Monthly Archives: February 2021

Ephesians 4:14

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So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Verse 14 takes another step in the goal which the body of Christ is growing towards. It is that we be no longer children. God wants His people to grow up in the faith. This verse describes the characteristic of children that we should be growing out of. That is being tossed to and fro by the waves and wind of doctrine.

There are multitudes of doctrines, or teachings out there that have to be evaluated for conformity to the Word of God. We should grow in grace and in our understanding of the Word so that we are not tossed around by every such wind or wave that comes our way.

The false doctrines that we should avoid come from human cunning, craftiness, and deceitful schemes. Many times the people spreading these doctrines are themselves deceived. And so the real source of the wind and waves of false doctrine is Satan himself. He wants to do everything he can to prevent believers from being grounded in the truth.

The best way to avoid this is to be part of, not just an attender of, but part of a biblically based local church, where the elders and pastors equip individual believers to do this ministry of strengthening the body and rooting out false teaching. Besides rooting out false doctrine, there’s the more important step of making sure everyone is grounded in the word so that false teaching won’t even be able to get a foothold.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:14 AM January 27, 2021.

Ephesians 4:13

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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.

In verse 12, we discussed the purpose for which the saints are equipped. It is for the building up of the body of Christ.

Verse 13 gives us the goal, the target. Until we all attain to the unity of the faith. All is a big word in this sentence. The goal is that all of the Christians in the body would attain and be a part of the unity of the faith. That is a huge goal. Unity of faith cannot mean simply being part of the body, because that is true of all real believers. There’s nothing to try to attain. Unity of the faith is a spirit of oneness as opposed to discord and fractured fellowship.

Second, to attain to unity of the knowledge of the Son of God. Knowledge here refers to an experiential knowledge. The goal is that all of us would have a real, vital, and vibrant relationship with the Son of God.

And third, to a mature manhood, which is defined as the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

I don’t know about you, but these goals make me sort of discouraged. But we need to remember that it is the Spirit of Christ that is at work within each believer as He works throughout the body gifting, and fitting each person and motivating each person as the body grows in love and unity. It is God’s work, not ours. But of course, we must cooperate and do our part.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:11 AM January 27, 2021.