“8 Therefore it says,
“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”
9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."
Ephesians 4:8-16
Paul's word is also used in such contexts as 'the framing of the worlds by the word of God' (Hebrews 11:3), and 'restoring a backslider' (Galatians 6:1) and 'making perfect' (1 Peter 5:10), where the etymological meaning of the word is almost interpreted and commented upon in what follows that reference - 'stablish, strengthen, settle' - for this is the redeemed man's 'proper condition' in the purpose and intention of God.
The latter verses of this passage (13-16) contain a great deal of essential teaching for the Christian. The building up of the body of Christ, which is the aim and purpose of ministry, is to issue in maturity. We grow first toward maturity, and then in maturity - this is the force of the words 'a perfect man' (which is to be understood in a corporate rather than in an individual sense), and 'to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ'. Thus Paul gives a series of consequences that will flow from such spiritual maturity (14ff), with each verse adding something fresh to the overall picture. In 15 the AV says 'speaking the truth in love', but the original Greek, literally rendered, would be 'truthing in love', and it would be getting at Paul's meaning very well if we translated it 'cherishing the truth in love', doing with the truth what the Thessalonians did when they received it as a welcome guest (this is the force of the word Paul uses in 1 Thessalonians 2:13). The Psalmist's attitude expresses it graphically in Psalm 19:10 in the words 'more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold ...'. This, according to Paul, is how Christians grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord. They become a people deeply taught in the word; and this is always how things begin to happen in the church, as we may learn from Acts 13, for it was from the church at Antioch, that had been taught so ably by Barnabas and Saul, that the first great missionary outreach of the gospel went forth.