Growing Up Into Christ the Head (Ephesians 4:14–16)

The Apostle has just said: here are your guides, here are their works and goals! They must raise you to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. But they are merely pointers; without your own labour they can do nothing for you. So that they may be able to raise you to such a stature, be zealous yourselves to grow up in all things into Christ (Eph. 4:15). This is the chief lesson of these three verses (Eph. 4:14–16). To kindle zeal for this more powerfully, the Apostle first sketches briefly yet fully the bitter state of souls outside the true faith—v. 14. And afterward, in v. 16, he points to the decisive moral necessity of precisely this kind of activity. You have entered into a community where everything comes from Christ. One thing alone remains: either to be in this community and grow up in all things into Christ, or, by not acting thus, to cease to be in this community (Eph. 4:16). The holy Apostle speaks in the name of all people, or of the entire human race, and therefore places himself in the ranks of those being taught and instructed—as is customary in sermons when one says “we.”

Eph. 4:14. That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, in the cunning craftiness of men, in their deceitful scheming.

God has established in the Church persons of order and guidance. For some of them the first task—though not the last for all—is to turn unbelievers to the faith and thereby raise higher and higher and build wider and wider the edifice of the house of God, the Church. This labour must not cease among them until all of us, as human beings, come to believe equally in the Lord Jesus and to know Him—until the entire human race is of one faith. This great act of God’s beneficence toward us, wrought through their mediation, is arranged so that we may no longer be children, no longer be in falsehood, no longer be in cunning scheming. Enough of wandering, of vain agitation, of being the plaything of the enemy’s craftiness. God has taken pity on us, has turned His merciful eye upon us, and delivers us from this disordered life. Let each one confess this mercy; receive the beneficence; and, seeing from what evil you have been delivered, cleave more firmly to the One who delivered you.

Let us recognise in these words a depiction of the state of those outside the faith of Christ, outside communion with the Lord—following blessed Jerome, who, comparing them with the words of the preceding verse, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith,” infers that outside this faith there is nothing but childish inconstancy and storm-tossed agitation. “The question is asked: whom does the Apostle mean by ‘all’ when he says ‘until we all attain to the unity of the faith’: does he mean all people, or only all the saints (that is, the believers)? — It seems to me that he speaks of all people, because among them there are many winds of doctrine, the waves raised by whose breath cast people here and there, drawing them into various errors and into heaven-knows-what directions of life. Therefore, with every care one must take pains to attain the unity of faith and through it the knowledge of the Son of God. When we obtain firm possession of these, we shall cease to be children.”

The Apostle says: “no longer.” Consequently, they were so before. “By this expression he indicates that they had once been such” (holy Chrysostom). And where were the Ephesians before faith? — In paganism. Paganism was precisely this. Today the same applies to all unbelievers. Outside the true faith there are no definite conceptions of anything—everything is shaky, everything is shaken by doubts. When someone believes, his conceptions become settled. The divine authority of revelation sets its seal upon them. But until then the unbeliever rocks like a light skiff on sea-waves, and is carried here and there like light down on the wind. “Carried about” — περιφερομενοι— being borne this way and that. Every wind of doctrine is outside the Church. There is no unity there: one says one thing, another says another, and the unbeliever does not know what to cling to. Everywhere semblances of truth present themselves to him; he attaches himself now to one teaching, now to another. Since none of them contains the truth, none of them gives him rest. The holy Chrysostom says: “The Apostle used this comparison (of being tossed by every wind) wishing to show what danger every soul committed to doubt is in.” By the winds of doctrines one cannot understand the disagreements within the Church, for these did not yet exist; rather one should understand the pagan opinions that circulated in Ephesus under the banner of all kinds of schools. But in our time this can be applied to all who are outside the true faith and the Church, including heterodox Christians.

“In the cunning craftiness of men” — Εν τη κυβεια των ανθρωπων. “Κυβεια derives from a verb meaning to play at dice” (Theodoret). Κυβευται is the name given to those who play chess. “These are crafty people. They keep moving and shifting everything” (holy Chrysostom). So to be in the cunning craftiness εν τη κυβεια will mean either to be a plaything of human craftiness, or to be oneself engaged in such play—that is, to be carried away by empty vanity, to give oneself over to chance, to act on a whim, having no fixed rules of life, but drifting along according to established human customs. Judging by the fact that being tossed childishly by winds of doctrine means also accepting these doctrines, one must recognise that being “in the cunning craftiness of men” — εν τη κυβεια των ανθρωπων — means for the Apostle also to be oneself acting according to the character of action common to all people, which may rightly be called a game. All chase after fortune by chance; they bustle about in their pursuits, chase illusory goals, live in inconstancy, without definite and reliable hopes. Such is life without Christ; even among Christians who have no Christianity in their hearts, it is such. It is from this kind of life, says the Apostle, that faith delivers us—faith that the Lord has ordained, instituted persons of grace to preach, to convert to, and to hold in it, so that we may no longer be as we were. The holy Chrysostom also says at this expression: “The Apostle has here touched on worldly customs.” If “that we should no longer be children” corresponds to what was said before—“until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God”—then “that we should no longer be in the cunning craftiness of men” — εν κυβεια… — must be recognised as corresponding to the words “to a perfect man.” The activity of a perfect man—by firm principles, by reliable plans with considered aims—is precisely the opposite of the vanity and emptiness of worldly life.

“In deceitful scheming,” ´Εν πανουργια προς την μεθοδειαν της πλανης. Πανουργια— all-villainy, all-encompassing, unceasing craftiness that stops at no means. Its aims — προς μεθοδειαν (Μεθοδεια — circuitous stratagems, wiles, snares; Πλανη — deceit, seduction)—are to draw someone into vice, or error, or a life-mistake. Πανουργια— all-villainy employs every stratagem, cunning, and trap in order to deceive, to confuse, to seduce and draw on toward evil. The Apostle says that, so that we may no longer be in such a state or under such wiles, the Lord established the wondrous faith and calls to it through His chosen ones. But here two thoughts are possible. Either the Apostle here has in view that part of the unbelievers who live according to the spirit of the world and have reached the extreme degree of moral depravity—not merely remaining in evil themselves, but having become the directors of evil in their circle, the ringleaders of others on this path. This is the ultimate degree of sin, when a person becomes satanic and begins to work for Satan in the midst of people. So that we ourselves may not act in such a spirit, or be entangled in the snares of others who so act, God gave us the holy Christian faith and called us into it. Or perhaps what is meant here is Satan himself—the source of all villainy, all wiles, and all seductions. The Apostle has gathered here such terms as suggest the thought of Satan, under whose authority and influence all those who are outside Christ the Lord are subject. In that case the Apostle’s meaning will be: the Lord established the holy Christian faith, calls to it and holds people in it through certain persons—for the very purpose of delivering us from the dark power of the primordial all-villain, the devil, who with his all-encompassing villainy ensnares all and holds all in his delusion, under appearances. Thus blessed Theodoret understood it: “By ‘deceitful scheming’ he named the cunning means. For the devil does not openly command adultery, but either ensnares through the eyes, or takes captive through the hearing; he does not openly urge apostasy from God, but makes people resort to augury by birds, to omens, to the use of protective amulets.” Agreeing with this, and at the same time with the fact that the first two thoughts of this verse correspond to the first two thoughts of the preceding verse, we are naturally led to infer that this too—that we should no longer be “in deceitful scheming”—corresponds to “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Just as outside Christ, under the action of Satan, those given over to sin become satanic—so in the faith of Christ, faithful to Christ’s guidance, they become Christlike, are filled with Christ, and have Him dwelling within them.

Such, the Apostle says as it were, are the evils from which we have been delivered; and although he speaks of this as a consequence of the God-established guides in the Church attaining the goals for which they were appointed—yet in such a way as to convey: you have been delivered! See, then, that you do not return to the old ways; but, confessing the beneficence and sensing its fruits within yourselves, cleave with all your hearts to the One by whom you were delivered. What exactly must be done?

Eph. 4:15. But, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ.

“Speaking the truth in love” may be taken as expressing one thought: having true, sincere, genuine love. So Theodoret: “This the Apostle said also in the epistle to the Romans: ‘Love without hypocrisy’ (Rom. 12:9), and in the epistle to the Corinthians: ‘in sincere love’ (2 Cor. 6:6). So here he commands us to have true love and by it to increase the treasure of virtue in the Master Himself. For it is said: every branch in Me that bears no fruit is taken away and cast into the fire (Jn. 15:2).” — But one may also separate the two, understanding by “speaking the truth”—holding to the truth, and by “in love”—abiding, or living, in love. — Such a separation is glimpsed in Oecumenius and Theophylact, who, contrasting non-Christian life with Christian life, say that in the former there is nothing true—everything is semblance and falsehood—whereas among us there is truth and love alone. “We speak truth in dogmas, in life, and in word” (Oecumenius). “We no longer hold to false dogmas, we no longer live in hypocrisy (for here he seems to be giving them lessons for life)” (Theophylact). Accepting this distinction, we obtain: “speaking the truth”—standing in the truth, as those who have received faith and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and are no longer tossed about by every wind of doctrine; “in love”—together with truth, also abiding in works of love, by which one comes to the stature of a man and gives evidence of the maturity of a character established in its principles—in contrast to non-Christians living in vanity, empty fussiness, and mutual craftiness.

To speak truth and to abide in love might seem sufficient, but the Apostle adds: speaking the truth in love, let us grow up in all things into Christ—that is, let us order everything within ourselves: our own person, all our powers and functions, according to the spirit of Christ and grow into His measure; whereas, in contrast, non-Christians act according to the spirit of Satan and grow themselves into his measure—the measure of the all-wicked trickster. Oecumenius expresses the growth of all things into Christ thus: “all that is ours: both life, and word, and dogmas—let us build up in Christ (superstructed upon Christ).” Theophylact: “Let us grow into Christ all that is ours—both life and dogmas. For with Him, as our head, we must harmonise everything of ours, so as to introduce nothing discordant or inharmonious with the head, but to have everything grown in conformity with Him.” The holy Damascene: “Let all of us attain such a height as to be harmonised (harmonically joined) with Christ, our head.”

Holding to truth and advancing in works of love is only preparation of a dwelling for Christ the Lord. One must seek that He take up His abode and dwell in this house. This will come about when everything within us is in accord with Christ, when nothing alien to Him remains. To this end we clothe ourselves in Christ from the very beginning, and then act in Christ—receiving impulses from Him, turning everything to His glory, and acting after His example. Acting in this spirit gradually brings one into accord with Christ and makes Him dwell ever more deeply within us. When, by the labour of ascetic struggle and good works, everything alien to Christ is driven out—and, on the contrary, everything is ordered according to Him, since He Himself is the all-effecting agent here—then, together with the fact that everything proves to have grown up into Christ, He will prove to fill us entirely and to dwell within us. But for this to be so, for the end to be crowned with such success, everything must from the very beginning be directed toward Christ, lest labour be in vain. For the Lord says: “he who does not gather with Me scatters” (Lk. 11:23). Many people can be met who speak fittingly and are blameless in life, yet are empty of Christ—because they do not grow up in all things into Him and live without having Him even in their thoughts. It is from precisely this danger that the Apostle wishes to deliver us, saying as it were: everything among you must accord with Christ’s purpose, by His power, for His glory. Only in that case will you attain the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Eph. 4:16. From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, according to the working of each individual part in its measure, produces the body’s growth for the building up of itself in love.

He wishes to say: it cannot be otherwise; one must necessarily grow up all things in oneself into Christ—for such is our faith. The Christian faith unites the faithful with Christ, and in this way constitutes from all a single, well-ordered body. Christ makes this body, imparting Himself to each and bestowing upon him the Spirit of grace efficaciously and perceptibly, so that this Spirit of grace, descending upon each, makes him what he ought to be in the body of Christ’s Church. The body of Christ, being fittingly joined together by this bestowal of the Spirit, then grows within itself, in proportion to the degree that each member answers to his calling or acts for the good of the Church with the full measure of the gift of grace he has received: “according to the working of each individual part in its measure.” The body of Christ thus grows and builds itself up through the purposeful mutual action of all members or parts. The force that everywhere draws all toward labours of this kind is love—love for the Lord, with whom each is united and from whom each receives the gift of grace, and love for all other Christians, so as to return to the Lord through them what has been received from Him. In this lies the circulation of the life of the body of Christ, in which everything proceeds from Him and everything returns to Him. This last point is what the Apostle wished to say—namely, that it is necessary to grow up all things into Christ, for the Christian faith is such that in it all believers constitute a single body under Christ as head, and, receiving everything from Him, must return everything to Him through loving mutual action upon one another, according to the measure of the powers received from Christ the Lord.

It would have been simpler to say: from whom the body produces its growth; but the Apostle said “the body… produces the body’s growth,” because many intermediate thoughts had been inserted and it was possible to lose track of who produces this growth. The first added words—“joined and knit together fittingly”—point to the characteristic feature of an organism, in which several organs, each in its place with its particular function, are harmonically combined into one and accomplish what makes the body live. In this way the Lord fittingly joins together His body—the Church. What is distinctive here in comparison with material organisms is that in these the life-force builds up and causes growth of everything, including the head itself; whereas in the Church the Lord is the head, and does not produce another head, but arranges the entire body Himself for Himself, member by member, joining it with Himself and growing the body from Himself for Himself.

The words “by every joint with which it is supplied” show how the Lord makes His body. The “supply” is the gift of the grace of the Holy Spirit—the grace of regeneration in baptism, where the Christian receives his Christian being, and the grace as a Gift for the service of the Church, by virtue of which each person in the Church is, as it were, a hand, a foot, and so on. The “joint of this supply” signifies that grace is truly received perceptibly and penetrates the one being graced tangibly; while at the same time it joins member to member, who, touching one another, feel and sense one another mutually. Thus the body of the Church is built. It is evident that these words supplement the preceding: “joined and knit together fittingly.” And the words “according to the working of each individual part in its measure” relate to “produces the body’s growth,” and show how the body of Christ, constituted by every joint of supply, continues to grow and to be built up. This the Church accomplishes “according to the working of each individual part in its measure,” when each member acts as grace has made him capable of acting—according to the measure of his gift, according to his own measure. Each, having been received into the Church, received a gift and became what he now is in the Church. But the Church will receive increase from him when he acts by his gift for her good—when he does not contain and lock it within himself but devotes it to all. Thus the material body grows—in which not a single member lives for itself—and thus the spiritual body of the Church grows. But whereas in the material body everything happens mechanically, by the law of necessity, in the spiritual body of the Church everything must happen by free choice. The Apostle qualifies this with the word “in love.” Love, poured out in the hearts of believers by the same Spirit of grace, ensures that not one member of the body of the Church can hold the gift to himself alone, but transmits its efficacy to all brothers in Christ—to the whole Church. And thereby she grows and is built up.

This text is somewhat difficult to understand. For its fuller clarification, the patristic interpretations of it are cited below.

The holy Chrysostom, approaching the interpretation of this text, says that the holy Paul in it “expressed his thoughts rather obscurely—because he wished to say everything at once.” He then adds: “Here is what his words mean: just as the spirit, descending from the brain, does not simply impart sensitivity to all members through the nerves, but does so according to each of them—imparting more to the one that can receive more, and less to the one that can receive less (for the spirit is the root of life)—so also Christ. Since our souls are dependent on Him just as the members are on the spirit, His providence and distribution of gifts, according to the measure of each member, produces the growth of each. — But what is meant by ‘the joint of supply?’ That is, by means of sensation (αισθησεως). For this spirit, distributed to all members from the head, touching each of them, thus produces its effect on them. One may also say: the body, receiving this influence of the spirit in proportion to its members, thus grows. Or otherwise: the members, each receiving its share of the spirit, thus grow. Or yet again: the spirit, flowing abundantly from the head and touching all the members and distributing itself among them as much as each of them can receive within itself, thus causes growth. — But why did he add the word ‘in love?’ — Because this spirit cannot be communicated otherwise. Indeed, if it happened that the hand were severed from the body, the spirit flowing from the brain, seeking its continuation and not finding it there, would not tear itself from the body and transfer to the severed hand; but if it does not find it there, it does not communicate with it either. The same happens here, if we are not bound to one another by love… Love reconstructs, unites, brings close, and joins us to one another. Therefore, if we wish to receive the Spirit from the head, let us be in union with one another. There are two kinds of severance from the Church: one, when we grow cold in love, and another, when we venture to do something unworthy in relation to this body (the Church).”

Blessed Theophylact, repeating the thoughts of the holy Chrysostom, adds something new as well. Thus, on the word about love: “It is for this very reason that the Apostle said of the body ‘joined and knit together,’ to show that the members are not simply placed beside one another, but are united with one another and each occupies its place. Therefore, it is our task to harmonise ourselves and to be joined through love, whereas to send down the Spirit is the grace of Christ, our head. And the words ‘by every’ ‘joint of supply’ show that the Spirit, given from the head, touches all perceptibly. The body grows and is built up through the fact that the bestowal of the Spirit touches the members, and He acts in them, or provides them with the power to act.” Theodoret said these words on this passage: “The Master Christ, as head, distributes spiritual gifts and through this joins the members of the body into a single, well-ordered body.” The words of the holy Damascene may be considered a continuation of this speech: “Christ, ruling over us as head, imparts Himself to us and thereby joins us with Himself and with one another; as a result of which we have mutual harmony, although each receives the bestowal of the Spirit in such measure as he can hold.”

Such is the general ordering of the life of Christians. Keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace under the guidance of God-established persons, grow up in all things into Christ. As for the first and last points, no Christian community disputes them. But in the second some err greatly. It is remarkable that the holy Chrysostom spoke of the joining of the body of the Church as though he had them in view. “The words ‘the whole body joined and knit together fittingly’ mean that everything in it must occupy its place without intruding into another place that is not proper to it. Reflect on this. The Lord from above orders all things. But just as in the body there are receptive organs, so it is with the Spirit, who is entirely the heavenly root of life. Specifically, in the body the heart is the root of the vital spirit, the liver of blood, the spleen of bile, and other organs of other elements; but all of them are dependent on the brain. In accordance with this, God has also acted, honouring man with special honour: not wishing to abandon him, He Himself became for him the cause of everything (salvation), while establishing co-workers for Himself and entrusting to some of them one thing, and to others another.”

Having spoken further about persons of leadership in the Church, he turns to those who err in their judgment about the indispensable necessity of such persons. “Tell me: do you consider it sufficient that they also believe, when among them the grace of ordination has dried up and perished? What use is everything else, if this last thing has not been preserved among them? — One must stand equally firm for the faith and for the grace of the priesthood. For if every person is permitted, by the old proverb, to fill his own hands, if every person is permitted to be a priest, then let all come forward—and in vain has this altar been constructed, in vain has the ecclesial order been established, in vain is the rank of priests: let us overturn and abolish all of this.”

From this it is evident that where such an important member of the ordering of Christian life is lacking, can one see the Christian life as it ought to be? — No, it is not there, even if much is said about it.