The practical part of the Epistle now begins. From verse 1-17 we have our corporate responsibility as members of the body of Christ set before us to walk together in love; and secondly, the gifts of ministry given us from the ascended Head for our perfecting and edification. Verse 17 and onwards, takes up the individual responsibility of each.
The prisoner of the Lord beseeches us to walk worthy of the vocation or calling wherewith we are called. Let us recall for one moment what this vocation or calling is. It has fully been set before us in the fist two chapters of our Epistle. First, we are called into the relationship with the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:3), as His sons and heirs of His inheritance (vss. 4-15). Secondly, into relationship with Christ, Head over all things to His Church which is His body; as His members (Eph. 1:22, 23; 2:1-18); thirdly, into relationship with the Spirit, as His habitation—His dwelling in the Assembly of God (Eph. 2:19-22). What a holy unity we are brought into! The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ is the Source of it; Christ, the Head of His body the Assembly, is the Head and Center of it; and the Holy Ghost, the power on earth that gathers all into it, and then takes up His abode in the habitation He has formed. Such is the holy calling wherewith we are called; the Father’s ultimate purpose being to gather all thins in heaven and earth round His Son, His Church being His Bride. (see Eph. 1:9,10; 5:31-32). This is the only corporate position Christians have as set forth in the New Testament. Oh, my dear reader, if you consider your relationship to hte God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and what that Being is who is the Head of the family who has called you to be His childe, made you an heir of His inheritance in His Beloved Son, and in the meantime sealed you by His Spirit, will not your whole being, will interests, good pleasure, which is set on the glory of His Son, and your blessing in Him? (see Eph. 1:1-14.) If you also think that as a member of Christ you are His who is Head over all things to the Church which is His body, will you not seek to walk simply as a member of His body, owning Him as Head, just with it may be, two or three others? (Eph. 1:19-23; 2:1-18). And if you think that by God’s grace you are a part of God’s building in which the Holy Ghost dwells, will you not flee from any Assembly where God’s rule is not owned, or God’s character held in honor? (chap 2:19-22)
We are called to walk worthy of this high and holy calling, in lowliness and meekness, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
But how can we be walking worthy of it if we acknowledge every worldly system and sect that has sprung up in Christendom? What the apostle prays for the Colossians, is that they may come to the full assurance of understanding of the acknowledgment of the mystery of Christ (Col. 2:1-2). If I acknowledge a worldly church, is this the acknowledgment of the mystery of Christ? If I acknowledge sectarianism, is this confessing the truth of the unity the Holy Ghost has formed? We are told to do it, true, in lowliness and meekness, forbearing one another in love; but how can this be done, unless the basis of unity is acknowledged, as it is written, “There is one body and one Spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all, and in us all”? The principle of sect denies the spirit of lowliness and meekness which is pressed here. Instead, there is heart-burning and strife. And that spirit of looseness that smooths it all over, and, under the plea of being unsectarian, makes everything right, is, if possible worse: it is positive unfaithfulness to Christ. Does Christ think little of worldly associations? The angels who visited Lot, fresh from the holy association of heaven, could hardly be persuaded to lodge in His house for one night. Why? Because of his association with the world. He pitched his tent toward Sodom. There he sat in the gate, when the angels met him. Oh, worldly Christian, beware! The Lord can have no association or fellowship with thee in Sodom! Come out and be separate and I will be a Father unto you, is the word (2 Cor. 6.). The Church, the body of Christ exists by virtue of its union with Christ in heaven by the Holy Ghost, outside a world on which is written, Judgment! Then we are called to express together by breaking the one loaf at the Lord’s table (1 Cor. 10:16,17). The death of Christ separating us from all other fellowship (1 Cor. 10:18-20). Dear believer, do you know that that same death of Christ which has saved thy soul and has put away thy sins, separated thy Savior forever from the world? After the cross the world saw Him no more, and will not till He return to judge it. So in regard to us, we are crucified to the world, and the world is crucified unto us. The cross is for us not only the putting away of our sins, but our death to sin, death to the law, death to the world, and Christ having gone up on high, and the Holy Ghost come down, we are united to Him in a new nature, made members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. There is one body and one Spirit. We are called to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. To make a sect, is to make a unity. God’s unity exists in the world since Pentecost, and the Spirit of God gives it its character. We are called to come to the acknowledgement of this, and to walk in the spirit that appertains to it, and that in lowliness and meekness, forbearing one another in love; in the blessed hope of the Head’s speedy return to present us to Himself, as a glorious Church, in one hope of our calling.
One Lord, one faith, one baptism, is the outward unity of profession more connected with chapter 2:22. We are to acknowledge this outer circle, separate from the evil, and to cleave to the one Lord, one faith, one baptism (comp. 1 Cor. 10:1-12). One God and Father of all seems to be a still larger circle. It embraces every family in heaven and earth (comp. Eph. 3:15). The angels, the Jews, the Gentiles, the Church; but it only appertains to the latter to have His blessed indwelling presence. Hi is in you all (vs. 6).
Now we come to the grace given to all the members, for their mutual support and growth. There are special gifts given to some (vss. 8,11), but grace to all (vs. 7). Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, wherefore He saith, when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
Verses 9-10 are a parenthesis. And He gave some apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come, (1) into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, (2) unto a perfect man, (3) unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
Here we find that the gifts of ministry flow down from the ascended Head, for the perfecting of the saints, the work of the ministry, the edifying of the body of Christ, till each saint has grown up toa full-grown stature; being no longer a babe (vs. 15) but a perfect man. But this will not be as fact in regard to the whole body till the Lord returns. There is no mention here of man-choosing, man-ordaining; it is Christ who gives them. The apostles and prophets were the foundations (comp. 2:20). The rest—evangelists, pastors, and teachers remain. The evangelist for carrying the glad tidings to the world; the pastor, for feeding the flock gathered out of it; and the teacher for its establishment and instruction in the truth.
There are gifts to the whole body and therefore could not be confined to a locality, or place. There is another kind of ministry in the Word -the bishops and deacons. These were local, appointed by apostles or their delegates, and confined to one place. These were specially connected with the order and government of the Church. There were several bishops and several deacons in one local assembly (comp. Phil 1:1: 1 Tim 3), but there was no mention made as to their continuance. With the gifts of ministry there is. They remain till we all come to a perfect man; and that will not be in regard to all saints till the Lord returns. And, for the comfort and establishment of the poor saints in the days of ruin and confusion, I would add that the whole truth mentioned in the Ephesians, is linked with that order of ministry which the apostle graphically describes in the Epistle to the Galatians (Eph. 1,2) as a ministry not of man, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ. And then he links all the blessed truths of justification by faith, life in Christ, adoption into the family of God, sealing of the Spirit, and a walk by faith and in the Spirit (Eph. 3, 4, 5), with the ministry in contrast to Judaising teachers who were claiming connection with and authority from the twelve apostles, for teaching the believers that they were under the law. So in this Epistle, all the truth of the Church and its calling, is connected with the same order of ministry, whilst the highest truth brought out in Timothy and Titus, where the offices of the bishops and deacons are mentioned, is the doctrine of simple grace and salvation, and then rules for the order and government of the Church. How blessed that the Spirit of God saw beforehand the assumptions of the clergy, and provided for the maintenance of His truth through gifts coming direct from Christ.
Secondly, these gifts were given that we might be no more children, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of man, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effective working in the measure of every part, making increase in the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Thus, every member of the body has its work to do, besides the special gifts given by the Head. The joints have their work to do every bit as much as the hands and feet. They convey the nourishment to every part. To every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ (ver 7.) Thus, we see Christ, the ascended Head of the Church, as the Giver of gifts of ministry for the benefit of His body. The saints are perfected by them, the body is built up. they are for the furtherance of practical unity, and knowledge of the growth of the new man. The saints are by them to be preserved from error; so as to be no more children, but to grow up in Christ. And let me ask the beloved reader whether these marks have not been increasingly seen in the Church, wherever these gifts of Christ have been received. Whilst the man-ordaining ministry of Christendom keeps the people of God apart, Christ’s ministry conduces to unity, separation from evil, growth in grace and the knowledge of the Son of God.
From verses 4:17 to 5:21, we have the individual walk of the Christian set forth, flowing out from his position. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind; having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts, who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. The walk is founded on two great principles: first, the truth as it is in Jesus, namely, that the old man has been put off and the new man put on (vss. 21-24); secondly, the presence of the Holy Ghost in the man (vs. 30), whereby he is sealed to the day of redemption, and in consequence called to be an imitator of God in His double character of love and light (Eph. 5:1, 2, 8).
We never can walk till our position by grace is settled, and the life of God (vs. 18) is communicated to us. What a life! But that life was manifested in a Man, and that Man was Jesus.
When we have received the truth as it is in Jesus, this life is in us, which has its spring in God, and now flows down through Jesus by the Spirit into our hearts. Having this life breathed into us by the risen Head of the new creation, we are no longer in the flesh; we have put it off. It is here called the old man. We have likewise put on the new man, which is created in righteousness and holiness of truth. The first man was created upright but without the knowledge of good and evil. The Second Man was righteous and holy in Himself. He knew evil from what was outside Himself, who was the perfection of goodness, and kept separate from evil. Now our connection is neither with Adam upright, nor with Adam fallen.
We were in connection with Adam fallen, partaking of his nature; but now by grace, and through the death and resurrection of Christ, we are brought into connection with the Second Man, risen as Head of hte new creation, partaking of a new nature, which after God is created in righteousness and holiness of truth. The first man, Adam and his nature is put off; the Second man, Christ, and His nature is put on—the Holy Ghost indwelling and renewing the mind daily. This is the true foundation for the Christian’s walk by faith. The practice flows out from our position, and the good and evil are measured no longer by the law, but by what appertains to the fist man and the Second Man -the old man and the new man.
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor; for we are members one of another. Lying belongs to the old man, truth to the new. Be ye angry and sin not (comp. Mark 3:5); let not the sun go down upon your wrath; neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good for the use of edifying, that it might minister grace to the hearers. It might seem superfluous to warn the Christian not to steal, but the flesh -the old man is there, and it is a thief. No longer (true for faith) a part of ourselves, for it is put off by the death of Christ and by the power of the new life, but actually there still; hence the warning.
The Holy Ghost’s presence in the soul is the next reason given for not grieving Him. He is a Friend who has sealed you till the day of redemption, and is dwelling in you. Now do not grieve Him. Let all bitterness, anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice (they appertain to the old man); and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Thus, we are to go forth and show the character of God to one another, forgiving as He forgave us for Christ’s sake. Oh, where do we see these precious fruits of grace in Christians? Alas for the fallen Christianity of the day! It is still, alas, often an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, instead of forgiving as God forgives, and from the sense that He has forgiven us. Grace has set us in connection with the life of God. We are made possessors of eternal life in the Son, and God dwells in us, who is the very Source of that life. We are called to go forth and show that life to others, which has saved our souls. It was failure in this that the Lord could not forgive (Matt. 18:23-35). He had already forgiven the servant that owed him one thousand talents, expecting him to show the same spirit of grace to his fellow servants. Instead of which he caught one of them by the throat, who owed him one hundred pence, and saying, pay me that thou owest, and because he could not pay, he went out and cast him into prison. This the Lord could not forgive, and this is but a picture of the Father’s governmental dealings, with those who do not show His spirit of grace to others. It is the failure to walk in grace that is now the hateful thing, and which brings under the Father’s government. But that is not the subject of this Epistle, which is entirely grace. We are given this blessed life of God by grace. We are called to go and show it forth to others, forgiving one another, as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven us.