Ephesians 4:11-13 shows that the Head, Christ, gave various gifts to the church for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ. Verse 13 shows that the goal, the purpose, of the service and work of the building up of the Body of Christ is that we would all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God so that we may be full grown and have the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ in the church.
The word at is used three times in verse 13; this does not point to three different goals but to one goal in three stages. When we lead the saints to know the Son of God, we cause them to grow in life and to have the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; these three things are one. The Greek word for arrive at also means “enter in” or “enter into.” When we lead the saints, our purpose is for them to enter into the full knowledge of the Son of God and into the growth in life; eventually, the highest and ultimate goal is for them to have the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. To know the Son of God is the beginning, but having the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ is the ultimate goal. Furthermore, arrive at in Ephesians 4 not only has a sense of “entering into” but also of “passing through,” similar to passing through a box by entering one end and coming out the other end, and then entering into a second and a third box.
Verse 13 speaks of the goal of the work of the church, and verse 14 speaks of Satan’s work in opposing God’s goal in verse 13. The tool that Satan uses for his opposing work in the church is the wind of teaching, which causes man to follow him into a system of error. Verse 15 counteracts verse 14. Because of the opposing work of Satan, there is the need for us to hold to truth in love, to hold to the growth of Christ in the church, and to hold to God manifested in the flesh. This is to hold to truth.
The result of holding to truth is that we grow up into the Head, Christ, in all things. Formerly, nothing we did was in Christ, but now we can grow up into Him in all things because we can hold to truth in love. The meaning of growth in Greek denotes not merely growth but of growing up into the Head, Christ. Formerly, our entire living and all of our actions were not in Christ and were unrelated to Christ. But because we hold to truth in love, we can reach the point where our entire living and everything we do grows up into Christ.
Verse 16 says, “Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.” Out from whom means that when we grow up into the Head, Christ, we receive a supply from Him. Those who are joints of supply are not the source but rather stations of supply; the source is Christ, the Head. The joints of supply can be compared to gas stations, but the gas comes from the refinery, which is the Head. The members who are joints receive the supply from the Head, and then they become stations of supply, each supplying the needs of the Body. Furthermore, we need to see that every member is useful; every member must manifest his function in the life of Christ.
In order for the members to manifest their function, there is the need of the supply from the joints of supply; when the functions of the members are manifested, the Body will be joined together and knit together. With the Head as the source and through the supply of the joints and the function of every member, the Body will grow by being joined and knit together. This is the increase of Christ in the Body, and as a result the Body builds itself up in love. This is also the condition of our body—out from the head, through many joints of supply and the function of every member, the body is joined and knit together and the body grows in full.
Ephesians 4:15-16 uses the phrase in love two times. On the one hand, truth needs to be held in love, and on the other hand, the Body builds itself up in love. God is joined to man because He loves man, and man also is joined to God because God loves man. This is a great truth in the Bible. In the entire Bible, the union of God and man is altogether because of love. Without the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, it would be hard for us to understand the meaning of in love.
For instance, the Lord clearly said, “He who loves Me...I will love him and will manifest Myself to him..., and We will come to him and make an abode with him” (John 14:21, 23). Paul also said, “For the love of Christ constrains us...that those who live may no longer live to themselves but to Him who died for them and has been raised” (2 Cor. 5:14-15). For Paul to say that he could not live by himself means that he lived by Christ. He could not live by himself because he was constrained by Christ’s love. He loved Christ and held to truth in love. He said, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me..., who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20). The sacrificing love of Christ touched Paul and caused him to have a response of no longer living to himself but of having Christ live in him. Not living to ourselves but letting Christ live in us is to hold to truth in love.
Moreover, Ephesians 3 also speaks of love, “Being rooted and grounded in love...and to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God” (vv. 17, 19). Hence, from the Bible we can see that the love between God and man causes man to live in God and allows God to live in man. Holding to the fact of man living in God and God living in man is holding to truth. This holding to truth is in the love between God and man.
In the Old Testament, Song of Songs speaks of how a pursuer of the Lord fellowships with the Lord, how she loses herself in the Lord, and how she allows the Lord to saturate her entire being so that she can be exactly the same as the Lord. In the end, she and the Lord, the Lord and she, are inseparable in love. The union of love (cf. 8:6-7) is their union in God’s life. We are united with the Lord in love, and we also hold to truth in love.
In the book of Ephesians Paul charged the Ephesians to hold to truth in love; in the book of Revelation the Lord also brings up the matter of love. He wants the church in Ephesus to recover their first love (2:4). When a church leaves her first love, there is a danger of losing the testimony of the lampstand (v. 5) and the life of the tree of life (v. 7). Lampstand refers to God in man as light; life refers to God in man as life. If we lose our love toward the Lord, we will not be able to hold to the truth of the union of God and man. Without love, truth itself will be lost. Hence, in the entire Bible the motive for the union between God and man is love.
One who does not love the Lord or desire the Lord cannot live in the Lord; one who does not have a desire for the Lord cannot let Him have the ground in him and be everything to him continually. Only one who desires the Lord and longs after Him can allow Him to live in him. This kind of person does not want anything that does not take the Lord as the center and content; he simply loves and wants the Lord Himself. This is to hold to truth in love. Thus, if we would live in such a love and simply want the Lord Himself, we must hold to the truth of God manifested in the flesh and of the union of God and man. The more we love the Lord in such a way, the more the element of Christ will increase in us. The more there is this kind of people, the more the measure of the stature of Christ will be in the church and the more the Body will build itself up in love (Eph. 4:16).