The Gift of Christ
Ephesians 4:7
But to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.


"The gift of Christ" is the gift which He confers. That gift is measured, and each individual receives according to the sovereign will of the Supreme distributor. And whether the measure be great or small, whether its contents be of more brilliant endowment or of humbler and unnoticed talent — all is equally Christ's gift, and of Christ's adjustment, and all is equally indispensable to the union and edification of that Body in which there is "no schism." The law of the Church is essential unity in the midst of circumstantial variety. Differences of faculty or temperament, education or susceptibility, are not superseded. Each gift in its own place completes the unity. What one devises another may plead for, while a third may act out the scheme; so that sagacity, eloquence, and enterprise form a "three-fold cord, not easily broken." It is so in the material creation — the little is as essential to symmetry as the great — the star as well as the sun — the raindrop equally with the ocean, and the hyssop no less than the cedar. The pebble has its place as fittingly as the mountain, and colossal forms of life are surrounded with the tiny insect whose term of existence is limited to the summer twilight, Why should the possession of this grace lead to self-inflation? It is simply Christ's gift. The amount and character of "grace" possessed by others ought surely to create no uneasiness nor jealousy, for it is of Christ's measurement as well as of His bestowment, and every form and quantity of it as it descends from the one source is indispensable to the harmony of the Church. The one Lord will not bestow conflicting graces, nor mar nor disturb, by the repulsive antipathy of His gifts, that unity which Himself creates and exemplifies.

(J. Eadie, D. D.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

WEB: But to each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.




Redemptive Influence the Gift of Christ
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