"He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15).
“...until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” Ephesians 4:13 (ESV)
Question 4: According to Ephesians 4:13 what is the faith and knowledge that unites and matures believers?
Until “we all attain the unity of faith.” Isn’t it amazing Jesus’ death and resurrection is the message of, "equipping”, “building,” and where we “attain the unity of faith?” It is the knowledge of the Son of God, and the love of the Son of God where we find maturity and stability. Specifically, it is Jesus’ death and resurrection that binds us together in “perfect love” and “unity.”
“You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5).
So far we’ve seen that the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers were all given the responsibility of sharing the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the following reasons:
To equip the saints for the work of ministry for Christ
To build up the body of Christ
To attain to the unity of the faith in Christ
To attain to the knowledge of the Son of God
To mature manhood in sanctification through Christ
To the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ
“so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” Ephesians 4:14 ESV
This is how the message of Jesus’ death stabilizes all believers so that we are "no longer tossed" to and fro by the "waves” and “carried by winds" of doctrine, but stabilized as we are anchored to the cross. Children are those who are tossed to and fro by the waves and carried by every wind of doctrine.
This shows the instability we have outside of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Like a ship going to and fro and tossed about by the waves, so is the instability of our lives without the stabilizing power found in the death of Christ which “anchors our souls” (Hebrews 6:19), so that we are not blown around by the waves and carried by the winds of other doctrines.
Other teachings (doctrines) are inferior to the gospel message because they do not proclaim specifically Jesus Christ crucified and risen for the forgiveness of sins—where God’s power resides (Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 1:18). The teaching of the cross equips, builds up the body, unites believers in unity of faith, unites us in the knowledge of the Son of God, bring us to maturity through sanctification, and fills us to the full measure of Christ. As Galatians 1:11 says other doctrines become “man's gospel” where The Gospel that “saves and sanctifies” takes a back seat by human cunning and craftiness in deceitful schemes which indeed is “another gospel” (Galatians 1:8).
“For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ. 3 But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. 4 You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed” 2 Corinthians 11:2-4 (NLT)
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ." Ephesians 4:15 ESV
Question 6: What causes us to “grow up” in every way into Christ, the head?