The goal for the body of Christ .

[throughfaith]

11¶And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13TILL WE all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
15But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Have we completely missed the mark here ? ( verse 13 )
Is Paul really saying those things were given only UNTIL we arrive were we should be ,?
apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; were given UNTIL ..
That was the idea , That we would perhaps no longer need these things ,because we would be operating as a mature body in unity . Its an interesting verse / verses .
Thoughts??

 

[Runningman]

11¶And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13TILL WE all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
15But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Have we completely missed the mark here ? ( verse 13 )
Is Paul really saying those things were given only UNTIL we arrive were we should be ,?
apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; were given UNTIL ..
That was the idea , That we would perhaps no longer need these things ,because we would be operating as a mature body in unity . Its an interesting verse / verses .
Thoughts??

I know they didn't have colons and semi-colons in Greek, but the writers translated these verses with them to enhance the reading comprehension for English readers.

In order to fulfill the clause before the colon the clause after the colon is necessary.

Semi-colons separate independent clauses that are closely related, but not necessarily dependent on each other.

These verses basically say apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers work in a ministry of perfecting the saints by instructing the body of Christ to be united in faith in Christ and to have full knowledge of Christ.

Having united faith in Christ and full knowledge of Christ makes us spiritually mature and perfect people, but spiritually immature people can be led astray by false gospels preached be cunning people.

Therefore, since there are cunning people spreading false gospels, we should speak about the true gospel, in love for one another, so that we may grow in Christ.

Christ is the head and the saints are His body. The head and body work together effectively because it self-reinforces and builds upon itself with love.

This is how it makes sense in my mind. This is how I would translate this into modern english for my own benefit after reading the KJV.

 

[wattie]

I compare this with 1 Corinthians and see it as the knowledge of the unity of the faith .. measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.. no longer tossed by every wind of doctrine..having come in the past through the completed canon.

So there are now still evangelists.. teachers .. but they dont have the GIFT of evangelism.. teaching.. etc .. because they have the bible with the Holy Spirit speaking to them by reliance on it.

 

[Guojing]

I compare this with 1 Corinthians and see it as the knowledge of the unity of the faith .. measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.. no longer tossed by every wind of doctrine..having come in the past through the completed canon.

So there are now still evangelists.. teachers .. but they dont have the GIFT of evangelism.. teaching.. etc .. because they have the bible with the Holy Spirit speaking to them by reliance on it.

The most interesting distinction between 1 Cor and Ephesians, with regards to gifts of the Holy Spirit to me is this.

Tongues were heavily mentioned in 1 Cor, but ceased to be mentioned by the time Ephesians came.

Corinthians was written before Acts 28, but Ephesians was written after Acts 28.

At Acts 28, Israel completely fell as a nation, both the Jerusalem HQ, as well as the diaspora.