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Title: A Greek Rabbit Hole With a Practical Purpose
Intro:
This sermon prep did NOT go the way I intended….I noticed something in verse 12 that sent me down a huge detour and rabbit hole and when I came out the other end, this message was vastly different that how I thought it was going to turn out.
And sadly, you are going to chase me down that rabbit hole today…but unlike some deep theological dives or discussions that produce very little practical value, I truly believe there is something wonderful waiting for us at the conclusion of todays study…
OK, so we spent the last two weeks looking at these five rolls that Paul tells us Jesus died in order to establish, today we’re going to take a week only looking at verse 12 and we’re going to try to answer the question:
“What was the reason these particular roles were established?” For what purpose were these roles established?”
I want to let you know that Paul is building to something huge here and he’s doing it methodically and systematically. We probably will not arrive at that huge moment for about three or four more sermons, but each of these sermons that we look at week by week as we dig deeper into Ephesians 4 is building to something huge, a massive point of practical application that we all must understand if we desire to be a healthy Biblical Church. So let’s look at today’s verse:
“…for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…”
Here we see Paul tell us WHY Jesus died to appoint apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers:
He did so for two key reasons:
- To equip the Saints for the Work we need to do.
- To Edify the Body of Christ (The Church)
So what I want to do today is take some time to dig into these two concepts and use them as a mirror and challenge to operations here at Heritage, both individually and corporately.
Equipping the Saints:
Now, most English translations render this “Equipping the Saints” but two major translations (KJV, ASV) actually translate it as “Perfecting the Saints”
Let’s look at the Greek:
Equipping/Perfecting:
Greek: katartismos
Definition: complete furnishing, equipping
It’s a tough word to pin down, partly because it’s only used this one time in the entire Bible.
Now, the root word from which this comes is similar: Kartartizo and it does occur 13 times in the NT, and it means to mend or complete.
Now this is a bit of a deep dive into the Greek, but let me attempt to demonstrate some key differences in these two similar words:
Our word today from Ephesians 4:12, katartismos is a masculine noun, whereas the root word Kartatizo is a verb.
So I’d argue the most accurate way to look at what Paul is actually saying is that this equipping/perfection becomes state of existence. Paul is not merely telling us that Jesus has or is equipping us completely (everything we need), what he’s saying is subtle, but definitely goes beyond that.
Paul’s choice to use this very peculiar word suggests that he is reminding his readers they ARE equipped. The tools are already at their disposal to do the work of the ministry.
In other words, I don’t think it’s a stretch to literally translate this verse as follows:
“For the equipped saints to do the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…”
Now, I am certainly not suggesting that what Paul is teaching here isn’t it we are perfect or that we are fully complete, that is the process of sanctification.
But, like the definition of katartizo as it refers to mending a fishing net, what I am saying, is that Paul is telling us we have everything that we need once we become believers, to begin to do the work of the ministry. To be effective.
Let’s lean on that example of the fishing net for a moment. Once you have mended a fishing net do you then roll it up and put it away so that over time it becomes a stronger a fishing net? Or do you throw the net into the water now that it is mended and use it for its purposes?
And here is where the practical edge comes to this lesson: in what ways do church is sometimes neglect the power of the new believer and instead of using that mended net, they put that net into storage?
And as we press into our second into the back half of this verse, how is it, on a positive note, that this new believer this young believer can be a huge edification or encouragement to the body of Christ?
So do you see that we have a dual responsibility to help cultivate the sanctification of a young believer but also to use the power and usefulness and enthusiasm of that young believer to continue the mission of the kingdom.