41 I, the prisoner in [the] Lord, exhort you therefore to walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye have been called,
2 with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love; 3 using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. 4 [There is] one body and one Spirit, as ye have been also called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all. 7 But to each one of us has been given grace according to the measure of the gift of the Christ. 8 Wherefore he says, Having ascended up on high, he has led captivity captive, and has given gifts to men. 9 But that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He that descended is the same who has also ascended up above all the heavens, that he might fill all things; 11 and he has given some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers, 12 for the perfecting of the saints; with a view to [the] work of [the] ministry, with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ; 13 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; 14 in order that we may be no longer babes, tossed and carried about by every wind of that teaching [which is] in the sleight of men, in unprincipled cunning with a view to systematized error; 15 but, holding the truth in love, we may grow up to him in all things, who is the head, the Christ: 16 from whom the whole body, fitted together, and connected by every joint of supply, according to [the] working in [its] measure of each one part, works for itself the increase of the body to its self-building up in love.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ephesians 4:1-16
Commentary on Ephesians 4:1-6
(Read Ephesians 4:1-6)
Nothing is pressed more earnestly in the Scriptures, than to walk as becomes those called to Christ's kingdom and glory. By lowliness, understand humility, which is opposed to pride. By meekness, that excellent disposition of soul, which makes men unwilling to provoke, and not easily to be provoked or offended. We find much in ourselves for which we can hardly forgive ourselves; therefore we must not be surprised if we find in others that which we think it hard to forgive. There is one Christ in whom all believers hope, and one heaven they are all hoping for; therefore they should be of one heart. They had all one faith, as to its object, Author, nature, and power. They all believed the same as to the great truths of religion; they had all been admitted into the church by one baptism, with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, as the sign of regeneration. In all believers God the Father dwells, as in his holy temple, by his Spirit and special grace.
Commentary on Ephesians 4:7-16
(Read Ephesians 4:7-16)
Unto every believer is given some gift of grace, for their mutual help. All is given as seems best to Christ to bestow upon every one. He received for them, that he might give to them, a large measure of gifts and graces; particularly the gift of the Holy Ghost. Not a mere head knowledge, or bare acknowledging Christ to be the Son of God, but such as brings trust and obedience. There is a fulness in Christ, and a measure of that fulness given in the counsel of God to every believer; but we never come to the perfect measure till we come to heaven. God's children are growing, as long as they are in this world; and the Christian's growth tends to the glory of Christ. The more a man finds himself drawn out to improve in his station, and according to his measure, all that he has received, to the spiritual good of others, he may the more certainly believe that he has the grace of sincere love and charity rooted in his heart.