But speaking the truth in love. ἀληθεύοντες is hardly translatable in English it implies being true as well as speaking the truth and following the truth. Truth is the element in which we are to live, move, and have our being; fidelity to truth is the backbone of the Christian ministry.
But truth must be inseparably married to love; good tidings spoken harshly are no good tidings; the charm of the message is destroyed by the discordant spirit of the messenger. The more painful the first impression which a truth is fitted to produce (e.
g. Ephesians 2:1-3), the more need is there for dealing with it in love—a much-needed and much-neglected exhortation. May grow up into him in all things who is the Head, namely, Christ. Growing up into Christ is like baptizing into the Name of the Father, etc.
; it implies that the growth tends to a closer union to Christ, as, on the other hand, union to Christ causes the growth: the two act and react on each other. This growth is to be "in all things"—in the whole man—in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, in all the communicable properties of Christ.
How great the work of growth is that should be sought in the case of every living believer is evident from the enormous gulf there is between his spiritual and moral state and that of Christ. Yet such growth is reasonable, considering the relation of the body to him, its Head.
The fact of this relation should encourage us to seek and expect the growth, and encourage ministers to labor hopefully towards promoting it.