Ephesians 4:13

μέχρι καταντήσωμεν οἱ πάντες εἰς τὴν ἑνότητα : until we all attain unto the unity. The AV wrongly makes it “come in”; Tynd., “grow up unto”; Cran., better, “come to”. But best, “arrive at,” or (with RV) “attain unto”. The statement of the great object of Christ's gifts and the provision made by Him for its fulfilment is now followed by a statement of the time this provision and the consequent service are to last, or the point at which the great end in view is to be realised. It is when the members of the Church have all come to their proper unity and maturity in their Head. The tendency of late Greek to use the subj. without ἄν, especially after temporal particles, renders it doubtful whether much may be made of the unconditioned μέχρι here. The absence of ἄν, however, and the use of the subj., seem to point to the event as expected, and not as a mere hypothetical possibility; cf. Mark 13:30; and see Hartung, Partikl., ii., p. 291; Hermann, Part., ἄν, p. 66; Win.-Moult., pp. 378, 387. καταντάω, followed in NT by εἰς, elsewhere also by ἐπί, conveys the idea of arriving at a goal (cf. Acts 26:7; Philippians 3:11), the aor. subj. also having the force of “shall have attained”. οἱ πάντες evidently refers not to men generally, but to Christians and to these in their totality. The article goes appropriately with the ἑνότητα, the unity in view being the definite unity denoted by the words that follow. τῆς πίστεως καὶ τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ : of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. τοῦ υἱοῦ is the gen. obj., and it is best taken as dependent on both nouns. Some (e.g., Haupt), however, are of opinion that the repetition of the article before ἐπιγνώσεως implies that the τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ is dependent only on the latter. The καί shows that the ἐπιγνώσεως is not an epexegesis of the πίστεως; and the πίστις (here in its usual Pauline sense of trusting, saving faith) and the ἐπίγνωσις express distinct, though related, ideas (cf. Philippians 3:9-10; 1 John 4:16). The unity in view, therefore, is oneness in faith in Christ and oneness also in the full experimental knowledge of Him. The point of the clause is not any unity between faith and knowledge themselves, to the effect, e.g., of rising from the former to the latter as a higher Christian endowment (Olsh.), but a unity which shall make all the members of Christ's body at one in believing in Him and knowing Him. The title υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ as applied to Christ occurs frequently in the Pauline as well as in the Johannine writings, but never in 2 Thess., Phil., Philem., or the Pastoral Epistles. In passages like the present, if they stood by themselves, it might be difficult to say whether the metaphysical, the theocratic, or the ethical idea is in view. But the analogy of such statements as those in Romans 1:4; Romans 8:3; Romans 8:32; Galatians 4:4, and the general Pauline conception of Christ as a transcendent Personality, different from men as such, and to be named together with God, point to a relation to God in respect of nature as the force of the designation here. εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον : unto a perfect man. τέλειος, as in 1 Corinthians 2:6; 1 Corinthians 14:20; Hebrews 5:14, and as is suggested by the subsequent νήπιοι, means perfect in the sense of full grown. The state in which unity is lacking is the stage of immaturity; the state in which oneness in faith and knowledge is reached is the state of mature manhood in Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:11). The singular ἄνδρα instead of ἄνδρας is appropriately used (as we have already had ὁ καινὸς ἄνθρωπος) when the idea of unity is in view. The goal to be reached is that of a new Humanity, regenerated and spiritually mature in all its members. εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας : unto the measure of the stature. A clause in apposition to the former, further defining the τέλειον, and giving a fuller and yet more precise description of the goal which is to be reached. Is ἡλικίας, however, to be rendered age or stature? The noun appears to have both senses. In Luke 19:3 it is certainly = stature, and probably so also in Luke 2:52; while in John 9:21; John 9:23 it is clearly = age, and most probably so also in Matthew 6:27 and Luke 12:25, altho' the latter two are held by some to be referable to the other meaning; cf. Field, Otium Norv., iii., p. 4. The adj. ἥλικος in the NT has the idea of magnitude (Colossians 2:1; James 3:5), and that is its most frequentsense in non-Biblical Greek. Much depends, therefore on the context. The antithesis between τέλειον and νήπιοι favours the idea of age (so Mey., Harl., Abb., etc.). But the idea of stature is suggested by the μέτρον, the πληρώματος, the αὐξήσωμεν and the αὔξησιν, and is on the whole to be preferred (so Syr., Goth., Copt., Eth. prob., AV., RV., Erasm., Grot., Beng., Rück., Alf., Ell., etc.). τοῦ πληρώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ : of the fulness of Christ. The πλήρωμα here is taken by some in the sense of perfection. So Rück., who makes it “the perfection possessed by Christ,” and Oltramare who renders it “the measure of the height of the perfection of Christ”. But τελείοτης is one idea, and πλήρωμα another. Not less foreign to the real meaning of the noun are such interpretations as “the gracious presence of Christ” (Harl.); “the perfect age of Christ” (Luth.; cf. Calvin's plena aetas); “the stature of the full grown Christ,” etc. Nor can the phrase be taken as a designation of the Church (Storr; also Baur, who holds it = that with which Christ fills Himself or is completed, i.e., the Church). For that would give the incongruous idea that we are to attain to the Church. The Χριστοῦ is the poss. gen., and the phrase means the fulness that belongs to Christ, the sum of the qualities which make Him what He is. These are to be imaged in the Church (cf. Ephesians 1:23), and when these are in us we shall have reached our maturity and attained to the goal set before us. Thus the whole idea will be this “the measure of the age, or (better) the stature, that brings with it the full possession on our side of that which Christ has to impart the embodiment in us the members, of the graces and qualities which are in Him the Head”. It has also been asked whether the goal thus set before us is regarded as one to be reached in our present temporal life by way of development, or one to be attained to only in the future life. As between these two ideas the preference must be given (with Chrys., Oec, Jer., Luth., de Wette, etc.) to the former, in view of the general tenor of the exhortation introducing the paragraph, the point of Ephesians 3:19, the place given to unity and maturity, etc. So Mey. thinks it refers to the Christian condition to be reached “after the last storms and before the Parousia”. Not a few of the Fathers, however, take the resurrection to be specially in view, and interpreters like Theod., Calv., etc., think it looks to the perfected life of the other world. But Paul gives no clear indication of the time, and it may be, therefore, that he has in view only the goal itself and the attainment of it at whatever time that may take effect.