Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Ephesians 4

Does the retrospective “then” connect only with 3:20–21 or with what precedes those verses? It is most probable that Paul has in mind certain references in chs. 1–3 to spiritual privileges and the Christian’s calling (3:6, 12, 14–19; cf. 1:18; 4:4). It is “as a prisoner for the Lord” (cf. 3:1; 6:20) that Paul makes his appeal. The verb “urge” (GK 4151) here means “to exhort.” He urges the Ephesians to lead the sort of life that matches their Christian vocation. “Worthy” (GK 547; lit., “bringing up the other beam of the scales”) suggests that there must be a balance between one’s profession and one’s practice. So Paul provides a criterion by which possible courses of action can be weighed. Christians will always seek to do what is most in keeping with their “calling.” By definition this is a calling they have received, not one they have acquired by self-effort. Those who share such a divine call constitute the church (ekklesia; GK 1711), the “called-out company” of those who are in Christ.

The apostle now specifies four graces that evidence this essential proportion between calling and character: humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance. These are all qualities necessary for good relations with others in the Christian community and beyond. “Humble” (GK 5425) occurs five times in Paul and only once elsewhere in the NT. In classical Greek this word was a derogatory term suggesting low-mindedness and groveling servility. The adjective was redeemed by the gospel to represent a distinctively Christian virtue and stands over against the admired high-mindedness of the heathen. Linked with being humble is being “gentle” (GK 4559) or considerate. The element of restraint is included so that it denotes controlled strength and not supine weakness. Being “patient” (GK 3429) is a characteristic of God himself. It can mean steadfastness in the endurance of suffering, but more often in the NT it describes reluctance to avenge wrongs. It is to be displayed to other Christians and to everyone else (Romans 12:10, 18). Being patient finds its expression in “bearing with [lit., holding up] one another” (GK 462; cf. Colossians 3:18). Christians must put up with each other’s faults and idiosyncracies, knowing that all of us have our own. “Love” (GK 27) is a recurring theme in Ephesians. The four graces Paul recommends here are all aspects of love and are exemplified to perfection in Christ (Php 2:2, 5).

The absence of these qualities may jeopardize Christian unity. That is why Paul presses his readers to exert all their powers to maintain the oneness in Christ that binds all believers to each other because they are bound by him and to him. “Make every effort” (GK 5079) suggests difficulty and a resolute determination to overcome it. It is assumed that unity between Christians already exists as given in Christ (2:13–18) by the Spirit. The “one Spirit” (v.4) is the agent of unity. Through the Spirit, Christians can attain a profound oneness. “Peace” is the clasp that ensures that this God-given unity will not fall apart.

The reasons why those who belong to Christ should be eager to preserve their unity are now supplied in a crescendo of nouns. In three groups of three items each, Paul’s thought ascends from the realization of unity in the Spirit to the focus of unity in the Son and thence to the source of unity in the Father. “One body” depicts the church as a single visible community. It is not simply a mystical concept; its unity is recognizable in that Jews and Gentiles are now seen to be reconciled in Christ (2:14–18). Christians are all members of the same body. “One Spirit” indwells this body of Christ. By him the body lives and moves (1 Corinthians 12:13). The Spirit is its soul; apart from him it cannot exist. The same Spirit fell on the Jews at Pentecost and on the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius. This Spirit who has already spanned this widest of all gulfs will bring together all other diverse groups within the church. The Holy Spirit, the pledge of our inheritance (1:14), is also the guarantor of the “one hope” (GK 1828) to which we are called (1:18; 2:12). This is not the hope that stems from the calling but the hope that belongs to the call (v.1). It is, of course, the hope of sharing Christ’s glory at the end of the age , a hope shared by both Jewish and Gentile Christians.

The second trio of unities is related to the “one Lord” or master to whom all Christians owe their allegiance. The three expressions may well be intended to convey a single idea, i.e., one Lord in whom we all believe and in whose name we are baptized. Certainly Christ is central. He is the sole Head of his body, the church. The pagan world spawned many lords; Christianity has only one whose claim is absolute. That is why believers cannot call anyone else Lord, even to escape death. “One faith” in the one Lord unites all true believers. Faith here is personal commitment to Christ, though it is not purely subjective. It involves a recognition of who he is as Son of God and Savior of humankind. “One baptism [GK 967]” is the external seal of incorporation into the body of Christ. Falling as it does in the second triad (related to Christ) and not in the first (related to the Spirit), it appears to indicate water baptism and not primarily the baptism with the Spirit of which water baptism is the sign. Baptism is the sacrament of unity. In the Christian church baptisms are not multiplied as with the Jews (Hebrews 6:2). There are not even two baptisms—one of John and one of Jesus. There is “one baptism,” symbolizing identification with Christ in his death and resurrection, sealing with the Spirit, and incorporation into the body of Christ, so that all Christians become one in Christ Jesus (1:13; 2:5–6; 3:15). Baptism provides the evidence that all Christians, without discrimination as to color, race, sex, age, or class, share the grace of Christ.