In the previous message we saw that grace is given according to the measure of the gift of Christ (Eph. 4:7). There is a very deep meaning in this. It is not easy to have this kind of concept, but if we have the heavenly, spiritual insight, we can see the real meaning here. Ephesians 4 quotes from Psalm 68:18, which says, “You have ascended on high; You have led captive those taken captive; / You have received gifts among men, / Even the rebellious ones also, / That Jehovah God may dwell among them.” You here refers to Christ; this passage is concerning the ascension of Christ.
Darby’s New Translation renders You have received gifts among men as, “Thou hast received gifts in Man,” and his footnote says, “i.e. as man..., in connection with mankind.” Christ ascended on high, He led captive those taken captive, and He received gifts in men and as men; that is, He received the rebellious ones as gifts. His purpose in doing this was that He may build up His dwelling place on this earth among the rebellious men. He did this for the building up of the church. The last phrase, that Jehovah God may dwell among them, is not quoted in Ephesians 4:7, but the context of Ephesians deals with God’s dwelling place. By this we can truly see that the Bible was not written according to the human mind or concept. We could never conceive such a truth merely with the human concept. Rather, the Bible was written by the Holy Spirit (2 Pet. 1:21; 2 Tim. 3:16).
The gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4 are the members, the gifted persons. The members of the Body are the gifts given to the Body. Every member of the Body is a gift, not only the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers (v. 11), but even the smallest member is a gift. Even our little finger is a gift. Many times I have been grateful to the Lord that I have a little finger. Whenever there is an itching in my ear, nothing can help me but my little finger. I am grateful to the Lord that we have a gift that is so small yet so practical. The little finger is a practical gift to the body; it truly helps. If you lose your little finger, you will see how awkward it is not to have it. When we have such a member, we may not sense its practicality, but if we were to lose it, we would sense the awkwardness of not having it. Every member of the body is a gift.
Not many Christians, including many Christian teachers, know what the difference is between the gifts mentioned in Romans 12 and the gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4. Even if some may know the difference, they do not have the utterance to speak it. The proper utterance is to say that whereas the gifts mentioned in Romans 12 are the functions given to the members, the gifts in Ephesians 4 are the members given to the Body. We may illustrate this difference with our ears and eyes. An ear without the hearing function is a poor, useless ear. However, the Lord is full of grace to give a function to the ear. The hearing function was given to this ear as a gift, so the ear itself becomes a gift to the body. Similarly, an eye specialist can give you an artificial eye, but that is an eye without the seeing function, without a gift. The seeing function is a gift to the eye as a member. Then because the eye has the gift of the seeing function, it can now be given to the body as a gift. The function is a gift to the member, and the member is a gift to the body.
The gift in Romans 12 is given according to the grace. This means that the function given to the members is based on the life in the members. If there were no blood supply to my eyes, they would lose their function. The eyes also need vitamin A. If I did not take any vitamin A for a period of time, my two eyes would lose their function. The function of the eyes is given according to the inner vitamin A. Grace is our “vitamin A.” The gift given to the members of the Body is according to the grace, the inner life supply, the inner “vitamins.” If the members have the inner vitamins, they will have a function, but without the inner vitamins, the inner grace, the life supply, their function will be lost. We need the inner life. All the functions mentioned in Romans 12 require the inner supply.