He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
The one who came down is the same Jesus who went back up far above all the heavens in order to fill all things. He came down from heaven and from the throne of God by clothing divinity with humanity and entering the lower parts of the earth, and He went up leading captivity captive with a multitude raised from their graves, holding all power in heaven and in earth. In His ascent He gave gifts to people for the building of the church, ministries that equip the saints and bring the body toward oneness and maturity in Him. Those gifts fulfill His promise to send the Holy Spirit as Comforter and guide into all truth, placed in the church for its edification to the end of time and handed down from His first chosen ministers to His workers in every age. He fills all things by delivering His treasures to the church from age to age, keeping unity by many different gifts where no one person carries the work alone but all blend together as members of one body.
Christ's Descent and Ascent
He who came down is the same Jesus who went up far above all heavens in order to fill all things. His going up is joined to His giving gifts to people for the building up of the church, including ministries that equip the saints and bring the body toward unity and maturity in Him. That joining of descent and exaltation grounds the call to walk worthy with lowliness and meekness and longsuffering in one body and one Spirit and one hope and one Lord and one faith and one baptism and one God and Father of all.
His descent was first into the lower parts of the earth. It was a descent from heaven, from the throne of God, clothing divinity with humanity. In ascending He led captivity captive, leading a multitude of captives from their graves. All power in heaven and in earth is now His, power His fellow workers must claim for their very high and holy vocation, taking their position on His messages and walking worthy of it prepared to meet Him, because from His exalted place He gave gifts unto men for the work resting upon them.
His descent and His exaltation are one work that gives grace to every believer according to the measure of Christ. His descending shows what human beings may become if they will unite their weakness to His strength, if they will die to self and live to Christ. That union softens, subdues and purifies strong unchristlike traits of character. He fills all things by delivering His treasures to the church from age to age. The gifts He placed in the hands of His chosen ministers, the twelve apostles, eighteen hundred years ago have descended to His workers in this age, passed from one generation to another as faithful servants improve the talents lent them, giving present workers high privileges and a true position as ministers of His grace, though few realize it.
Gifts That Build Church
The same one who came down is the one who went up far above all the heavens in order to fill all things, and that going up is joined to his giving gifts to people for the building up of the church. Those gifts include ministries that equip the saints, build up his body, and lead it toward unity and maturity in him. The fourth chapter of Ephesians thus sets out his manner of working by a variety of gifts, where every gift is to be acknowledged as essential to success.
Through his ministers he communicates the words of eternal life, and their ministry is the means he has ordained to perfect the saints in knowledge and true holiness. Those gifts fulfill his promise to send the Holy Spirit as Comforter and guide to lead into all truth. Certain gifts of the Spirit were so placed in the church for its edification and instruction to the end of time. His ascension, when he led a multitude of captives from their graves and gave spiritual gifts to the church, marks the beginning of the gifts' work in building up and uniting the church.
He fills all things by delivering his treasures to the church from age to age. The gifts he placed in the hands of his chosen ministers, the twelve apostles, eighteen hundred years ago have descended to his workers in this age. They have been passed from one generation to another as faithful servants improve the talents lent them. These continuing gifts give present workers high privileges and a true position as ministers of his grace, though few realize it.
Unity and Shared Service
Ephesians 4 plainly reveals God's plan so that all His children may lay hold upon the truth, declaring the appointed means to keep unity in His church so that its members may reveal to the world a healthy religious experience. That unity is kept by conformity in obedience to the commandments of God and by oneness in the faith of the Scriptures. It is kept by being bound together as one in Christ Jesus with lives hid with Christ in God, by practicing the golden rule, and by bearing living testimony that the Father loves believers even as He loves His Son.
It is further kept by using heaven's costly provision to draw souls to obedience to the law of God, by cooperating as laborers together with God, and by partaking of the divine nature and escaping the corruption in the world through lust. It is kept by magnifying the law of God by courtesy, fidelity, justice, and mercy. God does not design one person to carry every responsibility or to bear the burden of the work alone, but His work requires different people and agencies serving in their appointed places. His manner of working calls for a variety of gifts, where every gift is to be acknowledged as essential to success.
No one is qualified to bear the burden alone, but men of different minds are associated together that they may counsel with and assist one another, so that the deficiency in the experience and abilities of one is supplied by the experience and abilities of another. Different gifts and lines of service are to blend and work together as a whole, not to become separate or divided. That uniting joins believers to one another as members of the body of Christ, that they may be one with one another and one with Christ in God. Different gifts are imparted to different ones so that workers may feel their need of one another.
God bestows these gifts to be employed in His service for the good of all mankind, not to glorify the possessor or to uplift man but to uplift the Redeemer by representing the truth. He would have His people help one another in their various duties and in faithfully accomplishing the work He has given them to do. The instruction of the chapter means much for believers and is to be read most solemnly and impressed upon hearers. It calls for a great reformation in lives, words, works, and spiritual understanding, for ceasing to be hard-spirited strangers to the working of the Holy Spirit, and for daily catching the inspiration of the angels in the heavenly courts and breathing the atmosphere of heaven.
The same Christ who descended first into the lower parts of the earth ascended far above all heavens that He might fill all things, joining descent and exaltation as one work that gives grace to every believer according to the measure of Christ. All power in heaven and in earth is now His. From His exalted place He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men for the work resting upon His fellow workers. Their very high and holy vocation requires them to claim that all power, to take their position on His messages, and to walk worthy with lowliness and meekness and longsuffering in one body and one Spirit and one hope and one Lord and one faith and one baptism and one God and Father of all, prepared to meet Him.
The one who came down is the same Jesus who went back up far above all the heavens in order to fill all things. He came down from heaven and from the throne of God by clothing divinity with humanity and entering the lower parts of the earth, and He went up leading captivity captive with a multitude raised from their graves, holding all power in heaven and in earth. In His ascent He gave gifts to people for the building of the church, ministries that equip the saints and bring the body toward oneness and maturity in Him. Those gifts fulfill His promise to send the Holy Spirit as Comforter and guide into all truth, placed in the church for its edification to the end of time and handed down from His first chosen ministers to His workers in every age. He fills all things by delivering His treasures to the church from age to age, keeping unity by many different gifts where no one person carries the work alone but all blend together as members of one body.
Christ's Descent and Ascent
He who came down is the same Jesus who went up far above all heavens in order to fill all things. His going up is joined to His giving gifts to people for the building up of the church, including ministries that equip the saints and bring the body toward unity and maturity in Him. That joining of descent and exaltation grounds the call to walk worthy with lowliness and meekness and longsuffering in one body and one Spirit and one hope and one Lord and one faith and one baptism and one God and Father of all.
His descent was first into the lower parts of the earth. It was a descent from heaven, from the throne of God, clothing divinity with humanity. In ascending He led captivity captive, leading a multitude of captives from their graves. All power in heaven and in earth is now His, power His fellow workers must claim for their very high and holy vocation, taking their position on His messages and walking worthy of it prepared to meet Him, because from His exalted place He gave gifts unto men for the work resting upon them.
His descent and His exaltation are one work that gives grace to every believer according to the measure of Christ. His descending shows what human beings may become if they will unite their weakness to His strength, if they will die to self and live to Christ. That union softens, subdues and purifies strong unchristlike traits of character. He fills all things by delivering His treasures to the church from age to age. The gifts He placed in the hands of His chosen ministers, the twelve apostles, eighteen hundred years ago have descended to His workers in this age, passed from one generation to another as faithful servants improve the talents lent them, giving present workers high privileges and a true position as ministers of His grace, though few realize it.
Gifts That Build Church
The same one who came down is the one who went up far above all the heavens in order to fill all things, and that going up is joined to his giving gifts to people for the building up of the church. Those gifts include ministries that equip the saints, build up his body, and lead it toward unity and maturity in him. The fourth chapter of Ephesians thus sets out his manner of working by a variety of gifts, where every gift is to be acknowledged as essential to success.
Through his ministers he communicates the words of eternal life, and their ministry is the means he has ordained to perfect the saints in knowledge and true holiness. Those gifts fulfill his promise to send the Holy Spirit as Comforter and guide to lead into all truth. Certain gifts of the Spirit were so placed in the church for its edification and instruction to the end of time. His ascension, when he led a multitude of captives from their graves and gave spiritual gifts to the church, marks the beginning of the gifts' work in building up and uniting the church.
He fills all things by delivering his treasures to the church from age to age. The gifts he placed in the hands of his chosen ministers, the twelve apostles, eighteen hundred years ago have descended to his workers in this age. They have been passed from one generation to another as faithful servants improve the talents lent them. These continuing gifts give present workers high privileges and a true position as ministers of his grace, though few realize it.
Unity and Shared Service
Ephesians 4 plainly reveals God's plan so that all His children may lay hold upon the truth, declaring the appointed means to keep unity in His church so that its members may reveal to the world a healthy religious experience. That unity is kept by conformity in obedience to the commandments of God and by oneness in the faith of the Scriptures. It is kept by being bound together as one in Christ Jesus with lives hid with Christ in God, by practicing the golden rule, and by bearing living testimony that the Father loves believers even as He loves His Son.
It is further kept by using heaven's costly provision to draw souls to obedience to the law of God, by cooperating as laborers together with God, and by partaking of the divine nature and escaping the corruption in the world through lust. It is kept by magnifying the law of God by courtesy, fidelity, justice, and mercy. God does not design one person to carry every responsibility or to bear the burden of the work alone, but His work requires different people and agencies serving in their appointed places. His manner of working calls for a variety of gifts, where every gift is to be acknowledged as essential to success.
No one is qualified to bear the burden alone, but men of different minds are associated together that they may counsel with and assist one another, so that the deficiency in the experience and abilities of one is supplied by the experience and abilities of another. Different gifts and lines of service are to blend and work together as a whole, not to become separate or divided. That uniting joins believers to one another as members of the body of Christ, that they may be one with one another and one with Christ in God. Different gifts are imparted to different ones so that workers may feel their need of one another.
God bestows these gifts to be employed in His service for the good of all mankind, not to glorify the possessor or to uplift man but to uplift the Redeemer by representing the truth. He would have His people help one another in their various duties and in faithfully accomplishing the work He has given them to do. The instruction of the chapter means much for believers and is to be read most solemnly and impressed upon hearers. It calls for a great reformation in lives, words, works, and spiritual understanding, for ceasing to be hard-spirited strangers to the working of the Holy Spirit, and for daily catching the inspiration of the angels in the heavenly courts and breathing the atmosphere of heaven.
The same Christ who descended first into the lower parts of the earth ascended far above all heavens that He might fill all things, joining descent and exaltation as one work that gives grace to every believer according to the measure of Christ. All power in heaven and in earth is now His. From His exalted place He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men for the work resting upon His fellow workers. Their very high and holy vocation requires them to claim that all power, to take their position on His messages, and to walk worthy with lowliness and meekness and longsuffering in one body and one Spirit and one hope and one Lord and one faith and one baptism and one God and Father of all, prepared to meet Him.