THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians
Message Four—The Intrinsic Building Up of the Organic Body of Christ
Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:7-16
I. The intrinsic building up of the organic Body of Christ is by the giving, the dispensing, of the divine grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ—Eph. 4:7:
A. Every member of the Body of Christ is an indispensable gift to the Body— 1 Cor. 12:14-22; Rom. 12:4-5.
B. The gift of Christ is a person constituted with Christ’s life and element dispensed into him by the Divine Trinity—cf. 2 Cor. 1:15.
C. Each gifted person has a measure, and the divine grace is given, dispensed, into him according to that measure—Eph. 4:16; cf. Rom. 12:3.
II. The intrinsic building up of the organic Body of Christ is by the giving of the gifted persons, such as apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers, who are constituted by the dispensing of the Divine Trinity, by Christ as the Head in His ascension (including His resurrection), into the Body of Christ—Eph. 4:8-12; Acts 2:24, 27; 1:9:
A. Ephesians 4:8 says, “Having ascended to the height, He led captive those taken captive and gave gifts to men”:
1. “Height” in the quotation from Psalm 68:18 refers to Mount Zion, symbolizing the third heaven, where God dwells—Psa. 68:15-16; 1 Kings 8:30.
2. Psalm 68 implies that it was in the ark that God ascended to Mount Zion after the ark had won the victory; this portrays how Christ has won the victory and ascended triumphantly to the heavens.—Num. 10:35.
3. Through His universal traffic and in His ascension, Christ led as captives those who had been taken captive by Satan and made them gifts to His Body—Eph. 4:8-11:
a. The redeemed saints had been taken captive by Satan before they were saved by Christ’s death and resurrection—cf. Luke 4:18.
b. In His ascension Christ led them captive; that is, He rescued them from Satan’s captivity and took them to Himself—Psa. 68:18.
c. In His ascension Christ led them to the heavens as His captives in His train of vanquished foes and made them gifts to His Body.
d. Now Christ is celebrating His triumph over them, His vanquished foes, and leading them as His captives in a triumphal procession in His move for His ministry to build up His Body—2 Cor. 2:14.
B. The more Christ ascends and descends within us, capturing and vanquishing us, the more He fills us with Himself to constitute us as gifts to His Body—cf. Eph. 4:9-10.
III. The intrinsic building up of the organic Body of Christ is by the gifted persons’ perfecting of the saints in the divine dispensing, that all the saints may be able to do the work of the New Testament ministry, that is, to build up the Body of Christ—Eph. 4:11-12:
A. The gifted persons perfect the saints by nourishing them according to the tree of life with the life supply for their growth in life—Gen. 2:9; 1 Cor. 3:2, 11:3; Eph. 5:23, 1:22, 10, 6.
B. The gifted persons perfect the saints to do what they do for the direct building of the Body of Christ—Matt. 16:18; Eph. 4:11-12; cf. 1 Tim. 1:16; 4:12:
1. The apostles perfect the saints by visiting the churches, by writing epistles to the churches, and by assigning their co-workers to stay in certain places to perfect the saints —Acts 15:36, 40-41; 20:20, 31; Col. 4:16; 1 Cor. 1:2; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; 3:15; Titus 3:5.
2. The prophets perfect the saints by teaching them to speak the Lord into people, by speaking in the meetings to set up a model, and by helping the saints to live a prophesying life by being revived every morning and overcoming every day—Acts 13:1; 1 Cor. 14:31; Prov. 4:18.
3. The evangelists perfect the saints by stirring them up to be burning in the gospel-preaching spirit, by teaching them with the gospel truths, by training them to preach the gospel, by helping the saints to be equipped with the power of the economical Spirit, and by setting an example of loving the sinners and praying for them—2 Tim. 4:5.
4. The shepherd-teachers perfect the saints by shepherding—feeding and nourishing the young saints and teaching the growing saints—Acts 11:25-26; 13:1.
C. The result of this perfecting is that we will all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, and at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ—Eph. 4:13; cf. John 17:23.
D. This perfecting will cause us to be no longer babes tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to the Satanic system of error—Eph. 4:14.
IV. The intrinsic building up of the organic Body of Christ is by the direct building by all the members—into the Head and out from the Head:—Eph. 4:15-16:
A. In order to be built up, we must hold to truth in love, growing up into the Head, Christ, in all things—Eph. 4:15:
B. Out from the Head, in the divine dispensing, all the Body is joined closely together through every joint of the rich supply and knit together, interwoven, through the operation in measure of each one part—Eph. 4:16.
C. The joints supplying and the parts functioning cause the growth of the Body, in the dispensing of the Divine Trinity, unto the building up of the Body itself in the divine love—Eph. 4:16:
1. All the Body causes the growth of the Body—cf. 1 Cor. 14:4b, 31.
2. The Body builds itself up in the divine love, with which God and Christ love us and by which we love Christ and the fellow members of His Body—John 17:23, 26; 13:34; 15:12-17; 1 John 3:14; 4:8, 19; 1 Cor. 8:1.
Ministry Excerpts:
Ephesians 4:7 says, “But to each one of us was given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” Concerning the Body, all the basic elements are one. This is covered in verses 4 through 6, where we have one Body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father. Although the basic elements of the Body are one, the gifts, or the functions, are many and varied. The word “but” at the beginning of verse 7 brings out this contrast between the oneness of the Body and the variety of the gifts or functions.
GRACE ACCORDING TO THE GIFT
Verse 7 says that each one of us has been given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Here grace is given according to the gift, but in Romans 12:6 gifts differ according to grace. Grace actually is the divine life that both produces and supplies the gifts. In Romans 12 it is the grace that produces the gift. Thus, the gift is according to grace. In Ephesians 4 it is grace that supplies the gift. Hence, here the grace is according to the gift, according to the measure of the gift. Grace according to the measure of the gift can be compared to our blood, which supplies the members of our body according to their size. The measure of the gift of Christ is the size of a member of His Body.
CHRIST GIVING GIFTS TO MEN
Verse 8 continues, “Wherefore He says, Having ascended to the height, He led captive those taken captive and gave gifts to men.” “Height” in the quotation of Psalm 68:18 refers to Mount Zion (Psa. 68:15-16), symbolizing the third heaven where God dwells (1 Kings 8:30). Psalm 68 implies that it was in the ark that God ascended to Mount Zion after the ark had led the way to victory.
Verse 1 of Psalm 68 is a quotation of Numbers 10:35. This indicates that the background of Psalm 68 is God’s move in the tabernacle with the ark as its center. The ark was a clear type of Christ. Wherever the ark went, the victory was won. Eventually this ark ascended triumphantly to the top of Mount Zion. This portrays how Christ has won the victory and ascended triumphantly to the heavens.
“Those” in verse 8 refers to the redeemed saints who had been taken captive by Satan before they were saved by Christ’s death and resurrection. In His ascension Christ led them captive; that is, He rescued them from Satan’s captivity and took them to Himself. This indicates that He has conquered and overcome Satan, who had captured them by sin and death.
The Amplified New Testament renders “He led a train of vanquished foes” for “He led captive those taken captive.” “Vanquished foes” may refer to Satan, to his angels, and to us the sinners, also indicating Christ’s victory over Satan, sin, and death. In His ascension there was a procession of these vanquished foes as captives from a war for a celebration of Christ’s victory.
“Gifts” here does not refer to the abilities or enablements for varied services, but to the various gifted persons in verse 11—apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. After conquering and rescuing them from Satan and death through His own death and resurrection, Christ in His ascension made the rescued sinners themselves such gifts with His resurrection life and gave them to His Body for its building up.
Verses 9 and 10 are a parenthesis. This means that verse 11 is the continuation of verse 8. Verse 8 says that Christ gave gifts to men, and verse 11 says that He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers. “Each one” in verse 7 refers to every member of the Body of Christ, each of whom has received a general gift, whereas the four kinds of gifted persons mentioned in verse 11 are those who have been endued with a special gift. As we shall see, these are the leading apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. As followers, we all can be such gifts to the Body.
CHRIST FILLING ALL THINGS
By descending and ascending, Christ also cut the way that He might fill all things. The thought here is profound. Firstly, Christ was in the heavens. In His incarnation He came down to earth as a man and lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years. Then He died on the cross and descended into Hades, ascended in resurrection from Hades to earth, and then ascended to the third heaven. By means of such a traffic of descending and ascending, He fills all things. Now Christ is everywhere, on the earth as well as in the heavens.
CAPTURED BY CHRIST
More than nineteen centuries ago we were captured by Christ and put into His train of captives. As those who have been captured by Him, we have no way to escape. Although we have never seen the Lord Jesus, we have no choice but to believe in Him because we have been captured by Him. Now that we are in His train, we cannot get away from Him. Not only have we been captured by Christ, but He has also presented us to the Father. After beholding us with great appreciation, the Father returned us to the Son as gifts. In this way we all were made gifts to the Body through Christ’s universal traveling.
In His travels Christ died for our sins and accomplished all things for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. He defeated Satan, and He released us from the enemy’s usurping hand. Once we were Satan’s captives, but now we are Christ’s captives, those who have been led in His train to the height of the universe, presented to the Father, and given back to the Son as gifts to men.
According to the New Testament, we were saved before we were born. When people ask me when I was saved, I sometimes tell them that I was saved more than nineteen hundred years ago, at the time of Christ’s crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. We were redeemed in Christ’s crucifixion, and we were regenerated in His resurrection. Even before Christ put us in His train of captives, we were already saved. By the time He presented us to the Father, we had already been saved and regenerated.
GIFTS TO THE BODY AND TO MAN
Now we can see the steps by which sinners have become gifts to the Body of Christ. These steps include Christ’s incarnation, His human living, His death on the cross, His burial in the tomb, His descent into Hades, His resurrection from among the dead, and His ascension to the heavens to return to the Father. By means of these steps we, the sinners, have become apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. Now we are gifts to men. Wherever the Lord may send us in the days ahead, we shall be sent as gifts to the people there.
Not only the leading apostles and prophets are gifts, but every member of the Body is a gift. For example, my little finger is a gift to my body. It can do something for my body that no other member can do. None of us should regard ourselves as too small to be a gift. Sometimes it is the smallest members who are the most useful and who render the greatest comfort to the Body. Therefore, we all are gifts given by Christ to His Body. Because of Christ’s universal traveling, we are no longer sinners, but sons of God, trophies to the Father, and gifts to the Body.
In Ephesians 4 we see the giving of the gifts, whereas in Psalm 68 we have the receiving of the gifts. According to Psalm 68, the Son received trophies from the Father as gifts. Then in Ephesians 4 the Son gave them all as gifts to the church. We, the saved ones, have been given not only to the church, but even to the whole world. Thus, wherever we may go, we shall be a great blessing to others.
In some of the foregoing messages I have pointed out that all the saints can be today’s apostles and prophets. In this message I would like to point out that we also can be evangelists, those who preach the good news, those who proclaim the glad tidings. As we contact people in our daily living, we need to tell them the good news. If we are faithful to do this, we are evangelists. We are also shepherds and teachers, those who take care of others and instruct them in the way of the Lord and in the things concerning God’s economy.
NO CLERGY OR LAITY
Ephesians 4:11 does speak of some apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. Perhaps you are wondering how I can say that all the saints can be such gifts to the Body. The gifts in 4:11 are the leading apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. We, of course, cannot be these leading ones; however, as their followers, we can be the same kind of persons. I certainly do not consider myself an apostle like Paul, who was a leading one. But as a follower of Paul, I do regard myself as one of today’s apostles, today’s sent ones. We all should have such a concept concerning ourselves. We all should be followers of the leading apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. If we are not such followers, we shall fall into a great heresy—the heresy of a clergy-laity system. We shall make the leading ones the clergy, and the followers will become the laymen. But in the church, the Body of Christ, there is no such thing as either clergy or laity. As gifts to the Body, we all are apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. As gifts given by Christ to the Body and to all mankind, we can be a great blessing to the whole world.
FOR THE PERFECTING OF THE SAINTS
In verse 12 we see the reason for Christ’s giving of the gifts: “For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.” The Greek word rendered “for” in this verse is weighty and significant. It indicates that Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers for the purpose of perfecting the saints. The saints are perfected “unto the work of ministry.” The Greek word translated “unto” means “resulting in.” Therefore, the perfecting of the saints results in the work of ministry. The many gifted persons in verse 11 have only one ministry, that of ministering Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ, the church. This is the unique ministry in the New Testament economy (2 Cor. 4:1; 1 Tim. 1:12). According to the grammatical construction, “the building up of the Body of Christ” is “the work of ministry.” Whatever the gifted persons in verse 11 do as the work of ministry must be for the building up of the Body of Christ.
ARRIVING AT THREE THINGS
Verse 13 continues, “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” According to this verse, the perfected saints will arrive at three things: at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, and at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Christ has a fullness, the fullness has a stature, and the stature has a measure. We must arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We shall cover this matter in a later message. (Life-Study of Ephesians, msg. 38)