Explaining "Until We Come To The Unity Of Faith."
Question: Explain "until we come to the unity of faith".
Answer: Praise the Lord! Greetings to you in Jesus wonderful name! The context of this verse starts regarding the five-fold gifts of men that Jesus has given to the Church to equip it with the Word of God and bring them in to maturity of faith, knowledge, to become a perfect spirit-man, to the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Paul said, "7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. “8 When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and through the gifts to men.” 9 ...the One who ascended far above all the heavens, [is for the very purpose] that He might fill all things. 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ." (Eph 4:7-9, 11-15).
Here in the above verse of Ephesian 4:7, we come to understand that every believer in the Church is given a grace of a certain measure from the Christ's gift of fullness. In other words, only Christ had the fullness of all of God's gift by the rights of inheritance (Php 2:6), by His holy life (Heb 1:9), by His disciplined life, by His humility, by His selfless service to humanity, by His obedience, by His sinless sacrifice (Php 2:7-8), hence as the Son of God Jesus Christ our Lord had all the spiritual gifts in operation at the time when he worked on earth in his three and half year of ministry. Jesus Christ was an apostle of the Father (John 20:21), prophet (Mark 6:4), evangelist (Luke 4:18), pastor (John 10:14) and teacher (Mark 6:6) in his life of service on earth to the people of God. From the collection of gifts that Jesus had possessed, He took those gifts and invested in the life of men and women within His Church, in to which Jesus wants to bring in all the "other sheep" which are all over the world in many gentile nations outside of the nation of Israel using these gifted men with the Church (John 10:16; 17:20).
When Christ died on the Cross and gave up His spirit in to the hands of the Father God in heaven (Luke 23:46; John 19:30), Father God immediately sent him to take the captivity of all the believers who were living in the righteous section of Hades in Abraham's bosom back to heaven where they belong (Eph 4:8-10), so Jesus our Christ descended in to that deepest and lowest part of the earth [i.e. Hades (Luke 16:22, 23, 26)] and then ascended in to heaven which is the highest place in the entire universe. While passing through the earth Jesus remembered the Church until the end of time in his mind and heart, and gave to all its members the grace to build the Church and the ability to equip itself in to His fullness with which He operated while He was present on earth during the time of His earthly ministry of three and half years (Matt 27:27:50-51, 52-53; 1 Cor 15:20; Isa 26:19). The purpose of Christ giving men as gifts to the Church is to fill the Church with Himself, so that Christ in all His fullness can be able to work through their physical body on earth just like He worked on earth when He was physically present two thousand years ago. When Christ took the captivity of the Old Testament saints along with Him, they were seen by many living saints after they came out of their graves (Matt 27:53-54), He then ascended from the earth and went in to heaven along with them (1 Cor 15:3-4, 5-6, 8). Only the God of Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help at any moment you are in need, the one who has descended to the bottom of the earth and have ascended to the highest heavens is able to fill you with Himself (Deut 33:26; John 3:13; Psa 18:10; 46:1).
Jesus our Christ began to both do and teach pertaining to the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:1, 2-3), and He had ever since that time of His resurrection have continued to do His work through the "gifts [imparted] to men" within the Church (John 14:12, 18-19; 16:7, 12, 13-14, 15), thus His purpose to fill them all to the full, have ever since been fulfilled through some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers in all the ages of the Church for the last two thousand years (Acts 19:6; 11:26, 27-28; 8:12, 17-18; 1 Thess 2:7-8, 11-12).
This equipping of the Church through the five-fold ministry of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher will continue until there comes a time when the Church will attain to the "the unity of the faith" (Eph 4:13). So what is the unity of faith? The unity of faith is nothing but "the knowledge of the Son of God, to [become] a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ". Jesus Christ has promised to love the Church which is His body in such a way, "26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish." (Eph 5:26-27). This work of Christ through the Holy Spirit has been continuing right from the day Christ ascended to heaven, through his five-fold ministry gifts of men that He has given to the Church. Have we attained to the unity of faith yet? Not yet, this equipping of the Church will continue until the day of rapture of the glorious Church of Jesus Christ to go from earth to be taken in to heaven to be permanently settled over there for eternity (1 Thess 4:14-18; John 14:1-2, 3-4; Heb 11:13, 14, 16). Some people think that this "unity of faith" happens only for the end time Church which will be glorious, no, then what about all the Church saints of the ages who lived in the glorious light of what has been revealed to them? They all lived as the glorious Church of their own time, which had different level of revelation, may be much less in percentage to what we have in the end time. God will only ask, whether we have carried on faithfully our work until the end of all things (Matt 25:21, 23; 2 Tim 4:7-8), according to it we will be rewarded (Rev 3:11; 22:12). So the unity of faith is achieved within the Church in various generations through the five-fold gifted ministries of men within the Church. God has refined and have used men in all ages to equip the Church and will use them until the day of rapture. Once the rapture happens, the glorious Church of all the ages that lived gloriously in all the ages will resurrect to life in their glorious body, and after that those believers of the end time generation living alive at that time will also be changed and transformed in a fraction of second in to their glorious celestial bodies which will be their glory for eternity ahead. Glory to God!
God makes the Church to become glorious in all the respective generations by using the five-fold gifted ministries of men to equip them, so that they could avoid deceptive plotting of men and demons who through their erroneous wind of doctrines make men get tossed up to and fro like spiritual children do, as they usually get affected by it in their areas of weak faith (1 Tim 4:1; Matt 24:4; 2 Tim 3:1-9). Mature men of faith will stand up against all deception of the end time by "speaking the truth in love" through their strong doctrine of faith that they have built through their personal walk with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Thus God uses these mature men of faith so that the Church may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ. These men and women of God in the five-fold ministries, are broken and humble men full of grace, who will be able to impart the Church with the glory of Christ and make it ready for the rapture of the Church even in our end time as before in all generations gone (Jam 4:6-7; 1 Peter 5:5, 6-7; John 1:16-17). Glory to God! Praise the Lord!
When Christ comes to rapture the Church, we shall see Him as He is when He ascended from earth in His Glory (Acts 1:9, 10, 11), and we shall be changed to have a glorious body just like Jesus and we shall be glorious forever to be like Jesus in glory (1 John 3:2). If we have this hope of resurrection within us by faith as a child of God, then we should spiritually purify ourselves, just as our Lord Jesus Christ is pure and should become zealous for good works to be done in the name of Jesus (1 John 3:3; James 4:8-10; Tit 2:13-14; Col 3:17).
So the bottom line is, "until we come to the unity of faith" is not a attainment of the Church of the end time which is just one generation, but rather it is the maturity in faith that every member in all generation achieve by the grace of God in their time of their life time through the God ordained five-fold ministry gift of men given by Christ to the equipping of the Church of all time. The grace of Christ that has been sufficient in the times past for the Church to come to the unity of faith, so also it will be more than sufficient for the end time generation of ours in the present and future to come to the unity of faith until the rapture of the Church universal happens at the appointed time which Christ has revealed to us through the signs of the end of the age and His coming (1 Cor 15:10; 2 Cor 6:1; 12:9). Wake up Church, you can almost hear the footsteps of our Messiah Jesus Christ from heaven!
Much Blessings.....
Answer: Praise the Lord! Greetings to you in Jesus wonderful name! The context of this verse starts regarding the five-fold gifts of men that Jesus has given to the Church to equip it with the Word of God and bring them in to maturity of faith, knowledge, to become a perfect spirit-man, to the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Paul said, "7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. “8 When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and through the gifts to men.” 9 ...the One who ascended far above all the heavens, [is for the very purpose] that He might fill all things. 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ." (Eph 4:7-9, 11-15).
Here in the above verse of Ephesian 4:7, we come to understand that every believer in the Church is given a grace of a certain measure from the Christ's gift of fullness. In other words, only Christ had the fullness of all of God's gift by the rights of inheritance (Php 2:6), by His holy life (Heb 1:9), by His disciplined life, by His humility, by His selfless service to humanity, by His obedience, by His sinless sacrifice (Php 2:7-8), hence as the Son of God Jesus Christ our Lord had all the spiritual gifts in operation at the time when he worked on earth in his three and half year of ministry. Jesus Christ was an apostle of the Father (John 20:21), prophet (Mark 6:4), evangelist (Luke 4:18), pastor (John 10:14) and teacher (Mark 6:6) in his life of service on earth to the people of God. From the collection of gifts that Jesus had possessed, He took those gifts and invested in the life of men and women within His Church, in to which Jesus wants to bring in all the "other sheep" which are all over the world in many gentile nations outside of the nation of Israel using these gifted men with the Church (John 10:16; 17:20).
When Christ died on the Cross and gave up His spirit in to the hands of the Father God in heaven (Luke 23:46; John 19:30), Father God immediately sent him to take the captivity of all the believers who were living in the righteous section of Hades in Abraham's bosom back to heaven where they belong (Eph 4:8-10), so Jesus our Christ descended in to that deepest and lowest part of the earth [i.e. Hades (Luke 16:22, 23, 26)] and then ascended in to heaven which is the highest place in the entire universe. While passing through the earth Jesus remembered the Church until the end of time in his mind and heart, and gave to all its members the grace to build the Church and the ability to equip itself in to His fullness with which He operated while He was present on earth during the time of His earthly ministry of three and half years (Matt 27:27:50-51, 52-53; 1 Cor 15:20; Isa 26:19). The purpose of Christ giving men as gifts to the Church is to fill the Church with Himself, so that Christ in all His fullness can be able to work through their physical body on earth just like He worked on earth when He was physically present two thousand years ago. When Christ took the captivity of the Old Testament saints along with Him, they were seen by many living saints after they came out of their graves (Matt 27:53-54), He then ascended from the earth and went in to heaven along with them (1 Cor 15:3-4, 5-6, 8). Only the God of Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help at any moment you are in need, the one who has descended to the bottom of the earth and have ascended to the highest heavens is able to fill you with Himself (Deut 33:26; John 3:13; Psa 18:10; 46:1).
Jesus our Christ began to both do and teach pertaining to the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:1, 2-3), and He had ever since that time of His resurrection have continued to do His work through the "gifts [imparted] to men" within the Church (John 14:12, 18-19; 16:7, 12, 13-14, 15), thus His purpose to fill them all to the full, have ever since been fulfilled through some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers in all the ages of the Church for the last two thousand years (Acts 19:6; 11:26, 27-28; 8:12, 17-18; 1 Thess 2:7-8, 11-12).
This equipping of the Church through the five-fold ministry of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher will continue until there comes a time when the Church will attain to the "the unity of the faith" (Eph 4:13). So what is the unity of faith? The unity of faith is nothing but "the knowledge of the Son of God, to [become] a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ". Jesus Christ has promised to love the Church which is His body in such a way, "26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish." (Eph 5:26-27). This work of Christ through the Holy Spirit has been continuing right from the day Christ ascended to heaven, through his five-fold ministry gifts of men that He has given to the Church. Have we attained to the unity of faith yet? Not yet, this equipping of the Church will continue until the day of rapture of the glorious Church of Jesus Christ to go from earth to be taken in to heaven to be permanently settled over there for eternity (1 Thess 4:14-18; John 14:1-2, 3-4; Heb 11:13, 14, 16). Some people think that this "unity of faith" happens only for the end time Church which will be glorious, no, then what about all the Church saints of the ages who lived in the glorious light of what has been revealed to them? They all lived as the glorious Church of their own time, which had different level of revelation, may be much less in percentage to what we have in the end time. God will only ask, whether we have carried on faithfully our work until the end of all things (Matt 25:21, 23; 2 Tim 4:7-8), according to it we will be rewarded (Rev 3:11; 22:12). So the unity of faith is achieved within the Church in various generations through the five-fold gifted ministries of men within the Church. God has refined and have used men in all ages to equip the Church and will use them until the day of rapture. Once the rapture happens, the glorious Church of all the ages that lived gloriously in all the ages will resurrect to life in their glorious body, and after that those believers of the end time generation living alive at that time will also be changed and transformed in a fraction of second in to their glorious celestial bodies which will be their glory for eternity ahead. Glory to God!
God makes the Church to become glorious in all the respective generations by using the five-fold gifted ministries of men to equip them, so that they could avoid deceptive plotting of men and demons who through their erroneous wind of doctrines make men get tossed up to and fro like spiritual children do, as they usually get affected by it in their areas of weak faith (1 Tim 4:1; Matt 24:4; 2 Tim 3:1-9). Mature men of faith will stand up against all deception of the end time by "speaking the truth in love" through their strong doctrine of faith that they have built through their personal walk with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Thus God uses these mature men of faith so that the Church may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ. These men and women of God in the five-fold ministries, are broken and humble men full of grace, who will be able to impart the Church with the glory of Christ and make it ready for the rapture of the Church even in our end time as before in all generations gone (Jam 4:6-7; 1 Peter 5:5, 6-7; John 1:16-17). Glory to God! Praise the Lord!
When Christ comes to rapture the Church, we shall see Him as He is when He ascended from earth in His Glory (Acts 1:9, 10, 11), and we shall be changed to have a glorious body just like Jesus and we shall be glorious forever to be like Jesus in glory (1 John 3:2). If we have this hope of resurrection within us by faith as a child of God, then we should spiritually purify ourselves, just as our Lord Jesus Christ is pure and should become zealous for good works to be done in the name of Jesus (1 John 3:3; James 4:8-10; Tit 2:13-14; Col 3:17).
So the bottom line is, "until we come to the unity of faith" is not a attainment of the Church of the end time which is just one generation, but rather it is the maturity in faith that every member in all generation achieve by the grace of God in their time of their life time through the God ordained five-fold ministry gift of men given by Christ to the equipping of the Church of all time. The grace of Christ that has been sufficient in the times past for the Church to come to the unity of faith, so also it will be more than sufficient for the end time generation of ours in the present and future to come to the unity of faith until the rapture of the Church universal happens at the appointed time which Christ has revealed to us through the signs of the end of the age and His coming (1 Cor 15:10; 2 Cor 6:1; 12:9). Wake up Church, you can almost hear the footsteps of our Messiah Jesus Christ from heaven!
Much Blessings.....
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