Our Call to Unity and Holiness
A verse-by-verse explanation of the chapter.
An overview of the principles and applications from the chapter.
Tying the chapter to life with God.
Historical, geographical, and grammatical enrichment of the commentary.
Suggested step-by-step group study of the chapter.
Zeroing the chapter in on daily life.
“Christians are people who are drawn together because
they owe a common debt to the goodness and grace of God.”
William Barclay
In chapter 4, Paul advises the Ephesian Christians: I want to encourage you to live the way God's people should live. Two particularly important things should characterize your lives. First, since you are spiritually united in Christ with all other Christians, live in unity with one another. Minister to others, and let others minister to you. In that way, you will all grow to spiritual maturity. Second, live holy lives. Put behind you the sins of the past, and live a moral and ethical lifestyle that reflects the values of Christ.
Identity and actions inseparably go together. From the earliest days of our childhood, our actions are linked to our identity:
Throughout our life, from beginning to end, our identity is linked to our actions. Who we are affects how we should act. This is the basic principle of life to which Paul appeals in our opening sentence of chapter 4. In the first three chapters he said, “You are a child of God.” Now in the fourth chapter, he is saying, “Act like one.” Throughout the rest of the book, he spells out for us in specific detail how we are to act.
Our Call to Unity and Holiness
MAIN IDEA: You should live like the person you have become. Live in unity and mutual ministry with others and in holiness before God.
The Call to Unity (vv. 1–6)SUPPORTING IDEA: Because Jews and Gentiles have been united by God in Christ, we should manifest the spiritual unity by being united in our actions.
4:1.Then refers back to the entire first three chapters of the book. Because of all that God has done for us in providing salvation and making us into a spiritual dwelling place of God in the spirit, a dwelling place in which Jew and Gentile are united as one, we should live like the people we have become. The fact that Paul is a prisoner for the Lord lends weight to the fact that we should also become prisoners of the Lord. Paul actually was in prison when he wrote Ephesians, and we are probably not in prison. Paul's physical presence in prison bore a double meaning. He would have considered himself a prisoner of the Lord even if he had been living in freedom. The point is, he had given up his freedom to follow Christ, and he was calling on us to do the same.
4:2. After calling us to walk (live) worthy of our calling in Christ, Paul describes the character qualities of the person who lives as a prisoner of Christ. Humility does not mean to see yourself as some pitiful excuse for humanity, some low life above whom all other human beings exist, some piece of refuse at the bottom of the human pile. Rather, humility means to see yourself as God sees you: with infinite and inherent value but with no more value than anyone else. It means being willing to accept God as the authority over your life rather than insisting on being your own supreme authority. It means you are willing to order your life in such a way as to serve God by serving others. When all Christians do that, everyone's needs are met by others in a context of harmony and love.
When we fail to subordinate ourselves to others, however, we focus on meeting our own needs. This way we may accumulate to ourselves those things which we want, but we become lonely. Christians cannot be satisfied in a context of individualism and isolationism. It is not good for man to be alone. Only humility leads away from loneliness.
Gentleness or meekness literally means “power under control.” Being meek for a week will make you realize it takes strength to be meek. War horses in the ancient world went into battle trained to protect their master. They were under the total and instantaneous control of their rider. The war horses were described as being meek. Their strength was under total control.
Moses was described as the meekest man who ever lived. Yet he was a great, dynamic, charismatic leader who challenged the power of the throne of Egypt. His strength stood under God's control.
Patience is believing God's timetable is good, no matter what it is. “O Lord, give me patience, and hurry!” is the prayer of most of us. Patience does not always come quickly. Patience is a characteristic of mature people. When we have a proper expectation, it actually helps us be patient.
Abraham received God's promises that he would have a land, many descendants, and a blessing, but he had to wait many years to see those promises fulfilled. “After waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised” (Heb. 6:15).
God told Noah to build an ark, far from any body of water. For one hundred years he worked on it, in faithfulness. Finally when it rained, Noah received the promise and the fruit of his obedience.
Moses waited forty years between the time he gained his burden to deliver the children of Israel and the time his burden was fulfilled. Patience.
Throughout the Scriptures patience means patience. It doesn't mean that if I am patient now, maybe the Lord will see I have learned my lesson and will give me what I want sooner. Patience is waiting for God to act when, where, and how God chooses.
Forbearance in love is the willingness to put up with something or someone in a spirit of love—agape love, which is the commitment of my will to benefit another.
4:3. These characteristics yield unity! Preserving the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace implies that we do have spiritual unity. Unity exists in Christ! Unity is maintained by the Spirit. Unity is preserved as believers make peace with one another their major priority instead of acting selfishly for personal gain and honor. Our call is not to create spiritual unity but rather to manifest spiritual unity by relational unity. Paul calls for unity in the third verse and spends the next thirteen verses elaborating on it.
4:4. Paul appeals for corporate unity in the body of Christ on the basis of the elements of spiritual unity. Each element is an isolated whole, but each element functions as a uniting factor within the larger church.
The church is one body. Believers may meet in many places, speak different languages, and live in different cultures. None of this separates them. They remain Christ's one body. The church obeys one Spirit. Many people may claim to bring God's message or teach God's truth. Such teachers and teachings may threaten to divide the people of God into theological camps. God's Spirit speaks the one truth and guides the church to unity in theology and practice. The church lives in the light of its one hope. Christ's resurrection has ensured the believers' resurrection to eternal life. That common goal encourages the church to act in unity now.
4:5. The church receives salvation and marching orders from one Lord. Christ Jesus died and rose again. He alone has the right to the church's allegiance. All other lords are false guides and promise salvation they cannot deliver. Following Christ, the church will never be divided.
The church proclaims one faith. The crucified, resurrected Lord is the object of that faith. To confess Jesus as Lord is to express the faith of the church and to unify oneself with all members of that church. Membership in the church comes through one baptism. Each member enters the baptismal waters once to confess the one faith and become a part of the one body. This baptism identifies the person as belonging to Christ and distinguishes the person from all who do not confess Christ. Thus baptism is the unifying mark of believers.
4:6. The final element of spiritual unity is one God. This tied the church to its Jewish heritage. The worship of one and only one God united the church. The major elements of the church's theology and practice come in ones. This calls the church to practical unity. As Christians live together and witness together, they must show unity to the world.
The Cultivation of Unity (vv. 7–16)SUPPORTING IDEA: God has spiritually gifted each of us, so we should minister to others and let them minister to us. Then we will all grow to spiritual maturity.
4:7. Verse 7 introduces the subject of our spiritual giftedness. In so doing the emphasis turns slightly from the church's unity to individual diversity. Each of us received a spiritual gift by the grace of God. That grace has not been apportioned equally. Rather Christ has chosen how to divide grace to each member. Each is distinct and different.
4:8. In verses 8–10, Paul digresses from his direct argument to provide scriptural proof. Instead of giving a direct quote of Psalm 68:18, he apparently gave a general summary of the entire psalm. Psalm 68 is a victory hymn composed by David to celebrate the conquest of a Jebusite city. It describes a victory parade up Mount Zion, going beyond the literal, historical victory parade to attribute the victory to God. Thus it talks about a figurative victory parade with God ascending, not up to Mount Zion, but up to heaven.
Historically, it was typical, after a king won a significant military victory, to bring back the spoils of war, including enemy prisoners, to display to his people. In addition, however, if there were any of his own soldiers whom the enemy had previously captured, the victorious king would bring them back and parade them before the home crowd. These were often referred to as recaptured captives—prisoners who had been taken prisoner again by their own king and then given freedom. It was a great honor to release these captives. David pictures God ascending to heaven after having been victorious against his earthly enemies and freeing those who had been captive to the forces of evil.
When he ascended on high depicts a triumphant God returning from battle on earth back into the glory of heaven. He led captives in his train perhaps refers to those who have been delivered from captivity to evil.
4:9–10. Jewish rabbis interpreted Psalm 68 in light of Moses' ascent of Mount Sinai. Paul interpreted it in light of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Ascended refers to Jesus' ascension from earth to heaven (Acts 1:9–11). He ascended from earth to heaven to reign forever with his Father. Paul then explains that if God ascended he first descended. If, as seems clear, ascended refers to the Lord's being taken up to heaven, then descended seems to refer to his coming down from heaven to earth previously. The lower, earthly regions complicates the interpretation. This passage has historically been understood as Jesus' having descended into hell and preached a proclamation of freedom to someone there. Recently, that interpretation has fallen into disfavor. The weight of evidence and the preponderance of modern commentaries now lean toward saying that the intent of the phrase is not to point to a specific place, such as the inner core of the earth, or to “hell,” but simply to refer to the incarnation.
John MacArthur writes:
To understand the phrase “the lower parts of the earth” we need only to examine its use elsewhere in Scripture. In Psalm 63:9, it has to do with death, being related to falling by the sword. In Matthew 12:40, a similar phrase “the heart of the earth” refers to the belly of a great fish where the prophet Jonah was kept. In Isaiah 44:23 the phrase refers to the created earth. Psalm 139:15 uses it in reference to the womb of a woman where God is forming a child. The sum of these uses indicates that the phrase relates to the created earth as a place of life and death. In the majority of the uses it appears in contrast to the highest heavens (Ephesians, Chicago: Moody Press, 1986, 139).
Therefore “descending into hell” is certainly a possible explanation, but not a necessary explanation. The contrast is between an ascent to heaven and a descent from heaven. The descent would then be to earth, from earth to hell. The descent from heaven to earth could refer either to Christ's incarnation or to the coming of the Spirit as Christ's representative. The problems which arise from trying to interpret it as descending into hell are so formidable that MacArthur's is the generally preferred interpretation. The emphasis of the passage is on the ascent, not the descent. Christ ascended above the heavens to take his place beside the Father ruling the universe.
In order to fill the whole universe is an uncertain phrase, but may mean that Jesus, as head of the universe (Col. 1:18), resumes his position of authority over the universe and therefore the right to bestow gifts on his subjects.
4:11. This verse ties directly back to the last word of verse 7. Verse 11 picks up again the subject started in verse 7 to tell us the relationship between the call to unity and the spiritual gifts Christ has given us. Spiritual gifts are at the heart of Christ's strategy for building his church. The gifts are ministers (or ministries) for the church. While this issue is strongly debated, particularly by Pentecostal and charismatic theologians, evangelical doctrine has traditionally held that of those four gifts two of them are still in existence and two have passed away. These gifts will be looked at more closely in the “Deeper Discoveries” section. For now, it is adequate to make the observation that the apostles and prophets seem no longer to be part of God's work in the church. The church was laid on the foundation of the ministry of the apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:20). Now that that foundation has been laid, the evangelists and the pastor-teachers are being used by God to build the superstructure.
4:12. It is not the task of these gifted people to do all the work of the ministry. Their task is to prepare God's people for works of service. When believers are equipped and people accept the adventure of ministering to others, then the whole body is built up, matured, strengthened, and flourishes.
4:13. Diverse gifts create and build up one body in unity. This unity is in faith and knowledge of Christ. Christ does not try to build up superstars in his kingdom with superior faith or superior knowledge. He tries to build up a church unified in its faith and knowledge, each member being built up to maturity. All are to reach the fullness of Christ. The church's goal is that each member and thus the entire church will show to the world all the attributes and qualities of Christ. Then the church will truly be the one body of Christ.
4:14–16. The result of these spiritually gifted people's equipping the saints is that believers are not to be like children, easily persuaded and confused, jumping from one opinion or belief to the next, like waves on the sea being driven by gusting winds of false teaching. Rather, the believers are to speaking the truth in love. Speaking the truth in love is a mark of maturity, which will enable us to grow up spiritually. Immature people often fall into one of two opposite errors. They speak the truth, but without love, or they love without speaking the truth. When we do the first, we often brutalize others, pounding them with truth but doing it in an unloving way. When we do the second, we don't tell others the truth, thinking that by shielding them from the truth we are sparing them from pain. We are not, however. All we are doing is delaying their maturation. To share the truth with our fellow believers is a mark of maturity, but to do it with love, with understanding, with compassion. From Christ the whole body is gifted, and as each one uses his gift for the benefit of others, the whole body matures. We must recognize that we belong to one another, we need one another, no matter how insignificant we think our contribution is. There are no little people in the kingdom of God, as Francis Shaeffer used to say, and there are no little jobs. Just as a physical body needs red corpuscles and livers more than it needs a handsome face or beautiful hair, so we all belong; we are all necessary. We all can contribute, and when we do, we all grow to maturity in Christ.
4:14. The Ephesian church, as most of the churches Paul wrote, faced teachers with opposing viewpoints. They divided the church body into factions, each opposing the others. Their presence required the type of spiritual maturity and church unity Paul had described. Without such unity the church would act like a group of babies, each crying out because of his own pains and needs, each inconsistently saying one thing and then another, each at the mercy of cunning, deceitful teachers. To avoid infantile behavior, the church must mature into unity of the faith and of knowledge of Christ.
4:15. Such maturity involves teaching the truth in love. False teachers showed no love or care for the members; they simply wanted to get their own way. Mature believers search for the truth as a united body, loving and caring for the needs of each member. Such loving, caring search for truth allows them to grow as members of the body whose head is Christ, for Christ is the truth.
4:16. The head allows each part of the body to mature and grow, not concentrating on special knowledge and growth for a favored few. Each of the parts of the body is needed to hold the whole body together in unity. The body is truly a maturing, loving body only as each part is encouraged to grow and do its part of the work.
The Calling to Holiness (vv. 17–24)SUPPORTING IDEA: You must no longer do the evil things you did before you were a Christian.
4:17. The Gentiles in Ephesus were particularly sinful. Ephesus was a leading city of commerce and culture in the Roman Empire, the home of the pagan temple of Diana, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Worship of Diana involved the worst immorality of degraded pagan religion. That influence made Ephesus a wretched hive of scum and villainy, a wicked place indeed. Temple prostitution, graft, crime, immorality, idolatry, and every conceivable form of sin abounded. Many of the Christians in Ephesus came out of that kind of background. In contrast with that evil background, Paul made his appeal, “Don't live like that any longer!”
First, he says, it is futile to live like that. It leads to nothing.
4:18. Second, he says, it reflects darkened understanding, a result of having turned their backs on God. Their hearts are hard, and as a result, their mind is dark. Lives separated from God's holiness are ignorant lives. This is hard for the sophisticated, educated people of Ephesus to accept. How dare someone call them ignorant. Paul did not contend they had no knowledge. He contended the knowledge did no good in leading them to a lifestyle that pleased God. Without such a lifestyle, their minds did not function properly.
4:19. Their hard heart, which yielded a darkened mind, led to an unholy life. Paul says they have given themselves over to sensuality, a life without concern for the consequences of their actions. Their desire for sensual pleasure overrode every other regard. No matter what they did, such desire was never satisfied. They always wanted more. Lust not love dominated their lives. Such Gentiles certainly did not serve as models for the church. They were not mature. They did not bring unity.
4:20–21. In contrast to this former way of life, the Ephesian Christians were to live righteous lives. Paul says, “This is not how you learned from Jesus to live!” “Your hearts are no longer darkened. You have learned the truth, which is to be found in Jesus.”
4:22. Living a proper Christian life involved two concepts. They must put off their old self. This old self was the self that was corrupted by the deceits of lust. When we were born, we were born with a sinful bent. We were separated from God. David wrote in Psalm 51:5, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (see Eph. 2:1–3 and commentary there).
This old self is separated from God. While it is capable of doing good in the eyes of other people, it is incapable of doing anything but evil in the eyes of God. We are born that way, and we remain that way if we do not allow God to intervene. It is who we are by nature. We are children of Adam. We possess a fallen nature as Adam did, and we are separated from God as a result. That is the old self.
To put off the old self can mean merely to accept Christ as in Colossians 3:9, where it is treated as an accomplished fact. It can mean that, once you have become a Christian, you are to leave behind the attitudes, habits, values, and actions that you had before being born again—similar to taking off an old work coat and putting on a new coat to go out for the evening. This is more in keeping with the context, since Paul goes on in verses 25–32 to describe the specifics of a changing lifestyle.
The earthly desires, or lusts, which we have are deceitful. They promise one thing but deliver another. Therefore, we are to be smarter than our earthly desires, recognize their deceitfulness, and as a result, turn from them.
4:23. In contrast, we are to be made new in the attitude of our minds. How? You are what you think. You move in the direction of what you put into your mind and what you allow your mind to dwell on. So if you are not what you want to be, then you must begin to think differently. If you are to think differently, you must put into your mind that which you want to become. If you do, the Holy Spirit will use it to change you to become what you want to be. If you don't, you will never be what you want to be. It all depends on what you put into your mind. This is what it means to be made new in the attitude of your mind.
4:24. Finally, we are to put on the new self. This means, we are to allow the new self to govern our activities. We are to begin living the lifestyle that corresponds to who we have become in Christ. This new holy self shows we are maturing, growing in unity with the body, and doing our part of the body's work.
The Cultivation of Holiness (vv. 25–32)SUPPORTING IDEA: Living like the person you have become means incorporating a formidable list of specific actions into your daily life.
4:25. First we are to stop lying. To be taught the truth in Jesus (v. 21) means to make truth telling a habit of life. We cannot attempt to fool or deceive one another as pagans do. We must create unity in the body with one truth because we are members of one another.
4:26–27. Sometimes a Christian may legitimately become angry. Jesus became angry at times. In those times we must be extra careful how we act, for anger gives no excuse to sin. Sinning in anger would include things such as saying unkind things or acting in harmful ways toward others. We may not always be able to keep from getting angry, but we can keep from sinning when we do. When we do get angry, we should deal with it before the day is through.
When we allow our anger to become sin or when we allow ourselves to keep our anger for more than a day, it gives the devil an opportunity to gain control over our attitudes, our actions, and our relationships. It gives him a foothold to lead us into greater anger and more sin.
4:28. Christians are not to steal. Stealing, in its most obvious form is, either by deception or force, taking the possession of someone else. In all civilizations, stealing is considered wrong. It is a timeless and universal value. Inherently, no one wants his possessions taken from him. We have no difficulty understanding or agreeing with this command at its most obvious level.
Rather than steal, we are to work. Work has benefits. (1) It is good. It allows a person to meet his own needs and the needs of his family. It allows him to do something meaningful with his time and to make a contribution to society. (2) Work allows a person to be able to give something to others who have needs. Rather than steal from others, work allows a person to give something to others. (3) Work allows a person to support financially the advancementof the kingdom of God. Working is thus a sign of Christian faithfulness, maturity, and unity.
4:29. This is the Bible's version of, “If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.” We are to speak only words that build up and encourage others. This one passage, if consistently obeyed, would eliminate the overwhelming majority of life's conflicts. Words of a mature Christian seek to help the listener, not harm him. Thus the ministerial gifts of Christ's grace achieve their purposes, and the unity of the body of Christ is preserved and enhanced.
4:30. Not to limit speech to wholesome, helpful words makes the Holy Spirit feel grief because of our behavior. We are not saying that you can never say anything negative. Sometimes we are forced to talk about unpleasant things, particularly in solving problems in which people are involved. Teachers, ministers, employers, coaches, lawyers, police, and so on, all find it necessary to tell the truth about someone even if it is unpleasant. Whether you are solving a problem or not, you avoid speaking unwholesome words. Your intent is to build up, not tear down, to unify, not divide.
4:31–32. Christians are to “put away” five sins: bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander. In their place, they are to “put on” three virtues: kindness, tender-heartedness, and forgiveness. Because God acts this way toward us, we should act this way toward others. Then the church will be built up, the people will be holy, and Christ's body will be unified.
MAIN IDEA REVIEW: You should live like the one you have become. Live in unity and mutual ministry with others and in holiness before God.
The church is united spiritually. All the people who make up the church are “one” with Christ and with one another. We are to live our daily lives in a manner that manifests our spiritual oneness. Then we are to live lives that manifest to the world the character of Christ. Living in unity with one another will help us to live righteous and holy lives.
California's giant sequoias have roots just barely below the surface of the ground. That seems impossible. If the roots don't grow deep into the earth, it seems that they would blow over in a strong wind. But not sequoias. They grow only in groves, and their roots intertwine under the earth's surface. So, when the strong winds come, they hold one another up.
There's a lesson there. People are like the giant sequoias. We need to grow in groves. Our roots are just below the surface. Standing alone, the winds of life would blow us over like a cheap umbrella. We need to intertwine our roots, our lifelines, with others. Then when the strong winds of life blow, they have to take all of us, or they can't take any of us. If there are enough of us, the winds can't blow that hard. We'll stand, in groves, and grow toward the sun.
PRINCIPLES
APPLICATIONS
In his book, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, Dr. Paul Brand writes:
A kindly looking old gentleman with a more-than-prominent nose and a face seamed with wrinkles crosses the stage. His shoulders slump, and his eyes seem sunken and cloudy—he is over ninety years old. He sits on a stark black bench, adjusting it slightly. After a deep breath, he raises his hands. Trembling slightly, they poise for a moment above a black and white keyboard. And then the music begins. All images of age and frailty slip quietly from the minds of the four thousand people gathered to hear Arthur Rubinstein.
His program tonight is simple: Schubert's Impromptus, several Rachmaninoff's Preludes, and Beethoven's familiar Moonlight Sonata, any of which could be heard at a music school recital. But they could not be heard as played by Rubenstein. Defying mortality, he weds a flawless technique to a poetic style, rendering interpretations that evoke prolonged shouts of “Bravo!” from the wildly cheering audience. Rubinstein bows slightly, folds those marvelous nonagenarian hands, and pads offstage.
I must confess that a bravura performance such as that by Rubinstein engrosses my eyes as much as my ears. Hands are my profession. I have studied them all my life. A piano performance is a ballet of fingers, a glorious flourish of ligaments and joints, tendons, nerves, and muscles. From my own careful calculations, I know that some of the movements required, such as the powerful arpeggios in Moonlight's third movement, are simply too fast for the body to accomplish consciously. Nerve impulses do not travel with enough speed for the brain to sort out that the third finger has just lifted in time to order the fourth finger to strike the next key. Months of practice must pattern the brain to treat the movements as subconscious reflex actions … finger memory, musicians call it.
I marvel too at the slow, lilting passages. A good pianist controls his or her fingers independently, so that when striking a two-handed chord of eight notes, each of the fingers exerts a slightly different pressure for emphasis, with the melody note ringing loudest. The effect of a few grams more or less pressure in a crucial pianissimo passage is so minuscule only a sophisticated laboratory could measure it. But the human ear contains just such a laboratory, and musicians like Rubinstein gain acclaim because discriminating listeners can savor their subtlest nuances of control (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980, 161–62).
That's the way we are. We are Christ's Arthur Rubinstein. We are his body. We might even say, we are Christ's orchestra. We each are musicians, and we each have a part to play. Though we do not hear the full score or see all the musicians now, the time will come when we will sit in heaven with the Great Maestro. We will hear and see for the first time how it is all to sound.
Every musician will be there. Not one of them will have been lost. Every note that was to have been played on earth will have been played. When we see it all and hear it all put together, it will be a glorious symphony of praise to the Lord. For now you are a musician. You have a part to play. You are part of something larger, greater, and grander than yourself. We are creating a symphony of praise to the glory of God. When the Great Maestro raises his baton and signals you to play, as he does now, then on the downbeat, play!
You have a part. He has gifted you so that you can play it. You are worthy. You are able. Play to the glory of God.
Our Heavenly Father, thank you for uniting us with Christ and making us “one” with all other Christians. Give us a vision for the importance of living in love and unity with one another. Give us grace to live out the vision as we are empowered by your Holy Spirit and guided by Your Word. Amen.
A. Unity (v. 3)
Why is unity such a major issue? First, it is necessary for Christians to enjoy the richness of relationships among one another. Without unity in the bond of peace, Christians will not enjoy one another. We will not enjoy life. We will not have the mutual ministry to one another that each of us needs for life to be rich and satisfying—without unity.
Also, without unity, the world will look at Christians and doubt, based on their relationships, whether Christ is real. “[I ask that] all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21). If the world sees unity among Christians, they have a basis for concluding that Christ is sent from God. If they do not see unity among Christians, they have a basis for assuming that Christ is not sent from God. So the unity issue is a vital, strategic one in the witness of God in the world. It is not incidental.
In verses 4–6, Paul's next step is to spell out the spiritual unity on which the relational unity is based. There is one body, Spirit, hope, faith, baptism, and God. Therefore, since there is only one of these, since we are unified in this spiritual sense, we should be one in a relational sense. Spiritual unity should be manifested in relational unity.
“One body” means the body of Christ, which is a term used to describe the totality of all believers in Christ from the time of his first coming until he comes again. There is only one body. One Spirit is, of course, the Holy Spirit. There is only one. “One hope” refers to the common hope of heaven, and eternity with God. There is only one. “One faith” speaks, most likely, not of the body of truth which we believe, but rather of the common faith which we exercise in Christ for our salvation. There is only one.
To baptize means “to place into.” To baptize with water means to place into water. To baptize with the Holy Spirit means to place into the body of Christ (meaning “to become a member of”). The term baptism in this verse might refer to water baptism, or it might refer to Spirit baptism. If it refers to water baptism, it alludes to the outward symbol (water baptism) of the inward reality of the believer's identification with Christ. If it refers to Spirit baptism, it alludes to the Christian's being placed into the body of Christ, mirroring the meaning in 1 Corinthians 12:13, which reads: “For we were all baptized (placed) by one Spirit into one body.” In my understanding one baptism probably does not refer to water baptism but to our baptism into the body of Christ (Rom. 6:4–7). When we were born again, we were spiritually placed into the body of Christ. This “placing into” is referred to as being baptized into the body of Christ. There is only one.
One God is, of course, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is only one. He is of all, over all, through all, and in all. Of all means that he is the God and Father of all Christians, not all people (John 1:12, Gal. 3:26). He is over all Christians, as their sovereign God. He lives through all Christians and manifests himself in them.
B. One body (v. 4)
The body being referred to here is the body of Christ, a term used to describe the totality of all believers in Christ from the time of his first coming until he comes again. Martin Lloyd-Jones spoke eloquently of the body:
The church or body of Christ consists of people of all types and kinds and colors, from many continents and climates. The early Christians are in this body. The martyrs of the Reformation are in this body. The Puritans, the Covenanters, the first Methodists, they are all in this body; and you and I are in this body if we are truly in Christ. The Church spans the continents and the centuries. Natural abilities play no part in this matter. It matters not what you may be, whether you are ignorant or knowledgeable, clever or lacking in faculties, great or small, wealthy or poor. All these things are utter irrelevancies; this body is one. It is the Church of all the ages … the fullness of God's people. It is the only body, it is the unseen, mystical church. The one thing that ultimately matters for each one of us is that we belong to this body. We can be members of a visible church and, alas, not be members of this mystical unseen Church (Christian Unity, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1980, 47).
Just as the physical body is made up of countless different parts, all of which function as an organized whole, so the body of Christ is made up of countless individual parts, all of which contribute to a larger whole. It is extremely important that we see ourselves accurately, not as individuals in an unrelated sea of humanity, but as distinct and vital members of a great spiritual body which wants us and needs us.
C. One baptism (v. 5)
To baptize means “to place into.” To baptize with water means to place into water. The metaphor “being baptized with fire” means to be placed into difficult circumstances. The term baptism in this verse probably does not refer to water baptism but to being placed into the body of Christ.
D. Spiritual gifts (v. 7)
E. Spiritual offices of the church (v. 11)
Apostle is used in a more general sense of other men in the early church: Barnabas (Acts 14:4), Silas and Timothy (1 Thess. 2:6), and a few other outstanding leaders (Rom. 16:7; 2 Cor. 8:23; Phil 2:25). These apostles were called “representatives” (literally, “messengers”) of the churches (2 Cor. 8:23), whereas the thirteen were apostles of Jesus Christ (Gal. 1:1; 1 Pet. 1:1).
Apostles in both groups were authenticated by “signs and wonders and miracles” (2 Cor. 12:12), but neither group was self-perpetuating. Apostle is not used in the Book of Acts after 16:4. As the apostles died out, it appears that the gift of apostle disappeared.
F. Lust,sensuality, impurity (v. 19)
Verse 19 uses three Greek terms to describe the Gentile lifestyle. “Sensuality” (aselgeia) refers to a life of sexual excess, given over to debauchery and licentious living. “Impurity” (akatharsia) refers to dirt and the contents of graves that make a person ritually impure. In moral language it refers to immorality, especially sexual immorality, often involving unnatural vices. “Lust” (pleonexia) refers to greed, covetousness, a desire for things that can never be satisfied. The Gentiles were immorally insatiable. It is easier to deny the first desire than to fulfill all that follow. Lust is deceitful. It promises pleasure, but it delivers pain; it promises satisfaction, but it delivers sorrow; it promises a bright future, but it delivers a blighted future. Stolen bread is sweet, but while it is in your mouth, it turns to gravel (see Prov. 20:17).
Deitrich Bonhoeffer said, “When we are tempted, we do not say, ‘I hate God, and God hates me.’ Rather, we simply forget about God and act as though He didn't exist, or we had never known him.”
What wrong or inappropriate thing are you tempted to do, thinking you will win? You won't. Is it financial? Is it moral? Is it interpersonal? You won't win. You may win in the short run, but you always lose in the long run. Sin is like cocaine. It feels good on the front end, but on the back end it destroys.
G. Biblical view of work (v. 28)
Working is good. God is a worker, and he instituted work before the fall. Creation, of course, is a great “work”; but God continues to work now, interacting with his creation and moving it toward a purposeful end. The Bible often pictures God as a worker: divine shepherd, divine carpenter, divine farmer, divine doctor. God is a worker. Work has intrinsic value because God is a worker. Work has intrinsic value to us because we are like God—created in his image. We are coworkers with God.
We serve at least four significant purposes as we work:
The Bible pictures God's expectations in our work:
Certainly, no one will succeed totally all the time in these issues, but these are the standards toward which we must all aspire as we seek to have a biblical perspective toward work. God's work must be done God's way. For most Christians it is easier to see a missionary's or pastor's work as relating to needing to be done God's way than to see their own work in that light.
How would you want a person you work with to act in day-to-day work? How would you want the person to act toward other people as he first walks in the office on Monday morning? How would you expect the person to act in resolving conflict? What kind of integrity would you want the fellow worker to have? What kind of response would you expect in stressful situations? How would you expect the person to react when you misunderstood what the person told you?
Those same standards that apply to those in full-time Christian work also apply to you because you are in full-time Christian work. God's work must be done God's way. While God gives dignity to your work, he also gives you direction. Do you perform your work with excellence? Do you organize and plan out your day? Do you try to make the greatest contribution for your employer? Do you try to be efficient and learn to do your job a better way? What is your attitude toward others? What is the quality of your relationships? Would they describe you as caring as a Christian should be? Do you have a stability about you in the way you respond to stress? How do you respond to the opportunity for ego gratification? Are you boastful? Do you seek to serve others? What impact do you have on others?
God's work must be done God's way. You are to have an ethical edge to your life. You are to be ethically distinctive. We are to live in such a way that our lives will be unique and distinctive so that coworkers will want to know why.
A. INTRODUCTION
B. COMMENTARY
C. CONCLUSION: CHRIST'S ORCHESTRA