Ephesians 4:13

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, ^afor the edifying of ^bthe body of Christ,

13 till we all come to the unity of the faith ^aand of the knowledge of the Son of God, to ^ba perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

14 that we should no longer be ^achildren, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of ^bdeceitful plotting,

15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the ^ahead—Christ—

16 ^afrom whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

The New Man

17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should ^ano longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,

Commentaries:

Barnes' Notes

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Ephesians 4:13

Till we all come - Until all Christians arrive at a state of complete unity, and to entire perfection.

In the unity of the faith - Margin, into. The meaning is, until we all hold the same truths, and have the same confidence in the Son of God; see the notes on John 17:21-23.

And of the knowledge of the Son of God - That they might attain to the satire practical acquaintance with the Son of God, and might thus come to the maturity of Christian piety; see the notes on Ephesians 3:19.

Unto a perfect man - Unto a complete man. This figure is obvious. The apostle compares their condition then to a state of childhood. The perfect man here refers to the man "grown up," the man of mature life. He says that Christ had appointed pastors and teachers that the infant church might be conducted to "maturity;" or become strong - like a man. He does not refer to the doctrine of "sinless perfection" - but to the state of manhood as compared with that of childhood - a state of strength, vigor, wisdom, when the full growth should be attained; see I Corinthians 14:20.

Unto the measure of the stature - Margin, or age. The word "stature" expresses the idea. It refers to the growth of a man. The stature to be attained to was that of Christ. He was the standard - not in size, not in age - but in moral character. The measure to be reached was Christ; or we are to grow until we become like him.

Of the fulness of Christ - see the notes on Ephesians 1:23. The phrase "the measure of the fulness," means, probably, the "full measure" - by a form of construction that is common in the Hebrew writings, where two nouns are so used that one is to be rendered as an adjective - "as trees of greatness" - meaning great trees. Here it means, that they should so advance in piety and knowledge as to become wholly like him.

**Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Ephesians 4:13:**

Zechariah 8:23
Romans 1:11
Romans 13:12
Ephesians 3:19
Ephesians 4:8

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