But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head.
This is the positive motivation for growth.
But we are coming from the negative motivation for growth: so that we would no longer be children. Being children does not mean not Christians; it just means we are on the lower end of the gradient of maturity. There are different ways we can know children.
1. All new believers are children
No one is born mature, no one is born knowing everything, no one is born at the top of the ladder; everyone is born vulnerable, needy and dependent on others. And that is not a bad thing; that is a good thing. It is about the starting point.
2. People can be children in thinking
Paul charged a church to be infants when it comes to evil, but to be mature in their thinking (1 Corinthians 14:20).
So there is that, especially when you juxtapose it with the statement in the book of Hebrews about some people needing milk rather than meat, because after some years they have not matured in their understanding (Hebrews 5:11–14).
And Paul said some people are ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3:7).
3. Need for all-rounded growth
It is possible to grow in one area and not in another. Someone can grow in his gift but not in love, something Paul chided the Corinthian church for.
Paul mentioned the need to grow in the heart of giving to this church, just as it has grown in its expression of gifts (2 Corinthians 8:7).
That is why the focus verse mentions the need to grow in all things into Christ, already letting you know that there is not one aspect of growth.
You can grow in prayer, but are you growing in the word, and what about in love? This whole-orbed growth is what Peter was focused on when he wrote these words:
Through these things he has bestowed on us his precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised you may become partakers of the divine nature, after escaping the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith excellence, to excellence, knowledge; For if these things are really yours and are continually increasing, they will keep you from becoming ineffective and unproductive in your pursuit of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more intimately. But concerning the one who lacks such things—he is blind. That is to say, he is nearsighted, since he has forgotten about the cleansing of his past sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to be sure of your calling and election. For by doing this you will never stumble into sin.
Peter says a lack of well-rounded growth is the reason for stumbling into sin.
We need to take his admonition seriously even as we examine this verse. We are coming from Paul’s words in Ephesians 4:11 about the work of those with the five named gifts, and, specifically, the last verse hints at the need for right teaching.
In this verse, we have now moved from right teaching to right practice, the practice of the truth. Not just speaking the truth but living the truth.
I rejoiced greatly because I have found some of your children living according to the truth, just as the Father commanded us.
Paul is aiming for a people whose knowledge and life match perfectly, and the person that epitomizes that is Christ.
Jesus spoke against the Pharisees because they seemingly knew the right thing, but did not live the right way, and He used one word to capture it: hypocrites.
Nothing screams the need for a fully orbed growth more than when the lord of life himself gives you the diagnosis of hypocrite.
The focus verse talks about practicing the truth in love. Not as if these are two sides of a coin, but as two realities of the same person - Christ - working hand in glove.
He is the one who is the truth, right? And He is the manifestation of love; He embodied love and spoke and lived in truth, in obedience to the Father.
That is why there is nothing more powerful than to have Christ constantly presented, not so much as having power displays, which are not under anyone's control, since we have different gifts, but the establishment of His truth and the mirroring of his heart of love and His self-sacrificing life in all things.
That is why those seemingly stuck on truth repeatedly accused Jesus of associating with sinners, and the one seemingly stuck on love, like Peter, was shown that his was merely lip service when push came to shove.
So what Paul is calling for in the focus verse are high things. And there is no shortcut; the only way is to do, to practice the truth in love. Not just knowing the truth, but living it out. In other words, embodying the truth, not just being informed about it, and that is easier said than done.