(Eph. 4)
Chapter 4:1, 2. “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.” That which naturally follows our “Meditations on the Christian’s Standing and State,” is what the apostle here calls his vocation. His practice—his whole walk and ways are included in his vocation. The word has a broad and deep significance in this verse. The exhortation is founded on, and flows from, his standing in Christ, and the state of heart becoming that blessed position.
Christian practice ought to be the reflection of christian position: and it will be well to meditate closely, patiently, and honestly, on what lies before us as the divinely marked out path for all Christians. The exhortation comes to us from a risen Christ. It is founded on accomplished redemption and the glory of the Redeemer. It is final. We must abide by this last revelation of His will. High thoughts and lofty words about our standing in a risen Christ will only be an offense to others, if our practice in all things be not in accordance therewith.
The apostle writes from a prison in Rome. This is significant and characteristic. He was there for the truth’s sake, and especially for the testimony he had borne to the blessed truths contained in this epistle. But he was the Lord’s prisoner. “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you.” If we separate ourselves from the world and witness against it, it will be angry with us, it will consider itself insulted, and will revenge the insult. This is the real ground of all persecution, whether it be towards a child in the family, or towards a public witness for Christ and His truth. Paul was taken from the place of public testimony to the prison, and from the prison to the stake, and from the stake to Christ in the glory. And this was but the natural path of one so faithful to Christ.
But is not the world changed for the better since Paul’s time? No, my soul, the world is the same, but the Church has changed for the worse. It is now so mixed with the world, that it is difficult to say what is the Church and what, is the world. If Christians willingly mix with worldly people, they must expect to be dragged clown to where they are. The world can never be raised to where the Church ought to be. But as things now are, what the world does, the professing Church, for the most part, can do. Hence there is no occasion for persecution. But this is sad confusion, and what the scriptures call “Babylon,” and against which God’s sorest judgments are threatened, and will ere long be executed. It was not so at the first. The apostle and the early Christians stood in marked separation from the world, and testified against all attempts on the part of the enemy, to introduce “another gospel.” Hence their trials and imprisonments; but these were their scars of honor. Blessed Lord, increase our faithfulness in these last and perilous times.
Consistently with the heavenly truths the great apostle was teaching, he exhorts the saints to “all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.” Their own individual state was the first thing they were to see to. This is all-important. Those who are introduced into such privileges, and crowned with such blessings, should look well to the spirit of their minds, and to the bearing of all their ways. None on earth can afford to be so humble as those who are the possessors of such heavenly treasure, and none should walk so evenly through this world as those who carry this treasure with them. “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?” And again, we read, “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (1 Cor. 6:19; Col. 1:27.) Surely nothing can so befit one who is so richly blessed, and so linked with heavenly glory, as the spirit of lowliness and meekness. And after all, these are but the necessary fruits of the spirit, and of the enjoyment of our privileges in the presence of God.
Nothing can make up for the absence of meekness and lowliness in a Christian. Bear thou this well in mind, Ο my soul! Zeal is good—self-denial is good—devotedness is good; but thy walk would be irreparably damaged, if thou wert not meek and lowly. These qualities are indispensable to true christian character, whatever may be the gifts possessed. Without them, we would be unlike Him who was meek and lowly in heart.
But we now turn to that which may be more properly called the first part of the Christian’s vocation: —the unity of the spirit.
Ver. 3. “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Surely this exhortation is plainly and distinctly addressed to all Christians. And it stands first in order on this broad platform of truth, which is now the only true ground of service and worship. (ver. 3-16.) This is the first thing to be examined, understood, and attended to in the Christian’s vocation.
But what is “the unity of the Spirit?” some may inquire. It has a deer and blessed meaning, and a very wide application to us, as we may see further on in our meditations. At the same time, the question may be answered in a few words. It is simply the Holy Spirit uniting all Christians on the earth into one body. The body, of course, is united to Christ, the glorified head in heaven, by the presence on earth of the Holy Spirit. Hence it is called “the unity of the Spirit;” and in Corinthians, “the baptism of the Spirit.” It is the unity of the Spirit’s forming. And He is not only the formative, but the sustaining power of this unity. Nothing ever has, ever can, or ever will, disturb this perfect unity. Thank God, it is beyond the reach of man’s constant failure. Christians, of course, who have departed to be with Christ, belong to His body, but such are not referred to here. It is on the earth that we are exhorted to keep this unity. When Paul fell asleep in Jesus, he ceased to be an eye, an ear, or a hand in the body on earth; still, he belongs to Christ’s body. The expression, “For we are members of his body” (chap. 5:30), we understand to embrace all Christians, whether alive on the earth or asleep in Jesus. There the Spirit of God is speaking of the “glorious Church” in heaven, not of the unity of the Spirit on earth. But we must always bear in mind, that although the body thus formed by the Spirit is on the earth, it is heavenly in all its relationships. It belongs to heaven because the Head is there, but necessarily on the earth because the Holy Spirit is here. Paul and all who have fallen asleep in Jesus wait with Him, “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Ver. 13.
But here pause for a moment, Ο my soul, and weigh, as in the balances of the sanctuary, the following plain and obvious results of this great truth—“the unity of the Spirit.” If thou art thus a member of the body of Christ, thou hast ceased to be an individual Christian merely. True, most true, thou hast individual responsibilities, and individual blessings too; but thou art also a member of a body, and that, not by faith only, but by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We cannot, of course, be a member of any other body. “For we are members of his body,” and that in resurrection life, and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Oh! blessed Lord, what a link—what a bond—what a reality—what nearness—what oneness! But so, in thy grace, it is. It is simple enough to faith, wondrous and mysterious though it be. “He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” This is the truth referred to in John 11:52: “But that he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.” It was one of the definite objects of the Lord’s death. Up till the day of Pentecost, the children of God were like scattered or individual saints merely. They were prepared for the building, but not yet builded together. This took place at Pentecost. (Acts 2) Then the Holy Ghost came down from the glorified Head in heaven, and baptized into one body all the saints of God then on the earth. “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” (1 Cor. 12) This was the beginning in fact, though not in purpose, of the Church of God, the body of Christ. And this baptism of the Spirit is our true Church membership, and the only membership that will stand forever.