Ephesians 4

Ephesians 4:9-16

Eph 4:9
(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?

This verse is speaking of the resurrection of Christ. It speaks of the fact that the same Christ who ascended into Heaven is the very same one who was crucified and buried. This verse tells us that Christ was physically buried after His death, which signified that His death was real. There are many false stories which have been formed to denigrate the truth of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

There are some who believe that this verse is telling us that after the death of Christ He went into hell and preached to the fallen angels and unbelievers, which is a ludicrous assumption. This thinking comes from the Roman Catholic belief that all the Old Testament Saints were waiting in a place of limbo and when Christ went there, He freed all of His Saints. The Bible does not teach such a notion. The Bible teaches that the Spirit of the Lord Jesus went back to heaven to be with His Father. “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.” (Luke 23:46) His physical body was buried in a grave. “This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. {53} And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.” (Luke 23:52-53)

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: {19} By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; {20} Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” (1 Peter 3:18-20)

Some try to connect these verses with Ephesians 4:9. They try to make these 1 Peter verses a proof text for this idea that Christ went to Hell to preach to the spirits in prison during the time between the crucifixion and His resurrection. The 1 Peter verses will not support such a theory because when we look closer, we will see what these verses are really speaking of. “but quickened by the Spirit: {19} By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;” Notice this section of the passage. We see that the Lord Jesus Christ, when he was physically dead was quickened or made alive by the Spirit. Then the thought continues that it was through the same Spirit that Christ preached unto the spirits in prison. We see that it was not Christ who spoke to the spirits in prison but He spoke to them through the Holy Spirit. The essence of this passage is that it was Noah, who was indwelled with the Holy Spirit and because of that indwelling, Christ was able to preach the message He wanted to through Noah. We saw before about the spirits that were in prison. Remember the prison? “That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?” (Isaiah 14:17) Every unbeliever, no matter what time they lived in history is in the prison of Satan. Every Christian who brings the message of Salvation to unbelievers is bringing it to those prisoners. So Noah, like all other Christians, was proclaiming the message of Christ, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. By doing so, the Lord Jesus Christ will be leading “captivity captive.” Instead of the saved being captives of Satan, they are Captives of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Eph 4:10
He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

Fill - “Complete, supply fully, or make full”

Now Paul is saying that the same Christ who was here on earth, and who was crucified, died, and was buried, and then rose on the third day and then ascended into Heaven, which is far above the earthly heavens which He created. His magnificence fills all the universe but the Bible is now focusing in on the reason that Christ came to Earth, to die for His Elect, the church. The Christians could not just roam the earth as spiritual wanderers, but each one needs a purpose of existence and to accomplish that, the Lord endowed every Christian with a spiritual gift to be able to accomplish the tasks which God has prepared for them. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10) Spiritual empowerment would make the task of evangelizing the world an orderly commission. When each Christian knows what spiritual gift Christ gave them, they can then begin to seek out the assignment Christ has for them and then commence the work. The spiritual gifts would fully supply the needs of the church for this task.

Eph 4:11
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

APOSTLES - "one who is sent"
The apostles of the early church were those who received messages directly from Christ and who saw Him. They were the catalysts of the local churches. They were eyewitnesses to the miracles and/or teachings of Christ.

“Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;” (Luke 1:2)

“Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.” (2 Corinthians 12:12)

As the church began to expand, the word "apostle" began to take on a wider meaning and began to include those who were not eyewitnesses but were considered testimonies of the gospel of Christ. Barnabas was considered to be an apostle. "Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out," (Acts 14:14) There is no biblical evidence that he ever saw the Lord with his eyes. So as we see in Scripture, the term was widened in its usage to the point that all believers are, in essence, apostles, because we are sent. The Great Commission is our marching orders. We do not receive any new revelation but we use the Scriptures as our source of truth, plus every believer is a testimony to the grace of God.

PROPHETS - "One who declares God's Word"
This gift has remained unchanged from the early church. The prophet was and is the person who declares God's Word, which means his entire life and mind are programmed to Scripture. He is the spiritual shop steward who raises the flag every time an incorrect doctrine is taught. He keeps the local assembly and the leaders biblically correct. His points of contention may seem petty but it must be remembered that a huge tree grows out of a small seed. So it is with false doctrines. All it needs is a foot in the door and it will begin to mushroom uncontrollably. If you think it cannot happen in your church, look around to the major denominations that were bastions of truth just 50 years ago. Even though the office has remained the same, there is a difference in the sources. The Old Testament and early church prophets received revelation directly from God whether it be visions or dreams. The New Testament Prophets, that is, post completion of the Bible prophets receive their material from the completed word of God.

EVANGELISTS - "Bringer of Good News"
This person has the ability to speak to large groups of people. They speak mainly on the redemptive part of the gospel. The evangelist is concerned with dispensing the gospel to as many people as possible. They view the spread of the gospel as their only reason of existence. They possess a burning desire in their souls to tell of the salvation God offers to man. Now in the smaller sense of the word, each believer is an evangelist. Each time you give a tract to someone or verbally witness, you are bringing the good news. You do it on a smaller scale and the evangelist does it on a larger scale.

PASTORS - "Shepherds"
The pastor is normally the spiritual head of a local assembly, having oversight of the flock. He is the spiritual leader and cares for all his people on an equal basis. He is there to encourage, counsel, motivate, and discipline. There is a little "pastor" in each of us as we minister to others or disciple them, we are being a shepherd to them. A godly pastor will show very good leadership ability. Those with dictatorial attitudes do not possess the gift of pastor.

TEACHERS - "An Instructor"
The teacher is the person who lives to dispense information. The teacher takes the Word of God and doles out information from it in a systematic way which will both inform and build up the Christian. The teacher's gift is so intense, they teach whether they are in an official or unofficial capacity. A teacher will be unable to stay in a church where they are not permitted or encouraged to exercise their gift. This is not pride but is the gift which God has placed within them for teaching and helping others to understand the Bible. The teacher also filters information to determine if certain teachings are true.

NOTE: Many pastors claim the title "Pastor-teacher" which they believe is one gift and not two. I have sought many Greek references and have not found these words to be one. The two words are always found with "kai" between them which is translated "and." It seems to separate two distinct words. However, the syntax may suggest a single gift, but I do not think it does. In verse 11-13 the word "tous" which translates "the" is found before each of the gifts listed, except teachers. Well I will not dwell on it here, I will let the Greek scholars debate it. I personally believe that pastors and teachers are two distinct gifts. One reason I believe this is there are many gifted women teachers out there yet God forbids them to be pastors. If it is one gift, then the women must become pastors to teach which would violate God's word. A pastor may have the gift of teaching which would coincide beautifully with his office of pastor. “Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.” (Acts 13:1) Notice this verse says, “prophets and teachers.” If the gift of teaching is only for pastors, then how does one explain “prophets and teachers?” The answer to this dilemma is found in 1 Corinthians 12:28 “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” (1 Corinthians 12:28) God separates the gift of teaching which means it is a separate gift in the church. “Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?” (1 Corinthians 12:29)

Eph 4:12
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Perfecting - a Complete furnishing or training
Ministry - Service
Edifying - Building or Edification

Now we read the reasons that God gave spiritual gifts to the body of believers. The first reason we are given is the training or furnishing of the Saints. Now in Ephesians 4:11, we saw the list of office gifts which are used and these particular gifts are those who teach the body of believers. This is done so Christians will continue to grow in the faith and as they become stronger in the faith, they will be bolder to go out and minister. Now every Christian has a ministry but not every Christian is in the ministry as an occupation. Those whom the Lord has given one of these gifts to has a heavy responsibility to train the body of believers. Basically what this group of Christians do is to train the body to go out into the world and present the Gospel in their particular spheres of influence.

Next we are told that the reason the body is being equipped is that they are to go out and minister. The idea that any Christian on Earth does not have a spiritual gift is either ignorance or an excuse for laziness. Either excuse does not hold biblical water. God has given every Christian a spiritual gift and a particular ministry to be involved with. Ignorance of your spiritual gift does not absolve a Christian from responsibility.

Next we are told this group of gifts is to be used to edify and build the Saints. With the existence of many types of false gospels the Christians need to be taught to be able to discern between the truth and false. “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” (1 John 4:6) By growing the body in the knowledge of the truth, they become grounded in that truth very deeply and then will not be able to be moved.

Eph 4:13
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:

Unity - Oneness (Ephesians 4:3)
Perfect - Mature or Complete
Stature - Age or Maturity

These office gifts were given to Christians for the purpose of growing the body of believers in the faith and to root them and ground them in the Word. The end desired result of that program is to first of all, create a oneness in the body of Christ. We saw previously that all true Christians will agree on the core doctrines of the faith. It is doctrines like eschatology and soteriology where Christians will disagree but Paul wants to see the body of believers continue to grow together.

The Bible also tells us that we also need to come to the unity in belief in the knowledge of the Son of God. If the body of believers are going to attain unity, it must fully agree on who the Lord Jesus Christ is. We must agree on His deity, sacrifice, bodily resurrection, ascension, virgin birth, miraculous powers, and the return of Christ for His people. If the body of believers cannot agree on all these core beliefs about the Lord Jesus, then there can be no unity in the body. When the Bible speaks of the body, it speaks only of those who are truly born again, for there can be no unbelievers in the body of Christ. There is no such thing as a “saved unbeliever.” There are religious unbelievers but not saved unbelievers.

Then the Bible says that there should be unity in the body of believers as unto a mature or complete man. This means that the goal of the body of believers should be unity as one man. “And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.” (Ezra 3:1) The idea of “one man” is that all parts of the body will work in concert with each other. The way the body of Christ is acting on earth is the left arm is punching the eye, the right arm is pulling the ear, the left leg is kicking the rump, and the right leg is kicking the stomach with the knee, etc. In other words, the way the body of Christ is now, it seems each part is working against the other parts. We should thank God that He is accomplishing His plans on earth despite us!

The goal is to grow fully into the fulness of Christ. The word “fulness” in this verse carries with it the meaning of “fulfillment or completion.” Our goal on earth is to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. The word “stature” is used as a measuring word. A person can be of small stature like Zacchaeus but the word is now being used in reference to the stature of the fulness of Christ. The Christian is to grow as fully as they can in the Lord and the goal is to be as Christ is, that is, to have our spiritual lives grown in full maturity.

Eph 4:14
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

Children - Infants
To and Fro - Being carried about
Sleight - (kubeia) - Gambling Cubes (dice) - Trickery
Craftiness - Shrewdness, subtlety, skill
Whereby they lie in wait - Systematizing or method
To deceive - Delude or error - Basically a straying

Here are the reasons that we are to come to the fulness of Christ and why we are to strive for maturity in the faith:

1) Children are easily captivated by the sensational and are easily targets for those who have devious plans. If we have grown in the faith and have matured, then we will no longer be as naïve children, instead we will have fully formed spiritual faculties.

2) To and Fro - This means that the unsuspecting or immature Christian can be carried about by every doctrine they encounter. If their spiritual abilities are stunted in growth, then they will be prey for every false doctrine that comes along. A child may accept candy from someone and not realize there is poison in the middle but an adult will not accept any food except from people they know or have a reputation of trust.

3) We are now being warned as to what we can expect from the type of people who will try and derail us. The first type are those who use trickery. This is an interesting Greek word where we derive our word “cube” from. One of the biggest gambling devices ever invented was dice. Never enter a private dice game or you may be subjected to playing with loaded dice which means you are being tricked into losing your money.

4) Then we have the shrewd person who always seems to have the answer. They are like the silver-tongued salesman who sells you what you did not want to buy. They have skill at what they do and so does the false teacher who wants you to follow them. They may use the Bible but manipulate verses to make it fit to their own teachings. It will sound palatable but if you go behind the teachings and dig deeper you will find a quagmire of false gospel.

5) Then you have the people who systematize their teachings to try and give it credibility. They will link together many verses and try to create a stream of thinking which sounds good but in reality is false teaching. Their system will always produce a false result. If a person is not grown or growing in the faith, they might have a hard time distinguishing between the true and the false.

6) Then you have the people who will delude you into believing that they are something when they are not and that they have a viable teaching to offer. Be very careful of those people, including Christians, who feel they have found something new in the Scriptures. It is these people that will cause a great straying from the core belief of Christianity.

Eph 4:15
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

Now based upon what we have heard we are to speak the truth in love. Unfortunately, too many Christians equate biblical love with wavering emotional love. It is also true that many Christians would rather lie to one another than speak the truth. The love that God has in view is not the Hollywood emotional love but it is the love of God which is the fruit of the Spirit in the believer. The love of God, when ruling in the believer’s life, will cause us to speak the truth and speaking the truth, no matter how hard it is, is always love. Now we do not have to deliver the truth in a mean or arrogant manner. We walk in love and that love is the obedience to God’s commands. “And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. {6} And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.” (2 John 1:5-6)

When we look at the above verses, how then do we walk in love? Walking in love is walking or living according to the commandments of God. When we are engaging in a false gospel, we are no longer walking in the love of God. We have now traded the love of God for an intellectual love which will cause us to stray worse and worse with every false theory being sent our way.

The goal of the believer is to grow up into the fulness of Christ and to be a mature Christian. Some have stunted their growth because they have allowed Satan to enter their thought patterns with false teachings. The definite sign of Christian maturity is that we are able to spot a religious counterfeit and to rebuke them if possible, especially when we see them drawing people after themselves in error. Paul also reminds his readers that Christ is the head of the church. He does this to halt the possibility of a false teacher claiming lordship over the flock of God and claiming to be head. False teachers love to exalt themselves as having new insights and the ability to do the interpretation for their followers. While we are to respect true Christian leaders, they are never to be respected or revered above Christ, who is their head as well as ours.

Eph 4:16
From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Fitly Joined Together - Joined and knit together
Compacted - To unite or bring together
Edifying - Building up

This verse continues the final thought from verse 15 about the Lord Jesus Christ. It is He who joined the body of believers together and united us in Him. This makes the body of Christ, as we saw in the prior verse, as one man. Every part of the body is working in concert with Christ as the head. Paul compares the body of Christ with the human body and how it functions. The human body continues to grow until it reaches a point of maturity. When it reaches maturity, it then only needs maintenance and repairs. This is akin to those who are mature in the faith that need to continue to study the Bible so their proper biblical understanding will be maintained.

The body of Christ is fit together by the means of each Christian receiving a spiritual gift or gifts. “But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.” (1 Corinthians 12:11) Each spiritual gift when used properly will increase the body of Christ as we read where the Scripture says, “to the effectual working in the measure of every part.” This portion of Scripture teaches us that we are to use those spiritual gifts which we have received. Just think if every Christian who had the gift of teaching would employ it, how much real biblical materials we would have which would help increase the strength and influence of the body of Christ.

We see that word measure again and it means that every Christian is to utilize their spiritual gift in the measure it was given to them, which is in proportion to their power that every part of the body must labor for the good of the rest of the body. This way when the whole body is being utilized, then no one is bearing excessive burden and no one is being lazy and not doing their part. The problem is that it is easier to sit down and listen to a CD rather than hitting the study desk. When all Christians work in concert, then that is when the body of Christ continues to increase. All one needs to do is look at the time immediately after the Reformation and one will see how the power of Rome was almost totally broken in Europe. Why? Because those whom God appointed to be teachers, went and proclaimed the true Gospel and the people started to come out of the Dark Ages and ridding themselves of superstition. When the body of Christ works together, a bond of love forms between those who work together. This is just an aside, I have known and heard many couples who have become married when they met working on some type of project. The goal of every Christian is to help increase the body of Christ. Unfortunately the body of Christ suffers from Cancer. That cancer is false doctrines seeping in and causing sickness in the body.

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