Ephesians 4.12a-The Equipping of the Saints
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday February 15, 2025
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:12a-The Equipping of the Saints
Lesson # 229
Ephesians 4:7 Now, however, to each one of us grace was given corresponding to the incomparable Christ’s proportionate gracious giving. 8 Therefore, it says, “When he ascended to the highest place, he captured captives. He generously gave gifts to certain members of the human race.” 9 In other words, what is the meaning of the statement, “he ascended?” Namely that, he also descended into the lower regions, which are part of the earth? 10 He, the very one who has descended is the one who also has ascended above each and every one of the heavens in order that He would enter into the state of bringing to completion each and every animate and inanimate object. 11 Therefore, on the one hand, He Himself generously gave some to be apostles but on other hand, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors, specifically, teachers 12 for the purpose of equipping the saints for performing the work of service in order to ultimately build up the members of Christ’s body. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 4:12 is composed of three prepositional phrases:
(1) pros ton katartismon tōn hagiōn (πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων), “for the purpose of equipping the saints” (Author’s translation)
(2) eis ergon diakonias (εἰς ἔργον διακονίας), “for performing the work of service” (Author’s translation)
(3) eis oikodomēn tou sōmatos tou Christou (εἰς οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ), “in order to ultimately build up the members of Christ’s body” (Author’s translation).
Now, in the first prepositional phrase, the articular genitive masculine plural form of the noun adjective hagios (ἅγιος), “the saints” describes all the members of the body of Christ who have been set apart through the baptism of the Spirit at the moment of justification in order to order serve God exclusively.
The baptism of the Spirit resulted in the church age believer being united with and identified with Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the Father’s right hand.
The articular construction of the adjective hagios (ἅγιος) is also monadic indicating that church age believers are a “unique” people on the earth because they are the first group of people in history who are in union with Jesus Christ and identified with Him and members of His body and are His future bride.
Also, in the first prepositional phrase, the noun katartismos (καταρτισμός) speaks of the spiritual gifts of apostleship, prophecy and teaching “equipping” in the sense of training the members of the body of Christ in the Word of God in order that they might function in their spiritual gift.
It functions as an objective genitive, which indicates that the church age believer receives the action of being equipped to use their spiritual gift through the communication of the Spirit inspired Scriptures by the man with the gift of teaching.
The noun katartismos (καταρτισμός) is also the object of the preposition pros (πρός), which functions as a marker of purpose, which indicates the purpose for which the Lord Jesus Christ gave the spiritual gifts of apostleship, prophecy and teaching to certain men in the body of Christ.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase pros ton katartismon tōn hagiōn (πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων) indicates that the Lord Jesus Christ gave the spiritual gifts of apostleship, prophecy and teaching to certain men in the body of Christ “for the purpose of” equipping the saints, i.e., the members of the body of Christ.
In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Paul instructs Timothy as to how he is to equip the saints.
Second Timothy 3:16 Each and every portion of Scripture does possess, as an eternal spiritual truth the characteristic of being God-breathed. Consequently, it does possess, as an eternal spiritual truth the characteristic of being useful for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for training which is related to righteousness. 17 The purpose of which is that the person belonging to God (the Father) would possess the characteristic of being competent, specifically, by equipping for every kind of action which is divine good in quality and character. (Lecturer’s translation)
The first benefit is “teaching,” which refers to that body of doctrine or teaching contained in the Old Testament.
Because of the prominence of heresy among his readers, Paul emphasized the importance of sound teaching.
In commending the Scriptures as a source for teaching, Paul was actually commending the Old Testament as a source of doctrine.
Such doctrines as creation (Gen 1–2), the fall of man (Gen 3), and the nature of the atonement (Isa 53) have a foundational statement in the Old Testament.
The second is “conviction” which pertains to convincing a Christian of their sin through the teaching of the Old Testament Scriptures so that they are compelled to admit their sin resulting in confession and obedience to the Word of God.
The Holy Spirit inspired the Old and New Testament Scriptures and convicts the Christian of sin through instruction from the Scriptures.
Each and every portion of Old Testament Scripture is beneficial for the purpose of convicting the Christian of sin in their life.
The third benefit is “correction” which speaks of causing the Christian to correct sinful attitudes and behavior patterns or lifestyle choices.
Each and every portion of Old Testament Scripture is beneficial for the purpose of correcting the Christian in the sense of causing them to correct sinful attitudes and behavior patterns or lifestyle choices.
The fourth and final purpose and benefit is that “training which is in regards to righteousness,” which refers to the Christian receiving instruction from the Old Testament by their pastor-teacher for the purpose of forming godly behavior habits or producing godly behavior or conduct in the Christian.
It speaks of educating the Christian from the Old Testament regarding the proper godly way to live one’s life in the manner that honors the Lord.
Therefore, each and every portion of Old Testament Scripture is beneficial for the purpose of training the Christian for the purpose of exemplifying godly conduct.
“Righteousness” refers to the Christian practicing God’s righteous by exemplifying God’s integrity and virtue.
It refers to exemplifying Christ-life character which is perfectly sound by practicing righteousness.
It speaks of perfectly adhering to God’s perfect standards, which appear in the gospel.
It denotes doing all that God commands him in the gospel and all that He demands of him in the gospel as His child and all that He approves, and all that He provides through Christ.
This righteousness speaks of fulfilling one’s obligations to God and all people.
The former is loving God with one’s entire being and the latter speaks of loving one’s fellow human being as oneself.
The righteousness of God is produced by the Holy Spirit in the Christian who is obedient to the Word of God.
When the Christian obeys their Old Testament, the Holy Spirit produces this righteousness in the life of the Christian so that they fulfill their obligations to both God and their fellow human beings.
