The Gift IS Christ

“But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” (Eph 4:7)

Let’s try to exegete this passage expression-by-expression.

“But unto every one of us.”

I’d say this is a contrast to the “seven ones” that preceded it. We shift from one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God to “every one of us.” The sevenfold unity is entirely focused on what we all share in common — the shared “sameness” of our spiritual foundations established by God. Everything is singular, shared, common, universal among believers. Paul had just built this towering truth: all believers are bound together by the same spiritual realities, the same Lord, the same Spirit, the same Father, the same hope, and the same saving work. Then Paul shifts the focus to something shared that’s uniquely individual and inside each one of us and that is the grace we’ve been given, which is according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

We’ve gone from what should be universal unity in the Body established by God to universal empowerment in all individuals in the Body by the Spirit. Every believer has the exact same Lord, the same Father, and the same Spirit. And each individual possesses grace that’s proportionate to the greatness of the gift of Christ.

Paul is saying there should be unity for all these seven reasons and there is equality of empowerment because of the grace each of us were given according to the limit, the extent, the greatness, of the gift of Christ. We are all one… and we’re all equally blessed and empowered through the gift of grace.

“I’d also suggest that Paul is making a contrast of “ones.” We had “seven ones” in the sevenfold unity and Paul has moved on to a different “one” every one of us, the individual, literally – “to each one of us” is given grace. We’re all, each one, given grace. The grace of God is not limited to apostles, prophets, pastors, or teachers. The grace of God is extended equally to every believer in the one Body of Christ. There are no un-graced Christians today. Every believer is included and equally blessed by God’s grace.

“Is given grace”

What does Paul mean when he says here, “is given grace?” I would suggest Paul means grace in the same sense as when he said gift of grace in Eph. 3:7. When he says grace, he means the entire package of grace. When you got saved, God didn’t simply give you a ticket to Heaven. He gave you Heaven to inherit. He also gave you a really nice spiritual makeover. He identified you with His Son. He crucified the old man. He turned you into a new creature. He raised you up with His Son, which means you were given His resurrection life. He made all things new inside of you. He put His Spirit and His Word in you. His love is shed abroad in your heart, and the Spirit cries, Abba, Father. You are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places right here right now. You’re saved, sealed, and sanctified forever. You are overwhelmingly blessed. Plus, there is also all the glory to come.

When Paul says grace here, he means the gift of grace or the whole package of grace, not just your redemption but everything God gave you and made you in His Son. By the grace that’s been given, he means redemption and all the overwhelming blessings God has given you, the whole package of grace – redemption plus all the benefits that come with being in Christ.

Therefore, the use of the word grace like this is also synonymous with empowerment as Paul had demonstrated in Eph. 3. Brian and Deborah Johnson posted an article recently on this verse and they wrote, “Notice, Ephesians 3 has already taught about this powerful gift given to Paul for his ministry, but now, in Ephesians 4:7, observe that it has also been given to us as our power to walk worthy in this vocation.” I love that. I think that’s totally right.

You remember, it was the gift of grace that empowered Paul and enabled him to become the great apostle we know him to be, how he was able to excel at serving the Lord, and how he had the inner strength to persevere through all the suffering with joy. The phrase, gift of grace, embodies the whole package of grace. Not just your ticket to Heaven but also how God overwhelmingly blessed you. This also means that grace or gift of grace is synonymous with empowerment in your life.

You might also remember how the Lord told Paul in 2 Cor. 12:9–10, that “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness…” Everything God already did for Paul, everything God already made Paul in Christ, all of that grace extended to him was sufficient to endure the suffering. The inner strength of God’s attributes living out of you is His power made perfect when you’re weak. Hope, peace, love, grace are inner strengths sufficient to endure the suffering.

Thus, you don’t need more grace than what you’ve already been given. Everything God has given you and done for you is all the empowerment you’ll ever need in this life.

In Eph. 6, Paul is going to tell us to be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. He doesn’t say to beg God to give you more strength. He says to be strong in all that God has already done for you, in all that God already made you in His Son. In Phil. 4:13, he will say, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” In Col. 1:11, he says we’re “Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.” Paul told Timothy to “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 2:1). It’s not that God needs to give us more strength. It’s that we need to learn how to be strong in all that God has already given to us. And Paul would tell the Corinthians that “God… always causeth us to triumph in Christ…” (2 Cor. 2:14). It doesn’t matter what the outcome may be in any circumstance we go through. Ultimately, we’re always triumphant in this life because we are all in Christ.

This is why Pastor Fred Bekemeyer would always say we’re living in this epic grace-based victory program in Christ. (I added “epic”.) When Paul speaks here of the grace we’re given, this is more than just saving grace. This is also transformative grace or empowering grace, because the gift of grace doesn’t simply redeem you, it also transforms you. Grace is your divine empowerment after you’re transformed after you’ve got saved.

Why?

You were spiritually transformed and empowered to fulfill God’s will out in the world. This is not self-generated ability or some kind of natural talent. This is your spiritual transformation that empowered you to do God’s will.

“According to the measure.”

What does he mean by measure? Let’s consider what Webster’s 1828 says:

MEASURE, noun mezh’ur. [Latin mensura, from mensus, with a casual n, the participle of metior, to measure; Eng. to mete.] 1. The whole extent or dimensions of a thing, including length, breadth and thickness. (The measure thereof is longer than the earth and broader than the sea. Job 11:9.) 2. That by which extent or dimension is ascertained… 3. A limited or definite quantity; as a measure of wine or beer. 4. Determined extent or length; limit… 7. Full or sufficient quantity. 8. Extent of power or office.

Christianity looks at this verse, and they say, “Paul has to be talking about definition number 3, a limited quantity, because Christ is giving gifts.” I would argue that Paul is talking about definition number 1, The whole extent or dimensions of a thing, because the gift IS Christ. You’re given Christ Himself. You’re identified with Christ when God gives you His gift of grace.

When study notes or commentaries say that measure only implies a limited portion of something, they’re wrong. That’s just one of 8 definitions and the primary number 1 definition of measure is “The whole extent or dimensions of a thing, including length, breadth and thickness.” Didn’t Paul just talk about the length, depth, breadth, and height of something in Eph. 3? When you’re talking about the gift of Christ, the gift being Christ Himself, the only definition that fits is number 1. We’re talking about “The whole extent or dimensions of a thing, including length, breadth and thickness.”

Consider Eph 4:13 – “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”

Notice here – Paul is careful in this verse to make sure you’re not thinking of measure as a limited portion. This is the measure (the very extent and limits) of the stature of the fulness of Christ. So in vs. 7, Christ is the gift. In vs. 13, we have the believer growing into the fulness of the stature of Christ (v.13). The measure here is not some limited portion. The measure is the whole extent, the very fulness, of the stature of Christ. In v.7 the measure is Christ Himself. In v.13 the measure is all of Christ realized in the believer’s walk.

If measure is “The whole extent or dimensions of a thing” then this means that measure is not to be viewed as a portion of something. It is to be viewed as a standard. Instead of measure meaning limited quantity (like a cup of water), Paul’s use of measure here has to be the standard or the benchmark (metron in the Greek can also mean a rule or standard).

Paul is saying that the grace given to us is equal to the infinite scale of Christ’s victory over sin on the cross. Every believer is given grace that is measured that fills the standard of Christ’s finished work. Since His work is sufficient for all, the grace given to every individual is equally sufficient to empower us in our lives.

“The gift of Christ = The gift IS Christ”

Some (outside of grace) would insist that this expression can only mean that this is a gift given by Christ. That’s not true. In Rom 5:17 Paul talked about the gift of righteousness. Righteousness wasn’t some dude who gave him a gift. The gift was righteousness itself. Paul had received righteousness as a gift. Paul does the same thing in 1 Cor 13:2. He says, though I have the gift of prophecy… Prophecy wasn’t some dude who gave him a gift. The gift was prophecy itself.

Therefore, the gift of Christ, I’d argue, is in that similar grammatical tradition. The gift IS Christ. You’re given Christ. You’re made one with Him when you God gives you His gift of grace. Remember what Paul said in 2 Cor. 9:15, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” What is God’s unspeakable gift? It’s Christ Himself, isn’t it? Christ Himself is the means by which we obtain redemption. Our identification with Him makes His victory over sin our reality the moment we get saved. Christ IS the gift.

Paul never says, “Christ gives you righteousness.” Paul says, “Christ is your righteousness.” What’s the difference? Christ doesn’t give you righteousness. He is righteousness. You became what He already is because you were made one with Christ when you got saved. What Christ is becomes what you are now. Christ is the content of every blessing you have. In Eph 1:3 — all blessings are in Christ. In Col 2:10 — you are complete in Him. In 1 Cor 1:30 — Christ is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. He doesn’t give these things to you as gifts. He is these things to you because He is in you. It is perfectly Pauline to read that Christ is the gift.

All throughout Ephesians, we read of how the Father blessed us for being in Christ. We are chosen in Him, blessed in Him, sealed in Him, raised with Him, seated in Him, created in Him, built into Him, and we grow into Him. Christ is these things for us because we’re one with him.

This means that grace given to us is equal to the measure of Christ given to us. You cannot have one without the other. The blessings we have is equal to Christ Himself, because we’re one with Christ. Righteousness and every other benefit in Christ flows from your oneness with Him.

For us, “the gift of Christ” means a gift that consists of what Christ is and what He did.

Nothing in the grammar forces the “Christ gives us all talents as gifts” reading.

Consider the context. The flow is:

1. v. 7 → grace given to each believer
2. v. 8–10 → Christ’s ascension, victory, and filling of Himself
3. v. 11 → THEN He gives offices for apostles, prophets, etc.

That contextual flow allows for a very clean reading. Grace is given out to us according to the measure of Christ Himself and then, out of that shared life we have with Christ, there are also gifts of offices for ministry. Vs. 7 is not “God is giving you your own personal talent as a gift that you won’t know what it is and you have to kind of feel your way through life to figure out what God has given you.” God operating that way doesn’t exist in the Bible.

Paul is talking about your measured participation in Christ. How much of Christ have you been given? All of Him. How much of His life have you been given? All of His life. This is the transforming grace of Titus 2:11 (“the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men”). There is no “partial” transformation. The “measure” is the totality of payment for all your sins and the totality of Christ’s life in you. Every believer has been given the same measure of Christ, the same sufficiency from His redemptive gift.

There is no contextual necessity to limit ‘grace’ in verse 7 to ministry enablement rather than God’s total transforming grace. Christ as the gift is the yardstick. Christ Himself is the unit of measure for how much grace you’re given. Every believer’s grace is measured by Christ and His work at Calvary. Every believer receives a full and equal measure of God’s grace. Everything Christ IS and HAS becomes what you are and what you’re given by His grace.

I know what the detractors might say. They’d argue that this has to be gifts given from Christ, because vs. 8 talks about how Christ is a giver of gifts.

Okay. Consider vs. 8. Paul writes, “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.” Notice how that’s past tense. He gave gifts unto men. Those gifts were already given out before you were born. What were those gifts? Paul would tell us later in the chapter. Consider Eph 4:11, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.” Notice Paul also says gave past tense. He gave as gifts these offices for the Body of Christ.

Therefore, “the gift of Christ” most naturally means “the gift which is Christ Himself,” especially when:

• the grammar allows it
• the context supports it
• Pauline theology practically demands it
• the measure definition fits it
• the Christ-in-you doctrine requires it

The gift IS Christ.