Letters from Paul

A taste of the study room coming with Paul — pull open whatever you'd like to sit with.

The reading — Ephesians 4:7-16

⁷But to each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. ⁸Therefore he says, “When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.” ⁹Now this, “He ascended”, what is it but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. ¹¹He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers; ¹²for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ; ¹³until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ¹⁴that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; ¹⁵but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ; ¹⁶from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love.

World English Bible

The words behind the words

When I wrote that "grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift" (Ephesians 4:7), the word for grace is the same word I use for the free favor that saves you — only here it is grace poured out as a gift for serving, apportioned by measure. And when I say Christ gave gifts "to equip the saints for the work of ministry" (Ephesians 4:12), that word equip is a mending word — it is what men do to a torn net or a dislocated bone: to set right, to fit together what belongs together. The gifts are not for display but for repair.

Where else you say this

I take up this same thread of one body with many differing gifts when I wrote to Corinth (1 Corinthians 12:4-7), and again to Rome, where I pressed each one to use his gift in proportion to his faith and not to think of himself too highly (Romans 12:4-8). And the growing up into Christ, the reaching toward maturity — that longing runs through what I wrote to Colossae, that we may present every man mature in Christ (Colossians 1:28).

The situation

I write this to you as a prisoner (Ephesians 4:1), from confinement, and I write to a people gathered out of both Jew and Gentile — two peoples with a wall between them now made one (Ephesians 2:14). The danger before such a church is always the same: that having been made one, they scatter — each pulling his own way, the strong despising the weak, the gifted growing proud. So I labor to show them that the very gifts Christ gave are given to bind them together, not to sort them into ranks.

The hard question

You may stumble at what I wrote — "he ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?" (Ephesians 4:9) — and ask where this descent belongs. I will not pretend the matter is undisputed among the godly, whether it speaks of his coming down in the incarnation or his going down in death. But do not lose the point in the puzzle: my whole aim is that the One who descended to the depths is the same who ascended above all things, that he might fill all things (Ephesians 4:10) — and fill you. Weigh the words yourself; the ascended Christ is the one who now gives the gifts.

This is a small window into what a study room with Paul will hold — word by word, letter by letter, and the maps and journeys behind them. Get notified when it opens →

← back to the word