Ephesians 4:15-16To: Ephesians Main MenuTo: Grace Notes Home Page Ephesians 4:15But, speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, who is the head, even Christ; "Speaking the truth"Another reference to Bible truth; however, now we see the mature Christian functioning as a knowledgeable witness to the grace of God. A believer who knows the truth can speak the truth. Note the process to this point: 1. The truth was revealed by God the Father and the Holy Spirit to the inspired writers of the Bible. 2. The truth was recorded in writing and made available to mankind. 3. The truth has been taught by people who have been given spiritual gifts of communication. 4. Christian people have learned and applied the truth through the teaching and edification ministry of the Holy Spirit. 5. Growing believers are now able to "speak the truth". "may grow up into him in all things""Growing up" in Christ is edification! This result in a Christian's life is the core of the Apostle Paul's desire and prayer for the Ephesian believers. Eph. 1:16-18, "...making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of his calling..." Eph. 3:14-19, "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend, with all saiths, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God." When I read the above prayers for the first time, I thought these would be wonderful results in my own life, but I had no idea how to proceed to reach these lofty goals. How would God reveal things to me? How would I be strengthened in the inner man? How would I ever be able to have spiritual comprehension of the love of Christ which passes knowledge? Thank the Lord for the answer to all these questions in Ephesians 4. We are now studying the HOW-TO of the Christian life, God's grace plan for the edification, strengthening, and unifying of believers to stabilize us and make us ready for a life of ministry. "who is the head, even Christ." Topic: DEITY OF CHRIST Ephesians 4:16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effective working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.Here is the result we've been looking for! Here is the picture of a community of Christian believers, growing in Christ, functioning in unity, stabilized by the Word of God, and witnessing to the world. The results is that a church builds itself in the sphere of love. "from whom" - from the Lord Jesus Christ "the whole body" - the body is the church. Eph. 1:22,23, "And has put all things under his feet, and given him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that fills all in all. The Body is also mentioned in the following: Eph. 2:16 - Jews and non-Jews are included. Eph. 4:4 - these things are common to all believers; the family coat of arms. Eph. 4:11,12 - how the body grows Eph. 4:16 - how the body works together Eph. 5:23 - the Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior of the body. "fitly joined together" - present passive participle of SUNARMOLOGEW. This is a compound Greek word made up of SUN + HARMOS + LOGOS (or LOGEW, the verb form). SUN = "with; together with" HARMOS = "a joining; a union". Hence the English word "harmony", a "union between persons; an agreement; concord", and includes the concept of musical harmony. LOGOS = "word; vocabulary". Refers to mentality, the things that we think about, the vocabulary we use to discern and decide things. Our vocabulary provides the basic building blocks for our standards. Therefore, "fitly joined together" [SUNARMOLOGEW] means "a harmony of thinking; a unity of words or ideas; concord in thinking", with emphasis on accuracy because the thinking is based on God's word. Unity is more important that any other feature of local church life. All legitimate church activity is based on accuracy (God's Word) and a unified belief in that accurate Word. "and compacted" - another present PASSIVE participle, "to cause to come together; to unite; to knit together; to bring to terms; to reconcile" "by that which is supplied" - EPIXOREINIA, "supply; aid; additional help" "every joint" - HAPHEIS, "a fastening; a ligature; a joint" You and I are "joints". For some reason I like this word, and I notice that the New American Standard version uses it, too. What we have to this point, then, is ... "From whom the whole body brought into harmonious thinking by the additional help of every joint..." ...so that we Christians are part of the fundamental process of church growth! "according to the effectual working of every part" - KATA, "by means of", plus the accusative singular of ENERGIA, "active energy; operation; efficiency". All "parts" of the body work together effectively to produce the Lord's desired result. "makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." This is the body-to-body relationship in which the church increases (grows) as edification takes place. Individual believers grow in Christ as the Wordis taught and absorbed. The resulting unity brings about church growth. SUMMARY of Eph. 4:11-161. When the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven, He gave spiritual gifts to Christians. The Holy Spirit became the Comforter and Teacher of all believers. "And when the Spirit is come, He shall teach you all things." 2. Some of the gifts are teaching gifts: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. 3. One objective of the teaching ministry is to bring Christian saints to maturity so that they can do useful work in the ministry of edifying the Body of Christ. 4. Another objective of teaching is to bring believers together in unity, so that every Christian has a working knowledge of the Word of God, can become mature, and become more like the Lord Jesus Christ every day. 5. The purpose is to produce Christians who are no long as gullible and naive as children who can be pushed around by anyone with a smooth line of talk. 6. But the Christian is to learn the truth accompanied by the inner working of the Holy Spirit so that he can grow up into Jesus Christ in all things. 7. When this happens, the whole Body, the Church, is accurately framed together by the additional help supplied by every believer (joint) in the Body. 8. And every part of the body contributes active energy and operating efficiency to the work of causing growth in the Body. That is, the body edifies itself under the care and ministry of the Holy Spirit. End of Lesson 26There is no charge for Grace Notes Materials. 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