Ephesians 4.14a-No Longer a Spiritual Child
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday March 25, 2025
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:14a-No Longer a Spiritual Child
Lesson # 239
Ephesians 4:11 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 13 until each and every one of us as a corporate unit attains to experiencing the unity produced by obedience to the one and only Christian faith. Correspondingly, until all of us without exception attains to the unity produced by an experiential knowledge of God’s Son. Until each and every one of us as a corporate unit attains to experiencing a mature man. Until all of us without exception attains to experiencing proportionately to the full stature of the one and only Christ’s character. 14 In order that each of us as a corporate unit would no longer be children. Specifically, those who are tossed back and forth by waves so as to be carried about from place to place by means of every wind, that is teaching by means of the trickery produced by certain members of the human race because of craftiness according to their program which is characterized by that which produces deception. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 4:14 is composed of the following:
(1) hina (ἵνα) purpose clause: hina mēketi ōmen nēpioi (ἵνα μηκέτι ὦμεν νήπιοι), “In order that each of us as a corporate unit would no longer be children.” (Author’s translation)
(2) Attributive participial clause: klydōnizomenoi kai peripheromenoi panti anemō tēs didaskalias (κλυδωνιζόμενοι καὶ περιφερόμενοι παντὶ ἀνέμῳ τῆς διδασκαλίας), “Specifically, those who are tossed back and forth by waves so as to be carried about from place to place by means of every wind, that is teaching.” (Author’s translation)
(3) prepositional phrase: en tē kybeia tōn anthrōpōn (ἐν τῇ κυβείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων), “by means of the trickery produced by certain members of the human race.” (Author’s translation)
(4) prepositional phrase: en panourgia (ἐν πανουργίᾳ), “because of craftiness.” (Author’s translation)
(5) prepositional phrase: pros tēn methodeian tēs planēs (πρὸς τὴν μεθοδείαν τῆς πλάνης), “according to their program which is characterized by that which produces deception.” (Author’s translation)
The conjunction hina (ἵνα) is employed with the subjunctive conjugation of the verb eimi (εἰμί), “we are…to be” in order to form a purpose clause, which indicates the “intention” of the action of the main verb didōmi (δίδωμι), which we noted appears in Ephesians 4:11.
Therefore, this purpose clause indicates “the intention” of the action of the Lord Jesus Christ generously giving the four communication gifts listed in Ephesians 4:11.
As we noted, Ephesians 4:12 presents the first purpose for the Lord doing this, namely for the purpose of equipping the members of the body of Christ in order that they might perform the work of service and in turn build up the members of this body.
Now, here in Ephesians 4:14, we have the second purpose of the Lord giving these communication gifts.
Namely, that the members of the body of Christ would no longer be spiritual children.
Paul then describes being a spiritual child as being like a ship tossed back and forth by waves so as to be carried about from place to place.
The means by which this takes place is described by Paul as every wind, that is teaching.
He then elaborates on this by asserting that it is by means of the trickery produced by certain members of the human race that the believer is unstable spiritually and lacking in direction.
These unidentified members of the human race are false teachers according to what follows.
Next, Paul presents the reason why these false teachers employ trickery to deceive members of the body of Christ.
He asserts that it is because of their craftiness, which is according to their program which is characterized by that which produces deception.
So therefore, as many expositors have notice, Ephesians 4:12 presents the “positive” purpose for which the Lord Jesus Christ generously giving these four communication gifts listed in Ephesians 4:11.
On the other hand, the contents of Ephesians 4:14 present the “negative” purpose for which the Lord gave these gifts.
The verb eimi (εἰμί) pertains to possessing a certain characteristic, which is identified by the adjective nēpios (νήπιος), “children,” which is used in a figurative sense of a Christian who is spiritually immature in contrast to one who is spiritually mature.
The referent of the first person plural form of this verb is Paul and the recipients of the epistle, who we noted were Gentile church age believers with Paul representing the Jewish wing of the church.
In a broader sense, it speaks of the entire Christian community throughout the Roman Empire.
This word is not only used to refer to the Christian community as a corporate unit but is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.
Therefore, the first person plural form of this verb is viewing the members of the body of Christ not only as a corporate unit or community but also as individuals.
This eimi (εἰμί) is negated by the negative adverb of time meketi (μηκέτι), which means “no longer” since the word pertains to the extension of time up to a point but not beyond.
The adjective nēpios (νήπιος), “children” functions as a predicate nominative, which means it is making an assertion of members of the Christian community, namely they would no longer possess the characteristic of being spiritually children who are spiritually immature.
The adjective nēpios (νήπιος), “children” presents a contrast with the adjective teleios (τέλειος), “mature,” which appears in Ephesians 4:13, which we noted speaks of a Christian being spiritually mature as a result of making it their habit of adhering to authoritative instruction from the gospel or sound doctrine.
The word speaks of a Christian who has arrived at spiritual adulthood and thus speaks of a Christian who has become like Jesus Christ in their thoughts, words and actions.
