If one applies the four phrases that follow “til we all come” to the development of the body of Christ, it must include Jews and Gentiles as fellow-heirs. If this was Paul’s meaning when he wrote this letter, then attaining to the unity of the faith is certainly accomplished by tearing down the hostilities and the law contained in ordinances, and the temple, etc. The New International Version has it, “until we all reach unity in the faith.” ’ It is practically the same as ‘the unity of the Spirit in verse three because one emphasizes what is produced while the other emphasizes its source. It was certainly achievable in their lifetime.
Jude 3 speaks of the faith “once for all delivered to the saints” for which he is to contend and Paul writes his last letter saying, “Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The fact that the saints had Scriptures in the sense of having the Old Testament and the inspired New Testament writings of Paul, Peter, and John did not negate the work of Timothy and Titus or the work of shepherds that they were told to ordain in every city in which dwelt saints. For this reason, that which they have in common, other than their teaching role, is the direct guidance of the Spirit and the existence of spiritual gifts (cf. 1 Cor. 13:9-12). Planterers and waterers existed as some stayed in one location for a lifetime, while others moved from place to place. This does not mean that there was no overlapping of work or that pastors did not evangelize and preachers never stayed longer than a few months. It only suggests that there’s a pattern of planting wherein the truth has taken root in the early stages of growth and there’s a pattern of daily care and maintenance. It is a perfect description of what existed in evangelists and shepherds. Both were teachers. Both had the same source of truth in the Scriptures, and both work with souls. Yet, they each have a different emphasis of work.
The entire context describes the body or saints as a whole. Each individual of the body contributes to the growth of the whole body in all aspects into Christ, who is the fullness of the body. It is from Christ that the whole body is fitted and held together by the work of each individual saint (Eph. 4:15-16). What is produced is the growth of the body (cf. v. 16b). This is the same result from the work of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers mentioned back in verse twelve.
The four conditions of verse thirteen, therefore, are applied to the body and the interdependency of each part on the other. This unity in diversity and the acceptance and application of the spoken word (v. 15, or the one faith) produced beautiful harmony and consistency. This was made possible by the fulfillment and end of the old law of Moses and dependency on the works of that law. While it remained and was defended, the unity of the faith was not attained. At the time of these gifts, they did not hold the same truths, nor did they place their confidence and hope in the same place. Some were tempted to abandon Christ and return to their former ties to their tradition.
Once they attained that “unity of the faith” and “of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”, they would not be carried off by the deception of false teachers. Instead, the truth spoken in love would cause growth in Christ, the head of that body. The result of that one body composed from Jews and Gentiles would be “fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several parts, and causes the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love: (Eph. 4;16). These words do not describe flawless individual members of the body of Jews and Gentiles who have perfect knowledge of all things, but only knowledge that is related to the revelation of the mystery of Christ, that is, the unity of the faith that is related to the called out people. That is the context of the entire letter.