Christian Unity

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by Mike Ratliff

1 Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you to walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3 (LSB) 

Our Pastor is preaching through Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians. I am really enjoying it. Today, his sermon focused on the fact that Paul wrote this Epistle along with his Epistle to the Colossians from prison in Rome. When I wrote the manuscript for my book Complete in Christ back in 2021 I was amazed. at how often I ran into passages in Colossians that my source material referenced back to Ephesians. It also became clear that the two Epistles were delivered by the same person from the Apostle Paul about the same time to the the church at Colossae and the church at Ephesus. In any case, in today’s sermon our Pastor showed us how Paul considered all of his suffering such as his time in prison, his persecutions for the sake of the gospel, etc. all had a purpose according to the will of God. Because of that we should look at our own lives and what we are dealing with the same way. 

Please read Ephesians 4:1-3, which I placed at the top of this post. What is to be our demeanor in how we deal with each other as fellow believers? Paul starts out by reminding the Ephesians that he is writing the epistle from prison and that he is prison because of his ministry. That means that the faithful Christian walk can be costly and that, like him, we can pay a considerable personal price if we remain faithful to our Lord in the face of persecution. From that “reminder,” Paul encourages us all to walk our Christian walk “worthy of the calling by which we were called…” What does that mean? Our “walk” refers to our daily conduct. Paul is calling for all believers to “walk” in such a way their lives match their position in Christ which is the outcome of the effectual “calling” by God himself. No one comes to Christ unless effectually called by God: Romans 1:18; 11:29; 1 Corinthians 1:26; Philippians 3:14; 2 Thessalonians 1:11; 2 Timothy 1:9; Hebrews 3:1.

The term “humility of mind” translates ταπεινοφροσύνης (tapeinophrosynēs), the genitive, singular case of ταπεινοφροσύνη (tapeinophrosynē), “humility, lowliness of mind, the esteeming of ourselves small inasmuch as we are so; the real estimate of ourselves.” This word was not found in the Greek vocabularies of Paul’s day. Christians apparently coined it, perhaps even by Paul himself, to describe a quality for which no other word was available. This humility, the most foundational Christian virtue (James 4:6), is the quality of character commanded in our Lord’s first beatitude (Matthew 5:3), and describes the noble grace of Christ (Phlippians 2:7,8).  Obviously meekness flows from humility. It is that which is mild-spirited and self-controlled (Matthew 5:5; 11:29; Galatians 5:23; Colossians 3:12). Long-suffering is a resolved patience that is an outgrowth of humility and meekness and gentleness. Now, with all that in mind read the rest of v2, “forbearing one another in love…” All those attributes before combine and are reflected in this forbearing love for others that is continuous and unconditional (1 Peter 4:8).

What, then, is this “oneness of the Spirit” in v3? It is the Spirit-bestowed oneness of all true believers (1 Corinthians 6:17; 12:11-13; Philippians 1:27; 2:2), which has created the bond of peace, the spiritual cord that surrounds and binds God’s holy people together. This bond is love (Colossians 3:14).

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:4-6 (LSB) 

Just as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit who are united in ways beyond our comprehension yet each work according to God’s eternal plan in accomplishing his will in completing the body of Christ, we are to understand that all in Christ are within that same calling, the same hope, the same faith, the same baptism into Christ and we all have the same God, therefore, let us be unified in love in our humble walk before our Holy, Righteous, and Just God who has saved us by grace through faith according to his own will and plan.

Soli Deo Gloria!