hend all the elements of that state of mind of which the Son of God, God manifested in the flesh, who loved us and gave himself for us, who died on Calvary and is now enthroned in heaven, is the object. <A state of mind which includes the apprehension of his glory, the appropriation of his love, as well as confidence and devotion. This state of mind is in itself eternal life. It includes excellence, blessedness, and the highest form of activity, i. e. the highest exercise of our high- est powers. We are like him when we see him. Per- fect knowledge is perfect holiness. Therefore when the whole church has come to this perfect knowledge which excludes all diversity, then it has reached the end. Then it will bear the image of the heavenly.
The object of faith and knowledge is the Son of God. This designation of our Lord declares him to be of the same nature with the Father, possessing the same attri- butes and entitled to the same honour. Were this not the case the knowledge of Christ as the Son of God, could not be eternal life; it could not fill, enlarge, sanctify, and render blessed the soul; nor constitute the goal of our high calling ; the full perfection of our nature.
It has excited surprise that the apostle should here present unity of faith as the goal of perfection, whereas in ver. 6, Christians are said now to have “ one faith,” as they have one Lord and one baptism. Some endeay- our to get over this difficulty by laying the emphasis upon al. The progress of the church consists in bring- ing all to this state of unity. But Paul includes αὐ in
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his assertion in ver. 6. And if the “ one faith” of that verse, and “ unity of faith” here are the same, then the starting-point and the goal of the church are iden- tical. Others say that “the unity of faith and know- ledge” means not that all should be united in faith and knowledge, but that all should attain that state in which faith and knowledge are identified—faith is to be lost in knowledge. The unity, therefore, here intended, is unity between faith and knowledge, and not the unity of believers. But this is evidently unnatural. “We all come to unity,” can only mean, “ we are all united.” There is no real difficulty in the case. Unity is a matter of degrees. The church is now and ever has been one body, but how imperfect is their union! Our Lord’s praying that his people may be one, does not prove that they are not now one. It is here as in other cases. Holiness is the beginning and holiness is the end. We must be holy to belong to the church, and yet holiness is.the ultimate perfection of the church. The unity of faith is now confined to the first principles; the unity of faith contemplated in this place is that perfect unity which implies perfect know- ledge and perfect holiness.
Unto a perfect man, eis ἄνδρα τέλειον. This clause is explanatory of the former and determines its mean- ing. Perfection is the end; perfect manhood. Τέλειος signifies ad jinem perductus ; when used of a man, it means an adult, one who has reached the end of his development as aman. When applied to a Christian it means one who has reached the end of his develop-