Tag Archives: gifts

1 TIMOTHY 4

Leave a reply

STRUCTURE OF THE CHAPTER

(a) Verses 1-5 Fourth charge to the Ephesians
Warning about the doctrines of demons.
(b) Verses 6-16 Fourth charge to Timothy.
Exhortation about exercise unto godliness.

THE WORDS OF THE BIBLE, THE CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES, AS FOUND IN THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY CHAPTER 6, VERSES 1 TO 5:

4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
4:3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
4:4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
4:5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

(a) Verses 1-5 Fourth charge to the Ephesians
This passage contains a solemn warning against demon-influences. Asia Minor was a hot-bed of mystic thought and Satan was very active promoting his evil teachings. We must not think that believers are untoucheable by these things, for the apostle was concerned about the Corinthians believers, lest as Satan had beguiled Eve in his subtlety, so their minds should be corrupted too, 2 Corinthians 11:3. Satan always seeks to counterfeit and confuse.
So it is that after the declaration of the person of Christ as God manifest in the flesh in 3:16, there now comes the warning against influences which will try to deny that truth in some way. We could say that after truths about Christ comes doctrines that will result in antichrist, for he will deny the Father and the Son, 1 John 2:22. Having told us of the mystery of godliness, the apostle warns against the mystery of iniquity which “doth already work”, 2 Thessalonians 2:7. The apostle John warned against antichrist’s who were already operating in his day, so the Ephesians, and ourselves, need to take note and be warned. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.
Since the assembly at Ephesus is the house of God, the Father of the house will ensure that His house is kept secure from the attacks of the enemy.

4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly- that is, the Spirit speaks out-spokenly, in view of the great danger. The Spirit of truth combats devilish error. We should be sensitive to the Spirit’s concern about these matters, and not be lulled into a false sense of security.
That in the latter times- this is the period after the apostles were gone. John, the last of the apostles to die, wrote, “even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know it is the last time”, 1 John 2:18. It has been the last time for two thousand years, because God has been long-suffering. He counts not time as we do, 2 Peter 3:8-9.
Some shall depart from the faith- false professors will openly deny what they once claimed to believe. It is not simply that they are backsliders, who do not live according to the light they have. These are men who have never been enlightened, but claimed to hold to the Christian faith, but then show themselves false by their behaviour and their teaching. They are apostate, and the epistles of 2 Peter and Jude describe them. The Lord warned about Judas so that the disciples would be prepared, John 13:19. They might have thought that someone like Judas could not apostatise, but sadly, he did, and there have been many others like him. We should not be deceived.
By “the faith” the apostle means the whole body of Christian doctrine “once delivered to the saints”, and for which we should “earnestly contend”, Jude 3. We need to know it to defend it. We are to be able to “give an answer to him that asketh”, 2 Peter 3:15. In order to protect ourselves from error, we need to know, not the error, but the truth. The apostle exhorted the believers at Rome to be “wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil”, Romans 16:19. In other words, to be so versed in the truths of the faith, that when error is presented to us we simply say “No”!
Giving heed to seducing spirits- these apostates are open to the lies of the Devil, for “he is a liar, and the father of it”, John 8:44. Because these people are not believers, they have a mind which readily accepts error, and rejects the truth. The natural heart of man is attracted to falsehood, and has been since Eve listened to the tempter in Eden. Spirit-beings are able to suggest things to unbelievers, and thus lead them astray. The apostle John warned young believers about those who would lead them astray, (seduce), and the remedy for this is the Holy Spirit, who teaches our hearts the truth, 1 John 2:27.
And doctrines of devils- that which the seducing spirits instil into the minds of those who have rejected Christianity, and have laid themselves open to listen to the doctrines that devils believe. We need to be careful what we listen to, especially with so much available today that is openly hostile to Christian things.

4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

Speaking lies in hypocrisy- they lie whilst pretending to speak truth. Their motives are evil, but their manner may be pleasing.
Having their conscience seared with a hot iron- instead of the sensitive conscience of a believer, all sensitivity to error is gone. The hot iron of hellish doctrine has rendered their minds unresponsive to truth.

4:3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

Forbidding to marry- this goes beyond thinking lightly of marriage. This is an attack upon God’s creatorial order. In Noah’s day, as the Lord Jesus described it, they were marrying, but when He described the men of Sodom, He made no mention of marriage, Luke 17:26-30. He also said, “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man shall be revealed”, Luke 17:30. So we may well expect the same conditions to prevail in our day. It may well be that governments will forbid people to formally marry, and will only allow co-habiting.
And commanding to abstain from meats- occult practitioners are usually vegetarian. They say that eating meat involves taking in that which interferes with contact with the spirits. Is this why meat was allowed after the flood, so that occult activity was subdued? Genesis 9:3.
Which God hath created- hence these commands are an attack on His laws as Creator. If God created animals that could be used as food, then He must have anticipated that there would be a need. Man was given the green herb to eat before the flood.
To be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth- so believers may eat meat, not just with a thankful heart, but also after a prayer of thanks, which shows we are on the side of the Creator. We should not take food for granted, or waste it. “Believe” is the general word showing that those who give thanks are believers, “know the truth” refers to the specific truth about meats the apostle is setting forth. Strictly speaking, unbelievers have forfeited their rights to everything, food included, but God graciously continues to provide for them, “filling their hearts with food and gladness”, as Paul told the idol-worshippers at Lystra, Acts 14:17.

4:4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:

For every creature of God is good- again a reference to creation, which even though it was cursed when man sinned, (for a fallen Adam could not be head over an unfallen creation), still had the ability to feed men. Since the fall, some plants have been made poisonous, but not meat.
And nothing to be refused- so the believer has a totally different attitude to meat as compared to those who command to abstain.
If it be received with thanksgiving- we forfeit our right to the food if we are not thankful. We should make it our habitual practice to give thanks to God for our food before eating it. By this we not only re-affirm our belief in a faithful and beneficent Creator, but we distance ourselves from the world, which, writes the apostle, is unthankful, Romans 1:21.

4:5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

For it is sanctified by the word of God- the terms of God’s covenant with the earth sanctioned the eating of meat, Genesis 9:3. But flesh with blood in it was banned. So the word of God to man in His covenant with Noah seta apart meat as being for the use of man.
And by prayer- the prayer of thanksgiving before meals, is our word to God in response to His word to man in His covenant. By giving thanks we acknowledge that God has provided it for our need.

THE WORDS OF THE BIBLE, THE CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES, AS FOUND IN THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY CHAPTER 6, VERSES 6 TO 16:

4:6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.
4:7 But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.
4:8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
4:9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
4:11 These things command and teach.
4:12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
4:13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
4:14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
4:15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
4:16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

(b) Verses 6-16 Fourth charge to Timothy.

Having warned of those who command to abstain from physical meats, and encouraged the giving of thanks for food on the part of believers, the apostle now charges Timothy about spiritual food and spiritual exercise.

4:6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.

If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things- there is need for the constant repetition of the basic truths of the New Testament. We should resist the temptation to always be occupied with our favourite theme, to the neglect of the whole range of Christian truth.
Thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ- He is the one who is served, for He is the Son over God’s house, Hebrews 3:6, and allots the tasks He wishes the deacons to perform for Him in the house of God, to His Father’s glory. The word minister is diaconas, which gives us the word deacon, which is simply one of the words for servant. So the test for deacons is whether they remind believers of the truth, not whether they are popular. The Lord Jesus warned His disciples, “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! For so did their fathers to the false prophets”, Luke 6:26.
Nourished up in the words of faith and sound doctrine- having been himself instructed in the truth of the Christian faith, Timothy’s soul was nourished and fortified for his task of teaching others. As the Lord Jesus said to the Devil, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God”, Matthew 4:4. If Christ was fortified by the word of God as He resisted the Evil One, so should we be.
Words of faith are words that encourage, confirm, and deepen faith, with the emphasis on the effect. Words of sound doctrine are words which build strong spiritual constitutions. The apostle John knew that the young men were strong because “the word of God abideth in you”, 1 John 2:14.
Whereunto thou hast attained- the word is literally “to go alongside of”. Timothy had taken gone up to the truth and made his stand alongside of it, as one stands alongside a friend. It is only because he has done this that he can be a help to others.

4:7 But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.

But refuse profane and old wives’ fables- profane is the opposite to spiritual; old wives’ is opposite to sensible; tales is opposite to substantial. Elizabeth and Anna were old, and they were or had been wives, but they certainly did not tell old wives’ tales, for in the case of Elizabeth, she spoke of the unborn Christ as her Lord, Luke 1:43, and Anna “spake of Him” also, Luke 2:38.
Superstition, such as old wives’ tales are, if received and believed, leads to more sinister things. It is the Devil’s way of introducing to demon doctrines.
And exercise thyself rather unto godliness- a godly person is by definition concerned about pleasing God, and fearing to displease Him. He will not be helped by the empty babblings of men. Christianity is not mere theory, but consists of principle, and then practice. Timothy should cultivate the constant use of spiritual faculties that are well-versed in the truths of the faith.

4:8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

For bodily exercise profiteth little- compared to spiritual exercise, physical exercise is insignificant. We need to look after our bodies, for they are the temple of the Holy Spirit; but that does not mean pamper them. Paul is not saying that physical exercise is not useful, for we can be sure that Dr Luke, his companion, would assure him that it was. So it is not that bodily exercise is useless, but its effects are limited to the well-being of the body. Spiritual exercise is vital to the soul.
But godliness is profitable unto all things- it affects every part of us, mind, soul, and body included.
Having promise of the life that now is- godly people are happier, and generally healthier.
And of that which is to come- the more godly we are now, the more we shall be fitted to enjoy heaven. All believers will be perfectly joyful in heaven, but some will have greater capacity for joy.

4:9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation- the teaching of verse 8 is reliable advice, and worthy of serious and wholehearted consideration and acceptance by believers. But that acceptance should be followed by action.

4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach- the “for” links back to the previous verse, but the “therefore” has to do with the “because” of the next phrase. Paul trusts, therefore he labours. He does not suffer reproach for accepting the truth, but because he labours to promote it in the hearts of others.
Labour involves spiritual exercise, and also physical and mental effort. The godly exercise Paul has been advocating tones the spiritual muscles to work hard for God. Because the truth is not accepted by the natural mind, those who promote it will inevitably be rejected and ridiculed.
Because we trust in the Living God- this is the reason the apostle was enabled to labour and suffer hardship, because God is the Living God, and He can be relied on to energetically care for His people, both physically and spiritually.
Who is the Saviour of all men- that is, as Creator He provides and preserves all in His providential goodness. He “maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust”, Matthew 5:45. As Paul told the men of Lystra, He is “The living God…and gave us rain from heaven, filling our hearts with food and gladness”, Acts 14:15,17. He gives “life and breath and all things”, Acts 17:25. Some, alas, forfeit His care by their folly. Such should not blame God but themselves.
Specially of those that believe- because they live lives in harmony with His laws, believers gain more of the benefit of God’s kind provision. God has special love for His people, and cares for them as they seek to give their lives up to His interests.

4:11 These things command and teach.

These things command and teach- so these things cannot be matters of little importance if the apostle needs to command them. They need to be taught as well, so that believers understand why the command is given from God.
The apostle now gives Timothy what we might think of as an eight-point spiritual exercise plan, giving eight rules for spiritual prosperity.

4:12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

First rule:
Let no man despise thy youth- Timothy would be about 35 years old at this point. He had a difficult task to perform on behalf of the apostle, sometimes involving the rebuke of elders. He needs to have moral authority. Age does not give that authority, but spirituality does. Believers should learn to accept the truth whoever is the mouthpiece.

Second rule:
But be thou an example of the believers- Timothy must not rely on the fact that he was sent by the apostle. He must be a good representative of the gospel in his conduct, living out what he taught. Of course, Christ is the supreme example, and the unsaved should not be allowed to make an excuse out of the faults of believers, for “Christ is all”, Colossians 3:11.
Timothy should be a sample of what an ideal believer is like. Six things are listed, (six is the number of man), covering every department of life. He was to work out the teaching that the apostle had given as found in the epistle to the Ephesians. In this way he would be a living example of the teaching of the apostle to the believers in the assembly at Ephesus.
In word- what he said, especially as he taught the truth to them. “Let no corrupt communication come out of thy mouth…but that which is good to the use of edifying”, Ephesians 4:29.
In conversation- how he lived amongst them. Conversation is not just speech, but actions and attitudes too. “Put off concerning the former conversation the old man…put on the new man”, Ephesians 4:22,24. The actions and attitudes that are like Adam’s are to be replaced by actions and attitudes that are like Christ’s.
In charity- his attitude as he responded to them. “Walk in love“, Ephesians 5:2.
In spirit- how he worshipfully responded to God, who is a Spirit, John 4:24. Because Timothy had the Spirit of God within, he was able to respond to God with true worship. “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess: but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs…giving thanks for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”, Ephesians 5:18,19,20.
In faith- how he trustfully responded to circumstances. “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith”, Ephesians 3:17. He should react in faith as Christ did.
In purity- how he lived a holy life, pure in morals and doctrine. “But fornication, and all uncleanness, let it not be once named among you”, Ephesians 5:3.

Third rule:
4:13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

Till I come, give attention to reading- this would refer to the public reading of Scriptures, a very important part of assembly gatherings. When the people were gathered together in Nehemiah’s day, “they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading”. Paul exhorted the Colossians to read that epistle, and also the one from Laodicea, Colossians 4:16. In those days there was just one copy per assembly, so it was important that it be publicly read for all to hear. There is a special blessing for the one who does this public reading, as Revelation 1:3 makes clear, “blessed is he that readeth”. Those who produced the Authorised (King James) Version of the Bible had the public reading of the Scriptures in mind, as well as private reading. Most will admit that it has no equal in this respect. In fact, it has no equal in any respect.

The word of God should be read:
Accurately, for every word is from God. The punctuation should be observed, and the correct length of pause that each kind of punctuation mark represents should be given.
Slowly, but not so slowly as to become dreary.
Intelligently, giving emphasis in the right places.
Soberly, remembering it is not a drama session.
Audibly, so that all with reasonably good hearing may hear easily.
Confidently, not hesitatingly.
All these things will need practice, and it would be a good idea for those who read publicly to practice at home. It goes without saying that regular eye tests will help to prevent mistakes occurring through bad eye-sight.

To exhortation- the saints need to be exhorted and encouraged, for the world is a hostile place, and we can easily become downhearted if we are not regularly reminded of our blessings and our responsibilities.
To doctrine- believers need to be reminded constantly of the truths of the faith. This is needful not only because it glorifies God, but also so that familiarity with the truth will fit us to earnestly contend for the faith, and enable us to give the reason for the hope that is in us to those who ask about Christian things, 1 Peter 3:15.

Fourth rule:
4:14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

Neglect not the gift that is in thee- every believer has one or more gifts, the manifestation of the indwelling Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12:7. Those gifts are like the abilities the different parts of our bodies have, which work together for the good of the body. The apostle uses the example of the human body when he writes about gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. However, the gifts he lists in that chapter are all withdrawn, so we look to Romans 12:1-8 for the gifts that are available for us today. They are few in number, it is true, but there is plenty of scope for all the brothers and sisters in their respective spheres.
Which was given thee by prophecy- the prophets in the assembly where he was originally, discerned Timothy’s gift, the Holy Spirit spoke though them, indicating that Timothy’s gift was such as needed public recognition, as happened with Paul himself, and Barnabas at Antioch, Acts 13:1,2. It was not that prophets foretold that Timothy would have a gift.
With the laying on of the hands of the presbytery- the elders of the assembly, alerted to the mind of the Spirit by the prophets, were agreed and showed their fellowship. The presbytery is the body of elders in an assembly. See Acts 13:1,2 again.

Fifth rule:
4:15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.

Meditate upon these things- Timothy is to give serious heed to apostolic instruction, and think about the implications. We live in a world of rush and bustle. Time to sit and meditate is not easily available. The true believer overcomes in this situation, and makes time for the contemplation of the things of God.

Sixth rule:
Give thyself wholly unto them; that thy profiting might appear to all- be single-minded about spiritual things in private, and others will benefit publicly, whether saved or unsaved. It should be the exercise of those who are younger to be concerned about the use of their gift, and to order their lives so that time may be given to its development. If other things have to be foregone, then so be it. As the Lord Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness”, Matthew 6:33.

Seventh rule:
4:16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

Take heed unto thyself- the cultivation of personal godliness is the vital basis of an effective ministry of any kind. The service of God cannot be carried out effectively by those who are carnal. Those who are in the public eye because of the particular gift they seek to use, must be careful that their personal lives are in harmony with what they teach and preach. It was the charge levelled against the Pharisees by the Lord Jesus that “they say, and do not”, Matthew 23:3.
And unto the doctrine- this is the basis of everything, both the personal and the public. There is no substitute for a thorough knowledge and understanding of the doctrines of the faith. Note that the apostle is very definite, for he refers to “the” doctrine. To him there was no alternative to Christian truth. As we see from his address before the philosophers of Athens, he was aware of the ideas of men, but he had rejected them in favour of the truth from God found in the Christian gospel. As Jude put it, it is “the faith once delivered”, Jude 3. It is “all the truth” as the Lord Himself said, John 16:13, into which the apostles were guided by the Spirit of truth.

Eighth rule:
Continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt save thyself, and them that hear thee- perseverance in the truth will save Timothy from the pitfalls in the pathway of faith, and enable him to be of help to others, that they might be saved from stumbling too.

EPHESIANS 4

Leave a reply

EPHESIANS 4

The epistle to the Ephesians takes us to the heights, both of Christ’s exaltation to heaven, and the believer’s place with Him there.

The apostle Paul begins the epistle by describing the wealth God has given us in Christ. Using words and phrases such as “sonship”, (adoption of children), “redemption”, “obtained an inheritance”, “earnest of our inheritances”, “redemption of the purchased possession”, he is clearly contrasting the believer’s spiritual inheritance in heavenly places with Israel’s earthly inheritance in Canaan. Whereas their blessings depended on their obedience to the law, as Moses made clear to them in Deuteronomy 28, ours are secured in Christ, by grace, verse 3. The nation of Israel was chosen because of the fathers, Deuteronomy 7:8, whereas believers of this age are chosen “in Him”, verse 4. Israel were accepted if they kept the law, whereas believers are accepted in “the Beloved”, verse 6. Israel were redeemed nationally by the Passover lamb, whereas we have redemption “through his blood”, verse 7. As God’s national son, (Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:15), Israel had been redeemed from slavery and eventually brought to the Promised Land, the land God pledged to give to Abraham for an inheritance, Hebrews 11:8-10, whereas we have obtained an inheritance in Christ, verse 11. Israel’s continuance in the inheritance depended on their obedience to God, and their success in driving out the enemy, whereas we are sure of the inheritance, for the Spirit within is pledge or guarantee of it.

The apostle then proceeds to show how that Christ has led the way to the heavenly inheritance, having been elevated to unsurpassable heights of heavenly glory, supreme over all. Yet amazingly, the Divine power which thus elevated Christ, is the power that is “to usward who believe”, 1:19, associating believers with Christ in the heavenly places. In Him there now, and with Him there hereafter.

Both Jew and Gentile were dead in trespasses and sins, yet the power that raised Christ from physical death, has raised those who believe from moral death. This is Divine work, and eternity will be needed to tell the ways in which He has shown kindness to us, 2:7.

So much for the relationship of Jew and Gentile with God, both before and after conversion, but what of their relationship with one another? This the apostle deals with in 2:11-22. Gentiles were formerly outsiders, having no claim on Christ, commonwealth, covenants, confident expectation, or the covenant-keeping God of Israel. Christ’s cross, however, brings both Jew and Gentile together when they believe, 2:16.

Having empowered His servants to preach in His name, (“preaching peace by Jesus Christ”, as Peter said to the first Gentile convert, Acts 10:36), He, through them, (see Mark 16:20) came both to those far off and those near with the gospel message of peace and forgiveness.

Furthermore, the Spirit was given, whereby every believer is able to access all that the Father has in store for us.

To the Jews, this would seem to contradict all that God had been working towards in Old Testament times, when the supremacy of Israel under the Messiah was a leading theme of prophecy. Hence the apostle unfolds Divine wisdom in chapter 3. Certain parts of God’s plans were hidden from Old Testament saints, but are now revealed through Paul to the New Testament apostles and prophets, and through them to all the saints of this age. The idea that Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, fellow-members of the body of Christ, the church, and fellow-partakers of God’s promises as found in the gospel, (as opposed to promises found in Old Testament scripture), was a complete mystery in olden times, but has now been revealed.

Setting of the chapter
The apostle now begins to explain the practical implications of the truth he has been explaining in chapters 1-3. Having spoken of the wealth of blessing that God gives to the believer in chapter 1, and the ways of God with both Christ and those who believe in chapter 2, and the wisdom of God imparted through the apostle in chapter 3, he now proceeds to enlarge upon the expected walk of the believer in chapters 4, 5 and the first part of 6. The last verses of the epistle being taken up with the warfare of the believer, and the weapons God makes available to His people so that they may defend the spiritual territory He has granted them, and repulse those evil forces which seek to deprive them of the enjoyment of spiritual things.

The chapter may be divided into two, with verses 1-16 concerned with a walk worthy of the Christian vocation, and verses 17-32 with a walk worthy of Christ.

Summary of the chapter
The first concern of the apostle in this passage is that believers walk together in unity. By so doing, they will progress together until the goal of complete and final unity is reached, when all believers of this present age are conformed to the image of Christ. So there is the unity of the Spirit in verse 3, which relates to now, and the unity of the faith in verse 13, which will be


To this end, believers are to:

(a) Relate to one another in a spiritual way, verses 1-3.
(b) Keep the unity of the Spirit, bearing in mind those unifying factors mentioned in verses 4-6.
(c) Respond to the ministry of the men the ascended Christ has given as gifts to the church, verses 7-12.
(d) Have before them the goal of collective likeness to Christ, verses 13, 15.
(e) So respond to the word of God that the attempts of the enemy to drive them off-course are all unsuccessful, verse 14.
(f) Make sure that there is increase in maturity by through the means of supply Christ has set in place, verse 16.
(g) Have a clear understanding of what being in Adam involves, and then, turning from that, appreciate the life of Jesus, and see in it the way to walk before God.


Structure of the passage

Verse 1(a) Faithfulness of the apostle to the cause of Christ.
Verse 1(b)-2 Features that should mark believers as the body of Christ.
Verse 3 Fervour that should mark their keeping of unity.
Verses 4-6 Factors which are unique and unifying.
Verses 7-12 Fulness of the provision Christ has made for progress towards maturity.
Verses 13-16 Final end of the progress towards maturity.
Verses 17-19 Failure of man in Adam.
Verses 20-32 Full display of truth in Jesus.

Verse 1(a)
Faithfulness of the apostle to the cause of Christ

4:1
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

I therefore- By writing “I therefore”, instead of simply “therefore”, the apostle means us to take account of who he is as he writes. He is the apostle whom God has used to unfold truth unknown to Old Testament saints. As such, he is in a unique position, and his words should carry weight with us. He was also the apostle to the Gentiles, and the Ephesian believers would have been mainly from the Gentiles.

The prisoner of the Lord- it is not simply that Paul was specially gifted, as chapter 3 shows, but he was severely tested, too. He has been a prisoner since Acts 22, when he enraged the Jews by stating that God had sent him to preach to the Gentiles, Acts 22:21,22. In Acts 23:18 he is called “Paul the prisoner”, and this position is referred to here to show his commitment to the cause of Christ. As such, he is a good example to follow, see 1 Corinthians 11:1.

In chapter 3:1 he linked being a prisoner with his special ministry to the Gentiles, and this should influence believers who formerly were Gentiles to heed his exhortations. Here the sense is different, for he is not simply a prisonor belonging to Jesus Christ and not belonging to Caesar, here he is a prisoner “in” the Lord, which means that what he does as a prisoner is bounded by the authority and will of the Lord. If Caesar asks him to go outside that boundary, he will not comply. His consciousness of the Lordship of Christ comes out especially in this chapter, for He is ascended up on high, and His enemies have been subdued, verse 8.

Romans 13: 1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-15 caution us against being found guilty by the authorities. But Peter also declared the principle, and acted upon it, that “We ought to obey God rather than men”, Acts 6:29. See also Acts 4:19. If man’s laws conflict with God’s commands, we are to obey the latter.

Verse 1(b)
Features that should mark believers

Beseech you- to beseech is to call a person to one’s side in order to produce an effect upon them. We might ask ourselves the question whether we are truly affected by the teaching of the Word of God. That ye walk worthy- we learn from 2:10 that God has prepared beforehand good works for His people to be engaged in, and now we are to learn what those things are. By “walk” is meant our whole manner of proceeding through this world. The word worthy is very significant here. It is the word “axios”, which, as we might guess, gives us the word “axle”, the point about which a wheel turns. Originally it referred to the fulcrum about which the scales of the apothecary turned. Paul has weighted one pan of the scales right down with the glorious truths he has been expounding in chapters 1-3. He now places on us the responsibility of responding to that truth. The weight of Divine revelation is to be balanced by our responsible acting, so that the scales are evenly balanced. This will result in our walk being a worthy one.

Of the vocation wherewith ye are called- note that this worthy walk is part of the call of the gospel. We are saved not just for our own benefit, but also, and primarily, for God’s glory, and He is looking for a response to His rich grace in terms of a manner of life that pleases Him. This should be our main vocation in life, for everything else is secondary. When the believers were called Christians at Antioch, Acts 11:26, the word used means that this was their chief business.

4:2
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;

With all lowliness and meekness- in view of the exaltation of Christ mentioned in 1:19-23, and the grace that has reached down to us to lift us up to association with Him in His ascended glory, we should be truly humbled, and consequently exhibit lowliness of spirit. We should learn from the mistakes others have made. Lucifer was an elevated creature, but fell into the sin of pride, seeking a higher place still, see Isaiah 14:12-14; 1 Timothy 3:6. The latter Scripture reminding us that pride is to be guarded against by those given a ministry to exercise which brings them into prominence amongst the people of God. Adam, too, was given dominion over the earth, but fell to the temptation to be as God, Genesis 3:5. Nebuchadnezzar also fell in this matter, as Daniel 4:29-31 explains.

Meekness, too, should mark us, for association with a rejected Christ brings its hardships, but we should be prepared to accept them as being the will of God, which is what a meek spirit does. These two features were seen perfectly in Christ, Matthew 11:29. They are the reverse of the attitude of the natural man. We are to exhibit all meekness and lowliness, in every situation letting these features characterise us.

With longsuffering- the opposite of being short-tempered. We may become agitated over the things we see in one another which are not Christ-like, but just as God is longsuffering with us, (for God is love, and love suffers long, 1 Corinthians 13:4), so we should be longsuffering too.

Forbearing one another in love- we should check natural responses, and let love dictate our actions. This is to be done, not in a spirit of resignation, as if nothing better can be expected from fellow-believers than matters we need to be forbearing about; nor in condescension, as if such behaviour is totally absent from us; nor yet in apathy, caring little about the failures of others, and their impact on the testimony. Rather, the forbearance should be exercised in a spirit of love, which combines a desire for the well-being of believers with the determination never to compromise, for love rejoices in the truth, 1 Corinthians 13:6. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control, Galatians 5:22.

Verse 3
Fervour that should mark the keeping of unity

4:3
Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit- the word endeavour has a certain half-heartedness about it nowadays, signifying only that we will make an attempt. No such notion attached to this word in former times. The word Paul uses here is the cry shouted by the spectators as they urged on their favourite athletes in the public games. “Spoude!” would ring out around the stadium, “Give diligence”, “Strain every sinew”, “Speed on!” Such is to be our attitude in the matter of keeping the unity of the Spirit.

In His prayer to the Father recorded in John 17, the Lord Jesus prayed about unity in connection with three things:
In verse 11 He prayed for the unity of the apostles. He asked that they be kept united in their testimony to the truth at the beginning of the church age.

In verse 21 for the unity of those who would believe through their testimony.

In verses 22,23, that the whole company of the redeemed might be perfected into one.

There is an increasing detail given to us in His prayer with regard to this unity. In verse 11 the word is simply “that they may be one, as we are”. In verse 21 it is “that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us”. So the oneness is that sort of union and concord which pertains between the Persons of the Godhead. Such is that oneness that the Father can be said to be in the Son, and the Son in the Father. There is identity of nature and essence, so there is perfect oneness between them. As the Lord Jesus declared in John 10:30, “I and my Father are one”. The immediate response of the Jews was to take up stones to stone Him for blasphemy, for they recognised He was claiming Deity. A person who is one in essence with God must be God as well. The remarkable thing is that the oneness of believers is based on this. They are not one with one another to the same degree as the Persons of the Godhead are, for that would be impossible, but they are one after that likeness. This is why the word “hosper” is not used here, because that means “exactly as”; the word that is used is “kathos”, meaning “according to the manner in which”.

Divine Persons are one because they share the same life. In God’s rich grace that life is granted to those who believe on the Son. “God hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son”, 1 John 5:11. “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life”, John 5:24. “But as many as received him…which were born…of God”, John 1:12,13. It can be said of such persons that they are “one in us”. Their oneness derives from their oneness with God. Now in His ministry in the upper room the Lord spoke of these things. He said, “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you”, John 14:20. And He explained the “I in you” by saying, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him”, John 14:23. The day referred to in verse 20 is the day the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost, which event characterises the whole of the age in which we live; it is the age of the Spirit. So when the Holy Spirit indwells a person, it can be said that the Father and the Son are now indwelling them since each one of the persons of the Godhead may represent the others. So it is that in Romans 8:9 we learn that if the Spirit of Christ dwells in us, then Christ dwells in us.

In verses 22 and 23 of John 17 the idea is of being perfected into one, suggesting a process. This takes place on the basis of the fact that the glory given to Christ He shares with His own, for He connects this oneness with glory in verse 22. As Romans 8:30 says, “Whom he justified, them he also glorified”. To be glorified in this context is to be credited with all the benefits that the purpose of God intends for His people in Christ, so that He may be conformed to His image. But this glory means oneness, for the word is “that they may be one, even as we are one”. And then comes the amplification of that statement, “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one”. Instead of “as thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee”, it is “I in them, and thou in me”. We could say that the first statement is horizontal, the Father and the Son on the same level, and the Spirit coming down to us to link us to that. Whereas the second statement is vertical, a chain of oneness between the believer and the Son, by the Spirit, and then the oneness between the Son and the Father.

Now these two aspects of things are presented to us in their practical outworking in Ephesians chapter 4. There is the unity of the Spirit, which we are to strive to keep; this corresponds to the unity of John 17:21. Then there is a unity of the faith, which will be attained when all believers are conformed to the image of God’s Son, and they can be said to have grown up into Him, which corresponds to John 17:22,23. This process happens as we respond to the doctrine of the apostles, so that the oneness of thought that governed them, governs us also.

We are now ready to return to the words of Ephesians 4:3, knowing that the unity spoken of can be summed up as follows:

1. The unity is between persons, whether the Persons of the Godhead, or persons making up the church.

2. May be expressed in acts, just as the works the Son did were an expression of the working of the Father, “The Father which sent me, he doeth the works”, John 14:10. So believers are to express the unity that is made between them, for they are “created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them”, Ephesians 2:10.

3. Does not displace individuality. The Father is still the Father, the Son is still the Son, even whilst being perfectly one. So believers, whilst they say “not I but Christ”, and are part of the one body, nevertheless, they are to express that unity in individual ways, as the Spirit directs. “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man (person), as He wills”, 1 Corinthians 12:7. “To one is given…to another (of a different sort) is given…” 1 Corinthians 12:8-10.

4. Is absolute. This goes without saying with regard to the persons of the Godhead, for “the Lord our God is one Lord”, Deuteronomy 6:4; Mark 12:29. It is also true that “there is one body”, formed by Divine persons, and therefore also absolute.

4. Is known through the Spirit. The unity of the Father and the Son is known when they come by the Spirit, John 14:20. The unity of the one body is the unity of he Spirit, that is, the unity the Spirit makes. The unity of the faith is arrived at when we respond to the Spirit’s ministry through the gifts the ascended Christ has given.

So it is that by means of the Spirit of God, Christ has baptized His people into one body. Just as John used water to baptized converts in his day, so Christ has used the element of the Spirit to immerse His people, so they lose their personal identity in favour of Himself, John 1:32-34; Acts 1:5.

In the bond of peace- we learn from 2:16 that one of the purposes for which Christ died on the cross was that His people might be joined together in one body, so He had the unity of His people on His mind as He died. The peace He has made is not just between the believer and God, but also between believers and one another. This uniting bond of the peace He has formed is to influence us all as we seek to maintain the unity of the Spirit in practical terms. If He was concerned about unity when enduring the agonies of Calvary, should not we be concerned about it, now that we have peace with God through Him?

Verses 4-6
Factors which are unique and unifying.

4:4
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

There is one body- by virtue of His ascent to heaven, Christ was made the head of His people, the church. See Ephesians 1:19-23; Colossians 1:18. Since there is only one Head, there can only be one body. God has ensured that those potential sources of division which existed at the time of Pentecost, have been dealt with.

The Samaritans
The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans as a nation, so the Spirit deliberately guided the apostles to remain in Jerusalem in Acts 8:1, whilst the disciples were scattered abroad preaching. Philip went down to Samaria and saw souls saved, but they were not given the Spirit of God immediately. That happened only after Peter and John had gone from Jerusalem as the representatives of the apostles, to lay hands on them in a gesture of fellowship, and to bestow the gift of the Spirit on them.

In Luke 9:54, John, with his brother James, (“sons of thunder”), had wanted to call fire from heaven upon the Samaritans who had not welcomed the Lord Jesus amongst them. He was rebuked for his attitude then, and now is able to show he had learnt his lesson.

The Gentiles
Gentiles, too, were anathema to the Jews, and so when Cornelius, the first Gentile convert, believed the gospel, it was necessary for him to speak with tongues, so that Peter might be convinced that he had indeed received the Spirit of God. When he was called to account for his actions that day, Peter quotes the words of the Lord Jesus about being baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Disciples of John the Baptist
There was another company that might have been a source of division in later days, and that consisted of the converts of John the Baptist who did not know that the Spirit of God had come. Significantly, it was at Ephesus that this matter came up, and the apostle was able to baptize them in the name of the Lord Jesus, and lay hands on them so that they received the Holy Spirit. All possible sources of division from the past were now dealt with, and the apostle can say with confidence, “there is one body”.

Here the apostle uses the figure of speech which is unique to his writings. The human body supplies the apostle with the example he needs to show that the church is both unified and living. The human body has unity, yet diversity; it has a plurality of members, yet solidarity of members too. Those members has an equality of importance, yet some have a priority in function.

Beyond all this, the major feature of the human body is that it is controlled by the head, and without that head it cannot exist as a body. The apostle uses all these features in 1 Corinthians 12:14-30 in connection with the local assembly, (for he tells the Corinthian assembly that they are “the body of Christ”, and as such represented and manifested Christ in the locality), and he uses them here in the context of the church which is Christ’s body. We should remember, however, to work these things out in a local context. The local assembly is the setting in which this unity should be expressed. Most of the members of the church which is Christ’s body are not available to us, either because they have died, or because they live far from us. It is comparatively easy to get on with those we see only occasionally, but what of those we see constantly? Much grace is needed, and thankfully much grace is available to enable the unities listed in verse 4-6 to be in evidence.

And one Spirit- In Revelation 1:4 there is mention made of the seven Spirits before the throne of God. We can readily understand that in a book so full of symbolism as the Revelation, this signifies the seven-fold fulness of the actions of the Spirit of God, especially in the area of judgement. See Isaiah 4:4; 11:2, etc. Here, however, there is the reminder that there is but one Spirit of God, and it is through Him that the one body was formed and is maintained. Since He is the sole source of the unity of the members of the body, in the measure in which we are spiritual, (which is the same as saying, in the measure in which we respond to the guidance of the Spirit of God through the Word of God), we shall be enabled to keep the unity of the Spirit. Sadly, some at Corinth were preaching “another spirit”, 2 Corinthians 11:4, and because of this there was division and defeat.

Even as ye are called in one hope of your calling- the one body is a present reality; the one Spirit was responsible for forming the one body in the past, and now the prospect for the future is emphasized. How unifying is a common prospect! Even on a natural level this is true. How much more on the spiritual. The Christian hope is not a “maybe”, or a “perhaps”, but a certain expectation, for the simple reason that Christ is our hope, 1 Timothy 1:1, so our hope cannot fail to be realised. In the context here, the hope is the full appreciation of Christ that we are called to by the gospel. It is summed up in verse 13 as “the knowledge of the Son of God…a perfect man…the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”. The calling also involves complete likeness to Christ, in line with Romans 8:29, which reads, “whom he did foreknow, them he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.” It also involves full possession and enjoyment of the blessings detailed in chapter one of the Ephesian epistle. It was the apostle’s prayer that the Spirit of God in His capacity as the Spirit of wisdom and revelation might give the saints understanding and enlightenment regarding the hope that calling holds out to them, Ephesians 1:17,18.

The apostle stated elsewhere, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance”, Romans 11:29,. This was said in connection with the future of the nation of Israel, but the principle holds true in any situation, that God does not repent or change His mind about His purpose. So the hope of the calling of believers in this present age is sure and certain. Believers from Israel have exchanged an earthly hope for a heavenly one; believers from the Gentiles now have that same hope, who before had none at all, 2:12.

4:5
One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

One Lord- subjection to the lordship of Christ is a powerful incentive to unity. If all believers are in subjection to the same Lord, in accordance with the Scriptures, then unity will result. The apostle mentions the lordship of Christ seven times in the first two chapters of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, to counteract their tendency to elevate men as party leaders. All believers have the same Lord, and willing subjection to Him and His authority will result in unity of action and reaction. Neglect of submission to Him is the root cause of division amongst the saints.

One faith- the fact that there is one body of truth to receive, believe, practice, and contend for is calculated to impart cohesion to believers as they seek to continue together in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, Acts 2:42, believing what the apostles believed and taught, and sharing it with fellow-believers. It is noticeable that there is no comma between “doctrine and fellowship”. This signifies that both the doctrine and the fellowship were connected with the apostles. This makes deciding what to have fellowship with very easy. We should only have fellowship in those things that the apostles would have had fellowship in. How can there be anything other than unity when these things pertain?

One baptism- there are two views held about this. Some believe that because the element in which the baptism takes place is not specified, it must be water baptism. We should notice, however, that all the other six unifying factors are entirely God’s responsibility. This is not true of water baptism, for although it is a Divine requirement, it does depend upon a believer’s personal exercise. The words of Ananias to Saul were “be baptized”, and are in the Middle Voice, meaning “get thyself baptized”. Furthermore, water baptism does not introduce into the one body. It does not even introduce into a local assembly, that being a separate and subsequent exercise. Water baptism is connected by the Lord Jesus in Mark 16:16 with an individual’s salvation.

This would explain why the apostle does not say “There is one Lord’s Supper”, for although the Supper is collective, as 1 Corinthians 10:15-17 shows, yet it is still in the area of the believer’s responsibility to obey the command of the Lord Jesus to remember Him.

The alternative view, then, is that this is the baptism effected by the ascended Christ as He immersed His people into the one element of the Spirit, thus bonding them together when they believe. As the result, the apostle can say in 1 Corinthians 12:13 that, as a matter of accomplished fact, all the believers at Corinth, (however carnal some may have been), were baptised into one body. All divisions of earth, whether Divinely-made such as Jew and Gentile, or man-made, such as bond or free, lose their relevance here.

Because it is Divine Persons who effect this baptism, then this is the way the unity the Lord Jesus prayed for is brought about, as we have seen in verse 3 in connection with the unity of the Spirit. Just as the life of man was breathed into him by God, so the life of God is in Christ’s mystical body, the church of which He is the head. In this way the members of the body are one as the Godhead are one, since the Godhead has effected that oneness.

4:6
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

One God and Father of all- the seventh unifying factor the apostle lists is the glorious truth that every believer has the same God and Father, and hence has equal claim on His power and love. As God, He has the power to enable His people to maintain unity despite the strong pressures to do otherwise. As Father, He surrounds us with His affection, so that we may respond to that love by showing love to fellow-believers. The Lord Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another as He had loved them, and also said that He had loved them as His Father loved Him, John 15:9.

Who is above all- God is not only the source of all that the believer needs, however, but He is supreme, too, being above all. We must submit to His supremacy, for then we shall be united. Division-making is an attack upon God. We shall also find that if our God is supreme in our lives, then His interests will be paramount in our hearts, and self’s interests will recede. And in the measure that this is true, we shall be enabled to put others first and so promote unity.

And through all- God is sovereign in the way He works out His purpose. He can use whom He pleases to foster the cause of unity. Every gift He has given to the members of the body has this unity in mind, just as every ability the individual members of the human body have serve the interests of the whole body. “God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: that there be no schism in the body”, 1 Corinthians 12:24,25.

And in you all- finally, God is in all believers, in fulfilment of the prophecy of the Lord Jesus in the upper room. His words were, “We will come and make our abode with him”, John 14:23. This is realised through the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit in each and every true believer. Not only are resources to enable us to keep the unity assured by His indwelling presence, but also the motivation to keep the unity.

Verses 7-12
Fulness of the provision made for maturity

4:7
But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

But unto every one of us is given grace- verse seven begins with “but”, and introduces a fresh aspect on things. Before, it was Divine working to produce the unity of the Spirit, and seven things that consolidate that unity, but now it is the believer’s individual responsibility to arrive at the unity of the faith mentioned in verse 13.

Every one is given grace to make use of the giving of Christ in ascended glory and triumph, so that all other believers are in some way profited. It is only by grace that anything worthwhile can be achieved for God, for we have neither merit nor strength of our own. God’s unmerited favour to His people is shown when He allows them to exercise their gift, Ephesians 3:2; gives opportunities to do so, Ephesians 3:8; and gives power to carry out the work involved, Ephesians 3:7. Whilst it is true that only four gifts are mentioned in this passage, yet there is the general principle set out here that all believers are favoured by God so that they may discharge the responsibility which having a gift from God places upon them.

According to the measure of the gift of Christ- that favour is suited to the nature of the gift, and the particular needs at the time of the one exercising it, so that the gift and the grace are of equal measure, or perfectly matched. There is also the fact that, keeping strictly to the context here, believers who are not apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor or teachers, are given grace to enable them to benefit from the ministry of those particular persons.

4:8
Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

Wherefore he saith- at this point the apostle marshalls support from the Old Testament. This might seem surprising to us, given the nature of the epistle, with its emphasis on matters that were undisclosed in former ages. But he needs to convince his readers that whilst the church is not in the Old Testament, it is possible to establish three principles from Old Testament scripture which are relevant to the doctrine he is setting forth at this point. It is especially important to do this because the mention of New Testament prophets in the next verses might concern those who revered the prophets of the Old Testament.

When he ascended up on high- the apostle now alludes to Psalm 68. The psalm begins with words reminiscent of Numbers 10:35 and Psalm 132:8, when the ark was setting out on a stage of its journey through the wilderness. The psalm traces the way in which God, represented by the ark, had triumphed in Israel in the past, culminating in the bringing up of the ark to Zion. The gifts mentioned by the psalmist would be David’s gifts for the building of the temple. Those gifts in large part being the spoils of war, as a reading of 2 Samuel 8:9-12 will show. The bringing up of the ark and David’s triumph coincide.

Three ideas come together in the verse, therefore. That of ascension, of the defeat of opposing forces, and the distribution of gifts. These are exactly the three principles the apostle is using in Ephesians 4. First, the absolute triumph of Christ, as indicated by the fact that having been crucified on a cross, He has now ascended to the very throne of God. Second, the utter defeat of Satan and his forces, crippling them to such an extent that, even though they are allowed a certain amount of latitude, they are easily defeated by means of the resources Christ gives. And third, the bestowal of gifts in grace, to enable believers to grow.

It is clear that the apostle does not quote the psalm in a word-for-word fashion. The same Spirit that inspired David now inspires him, and he gives the main elements of David’s words, but does so in a way which suits his purpose. David had listed three things that had happened, namely ascended, led, gave. Paul, however, makes the latter two consequent upon the first. In other words the ascension is the main thought, and the leading captive and giving of gifts follow. The sense is, “Having ascended up on high, he lead captivity captive, and gave gifts”. The leading captive and giving gifts take place after the ascension. In fact, are taking place now.

He led captivity captive- captivity is personified here to represent all that had held the Ephesians captive as unbelievers, and would try to lead them captive as believers. Such is the triumph of Christ that He can move through the sphere of the prince of the power of the air unhindered. In Daniel 10:12,13 we read of the way in which the progress of the angel Gabriel was hindered by an evil angel-prince, and he had to be assisted by Michael the archangel. No such delay is suffered by Christ, who rises to heaven with “angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him”, 1 Peter 3:22.

It is clear from Scripture that the Lord Jesus has defeated the enemy in all of his guises:

The Prince of this world came to Christ when He was down here, yet He could say he “hath nothing in me”, John 14:30. As a result of Calvary the prince of this world shall be cast out, John 12:31.

As the Devil, and wielding the power of death, he has been utterly defeated by the death and resurrection of Christ, Hebrews 2:14.

As god of this age he is defeated every time a blinded mind is made to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 4:4-6.

As Satan he is defeated when Christ intercedes for His own, Luke 22:31,32.

As Devil, the accuser, he is defeated by Christ our advocate, 1 John 2:1.

There is no reference here to any supposed transfer of Old Testament saints to heaven when Christ ascended. Why would saints personify captivity? Or why would they be called captives? When Paul is writing about the resurrection of church saints he uses a scripture in application and illustration, but which in interpretation refers to Old Testament saints. In Hosea 13:14, from whence the quotation comes, the previous words are, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave (sheol); I will redeem them from death”. So when the time of the resurrection of the Old Testament saints comes they will still be in sheol. They have not, therefore, been transported to heaven.

And gave gifts unto men- in Psalm 68, which the apostle uses here, the gifts David gave were as a result of his victory in battle. We read in 1 Chronicles 18 that he smote Moab, and “the Moabites brought gifts”, verse 2. The Syrians “became David’s servants, and brought gifts”, verse 6. Tou, King of Hamath sent his son to David to congratulate him, “and with him all manner of vessels of gold and silver and brass”, verse 10. And what did David do with these gifts? “These also King David dedicated unto the Lord”, verse 11. By this is meant that he gave them to Solomon to build the temple.

So the illustration is very apt. The gifts dedicated to the temple were the result of David subduing his foes. So the gifts Christ gifts in ascended glory are the spoils of war, for He has defeated His foes, and each gift is the sign that this has happened. For the gifts are men who have been delivered from captivity to Satan, and brought into the service of God so that the “holy temple unto the Lord” of this age may be built and edified. And the fact that Christ is able to freely give them is the sign of His complete victory. We do well then, to seek to benefit from the ministry of these men-gifts, ontained by Christ at such cost to Himself.

4:9
(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?

(Now that he ascended, what is it but that- this could be expressed as “what else can it mean than that”. Verses 9 and 10 form a parenthesis, in which the apostle shows the completeness of the triumph of Christ, for all areas of the universe have felt the influence of His presence. Even the realm of the dead has known that presence temporarily, so there is no place the forces of evil can hide from His supreme power. That is not to say that the Devil has any sway in hades, or even goes there. The notion that he is King of Hell is a pagan fiction.

He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? That Christ’s soul went to hades seems certain from Peter’s use of Psalm 16 on the Day of Pentecost. Peter’s words may be summed up as follows; David’s tomb is occupied; David’s throne is unoccupied; Christ’s tomb is unoccupied; God’s throne is occupied. If Christ is to occupy David’s throne on earth, He must first of all rise from the dead to die no more, for His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and must not be interrupted by death.

David’s sepulchre was with them to that day, so his flesh did see corruption, and his soul did stay in hades. Not so the Messiah’s flesh and soul. He had no corruption within, but God saw to it that no external corruption touched Him, for He was laid in a new and unused tomb. A tomb, moreover, that was protected by a sealed stone, which barred any unclean person or animal from intruding. In addition, because He rose again so soon, there was no time for Joseph of Arimathea to die, and be deposited in the sepulchre.

Just as His flesh was preserved from corruption, so His soul was not left in hades. Peter used Psalm 16 not to show that something was prevented from happening, as if the psalm said “Thou wilt not abandon my soul to hades”, but rather, to show that something had indeed happened, namely that Christ’s soul had returned from hades and He was risen from the dead. The apostle Paul used Psalm 16 to the same end in Acts 13:34-37. How could Psalm 16 be thought of as referring to Christ’s resurrection if it stated that His souold did not go to sheol, or hades.

Perhaps the reticence of some to accept these things is based on a false notion of hell, or hades. That place should not be confused with Gehenna, the Lake of Fire. The Greek word hades is the equivalent of the Hebrew word sheol, as the quotation of Psalm 16 by Peter in Acts 2:27 shows. There is no suggestion in the Old Testament that sheol was a place of suffering for believers. In fact, for Lazarus the beggar it was a place of comfort, Luke 16:25.

In Deuteronomy 32:22 God speaks of His anger burning to the lowest hell, suggesting that there are levels in sheol, perhaps corresponding to “the pit” spoken of in Ezekiel 26:20; 31:14,16; 32:18,25,29,30. The psalmist was glad that God had saved his soul from the lowest hell, Psalm 86:13,

It is sometimes objected that the spirit and the soul are inseparable, and therefore where Christ’s spirit went His soul went too. And since we know His spirit returned to the Father, then His soul must have done so also. However, Ecclesiastes 12:7 is clear that when a man dies “Then shall the dust return to the dust as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it”. So the spirits of all men go back to God, awaiting the resurrection day when they shall be reunited with their bodies, yet the souls of men go to hades. They are separable then. If Christ is to be shown to be true man, He must experience what they experience, sin apart. He was made in all points like unto His brethren, Hebrews 2:17, and this includes where He went at death.

Those who understand the verse to mean “lower parts, even the earth”, must show how that is relevant to the subject in hand, which is the complete triumph of Christ. The expression “that he might fill all things” seems conclusive that every part of God’s universe must be under Christ’s control. His influence pervades every sphere, and this not only because of His Deity, (for Psalm 139 makes clear that no place in creation is out of reach of God, even sheol, for the psalmist said, “If I make my bed in hell, thou art there”, verse 8)), but now also because of His manhood, and the fact that He has passed through death, been raised, and has ascended to heaven. The range of thought in both chapter 1:20-21, and 2:4-7, is between Christ in death, and Christ in heaven, not between Christ on earth and then in heaven.

4:10
He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens- Solomon built the temple when there was no adversary (same word as Satan) occurrent, 1 Kings 5:4. “Fill all things” seems to imply that every sphere is under the influence of Christ, and His soul went to hades temporarily to establish this. The Lord Jesus compared the experience of Jonah in the whale’s belly with His when He would be in the heart of the earth, Matthew 12:40. Jonah thought of that experience in terms of being in sheol, for he said, “out of the belly of hell cried I”, Jonah 2:2. In no way can Christ’s words “in the heart of the earth” refer to being in a tomb. In any case, it is His soul in relation to sheol that is in view in Psalm 16, not His body.
That he might fill all things- Christ fills all things in the sense that He does not allow any evil force to invade His domain. The enemy is completely vanquished.

4:11
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets- the apostle is now resuming his argument of verse 8 on the subject of the gifts the ascended Christ has given, after the parenthesis of verses 9 and 10. Some of them were apostles, some were prophets, etc. In this passage the gifts are the men themselves, not ignoring the fact that they had gifts, of course. In Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12, the gifts are given to believers in general. Here the emphasis is on that which consolidates the unity that God has formed, and which enables the saints to progress towards the unity of the faith.

And some, evangelists- the apostles and prophets are the foundation of the temple, and the evangelists bring stones into the temple, and the pastors and teachers adorn the temple, just as Solomon’s temple was adorned with costly stones, 2 Chronicles 3:6. Compare 1 Corinthians 3:4-17.

Being foundational, we would not expect the apostles and prophets still to be given nearly two thousand years later, especially as Peter warns, not against false prophets counterfeiting true prophets, but false teachers counterfeiting true teachers, 2 Peter 2:1. We can expect the continuous giving of evangelists, and pastor-teachers, however. Thankfully there are still true evangelists, who pioneer in the world, preaching Christ where He has not been named. Solomon brought stones from beneath the temple site in Israel, and cedar wood from the world of the Gentiles, and evangelists do the same on a higher level, bringing suitable material from both Jew and Gentile into the spiritual temple, the church.

And some, pastors and teachers- once the new converts have been brought in by the evangelist, the work of the pastor-teacher begins. The fact that there is no “and” between the words pastor and teacher strongly suggests that it is the same man looked at from different angles.

A pastor will see to it that those newly saved are encouraged and protected. He will have both a rod and a staff. A rod to ward off evil teachers, a staff to lead into green pastures. David knew as a shepherd lad the need to function in both ways. As he led his flock through the valley to another pasture, he was aware that it was the valley of the shadow of death for the flock. Around, in the scrub along the path, there would be adders, but a swift stroke of his rod would deal with these. Above, the vultures hovered, ready to swoop on the stragglers. The flock needed to be protected from these also, not to speak of the lion and the bear. True pastors will be alert to danger in the spiritual realm, and will realize that the enemy can strike from different directions, and in different ways. It will not always be “as a roaring lion”, 1 Peter 5:8. It may be a more subtle, serpent-like approach. But whichever way the danger comes, the pastor must be ready for it. Well might the apostle say to the Ephesian elders, “Watch!” Acts 20:31.

As teacher, he will see to it the truths of the faith are taught. There is an ongoing and pressing need for the Scriptures to be expounded systematically and in depth. The flock cannot survive the onslaughts of the enemy if they are only fed a diet of exhortation and anecdote. There is no substitute for the ministry of the word by those gifted to give it. It was only in the days of the apostles that the gift of prophecy was available. Those with that gift were able to stand up and tell the mind of God without prior notice. They would have to be prepared in heart, of course, but they did not prepare their message. This gift is not available today, which is why there are teachers given by Christ to His people, so that they may expound the scriptures after careful and diligent preparation. May the Ascended Christ be pleased to continue to give His people such gifts, and may the Lord’s people value them and benefit from their God-given ability.

4:12
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

For the perfecting of the saints- the overriding reason for the giving of the gifts is to enable believers to reach perfection, being fully equipped to progress in Divine things. This end is reached by the secondary actions of fostering the work of the ministry. There are three occurrences of the word “for” in this verse. The first is more general than the others. The grand goal in view in the giving of these gifts is the eventual perfection of the saints. The other two phrases begun by the preposition “for” are the ways in which that perfection is achieved.

For the work of the ministry- this refers to the service of the apostles etc, as they serve the saints by their teaching.

For the edifying of the body of Christ- this is the result when the teaching of the apostles and prophets is heeded, and acted upon.

Verses 13-16
Final end of the progress towards maturity

4:13
Till 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:

Till we all come in the unity of the faith- just as the unity of the Spirit is the unity that the Spirit of God produces and promotes, so the unity of the faith is that unity which the faith, (the body of Christian doctrine), is sure to achieve. In a day to come all the differences of interpretation, and the difficulties and disarray those differences bring with them, will be forever gone. All God’s people will then be in full agreement with one another as to the truths of the faith. There is no suggestion that these differences will increasingly disappear as the age draws to a close, culminating with a state of things on earth where all believers are in agreement. That is not a possibility all the time we have the flesh within. It does encourage a state of mind, however, which would love to see that happen if it were a possibility.

And of the knowledge of the Son of God- not only shall we arrive at the unity of the faith, but we shall arrive at the full knowledge of the Son of God. We shall never know the Son as the Father knows Him, Matthew 11:27, but we shall have the most extensive knowledge of Him that believers can have. Delivered from this body of clay with all its hindrances and frailties, and bearing the image of the heavenly, 1 Corinthians 15:49, we shall be enabled as never before to enjoy and appreciate Him.

Having received eternal life when we believed, John 3:36, (which life enables us to know God and Jesus Christ who revealed Him, John 17:3), we are to “lay hold on eternal life”, 1 Timothy 6:12. Meanwhile we are “looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life”, Jude 21. So we have life, we should hold life, and we hope for life.

Unto a perfect man- at the Lord’s coming we shall not only be changed as to the body, with a body like Christ’s, Philippians 3:20,21; 1 Corinthians 15:45-54, but we shall be changed morally, too, so as to be like Christ who is righteous and pure, 1 John 3:1-3. With all hindrances removed we shall have the most extensive knowledge of Him that is possible for us to have. This will enable us to fully represent Him, as we shall be conformed (a word which speaks of inward conformity) to His image. We shall not be conformed to His Sonship, for that is not transferable, but rather to the image of Himself as a Son, representing sonship in our measure. A full measure, indeed, as far as is possible, but not the personal measure of Christ, which is unique. This will result in the perfect man. In other words, the new order of manhood which Christ displayed when down here in Adam’s old world, will also be perfectly displayed in His people in that day. The measure of the moral height of Christ’s glorious person is the measure to which we shall be conformed.

Unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ- we should notice that this phrase does not begin with “and”, as if the measure of the stature is a further thing to which we shall arrive. We are justified in thinking that the perfect man is a man who is marked by the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ. This is a long phrase, and it is often helpful when handling such expressions to begin at the end and work backwards. The apostle now describes the condition believers will arrive at as “the perfect man”, a fully mature and developed state. In verse 12 he had spoken of the perfecting of the saints, and the word he used had to do with being fully equipped for a particular purpose. Here the idea behind the word “perfect” is of maturity, and is in direct contrast to the infancy of the next verse.

We begin then with Christ, the Anointed One. When a man was anointed in Old Testament times it meant that God approved of him, whether he was anointed to be a prophet, a priest or a king. Whether that man lived up to the position was a different matter, Saul being a case in point.

Jesus of Nazareth was anointed on the banks of the river Jordan, Acts 10:38. Whereas, however, men of old were anointed with physical oil by fellow-men, in this case, things were different. The anointing was by means of the Holy Spirit Himself, the one symbolized by the oil, and it was the Father who did the anointing. There was another major difference, even the fact that this anointed one would not fail and disappoint.

So when the apostle speaks here of Christ, he speaks of one who had the Father’s full approval. That full approval was not only because He is God’s beloved Son, but also because all the features that the Father was looking for in a man upon the earth were found in Christ. These features could be summed up in the expression the apostle John uses of Him in John 1:14, “full of grace and truth”. All that was pleasurable to the God who is love and light, were found in Him as He manifested grace and truth in His life down here. He is no longer down here, however, but has ascended up on high, for the heavens must receive such a man as this. Peter’s words on the day of Pentecost were, “God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ”, Acts 2:36. He was Christ when He was born, as the angel declared in Luke 2:11, He was Christ because of His anointing at Jordan, and now God has re-affirmed His approval of Him as one who had lived blamelessly upon the earth, and by so doing became the supreme example for His people to follow.

Continuing to work backwards through our verse, we come to the word stature. This can mean physical height, as in 1 Samuel 16:7. It can also be used in another sense, as when in John 9:21,23 the parents of the blind man said, “He is of age, ask him”. “Of age” translates our word stature. It denotes that stage at which a person can be thought of as fully-developed. Moral fulness and completeness was seen in Christ down here, and should be seen increasingly in His people as they “grow up into him”, verse 15, and will be fully attained when we arrive in heaven. Then we shall have reached the measure of His fulness.

4:14
That 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;

That we henceforth be no more children– this verse presents us with the four ways in which the purpose of God can be hindered at the present time. There are waves tossing us to and fro; winds of doctrine that can blow us off-course; the sleight of men; and those who cunningly lie in wait in order to deceive us. No wonder we need the ministry from God’s word, which alone will build us up so that we grow and mature.

The apostle now pinpoints some of the features that mark those that are immature, and still in infancy as far as growth in Divine things is concerned. Infants are unstable, uncertain, unwise and unwary. The Devil knows this, and exploits the situation. The apostle describes how he does it.

Tossed to and fro- this is Satan’s attempt to agitate and de-stabilize the believer. He may use many circumstances to do this, yet we may be sure that there is no situation that is not covered in some way by the teaching of scripture, either by direct instruction, or some incident from which we may derive a principle. Pastors and teachers should ensure that those under their care are well versed in the truth, which gives stability and steadfastness.

And carried about with every wind of doctrine- continuing his maritime theme, the apostle speaks of being carried about or round in circles by every wind of doctrine. By which he means wrong doctrine. Right doctrine will ensure we steer a straight course. This highlights the fact that infants are often in a state of uncertainty. Not having much experience of life, they are constantly confronted with new situations that they do not know how to handle. Winds of doctrine do not always blow from the same direction, which is why the apostle warns us against every one of them. Sometimes there are south winds which lull into a false sense of security and complacency. The apostle had experienced this himself just a year or two before writing this epistle. On his way by ship to Rome, the mariners put out to sea when the south wind blew softly, Acts 27:13, but they were soon in trouble. The apostle’s rebuke to them was, “Ye should have hearkened unto me”. How often we would have escaped difficulty if we had listened more to the apostle! At other times “the wind is contrary” from another direction, Matthew 14:24, but from whatever quarter it comes we may be sure that the enemy of our souls is attempting to blow us off course.

We should remember that holy men of old spake as they were moved or borne along by the Spirit of God, 2 Peter 1:21. They were borne along by the wind of the Spirit, as a sailing ship is borne along by the wind, and this was also true of the New Testament apostles and prophets, for they spoke “not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth”, 1 Corinthians 2:13. As such, they are reliable and trustworthy, and guided by them, we shall make a straight course.

By the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness- not only are infants unstable and uncertain, but they are unwise too, being prone to put their confidence in those who do not act in their best interests. This is true in the spiritual realm also. The Devil is not interested in fair play or honesty. He loads the dice against God’s people, such is the inference we may draw from the word sleight. His strategy is to cheat believers of the satisfaction that comes from progress in spiritual things. It is as if Satan prepares sea-charts for God’s people that lead the unwary voyager dangerously near treacherous shoals and hidden rocks. We must beware, and so acquaint ourselves with the truth of scripture that we easily discern the false charts of the enemy.

Whereby they lie in wait to deceive– this is the infant’s lack of wariness. So often young children display an unhealthy disregard for danger. So we may, too, if we are not maturing in Divine things. The apostle warns here of those lie in wait to deceive, and who systematically lead into error. One of the cardinal rules of ancient seafarers was to avoid plotting one’s course by the planets, but always by the “fixed” stars. Planets were so called because they were wanderers across the sky. Because they revolve around the sun, and the stars do not, they change their relative position nightly. The word for deceive the apostle uses here is “plane”, error, a wandering from the true course.

The Devil is systematically and persistently seeking to get believers to wander off course. If they listen to his wiles they will do this, but if they are guided by the fixed light of Scripture, they will arrive at the situation described in verse 13. When this happens, those forces that would lead us captive and prevent our progress in Divine things, are themselves led captive by the power of the ascended Christ.

4:15
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

But speaking the truth in love- the apostle is now able to return to a happier theme in verse 15, that of growth and progress in the truth. He insists that it is not enough to simply speak the truth in the sense of not telling lies. Lies are the Devil’s stock in trade, and should have no place in the believer’s life. The meaning is deeper than this, however, for he has in mind that we not only utter truth, but are affected in the whole of our being by the truth. In contrast to those who set out to deceive and cheat, believers should conduct themselves in an attitude and atmosphere of genuine love, not only for one another, but also for the truth itself. The apostle made it clear in 1 Corinthians 13:6 that love rejoices in the truth. That is not Christian love that compromises with error.

May grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ- when the happy situation prevails where truth is lived out and spoken in love, then believers will grow up. What they grow up into is stated by the apostle to be “Him”, that is, Christ. The stage of maturity we have reached can be surely known by reference to Christ in all His moral perfection. In the measure in which we are like Him, we shall have grown up. We should not be satisfied with being morally like Him in some things, for the apostle insists we should grow up in all things, or in every respect. This is a strong challenge, but it is one we can meet if we take advantage of the resources He makes available to us, as the next verse goes on to say.

So the remedy for this immaturity is found in the truth of the faith, when it is spoken in an atmosphere of love by those who are qualified to do so. This is where the pastors and teachers come in today, as they unfold to the saints the truth found in the writings of the apostles and prophets. Their task is to minister Christ to their hearers, so that He may be known and imitated. So shall the body grow up into “Him”, that is, likeness to Him. He is the head, controlling all things, including this process whereby we mature into His likeness, as the next verse indicates.

4:16
From 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.

From whom- it is from Christ, as Head of the body, the church, that resources come for spiritual growth to take place. Just as the head of the human body is the centre of control, so the head of the church directs from His place of supremacy in heaven, ensuring that the supplies we need are brought to us. This verse tells us how it happens.

The whole body fitly joined together- the entire human body is fitly joined together and compacted, and this is true also of the body of Christ. The phrase “fitly joined together” represents a word which was originally used in architecture, and related to the way in which one stone, skillfully worked upon by the stonemason, would fit closely with the adjoining stone.

And compacted by that which every joint supplieth- the word compacted extends and intensifies this idea, for it means to join together as one. Ancient stonemasons were able to square stones so skillfully that it was impossible to insert a sheet of paper between the joins. So it is with the members of the church, the living stones, 1 Peter 2:5, for they have been fitted together by the Master Artificer, Christ Himself. Perhaps the fitly joined together is the initial bonding together of believers, and the compacting is the ongoing work of consolidating in practice that which has been done in principle. Notice that the whole body is involved, for this is not truth for a select few, but concerns all believers.

We might think it strange that the apostle uses words that relate to the stones of a building when he is referring to the church which is Christ’s body, until we remember that when Eve was made, the word used in Genesis 2:22 can be literally rendered, “builded he a woman”.

This compaction is achieved by that which every joint supplieth. In particular, this refers to the apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor-teachers that the risen head of the church has given for the building up of His people. The word joint has the idea of touching or connecting. The human body has four sorts of connective tissue, namely bone, which is rigid, blood vessel walls which are elastic, cartilage which is compressible, and synovial fluid for the lubrication of the joints. Just as the human body is kept functional by means of these connecting agents, so the church which is Christ’s body is maintained by the men-gifts Christ has given.

According to the effectual working in the measure of every part- in particular, “every part” refers to the apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor-teachers that the risen head of the church has given for the building up of His people. The Lord Jesus specifically prayed for the unity of the apostles in John 17:6-19, that they might be one, united in the carrying out of the task of setting forth to others the word He had given. He then prayed for believers who were not apostles, that they might be one too. Every part of the body has a responsibility to respond to the ministry of these important connecting gifts, either through the apostles and prophets who are no longer with us, but whose written words are, or the spoken word of evangelists and pastor-teachers who unfold that written word to us verbally.

Maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love- growth cannot take place unless all parts of the body are functioning properly, but when they are, there is increase and edification, so that Christ-likeness is produced. Only in an atmosphere of love can this take place. When the human body is distressed or disturbed in some way, normal functioning is not possible; such is the case also with the church which is Christ’s body.

May the Lord help us to be exercised about keeping the unity of the Spirit, and at the same time grow in Christ-likeness, until that glorious day when we shall see Him and be made like Him.

Verses 17-19
Failure of man in Adam

4:17
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord- the chapter began with an exhortation on the basis of the teaching in chapters 1-3, and now a new section begins in a similar way. The practical exhortations of chapters 4-6 are solidly and logically based on the teaching of chapters 1-3. Paul solemnly testifies in full recognition of the Lordship of Christ. When He is gladly owned as Lord the exhortations of the passage will be willingly complied with.

That ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk- he begins with a negative example, and one they will easily recognize from their pre-conversion days. Henceforth means no longer, suggesting a clean break with the past. That they have to be exhorted like this even though they are believers shows they had not fully realized the implications of faith in Christ. In verse 1 we are exhorted to walk worthily, now we are to walk differently.

In the vanity of their mind- the apostle begins with the mind, because that is the seat of the thoughts, and as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he, Proverbs 23:7. Vanity as used here means emptiness of results, and is in stark contrast to the reality that is found in Christ. Whereas the natural man produces nothing that is pleasing to God, He was altogether pleasing to His Father.

4:18
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Having the understanding darkened- understanding is literally a thinking through, so here the apostle reminds us that the thought processes of the unbeliever are darkened, or covered over, not allowing the light of God’s truth to penetrate.

Being alienated from the life of God- when Adam sinned the threatened punishment fell upon him, and he died. Despite continuing in the body for 930 years, he died the day he sinned. The Lord Jesus taught this in John 5: 24 when He spoke of men passing from death unto life. And since the life is spiritual life, then the death must be spiritual death. Not that man’s spirit is dead, for spirits cannot die, and man is able to use his spirit to worship demons, but as far as communion with God is concerned, man is dead.

Through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart- this ignorance exists because eternal life involves knowing God, and Jesus Christ, John 17:3, so those who have not this life are ignorant, however qualified they may be in the things of this world. Because men have closed their minds to the revelation of God, they are blind in heart. This situation is not without remedy, as John 9 illustrates. Reading verses 17-19 should makes us truly thankful that the grace of God has reached us, and should also make us more concerned about the plight of those still in their sins all around us. It is solemn to think that the population of the world increases by 270,000 people every day. (That is not the number of people who are born each day, but rather the number of people who are born over and above the number of those who die each day). May the Lord give us wisdom in this situation.

4:19
Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

Who being past feeling- as a result of this willing heart-blindness, men are not sensitive to the truth of God, and what is acceptable behaviour with Him.

Have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness- lasciviousness is lack of restraint, the direct result of refusing the Divine laws which should govern life on earth. See Psalm 2:3, and Romans 1:18-32. This in its turn results in uncleanness of every and any sort, and that with an attitude of heart which longs for more and more.

Verses 20-32
Full display of truth in Jesus

4:20
But ye have not so learned Christ;

But ye have not so learned Christ- again the emphasis on the mind. We learn how to sin from Adam and his race, we learn how to live worthily through Christ’s example when here on earth. It is not simply that He taught how to live, but that He is the Life, John 14:6, for true life finds its fullest expression in Him; He is the subject of the lesson.

4:21
If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

If so be that ye have heard him- through the personal testimony of apostles and prophets, and the preaching of evangelists, pastors and teachers, the Ephesian believers had heard Him, as much as if they had been on earth when Christ was.

And have been taught by him- they had not only heard, but what they heard had deep meaning for them. But more than this, what they heard encouraged them to look at the record of Christ’s life and learn lessons from it directly. As He Himself said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”, Matthew 11:28-30. The thought of two oxen being yoked together was used as a figure of speech for a disciple being yoked to his teacher.

As the truth is in Jesus- the true life is expressed in Jesus, the Man upon the earth who pleased God fully. This phrase is often misquoted as “the truth as it is in Jesus”, but this implies that truth in someone else is different. Christ alone is the full expression of the truth. Paul longed that the life of Jesus might be manifest in his mortal body, 2 Corinthians 4:10; . He could tell the Galatian believers that he “travailed in birth again until Christ be formed in you”, Galatians 4:19.

4:22
That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man- as we learn Christ through His example, and are taught of Him through His word, we are taught to put off the old man. In principle we did this when we turned to Christ in repentance, but there is an ongoing need for readjustment to Christ. The words “put off” mean to take off and lay aside, and are used of those who stoned Stephen, Acts 7:58. They took off their garments and laid them aside as being unsuitable for the task in hand. Clothing speaks of character in the Scriptures, and so we should take off and discard the characteristics of Adam, the old and out-of-date man, for those garments are not suitable for the task in hand of living like Christ. Our old man has been crucified with Christ, for Christ undertook to deal with what we were in Adam, and by association with Him in His death and resurrection we are freed from the consequences of what Adam did when he fell. See Romans 6. Even though that is the case, believers still have the flesh within, which likes to wear the old man’s clothes.

Which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts- because the human heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, it deceives the unbeliever into doing corrupting things, even things which will bring into ruin. We should not allow anything in our lives which is corrupt, for that is a characteristic of our pre-conversion selves.

4:23
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

And be renewed in the spirit of your mind- instead of being corrupted by a deceitful mind, we should be constantly adjusting to the new things that are found to perfection in Christ. The spirit of our mind is our attitude of mind, which is so governed by the Spirit of God that it can be called the mind of the Spirit, Romans 8:5. We must adopt the right attitude to the things mentioned here, if we are to be in the good of them.

4:24
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

And that ye put on the new man- this is the other side to the truth that we have been taught in Christ, for we have not only to put on, but put off as well. It is not expected that we wear both the clothes of the old man and those of the new man at the same time. Sadly, that is what we often do, but they cannot really be worn together. We must put off the old so that we may wear the new. We said we would put off the old man when we repented. We said we would put on the new man when we believed. Let us make good our intention.

The new man is the believer considered ideally, the man God sees us to be in Christ. It is our task to put on the features of Christ’s character. Character is symbolised by clothing in scripture, and we are to wear appropriate clothes, metaphorically speaking. No doubt the garments of the two malefactors as well as Christ’s became the property of the soldiers at the foot of the cross. The question for us is which garments shall we put on, Christ’s, or the malefactors?

Which after God is created- the apostle wrote elsewhere, “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature”, 2 Corinthians 5:17. So it is not that God has modified the old man to make him respectable, but that God has created us anew, and since “after God” means with God as the model, there is an obvious parallel with what happened at the beginning of the world. We read, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…so God created man in his own image”, Genesis 1:26,27. Image tells of representation, likeness tells us of replication. Man was to represent God to the rest of creation, and replicate and reproduce His character in his life. Sadly, Adam failed, and when he begat Seth we read, “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image”, Genesis 5:3. Moses very pointedly refers in verse 1 to the fact that at the beginning God made man in His likeness, but now that likeness has been spoiled by sin. We see the need, therefore, for God to create anew after His likeness as it was expressed fully in Christ.

In righteousness and true holiness- this is the condition in which the new man is by God’s creation. It is our responsibility to put off all those things which are incompatible with righteousness and holiness. True holiness is holiness which is produced when we allow the truth to govern us. The truth in question being the truth in Jesus.

The word for holiness here is not the usual one meaning separation. It has been defined as “that quality of holiness which is manifested in those who have regard equally to grace and truth”, Vine. Notice the three ideas of righteousness, holiness and truth, which could be used as summaries of the next few verses. They are in opposition to the corruption, lusts and deceit mentioned at the end of verse 22.

4:25
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour- it is not suitable for those who claim to know Him who is the truth, to be found lying. As verse 15 has already told us, we should not only be truthful, but live the truth. In fact the word for lying used here suggests this, being the word for falsehood. May we be like the psalmist and hate every false way, Psalm 119:104,128. The apostle quotes here from Zechariah 8:16. As an Old Testament statement, it is a requirement under the law. How much more now that Christ has come, and grace reigns. Zechariah has fellow-Israelites in view when he speaks of neighbours, those who hope to enter the kingdom of the Messiah.

For we are members one of another- as fellow-members of the body of Christ we are members of His body, (for we are more than just neighbours), and what we do even with our bodies, 1 Corinthians 6:15, affects other members of the body.

4:26
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

Be ye angry, and sin not- sometimes the cause of truth demands that we be angry, with the sort of anger that Christ showed when He saw within the hardened hearts of men, Mark 3:5. That it is permissible for a believer to be angry at times is shown in that a bishop must not be soon angry, Titus 1:7, thus showing that controlled anger is permitted at times. One has said, “He that would be angry at sin, let him be angry at nothing but sin”.

Let not the sun go down upon your wrath- justified anger is not to degenerate into that which smoulders in our hearts, for the apostle is quoting from Psalm 4:4, and the psalmist goes on to say, “Commune in your own heart on your bed”. We are to have quiet spirits, even in times when we have strong feelings about matters which affect the honour of Christ. “Anger resteth in the bosom of fools”, Ecclesiastes 7:9, with the emphasis on resteth. Anger is a condition of mind, whereas wrath is an expression of that condition at a particular time. If we need to express righteous anger, let not the expression of it linger with us.

4:27
Neither give place to the devil.

Neither give place to the devil- the Devil delights to provoke us into emotional outbursts, and we should be aware of this, and not give him any opportunities to exploit situations, perhaps by exaggerated language or behaviour whilst under stress.

The word devil means a false accuser, and the apostle is not only warning against this in general, but more particularly when we need to express righteous anger about a matter. The devil would love to incite us to go further than we should, and instead of dealing with the facts of the matter, stray into false statements.

4:28
Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

Let him that stole steal no more- in some cultures stealing is thought of lightly, but such is the transforming power of the gospel, that it enables a person to renounce that unlawful activity, even though he may have gained a living by it.

But rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good- he must begin to make a living in an honest and God-fearing way for the sake of the testimony. The gospel is marked by Divine persons giving. Those who believe should not do the opposite and steal, whether it be other’s goods, or employer’s time, or men’s reputation.

Hard work is a noble occupation, and the gospel requires it, for the apostle wrote, “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat”, 2 Thessalonians 3:10. After all, the Founder of Christianity was found working hard at His carpenter’s bench for many years, why should His followers think themselves to be exempt? The apostle Paul said of himself and Barnabas, “Or I only and Barnabas, have we not power to forbear working?” 1 Corinthians 9:6. Apart from the twelve apostles, only Paul and Barnabas had the right to eat and drink at others’ expense, but they did not use that power, verse 12, lest they should “hinder the gospel of Christ”. And the gospel has been hindered down the centuries because funds have been diverted from worthy causes, to support those who should have been maintaining themselves.

That he may have to give to him that needeth- so the one-time thief now begins to earn his living, (“that which is good”), in an honest way, but he must go further, and seek to make recompense as a believer for the sins of the past by meeting the needs of the poor. It may not be possible to recompense exactly the same people who he had robbed, (although if it is possible it should be done), but the debt to society must be paid.

This is in the spirit of the trespass offering, which required that one who had stolen should pay back what was stolen, and add the fifth part thereto. Note Zacchaeus’ attitude after he had become a true son of Abraham by faith. He said, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold”, Luke 19:8. The response of the Lord Jesus to that statement was, “This day is salvation come to this house”, verse 9, for he had brought forth the fruits of repentance.

4:29
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth- note the absolute terms the apostle uses. A corrupt communication is a statement which is bad and unprofitable. To steal from another is bad, but to destroy a reputation, or to ruin a life, is far worse, and this we may do by corrupt communications. The modern world has every facility for people to communicate with one another instantaneously, and this presents a real challenge to us. We should use the world, (for the modern means of contact can be used to further Christian things), but not abuse it, 1 Corinthians 7:31.

But that which is good to the use of edifying- when we see gaps in the lives of fellow-saints, we should be concerned to fill them with words that build and encourage.

That it may minister grace unto the hearers- so we may not only benefit our fellow-believers by giving them material things, as verse 28 indicates, but we also have the opportunity of ministering to their spiritual needs too, by those things that we say. By this means those things which God is looking for from His people in response to His grace are fostered and encouraged.

4:30
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God- every true believer is indwelt by the Spirit of God, who is a Divine person. To grieve means to make sorry, to cause pain or grief. Note the connection with the foregoing references to corrupt communication. The Spirit is grieved by such a thing, for He is the Spirit of grace, Hebrews 10:29.

The usual title of the Spirit is the Holy Spirit, but here He is called the Spirit of God, and the adjective “holy” is added by the apostle, to emphasise the holiness that marks Him. The fact that the Spirit dwells within us should be a strong incentive to holiness, as the apostle makes clear in 1 Thessalonians 4:7,8, “for God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given us His Holy Spirit”. The expression used of the Holy Spirit here is very strong, being literally, “His Spirit, the Holy One”.

The following things may be said about the indwelling of the Spirit of God:

1. The Lord Jesus promised His own that the Holy Spirit would be given, John 14:16. He is not earned or merited, but given by God in grace. Also, He dwells within the believer, in his heart, and is not merely an external influence upon him.

2. The Spirit of God indwells the believer the moment he believes, Galatians 3:2, where the question is rhetorical, i.e. the answer is so obvious that it needs not to be stated. The Lord Jesus told His apostles to tarry at Jerusalem until the Spirit came, which they did. He had said to them in the Upper Room, “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever”, John 14:15,16. They did keep His commandments, and the Spirit came. Now that the Spirit has come at Pentecost, when a person believes he becomes part of the one body, and is made personally to drink into one Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12:13, John 4:10,13,14.

3. The Lord Jesus promised that once given, the Spirit would never leave them, John 14:16. The Spirit left King Saul, 1 Samuel 16:14, and David implored the Lord not to take His Holy Spirit from him, Psalm 51:11. These references remind us that the Holy Spirit was given in Old Testament times to empower for special tasks, in these cases to be king in Israel. If the Spirit had been taken, David would no longer have been king. As for ourselves, the permanent indwelling of the Spirit should not be used as an excuse for unspiritual behaviour.

4. The Spirit was to be personally in the believer. See John 14:17, where the contrast is between the Spirit being alongside of them as He indwelt Christ who was with them, and the Spirit abiding in them, when Christ was no longer walking physically with them.

5. The presence of the Spirit is known by the believer, John 14:17. The worldling can only appreciate things by the physical senses because he is not born of God. Because the Spirit cannot be physically seen, then the unbeliever cannot know Him. The Spirit makes His presence felt in the believer’s heart by encouraging spiritual exercises, Romans 8:16.

6. The Spirit acts as a comforter, strengthener and encourager, in the same way as the Lord Jesus acted towards His disciples when down here. This is the force of the word “another” in John 14:16, meaning “another of the same sort”.

7. The Spirit enables the believer to see Christ, John 14:19. He does this by announcing the things of Christ to us, John 16:14, so that Christ is glorified. Through this ministry of the Spirit, the Lord Jesus may be seen with spiritual insight just as really as the apostles saw Him with natural eyesight. John writes in 1 John 1:3 so that we may share the things he saw and heard, but he gives to us no physical description of the Lord. Spiritual views of Him are what really matter.

Whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption- the Lord Jesus has purchased His people, and we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Redemption of the body we do not yet have, however, for that will happen at His coming, see Philippians 3:20,21; 1 Corinthians 15:48-53. Note that it is unto the day of redemption, and not simply until, as if it is only a question of time. What happened when we were saved and sealed was in view of, (hence the “unto”), the redemption in the future. This is a strong reason to believe in the eternal security of the true believer, for God has done something in the past which guarantees the future.

4:31
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

Let all bitterness- there are mentioned here features which the Spirit finds grieving, and which are contrary to Christ’s example. The truth in Jesus is totally opposed to these things. The believer should kind and benevolent, not harbouring bitterness in his spirit.

And wrath, and anger- clearly the anger referred to here is unrighteous anger, or else there would be a contradiction with verse 26. We should only be angry at things Christ would be angry about. Wrath is an outburst, whereas anger can be ongoing.

And clamour- this may bring in other people, banding together to make their views known.

And evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice- words may be spoken in anger, or they may be spoken quietly, in secret, but with evil intent. All these things should not just be put off, but put away, signalling that we do not intend to wear such clothes any more. We need to cultivate a spirit of goodwill towards all, and dispense with malice.

4:32
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted- this is the positive side, as verse 31 is the negative side. We should avoid being unkind, but also set out to be kind, for that is what God has done, taking the initiative in the matter. Hardheartedness was a feature of Pharoah; do we really want to be likened to him in his arrogance?

Forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you- God forgave in Christ, meaning He forgave in view of, and in the context of, all Christ is to Him, and all He did for us. Those who have been forgiven by God should be the special objects of our care, for this is Christ-like, and is the mark of a worthy walk before God.

Notice how high the standard of forgiveness is, being nothing less than the standard God has set. This reminds us of Peter’s question, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven”, Matthew 18:21,22. Then He told the parable of the ten thousand talent debt and the one hundred pence debt. Peter no doubt thought that to forgive seven times would be commendable; the Lord raised the standard not to 7 x 7 = 49, but to 70 to the power of 7, which is 8,235,430. This is a lifetime of forgiveness. There are 25,550 days in 70 years. There are 322 times that number in 8,235,430. So if the same man came to Peter 322 times every day for 70 years, (that is every three minutes during his waking hours for the whole of his lifetime), and asked his forgiveness, then he was to forgive him. And so are we.

It is worth remembering that genuine forgiveness on the part of the one sinned against can only follow genuine repentance on the part of the one sinning. In the parallel passage this is emphasized- “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, ‘I repent;’ thou shalt forgive him”, Luke 17:3,4. So both grace and truth are to be in exercise; truth which rebukes and requires repentance, grace which grants that forgiveness when these conditions are met. Forgiveness must be on a righteous basis. If the same man comes to ask for the same sin seven times a day, one is justified in asking if he is really sorry. If he is not, then he has not repented.

So it has been with God. His rich grace has forgiven us for the sake of Christ. His truth demanded that we repent before we knew that forgiveness.

 

 

1 CORINTHIANS 13

Leave a reply

This chapter is the cause of much disagreement between those who believe that sign-gifts such as tongues have ceased, and those who do not. As always, the question must be settled by reference to all that the Scriptures have to say on a subject, rather than by taking a verse out of context and building a doctrine upon it in isolation. We begin then by considering the subject of miracles gifts as a whole.

Miracles and wonders and signs Many today claim to be able to work miracles of one sort or another, and many more claim to be endowed with the sign-gifts that believers had in apostolic days. These claims often cause doubts and anxieties to arise in the minds of believers who do not possess such abilities. In the light of this, we do well to turn to the Scriptures of truth, so that we may be given guidance on these important and pressing issues.

Definition of miracles Miracles have been defined as “works of a supernatural origin and character, such as could not be produced by natural agents and means”, W.E.Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. They are exceptions to normal events, which occur due to the intervention of a power beyond natural power. We must beware of devaluing the word miracle by using it of happenings which are either simply out of the ordinary, or merely coincidences, or take place at a particularly opportune moment. We must also beware of labelling as miraculous events which would have occurred anyway. An example of this would be illnesses that are known to go into remission naturally. Nor does an event become a miracle because it is an answer to prayer. So we may say that a miracle is an event beyond the normal, with an effect beyond the usual, giving expression to things beyond the natural.

Wonders The apostle Peter coupled three words together in the phrase “miracles and wonders and signs”, Acts 2:22. The second of these words expresses the effect the miracle had upon those involved. At best, in the case of miracles wrought by Christ and the apostles, those around would be constrained to believe on the Lord Jesus. As He said in John 14:11 “Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works’ sake”. (Note that belief in Himself is the goal in each case; it is not “believe Me or else believe the works”). At worst, there were those who responded to Christ’s miracles by wanting to make Him king simply because He could multiply loaves. He withdrew from such, John 6:15.

Signs This word reminds us that the miracles had a lesson to teach, they had sign-ificance. They were not simply acts of mercy and compassion, but doctrine made visible in vivid ways. We see this especially in John 6, where the Lord’s long discourse on the Bread of Life is based on His miracle of feeding the five thousand.

Satan’s counterfeit We must always remember that Satan is able to imitate God’s work to a certain extent, as Moses and Aaron discovered in Exodus 7:11,12,22. See also 2 Timothy 3:8,9. This will come to a climax at the end times, when the Lawless One is revealed “whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,” 2 Thessalonians 2:8,9. Note that in this case the wonders are lying wonders, for they do not further the truth of God, but rather, the Devil’s lie.

A word of warning The current obsession in charismatic circles with happenings which are out-of-the-ordinary is conditioning professing Christians to look for exhilarating experiences, instead of being built up by the exposition of the Word of God. It is part of Satan’s New Age strategy to influence the minds of men so that they give themselves over to spirit-forces, and so further his end. His object is to draw believers away from the written revelation of the Word of God, and attract them to “spiritual” experiences.

The miracles of Christ Christ’s miracles were a witness to His own person. Those performed by the apostles witnessed to His person, too. They were certainly not performed to bear witness to themselves. See Acts 3:12; 14:8-18. They also were one of the ways in which God confirmed certain vitally important truths, as we shall see.

(i) The witness to His person as Son of God John chapter 5 contains Christ’s first public discourse as far as John’s record goes. Significantly, it concerns His Deity, and is preceded by the healing of the impotent man on the Sabbath day. The Lord Jesus establishes His authority for healing on the day of rest by saying “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work”, verse 17. The Jews understood very well what He was claiming by this statement, even “That God was His (own) Father, making Himself equal with God”, verse 18.

Later, in John 5:31-39, the Lord Jesus spoke of four witnesses to His person, these being John the Baptist, verse 33; the works which the Father had given Him to finish, verse 36; the Father, who bore witness at His baptism, verse 37; and finally the witness of the Old Testament Scriptures, verse 39. So the works which the Father had given to Christ to do were a testimony to the genuineness of His person, that He was indeed the Son of God. Hence John appeals to them in John 20:31 as the reason why men should believe.

The apostle Peter also appealed to the miracles and wonders and signs performed by Christ, but his purpose was to show that He was approved of God, Acts 2:22. So whether it is a question of His person or His character, the matter is settled when the testimony of the miracles is received.

(ii) The witness to His person as the Christ, or Messiah of Israel Not only did John record the miracles of Christ that we might believe that He is the Son of God, but also that we might know He is the long-promised Christ, or Messiah, John 20:31. The prophets had told of the Messiah as one who would come to bring in what the Jews called “the age to come”, when He would reign over them from Jerusalem. Hebrews 6:5 describes the miracles of Christ as the “powers of the world (age) to come”. Isaiah had written that in the time of the kingdom, “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as the hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing”, Isaiah 35:5,6. The fact that these things did indeed happen when Christ was here, is proof positive that He is the Messiah.

So the miracles Christ did were not only expressions of compassion, but powerful and indisputable witness as to who He was. So confident is the apostle John of this witness, that, guided by the Spirit of God, he bases on it his appeal to his readers to believe that Jesus is the Christ, that no less a gift than eternal life may be theirs.

The miracles of the apostles, and sign gifts (i) Confirmation of Christ’s presence in heaven The resurrection and exaltation of Christ was confirmed by things that could be seen and heard, Acts 2:32,33. The seen things were the tongues of fire that sat upon each of the apostles. The heard things were the spoken tongues or languages which the apostles were miraculously able to use when speaking to the foreign Jews who had gathered at Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost.

Note that Peter quotes from Joel 2 in his address on that occasion, not because all the events that passage mentions were coming to pass then, but because Joel spoke of the gift of the Holy Spirit, and also the opportunity to call upon the name of the Lord for salvation. Those two things, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, and the salvation of some in Israel, were what were relevant at that time. Note also that Peter does not quote from the Old Testament passage which expressly speaks of tongues, namely Isaiah 28:11, because that was not so appropriate at that time.

(ii) Confirmation of the preaching of the apostles The prophecy of the Lord Jesus in Mark 16:17,18, was that certain signs would follow them that believe. What had been foretold indeed came to pass, for when Mark summarises the book of the Acts for us in verses 19 and 20, he writes in the past tense, and then ends with the words “confirming the word with (by means of) signs following”. So the signs manifested in apostolic days were a confirmation from the Lord in heaven that what was preached was indeed God’s word. With this agree the words of Hebrews 2:1-4, where the writer identifies three lines of testimony. First, that of the Lord Himself when here, as He spoke of “so great salvation”. Second, when those who heard Him confirmed to others what they had been taught, and third, when God bore witness to both these testimonies by enabling signs and wonders to be performed, giving added proof that what the apostles preached was of God.

(iii) Confirmation that non-Jews have received the Holy Spirit Apart from the initial pouring out of the Spirit on Jews only in Acts 2, there were certain groups that were dealt with separately by God, because they were special cases.

The Samaritans. These were potentially a cause of friction amongst the believers, if they allowed the enmity between themselves and the Jews to spill over into their new life in Christ. “The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans”, John 4:9. Hence in Acts 8:14-17, Peter and John are sent to Samaria to personally and directly lay hands on those who had believed from amongst the Samaritan nation, that they might receive the Holy Spirit after a delay. That delay was not normal, since the moment a person believes and receives the gospel the Holy Spirit is given. We know this from Galatians 3:2, where the apostle indicates that the Spirit is given when a person hears in faith. (The indwelling of the Spirit of God is never presented to us in the New Testament. as something that can be earned, but rather the gracious gift of God the moment true faith is exercised). But the Samaritan situation was not normal, given the bad relations between the two nations, so an unusual procedure was followed. And because the apostles themselves laid hands on the Samaritan believers that they might receive the Holy Spirit, they did not need confirmation of the fact, and therefore we do not read that the Samaritan believers responded by speaking in tongues. They may have done so, but we are not expressly told.

The Gentiles. Peter had needed a vision from the Lord to convince him that it was indeed the Lord’s purpose to call Gentiles to faith. He had taken certain believers with him on his visit to Cornelius in order that they might be fellow-witnesses of what took place. This was a wise precaution, for afterwards Peter was criticized for his actions. These fellow-believers who accompanied Peter were astonished that upon the Gentiles the Holy Spirit had been poured out, Acts 10:45. But how did they know this? Verse 46, beginning with “for” as it does, tells us that they knew they had received the Spirit “for they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God”. Hence, again, the speaking in tongues is audible proof of the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The disciples of John. In Acts 19, the apostle Paul came across disciples of John the Baptist, who did not know that the Holy Spirit had been given at Pentecost. Having heard of the Lord Jesus from Paul, they believed and were baptized. Having received the Holy Spirit by the laying on of his hands, they spoke with tongues and prophesied. No doubt this was a great encouragement to them, confirming that they had been right to cross over from allegiance to John to faith in Christ, a step John would have encouraged, see John 1:35-37; 3:25-30.

We see then that various special groups are dealt with by God in ways that are not regular. Since they are special cases, they do not provide precedents for today. Believers today receive the Holy Spirit the moment they believe, and do not need any to lay hands on them before this can happen. Nor is the supposed speaking in tongues of some today, any evidence that they possess the Spirit of God. After all, the devil-worshipping “Whirling Dervishes” of the Middle East utter sounds indistinguishable from modern tongues-speaking!

(iv) Confirmation of the judgement on unbelief God had warned Israel of the penalty of unbelief, namely that a foreign power would carry them away, and they would hear strange languages spoken by their captors, Deuteronomy 28:45-51. He warned the people again of this danger in Isaiah 28:11. The judgement fell when the Assyrians took the ten tribes into captivity. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 14:21,22, used these Scriptures to show that tongues-speaking was a sign from God to those who believe not, just as the “tongues-speaking” of the Assyrians had been to unbelieving, idol-worshipping Israel in Isaiah’s day.

SUMMARY Clearly the things that are confirmed by the gift of tongues were new at the time. The gospel of a crucified and risen Christ; His ascension to heaven; the pouring out of the Spirit on the Gentiles; the particularly grave sin of rejecting a Saviour who had been received back into heaven, these were all fresh and different matters, and God graciously confirmed their reality by the exhibition of miracles. Once this confirmation has been done, it does not need to be repeated, or else doubt is cast upon the original confirmation, and upon the Scriptures which record it.

It is an historical fact that sign-gifts did cease. Chrysostom, the well-known “church father”, was unable to find them practised in his day. The onus is upon those who claim to perform miracles and speak in tongues today, to prove from Scripture that their return at the end of the age is to be expected. They should also offer evidence that what they do is identical in character to the signs of the apostolic age, and is accompanied by a strict adherence to apostolic doctrine and practice.

The nature of the sign gifts Miracles and other signs did have an important role to play in the days when the record of the New Testament was not complete. In Mark 16:17,18 we read of the casting out of demons, speaking with new tongues, taking up of serpents, drinking of deadly things without harm, and the laying of hands on the sick, so that they recovered. Further on, in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, we find mention of the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. A further two, namely helps and governments, are found in 1 Corinthians 12:28.

God never wastes time or energy on mere entertainment. Each of these gifts had great usefulness. A brief notice of each will make this clear. The gifts of Mark 16:17,18 are mentioned in connection with the command of the Lord Jesus to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. It is no surprise, then, to find that they are especially of use in pioneer evangelism. (i) Gifts of use in evangelism When God embarks upon a new phase in His dealings with men, Satan is always ready with his opposition, which often takes the form of demon activity. This, however, was no problem to an evangelist penetrating a new area with the gospel, for he could cast out demons, being gifted to do so. He had no language problem, either, for he could speak with new tongues. By ” new” is meant “unaccustomed”; that is, the one speaking was not used to the language, it was not his native dialect. It does not mean new in the sense of newly-invented.

Hacking his way through the jungle, he inadvertently disturbs a sleeping cobra. But this is no problem, either, for he can handle serpents! Thirsty and hungry from his exertions, he drinks contaminated water, and eats the fruit of a poisonous tree, yet comes to no harm. He finds himself in a clearing, where malaria-ridden natives huddle in their mud huts. Imagine the effect upon these poor souls as he touches the untouchable, and they instantly recover. What an introduction for the evangelist as he brings to them the gospel!

Notice that this man does not need to learn a language, or take a course in a school of tropical medicine, or learn botany and zoology, to prepare him for his mission, for he had been gifted by God. But where is the missionary today who is so fitted? He does not exist, for the simple reason that these gifts have been withdrawn in the wisdom of God.

(ii) Gifts of use in the assembly The gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 are useful too, but most of them in connection with the gatherings of God’s people, as again we might expect given the context in which they are found.

The gifts of wisdom and knowledge How valuable a word of wisdom would have been in those early days when so many new things were happening, and before the scriptures of the New Testament were written. Of course there was the written wisdom of the Old Testament, but it was not always relevant to the new conditions prevailing at that time. So, too, the word of knowledge, insight directly from God on a particular, and perhaps strictly local problem.

The gift of faith The tremendous challenges of those days would need to be met by men with the gift of faith, who could “move mountains” so that the work of God could go forward. Needless to say, this faith is not saving faith, which is the common possession of all the people of God.

The gifts of healing and miracles There were those with the gift of healing, (but with no mention of the laying on of hands), who like Paul in Acts 19:11,12, could heal from a distance. This gift is distinguished from that of working of miracles, for whereas healing was a beneficial thing, sometimes miracles of judgement were necessary to preserve the testimony, as in Acts 5:5-11 and Acts 13:8-12. The raising of the dead would also be classed as a miracle, rather than an act of healing.

The gift of prophecy The gift of prophecy, or the forth-telling of the mind of God, was vitally necessary if the saints were to be built up in Christian doctrine. The believers could not open their Bibles and find, say, Ephesians 3, for it had not yet been written. Nor could the apostles be everywhere at once to personally teach the saints. Hence the man gifted with insight into the mind of God filled a very real need.

The gift of discerning of spirits In those days there was no lack of imposters, and in order that the companies of the Lord’s people be not infiltrated by these, this gift was very necessary, so that the fraudulent might be kept out.

The gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues In the pioneer situation envisaged above in connection with Mark 16, the interpretation of tongues was not needed, for those addressed would all be of the same tongue. The same would be the case on the Day of Pentecost, for each nationality could gather round the particular apostle that was miraculously speaking their language.

In the assembly gatherings at Corinth, however, there might be several languages represented in the one company, especially as Corinth was a cosmopolitan city, and near to the sea-port of Cenchrea. If a brother began to speak the truth of God in the language of one of these groups, the fact that that group could testify to hearing their own language spoken accurately, (even though the speaker did not know the language), was in itself part of the object of that gift; it was a sign that God was at work. But all things, according to 1 Corinthians 14:26, must be unto edifying, and so far only the minority that knows the tongue has been edified. There needs to be, then, the interpretation of that particular tongue, for the benefit of the rest.

The gift of helps and governments As time went by, there would arise administrative needs such as distribution to the poor, so it was very necessary for some to be gifted with practical and organisational skills to enable this to be done without the work of preaching being held up.

The exercise of the gifts A reading of 1 Corinthians 14 will show clearly that the gifts, particularly of prophecy and tongues, were to be exercised with dignity and restraint. For instance, the maximum number allowed to speak in tongues during a meeting was three, verse 27, and that by course, or one after the other. The spectacle of large numbers of people all speaking with tongues at the same time, would raise questions as to their sanity, verse 23. The situation was similar with regard to the gift of prophecy. Verses 32 and 33 make it clear that those who were gifted in this way did not abandon self-control, (which after all is a fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:23), but in an orderly and becoming way they edified the gathered saints. If a revelation was given to a prophet sitting alongside the current speaker, then the latter was well able to hold his peace and defer to the other. “Let all things be done decently and in order”, is the final word of the apostle in chapter 14, for “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints”, verse 33. It is sadly true that many gatherings of those who claim to possess these gifts today, have not been notable for orderliness or dignity. This raises serious doubts as to the validity of what they claim.

“The Toronto Blessing” The current obsession with this phenomenon is a very grave matter. Far from being a repeat of apostolic practice, there is every indication that earnest, unsuspecting souls are being subjected to hypnosis in the name of Christ. If this is what is happening, then it is outrageous, because the unbelieving public looks on, and finds that what they think of as Christianity, is represented by those who seem intent on making fools of themselves, instead of preaching Christ.

It is said that 90% of the population can be hypnotised without much difficulty. Any run-of-the-mill secular hypnotist can induce feelings of being washed clean, of peace, of tingling sensations, of feelings of energy passing through the body, of seeing bright lights and so on. He can make people lay down, go stiff, laugh uncontrollably, and also heal minor ailments like migraine and back pain. And all this without the power of the Holy Spirit at all! Just unbelievers hypnotising unbelievers!

The methods by which these things are done in the world are in principle the same as are used in charismatic meetings. The persuasive voice of the leader; the mind-numbing use of repetitive music; the exhortations to relax and give way; the encouragement to look for an experience which the leader assures everyone is about to come; the testimonies of those who have had the experience before; all these things combine together to produce a situation where almost everything can happen under the control, and touch, of the plausible master of ceremonies. And all in the Name of the Lord!

“Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with all thy…mind” It is highly dangerous for believers to abandon reason in favour of feelings. The service of God is to be “reasonable service”, Romans 12:1, intelligent action as a result of a careful understanding of what God requires, as detailed in His Word. We are NEVER called upon to abandon rational thought-processes, and give ourselves over to the influences abroad in the world. Satan is determined to control the minds of men, so that they willingly do his bidding. His strategy is to alter the state of a person’s consciousness, so that he may introduce a new set of perceptions, and cause the old values to be rejected, paving the way for the ultimate deception, the lie that the Antichrist is Christ. Any supposedly Christian activity, therefore, which displays so many of the classic features of hypnotism, and which encourages the abandonment of reason, is highly suspect.

The alternative What alternative is there then, to the practices of the signs and wonders movement? The answer is simple- the Scriptural alternative. The apostle Paul makes clear in 1 Corinthians 13 that whereas prophecies, tongues and knowledge come to an end, faith, hope and love do not. This is true whatever the phrase “that which is perfect” means. The cultivation by the believer of these three cardinal Christian virtues will result in steady growth in Christ-likeness, which surely must be the main aim.

The apostle also makes clear in Ephesians 4 that the ascended Christ has given gifts to His people, which will ensure that they all “come…unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”, Ephesians 4:13. The gifts Christ has given are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Through their ministry the end-result God is looking for, even likeness to His Son, is certain to be achieved. May the Lord revive His people, so that they once again have a love for His Word, and an earnest desire to put it into practice, to His glory alone.

Having thought about the true nature of sign-gifts, and the purposes for which they were given, we are now in a position to consider 1 Corinthians 13.

SETTING OF THE CHAPTER

Chapter 12 had ended with the words, “But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I unto you a more excellent way”. The excellent way is the exercise of gifts in decency and in order, having due regard to the relative importance of different gifts. In 12:28 we find a list, “Firstly…secondarily…thirdly…after that”. The Corinthians, by emphasising tongues, (which the apostle very pointedly puts at the end of the list, with the accompanying gift of interpretation of tongues), were showing they had not understood this order of importance. In chapter 13 the apostle is proving that he is justified in suggesting that there is a more excellent way, and tells us what it is. It is the exercise of gifts in love. Hence in 14:1 he says “follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts”. So the teaching of chapter 13 does not lead us to dispense with gifts, but rather to exercise those gifts in a spirit of true love to God and His people. By emphasising spectacular and “showy” gifts like tongues-speaking, the Corinthians were drawing attention to themselves, and thus were not showing love to fellow-believers.

SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER IN GENERAL

The three main sections of the chapter all have to do with the superiority of charity, otherwise known as love. In verses 1-3 the apostle teaches us that the exercise of sign-gifts did not make up for a lack of love. Even acts that we might think cannot be anything else than an exhibition of love, may not be so. In verses 4-7 we learn how to tell whether we are acting in love as we note the characteristics of love. In verses 8-12 the apostle shows that love never fails, whereas sign-gifts are temporary, and pass away. That sign-gifts will not be needed in heaven is self-evident. The apostle is preparing the believers for the time when they would no longer be necessary. When that time came, however, love would still be vitally necessary. That the apostle does not mean to suggest that sign-gifts are to be despised is shown by the fact that he afterwards writes a long chapter on how they should be exercised properly. That proper exercise, however, includes their exercise in a spirit of love, and this is true of the gifts that remain as well.

THE WORDS OF THE BIBLE, THE CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES, AS FOUND IN THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 13, VERSES 1 TO 7:

13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

13:5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

13:6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

13:7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

STRUCTURE OF THE CHAPTER

Verses 1-3 Outstanding actions.
Verses 4-7 Features that mark charity.
Verses 8-12 A series of contrasts, showing the superiority of charity.
Verse 13 Conclusion to be drawn.

Verses 1-3    Outstanding actions

13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal- outstanding actions are spoken of by the apostle, things that are all at the highest level of achievement. The first is the ability to speak with the tongues of men and angels. To do so, but without love, is to simply make a noise, as far as God is concerned. Cymbals and brass instruments have their uses, such as waking people up, but they do not make a pleasing sound. So gifts exercised without love merely make an unpleasant noise. Notice it is the tongues of men and of angels, and not “tongues of men or of angels”, as if they alternative options for Paul to use.  When angels speak to men they do so in the language of the person they are speaking to. There is no reason to suppose that they speak to one another in a special language. To suggest that the unintelligible “tongue” uttered by some in the charismatic movement is the tongues of angels and therefore we cannot expect to understand them is a mere smokescreen. The whole point about a language is that it communicates. A language that does not communicate is a non-language.

13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge- the second high achievement is to have the gift of prophecy, and therefore able to understand all the mysteries that the New Testament tells us of, and thereby have all the knowledge that is available at that point in time. The third and fourth achievements are to have understanding of all mysteries, (those New Testament mysteries that the Spirit revealed through the apostles, Ephesians 3:1-13), and all knowledge, (the sum total of truth that has been revealed to us in the Scriptures, John 16:13), but without love the passing on of the information is as nothing, as far as God is concerned. The purpose for which the gifts were given has not been achieved.
And though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing- the fifth achievement. Not only does this imaginary “Paul” have all insight into mysteries, and all knowledge of Divine truth, but is also to be able to accomplish literally, that which the Lord Jesus spoke of figuratively. When He spoke of faith moving mountains, He was speaking metaphorically. But here the apostle, exaggerating to make his point, imagines someone able to literally move a mountain; yet if he did so without love as the motive, (as might very well be the case, since there are very few instances, if any, in which love needs to move a physical mountain), then he would be nothing.

13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor- the sixth achievement is the giving of all one’s possessions to feed the poor. If this total giving up of everything material, (which the world would think of as an exhibition of great love), is in fact done with some other motive than that of love to others, it will gain no profit in terms of Christ’s approval at the Bema.
And though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing- this is the seventh and final achievement. The apostle would not have given the illustration of cremation, since that is a pagan practice, and abhorrent. Possibly he has in mind the self-less act of risking the flames of a burning building to rescue someone inside. As a result, the would-be rescuer is burnt to death. Even such an apparently self-less action can be done without deliberately being an expression of love. And when that is the case, the great and heroic deed will not profit the doer at the Judgement Seat of Christ. This is a very startling statement, based as it is on a very dramatic and extreme example, and jolts us into the realisation of the vital importance of love.

Verses 4-7 Features that mark charity

We now learn sixteen features that mark charity, so that we may be able to judge whether the actions of verses 1-3 are, in fact, acts of charity, or whether there is some other motive. It is the motive that determines the quality of an action. The climax to them all is the statement that “charity never faileth”, which leads on to the subject of things that do fail. The section has value on its own, telling us as it does of the desirability of charity. But it has special value in the context, for it show “the more excellent way” the apostle referred to in 12:31. So we should note the way in which the exercise of gift and the display of charity need to interact.

13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

Charity suffereth long- it is not impatient when it is told that prophesying is a better gift.
And is kind- it is not ungracious, but has a desire that another believer with a gift should have opportunity to exercise it.
Charity envieth not- does not begrudge others their gift, but profits by it, and seeks to exercise its own gift in its own sphere.
Charity vaunteth not itself- those with public gifts must not push themselves forward. By the nature of their gift they have to be prominent, but it is Christ alone who is pre-eminent.
Is not puffed up- true love is not proud, especially in the matter of gifts, because, as we have seen, they are grace-gifts, given solely at God’s discretion, and manifesting, not the person with the gift, but the Holy Spirit’s working.

13:5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

Doth not behave itself unseemly- a warning to those who insisted on exercising their gift in an improper manner, with the response from the outsiders, “Ye are mad!”, 1 Corinthians 14:23.
Seeketh not her own- does not seek to edify self and gain a reputation, but seeks the building up of others.
Is not easily provoked- true love is patient with those who are carnal. There are limits to this patience, however, when the honour of the truth is involved, hence “not easily”, not “never provoked”. God can be provoked to anger, so there are occasions when being provoked to action is not a sin. See Deuteronomy 32:21, quoted by the apostle in 10:22, “Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?”
Thinketh no evil- does not harbour wrong thoughts about others in the assembly.

13:6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Rejoiceth not in iniquity- does not go against the commandments of the Lord, 14:37. The word iniquity is the opposite of what is right.
But rejoiceth in the truth- has a joyful attitude to the truth of God, glad to put it into effect, a contrast to the previous statement.

13:7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Beareth all things- those with prominent gifts will be criticised, so must be prepared by love to endure that.
Believeth all things- lays hold of all the truth of God wholeheartedly. Hopeth all things- has a firm expectation that all God is seeking to achieve by the exercise of gift will be full accomplished.
Endureth all things- is persevering in the exercise of gift, because the truth of God is not always welcomed by believers.

THE WORDS OF THE BIBLE, THE CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES, AS FOUND IN THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 13, VERSES 8 TO 13:

13:8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

 

8-12 A series of contrasts, showing the superiority of charity

It helps to an understanding of verses 8-12 if we notice the structure of the passage: the main statement is “love never faileth”. There follow five statements of the way sign-gifts do fail in some way. Each one is begun by the word “but”, introducing the way the sign-gifts fall short.

FIRST STATEMENT: Charity never faileth: BUT whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

Conclusion: That which remains is superior to that which passes. That which remains is love, whereas that which passes is the result of the exercise of the gifts of prophecy, knowledge and tongues.

SECOND STATEMENT: For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. BUT when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

Conclusion: That which is complete is better than that which is partial. . Because the statement begins with “for”, we know it is an explanation of the previous statements. So “that which is in part” refers to knowledge and prophesying. The words “that which” refer to things, so “that which” comes must be a thing also. And when that “thing” comes, it is not that the prophecies and knowledge will then become complete instead of being in part, they will be done away, meaning they will be reduced to inactivity. That which is perfect will replace them, not complement them.

THIRD STATEMENT: When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: BUT when I became a man, I put away childish things.

Conclusion: That which is mature is better than that which is immature. So that which is perfect enables believers to be mature in knowledge and insight.

FOURTH STATEMENT: For now we see through a glass, darkly; BUT then face to face:

Conclusion: That which is seen face to face is better than that which is seen in a mirror. It is far better to have contact with a person directly, than it is to have that contact indirectly.

FIFTH STATEMENT: now I know in part; BUT then shall I know even as also I am known.

Conclusion: To fully know is better than to partly know.

We now look at these five statements in more detail.

First statement: That which remains is better that that which passes.

13:8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

Charity never faileth- because charity is the nature of God, for “God is love”, 1 John 4:8, then it must be superior to any gift, however lovingly exercised. Charity never faileth as a principle; the apostle is not saying it will never fail, or that it never has failed, (even though these statements are true), but that it is inherently unfailing. The word “fail” means to fall off. Love will never be displaced from its high position as the superior virtue. God is light as well as love, of course, but light is not a virtue in itself, but manifests itself in such things as justice and holiness.
But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail- the words “there be” are in italics, and have been supplied. The thought is “whether you think of prophecies…whether you think of tongues…whether you think of knowledge”. In other words, whichever of these three things you are thinking of, one thing is common to them all, and that is that they will not last, whereas charity will. By “prophecies” the apostle means the results of a New Testament prophet unfolding the mind of God. We should remember that a prophet did not only predict the future; his main task was to unfold the mind of God, whether that was about the future, the present, or even the past. This was true of both Old Testament and New Testament prophets. In the main, the Old Testament prophets did more predicting, whereas the New Testament concentrated on unfolding the mind of God for the present. “They shall fail” does not mean, obviously, “their predictions shall fail to come to pass”, or else they would be false prophets, and the apostle would not include them in his argument. The word “fail” means “to be reduced to inactivity”. We are being told here that the ministry of the prophet will come to an end, since the prophecies will come to an end at some point. It is interesting to notice that the apostle Peter did not warn his readers about false prophets, but about false teachers. His words were, “But there were false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you”, 2 Peter 2:1. So in the Old Testament times there were false prophets amongst Israel, and in New Testament times after the apostles had gone, (for Peter wrote his first epistle knowing that he would soon die, 2 Peter 1:14), there would be, not false prophets, for there would be no true ones, but false teachers, for true teachers would replace the apostles, and the Devil would seek to imitate them. Having said that, it is important to notice that it is not the prophet that is reduced to inactivity, but the prophecies. Those ongoing revelations that were current in the early years of this age would be done away, even though the prophets who had the gift continued. So when the apostle John is given insight into the future, as recorded in the Book of Revelation, it is not through the exercise of his prophetic gift, but through a revelation given to him by way of visions. The prophecies have been done away, but the prophet continues for a while.
Whether there be tongues, they shall cease- here a different word is used, and it is in the Middle Voice, which means that there is something built into the gift of tongues which causes it to cease at a particular point. In days past, some manufactured goods had in-built obsolescence, for the makers only wished the article to last a limited period. The same is true here. With prophecies and knowledge it is different, for there the verb is in the Passive Voice, meaning the inactivity is imposed on them from without, by God. The reason for the difference is that the gift of tongues was used in the service of other gifts. If an evangelist had the gift of tongues, as indicated in Mark 16:17, then his gift was subservient to his evangelism, and assisted it. So with prophecies in the assembly, if those of other languages were present in the company, the man with the gift of tongues was at hand to enlighten them in their own tongue, so his gift was to assist the prophetic gift. Clearly, then, if the prophecies and knowledge are done away, the tongues cease too, by default, for the need for them is gone. Not only so, but the tongues were a sign as well as a service. That sign was mainly to the nation of Israel, as chapter 14:22 will explain. With the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, the nation of Israel was set aside by God, and so the sign-gift of tongues was no longer needed, for the threatened punishment had been inflicted, and the Jews were scattered throughout the earth amongst those whose language was strange to them.
Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away- this is clearly not an absolute statement, as if we shall know nothing eventually. The apostle will speak of knowing after having known in part, in verse 12, so he is not suggesting knowledge will be absent at some point. He is saying, however, that as some point the gift of knowledge, (mentioned in 12:8 as “the word of knowledge”), will cease, and hence the knowledge that comes from the exercise of that gift will cease, for it will no longer be needed. The need to have knowledge supernaturally revealed will go at some point.

Second statement: That which is complete is better than that which is partial.

13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

For we know in part- the apostle includes himself in this statement. He is writing in AD 59. At that point he himself was not in possession of the whole truth into which the Spirit was leading the apostles. The Lord Jesus had said in the upper room that “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you,” John 16:12-14. Now clearly the apostles were not immediately guided into all truth at Pentecost when the Spirit came initially, for Peter needed to have the truth that the gospel is for Gentiles revealed to him in Acts 10, which was eight years later. The truth was revealed gradually, as the believers were able to take it in, just as the Lord had revealed truth to His disciples gradually as He taught them when He was upon earth. The Spirit made known truth as He Himself heard it from the Father, just as the Lord Jesus taught as He heard from the Father, John 8:26. It is not that the Spirit and the Son are ignorant until the Father enlightens them, for that would deny their Deity.  It is said of the Lord Jesus prophetically, “The Lord God hath given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth Mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened Mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back”, Isaiah 50:4,5. Note that the Lord Jesus hears as a learned one, not as an ignorant one. He and the Spirit are both privy to the Divine conversation, of which we gain some small insight in such Scriptures as Genesis 1:26, “Let us make man”; and Genesis 3:22, “The man is become as one of us”. God created all things by Jesus Christ, Ephesians 3:9, so He was in control of all things from the beginning, yet He chose not to reveal certain things to Old Testament prophets, choosing to disclose them through the New Testament prophets. This disclosure was made initially through the apostle Paul, and was then transmitted to the other apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This is why the writings of the apostle Paul are the ones we turn to in order to learn church truth, for it was through him that the Spirit revealed these truths to others. Now the epistle to the Ephesians was written in AD 64, five years after the writing of the epistle to the Corinthians. During that period, even the apostle had to say, “I know in part”.
And we prophesy in part- Paul and his fellow apostles knew in part, and now we learn that he and his fellow prophets prophesied in part. Now that does not mean that they only half-revealed what they were guided to make known by the Spirit. They fully revealed what it was appropriate to tell the saints at a particular point, but they could not disclose the full body of truth simply because they themselves had not received it. This state of affairs in AD 59, is going to be replaced by the state of affairs described in Ephesians 3 in AD 63. Then the apostle will be able to say, “as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit”, Ephesians 3:5.
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away- it is important to notice two things about this phrase. First, that it has to do with a thing, not a person. The statement is set in contrast with a thing in the second half of this verse, “that which is in part”. It is not “He who…that which”, as if a person is contrasted with a thing, which in fact cannot be done. The second thing to notice is that the thing which is in part is to be done away; it is not completed by the thing that is perfect. The thing that is perfect is not the thing that was in part now made complete. The thing in part and the thing perfect are separate things. The perfect thing replaces the thing in part, but it has some point of contact with the thing in part, or the contrast would not be meaningful. So there is no moment when the partial and the complete coexist, even though, as we have seen, those who had the gifts of prophecy and knowledge when the apostle was writing, (Peter, Paul and John, for instance), would continue after the perfect thing had come. The partial thing is not the information that the exercise of the gift of prophecy made known. The partial thing is the exercise of the gifts of prophecy and knowledge, so we know what is going to be done away. It is not that the gifts are to be given in a fuller and perfect way, but that they are to be replaced by the perfect thing. Notice there is no mention of speaking in tongues here, because that cannot be done in part. Those with the gift of knowledge and prophecy, however, might speak in tongues to convey partial truth, to convince their hearers that what they were hearing was of God. That tongues will cease, however, is clear from verse 8.

There are those who seek to avoid the in-context meaning of this passage, and wish to import into the reasoning an alternative to the idea of the time of full revelation. Some say “that which is perfect” is Christ, and when He comes the gifts will be done away. This cannot be correct for two reasons. First, as we have seen, a thing cannot be contrasted with a person. No believer doubts that the Lord Jesus is perfect, but that is not the issue. It is simply not true that when the Lord comes knowledge will cease, for in verse 12 Paul looks on to a future time when he will know as he is known by God. Nor is it true that when the Lord comes prophecies shall cease, for Joel 2:28 has not yet been fulfilled, so that after the Lord has come for the church it is said of Israelites that “their sons and their daughters shall prophesy”. This also disposes of the idea that it is the kingdom that is perfect, and when that comes prophecies shall cease, for Joel 2:28 refers to the kingdom. Second, “that which is perfect” is not a reference to heaven, even though it goes without saying that heaven is perfect. Heaven is not coming to us, but we are going to heaven. Of course it might be argued that heaven is coming into our experience, but that idea meets the objection that knowledge will not cease in heaven. The only interpretation that fits the context is the one which says that the thing which is perfect is the full disclosure of the truth that God has for His people at this time. No doubt in eternity there will be further revelations, but the mystery of the church and the Christian’s position in Christ, which was hidden from the Old Testament prophets, is now revealed, and the inspired writings of the apostles preserve it for the rest of the age. There does not need to be a constant revelation of fresh truth through the ministry of prophets and those with the gift of knowledge, for their gift has been made redundant by the coming of the full revelation of the truth promised by the Lord Jesus. He said the Spirit would guide into all truth, and this has happened, and that which is perfect has come. The apostle Paul was entrusted with the task of fulfilling the Word of God, Colossians 1:25. By this is meant the filling up of the body of doctrine. So when the apostle had completed his writings, the sum total of what the Lord had for us during this age was available. No longer did there need to be a man stand up in the assembly and declare that the Lord had given him a fresh revelation. Nor a prophet unfolding the mind of God without recourse to the Old Testament. Now the teacher could take over, and unfold and explain what was found written in the New Testament scriptures that had so far been written. So it is that in AD 70 Jude could write about the faith once delivered to the saints. The whole body of doctrine, which Jude calls “the faith” had been delivered once-for-all to the saints, so that they could defend it and contend for it. That which was written after this, finishing with the Book of the Revelation, added nothing to this faith.

Third statement: That which is mature is better than that which is immature.

13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

When I was a child- the word for “perfect” in verse 10 was used in classical writings of that which was “full-grown”, “adult”, “of full age”, so it is appropriate that the apostle now uses an illustration on that line. He had spoken in the abstract in the first illustration in verse 8, then generally in the second, in verses 9,10, but now he is speaking personally, no doubt to avoid the charge that he is calling the Corinthians childish.
I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child- this is a list of actions in the reverse order in which they happen. The child Paul speaks, for he has understood; he understands because he has thought or reasoned. But the point is he has done all these things in a way fitting for a child. He has not got the capacity to understand and reason as the mature Paul has, nor perhaps has he the vocabulary to speak in an advanced way. When a man prophesied, he was passing on the thoughts of God; when he gave out knowledge, he for the first time understood, and imparted that understanding to others; when he uttered these things, he used his tongue and spoke a language.
But when I became a man, I put away childish things- when Paul grew up, he dispensed with the immature way of reasoning, understanding and speaking. Notice that the apostle does not need to apply this illustration. With the knowledge we have gained by reading this chapter we know that there was a time when believers could not speak as those fully-informed and fully-developed. A child cannot speak and understand as a adult because his reasoning powers have not developed. The brain he will use as an adult was fully developed from the age of two, but his experiences of life have not been sufficient to train that brain to think, understand and speak as a mature person. So the early believers were dependant on a gradual advance in truth, as the Lord saw they were able to take it in, until the point came when the whole revelation had been made. Since the apostle has used himself as the illustration, we may say that it was true for him also that he now understood in a mature way, whereas before the full revelation of truth was entrusted to him, he did not.

Fourth statement: That which is seen face to face is better than that which is seen in a mirror.

13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:

For now we see through a glass, darkly- we have another “for” here, suggested an unasked question. This question might go something like “Will the perfect thing that is coming, be any better than the partial thing we have been used to?” After all, toys were perfect for children. To answer this the apostle uses the idea of looking into a mirror, so the physical seeing will instruct us as to mental seeing. Ancient mirrors were not made of glass, but highly polished metal. See Exodus 38:8, where the metal laver was made of looking-glasses. The word “through” is a preposition that can either be used literally or metaphorically. The latter must be the case here, for one could not physically look through a brass mirror; but one could look by means of it, which is the metaphorical use of the word “through”. So in the early days of this church age, it was as if things were not sharply focussed, and there were things that were not understood. There came a change, however, as the full revelation was made known.
But then face to face- although ancient mirrors could be very effective, nonetheless they did not give a perfect reflection. The apostle is using what is said about Moses in Numbers 12:8, where God says, “With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches”. The Lord spoke to Moses “face to face”, Exodus 30:11; Deuteronomy 34;11. He did not communicate truth to him in obscure ways, but directly and apparently, which means Moses saw God as He was speaking to him. He did not see a reflection of God, as if in a mirror, but had a face to face interview with Him, in order that Divine truth might be communicated to him. Darkly means obscurely, and that was how things were in early apostolic days, for the truth was being made known piecemeal; the whole picture could not be seen, but now it is as if God is speaking to us directly, through His word. Confusion has arisen by the use of this phrase as if it refers to believers seeing Christ in heaven. Our doctrine should be based upon careful exposition of the statements of Scripture, not the words of hymns that misapply Scripture.

Fifth statement: To fully know is better than to partly know.

now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Now I know in part- again the apostle uses himself as the illustration, this time, not to avoid offending the Corinthians, but to show that even he, as an apostle, was not at that point in the full possession of the facts of Christianity. The date is AD 63, and was not until AD 68 that the epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians would be written, in which the full revelation was available.
But then shall I know even as also I am known- Paul looked on to the time when that which it was appropriate for believers of this age to know would be made known, and Paul would be able to say with confidence “I know”. That knowledge would be in the same manner as he himself was known. God had known Paul perfectly in eternity, and he was an important instrument that would be used to reveal Divine truth to the saints. Paul, when the full truth was revealed, would himself know the immensity of the purpose of God, as disclosed in the mystery of the church and allied doctrines. The apostle wrote in Ephesians 3:19 of being “filled into all the fulness of God”. The believer’s mind is being increasingly filled with Divine truth, the goal in view being, (hence the “into”), that the fulness of God’s knowledge may be appreciated in eternity. Of course, there are some things that God reserves for Himself, but, that said, it is still God’s intention to tell us as much as we can possibly take in. So God’s grasp of things is the standard now, not our feeble grasp, or even that of apostles.

13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

So it is that the apostle can conclude the section by declaring that, without argument, faith hope and love abide; they are lasting, and shall never pass away, but the pinnacle of Christian virtues is love, and this should govern us at all times. The reason charity is greater even than faith and hope is that charity is what God is in His essential being, for “God is love”, 1 John 4:8. Love believeth, and love hopeth, verse 7, so love is in harmony with faith and hope, but is superior to them. No wonder the apostle exhorts us to follow after charity in the first verse of the next chapter, given that it is so desirable a feature. But in following charity we should desire spiritual gifts too, for they are not incompatible, which is why at the beginning of chapter 14 the apostle is able to exhort, “follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts”.