What does Ephesians 4:7 mean?

Verses 4, 5, and 6 gave a powerful description of the unity Christians can experience in Christ. Every believer is saved by the same grace, through the same faith, given by the same Savior, who is both Lord and God of all. Here, Paul returns again to the theme of grace, this time focusing on spiritual gifts. While our faith is unified under a single God, God brings each person exactly what they need, depending on who and where they are.

In other words, God's grace is given out personally. He knows exactly what we need and how to meet that need. This grace is given at varying levels as God sees fit "according to the measure of Christ's gift." Spiritual gifts involve a variety of abilities (Ephesians 4:11; Romans 12:4–6; 1 Corinthians 12:4–6), yet all of our gifts should work together in service to the "one God" (Ephesians 4:6).

In Ephesians 3:8 Paul taught that "grace was given" to him to preach to the Gentiles. He was called as an apostle, yet was not given every single one of the various gifts of grace God supplies. He wasn't worried about the gifts he did not have, instead Paul was focused on getting the most out of what he had been given by God.

First Peter 4:10 says, "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace." Paul taught salvation was by grace (Ephesians 2:8–9), we live by grace, and we operate according to our spiritual gifts by grace.