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grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ , 14 that we be no longer children, storm-tossed and carried about with every wind of doctrine, victims of ( in ) fraud, of ( in ) craftiness, directed to further the wiles of error; 15 but, living the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, Who is the Head , even Christ; 16 from Whom all the Body fitly framed and knit together, through every contact, according to the effective working of that which is supplied in due measure by each several part, maketh for itself the growth of the Body, unto the building up of itself in love.

4-6. The unity of the Christian Society is witnessed by its unity in itself, which answers to the Christian call (vs. 4); by its historical foundation (vs. 5); by the unity of GOD Whose will it expresses (vs. 6).

4. e}n s. kai; e}n pn .] The Christian Society is one in its visible constitution and one in its informing spirit. The body and the spirit (as in vs. 3) refer to the human, earthly organism. Outwardly and inwardly this is one. The spirit is necessarily in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, but a personal reference to the Holy Spirit seems to be foreign to the context, though His work is recognised in the formation of the Church.
kaqw;" kai; ejklhvq....uJmw'n ] The unity of the corporate life of Christians
corresponds with the unity of hope involved in their ‘heavenly calling’ (Heb. 3:1). The call to fellowship with GOD ‘in Christ,’ if welcomed, could not but issue in unity. Comp. Eph. 1:18 note.

The hope is coincident with the calling (1 Thess. 4:7; Gal. 1:6; 1 Cor. 7:15) and not consequent upon it ( kalei'n eij" ) as in 1 Cor. 1:9; Col. 3:15; 1 Tim. 6:12.

For kaqw;" kaiv as in fact see Eph. 4:17 note.
5. The historical foundation of the Christian Society also witnesses to its unity. It is established by the acknowledgment of
one Lord as sovereign over all life: it confesses one faith in proclaiming that ‘Jesus is Lord’ (1 Cor. 12:3): it is entered by one Baptism , in which the believer is brought into fellowship with Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:27).

We might naturally have looked for a reference to Holy Communion in which, as the Apostle shews elsewhere, ‘the one bread’ is the pledge that ‘the many’ are ‘one body’ (1 Cor. 10:17 R.V. mg.). But the Apostle is speaking of the initial conditions of Christian life. Holy Communion belongs to the support and development of it.
miva pivsti" ] For the objective sense of pivsti" see vs. 13; Col. 2:7 ( kaqw;" ejdidavcqhte ); Gal. 1:23 (see Meyer); Rom. 10:8; 12:6; 1 Tim. 3:9; 4:1, 6 c Jude 3 ( th'/
... paradoqeivsh/ ... pivstei
), 20; Apoc. 2:13. The essential substance of the Christian Creed is given in the words already quoted: Kuvrio" jIhsou'" (1 Cor. 12:3) opposed to the declaration of the apostate jAnavqema jIhsou'" ( l.c. ). Comp. Rom. 10:9 eja;n oJmologhvsh/" to; rJh'ma...o{ti Kuvrio" jIhsou'" .

6. Yet more the unity of the Christian Society is involved in the very conception of one GOD and Father of all made known by the Incarnate Son. He who sees the range of the Divine action must find in it the strongest possible motive for guarding the unity already realised in the Church, which is the beginning and the pledge of a wider unity (James 1:18).
ei|" q. kai; path;r p. ] Cf. c. Eph. 5:20 tw'/ qew'/ kai; patriv . [See Appendix.] The revelation communicated to the Church is of the universal Fatherhood of GOD. This is the power of its missionary activity. We can appeal to men because in a true sense they are GOD'S children. At the same time the vision of a universal


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