Ephesians 4.7b-The Incomparable Christ's Proportionate Grace Giving
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday January 11, 2025
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:7b-The Incomparable Christ’s Proportionate Gracious Giving
Lesson # 214
Ephesians 4:7 Now, however, to each one of us grace was given corresponding to the incomparable Christ’s proportionate gracious giving. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 4:7 is composed of the following:
(1) Declarative statement Heni de hekastō hēmōn edothē hē charis (Ἑνὶ δὲ ἑκάστῳ ἡμῶν ἐδόθη °ἡ χάρις), “Now, however, to each one of us grace was generously given.”
(2) Prepositional phrase kata to metron tēs dōreas tou Christou (κατὰ τὸ μέτρον τῆς δωρεᾶς τοῦ Χριστοῦ), “according to the incomparable Christ’s proportionate generous giving.”
The prepositional phrase in this verse contains the noun metron (μέτρον), “proportionate” pertains to making the parts of something harmonious or symmetrical.
Of course, it is used in relation to spiritual gifts, which were given to each church age believer at the moment of the justification through the work of the Holy Spirit as authorized by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thus, this word is describing these spiritual gifts as “in proportion to” or “proportional” to the incomparable Christ’s generous gift in the sense that they are made harmonious or symmetrical with each other.
In other words, spiritual gifts in the body of Christ are marked by due proportion, that is, they are marked by harmonious relation to each other or to the whole of the body of Christ.
Therefore, this noun metron (μέτρον) emphasizes that each spiritual gift is marked by harmonious or symmetrical relation with the other spiritual gifts given to other members of the body of Christ.
This concept is used by Paul in Romans 12:3 and 1 Corinthians 12:4-11.
The noun metron (μέτρον), “proportionate” appears three times in Ephesians 4:7-16 (4:7, 11, 13).
In fact, the use of this word in verses 11 and 16 form the figure of speech called inclusio, which is a rhetorical device that is also called “book ending” or “bracketing” or “stitching.”
Thus, this word in verses 7 and 16 serves to form a bracket around the contents of Ephesians 4:7-16.
In other words, it forms a book end around this pericope.
The purpose of such device is to mark these verses as a textual unit and to emphasize that every member of the body of Christ has received a spiritual gift at the moment of justification, which is harmonious and symmetrical with other spiritual gifts in the body of Christ.
The prepositional phrase in Ephesians 4:7 also contains the noun dōrea (δωρεά), “generous gift” which pertains to something acquired without compensation in return but also it pertains to being liberal in giving.
In other words, it not only speaks of something voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation but also speaks of being marked by abundance or ample proportions.
In context, it is used of the non-meritorious blessing in the form of a spiritual gift, which is bestowed upon each church age believer without exception at the moment of justification through the work of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:4-11) who was authorized to do so by the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 4:7).
The articular construction of this noun dōrea (δωρεά) is monadic which indicates that this generous gift is in a class by itself in that it was given exclusively to only church age believers at the moment of justification through the work of the Holy Spirit as authorized by the Lord Jesus, which is in accordance with the Father’s will.
The noun dōrea (δωρεά) functions as an attributed genitive which means that it is functioning as an attributive adjective and is thus ascribing an attribute to the noun dōrea (δωρεά), namely, of being “proportionate” to the incomparable Christ’s generous gift.
In other words, these spiritual gifts are marked by due proportion, that is, they are marked by harmonious relation to each other in the body of Christ or to the whole of the body of Christ.
The proper name Christos (Χριστός), which denotes the Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth; thus He is the Deliverer of the human race in three areas through His death, resurrection, ascension and session: (1) Satan (2) Cosmic System (3) Old Sin Nature.
The articular construction of this word means that He is “the one and only Christ” or “the incomparable Christ” and speaks of the incomparability of Jesus of Nazareth in that He is true Messiah and contrast to those who claim they are but are not.
The proper name Christos (Χριστός) functions as a subjective genitive, which means that it functions semantically as the subject of the verbal idea implicit in the head noun, which is the noun dōrea (δωρεά), “generous gift.”
With this type of genitive, the verbal noun can be converted into a verbal form and also turn the genitive into it subject.
The verbal form of this noun dōrea (δωρεά), “generous gift” is the verb didōmi (δίδωμι), which we noted appeared in the previous declarative statement.
The noun metron (μέτρον) is the object of the preposition kata (κατά), which functions as a marker of correspondence indicating being in conformity or agreement with something or in other words, it is marking the agreement of two things.
In context it is marking the agreement of or the correspondence between the prepositional phrase kata to metron tēs dōreas tou Christou (κατὰ τὸ μέτρον τῆς δωρεᾶς τοῦ Χριστοῦ), “according to the incomparable Christ’s proportionate generous giving” and the declarative statement Heni de hekastō hēmōn edothē hē charis (Ἑνὶ δὲ ἑκάστῳ ἡμῶν ἐδόθη °ἡ χάρις), “but to each one of us grace was generously given.”
Specifically, the former corresponds to the latter because both speak of the church age believer receiving something from the Lord Jesus Christ at the moment of justification, namely they received a spiritual gift.
The latter describes it as grace or an unmerited blessing while the former describes it as the result of the incomparable Christ’s generous giving.
Therefore, the declarative statement Heni de hekastō hēmōn edothē hē charis (Ἑνὶ δὲ ἑκάστῳ ἡμῶν ἐδόθη °ἡ χάρις), “but to each one of us grace was generously given” is “in agreement with” the prepositional phrase kata to metron tēs dōreas tou Christou (κατὰ τὸ μέτρον τῆς δωρεᾶς τοῦ Χριστοῦ), “according to the incomparable Christ’s proportionate generous giving.”
Consequently, the grace or unmerited blessing each church age believer was generously given at the moment of justification is “in agreement” with the incomparable Christ’s proportionate generous giving.
In other words, they are “equivalent to” each other or “identical” to each other or “one in the same.”
This interpretation is indicated by the fact that the expression Heni hekastō hēmōn (Ἑνὶ ἑκάστῳ ἡμῶν), “each one of us” corresponds to the articular expression to metron (τὸ μέτρον), “proportionate.”
The latter we noted describes these spiritual gifts as being made harmonious or symmetrical with each other and the former speaks of each church age believer without exception.
In other words, the latter describes these gifts as being marked by due proportion, that is, they are marked by harmonious relation to each other or to the whole of the body of Christ and the former speaks of each member of the body of Christ.
Secondly, the verb didōmi (δίδωμι), “was generously given” is the cognate verb of the noun dōrea (δωρεά), “generous giving.”
Both are referring to giving generously to someone.
Lastly, the nouns charis (χάρις), “grace” and dōrea (δωρεά), “generous gift” express the concept of something that is non-meritorious.
Now, as we noted, in Ephesians 4:1-3, the apostle Paul exhorts the recipients of this epistle to maintain unity with each other experientially through the practice of the command to love one another, which will manifest the love of God in their lives.
Then, in Ephesians 4:4-6, he presents a list of seven essential, fundamental elements
essential, fundamental elements or spiritual realities, which define Christian unity in a positional sense.
They serve as the basis for the exhortation to maintain unity experientially through obedience to the command to love one another as Christ loved the believer.
Next, in Ephesians 4:7-11, Paul presents the means by which the church age believer is to practice the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command to love one another as He has loved the believer.
Namely, they are to practice this command by operating or functioning in their spiritual gift.
In other words, the believer is to practice the love of God by utilizing their spiritual gift for the benefit of their fellow believers.
Just as a car runs on gas or just as a electric car runs on electricity, so the believer’s spiritual gift runs on the love of God when they obey the Lord’s command to love one another as He has loved them.
Paul’s statement in Ephesians 4:7 is echoed by a portion of the contents of 1 Peter 4:10 and specifically the first statement in this verse.
1 Peter 4:10 Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the varied grace of God. (NET)
