'Perfect,' the Apostle here uses in opposition to the immediately
following expression in the next verse, of 'children.' It therefore
means not so much moral perfection as maturity or fulness of growth. So
long as we fall short of the state of unity we are in the stage of
immaturity. When we come to be one in faith and knowledge we have
reached full-grown manhood. The existence of differences belongs to the
infancy and boyhood of the Church, and as we grow one we are putting
away childish things. What a contrast there is between Paul's vision
here and the tendency which has been too common among Christians to
magnify their differences, and to regard their obstinate adherence to
these as being 'steadfastness in the faith'! How different would be the
relations between the various communities into which the one body has
been severed, if they all fully believed that their respective
shibboleths were signs that they had not yet attained, neither were
already perfect! When we began to be ashamed of these instead of
glorying in them we should be beginning to grow into the maturity of our
Christian life.
But the Apostle speaks of 'a perfect man' in the singular and not of
'men' in the plural, as he has already described the result of the union
of Jew and Gentile as being the making 'of twain one new man.' This
remarkable expression sets forth, in the strongest terms, the vital
unity which connects all members of the one body so closely that there
is but one life in them all. There are many members, but one body. Their
functions differ, but the life in them all is identical. The eye cannot
say to the hand, 'I have no need of thee,' nor again the head to the
feet, 'I have no need of you.' Each is necessary to the completeness of
the whole, and all are necessary to make up the one body of Christ. It
is His life which manifests itself in every member and which gives
clearness of vision to the eye, strength and deftness to the hand. He
needs us all for His work on the world and for His revelation to the
world of the fulness of His life. In some parts of England there are
bell-ringers who stand at a table on which are set bells, each tuned to
one note, and they can perform most elaborate pieces of music by swiftly
catching up and sounding each of these in the right place. All Christian
souls are needed for the Master's hand to bring out the note of each in
its place. In the lowest forms of life all vital functions are performed
by one simple sac, and the higher the creature is in the scale the more
are its organs differentiated. In the highest form of all, 'as the body
is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being
many, are one body, so also is Christ.'