September 9, 2001

GOD'S THREE-FOLD GOAL

Ephesians 4:13

 

   Our risen, ascended, glorified Lord has given gifts for the duration of the dispensation of grace. "He...gave...apostles...prophets...evangelists...pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of the ministry, to the edifying of the body of Christ." These gifts were to function building up the body of Christ until "we all come unto the unity of the faith, even the full knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. 4:11-13), the three-fold goal!

   The first great unity in Ephesians four is the "unity of the Spirit" (4:3). The second is "the unity of the faith," which is not expressed in a creed but in the words that follow, "even the full knowledge of the Son of God." This "full knowledge" of Him was revealed to and through the Apostle Paul when God made known to him the mystery (or secret). This is the great truth of Christ in an altogether new position. He is Head over all things to the church, which is His body. It is a new creation in which believing Jews and Gentiles are baptized into one body, "a new creation." And the role of the Lord, never before revealed, is that He is the Head of this "one new man."

   The "unity of the faith" is really knowing Christ in this fulness. Paul expressed this in Philippians 3:8-10, "that I may win (gain) Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, even the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may get to know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death..." He added, "not that I have already attained, either were already perfect, but I press on..."

   We learn of the Son of God especially in Paul's letters, "the life which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God (Gal. 2:20), that in the Son of God...all the promises of God are 'Yea, and Amen' unto the glory of God by us" (2 Cor. 1:19-20), that He was "declared to be the Son of God with power...by the resurrection of the dead..." (Rom. 1:4), and lastly summed up in "the full knowledge of the Son of God."

   The unity of the faith is summed up simply in truly knowing Him!

 

Ivan L. Burgener