Ephesians 4
After the parenthesis of chapter 3, the Apostle takes up the subject of chapter 2 again. Christians out of both Jews and Gentiles, united into one body, one new man, and united to Christ their glorified Head, their whole position before God in Christ is their vocation or calling.
Verse 1. The Apostle is in prison, suffering with the gospel that he preached (2 Tim. 1:88Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; (2 Timothy 1:8)). The union of Jew and Gentile in one was obnoxious to the Jews who refused the gospel, which sets aside the law and the ordinances that were given by Moses; it also condemned the idolatry of the Gentiles. It was new blessing, and gave a new hope to those who believed the gospel (2 Tim. 1:11, 1211Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. 12For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. (2 Timothy 1:11‑12) and 2:9, 10). Believers were now one with Christ in glory, and the Holy Spirit was now on earth dwelling in them and with them. And by the Holy Spirit they both had access, as worshippers, before God their Father. They were the habitation of God and the body of Christ. He beseeches them to walk worthy, that is, in a way consistent with their calling.
Verse 2. It is to be done “with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love,” for each of us has the flesh in us, and our varied dispositions require that we guard against our own wills, which seek to have our own way. We need to practice putting self aside, that we may be of one mind in the Lord. If we look at the pattern of our blessed Lord, it is, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart;” and what longsuffering He ever showed with His disciples, warning and exhorting and encouraging them, but never driving them from Him; and it is only thus that we could carry out the truth of the next verse,
Verse 8. “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” These three things are important.
First, we are to walk worthy of our calling.
Second, it is to be done in lowliness and meekness and long-suffering love.
Third, we are to use diligence to maintain with all the members of the one body, the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. It means the recognition of the truth that all Christians are members of the same body, united to the same blessed Head in glory, and to each other, by the Spirit who dwells in us each one. Consistent with this, we own that Christ is the only center of gathering. To gather Christians together without Christ as the center, is in reality only scattering them. His presence is given only to those gathered to His Name (Matt. 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)). This truth sets all divisions, schisms, and societies of men, aside, and gives with the true center the only union that God’s Word recognizes.
In the Acts of the Apostles we see how this was carried out. In chapter 8, God did not give to any of the Samaritans the Holy Spirit, though they were saved and baptized until Peter and John came from Jerusalem, and prayed and laid their hands on them, thus witnessing that the old schism was gone, and that they were one with those at Jerusalem; the unity of the Spirit was maintained.
In Acts 10, Peter was called to receive the first Gentile believers into the assembly; this took place at Caesarea. The Lord overcame his natural prejudice by giving them the Holy Spirit, and Peter acknowledged the fact by commanding their reception by baptism; here also the unity was maintained, and when they of the circumcision blamed him for receiving them, he patiently went over how God led him to do it, and ended by saying, “Who was I, that I could withstand God?” This turned their opposition into rejoicing that God had granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life; thus the unity of the Spirit was maintained.
In Acts 15, the question arose as to circumcising believers from among the Gentiles. The Apostle Paul knew that this was contrary to Christianity, and would not allow it. The Lord did not allow divisions to come in between the assembly at Jerusalem and the assembly at Antioch, so he told Paul to go to Jerusalem to settle it there (Gal. 2:22And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain. (Galatians 2:2)). They had a conference with the assembly, the apostles and elders; and there again we see the unity of the Spirit is maintained.
In Galatians 2, we have an instance where Peter did not notice that he was failing in this point, and Paul withstood him to the face (verse 11).
And again in Acts 15, we find Barnabas letting natural ties interfere with the service of the gospel, for his nephew John Mark had forsaken the work at Pamphylia (Acts 13:1313Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. (Acts 13:13)), and went to Jerusalem where, at that time, persecution was not so much. So Paul would not take him, and because of it, Barnabas went with him to their home in Cyprus. In these last instances we see that this truth needs to be maintained toward individuals, as well as by assemblies, toward each other.
In 2 Timothy 1:1515This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. (2 Timothy 1:15) we find that all in Asia had turned from the truth that Paul taught, and it has continued to get worse. Nearly all Christendom is in division. How few there are now that understand the necessity of it, or it may be that they are quite in ignorance of this truth of the unity of the body of Christ, to which the unity of the Spirit applies. And yet it is a truth that brings before the heart how dear we are to the Lord, even as members of His body, so that He feels all that we feel.
In verses 4 to 6 we have three circles of unity: Verse 4 takes in only those who are saved and sealed by the Holy Spirit.
Verse 5 takes in all profession, both true and false.
Verse 6 takes in all creation.
Verse 4. “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.” There is only one body, and all who have received the Holy Spirit are its members. Christ is its Head. We have therefore the same hope of Glory with Christ above. This is our true, eternal, abiding unity.
Verse 5. “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” This is connected with the Lord. It is the public recognition of the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so includes all who have been baptized to His name. We know that many have been baptized who are not yet saved. So that this circle is wider than verse 4.
Verse 6. “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all,” and coming back to Christians, he adds, “and in you all.” This is the omnipresent One, Who is above all, and through all, but by His Holy Spirit, He dwells in all Christians. We saw in Chapter 3:14, 15, that every family in heaven and earth is under Him. Only those who are Christ’s can by the Spirit call Him “Father,” and take their place as members of the one body.
We can see in all this that while it would not be right to accept what is not the truth, yet often we need to bear with each other, but our common portion in the privileges of our position, leads us into the mutual joy in the love and the happiness of all the members.
Verse 7. “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” He is Head over all things to the assembly, and gives to each as His sovereign wisdom sees fit to bestow. In our position and joy in Christ, we are all one. In our service to Him and for Him and the saints, we all differ.
(To be continued)