The mature church : a rhetorical–critical study of Ephesians 4:1–16 and its implications for the Anglican Church in Tanzania

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the meaning of spiritual maturity in Ephesians 4:1-16 and use it as a critical standard to evaluate the spiritual maturity of the Church in a specific context in Tanzania. To achieve this aim, a method of Rhetorical Criticism appropriate for interpreting Ephesians 4:1-16 was developed and, accordingly, the communicative function of Ephesians 4:1-16 in the Epistle determined. Ephesians 4:13 was then interpreted, to obtain the meaning of spiritual maturity. A self-administered questionnaire was developed, pre-tested and distributed to a sample of Church leaders in the Arusha, Babati and Kilimanjaro Deaneries of the Anglican Diocese of Mount Kilimanjaro. The data from the 79 questionnaires returned were analysed using the SPSS. The meaning of spiritual maturity in Ephesians 4:1-16 and the understanding and level of spiritual maturity of the leadership of the Anglican Church in Tanzania were compared. The following are some of the highlights of the results and conclusions of the study: First, Paul's main purpose in Ephesians is for Christians to understand that they have a new identity and to exhort them to celebrate it (Eph 1 - 3); in response, they are to live a life that is commensurate with that identity as an expression of their gratitude to God for it (Eph 4:17 -6:20); but in order to be able to live as they are exhorted, they need to be growing towards spiritual maturity (Eph 4:1-16). Second, spiritual maturity is a final destination intended for all Christians, who are progressively becoming one body that befits Christ as its Head. Its indicators include stability and constancy in the truth, ability to discern error and reject or correct it, and ability and orientation to speak the truth in love. As a result of the Church growing towards ultimate spiritual maturity, unity increasingly becomes a reality, implying that it is spiritual maturity that brings about unity of all, not the other way round. And third, in several of the dimensions of spiritual maturity, the Church leadership's understanding is not in agreement with Ephesians 4:1-16. That is by no means to say the Church leadership does not agree with the portion of Scripture on anything. For example, in consonance with the position of Ephesians 4:13, the Church leadership generally acknowledges the necessity of human effort to strive towards spiritual maturity and the necessity of systematic and authentic biblical teaching for the attainment of spiritual maturity. This is significant, since without such acknowledgement, investing towards spiritual maturity in terms of time, finances and training is highly unlikely. However, whereas the corporate essence of spiritual maturity in Ephesians 4:13 projects an expectation of increasing oneness of the body, the Church leadership understands the corporate essence of spiritual maturity as the abilities and constancy of all Christians to be able to stand on their own, individually, thus missing the corporate essence of spiritual maturity according to the text. Furthermore, from the text, the primary means of attaining spiritual maturity is the participation of all Christians as started off and continuously equipped and guided by the ministers Christ appointed and gave to the Church as gifts. In contradistinction, a majority of the Church leaders understands the Baptism and Confirmation rites to be the primary means of attaining spiritual maturity. The Church leadership also understands that spiritual maturity becomes complete when people accept Christ as their Lord and Saviour. With such understanding, the leadership of the Church would be handicapped, at least would not be motivated, with regard to developing effective spiritual growth programmes for their Church. Also, Ephesians 4:13-16 presents spiritual maturity as absolutely necessary and lack of it as a dangerous state for the Church to be in, but the Church leaders' understanding of the necessity of spiritual maturity reflects lack of awareness about, or an indifference to, or naiveté about the fact that a Church lacking spiritual maturity would likely succumb to the machinations of false teachers and other forces of error, who are resolved to deceive, mislead and destroy. The implications of these findings for the work of the Anglican Church in Tanzania are identified and presented. The main contributions of this thesis include the particular approach to interpreting Ephesians in general and Ephesians 4:1-16 in particular as well as the method of Rhetorical Criticism developed for that purpose, articulation of the concept of spiritual maturity from the interpretation of Ephesians 4:13, and the determination of the spiritual maturity of the Church in a specific context. Church leaders of the Anglican Church in Tanzania, decision-makers in Church work generally, Christian education planners, and New Testament scholars should find this contribution particularly beneficial.