“There is one body and one spirit, even as ye were called in one hope
of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father
of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” With this unity,
there are distinctions of function; and each member, St. Paul holds,
has his own gift of endowment to enable him to fill his own place.
Christ is the great Giver, and besides these gifts to the several
members of the body, he gave to the body as a whole the apostles,
prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, by whose various
ministries sinful and self-willed men were to be moulded into true
members, and ultimate perfecting of the body to be accomplished. St.
Paul looked forward in hope to the time when the Body of Christ might
be not only ideally perfect, but actually perfect also, in its adult
growth and in the harmonious co-operation of all its parts.