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Weekly Devotional
Eph.4:11-13...11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ
This section of Paul's letter to the Ephesians teaches that the construction of the body of Christ, which plays out in our modern lives through our participation in the local church, is an "every-member ministry." The pastors and elders prepare, instruct, and/or train the congregation and, in turn, each member plays a role in the building and functioning of Christ's church.
In verse 13, Paul moves on to describe the final goal of this construction work through the use of three prepositional phrases. These phrases should not be understood as three separate goals, but three different aspects of the same goal: building up the body of Christ. Therefore, we can reword Paul's teaching in this way:
-The built-up body of Christ is a unified body.
-The built-up body of Christ is a mature body.
-The built-up body of Christ is a Christlike body.
As we close, let me highlight one inference from the grammar of verse 13. See that one's spiritual maturity (and Christlikeness) is evidenced through one's unity with other believers. This is antithetical to our natural inclinations because we only tend to think of spiritual growth as gaining (or possessing) greater theological knowledge or serving more at church or being kind and compassionate like Jesus. But here, in verse 13, Paul connects spiritual maturity with how well we get along with other believers.