The Power Of Agreement final
The Power Of Agreement
In Luke 6:40 Jesus speaks of a student’s being “fully trained,” a related adjective in the Greek that also means “complete.” In 1 Corinthians 1:10 the word “complete” is used in the corporate sense (“no divisions among you … but complete”; NIV perfectly united), an emphasis that is compatible with the emphasis here on unity and maturity.
This training or equipping is for “ministry.” Service is the most straightforward translation of the word Paul uses (diakonia). Although it refers to such things as teaching the Scripture and missionary work (as in Acts 6:4; 12:25), in itself it does not have the ecclesiastical overtones it does today
The image of building assumes a discernible point at which the building will be completed. A contractor has the architect’s plans, which show when a building has reached its vertical and horizontal limits. But the building of a body requires a different measure. In physical “body building” the goals are relative: muscle size and tone. The building of an individual or a group of people spiritually, however, requires a still different means of assessment.
Therefore in verse 13* Paul provides the proper yardstick: maturity, which is further defined as the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. This helps our understanding of a word that tends to be obscured in translations, teleios, which can mean perfect or complete. In verse 13 it modifies the word for “man,” and the phrase could be translated a “perfect man,” or a man who is complete. While “maturity” (NRSV) is a possible idiom to represent this, maturity can be a relative term, and we must not lose the sense of a definable goal toward which the church should press.
A good deal of research has gone into assessing what constitutes maturity in various areas of intellectual, social and spiritual life. Knowledge is usually considered a part of maturity, and that is reflected here in verses 13–14. But there is more to maturity than knowledge. One important aspect is the ability to relate well to others and to support one another. Verse 13 combines the ideas of maturity and knowledge with that of unity, already introduced in 2:11–22 and in 4:3–6. All this explains what it means for the body of Christ to be built up.
But these three terms, “maturity,” knowledge and unity, are not abstract idealizations. Each has a specific referent. To take them in the order of verse 13, unity is in the faith. The definite article refers here to faith as a body of doctrine, not to faith as an act of trust
Christians are not called to maintain unity with those who do not hold to the faith, which is, in all the New Testament and early church confessions, linked with the person and work of Christ. But we are called to transcend noncrucial differences (such as mode of baptism, kind of ministry, style of worship) for the sake of unity.
No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors
Apparently there is in Paul’s mind an idea of the wholeness of the church that is our goal. Although we may take this goal as a measure of our own spiritual growth, and although it may remind us of the perfection of Christ himself, the goal is a corporate state. We can measure our own maturing progress by that measure. Individuality comes in when we realize that as long as any of us is a child, easily misled by false doctrine (v. 14), we do not “measure up,” and that corporate goal is not yet reached.
We often grasp the meaning of an idea better when we are confronted with a contrast. Verse 14 provides just that, a picture of immature people who, in a change of metaphor, find themselves floundering in a sailing vessel, lurching back and forth, violently tossed about by wind and waves. (In Jude 13 apostates are “wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame.”) The metaphor changes again as the treacherous winds change from the content of false teaching to the methods: cunning trickery, craftiness and scheming.
The word for infants can mean minors or babies. It signifies the opposite of maturity. The three main terms that follow form an interesting sequence: (1) cunning, (2) craftiness and (3) deceitful scheming. The first denotes dice playing and thus connotes the clever ways a professional gambler tricks an opponent. The second signifies unscrupulous evildoing. Today we might use the metaphor of “dirty pool.” Paul specifically rejected such activity in
The third means scheming in a deceitful way. The word scheming (methodeia), like our English word “manipulation,” can have a positive or negative connotation, but the context indicates the latter.
Speaking the truth in love (v. 15) counters the elements of deceit and evil cited in verse 13 and returns to positive exhortations. The choice is between truth and error, between love and hostile intentions. Truth in Scripture implies dependability and integrity. This is God’s nature, and Jesus, God in human flesh, was “full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14). The words grow up (v. 15) are in contrast with infants in verse 14.
But now the image becomes that of a body and its head. Today we use the word head frequently to refer to the chief executive officer of a corporation, a nation’s leader (“head of state”) and similarly to other leadership positions (head nurse, head waiter and the like). This makes it difficult for us to understand that in ancient Greek literature there were other uses that were not connected with rule or authority. But in verses 15–16 the second of two prepositions used in connection with the imagery of the head is difficult to relate to headship as rulership. In verse 15 we grow up into him, and in verse 16* the growth of the body is from [literally “out of”] him. The latter idea accords with the unusual meaning of head as source.
☐ Step Six in the Fulfillment of God’s Plan: Christian Morality Accomplished Through a Radical Change (4:17–6:9)
Of the three characteristics that Ephesians says should mark Christians, unity, maturity and morality, the third is the most overt and easy to distinguish. A major breach of unity is, of course, visible when it eventuates in a church split, but underlying attitudes between Christians are less easy to observe. Maturity by its nature is gradual; neither maturity nor immaturity is always apparent. Immorality, on the other hand, is often glaring, especially when expressed in gross acts and, sadly, when committed by those in leadership.