Ephesians 4:13-14

until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

-Ephesians 4:13-14

So, there are gifts given and the purpose is to "equip the saints for the work of ministry" and "for building up the body of Christ".  Now, the equipping and the building up is for another set of purposes.  I guess Paul is explaining yet another link down the chain.  The eventual goal is to "attain the unity of the faith", and to attain "the knowledge of the Son of God" and maturity.  I guess this means to say that our equipping for work and building up the body as a whole will result in bringing us together and growing us in our relationship with God through how much we know him.  Thus, in unifying and growing in our knowledge of God, we mature and grow.  Looking at it the other way, when we are divisive and when we don't know much about God, it could be said that we are immature.

There is yet another link down the chain that Paul speaks of.  Equipping for work and building up the body results in unity and knowledge, resulting in maturity.  Maturity leads to a solid foundation against that which is not of God.  Maturing, like a child who grows up into an adult, means we are not susceptible to "every wind of doctrine", "human cunning", "craftiness", and "deceitful schemes".  The other image given by Paul is that of a boat at the mercy of the waves, being tossed back and forth.  We are not to be like an immature child and we are not to be like a boat at the mercy of the waves.  Maturity leads to us not succumbing to "every wind of doctrine" like a boat succumbing to the waves or like a child who is easily deceived because he or she doesn't know any better.

Back in verse 13, it begins with the word "until".  That has me stuck, because I'm not too sure what to do with it.  Does it mean that once these things happen, the building up and equipping will cease?  If that's not the case, does that mean that we will never attain the unity of faith or knowledge of the Son of God.  I can see merits in these different points of view, but I can't make heads or tails on any of them.  Perhaps it's most important to know where we're supposed to be heading and why.  Though we may or may not reach it is something I'm not sure of what is meant here in these verses.  But, God's goal for us is to grow up, unifying and growing in our relationship with him.