Ephesians 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man… I. CHRISTIAN UNITY. 1. Oneness of faith. 2. Oneness of knowledge. This signifies practical acquaintance, or what you sometimes term a "saving knowledge of Christ." 3. Oneness of aim or object. Seeking to become perfect men in Christ, full-grown men, to attain to the loftiest standard of perfection, both in strength and beauty, in the universe. II. CHRISTIAN STABILITY. Christian men are not to be like children in weakness, credulity, waywardness, changeableness, and much else peculiar to childhood; but to be strong, robust, fixed, settled in their religious belief and manner of life, showing that their faith had so inwrought itself with the very fibre of their spiritual life as to impart moral stamina, enabling them to stand like men, and not be tossed about like feeble children. But the apostle's figures supply something more than the thought of childish weakness. "Tossed about with every wind," suggests the idea of a drifting, unmanageable ship, dismasted, and without rudder or compass, driven before every wind. A plight most pitiable. This suggests the thought of instability and unrest. The vessel pursues no course but such as the wind dictates, and you know how unsafe a ship master that is when it has sole command. Now Paul knew the danger of this restlessness, not only to the individual possessed by it, but the damage it might be to others. Hence he desires all Christians to be united in the grand verities of the gospel, vigorous in faith, clear in personal acquaintance with Christ, that they might have a life of uniform stability, be firm, fixed, and unwavering in mind and heart, faith and life. The doctrine, then, that comes out here is that of Christian stability, not obstinacy; steadfastness, not stupidity. III. CHRISTIAN GROWTH. 1. Growth is gradual. Little by little is the principle on which it proceeds. A child does not become a man at one bound, a picture is not painted by the magic of a single stroke, a building is not reared by one single supreme effort, nor does the oak tree mature in a single day. "Line upon line," layer upon layer, "here a little and there a little," are the lines upon which all things move ere maturity and perfection are reached. Continuity, progression, development, evolution — or whatever else you may please to call it — this is the great governing law. 2. This growth is constant. Day and night, summer and winter, in storm and calm, the principle is in operation. It may appear sometimes to the good man as if no progress could be registered, he seems to himself to be putting forth no fresh blossoms, and yielding little or no fruit. And yet, those very times, that seem so unpropitious to him, may be the most successful periods of his life, his roots may be striking deeper, and spreading wider in preparation of richer foliage and fruitage in the future. Always growing — though not always giving the same outward indications of growth — this is the law of the Saviour's kingdom. 3. This growth is silent, and imperceptible. You can neither see nor hear its actual operation. Growth is one of the most effective forces in nature, and yet the most silent. 4. The growth spoken of in the text is upward. It is "growing up into Christ the Head in all things." Upward growth is a marked speciality of the Christian life. Aspiration is the thought. Upward, heavenward, is the Christian's watchword. IV. CHRISTIAN COHESION. The Church is likened to the human body. A few points of comparison between the two will show the beauty and appropriateness of the figure. 1. Fitness of position and work. "Fitly joined." So it is in the Church when it is under the entire governance of the Master, every man occupies his own place and does the work for which he is fitted by gifts and opportunity. 2. Here is compactness — "fitly joined and compacted together." Heart, mind, sympathy, principle, motive, aspiration, and wish, so closely blended as to become one heart and one mind, "that there be no schism in the body," but working together with the greatest order for the one purpose, the well-being of the body, and the glory of its Head. 3. Here is also mutual aid — "by that which every joint supplieth." Helping together is the thought, every joint contributing its share so as to promote the general good of the whole body. You see the beauty of this comparison where the Church of Christ is, in its best sense, a mutual aid society, where every joint is supplying its quota of aid for the good of the whole. (J. T. Higgins.) Parallel Verses KJV: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: |
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