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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Ephesians 4:16 - 4:16
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16. ἐξ οὗ is to be connected with τὴν αὔξησιν ποιεῖται as with αὔξει in Col 2:19. It is used of the dependence of all on God in Rom 11:36; 1Co 8:6; 1Co 11:12. Cf. γεννᾶσθαι ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ in Jn.
συναρμολογούμενον καὶ συνβιβαζόμενον. Cf. Eph 2:21, ‘fitted and knit together.’ The parts have to be fitted into one another, as the stones in a building or as the bones in the skeleton, and the whole structure has to be knit into one. See Robinson’s note.
διὰ πάσης ἁφῆς τῆς ἐπιχορηγίας. ‘By every band (or ligament) with which Christ furnishes it.’ In Col 2:19 ‘the whole body’ is equipt and knit together by means of the ligaments and bands. Here the ligaments are regarded as constituting either the whole or part of the equipment, and our attention is concentrated on their function in maintaining the unity and coherence of the whole structure. ἁφὴ, as Robinson has shown, here as in Col 2:19 = a band or fastening, from ἅπτω, I bind. It may be a technical physiological term for a ligament. The translation ‘joint’ has no authority. ἁφὴ (from ἅπτω, I touch) cannot mean more than a point of contact.τῆς ἐπιχορηγίας (see Robinson). The ligaments are in no sense sources of supply, i.e. of nutriment to the body. They are part of its furniture or equipment. The word would seem to be chosen to pick up the thought of the bounty of Christ (Eph 4:11) in supplying the Church with leaders. They constitute the ‘ligaments’ of the Body, just as in Eph 2:20 the Apostles and Prophets constitute ‘the foundation’ of the Temple.
κατʼ ἐνέργειαν ἐν μέτρῳ ἑνὸς ἑκάστου μέρους. ‘In accordance with the activity in due measure of each individual part,’ i.e. as each organ of the body fulfils its appointed function in due relation to the rest. Here St Paul repeats the thought of Eph 4:7; Eph 4:12. Each member of the body has its share in the building up of the whole. The clause may be connected either with the participles or with the finite verb. It really belongs to both.
τὴν αὔξησιν τοῦ σώματος ποιεῖται, Eph 4:15. The normal result of the unified and ordered activity of the living organism is growth. αὔξησιν ποιεῖσθαι = αὐξάνεσθαι by a familiar classical idiom. The full form is used here because St Paul desires to lay stress both on the fact of the growth and of its dependence on the energy developed within the body itself.
εἰς οἰκοδομὴν ἑαυτοῦ, Eph 4:12. Once more the thought of ‘growth’ is linked with the thought of building. In the spiritual structure each element abides: it has what the material particles of a living body have not—a permanent place in the whole.
ἐν ἀγάπῃ. Cf. Eph 4:15. The last as it is the first condition of vital development.