Ephesians 4:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do not speak to me, then, of the difference of gifts. They all had one work. When we all believe alike, this is the unity of faith.

It is clear that he calls this the stature of a perfect man. Yet elsewhere he calls us children even if we are perfect. There, however, he has something else in view. He called us children there in relation to our future knowledge.

For after saying, “Now I know in part,” he added, “in a mirror dimly” (1 Cor. 13:12), and the like. Here he is not speaking of this, but of constancy. Thus elsewhere he says, “Solid food belongs to the mature” (Heb. 5:14). Do you see how there also he called them mature?

This is the faith that He, one of the Trinity and equal to the Father, became man, one hypostasis in two natures, wills, and operations. It is also that He is seated with the Father together with His body, that He will come again, and all else that is rightly thought and said concerning this.

How, then, does he elsewhere call our knowledge imperfect? He calls it so by comparison with future knowledge. Here, however, he calls it perfect with respect to the unchangeability of knowledge. For when we no longer waver, then we shall be perfect, as is clear from what follows.

“Until we all attain to the unity of 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.”

“So that we may no longer be children, tossed and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human falsehood and cunning, toward the deceit of error.”

“But holding the truth in love, that we may increase all things into Him Who is the Head, Christ.”

We must ask of whom the Apostle says that all will attain to the unity of faith. Does he mean all men, or all the saints, or only all who are receptive in mind?

It seems to me that he speaks of all men, because there are many winds of doctrine. When waves are stirred up by them, men are carried here and there by uncertain movement and various errors.

Therefore we must labor with all diligence. First, we must strive toward the goal in the unity of faith. Then, in that same unity, we must have the knowledge of the Son of God.

When this possession is secured, we cease to be children and receive the measure of the inner man. This is the measure of fullness, the measure of Christ.

We shall receive as our inheritance the name of a perfect man. Yet the whole multitude of believers will come to the final stature of the fullness of Christ.

No longer wavering in doctrines, it will no more be carried away like children by the dangerous torrent of unbelief.

These winds blow from every side, whether from heretics or from the wise men of this age, in various and contradictory doctrines. They may cause shipwreck, or at least threaten those who hear them.

Some do not desire falsehood, yet they preach what is false. Others, devising snares of error with all cleverness, hasten to deceive and conquer you.

But when the saints have fully reached and arrived at the measure of the man mentioned above, they will know the love of Christ. In Him they will increase all the seeds of truth they have received.

They will have the Lord Jesus as the Head of the Church.

Since his words, “that we may no longer be wavering children,” and what follows, testify that he too was, as it were, a wavering child, we must consider this.

Did he say this from humility? Or, knowing that he sees only in part and understands only in part, did he recognize how far he stood from perfect knowledge?

Did he speak in true expressions of his own awareness?

If anyone wishes to see in these words an expression of humility, let him use the following example: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I understood as a child.”

“But when I became a man, I put away what belongs to a child” (1 Cor 13:11). Another will answer that the Apostle attained the age of a perfect man in comparison with others.

Yet he is still called a child in relation to what is appointed for the saints. Indeed, all the Apostles who believe in Christ are called children by the prophet.

He says, “Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me” (Is 8:18).

After this, we must examine more carefully whether the Apostle says not only from humility that he is a child. He also says he is wavering and carried about by every motion of doctrine toward errors, by human deception and cunning.

Someone who thinks he said this not from humility, but from awareness of his deficiencies, speaks thus. The Apostle Paul was a man of subtle and keen natural mind.

He clearly anticipated what should be answered to the objections of the first who would begin to dispute him. Thus he often saw that opposing arguments were stated on both sides.

He saw that something so plausible was being set forth that it could bring the hearer into doubt. Therefore, as a man in a frail body, he was indeed carried by every wind of doctrine.

Yet he was not dashed against the rocks, and his ship was not filled with waves. He stood at the stern, holding the rudder, and by firmness of faith cut through the foaming waves of heresy.

Still, he looked upon the winds raging from different sides not without trembling, not without fear, and not in calm peace. With an attentive ear he grasped and overcame what was dangerous.

Yet victory was not guaranteed to him. Thus, when he saw that the words of opponents and the arguments by which they wished to distort the truth could not easily be overcome, he hoped in God’s help.

He saw that their reasonings were full of every kind of craft in skillfully composed phrases, and were arranged with devilish dexterity. He hoped that God would drive every doubtful thought from his mind.

Then he would believe the sure and firm truth without difficulty, and increase it in the love of Christ. He acknowledged Christ as Head, both of himself and of the whole body of the Church.

One must know that this passage is clearer in Greek. When translated word for word into Latin, the meaning bound to the individual words obscures what the Apostle says.

What, then, does this mean: “to a perfect man, to the measure of stature”? The ages of man are various: infancy, childhood, adolescence, youth, manhood, and old age. Before a man reaches manhood, his body is imperfect. When he reaches the perfect man, the whole composition of his body is complete.

Therefore the measure of manly stature is the perfection of the human body. Thus “to a perfect man, to the measure of stature,” in a figurative sense, means nothing other than the spiritual perfection of man. It means a man made perfect in faith and virtue.

The Apostle’s following words confirm this. After saying, “to a perfect man, to the measure of stature,” he adds, “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14).

What, then, is the fullness of Christ? It is the Church of Christ, as the same Paul explained when he said: “And He gave Him as head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:22-23).

The Church, that is, those who believe in Him, is called the fullness of Christ because they are members of the Church, the mystical body of Christ, which has Him as its Head (1 Cor. 12:27; see Oecumenius on Eph. 1). But as members without a head are not a full and perfect body, so also a head without the other members is an incomplete and imperfect body.

Therefore, since the faithful are members of the whole mystical body of Christ and compose and fill it, they are called the fullness of Christ. This means the fullness of the Church of Christ, of which He is the Head.

This is the whole meaning of the Apostle’s words presented here. All who have the apostolic, prophetic, evangelical, pastoral, or teaching gift have an undeniable duty. They must order the faithful, serve their benefit of soul, and increase and strengthen the members of the Church.

They must do this until all the faithful, having become agreed in the teaching of the faith and perfect in works of virtue, appear worthy of the fullness of Jesus Christ. That is, they must become worthy members of His body, which is the Church.

According to the explanation of Blessed Jerome, “One must not think that, just as in the words ‘some Apostles, some prophets, some evangelists’ the Apostle indicated different persons, so also by the words ‘pastors and teachers’ he indicated different persons. For he did not say, ‘some pastors, some teachers.’ By this he shows that these are the same persons. He teaches that whoever is a pastor must also be a teacher, and that one who cannot teach those under his care must not take pastoral office upon himself. Every presider must be a shepherd of sheep and a teacher of men.”

In defining the duties of pastors, the Apostle indicates three: the perfecting of Christians in faith and life, their sanctification through the mysteries, and the addition of new believers to the Church. Corresponding to this, three aims are set forth, toward which the pastor must strive: agreement in faith, the fullest possible knowledge of the Son of God, and the most perfect imitation of Him.

“By the words ‘a perfect man’ one must understand perfection, or the final limit of the active life. He defines it thus: in the mind, the maturation of sound concepts about all things. In the will, the firm establishment of good rules and dispositions. In the heart, the cultivation of sympathy for everything spiritual. Finally, the work of ministry lies upon us, that by mystical sacred actions we may raise all into spiritual communion with God. Thus God may be in all and all in God, as they present themselves to God as a worthy dwelling and have Him dwelling within them. This is the measure of the fullness of Christ” (Bishop Theophan).

Then all of us, men as we are, will attain to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. Unity, ἑνότης, means oneness.

We must attain the point where all have one faith and the same knowledge of the Son of God. There must be one faith, so that no non-Christians remain.

There must be one knowledge of the Son of God, so that even among Christians there is no difference of mind. All must understand alike Who the Son of God is and what the work of salvation is.

They must also understand what He accomplished on earth, and how each can and must appropriate it to himself.

Saint Chrysostom says: “Until we all are shown to have one faith. For unity of faith means this: when we are all one, and when we all understand this bond in the same way.

You must labor until then, if you have received the gift of building up others. When we believe in the same way, this is the unity of faith.”

Again, the duty of perfecting the saints lies upon you. Continue to labor sleeplessly over this until you have made all and each a perfect man.

Every believer at the beginning is like a child. He is imperfect in knowledge and not firm in the rules of life. Set him on his feet in both respects.

Bring all his active powers into full development. Then, whatever work he may meet, he will know how and have strength to do it as he ought, perfectly.

By the words “a perfect man” we must understand perfection, or the final limit of active life. It is defined in the mind as the maturity of sound concepts about everything.

This includes matters within the realm of faith and outside it, according to faith’s guidance. In the will, it is the establishment of good rules and the rooting in the heart of true Christian dispositions.

These are humility, love, meekness, temperance, peaceableness, self-denial, and every other virtue. In the heart, it is chiefly the formation of taste and sympathy for everything spiritual and truly Christian.

It brings the heart to the point where it finds delight in nothing else except the sphere of what concerns salvation and life in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Active perfection cannot go further than this. Yet active perfection itself is not the final limit.

Finally, the work of ministry lies upon you. By prayerful, sanctifying, and mystical sacred actions, you must raise all into spiritual communion with God, so that God may be in all and all in God.

Continue to perform this work of ministry in a manner worthy of God. Continue until all, freed from everything and wholly purified beforehand by active life, ascend into the state of perfect rest in God.

Then, presenting in themselves a dwelling worthy of God, they will have Him dwelling within them. This is the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

The Apostle says of Christ Jesus that in Him the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. The Lord Himself says of Christians: “If anyone loves Me and keeps My commandments, My Father will love him.”

“And We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him” (Jn 14:23). This is the measure of stature corresponding to the fullness of Christ.

A life active in love according to the commandments prepares one for this. Communion with God itself is accomplished in the mysteries, with prayerful repose in God.

The spirit of prayer is formed by the rites of the Church. In those same rites the mysteries are also performed. It is clear how the performance of the work of ministry raises one to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Behold the limit of perfection to which Christianity raises us. Nothing higher can be imagined. If God is in someone, what more could he desire?

Every Christian must keep this as his aim, and must use every effort to attain it, sparing himself in nothing. If the Lord’s promise is not false, and if it has been fulfilled countless times in Christians, is it reasonable not to hasten toward it?

For as soon as true humility is present, all the virtues are present also. It appears in perfection when the other virtues have already blossomed in the heart and come to maturity.

It is their crown and covering. This is the mystery of spiritual life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The higher a man is, the more humble he is.

He sees more clearly and tangibly that it is not he who labors in progress, but “the grace that is in him.” This is “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

For the chief thing in Christ Jesus is that He “humbled Himself and became obedient unto death.”