HOMILY XL] HOMILIES ON EPHESIANS. 105 children are carried about and waver in mind, so is it also with believers. "To the unity," saith he, "of the faith." That is, until we shall be shown to have all one faith : for this is unity of faith, when we all are one, when we shall all alike acknowledge the common bond. Till then thou must labor to this end. If for this thou hast received a gift, that thou mightest edify others, look well that thou overturn not thyself, by envying another. God hath honored thee, and ordained thee, that thou shouldest build up another. Yea, for about this was the Apostle also engaged ; and for this was the prophet prophesying and persuading, and the Evangelist preaching the Gospel, and for this was the pastor and teacher; all had undertaken one common work. For tell me not of the difference of the spiritual gifts ; but that all had one work. Now when we shall all believe alike then shall there be unity ; for that this is what he calls " a perfect man," is plain. And yet he elsewhere calls us "babes" (i Cor. xiii. n), even when we are of mature age ; but he is there looking to another comparison, for there it is in comparison with our future knowl edge that he there calls us babes. For having said, "We know in part" (i Cor. xiii. 9, 12), he adds also the word "darkly," and the like : whereas here he speaks with reference to another thing, with reference to changeableness, as he saith also elsewhere, " But solid food is for full- grown men." (Heb. v. 14.) Do you see then also in what sense he there calls them full-grown ? Observe also in what sense he calls men " per fect " here, by the words next added, where he says, " that we may be no longer children." That we keep, he means to say, that little meas ure, which we may have received, with all dili gence, with firmness and steadfastness. Ver. 14. "That we maybe no longer."- The word, " no longer," shows that they had of old been in this case, and he reckons himself more over as a subject for correction, and corrects himself. For this cause, he would say, are there so many workmen, that the building may not be shaken, may not be " carried about," that the stones may be firmly fixed. 1 For this is the character of children, to be tossed to and fro, to be carried about and shaken. " That we may be no longer," saith he, " children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doc trine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error." "And carried about," saith he, " with every wind." He comes to this figure of speech, to point out in how great peril doubt ing souls are. "Wi-th every wind," saith he, 1 [" It is not the figure of a building which Paul employs here, but of a ship abandoned to the breakers, on which figurative expres sion of restless passive subjection to influences, compare Jas. i. 6. Meyer. G. A.] " by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error." The word " sleight " 2 means the art of gamesters. Such are the " crafty," when ever they lay hold on the simpler sort. For they also change and shift about everything. He here glances also at human life. Ver. 15, 16. "But speaking truth," 3 saith he, " in love, may grow up in all things into Him,which is the Head, even Christ, from whom," (that is, from Christ,) " all the body fitly framed and knit together, through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due meas ure of each several part, maketh increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love." He expresses himself with great obscurity, from his desire to utter everything at once. What he means, however, is this. In the same way as the spirit, or vital principle, which de scends from the brain, communicates the sensi tive faculty which is conveyed through the nerves, not simply to all the members, but ac cording to the proportion of each member, to that which is capable of receiving more, more, to that which is capable of less, less, (for the spirit is the root or source ;) so also is Christ. For the souls ofmen being dependent upon Him as members, His provident care, and supply of the spiritual gifts according to a due proportion in the measure of every single member, effects their increase. But what is the meaning of this, " by the touch of the supply" ? 4 that is to say, by the sensitive faculty/ For that spirit which is supplied to the members from the head, "touches," 6 each single member, and thus actuates it. As though one should say, " the body receiving the supply according to the pro portion of its several members, thus maketh the increase " ; or, in other words, " the members receiving the supply according to the proportion of their proper measure, thus make increase " ; or otherwise again thus, " the spirit flowing plenteously from above, and touching 7 all the members, and supplying them as each is capable of "receiving it, thus maketh increase." But wherefore doth he add, " in love " ? Because in no other way is it possible for that Spirit to descend. For as, in case a hand should happen to be torn from the body, the spirit which pro- . . 3 [" aA.r)0eiioi>T : The common meaning, To speak truth, is clearly unsatisfactory here. It means holding the truth. " Elli- cott. " Professing the truth," Thayer, Lexicon. Rev. Ver. has in margin "dealing truly." Meyer says it means here, as always, " speaking the truth," and correctly. G. A.] * a.<t>r)<;, "joint," Eng. Tr. Theodoret, too, in loc. interprets touch, and considers that it stands for all the senses. S. Austin translates tactus in Psalm x. 7, de Civ. D. xxii. 18, but in the re ceived meaning. [See Meyer. G. A.] [" Meyer still retains the interpretation ofChrysostom and Theo doret that a<t>i) = aicr0T)<ris, " feeling," " perception," and connects the clause with avfijaii jroifiTai: but the parallel passage, Col. ii. 19, leaves it scarcely doubtful that the meaning usually assigned is cor rect, and that the clause is to be connected with the participles. - Ellicott. So Thayer, Lex., Rev. Ver. G. A.]