The `perfecting' here does not mean to go on to maturity as it usually does. A

different word is used which means adjustment, mending or equipment. The people of

God, after Israel's setting aside in unbelief at Acts 28:, certainly needed adjusting to

the new revelation of the Mystery and they needed equipping for the making known of

this climax truth, or, as the verse states, "unto the work of ministering (or serving)" which

would include every member of the New Man, the joint-Body of Christ, and not to be

confined to a special number, "those in the ministry", as the word is used today. This

service has in view the "building up (edification) of the Body of Christ", a constructive

work which is of the first importance. The word here has in its make up a word meaning

"house", and this enters into at least eight important Greek words used in the N.T., to say

nothing of seven compounds with prepositions. To keep this series as simple as possible

we refrain from quoting Greek or Hebrew words, but we mention these facts in order to

show the reader how important is this building up into the Truth.

It is so easy to be destructive, and this can often be done quite easily and quickly, but

`edification' is very different. It takes effort, time and patience in coming before the

Word of God and getting it firmly established in our minds, which are so often cluttered

up with other things. The only lasting ministry is that which builds up with the aim:

The goal is reached by a three-fold "unto", just as the context gives us three measures

(4: 7, 13, 16). We find here a seven-fold unity of the faith. We have before seen that

faith is sometimes used as the equivalent of a body of truth (see Acts 6: 7; 14: 22;

I Tim. 4: 1; II Tim. 4: 7) and here we have a further revelation of what constitutes the

"good deposit" of truth committed by Christ to the Apostle Paul to make known to us

Gentiles and all who have ears to hear. Just as the seven-fold unity of the Spirit has

the one Lord (Christ Jesus) in the centre, likewise the unity of the faith. "Till we all

attain . . . . . and of the knowledge of the Son of God" (13). Here "knowledge" would

be better rendered "acknowledgment", as it is several times by the A.V. (I Cor. 14: 37;

16: 18, etc.).  We should remember that the early English of the Authorized Version

uses knowledge and acknowledge interchangeably. To really know the Truth, and the

One Who is the truth, is not just filling the mind with facts about Him and the Bible.

Anyone can do that. In the Word of God there can be no true knowledge without

acknowledgment. Only as we acknowledge a truth can we be said to know it, and we

need to bear this in mind continually. It is by practically acknowledging the Son of God,

the One Lord, with all His claims upon us, that we grow spiritually and this is confirmed

by Col. 1: 10 where a more accurate translation is: "growing by the acknowledgment of

God". The goal of natural and spiritual life is adulthood, maturity in body and mind.

Anything less than this is tragic, and while it is obvious in the physical world, it is not

quite so obvious in the realm of Christian values, yet it is equally true here.

So few today are prepared to obey the Divine rules that ensure spiritual growth, and

no wonder we see around us in Christendom spiritual infants who cannot receive the