Unity in the Body
As the Lord's prisoner, Paul urges the readers to walk worthily of their calling with humility, gentleness, patience, and loving forbearance, doing all they can to preserve the unity of the Spirit in peace. He grounds that call in the sevenfold oneness of body, Spirit, hope, Lord, faith, baptism, and the one God and Father who is over all, through all, and in all.
A1s a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received: 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Paul then says that grace is given to each person according to Christ's measure, and he interprets Christ's ascension as the triumph of the one who also descended and now fills all things. The point is that the exalted Christ is the giver of the church's gifts.
7Now to each one of us grace has been given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8This is why it says: 9What does “He ascended” mean, except that He also descended to the lower parts of the earth? 10He who descended is the very One who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things.
Paul names apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers as Christ's gifts for equipping the saints, building the body, and bringing all to unity, mature knowledge, and the stature of Christ's fullness. In that maturity the church is no longer tossed about by deceptive teaching, but grows by speaking truth in love, receiving life from Christ the head as each part does its work.
11And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ, 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ. 14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head. 16From Him the whole body, fitted and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love through the work of each individual part.