NOTES for Eph 4:14-15

In these verses it is important not to make a mistake when reading: not “return,” but “grow,” that is, in modern language, “increase.” Again, it seems, a contradiction: on the one hand, “be like children” (Matt 18:3), and on the other, “do not be infants.” The day after tomorrow we will return to this paradox, but today let us note that Jesus says that without “childlikeness” one cannot enter the Kingdom, yet He nowhere says that one must remain children. The Apostle Paul explains that Christian life is obligatory growth, and in the most important thing: love. We must not crawl, but walk, walk toward Christ. For this we must have a very firm “backbone” of faith, able to resist the winds of false teachings, temptations, and deceptions that seek to knock us off the path.