Ephesians 4:13

Ephesians 4:13. Till we all come. The verb means to arrive at a destination; ‘we all ‘refers to all the saints, the members of the body of Christ. The official service will be needed, until this goal is attained, and it is here implied that it will be reached. Notice that this end is more remote than the results spoken of in Ephesians 4:14-15.

Unto, not, ‘in.' This preposition occurs three times in this verse, introducing the same aim under different aspects.

The unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God. The phrase ‘of the Son of God' belongs to both ‘faith' and ‘knowledge;' He is the object of both. ‘The faith,' here means, not a creed, but our believing, while ‘knowledge' means full knowledge. ‘The unity' is not the state in which ‘faith' and ‘knowledge' become identical, since the two terms are kept apart by the repeated article; moreover the former is not to be lost in the latter, but abides (1 Corinthians 13:13). The unity is rather that of the individual believers (‘we all') resulting from that perfect faith and that perfect knowledge which corresponds with the perfect object of both, namely, the Son of God. How tar off is this goal! But the servant of Christ should never lose sight of it.

Unto a full-grown man. The same end figuratively set forth, the whole becomes a mature, complete, single personality; the next clause repeats the figure: unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. The measure to be reached is ‘the stature,' etc. The word means ‘age,' and some contend for that meaning here, explaining, ‘the measure characteristic of the age,' etc. But the idea of magnitude is prominent throughout the passage, and ‘stature' seems more appropriate with ‘measure.' Spiritual maturity is meant, and this maturity is conditioned by ‘the fulness of Christ' This may mean the state of fulness which belongs to Christ, or which comes from Him; the latter is perhaps preferable. The question remains, Will this goal be reached here or hereafter? some think the mention of ‘faith' points to this world; others place the goal at the Second Advent, and the maturity during the subsequent millennium. Many hold that this end will be attained only in eternity. But some of the most judicious expositors feel that there is nothing to indicate that the Apostle had in mind a distinction between here and hereafter. This is the goal set before the Church on earth; until it is reached Christ will give men to do His work in official position, and this goal should be ever before them. It may be approached on earth, else it were no goal for present effort, but probably will be reached only when the Lord comes again. No one helps the Church toward it who obscures ‘the Son of God' as the object of ‘faith' and ‘knowledge,' or seeks perfection from other sources than ‘the fulness of Christ.' ‘Beyond Christ we cannot go, without Him or against Him there is no progress' (Braune).