The Growth of the Body (Ephesians 4:16)

There is a beautiful paradox with the body of Christ—Jesus supplies everything we need for life and godliness, yet we as the body are to build each other up in love, causing the growth of the body.

Paul reminds us in Ephesians 4.15–16 that Jesus is the head of the Church, but he exhorts the body to be abundantly supplied by Christ to function, grow, and mature as the body is called to be.

In this study, Nathan walks through the passage and encourages us to think and live as a community of believers, rather than as individuals that go to church together.

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Key Passage: Ephesians 4:15–16

… we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is Christ, from whom the whole body, being joined and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the properly measured working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
– Ephesians 4:15–16

One Sentence 

Ephesians 4:11–16– And He Himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, so that we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming, but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is Christ, from whom the whole body, being joined and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the properly measured working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Goal 

• Ephesians 4:13 – … until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ …
• Ephesians 4:15–16– … we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is Christ, from whom the whole body, being joined and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the properly measured working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Grow Up

• WE ARE TO GROW UP (auxanō) – grow, increase; to become larger, greater, or bigger
  • Growing up (mature) in EVERY way: speech, thoughts, purity, motives, actions … every aspect in every arena of life
  • 2 Corinthians 9:8– And God is able to make every grace abound to you, so that in everything at every time having every sufficiency, you may have an abundance for every good deed …

The Source and Supply

• Ephesians 4:15 – … we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is Christ …
• HEAD (kephalē) – head; a person who is in charge
  • As the head, Jesus is the one in charge (the ruler) but also the origin (source) of life for the body.
  • Ephesians 1:22–23 – And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
  • Ephesians 5:23– For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
  • Colossians 1:18 – And He is the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
  • Jesus is not only the source of the body’s growth but also the aim and goal of that growth (Eph 4:13)
• FROM WHOM (ek hos) – from, of, out of [a preposition of source]
  • the explanation for how the body grows
  • Romans 11:36– For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

The Whole Body  

• Ephesians 4:16 – … from whom the whole body, being joined and held together by what every joint supplies …
• WHOLE BODY (pas sōma) – entire body
  • nothing is left out
• JOINED TOGETHER (synarmologeō) – join together, fit together;the ancient illustration recalls how stonemasons would smooth stones so that they might perfectly fit together to build a wall or building*
  • 2x NT: Eph 2:21, 4:16
  • Ephesians 2:21 – … in whom the whole building, being joined together, is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord,
  • Verb, present, passive, participle
    • Jesus is presently doing the work upon the Church (the body receives the refining work in order that we might be joined together)
• HELD TOGETHER (symbibazō) – unite, hold together, conclude; was a term that was a) frequently employed in a context of reconciliation and b) used to describe how arguments would be brought together to make a point⁽¹⁾
  • verb, present, passive, participle
  • Both phrases are virtually synonymous “and are meant to express that the close, tight, compacted correlation of function in the Body as an organism is the result of Christ’s power.”⁽²⁾
• Keeping with the body imagery
  • JOINT (haphē) – ligament, connection, sinew
    • Colossians 2:19– … the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
    • Ligament might be a better term since they are the means of support or supply for other parts of the body (ligaments are bands of tissue that connect bones, joints, or organs – holding them in place and helps you move properly)
    • Peter Thomas O’Brien – The ligaments make contact with other parts of the body and are the channels which extend nourishment from the head.⁽³⁾
  • SUPPLIES (epichorēgia) – support, assistance, provision; the activity of supplying or providing something … prefix epi gives emphasis: “abundant supply” or “superabundance” (not merely a sufficiency but an abundance in its resource)
    • 2x NT: Eph 4:16, Phil 1:19

According to the measured working of each part

• Ephesians 4:16 – … according to the properly measured working of each individual part …
• WORKING (energeia) – working, operation, action, energy … used of God’s enabling power in us, the inner operation of His grace and power that enables us to live as Christians
  • 8x NT: Eph 1:19, 3:7, 4:16
  • Ephesians 1:19– [I pray you would know] what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of the might of His strength …
• MEASURE (metron) – measure, quantity, number
  • has been used 3x in this context: 4:7, 4:13, 4:16
  • D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones – Each part in the body does not receive exactly the same amount, but each part receives all that it needs according to the measure of its capacity.⁽⁴⁾

The Whole Point

• Ephesians 4:16 – … causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
  • Paradox 1: the body is building itself up, in accordance to the head (Jesus) who is both the supply for the body and the measurement of the body’s maturity
  • Paradox 2: already and not yet
    • Peter Thomas O’Brien – In one sense the body of Christ is already complete: it is a true body, not simply part of one. In another sense that body is said to grow to perfection, a process that will be completed only on the final day. The body metaphor reflects the ‘already—not yet’ tension of the two ages. It is both complete and yet it grows. It is a heavenly entity and yet it is an earthly reality; and it is both present and future, with a [final] consummation [still to come].⁽⁵⁾
• “In love” is used 3x in this section (4:2, 4:15, 4:16)
• John 13:34–35– “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
• Andrew T. Lincoln – Love is the lifeblood of this body, and therefore, the ultimate criterion for the assessment of the Church’s growth will be how far it is characterized by love.⁽⁶⁾

Putting it all together

• D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones – Summing up the various phrases we can state the teaching thus. The Head of the body is the Lord Jesus Christ. We as individual members should function as the Head desires us to do. We are all fitly joined together, compacted and held together and energized through bands of supply by an endless superabundant supply that comes to us from Him. Every single part, whether great or small, is absolutely full; it gets all it needs and no more. Each part is not identical; we are not all absolutely the same. We differ tremendously; each one of us has his particular capacity, and every one of us should be filled according to his capacity. In other words, the Apostle is summing up here, and repeating, what he has said in verse 7, ‘Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ’. … Then he completes the statement with, ‘maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love’. In other words, the Church has been designed and constituted in this marvellous manner in order that it may grow. … In this matter of unity nothing is more important than love. If the Head is love, the body must be love. We are to conform to the Head, He is love everlasting, eternal love. He became incarnate love; and the body is to correspond to Him; so we build up ourselves and we grow together ‘in love’.⁽⁷⁾

3 Takeaways

1. Body growth not self-growth

• Paul emphasizes the growth of the body, not an individual’s focus on “self-growth” (self-improvement) … which is interesting since it is one of the best selling topics (self-help)
  • The self-improvement market, which includes self-help books, audiobooks, and other services, reached $41 billion in 2023. 
• Western mentality of individualism … eastern mentality of community
• We need each other!
• Warren W. Wiersbe – We realize that, as members of the one body and a local body, we belong to each other, we affect each other, and we need each other. … It has been discovered that isolated, unloved babies do not grow properly and are especially susceptible to disease, while babies who are loved and handled grow normally and are stronger. So it is with the children of God. An isolated Christian cannot minister to others, nor can others minister to him, and it is impossible for the gifts to be ministered either way.⁽⁸⁾

2. The authority of the head … and the body’s response in obedience

• Jesus leads and governs His church (He is the head) … and He has given His body everything it needs for growth and maturity. The standard of which is Himself. And through that supply, the body is equipped and edified to function as a body, each part working together to grow and mature. Every part of the body should be instantly ready to respond to the head (instant obedience and absolute availability).
• Simon Austen – The mark of an authentic, growing church is whether or not those who hear the Word demonstrate their obedience to it by ministering to one another. … In evangelical circles we often speak about Bible teaching churches; but what we really want is Bible obeying churches, because only by obeying what the Word says is the church equipped for ministry and only as the church ministers can we become what we are.⁽⁹⁾

3. Being measured (four questions)

• Is my life growing up in Christ? 
• Am I helping the body to grow up unto the full stature of Christ?
• Am I ministering within the body? Am I doing it out of “duty” or out of a desire to see the body grow, mature, and built up?
• Is my life and my involvement within the body marked by love (what I can give … not what I can get)?

FOOTNOTES

(1a) “The picture of being joined … together recalls how in the ancient world stones had to be smoothed by stonemasons in order that they might work together to form a building. The second picture, of being knit together, speaks of arguments being fitted together.” // Darrell L. Bock, Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. Eckhard J. Schnabel, vol. 10, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2019), 131.
(1b) “… a term that was frequently employed in a context of reconciliation (cf. Herodotus 1.74.3; Thucydides 2.29.6; Plato, Prot 337E).” // Andrew T. Lincoln, Ephesians, vol. 42, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1990), 262.
(2a) “The two present passive participles that these phrases translate are synonymous and are meant to express that the close, tight, compacted correlation of function in the Body as an organism is the result of Christ’s power.” // John F. MacArthur Jr., Ephesians, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1986), 161.
(2b) “The two present participles [joined together and held together] are virtually synonymous (pace Whitaker, JTS 31 [1930] 48–49, who claimed, “the first participle speaks of position, the second of movement; the first of relation to Christ, the second of that relation in action”), and, taken together, underline forcefully that for the unified growth of the body its members have to be involved in a process of continual mutual adjustment.” // Andrew T. Lincoln, Ephesians, vol. 42, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1990), 262.
(3) Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999), 314.
(4) David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Christian Unity: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:1–16 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1972), 260.
(5) Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999), 317.
(6) Andrew T. Lincoln, Ephesians, vol. 42, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1990), 264.
(7) David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Christian Unity: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:1–16 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1972), 260–262.
(8) Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 38–39.
(9) Simon Austen, Teaching Ephesians: From Text to Message, ed. David Jackman and Adrian Reynolds, Teach the Bible (London, England; Ross-shire, Scotland: PT Resources; Christian Focus, 2012), 143–144.

Photo Credit: Pearl

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In Our Next Study Together …

I invite you to join me on this journey from the book of Ephesians to discover God’s eternal purpose, His plan for your life, and learn how to practically live out an abundant and fruitful Christian life. 

• The focus of our next study: Ephesians 4:17–19
  • We are going to dive into what I’m calling “the clothing of a Christian” found in Ephesians 4:17–24 and how we are to put off sin and put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • I encourage you to read through Ephesians a couple of times this week and focus specifically on Ephesians 4.