10.1 Comprehending Ephesians 4:16
© 2018 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love (NKJ).
I want to position two phrases in this most critical verse; those two phrases are “every joint supplies” and “every part does its share.” (Paul’s grammatical construction of this verse is very problematic; we will look at that difficulty in just a bit.) The stated purpose of these phrases is the increase of the body, thus referring back to Ephesians 2:22 – in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
The plan is God becoming known to His creation.
Gross Darkness. Let’s get the picture clear. Consider Christianity in this world. Our brethren live their lives under a gross darkness, defining God by the serpent in the garden, a “God” who knows good and evil presiding over a universe split by good and evil. Most believers in Jesus, upon seeing what I (or others) teach regarding our union with Christ and the revelation of Jesus Christ through us His Church, run from such teaching convinced they are escaping great deception. And all their preaching inside the obvious anointing of the Holy Spirit uses the words of the Bible to paint a picture of God and salvation that, in my present understanding, can be called only gross darkness.
The Depths of Lying. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep (KJV – gross) darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you (Isaiah 60:2).
The people of God are confined under darkness – they do NOT know. And that is the worst. Then we look at the world, even more dark, but there would be hope for the world if Christians could see God as He is. And I am just beyond all astonishment at the depth of lying that is the world today. If you are watching ANY television news, please, stop it at once. It is better not to know anything than to “know” things that are the opposite of the truth. The lying of the world is beyond all belief. Even when they do use facts that are actually true, they weave those facts into a scenario, a “theory” that is entirely false.
God Is Not Known. Yet the falseness of the world is not intended to be false, but rather, it is intended purposefully for the destruction of Christianity and the obliteration of the name of Jesus. And ALL this darkness in both the world and the church, darkness filled with screaming accusation, exists entirely BECAUSE God is NOT KNOWN! And God is NOT KNOWN because God has no Body.
God cannot be known in heaven or earth without a Body. The Salvation of the cosmos is God IN a Body – in His Temple. No Body – No Church – No Salvation – No creation set free. And this IS the context inside of which we must place Ephesians 4:16.
Ephesians. As an aside project, I am creating my own paraphrase/translation of a number of New Testament books. Part of my purpose is to know, for certain, for myself, whether what I teach is really in harmony with the words of the Bible in the original language. I did Galatians first, but in order to understand these verses, I have also done such a translation of Ephesians.
Now, I am a rank amateur in the Greek language and in translating Greek. I use only www.biblehub.com, which is basically Strong’s Concordance, and what I do anyone could do. More than that, there is no question that my choices in translation are influenced by my “theology” as is true of all translating.
Harmony. Nonetheless I am deeply satisfied that what I teach is the pure harmony of the word God actually speaks. And this is something I must have. My drive in going contrary to Nicene theology comes out of my need to know what God actually says and my knowledge that what God actually says differs from what Christians say He says. Nonetheless, I have mostly relied on the New King James translation, and even the King James before that in my discovery that God actually does say something different. I will include for you my rendition of Ephesians, for when you see the entirety of Paul’s letter without the imposition of Nicene theology, you see that the problem is the ignorance of God and the solution is Christ revealed through His Body.
Implications. Now, if these things be true, then the implications of what I have just said are ginormous. All our hopes are set on creation being set free. And the thing that causes all creation to pass out from the old and into the New is God becoming known. And for God to be known, He requires some form, some outward appearance that convinces everyone that it is, in fact, God whom they are seeing.
Jesus, in John 17:20-23 tells us that the world knows it is God in appearance (Jesus Sent) when they see many believers in Jesus walking together as one, Father inside of Jesus and Jesus inside of them.
What Is It They See? Thus the BIG question of the universe and of Christianity is NOT – “how do we go to heaven,” but “how does God form us together into His Body, into His Temple?”
Let’s take our reasoning a step further. When the world KNOWS they are seeing God, what is it they see? – God is Love. To see God they must see Love.
What is Love? Love IS ongoing and reciprocal relationships between two and among many, a continuous interaction in which each holds the other in the highest regard and acts towards the other with the deepest respect, in which each sees the other as better, yet without self-abasement, but rather in open-faced and joyous giving.
One Hope Only. The world is plunging head-on into the abyss of darkness and destruction. The Church is filled with nonsense. Creation does not know God. My grandchildren are to be born into a world of pain and woe. God, all creation, and I have one hope only. That hope is that if Jesus said, “LOVE ONE ANOTHER,” that He BE what He IS in all our interaction together, that Jesus IS faithful and true.
I am incapable of loving you. If Jesus is to be proven faithful and true in full visibility, if there is to be Love made visible among us for the world to KNOW God, then God HIMSELF must BE all our interaction together.
The Formula. Now we know where our verse fits. Christ—out from Whom the whole body, being joined together and being held together through every joint of its supply or provision, according to the energeia inside the sharing from every part, causes growth of the body for the construction of itself in Love {in God made visible}.
What we are looking at is the formula for the revelation of the Almighty, for creation being set free. We have never known this verse; we have never known God-Love among us; we have never known reciprocal Love. We want a miracle, God Himself showing up, yes, but this verse allows no form of rapture – every part must do its share.
Text Analysis of Ephesians 4:16.
| Transliteration | English | Root Form | Phonetic |
| Ex hou pan to sōma | Out from Whom all the body, | ek pas sóma | ek pas so'-mah |
| synarmologoumenon | being joined together | sunarmologeó | soon-ar-mol-og-eh'-o |
| kai symbibazomenon | and being knit together | sumbibazó | soom-bib-ad'-zo |
| dia pasēs haphēs tēs epichorēgias | through every joint of its supply | dia haphé epichorégia | dee-ah haf-ay’ ep-ee-khor-ayg-ee'-ah |
| kat’ energeian | according to the energeia | Kata energeia | kat-ah’ en-erg'-i-ah |
| en metro henos hekastou merous | inside of the measure of each individual part | metron meros | met'-ron mer'-os |
| tēn auxēsin tou sōmatos poieitai | the increase of the body makes for itself | Auxésis poieó | owx'-ay-sis poy-eh'-o |
| eis oikodomēn heautou en agape. | into the construction of itself in love. | Oikodomé agapé | oy-kod-om-ay' ag-ah'-pay |
Spend time absorbing the Greek words and their first English counterparts into your knowing. For the remainder of this lesson, we will peruse the Greek words and their meanings.
The Entire Sentence. Of truth, we cannot place the words unless we first get a grip on the sentence, the subject and verb. What, in these words, is doing what to whom? And the sentence is the entirety of verses 11-16. (I have underlined the main, first, and the subsidiary subject/verb).
And Jesus Himself gave (ministry)… into the construction of the body of Christ, until we all reach… into the measurement… of Christ; that… speaking truth {Christ our life} inside of love, we should increase into Him in all things…—Christ—out from Whom the whole body, joined and held together through every joint of its supply, according to the energeia inside the sharing from every part, causes growth of the body into the construction of itself in love.
Repetition of Words. We have tackled way more than we can handle in one lesson. We must keep our focus on the last part of this long sentence. Look, however, at the repetition of words Paul uses.
Construction of the body – construction of itself. Into the measurement of – inside the sharing (measure) from every part. Increase into Him – growth (increase) of the body.
One problem in the wording is that Paul is blatantly mixing two metaphors together, the organic growth of a human body and the mechanical construction of a house or temple. The truth is, it’s not possible to conceive of God’s reality in the Church without this constant merging of Body and Temple.
Christ Causes. Thus, the subject/verb of the sub concept in this long thought, verse 16, is Christ causes (or does).
Ek pas soma – Out from (Whom) all of the body. (Paul uses a form of the word “all” many times in this single sentence.)
This ek or “out from” positions Jesus in His function as High Priest/mediator, that is, the continuous dynamic connection between Father and us at all times and in every way. This verse, however, takes Jesus, that is a Personal Spirit Word energeoing all in power, from being the continuous source of each one of us to being the continuous source of the relationships among the members of His Body. “All” means that not one member is left out of the equation.
Joined and Held Together.
Sunarmologeó (being joined together): to fit together; I fit together, I compact. From syn, “joined closely together with,” and harmos, “a joining or joint of the body.” Each member fitted perfectly together in an efficient, effective, and harmonious whole.
Sumbibazó (being held together): to join together, hence to consider, by extension, to teach; (a) I unite or knit together, (b) I put together in reasoning, and so: I conclude, I prove, © I teach, I instruct. From syn, “identified with” and embibázō, "to board a ship” – to combine or bring together, to grasp a truth by intertwining ideas needed to "get on board," i.e. come to the necessary judgment (conclusion); "to prove" (J. Thayer).
Sumbibazó adds – sharing the same mind – to sunarmologeó.
Supply. The word dia means through, all the way through. The dictionary wants to say that it can mean “cause,” or “source.” If it does mean “cause” elsewhere, it cannot be “cause” here, because Jesus is clearly the cause. Thus dia has to mean channel, Jesus coming continuously into His Body through this passageway. Through every joint of its (the body’s) supply.
Haphé (joint): a joint; a band, fastening, (hence, possibly: a ligament), joint.
Epichorégia (supply): a supply, provision, equipment, support.
This word is also found in Philippians 1:19 – through your prayers and the provision or supply of the Spirit.
Jesus Active. Supply is a noun, not a verb. Thus we see that it should not read “every member supplies,” but rather, “every member’s supply,” now the title for this session. This phrase refers to a supply or provision of the Spirit coming through every connection in our relationships together. Thus our entire conception of this verse is altering just a bit; that is, Jesus is much more active in these dynamics than the regular translations allow.
Note that “being held together” and “being joined together” are passive, an action upon our life together by another cause, that is, Christ Jesus in Person in His body now, that is, our drinking of the same Spirit. Yet this cause through us is “according to” each of us.
Energeia Inside.
Kata (according to): down from, against, according to, throughout, during. Specifically, down to the finest details of, exactly because of.
According to what? – Energeia. According to the energeia inside the sharing from every part.
Now, Paul uses no direct subject/verb in his layout of this verse, something that makes no sense in English. I attempted a direct translation without altering anything. I stared at it long and hard but could not make sense without changing some noun into a verb. Then I realized that the translators faced the same problem and their solution (in the NKJ) is reasonable. The only change I have made, then, is to show the connection of Christ as the cause of the growth in the Body.
Measure and Part.
Metron (measure or measurement): a measure, measuring rod.
Here the Calvinism of the dictionary writers goes sideways, for they want to assign to this word, contrary to the gospel, the idea of you and me lining up with God’s requirements. The ruling verse of Ephesians does not allow such a definition here – that you might comprehend together with all the saints, what is the “measurement” of God. In this case it is the measurement of Christ, for Jesus is the only life we are.
Meros (part): a part, share, portion. This word is you and me, yet defined here as a portion of something much larger than each one of us.
Causes Increase.
Poieó (causes): to make, do; (a) I make, I manufacture, I construct, (b) I do, I act, I cause.
Auxésis (growth): increasing, increase, growth.
This combination of words can refer to the organic growth of a body or the mechanical increase of a house being built, either way, fitting both metaphors. Now, it is true that the layout of the Greek words and the middle case of poieitai indicates that it is the body that causes the growth. Nonetheless, to make sense of the whole verse in English, and since the Body is, in fact, Christ Jesus in Person, we place Christ as the doer of the action, causing the growth of the Body.
Construction.
Oikodomé (construction): (a) the act of building, (b) a building.
Now, Strong wants to add “metaphorically: spiritual advancement.” And even worse, the Calvinists insert this definition “constructive criticism and instruction that builds a person up to be the suitable dwelling place of God.” And thus “being built up” or “edified” means to most that each of us as individuals become “more mature” or “blessed.”
Hogwash! Paul, in using this word, is speaking of the Body of Christ, the House of God, not “mystical,” but actual. God made visible is not in the picture of most – except as some future happening separate from ourselves and from our present faith.
Inside of Love.
En agape (in love): inside of – love, benevolence, good will, esteem. That is, inside of God-Love, inside of God Himself, present and active.
You know, this change of conception simply brings this verse in line with what we have already established in this course. God showing Himself in and through His House, you and me in our interaction together, is not dependent on what you and I do. That is, we do not “do” in order to “get God” to show up. Rather, what we do, in sharing with one another, IS God showing up because we believe that He is.
In the next two lessons, now, I want to use this verse to shape our understanding of our reciprocity together, this reciprocal love that is God made visible.