believe. The context instead of forbidding, demands this view of the apostle’s meaning. It would be incon- gruous to say we must reach perfection in order to grow. But it is not incongruous to say that perfection is made the goal in order that we may constantly strive after it.
V. 14. What has been said may be sufficient to in- dicate the connection between this and the preceding verses, as indicated by iva (in order that). This and the following verses are not subordinate to the 13th, as though the sense were, ‘we are to reach perfection in order to grow,—but they are codrdinate—all relating to the design of the ministry mentioned in vy. 19. Be- tween the full maturity aimed at, and our present state is the period of growth—and Christ appointed the min- istry to bring the church to that end, in order that we should be no longer children but make constant pro- gress. This intermediate design is expressed negatively in this verse and affirmatively in the 15th and 16th. We are not to continue children, v. 13, but constantly to advance toward maturity, vs. 15.16. The charac- teristic of children here presented is their instability and their liability to be deceived and led astray. The former is expressed by comparing them to a ship with- out a rudder, tossed to and fro by the waves, and driven about by every wind—xrvderifopevor καὶ περιφερόμενοι παντὶ avéum—or to two unstable things, a restless wave, and something driven by the wind. In the use of much the same figure the apostle in Heb. 13, 9 exhorts believers not “to be carried away with diverse and