Ephesians 4:1-16 Commentary

Controversy about how to faithfully respond to God’s grace continues to roil parts of Christ’s Church. It sometimes seems as if some of Jesus’ 21st century North American friends struggle to find our unity in anything but our Christian ethics. Quite simply, we spend a great deal of time arguing about and dividing over what Paul means when he calls his readers to “live a life worthy of the calling” we “have received” (1).

All of what the Spirit inspires Paul to write in this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson flows out of what he calls Christians’ “calling” [kleseos]*. That means that our grateful response to God’s amazing grace is always deeply rooted in God’s redeeming work in Jesus Christ. God’s adopted children take our cues not from the wider culture or anything else, but, instead, from God’s rescue of us from Satan, sin and death. Preaching that doesn’t regularly remind our hearers and ourselves of that easily devolves into mere helpful moral advice with a spiritual flavor.

God, the apostle reminds his readers in verse 1, calls God’s dearly beloved people to live in ways that are consistent with God’s work in and calling on us. Jesus’ friends long to live, literally “walk” [perpatesai],” in ways that are “worthy [axios] of the calling” we have received. We seek the Spirit’s help to live in ways that are appropriate for those whom God has graciously rescued and called in Jesus Christ. The Message paraphrases Paul as inviting Christian to “get out there and walk – better yet, run! – on the road God called you to travel.”

That “run” looks a lot like whatever builds the “unity [henoteta] of the Spirit” (3) about which Paul spends so much of his letter to the Ephesian Christians writing. While Christians sometimes choose to emphasize a variety of actions as making up what it means to be worthy of our calling, the apostle chooses to focus on what builds up rather than tears down community. Those who wish to live in ways that are consistent with our calling to follow Jesus constantly look for ways to strengthen rather than weaken Christ’s Church as well as our local churches.

Those whom God calls, writes Paul in verse 2, are “completely humble [pases tapeinophrosynes] and gentle [prautetos], bearing with [anechomenoi] one another in love.” Christians view ourselves as God views us: as sinners whom God has graciously made part of God’s family. As a result of that perspective, we seek to let the Spirit empower us to imitate Jesus’ treatment of other people.

Though Jesus was perfectly obedient, he dealt graciously with people who were disobedient. He recognized how even flawed people bear the image of and are beloved by God. When, in fact, Jesus loses patience with people, it generally seems to be because they fail to see and treat other people as God’s cherished image-bearers.

In fact, when God’s dearly beloved people fail to imitate Jesus by being patient with each other, as well as humble and gentle, we harm not just those people, but also the community into which God has enfolded us with them. When we think of our fellow Christians as something less than people whom God unconditionally loves, we deeply harm the body of Christ that is his Church. Christians then, quite simply, live in ways that are unworthy of our calling to follow Jesus Christ.

In verse 3 Paul insists the beating heart of that calling is making “every effort [spoudazontes] to keep [terein] the unity of the Spirit [henoteta tou Pneumatos] through the bond of peace [syndesmo tes eirenes].” This assertion is so pivotal to Paul’s entire Ephesians theme that preachers may want to spend some time unpacking it.

“The unity of the Spirit” is a crucial piece of this verse. It suggests the unity that the Spirit creates, as my colleague Joel Kok writes (The Lectionary Commentary, The Second Readings: Acts and the Epistles, Eerdmans, 2001), “has its primary basis in the unity of the Triune God.” So those whom God calls diligently model our unity on the unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The default mode for those who long to worthily follow Jesus is not the division that we naturally crave and create, but the unity that the Spirit not only creates, but also equips us to foster.

In fact, there can be only “one body” [hen soma] (4) of those whom God calls. There is, after all, only “one Spirit [hen Pneuma] … Lord [heis Kyrios] … faith [mia pistis] … baptism [hen baptisma]; [and] one God and Father of all” (4-6). The apostle’s drumbeat is relentless: “one… one … one … one … one … one … one.” Those who take this profession seriously, who wish to be worthy of our calling, are reluctant to casually accept the divisions that plague Christ’s body.

Of course, Christians who readily divide from other Christians sometimes insist that we remain unified, even if we don’t worship or work together. But that unity is so hard to see, especially by people who are outside of the Church. Some of them have even told me that Christians seem no less united than the rest of our divided culture. It’s a sobering and saddening message for those who wish to follow the Christ whose Spirit works so diligently to unite us.

Paul goes on to insist that even the diversity of gifts that Christ gives his friends is meant to build unity within the Church. In verse 7 he tells Ephesus’ Christians: “To each one of us [hekasto hemon] grace [charis] has been given as Christ apportioned it [kata to metron tes doreas].” While it’s true that God has in Christ given us the grace of salvation, that doesn’t seem to be the grace that Paul primarily has in mind here. After all, in verse 8’s (admittedly rather loose) paraphrase of Psalm 68, he speaks of how Christ “gave gifts [domata] to” people.

In verses 11-13 Paul lists some of the gifts Christ graciously shared with his followers. There he insists, “It was he who gave some to be apostles [apostolous], some to be prophets [prophetas], some to be evangelists [euangelistas], and some to be pastors [poimenas] and teachers [didaskalous].”

Preachers might note a couple of commonalities among those gifts. While the proclamation of the Word always has implications for the way proclaimers act, by listing this Lesson’s particular spiritual gifts, Paul stresses the verbal nature of the gifts Christ gives. Those whom Christ graces with talents are never shy about proclaiming the gospel publicly. We remember that God speaks God’s Word to us so that we may, among other things, speak it with and to each other.

But by referring to gifts for pastoring, Paul also uses the Greek word poimenas. We generally think of this as another form of verbal proclamation. But the Greek word we translate as “pastor” also has tones of self-sacrificial protection and guidance. Poimenas were shepherds who cared for the sheep who were members of their flock.

And for what purpose did Paul say Christ equipped his poimenas? To, among other things, prepare God’s people “for works of service [ergon diakonias], so that the body of Christ may be built up [oikodomen], until we all reach [katantesomen] the unity [henoteta] of the faith [tes pisteos]” (13). Note Paul’s repeated emphasis on both serving and building up rather than tearing down or apart Christ’s body. God gifts God’s dearly beloved people so that we may build up the community of God’s dearly beloved people.

The concept of “unity in faith” may elude easy explanation. But perhaps it means little more than this: Jesus’ friends find our primary unity in our faith in Jesus Christ. We work to “major in the majors.” Christians may struggle to understand the full implications of our faith for daily living. However, this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson enjoins us to seek our unity in the Triune God’s work in and for us.

Then, says Paul in verses 14 and 15, “we will no longer be infants [nepioi], tossed back and forth [klydonizomenoi] by the waves, and blown here and there [peripheromenoi] by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.” Here the apostle paints a grim picture of Christians who are divided and ignorant about Christ as being vulnerable to all sorts of buffeting plots and teachings.

From Christ, Paul concludes in verse 16, “the whole body, joined [synarmologoumenon] and held together [symbibazomenon] by every supporting ligament [haphes], grows and builds itself up [oikodomen] in love, as each part does its work.” Preachers do well to note that here the apostle returns to themes that are central to this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson: the Body of Christ God joins together not only to proclaim the gospel by what it says and does, but also to build itself up rather than tear itself down.

Illustration

The church I recently retired from pastoring has a food pantry that one might say “thrives” – though it feels strange to claim that any ministry that monthly feeds thousands of people who are hungry as “thriving.” Yet in that grim context that doesn’t seem to be improving, the Spirit has produced an amazing display of Jesus’ friends’ unity.

While our pantry has countless volunteers from our church, we could not feed that many people all by ourselves. Our church that has approximately 100 regular attendees could not feed thousands of people every month without many volunteers from other local churches. Protestants and Roman Catholics, as well as theological liberals and traditionalists unite to follow Jesus by sharing food with our neighbors who are hungry.

The church makes it very clear to both those who share food and receive it that it shares its food in Jesus’ name. However, volunteers from other faiths and even unbelievers eagerly and regularly join with the church to imitate Jesus by sharing figurative loaves and fish with our neighbors who are hungry.