This verse in Greek continues from verse 12 with the conjunction “until” expressing the final goal, the ultimate result, of all that precedes. Good News Translation we shall all come together brings out the collective meaning of the text: not all, one by one, separately, but all together (see Beare). As Lightfoot says: “we Christians all as a body, not simply pantes [all of us].”

There is a subtle ambiguity in the statement we shall all come together, for this may be understood to mean merely “to gather together.” It may therefore be better to translate “all of us together shall come to….”

Come … to translates the Greek verb “arrive at, reach, attain to.” There are three goals to be reached, indicated in Greek by the threefold use of the preposition “into”:

(1) “The oneness of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God”: for oneness see 4.3; faith is here defined by Furnish as the “totality of Christian doctrines and practices.” For knowledge see 1.17. Only here in Ephesians is the title the Son of God used. Robinson takes both faith and knowledge to be governed by the genitive of the Son of God: “faith in and knowledge of the Son of God” (so Translator’s New Testament). But it is also possible to take faith absolutely (so Good News Translation).

A literal translation of the expression to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God might imply “to a point of agreeing about our faith and about our knowledge concerning the Son of God.” But this passage is not about diverse doctrines and heresies but about the unity of believers. Therefore it is better to translate to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God as “to that place of being like one in the way we trust Christ and in our experiencing the Son of God.” In this context knowledge implies much more than “knowing about.” Here the emphasis is upon “experiencing the presence of the Son of God” or “experiencing the power of the Son of God.” That is to say, experiencing his power in the life of the believer.

(2) We shall become mature people: the Greek phrase “the mature man” is a way of speaking of growth and maturity in the Christian life; the singular is used because the corporate nature of the experience is being emphasized. It is the church as a body, the “one new man” (Revised Standard Version) in 2.15. Murray, however, thinks each individual Christian is meant; in that case, however, one would expect the Greek to use the noun anthrōpos, more appropriate for the meaning “person,” and not the noun anēr, which is specifically a male. The figure is in contrast to the immature and indecisive children of verse 14.

The use of the phrase mature people suggests both growth and the completion of such a process. It may even be possible in some languages to say “we shall become like grown people in our faith” or “we shall completely grow up in our faith.”

(3) Reaching to the very height of Christ’s full stature; “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”: this clause is closely parallel to the second one and serves to define what it means to be a “mature man.” For “measure” see 4.7; here it means “full measure,” that is, “the desired height.” The Greek noun translated stature can mean “age” (as in John 9.21), and some (see Abbott) prefer that meaning here. Of course both age and size are usually implied in the expression “a full-grown man,” “a mature man.”

Here the Greek phrase “the fullness of Christ” (for “fullness” see 1.10, 23; 3.19) is the standard set for the body, the church; see New English Bible “to mature manhood, measured by nothing less than the full stature of Christ”; Translator’s New Testament, somewhat differently, “that full maturity which comes from Christ”; Jerusalem Bible “fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.” So the “fullness” of Christ here is either to be indicated by stature, maturity, perfection, completeness, or whatever else best fits the context of the language.

It may be difficult to employ the figure of height and stature in speaking of Christ, since such a figure of speech may be interpreted as purely physical in the sense that people would grow up to be as tall as Christ was. Therefore reaching to the very height of Christ’s full stature may be better rendered in some instances as “becoming as mature as Christ was” or “in our trust in God becoming completely like Christ.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1982. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .