Growing in His Fullness

The same assumption about the Second Coming of Jesus has been made in Ephesians 4. It is claimed by some that the passage means that when the church matures to a place of perfection Jesus will return. However there is nothing in the passage where Paul says that this is in his mind:

And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:

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. (Eph 4:11-14).

This passage speaks of the perfecting (equipping) of the church, till we all come to a perfect man, to the full image of Christ. The passage is saying that the ministry gifts in the church are used by God to expose to the believers all that Christ has done and thereby bring us in His grace to an acknowledgment of it, so that we walk in its fullness.

The passage is not an “end-times” scenario. It is simply speaking of the unity of the body, the local assembly, building itself up in love, as each member grows with one another, in the knowledge of the their joint completeness in Christ. That is, our completeness is not for us alone, but for each member together in love, working in one body in Christ. This is God’s will for each local assembly in Jesus.

Paul states that the purpose of God in this five-fold ministry is that we grow in knowledge, to be stable in it and walk in our fullness in Christ, to where we are not tossed to and fro with every false and cunning doctrine of man and thus walk in fruitfulness in Christ’s redemption. Paul did not say in Ephesians 4, or in any other part of Ephesians, that there is an end-times theme to his epistle. He is merely explaining how our growth in Christ works within His body.

Paul states the same in the previous chapter. The intention is that we be filled through, by or with (i.e., by means of) the fullness of Christ that already abides in us, by our acknowledgment of that fullness, that we walk in it by faith. Paul is not saying that we should reach out for more, for that would defeat the whole lesson. He is saying that we walk in what we have, being already seated with Christ in heavenly places (2:6).

That Christ might dwell in your hearts by faith…and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:17, 19).

This is a prayer that the saints might abide in Christ and not be moved aside to every false wind of doctrine. It is not saying that we need an extra filling, but that we should be filled with what we already have in Christ through our acknowledgment of it by faith. He means that we should be grounded and settled in Christ’s love (vs. 17).

That the communication (sharing/working/out living) of your faith may become effective by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in by Jesus Christ. (Phil 6).

This is the same as Peter saying, “Add knowledge, godliness, brotherly kindness and love to your faith.” (2 Pet 1:5). We are acknowledging every good thing of Christ that is in us and are walking in it. But we do not do this by trying to get it. We have it in Christ in us. We now walk in it by faith. Fullness is not a quantity, that we say we want more of, but it is a quality. It is the abundant life of the person of Christ.

Growing in Christ is growing in the knowledge of Jesus and being led by our Father and chief Shepherd, as He works in us both the character and fruit that He desires and has planned for us before the world (Eph 2:10). God does this in us through the knowledge of His truth, “Desire the sincere milk of the word that you might grow thereby.” (1 Pet 2:2). By this we escape religious ordinances and men’s teachings and are established in the completeness of Christ’s redemption.