullness of the will of God as a body. Every spiritual gift in the book is necessary (including the gifts mentioned in other epistles) until the day that the fullness, Jesus Christ Himself, returns. Therefore, it is a necessity that all gifts of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God remain in fully endorsed and well disciplined operation until the Day of the Lord. We cannot afford, among our own members, to despise any gift of God. There will always be false apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers among us. Just as, referencing other New Testament gifts, there will be false works of mercy, false tongues, false administration, and false gifts of faith. We should not condemn the gift due to the presence of the counterfeit, rather we should pick up the mantle of discipleship given to the whole body so that we may grow up in all things together in Christ. The presence of the genuine will help us discern between that which is real and that which is fake.

4:17-19 Ignorance of mind (being willfully ignorant) and blindness of heart (being ruled by our emotions) results in moral impurity and greed. The presence of these things in our lives will obscure our spiritual vision and cause us to become estranged enemies and non-participants in regards to the life we have been joined together in God.

Of special note is the word rendered lewdness in the NKJV. This word is in some contexts and translations rendered sensuality or wantonness. This word more directly means violent spite and denotes one as being without restraint and indulging in outrageous and shocking lawlessness. I believe the context of verses 17-19 provide greater support for the idea of being given over to violent spite, and I will explain in more detail in the following section.

Deeper Look # 9 – Ephesians 4:17 & Romans 9:1-5

Paul can testify to violent spite due to the fact that he was once a persecutor and enemy of Christ and His followers. Prior to his conversion, Paul possessed ignorant zeal (though it was based on a completely true God-given promise regarding his ethnic identity) that was not founded in the truth of Christ, and this zeal provoked him to the violence by which he persecuted the body of Christ. He viewed the followers of Jesus as blasphemous and thus rebellious against the God of Israel. These followers of Jesus confronted Paul’s own zeal for his people and his tribe.

After Paul’s conversion to Christ, you might assume his conversion would have “cured him” from his tribal zeal. It was quite the opposite. Jesus did not remove Paul’s zeal for Israel, but rather instructed his zeal in God’s mercy and lovingkindness through Jesus of Nazareth. Paul instead came to understand the full purposes of God for his own people Israel, and he became even more zealous. By understanding God’s plan for Israel in light of the mystery of a crucified and resurrected Messiah, Paul’s zeal was transformed into the abandonment of his own life for the sake of his brethren, namely Israel. Consider what Paul writes in Romans chapter 9.

“I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.”

Romans 9:1-5 NKJV

You would think Paul would focus solely on his own people in evangelism if he carried such a heart for their salvation. Instead, Paul was obedient to the call of being an apostle to the Gentiles. He understood that the Gospel needed to go to every race before his own people would be fully saved. He understood that the gathering of the nations in Christ would eventually result in his own people being saved and entering into their ethnic inheritance.

The point here is that God has intrinsically connected the salvation of one ethnic people to the salvation of other ethnic people, and He has connected the salvation of all ethnic peoples back to the future salvation of Israel.

There are two points to be made in Ephesians 4:17-19. First, individually speaking, willful ignorance leads to moral depravity. Second, these verses were penned in context to address the communion of believers, not individual faith. These verses are addressing the carnal cultural identities of those who are by nature Gentiles, that is, the unbelieving ethnic peoples throughout the earth. Paul is “testifying in the Lord”, meaning that he is speaking from personal experience, having lived the lie and having been delivered from the lie by the revelation of Jesus.

Paul realized the Gentiles are called to be co-heirs and brothers in Christ with Israel in the promise of a restored and redeemed creation.

The implications of these truths have many outworkings and should impact our views regarding human dignity as it pertains to ethnicity, social status, nationalism, and cultural identity. In Christ, we should not consider anyone as being less than ourselves on account of these differences. Instead, we should rejoice and honor one another in Christ by walking in loving and obedient fellowship with all people who are called by the name that is above every other name. Going a step further, it is important to understand the vital role Israel plays in the salvation of many “peoples, tribes, and nations”.