Ephesians 4:1-6

Paul shifts his focus a little moving from chapters 1-3 into 4-6. He moves from doctrine to duty, from theological truth to theological practice, from instruction to exhortation, and from a description of God’s new family and prayers for God’s new family to the standards of living that God expects from His new family. And this transition is perfectly logical and absolutely necessary. We need knowledge of truth, but we don’t need to stop there. We need that knowledge of truth to be practical, to be applied to our lives in the various relationships with which we deal. And we come to understand, through this instruction and exhortation, that our walk in Christ is one of unity and diversity.

¹As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ²Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

After opening with prayer (chapter one), Paul has spent the past two chapters of this letter telling these Christians who they are in Christ. And now he begins chapter four by saying, “Be who you are!” Here’s who you are; now be who you are. And this pattern of instruction followed by exhortation, of doctrinal teaching followed by lifestyle application, which repeats itself throughout Paul’s letters, is not unique to Paul. It is found in other New Testament authors and more importantly in the Old Testament as well. Consider Joshua telling the children of Israel, “The land is yours. Now take it. Canaan belongs to you. It’s your land. God has given it to you. Now take it.” The indicative precedes the imperative. By walking the talk, by claiming the name of Christ and living rightly (Coram Deo), we not only are obeying God, but we are being a light in the darkness; we are avoiding the charge of hypocrisy that so damages evangelism and the perception of the Church. So Paul’s command to be who you are as Christians is of utmost importance in this fallen world.

He uses his imprisonment as evidence of his authority, to serve as a motive for their obedience. He wants them to do for him what he has done for them. And it’s quite a challenge, “to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” The verb is often translated, “walk,” and it speaks of being fruitful (Ephesians 2:10), especially regarding moral conduct. Paul says the same thing in Philippians 1:27-28, “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you.” But how are we to do this? What does a worthy life look like? Paul answers that in much the same way in all of his prisoner letters, but v2-3 here kick off the answer found in Ephesians.

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Those DC memory verses – Ephesians 4:2-3 – fall back-to-back for a reason. Paul wants these attributes to be exhibited toward one another within the church for the sake of unity. Are we humble? In other words, do we put others before ourselves? Are we gentle? In other words, does meekness (strength under control) mark our fellowship? Are we foregoing our rights to serve others? Are we patient? In other words, do we forbear any grievances that come our way in order that fellowship may not experience disunity? Finally, v2 says that we need to bear with one another in love. Do we tolerate one another? In spite of personality conflicts, do we get along? Love serves as the bonding agent for all of these other attributes. We need to seek the good of others regardless of the cost we incur. V3 reveals the motive for that effort: unity. Unity must be cultivated; it doesn’t just happen. But Paul is saying, “You have been given a God-wrought unity; now maintain it.” And we do that through maintaining peace despite our differences. So to summarize, unity is crucial for Christianity, and it is cultivated as Christians are humble, meek or gentle, patient, tolerant, and peaceful – all in love.

Next, in v4, Paul details the far-greater-than-we-can-understand unity of the Church. He says there is one body and one Spirit. In other words, just as every Christian regardless of ethnic or cultural background has been called through the gospel to one hope (Christ in you, the hope of glory), so God has, through Christ by the Holy Spirit, made one body (of which each Christian is a part) led by one Spirit – the Holy Spirit. And this impossible-to-understand unity is understood in light of the Trinity. In v4-6, the word “one” is used seven times. Three of those times, it refers to a member of the Trinity – the Spirit in v4, the Lord Jesus Christ in v5, and God the Father in v6. The Trinity becomes the model of how we, though many, can be one and in fact are one in Jesus Christ. Our diversity, our difference, our distinct individuality is not compromised or lost, just as each member of the Godhead remains eternally distinct, yet one and the same essence. Because the Spirit is one, because the Lord is one, because there is one God, so too, we share in four aspects of one salvation – one hope, one faith, one baptism, and one body. Though the church does not often appear to be united, Paul says it is one body. That’s who we are, says Paul, and so we ought to live that way. We ought to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace because the Spirit has united us in peace (v3-4).

There are two great objective realities, or truths, that have a controlling influence on how we live with one another in the body of Christ. The first is who God is, and the second is what He has done, specifically what He has made us to be. We have not contributed anything to those truths. We’re beneficiaries of them. Notice that as a result of who God is, He has made us into this one body. We were not one, but He has made us one. And the body He has created is an actual single physical body. It’s not merely a spiritual body; and it’s not a conglomeration of many bodies. We are one body, the communion of saints, the invisible church, because there is only one Spirit. (Even the local congregation is not a product of human configuration, but an outworking of the Holy Spirit. And the reason we share only one hope, one faith, and one baptism is that there is only one Lord. If there were two Lords, then we’d need two hopes, two faiths, and two baptisms.)

The Spirit joins the Church in spirit (Colossians 2:5), but our unity is seen and displayed outwardly, physically, as the Spirit works in us corporately. As parts of the same body, we share a hope, a desire to see that body reach out for God’s glory, to see that body grow and be healthy, and to bear the burdens, to share the heartbreak of that body corporately. We share a faith in Christ by the Spirit to bring that to pass; we share an experience of baptism – by the Holy Spirit into the sphere of Christ’s Lordship, and for many, in water as well. And we (Christians) share the same Father, God, “who is over all and through all and in all.” Calvin comments, “Although God by His power upholds, and maintains, and rules, all things, yet Paul is not now speaking of the universal, but of the spiritual government which belongs to the church. By the Spirit of sanctification, God spreads Himself through all the members of the church, embraces all in His government, and dwells in all; but God is not inconsistent with Himself, and therefore we cannot but be united to Him into one body” (John 17:11).