The Son of God's
Faith and Knowledge
By John Gavazzoni

In Ephesians Paul explains the process by which the ascended Christ perfects, i.e., brings to full maturity the saints (God's holy ones; His set-apart ones) for the work of ministry, for the edifying (building up) of the body of Christ, our Lord having in view a universal man (note: singular) in whom He will duplicate Himself corporately in that body with Himself as the Head, while being also, Himself, the body as a whole, which is, wonder of wonders, of the measure of the stature of (that belongs to) the fullness of Christ." While Paul singles out apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers as divinely instrumental, their place in the process must be understood in the light of his further statement that, in fact, it is the equipped saints in toto who do the work of the ministry. Conclusion: those singled-out ministries are archetypical of the ministry-nature of all the saints.

The so-called 5-fold ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers exists for the calling forth out of the many the same dynamic that operates in and through them. The whole body is to exhibit the qualities of being sent forth, of prophesying, of declaring the good news, and being involved together in caring for one another and of sharing with one another, the understanding of the Truth, which is Christ. This is clear from the fact that Paul goes on to further explain that it is the whole body, fitly-joined together and compacted, that edifies itself in love.

Toward seeing the difference between what is supposed to be normative body ministry today compared to the New Testament standard, imagine apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor/shepherds and teachers being on a platform with the rest of the body of Christ, as an audience, adoringly applauding the supreme importance of their leadership. Imagine the platform being raised higher and higher as the applause of the adoring congregation grows louder and louder. With some exaggeration, that imagined picture does portray the condition of what purports to be Christian ministry in our day and age, with many desiring to graduate from a place in the audience to a place on the platform.

In the early church, it was, as it were, the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers in the audience, applauding, appreciating and extolling God's work in the whole body which is on stage. Example of the apostolic attitude from Jonathan Mitchell's Translation of the New Testament: "For who (or: what) is our expectation (or expectant hope) or joy, or shall be a crown (victor's wreath; encirclement) of boasting and glorying in front of our Lord Jesus, in His presence (or: in the place facing toward our Master, Jesus, within the midst of His being present alongside [us]), if not even you folks? For you see, you yourselves are our glory (or: our reputation, our manifestation which calls forth praise) and joy!" (1 Thess. 2:19 ,20)

Yet all of the above, by which I have labored to clarify the divine process of the building up of the body of Christ, has not included the most essential dynamic at work. For the purpose of emphasis, I've saved that essential for last. At the heart of Paul's explanation of that administration that is producing, and will finally completely produce, the mature man who will reach the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ is the centrality of (specifically) the Son of God.

Paul transitions from identifying the Person at work in the process as the ascended Christ to the Son of God. He narrows down His description moving from "Christ," a title pertaining to ministry-qualification and enablement, to "Son" as descriptive of the relational dynamic at work. It is, "in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God" that humanity will reach that ideal of God which is a corporate "man" of no less stature than that of the fullness and/or complement of Christ.

It has been long my impression from years of experience among believers of many theological perspectives... and I'm quite clear on this, that the general understanding of what Paul means by the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, is that it is the believer's faith in the Son of God, and the believer's understanding of the Son of God that is the dynamic at work. But that is definitely not the case. It is God's Son's faith and knowledge at work, that is, it is God's Son's faith in the Father, and God's Son's knowledge of the Father, that will be at the heart of God's new man, His new humanity. To have the Son's faith in the Father as our faith, and the knowledge of the Father be our knowledge of Him, is what Paul is declaring.

We are, in the administration of God, granted by grace to have as our faith the very faith of, and by which, God, as Son, relates to God, as Father. We have been granted to know the Father by the Son's own knowledge of the Father. We enjoy in our union with Christ, a participation in the relationship which is at the heart of Godness, and which comprises Godness. In the prologue of John's gospel, in the Greek, we have the Word with God, that is, face to face with God. Dearly beloved, we are also "there" in Christ....face to face with God. "There" we know the Father as the Son knows Him. "There" the love of the Father which works in the Son to cause the Son's perfect faith in the Father, is at work in us in union with Christ. "There" is what heaven is, and what heaven is all about.