To the Christians in Ephesus, the apostle Paul wrote: “He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelizers, some as shepherds and teachers, with a view to the readjustment of the holy ones, for ministerial work, for the building up of the body of the Christ, until we all attain to the oneness in the faith and in the accurate knowledge of the Son of God, to a full - grown man, to the measure of stature that belongs to the fullness of the Christ; in order that we should no longer be babes, tossed about as by waves and carried hither and thither by every wind of teaching by means of the trickery of men, by means of cunning in contriving error. ” ​ — Ephesians 4: 11 - 14.
پولُس رسول به مسیحیان اَفَسُس نوشت :‏ « او بخشید بعضی رسولان و بعضی انبیا و بعضی مبشّرین و بعضی شبانان و معلّمان را ،‏ برای تکمیل مقدّسین ،‏ برای کار خدمت ،‏ برای بنای جسد [یا بدن] مسیح ،‏ تا همه به یگانگی ایمان و معرفت تامِ پسر خدا و به انسانِ کامل ،‏ به اندازهٔ قامت پُری مسیح برسیم تا بعد از این اطفال متموّج و رانده‌شده از باد هر تعلیم نباشیم ،‏ از دغابازی مردمان در حیله‌اندیشی برای مکرهای گمراهی .‏ » —‏ اَفَسُسیان ۴ :‏ ۱۱ -‏ ۱۴‏ .‏