¹¹  And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
¹²  for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
¹³  until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
¹⁴  As a result, 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;
¹⁵  but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
¹⁶  from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

1) Who is the audience of this passage?
Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus, and he’s specifically addressing the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and the teachers. Each of these people possessed a speaking gift. He is telling them to use their words to equip the saints for the work ahead of them and to build up the body of Christ.

2) What does it mean to equip the saints?
The Greek word used for equip in this verse is katartismos. It is not used anywhere else in the New Testament; however, its corresponding verb is used of repairing something, of God bringing the universe in the beginning into its intended shape and order, and of restoring to spiritual health one who has fallen.¹ 

¹Foulkes, F. (1989). Ephesians: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 10, p. 126). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

3) What beliefs caused them to be tossed here and there?
This verse lists three things that they were tossed about by: wrong doctrine, trickery of men, and craftiness in deceitful scheming. We can translate those things as believing wrong teaching, trusting a man who rolls the dice in his favor, and believing someone who is crafty at lying (AKA Satan, the Father of ALL lies.)

4) What does it mean to grow up into all aspects of Christ?
This means to go from an infant or child to a grown man in every area of your spiritual life. It means that as we grow, we become more and more like Christ.

1) Who is the audience of this passage?
Clearly, this passage is directed to any Christ follower that opens their mouth. We are to use our words to build each other up, to help each other out, to challenge each other, and to encourage each other. As women, we need to stop comparing ourselves to each other and begin to appreciate our differences and celebrate them with each other. We need each other to build up the body!

2) What does it mean to equip the saints?
When we see the original meaning of the text, it’s easy to see that we are supposed to be using our words to repair each other, to bring order out of chaos, to pick a sister up when she’s feeling down. Next time you hear someone say, “I’m so stupid!” or “I’m not pretty!” or “My life has no purpose!”, you need to remind them who God says they are. He says that we’re each image bearers of Him.  He says that He created us for good works. Speak truth and speak life!! That will equip the body for anything God has in store for them!

3) What beliefs caused them to be tossed here and there?
Maybe you have been taught to believe that you’re not worth anything, or that you’ll never amount to anything, or that you’re too much, or that you’re not enough. Or maybe you’ve followed after men or friends that were only looking out for themselves, and they’ve sent you messages about yourself that aren’t true. Or maybe you’ve just flat out believed the lies of Satan about yourself. The only way to combat these “waves” is to be grounded in the truth of God’s Word. Saturate yourself in His love which He pours out to you in His Word!! There is no replacement for time spent in His presence!!

4) What does it mean to grow up into all aspects of Christ?
When I was a child, I thought like a child, but as I’ve grown into a woman, I’m wiser. As I look at the things that toss us about, most of them have to do with our thought patterns. For us to truly grow up into all aspects of Christ, we must believe that what He says about us is truth. We need to meditate on those thoughts about ourselves that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, excellent and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8). Knowing it isn’t good enough! We must believe it. Belief will drive us to action. When we know who we are in Christ, we will be able to fight the words of the enemy with the sword of Truth!

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Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.

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