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Eph_4:12. Behoof, for which Christ has given, etc. “Non potuit honorificentius verbi ministerium commendare, quam dum hunc illi effectum tribuit,” Calvin.
The three clauses are not co-ordinate (Chrysostom, Wolf, Bengel, Semler, Holzhausen, and others). Against the co-ordination may be decisively urged not the varying of the prepositions, for Paul is fond of interchanging them (comp. Rom_3:30; Rom_5:10; Rom_15:2; 2Co_3:11), but the circumstance that εἰς ἔργον διακονίας in its position between the first and third points would be unsuitable.[216] Rather are εἰς ἔργ . διακον . and εἰς οἰκοδ . τοῦ σώμ . τοῦ Χρ . two definitions to ἔδωκε , not parallel to πρὸς τὸν καταρτ . τῶν ἁγίων , but parallel to each other; so that we have thus, with Lachmann, Harless, Tischendorf, Bleek, to delete the comma after ἁγίων . πρὸς τὸν καταρτ . τῶν ἁγίων contains, namely, the aim for which Christ has given those designated in Eph_4:11 εἰς ἔργον διακονίας , εἰς οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χρ . He has, on behalf of the full furnishing of the saints, given those teachers for the work of the ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ. The objection that the οἰκοδ . τοῦ σώμ . is a yet higher aim than that of the καταρτ . τῶν ἁγίων (de Wette) is incorrect; since, on the contrary, the καταρτ . τ . ἁγ . is the higher point, which is to be attained by the edification of the body of Christ, and consequently might be conceived of as aimed at therein. Comp. also Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, II. 2, p. 128. Observe, withal, the expression of perfection: καταρτ ., and the expression of development: οἰκοδομή . Many others, including de Wette, have made the two clauses with εἰς dependent on καταρτισμόν , so that the sense would be: “for the qualifying of believers that they may in each and every way themselves labour for the advancement and edification of the church,” Meier; comp. Flatt, Schott, Rückert, Schenkel, and others, as already Erasmus. But (a) διακονία , where the context is speaking of those engaged in the service of the church, always denotes the official service (Rom_11:13; 2Co_4:1; 2Co_6:3; comp. Act_6:4; 2Co_3:7 ff; 2Co_9:12, al.), and hence may not here be transmuted into the general notion of rendering service to, furthering (see especially 1Pe_4:10). And if we should in that connection retain the official notion of διακονία (Flatt, Schott; comp. also Zachariae), the training of the ἅγιοι to be teachers would be the thought resulting; which would be inappropriate, because Paul regarded the Parousia as so near, and conceived of the χαρίσματα as continuing till then (see 1Co_13:8), and therefore the thought that teachers had to be trained was remote from his mind. (b) But if he had merely meant to say: “to make the individual Christians jointly and severally meet for co-operating to the furtherance of the church” (Rückert), then πάντων would have been to τῶν ἁγίων an essential element, which could not have been left out. Olshausen regards the two clauses introduced by εἰς as a partition of the καταρτισμὸς τῶν ἁγίων : “for the perfecting of the saints, and that, on the one hand, of those furnished with gifts of teaching for the fulfilment of the teacher’s office; on the other hand, as regards the hearers, for the edifying of the church.” Incorrectly, seeing that οἱ ἅγιοι are the objects of the teaching labours mentioned in Eph_4:11 and consequently cannot include the teachers themselves, and seeing, moreover, that the οἰκοδομὴ τοῦ σώμ . τοῦ Χρ . most appropriately describes the working of the teacher, so that no reader could, especially after εἰς ἔργ . διακ ., conjecture that εἰς οἰκοδ . κ . τ . λ . was to apply to the hearers, inasmuch as no one could read the “on the one hand” and the “on the other” between the lines. Lastly, in quite an arbitrary and erroneous way, Grotius, Michaelis, Koppe have even assumed a trajection for εἰς ἔργ . διακ . πρὸς τὸν καταρτ . τῶν ἁγ . εἰς οἰκ . τοῦ σώμ . τοῦ Χρ ., in connection with which there have been very various explanations.[217]
ΚΑΤΑΡΤΙΣΜΌς , not elsewhere found in the N.T. (in Galen used of the adjustment of a dislocated limb), means, like ΚΑΤΆΡΤΙΣΙς , 2Co_13:9, the putting of a person or thing into its perfect state, so that it is as it should be ( ἄρτιος ). Vulgate: ad consummationem. Comp. Morus, and see καταρτίζω , Luk_6:40; 1Co_1:10; 2Co_13:11; Heb_13:21; 1Pe_5:10. Translations like ad coagmentationem (Beza) and ad instaurationem (Erasmus) would need to be suggested by the context.[218]
ἔργον διακονίας ] does not stand for the simple διακονία (Koppe; see, on the other hand, Winer, p. 541 f. [E. T. 768]; Fritzsche, ad Rom. I. p. 117), but means the work of the διακονία , i.e. the labour which is performed in the ministerial office of the church.
εἰς οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ σώμ . τοῦ Χρ .] for the upbuilding (= εἰς τὸ οἰκοδομεῖν τὸ σῶμ . τοῦ Χρ ., comp. 1Co_14:12; Eph_4:29) of the body of Christ. This is that ἔργον ; and so an appositional more precise definition of that which precedes. But on that account to take ἔργον as a building (Schellhorn in Wolf, Holzhansen) is an undue anticipation. The expression οἰκοδομὴ τοῦ σώματος is a blending of two figures, both of which were, from what precedes, present in the conception of the apostle (Eph_1:23, Eph_2:20 ff., Eph_3:6),—the church as the body of Christ and as an edifice. Comp. Eph_4:16.
[216] If the three elements were parallel, Paul must logically have thus arranged them: (1) εἰς ἔργον διακονίας , (2) πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων , (3) εἰς οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ ,—advancing from the less definite to the more definite.
[217] Grotius: “ut sanctis ministrent eos perficiendo magis et magis … ut ad eum modum illi quoque sancti apti fiant aedificandae ecclesiae, i.e. docendis aliis.” Michaelis: “that they should be able ministers of His church, in order that the saints might become more perfect, and His church, which is His body, might attain its due magnitude.” Koppe: “ ἔδωκε εἰς ἔργον διακονίας ( εἰς τὸ διακονεῖν τοῖς ἁγίοις ) πρὸς τὸ καταρτίζειν αὐτούς ,”—and εἰς οἰκοδ . κ . τ . λ ., is supposed to belong again to ἔδωκε .
[218] With strange inappropriateness, Pelagius and Vatablus have referred the καταρτισμός to the number of the Christians: “ad complendum numerum electorum.”