Ephesians 4.16a-Jesus Christ is the Source of Spiritual Growth for the Believer
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday April 10, 2025
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:16a-Jesus Christ is the Source of Spiritual Growth of the Believer
Lesson # 246
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. 15 Instead, on the basis of each and every one of us as a corporate unit making it our habit of practicing the truth by means of the practice of divine-love, let all of us without exception grow with respect to every area of our character into the state of being like Him, namely, Christ, who is the head. 16 From whom, each and every member of the body does get fitted together, yes does get united together through the function of each and every ligament, which provide support for the purpose of working. Simultaneously, in proportion to each individual part belonging to the body does cause itself to grow for the purpose of building one another up by means of the practice of divine-love. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 4:16 continues the body metaphor from Ephesians 4:15 and the use of physiological terminology.
This is the fourth time that Paul employs this metaphor to describe the church (cf. Eph. 1:23; 2:16; 4:4).
Like the human body, the church has diversity among its members (R. 12:4 f.; 1 C. 12:12 f.).
Christ is said to be the head of the Body (Eph. 1:22; 4:15; 5:23; Col. 1:18; 2:19) and each church age believer is a member of His body (Rm. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:27).
Ephesians 4:16 completes the second major section of chapter four and which section began in Ephesians 4:7.
This section discusses the diversity of spiritual gifts in the body of Christ.
Specifically, it discusses the importance of the function of the communication gifts of apostleship, prophecy and teaching in relation to not only the spiritual growth of the members of the body of Christ but also in relation to providing them the capacity to function in their spiritual gifts.
In fact, this section teaches that the believer’s service to the body of Christ and the Lord Himself is in direct proportion to their spiritual growth.
Ephesians 4:16 is composed of two assertions:
(1) ex hou pan to sōma synarmologoumenon kai symbibazomenon dia pasēs haphēs tēs epichorēgias kat energeian (ἐξ οὗ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα συναρμολογούμενον καὶ συμβιβαζόμενον διὰ πάσης ἁφῆς τῆς ἐπιχορηγίας κατ ἐνέργειαν), “From whom, each and every member of the body does get fitted together, yes does get united together through each and every ligament, which provide support for the purpose of working.”
(2) en metrō henos hekastou merous tēn auxēsin tou sōmatos poieitai eis oikodomēn heautou en agapē (ἐν μέτρῳ ἑνὸς ἑκάστου μέρους τὴν αὔξησιν τοῦ σώματος ποιεῖται εἰς οἰκοδομὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ), “Simultaneously, in proportion to each individual part belonging to the body does cause itself to grow for the purpose of building one another up by means of the practice of divine-love.”
The first assertion is composed of the declarative statement pan to sōma synarmologoumenon kai symbibazomenon dia pasēs haphēs tēs epichorēgias (πᾶν τὸ σῶμα συναρμολογούμενον καὶ συμβιβαζόμενον διὰ πάσης ἁφῆς τῆς ἐπιχορηγίας), “each and every member of the body does get fitted together, yes does get united together through each and every ligament, which provide support.”
It is modified by the prepositional phrases ex hou (ἐξ οὗ), “from whom” and katʼ energeian (κατʼ ἐνέργειαν), “for the purpose of working.”
Therefore, the first assertion states that from Christ Himself as the source, each member of the body of Christ does get fitted, yes does get united together through the function of each ligament, which provides the members of this body with support, which is for the purpose of service and which service is Christian service.
This support is the communication of the Word of God.
These ligaments are those with the communication of gifts of apostleship, prophecy and teaching.
As we noted, the function of the gift of evangelism benefits the members of unregenerate humanity.
Therefore, this first assertion teaches that the function of the communication gifts is to enable the members of the body of Christ to serve each other and the Lord through the function of their spiritual gift.
It teaches that members of the body of Christ are able to identify their spiritual gift and function in this gift to serve each other as a result of the function of the communication gifts of apostleship, prophecy and teaching.
Their function is to provide the Word of God to the members of the body of Christ which is their spiritual food.
The prepositional phrase ex hou (ἐξ οὗ), “from whom” indicates that Jesus Christ is “the source from which” the members of the body of Christ grow spiritually and is the link between the contents of Ephesians 4:15 and the contents of Ephesians 4:16 and it thus continues and develops the body metaphor begun in Ephesians 4:15.
The contents of Ephesians 4:16 indicates that this prepositional phrase indicates that the person of Christ is in not only source of spiritual growth of the individual members of the body and as a corporate unit but also in control of that growth just as the head of the human body controls the individual members of the human body.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the source of the spiritual growth of individual members of the body of Christ and consequently the spiritual growth of the body in a corporate sense because He delegated the communication gifts to communicate the Word of God to the members of the body of Christ.
He is the source of growth because He is the living Word whose written Word has been put in writing with perfect accuracy through the human authors of Scripture by the Holy Spirit.
Also, each member of the body of Christ has been given the new nature of Christ through regeneration at justification as well as the permanent indwelling of each member of the Trinity.
Also, each member was placed in union with Jesus Christ and identified with Him in His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the Father’s right hand through the baptism of the Spirit at the moment of justification.
This provides the members of the body of Christ deliverance from eternal condemnation, condemnation from the Law, enslavement to the sin nature and Satan and his cosmic system, personal sins and spiritual and physical death in a positional sense at justification and in a perfective sense in a resurrection body at the rapture of the church.
They experience this deliverance by appropriating by faith this union and identification with Jesus Christ.
Each member has access to God the Father in prayer and receives the answer to their prayers because of the merits of this union and identification.
Therefore, truly Jesus Christ is the source of spiritual growth in each individual member of the body of Christ and the body as a whole.
