Ephesians 4:1-16--Unity in the Body of Christ

Unity in the Body of Christ
4 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call-- 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. 8 Therefore it says,

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
    and he gave gifts to men.”

​9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

---

I find this message of "unity" to be the key theme of the book of Ephesians.  We've already seen that Christ has broken down the barriers between Jew and Gentile and made us one in Christ.  We've also heard how we have one true faith that was given to use by the prophets and apostles.  Now Paul is going to remind us that we are all one in the Spirit and we are one Body of Christ (the Church)--though each member is unique in its gifting and the works that were prepared for it to do and is meant to humbly serve at the pleasure of the Head and for the good of all the other members.

Some of my favorite verses related to apologetics are also in this passage, but we'll get there.  First let's drill-down on verses 1-7.  Paul tells the Ephesians that his calling at this point in his life is to be a prisoner for the Lord, and they too should be content with their calling and walk in a manner worthy of it, even if it's not the kind of calling they would have chosen for themselves.  They should continue to love one another and be gentle and humble and patient, regardless of life's circumstances, and we are to eagerly seek to be peacemakers and peacekeepers with our brothers in Christ.  There should be unity of mind and mission even though there will be diversity in our gifts and callings.  We have one Spirit (the Holy Spirit) that unites us, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all who is in all and above all.  That's a lot of "ones" that we have in common!  However, this does not mean that we are "cookie-cutter" Christians that all come out looking the same as verse 7 tells us that we have all experienced the grace of God a little differently--we'll see that Paul probably means this to refer not only to the means of how we were saved and our "testimony" but what we were saved unto--the calling and gifting that God has given to us.

Verses 8-10 seem a little out of place, but I promise they belong in the "larger context" of what Paul is trying to say here, as he's talking about us being one in Christ and being equipped to serve each other and take the gospel to the world through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Christ came down from heaven to die for our sins, was raised on the third day, and ascended into heaven where He now sits at the right hand of the Father.  Christ ascended to heaven because He had originally "descended" when He came down in His incarnation, and now that He has returned, He has sent the Holy Spirit to us not only as our Comforter and Teacher, but as the One who equips and unifies the Church and seals them for the day in which they will be presented as the Bride of Christ.  In Christ and through the spirit we have received every spiritual blessing and there are additional blessings and rewards that are being stored up for us.  That's the best interpretation of these verses that I can offer at this time.

Moving onto verses 11-13, we see that we are all gifted with different gifts, not for our own benefit, but for the benefit of the Church and for the glory of God.  We are to use these gifts to build one another up in the unity of the Body and the mission that Christ has called us to and to perfect our faith and our knowledge of the Son of God, so that we might be complete and spiritually mature.

Verses 14-16 urge us to have a sound anchor in the Word of God and in the gospel so that we are not tossed to and fro by every idea or philosophy or doctrine or ​crafty and deceitful scheme of the devil and the world.  We are to hold fast to what we know to be true (remember the book of Galatians and how Paul spoke to those who had abandoned the true gospel for a false gospel?).  We are to speak the truth in love--let's hang on this for a second.  We are not to speak the truth without love because God's Truth and His Love cannot be divorced from one another, nor can we speak in love and speak falsehood to someone--especially in a way that leads them in error to a false gospel, because that is in no way loving, but we must firmly and boldly speak the truth while still loving the person and desiring to see them healed, not simply to see them wounded.  In such we are to keep our focus on Jesus the one and only Head of the Church from which all authority and power and dominion that we have originates.  It is only in Him that we find our identity and He is the one with the final (and only) say in all things.  In this fact, we come together and unite so that we are not simply and organization, but an organism that is at work being tied together by joints, tendons and sinews that help us to move and work together for a common purpose.  When functioning correctly, we are unified and will be about the business of building each other up in love and equipping each other for the work that God has called us to.