The goal for the believers: (4:12-16):
Paul saw the body of Christ (the true believers) gradually growing to reach spiritual maturity. Here he gives 3-fold steps to reach the goal for the believers. They are:
- That they may be equipped: (4:12): God gave all these 4-ministries for equipping the saints so that the ministry may edify the body of Christ. The idea of equipping is “to put right.” The word was used for mending the nets. So these ministries must work together to produce strong, mended and fit Christians.
- That they may be mature: (4:13): The primary purpose of the Church is not only to convert sinners to bring them to Christ, but also to make them perfect, complete and mature saints for the ministry and edification of the body of Christ.
- That they may be settled: (4:14-16): The believers must not be fickle minded or wavering but must possess the stability. They should not be tossed about by every religious novelty that comes along. There are religious fanatics waiting to kidnap God’s children and get them into their false cults, but the maturing believers recognize these false doctrine and stays clear of it. The cultists do not try to win lost souls to Christ. They do not establish rescue missions because they have no good news for the man. Instead, these false teachers try to capture immature Christians and for this reason, most of the membership of the false cults comes from local churches, particularly churches that do not feed their people with the Word of God.
Further the matured and well settled believers have a Christlikeness nature and co-operate with other local assemblies who are also in the same ministry.
So the Spiritual unity is not something we manufacture but it is something we already have in Christ, and we must protect and maintain it. Truth unites, but lies divide. Love unites, but selfishness divides. Therefore, “speaking the truth in love,” let us equip one another and edify one another. That’s why Paul says: “from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does it share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself I love.”(4:16). This is a metaphor taken from the members of a human body receiving nourishment equally and growing up, each in its due proportion to other parts and the body in general. This means every part and joint provides what it can supply in a coordinated effort. When this happens, it naturally causes the growth of the body (both in size and strength).
Ex:Some people think of the church as a pyramid, with the pastor at the top. Others think of the church as a bus driven by the pastor, who takes his passive passengers where they should go. But God wants us to see the church as a body, where every part does its share.
Putting off the old and putting on the new: (4:17-32)
Apostle Paul speaks of the behaviour of old nature and new nature of the man. In his description he clearly and emphatically asks the believers to come out of the old nature or undergo the sanctification process through the work of the Holy Spirit. We can put this under 3-titles, viz.,
The nature of the old man: (4:17-19):
The word “so” in (4:17) gives a connection of the privileges available to the believers in (1:1-23) and so Paul clearly says that all believers must shun away from nature of the Gentiles and lead a sanctified life for the Lord. Paul further gives that Gentiles have a darkened and perverted understanding and are clearly alienated from God. Their hearts are hardened, all though they knew God they wantonly ignore God. The Gospel will seem foolish to those who forsake faith and rely on their own understanding. Satan has not only blinded their eyes, but also darkened their mind. The unsaved man further delights in every kind of impurity and sensuality and lust for more and more.
Putting on the new nature: (4:20-24):
Apostle Paul says, remove the old grave clothes and put on the new clothes nothing but change your nature.
Ex: A prisoner who is released from the prison still wears prison clothes and acts like a prisoner, we would immediately say to him to change his clothes. Paul says you were taught with regard to your former way of life in order to put off your old self is an extraordinary statement.The unsaved man is spiritually ignorant, while the believer is intelligent in the things of the Word. And the unsaved man does not know Christ, while the believer grows in his personal knowledge of Christ day by day. We have believed the truth; we have received the life; therefore, we will walk “in the way” and not walk after the example of the unsaved world. Now the old life is past, we should put it behind us like old clothes. The old man or the former life has been put away, and we can now walk in newness of life through Christ. Paul wrote in (Rom 5-8) also about the old life and new life and here he gives a short summary of it. Paul explained the believer’s identification with Christ in death, burial, and resurrection. Since we are a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17) our thoughts, ideas, desires and dynamics of our life should no longer of old nature because the old nature cannot control us. We no longer are driven by desires and impulse. When we put on the new nature in Christ, we will have new desires, new thoughts, new direction, new dynamics and new looks and make up too. Our life will be easily be recognised by other believers and the worldly people.