“Till we all come to 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.”
Ephesians 4:13
Have you ever been on a long trip with children in the car? There seems to be one common question often asked: “Are we there yet?” They know there is a destination, and they want to arrive at that destination as soon as possible.
The apostle Paul is writing to the saints at Ephesus, setting before them many wonderful truths about the Christian life. Here in chapter four, he has reminded them that the Lord Jesus Christ, as the risen, glorified Head of the body, which is the church, has given gifts to His body “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” These gifts were given “till we all come to 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.”
Another helpful translation puts it this way: “Until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at [the] full-grown man, at [the] measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ.”
The idea here is that there is a destination to arrive at, and that destination for every Christian is to be like the Lord Jesus Christ. The phrase “till we all come” or “arrive at” is the key to understanding our destination as Christians. This word is used eight times in the book of Acts to describe travelers arriving at their destinations.
A few years ago, it was very popular in Christian circles to ask, “WWJD?” meaning, “What Would Jesus Do?” But the goal for followers of the Lord Jesus is even higher than doing what He would do. Our desire ought to be to become more like Him, to be what He is. In other places, Paul sets out the thought of being transformed into His image (Rom. 12:1-2; 2 Cor. 3:18).
Every believer is on a journey here in this life. We are not to simply meander through life, not knowing where we are headed. Our destination is described in our verse using three words, each closely related to the other two and each building on the next. These three words are unity, maturity, and Christlikeness.
While these verses might be leading us to a more permanent setting, there are some very practical lessons that we can learn and apply to our own lives here and now to help us become more like the blessed Lord Jesus.
Anchor For Today:
The goal ahead of us is to be like the Lord Jesus!