Eph-80-81 - Lesson 29 - Ephesians 4: 9-16
Publication Date: 04-22-1981
Victor Paul Wierwille (December 31, 1916 – May 20, 1985) dedicated his life to the research and teaching of the Bible. In his quest for truth he consulted and worked with some of the most outstanding individuals in Biblical studies and Christian living; including Karl Barth, Joseph Bauer, Glenn Clark, Karl J. Ernst, Joseph Friedli, Louis C. Hessert, Elmer G Homrighausen, E. Stanley Jones, George M. Lamsa, Richard and Reinhold Niebuhr, K. C. Pillai, Paul Tillich, Ernst Traeger, and many others.
Dr. Wierwille received his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Theology degrees from present day Lakeland College, and conducted graduate studies at the University of Chicago and Princeton Theological Seminary. It was at Princeton that Wierwille earned the Master of Theology degree in Practical Theology. He later completed his Doctor of Theology degree at Pike's Peak Bible Seminary and Burton College in Manitou Springs, Colorado.
Dr. Wierwille was the author of numerous books in the field of Biblical research, including Are the Dead Alive Now?; Receiving the Holy Spirit Today; Jesus Christ Our Passover; and Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed. Additionally, he developed and taught several comprehensive classes directed toward helping people to understand the Bible and to increase the power of God in their lives, such as the Power For Abundant Living series, Living Victoriously, and the University of Life courses. Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille was the founder and president of a world-wide Biblical research, teaching, and fellowship ministry for forty years; as well as the founder and president of several Biblical research centers, colleges, leadership training, and Christian outreach programs associated with it.
Victor Paul Wierwille served the Lord with unending joy all the days of his life as he travelled continuously throughout the world to hold forth the Word of God. He reached thousands of people during his lifetime through his live presentations, numerous radio and television broadcasts, film and video classes, and recorded teachings. And countless others continue to enjoy and be enriched by his books and hundreds of hours of recorded works, many of which are available in the public domain. A detailed listing of his work, as well as more information about his life and teachings can be found at Eternally Blessed (www.eternallyblessed.org).
Well, take your Bibles tonight and we go back to the fourth chapter of the Book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter four, we begin tonight with verse nine. In the King James we read of verse nine, chapter four of Ephesians, Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
This verse nine has caused no end of opportunities of confusion to most people. And I don' t believe, basically, they ' ll ever get it straightened out, because I don' t think too many people really want to get it straightened out. And I think it' s very simple and very easy if you want to know it, like a lot of things. But if you don' t, then you got problems.
The major problem that they have in this verse are with those words, ' he also descended first into the lower parts.' And the Research Department did an extensive piece of research in this field and laid this in my hands in preparation for the teaching of it. But I really have no great desire go through all of it, because the greatest of all the scholars disagree on all of it. Somebody says he went to hell.
Somebody else says that he witnessed to the in spirits, and all those things. And it just doesn't make very much sense.
This ' also descended first into the lower parts,' I think if you want to understand it, you' ll have to go to Acts two for a moment. Acts chapter 2:27, Because thou will not leave my soul in hell, hades, the grave... neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. The Bullinger translates this, ' the lower parts, that is to say, the earth.' And that, of course, I believe is accurate and true and it's simple.
This ' of the earth' is a genitive of opposition. Conybeare and Howson... now the word ' he went up.' What does it say? What does it mean? ' But that he first came down to the earth below.' And this, they took from my teaching of the class a number of years ago.
This word ' descend' equals ' sent from God.' That's literally what it equals. Just ' sent from God.' And it includes... this will include everything he did upon the earth. He that ascended, he also first came. He was sent of God. Just sent of God. And he was here upon the earth. And all the while he was here upon the earth he was doing the will of the Father, fulfilling the law. And it finally ended up to where they crucified him. Then God raised him. Then, he spent forty more days upon the earth.
Then he ascended. That's all involved in this phrase of ' he descended {ascended} , but that he also descended into the lower part of the earth.'
Verse nine and ten... verses nine and ten are a parenthesis. The word ' first' in verse nine has to be deleted. Most of the critical Greek texts do not have it at all. You see, when you work this verse, and look at it very honestly and very openly, without trying to prove theological points, it' s just very sensible. He ascended 40th day after the resurrection, day of ascension. But, before he could ascend, he had to come. Well, how did he come? See, he descended. Descended in the essence that he was sent. He was sent by God. John the Baptist was sent. You can work this in... John six... Gospel of John, six. He couldn't go up until he first came down. I guess.
And ' coming down from heaven' or ' descending' does not mean he was God. It was the same as John the Baptist was sent of God, see. He was different, Jesus, because conceived by the holy ghost, by God.
Now look at John 6:40, And this is the will of Him that what? [Sent me] Sent me. There it is. The will of Him that what? [Sent me] Sent me. So the descending, the descending of Ephesians 4:9 has to be the will of God who did what? Sent him. See how simple it becomes?
So I translated this as follows, verse nine. Now that he went up...' ascended,' I translated ' went up' . ..what does it say and mean, but that he first came down... Then I put a parenthesis (sent from God.) And I put John 6:40 next to it, to remind myself of it. ' Came down,' ' sent from God,' ' to the earth below' ... And then I put another parenthesis, just to explain it to myself, (earth below including all of his fulfilling of the law while here on earth including his death, his resurrection, and forty days after.) That' s the end of the parenthesis.
Now, when you look at that honestly and openly and beautifully, it's so simple. He was sent from God to the earth below. And that earth below includes all that he did to fulfill the law while he was here upon earth. And that included then finally, his death, his resurrection, the forty days of post resurrection appearances, and then the ascension.
The literal according to usage of verse nine is: But he who ascended , what is it except that he also descended into the depth, that is to say, the grave. Now, that' s verse nine.
Verse ten in the King James reads, And he that descended...verse ten... he that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things. This is a very interesting verse also because of the statement. .. he that to say 'is the same,' ' is the same.' Why would they have to say in the Word ' he' s the same,' also that ascended up? Was there a possibility of a different one? See. Why that emphasis? Those words in that verse, ' that he might fill' is the word, the root word pleroo, comes from that, which you and I know means ' filled to capacity.' Fill. The ' all things' is the ' fulfilling of the gift of Christ' of verse seven. It is the measure of the gift of Christ. It is the fulfilling of the dorea of Christ, which is... in verse seven, last part of verse seven... the word ' gift.' I explained this to the Corps last week. Dorea. Fulfilling of the dorea of Christ, which in tum will include gifts unto men as apostles, prophets, and so forth.
The literal according to usage of this verse ten is as follows: He who descended is the same who ascended also above all the heavens that he would fulfill all things.
Now, the expanded one: He who came to the earth, God' s only begotten, is the same who also ascended, first begotten from the dead with body changes, above all the heavens that he might fill to full capacity everything .
You see, verse nine, dealt with the fulfillment of the law where I showed you: He was here upon earth. He lived. He suffered. He died. He was resurrected forty days afterwards. Then in verse ten, we come to that ' he who came to the earth as God' s only begotten son, John 3:16.' God so loved that he gave His only begotten son. That is the one who suffered, who died, who was resurrected. And that ' s the same who ascended, but with a body change. He didn't go up with the same body with which he died. Remember? When he was resurrected, it was a spiritual body, it says in the Word. That's why Revelation 1:5 says, ' he is the first begotten from the dead.' See, ' the only begotten son ' is ' the first begotten.' That's why the word ' same' is in there. Do you understand? It' s really the same Son of God. God' s only begotten son, but with a changed body after the resurrection. But it's the same Son of God. That' s why the word ' same' is in there.
And that he might fill to full capacity everything. He was the fulfillment of the law which is the reiteration of what I worked with you in verse nine.
Now, ha ha, verse eleven. I've taught so many times, everybody ought to know it backwards and forward. King James says, He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and.. .if you just add the word ' some' in front of teachers, you will have the literal according to usage. Then I don' t have to give it to you later. Just gave it to you now. That will be the literal according to the usage, same as King James adding the word ' some. '
He didn't give apostles to the Church, He gave apostles for the Church. He gave gift of persons to the Church. Gift of persons to the Church. Not gifts to persons in the Church. He gave gift of persons to the Church, like Paul, those men, Peter. These were persons, men, given to the Church. Sure they had gifts in them, but they were given to the Church. And they are for the Church. You know, a man with a ministry just doesn't teach; his whole life is for the Body of the Church. He lays down his whole life for the Body of the Church.
Well, there' s a lot of things in here. Word ' some ' you know, is a figure of speech anaphora, successive phrases or clauses begin with the same word.
And an apostle is one who carries new light to his generation. It may be old light, may have been spoken in part at least previously, but it' s new to the generation to whom he speaks.
And a prophet is a man of God who speaks for God in the essence of the Old Testament prophets who said ' Thus saith the Lord.' And f-o-r-e-telling, foretelling is incidental to the ministry of a prophet. His primary ministry is f-o-r-t-h-telling. Forth telling, declaring the truth, and not buckling under, not shaving off anything from the truth of God' s Word.
An evangelist is the ministry for the Body, and the outreach of that Body, and growth, building of it. An evangelist is building up what God by His foreknowledge knew: that those people who would hear the Word, they would get born again and be in the temple by the new birth. The holy temple grows, but the saints in it are built. Evangelism has been misconstrued in our culture and society to mean ' to just get unsaved, saved.' That's not the meaning Biblically. Evangelism is not only to win the unsaved, but to get people who are saved, hot for the Lord, turned on, cooking for the Lord. And evangelism is only true evangelism when the Word of God is rightly divided as the ministry of an apostle would only be a true ministry if he rightly divides the Word. Prophets, the same.
I'll have some coffee, honey.
This pastors and teachers, the great scholars say that these two may just be one. Teaching pastors. I do not believe that. I do not believe it fits the truth of the greatness of the God' s Word. And they base some of their arguments upon the omission of the article preceding teachers. But I know from the working of the Word, you have to be able to work it without both the definite and indefinite article. It has to be worked without that.
One of the men says there are only four ministries, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Another man calls them ' pastor teachers' or ' teaching pastors.' Well, all the commentators are divided as to whether or not pastors and shepherds are separate ministries one from another.
The Word ' and' that keeps coming up four times in there, or five, is the figure polysyndeton, repetition of ' and' at the beginning of each successive phrase. You see the...this verse gives the enumeration of different parts that when put together make up the whole. That's why it also is a figure of speech.
There are five ministries: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Teachers are the foundation of all gifts. The apostle will have to teach. The prophet will have to teach. The evangelist will have to teach. The pastors will have to what? Teach, see. Teachers are the foundation of all gift ministries.
Preaching is defined in the homiletical realm as 'the fine art of publicly expounding the scriptures.' That' s preaching: the fine art or the art of publically expounding the scriptures. But the preaching has to be the teaching of the Word. They went everywhere preached the Word. That means they taught it. They taught it. Jesus Christ taught the Word.
John 6:45, is what I want to look for... thought it was.. .oh it is. It is written in the prophets and they shall... and they shall be all taught of whom? [God] Right. The foundational ministry of all gifts is teaching. ' They shall be all taught.
In Mark 1:22, And they were astonished at his doctrine... at Jesus' s doctrine, at his teachings .. .for he did what? [Taught them] Taught them as one that had authority, see. I believe we could find other references in the New Testament where he took his apostles aside, or up in the mountain, or someplace and he taught them. And he taught whole groups of people. That' s why I do not believe that it should read ' a teaching pastor.' I think there are five of these ministries, gift ministries in the Body for the Church.
And I have translated verse eleven, expanded form: And He gave for the Church.. .and He gave for the Church some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors, and some teachers.
Now verse twelve. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
The word ' perfecting' is the interesting word of course, because that word in the Aramaic is the word gmir, gmir, g-m-i-r. And that means ' to make perfect' or ' be perfect,' ' perfecting.' Now I don' t know, has the Corps all received this brochure on Gmir, A Journal of Biblical Research? That's why they wanted to call our Journal of Biblical Research Gmir, because it is the perfection of the Word and the truth of God' s Word that we' re concerned about. And of course, they got the name for our Journal of Biblical Research from this particular verse, primarily. There are others, too, but you' ll see it and others perhaps I'll give to you tonight , maybe. And the basic translation this Aramaic verb gmir is ' to perfect.' It also includes the ultimate sense of understanding to the end that it is to be completed, finished, made a perfect sphere, s-p-h-e-r-e.
The gift ministries of verse eleven are for the perfecting of the saints, plus the work of the ministry, plus the edifying of the Body. In II Timothy 2:15 which you don' t have to look up, where we read, ' study to show thyself approved. ' ' Approved' is this word gmir, perfectly unto God. In that II Timothy reference in chapter three, ' that the man of God may be perfect,' it again is the word gmir.
When it talks about speaking the same thing, having no division among us, and perfectly joined together: that again is the word gmir. And it'll come up in 13 of Ephesians four, ' unto a perfect man.' That again is this word gmir. It' s only used twice in 12 and 13 in the whole Book of Ephesians, this word gmir.
But what the Research Department did for me, which will appear when they publish this work someday, they have given me here every reference from Matthew to Revelation (which doesn' t have any). But, it' s used three times in Matthew. It' s not used in Mark. They have given every reference in here, where this word gmir is used. And it's translated 'to make ready.' And it's translated ' spent.' It's translated ' fail' in King James. Just got to work this thing to really get the great impact of it in your life. Translated ' keep,' ' performed,' so many different ways.
Now, working this verse twelve, it is interesting that this word ' for' in King James, in the Aramaic {Greek}, it is the word eis. And that really intrigued me, because of the gift ministries and Paul, by divine revelation, writing this saying, eis. Wonder why he did that. You' ll see later on, I guess, when I give you the translation of how I work that. I did not see anything else in the working of these words that I would need to share at this moment, but I'd like to say these ministries are given for the perfecting, the healing, the mending of all the ruptures, the dislocations, with a view to the work of the ministry which is a further view: the edifying, or the building up of the Body of Christ.
These persons who are for the Church, Corps, are for the perfecting. Now that cannot be spiritual , because when you're born again of God' s spirit , it is Christ in you, that is perfect. That cannot be perfected further. Then what in the world could he be talking about? It' s very simple. You' re still, after you're born again, a man of body and soul. So you have a physical body. So the perfecting that God had in mind with these ministries was to perfect the mind of the believer. Renewed mind. Build this into people. and with the renewed mind a better body, a better physical body. The Body is built up by the work of every member in that Body. It {the individual} doesn' t grow; it' s built up.
The building up of the Body is in this practical section starting with chapter four of Ephesians. This is the responsibility of the ministries in the Church for the Body. And the great goal is: the edifying, the building up of that Body so there' s no rupture, no dislocation, that' s it' s all mended, put back together.
Now I translated this verse 12 as follows: I, the perfecting of the saints.. .he was given a ministry for the Body and he comes back and he says, 'I. ' ' I,' ' I' what? Because he had a number of those, or he had some of those ministries of verse 11; therefore, ' I' was given to the Church for the Church.
Therefore, 'I' do the perfecting of the saints. That' s why I translated it that way.
I, the perfecting of the saints, with a view to the official perfect mending spiritually of all ruptures among the saints with the understanding that the saints will work better in service to the building up of the Body of the Church of which Christ is the head.
Boy, when you work that down that's really a dandy. I, the perfecting of the saints with a view to the official perfect mending spiritually of all ruptures among the saints with the understanding that the saints will work better in service to the building up of the Body of the Church of which Christ is the head.
And that just makes sense, kids. The saints will work better in service if they are mended properly, spiritually. Then they'll be working better in service, because they've been perfected in their mind and perfected in their physical body. Got rid of some of their sicknesses and stuff, so they' re better able to serve.
The literal according to usage of verse 12 is: For the perfecting of the saints, with a view towards the work of the ministry, with a further view towards the building up of the Body of Christ.
Now we go to verse 13. I believe verse 13 should be a parenthesis, because you can go right on from the end of verse 12, the edifying of the Body of Christ, to verse 14, that we be no more children. So : verse 13 sits in there by way of explanation, to expound something. And the expounding is on this word 'perfect.' That this is to be in the Church, for the Church, in the believers for service, and that these ministries that perfect the individual to serve more beautifully in the Body, that these ministries are going to continue until such a time. And that' s why it's a parenthesis. And the... the whole verse is just real simple. And as I've taught it many times, and I'm sure it' s in a number of our books, I just want to give you the expanded translation of this verse, because I believe that' s all that the Corps would need to put it together.
And this is the expanded translation of verse 13: Until the full duration when we all become unified in the family faith, even in the full knowledge of the Son of God, one perfected, full grown, mature and complete in the measure of the maturity of the full capacity of Christ.
That' ll be a great day. Full capacity of Christ. .. remember Corinthians? We shall, you know, be like he is. I John 2, ah, first epistle. That'll all fit. Let me read you that again. Just, if you've written it down, then just listen to it. You get the full feeling of it. See, we closed in verse 12, 'the church of which Christ is the head.' Now, the explanation.
Until the full duration when all become unified in the family faith, even in the full knowledge of the Son of God... now we know in part, but then shall we know... full knowledge of the Son of God, one perfected, full grown, mature, and complete in the measure of the maturity of the full capacity... pleroo ... of Christ. Filled to capacity. As he is, so are we. That' s why I did it that way.
The literal according to usage, same as King James except you change the first word ' till' to ' until' and add the word ' family ' in front of the word ' faith. ' That's all you have to do. {Until we all come in the unity of the family faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.}
Now, we go to verse 14, King James, That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine , by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
The word 'children' basically is ' an infant' in contrast to the full grown man, or opposite of adult. It' s a metaphor , it's a figure of speech, a metaphor, because the believers no are no longer to be unstable
in their thoughts, or in their emotions, like children are. That's why the perfecting of the saints was to develop, to grow up, to mature.
This ' tossed to and fro' is a nautical metaphor. Talking about waves figuratively, meaning to be tossed around mentally.
' Carried about' is what happens on the waves when you' re in a ship, they flip you around. Tossed here and there, back and forth.
The word ' wind,' ' with every wind.' Again we' re in the same nautical category. The teachings are represented as ' winds' blowing the unlearned, the one who' s not solidly grown in the Word, around in every direction. Wind of doctrine. It would literally be carried about by every wind that is deceitful doctrine. Deceitful doctrine.
This ' by the sleight' is a gambling term: dice playing, roll the dice, in the throw of the dice, representing slyness, so sly that their manner of performance escapes observation. The same Greek word is used where they talk about ' sleight of hand.' ' Magician' comes from it. I called it ' loaded dice.'
' Cunning craftiness' is the craft that gamblers use, ha ha, with subtlety to execute with nice artistry, ingenious, clever, cunning craftiness, systematizing of error to the extent of making it a ' perfect' counterfeit of truth. Deceitful.
' Whereby they lie in wait' is ' systematized methods of the devil,' ' methods of error.' And it' s interesting that the word ' deceive' in the Greek is the word from which we get our English word planet,' planes{plan-long-e }. A planet was viewed as a wandering star. A star wandering around namely, in error. The direction of man' s doctrine is always with a view to the method of error, not fixed or stable as the stars are. Planets are wandering around. I thought that usage was very exciting.
Now verse 14, I translated as follows: And not become unlearned infants who are shaken and tossed around mentally even like a ship at sea, whirling around by every different teaching of the deceitful doctrines of men systematica lly plotting...systematically plotting craftiness and trickery, which is their method that they may deceive you.
I'll give that to you again. You can check your writings: And not become unlearned infants who are shaken and tossed around mentally even like a ship at sea, whirling around by every different teaching of the deceitful doctrines of men systematically plotting craftiness and trickery, which is their method that they may deceive you.
Now the literal {expanded} according to usage: That no longer we remain unlearned children tossed up and down doctrinally like waves on the sea and whirled around by every doctrinal wind which is deceitful like the dice playing of men skillfully treacherous with systematic deception which is their method.
Now, how do you like that? Ha ha ha ha ha.
We go to verse 15. The interesting part of this verse is... well, we' ll read King James.. .But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.
' Speaking in truth' in the Aramaic is ' we were strengthened.' In the Greek, the Greek word that they use in the critical Greek texts is translated ' speaking the truth,' or ' maintaining the truth,' or ' holding the truth,' ' doing the truth,' ' teaching the truth.' Any number of those.
It is literally more than just speaking the truth, it is being truth. It includes living it. Not just the talk, but the walk. Living it. Bullinger translates it ' truthing it.' Truthing it. I think it' s a little clumsy, but that' s what he did with it.
And of course, the word ' love' again is agapao and you know what that means, ' love of God in the renewed mind.'
This ' growing up' is that word ' perfect' {to grow}, remember? Auxano. I think Craig did a fantastic teaching along this line... "Growth and Multiplication," that Walter did in a magazine article
{March/April 1977}. It just literally means ' to develop.' Just like you have a little baby. All the parts are there when it' s born. But then it takes time for it to develop. It goes through, you know, the puberty stage, the adolescent stage, youth stage, finally gets to the adult stage.
The ' our in him' is ' our walk.'
And the ' head' of course, as we all know, is ' Jesus Christ.'
So this is what I did with verse 15 in the expanded translation: But truly strengthened in maintaining and living the truth in love. ..Now you see, this to me all fits and it makes sense because of the ministries for the Body of apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers, and pastors. And I can see that Aramaic that I told you about, the words they used. That's why I translated it ' but truly strengthened' ... Truly strengthened in maintaining and living. It is the maintaining of it. Living the truth in love. And that' s renewed mind, remember? Perfecting of the mind. The ministries ' responsibilities with the person given to the Church, to perfect their minds, which then in turn will affect their physical bodies, and the physical body will be perfect, to the end that it's healed, delivered.
Developing and growing up. Maintaining and living the truth in love, developing and growing up in Christ that everything he is, is our own, who is the head, Christ.
Boy, I think that communicates, at least does to me, and just makes oodles of sense.
But truly strengthened in maintaining and living the truth in love, developing and growing up in Christ that everything he is, is our own, who is the head, Christ.
The literal according to usage of verse 15, I translated: But being truthfully true in love will grow up in him in all things who is the head, Christ.
Now the final one for tonight verse 16, King James says: From whom the whole body fitly framed together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
The word that needs a great deal of understanding , perhaps even explanation is the word ' joined,'
' fitly joined.' The word ' joined.' The Research Department gave me this background study which I want to share at least in part with you:
"The prominent figure in Ephesians 4:16 is the Body. In fact, throughout the entire Epistle o Ephesians the Body is one of the important imageries referring to the entire group of believers. So it is reasonable that the word ' joint' should refer to a physiological part of the body. The Greek word for ' joint' is haphe, h-a-p-h-e, long e. Which is from the root haptomai, h-a-p-t-o-m-a-i, meaning ' t touch.' It' s use range from a touch as light as a finger on a harp string to the grip of a wrestler. From this idea of ' grip' comes the thought of ' binding' or ' holding at a point of a contact.' And in time, the term 'ligament' came to be used with this word.
Other senses associated with this Greek word include , contact, point of contact, sensation. T ligaments on the body are designed as the point of contact between bones, organs, and muscles which grips them and binds them together. Like all other parts of the body, it takes its orders from the head through the nervous system. It is evident that the joints and bands are both its supply and the knitting together of the body, which causes the body to mature. Without ligaments and tendons, the body would not be held together. And without direction from the nervous system to these joints, the rest o the body could not be coordinated in its movement. In this sense, the joints are a supply of stability and motion.
The word ' supply' is not in the Aramaic. That reference in Hebrews 4:12, about ' dividing asunder of soul and spirit of the joints and marrow,' spiritually, the ' marrow' is associated with ' soul because the marrow is the source of the red corpuscles of the blood. From Leviticus 17:11, the life, soul of the flesh, is in the blood. Likewise, the term ' joint' is associated with ' spirit.'
Anatomically, it is interesting to see how the tissues of the marrow and of the joint are so closely intermingled, yet are distinctly separate. It is reported that these two tissues are impossible t separate surgically. Yet the Word of God can separate them according to this verse.
In Ephesians 4:16, this idea reinforces the truth that the joints hold together and bind fast the whole Body, according to the operation of the gift of holy spirit in each part. So from the head, Christ, the whole Body is fit together and fused together by the joints which supply the Body with stability and mobility. And this is still in the context of the purpose of the gift ministries."
I thought that was a fine piece of work submitted to me by the Research Department.
I do not know anything else on these that I need to give you, except the literal that I have worked out of verse 16: And from him all the Body is perfectly fit together and is being fused together by every joint, ligament, and tendon according to the standard of the gift given working according to the standard measure to every member ... working according to the standard measure to every member ... for the increase of his... that would be Christ's own Body, his building will be completed which is in love. I'll give it to you again.
And from him all the Body is being perfectly fit together and is being fused together by ever y joint, ligament, and tendon according to the standard of the gift given, working according to the standard measure to every member for the increase of his own Body, his building will be completed which is in love.
And then the literal according to usage of verse 16: From whom all the Body fitly joined together and being knit together through every joint (ligament, tendon) according to the working energy in the measure of each part makes grow the Body unto the building up of itself in love.
Well, that's nine through sixteen.
I have also before me here translations of these verses by Murdock, who was the Aramaic man. And Lamsa in Aramaic. I have the Revised. I have the New English. I have Weymouth. I have Rotherdam. And I have Darby.
Sometimes I wish the whole Corps could have copies of all this, and then take a look at what they did and what we did with the Corps. The first thing you will notice is that there is an agreement in part, but never totally among of all of these Bible scholars. That's why I believe we have an honest right before God to work the Word like we do, because if they have the right to translate it a certain way, then I should have the right to translate it, also.
The best translation of verse 9 according to my opinion of any of these men is the New English. And if you've got verse 9 in front of you now, I'll give you the New English. The one I gave you, if you've got that in front of you, then you can see what the New English did with it.
Verse nine of chapter four: Now the Word. ..this is the New English now, just listen to it. ..Now the word ' ascended ' implies that he also ' descended' to the lowest level down to the very earth.
See, this is I think the best of all of these seven men. And yet I took you a step further and showed you that ' down to the earth' was not only his period of ministry here upon earth, but it was his death, in the grave, the resurrection, forty days afterwards he was still where? On the earth, right? Took you right to the ascension. That's why I think our translation, better than what we've got in any of these.
Verse ten. The best I see in here is Weymouth ' s. And Weymouth translated verse 10: He who descended is the same as he who ascended again, far above all the heavens in order to fill the universe.
Well, I don' t know. The biggest thing I showed you there I think was that He sent him. His ascent and he descended and he was the same. Remember, I took you into John and showed you, wasn't it John we went into on that one?
Verse 11, I didn't even mark any of them, of all the seven. I didn' t mark any, because here is how... well, I'll read you whichever one I think about here. Won' t make much difference.
He gave some to be apostles and some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Basically, they do not put the word ' some' in front of teachers at all. Any of them. The shepherds and teachers, pastors and teachers, some pastors and teachers, and some pastors and teachers, and some as pastors... here' s one, ' some as teachers.' That would be Lamsa that did that.
Verse 12. The New English, as well as Weymouth and Rotherham , I felt were real good:
To equip God' s people... this is the New English ... to equip God' s people for work in His service, to the building up of the Body of Christ.
Weymouth translates it: Order fully to equip His people for the work of serving for the building up of Christ's Body.
Rotherham translates it: With a view to the fitting of the saints, for the work of ministering, for an up building of the Body of Christ.
Verse 13, I marked Weymouth' s translation: Till we, all of us, arrive at oneness in faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, and at mature manhood , and the stature of full grown men in Christ.
Verse 14, I marked Murdock: And that we might not be children, agitated and turned about by every wind of the crafty doctrines of men who plot to seduce by their subtlety. Not bad.
Also, the New English: We are no longer to be children tossed by the waves and whirled about by every fresh gust of teaching, dukes of crafty roads, and their deceitful schemes. Sort of neat.
Weymouth says: So we shall no longer be babes, nor shall we resemble mariners tossed on the waves and carried about with every changing wind of doctrine according to men' s cleverness and unscrupulous cunning that makes use of every shifting device to mislead.
Verse 15. The only one I marked was Weymouth: But we shall lovingly hold to the truth and shall in all respects grow up into union with him who is our head, even Christ.
And of verse 16, I marked the New English: He is the head and on him the whole Body depends bonded and knit together by every constituent joint. The whole frame grows through the due activity of each part and builds itself up in love.
And I also marked Rotherham here: Out of whom all the Body fitly framing itself together and connecting itself through means of every joint of supply by way of energizing in the measure of each single part, secure at the growing of the Body unto an up building of itself in love. I thought that was pretty good.
So you see the variation in translations are tremendous. And I believe us working it, having access to all the knowledge and all the things these men made available, plus our in depth spiritual perception and awareness , as well as knowledge of texts, make it possible for us to do this fantastic work in the Book of Ephesians.