Ephesians 4:12

For the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ; till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

In these verses is set forth the purpose of the Lord in the sending forth of apostles, prophets, evangelists and elders, mentioned in the preceding verse, that purpose being the building up of the body of Christ, which is the church. But the passage goes dramatically beyond that. It is not apostles, etc., alone who are to do the ministering in the Lord's church. "Perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministering" means that:

Not only those called apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor-teachers, but the entire church should be engaged in spiritual labor. The universal priesthood of believers is stressed here.[25]

Another very important thing in this passage regards the rendition of Ephesians 4:13b. The KJV has "unto a perfect man" where the English Revised Version (1885) has "unto a full-grown man." There can be little doubt that the KJV is correct, because the measure of "the fullness of the stature of Christ," mentioned next, can be nothing if not absolute perfection. As Barclay said, "The aim of the church for its members is nothing less than perfection."[26] It is true that the Greek word here may be rendered full-grown, as in English Revised Version (1885); but it is also rendered perfect, in the sense of being applicable to God himself (Matthew 5:48).[27] The meaning here has to be perfect; nor is this an idle distinction. See article on "The Perfection of Christians" under Ephesians 1:4.

[25] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 198.

[26] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 177.

[27] W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1940), Vol. III, p. 173.