EPHESIANS 4:1

The beginning verses of this chapter relate back to that which was written in chapter three because of the word “therefore” in Ephesians 4:1. In the last part of Ephesians chapter three Paul had written of a great prayer request that he had made on the behalf of the believers in Ephesus. Paul prayed that they would be “strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.” Paul also prayed that Christ would “dwell in their hearts by faith” and that they would be “rooted and grounded in love:” the love of Christ, the love that Christ had for them. If you are just partly aware of the great eternal love of Christ, you will be spiritually prepared to do whatever it is that God has for you to do.

For every Christian who is prepared to do something for Christ because of having faith and love and spiritual strength, chapter 4 of Ephesians has something to say that such believers needs to take to heart. This is the will of God for you. Ephesians 4:1-3 says, “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; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” It is important here to note that before Paul writes about what these believers should be doing, he makes it very clear what is his own spiritual condition. Paul calls himself “the prisoner of the Lord.”

Paul was a prisoner because he had been mistreated and persecuted by both Jews and Romans, by both civil and religious authorities. Obviously Paul had the kind of faith whereby he observed Christ’s leading in everything that happened to him. If Paul was a prisoner, he was a prisoner of Christ. If Paul was persecuted or mistreated, it was only because Christ allowed it to happen; and if Christ allowed it to happen, He allowed it for a good reason. Good would come out of it. Evidently Paul prayed about everything that happened to him in his life, and then Paul did one other thing: he actually believed that God was answering his prayers. Therefore, if Paul became a prisoner, he was not a prisoner of man: he was a prisoner of the Lord. He was not angry at man. Man had not done anything to him. What happened to him was the will of the Lord. He believed that. He accepted it. You can tell by the way that he spoke of the events of his life. He said in Ephesians 4:1, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord.”

Those who believe in Jesus have a calling. If you are saved, you were called to Christ. But you were not called to only come and believe on Christ, you were called to a manner of life, a way of living, and to the specific calling that God has for your life. How shameful it is, should there be someone who believes in Jesus the Christ but who does not make it their goal to walk the walk. Paul wrote to these believers and told them to walk worthy of the vocation to which they are called. But he did not leave them with that admonition alone. By the Holy Spirit Paul told them exactly how to walk worthy. First we are told “with all lowliness.” The word that is translated “lowliness” comes from two words: the word for “low” and the word for “mind.” No wonder that the same word is translated “lowliness of mind” elsewhere in the New Testament. It refers to your attitude to yourself in comparison to other people. To be low-minded means to regard others better than yourself. The opposite is to be high-minded, which is pride. A proud person shows himself to be above others.

Paul was low-minded. Paul had lowliness of mind. That is why he called himself the least of the apostles. When Paul thought of the other apostles, he thought that he was less of an apostle than they were. It should not be difficult for you to have lowliness of mind. Just think of the sins that you have committed. You know much more about your sins than you know about anyone else’s sins. And you are not supposed to judge others. That means that as far as you know, they are better than you. Lowliness of mind should not be that difficult for you to have, if you have the right view of yourself compared to others.

Concerning themselves, believers are to have lowliness. Concerning others, believers are to have “meekness.” Meekness refers to having gentleness and kindness. It does not mean weakness. It refers to the kind of strength and confidence whereby you can be kind and gentle in your dealings with others. It is a lack of aggression. Sometimes in our society aggression is rewarded. But there must be no aggression among believers. Instead there must be meekness. We do not vaunt ourselves. We do not put ourselves forward, because we seek the well-being of others. If our will is really surrendered to Christ, then we will be meek because we will have no will of our own to put forward onto others or in opposition to others.

Meekness refers to how we treat others. The next two things that are mentioned, “longsuffering” and “Forbearing”, refer to how we respond to the way that others treat us. We are to respond with longsuffering and we are to respond with forbearing. Just the fact that we are going to need longsuffering and forbearing tells us that the believers are not perfect yet. Some of them just might say and do things that they ought not. When that happens, how are we going to react? We are going to need longsuffering. That is the kind of patience where you go a long time before you get angry. It is having a long fuse instead of a short fuse. It is the same word that James used when he said to be patient “unto the coming of the Lord.” The Lord Jesus is the one who will take care of any complaints that you have. To forbear means to bear with, to endure. Sometimes it is not pleasant to be around other believers, but you do it. We are told how to endure others, and we are told why we need to be longsuffering and forbearing towards them.

The Bible says in verse two “forbearing one another in love.” In other words you do not grudgingly endure the presence of other believers. You endure them with love, in a loving manner. Christ loved you when you were unlovely. Surely you can love His other children. It is important that you do so because of the critical importance of unity among the believers in Christ. God’s will is for believers to be united. Remember the great prayer of Christ before He was crucified. He prayed in John 17:21, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” You can do a few things by yourself. You can do many more things united with others and their gifts and abilities. The power of the Spirit has freedom to work when Christians are knit together in the bond of peace. Think clearly of what Jesus said at the last phrase of John 17:21. Jesus spoke of the great and noble divine goal that believers be one, and then Jesus said, “that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” How will our faith be truly spread, how will people come to believe in the gospel of Christ, and how will sinners get converted? By the power of the Spirit, and the Spirit’s power will be at its greatest when believers are united in the name of Christ. Too bad that more Christians over the years did not apply Ephesians chapter 4 and verse two to their own lives and to their interaction with other believers. “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.” What great things would have been accomplished by the power of the Spirit for the glory of the name of Christ! If only.

What do believers have to be united about? Ephesians 4:4-6 gives us the answer to that question. It says, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all and in you all.” There is one body. That one body is the body of Christ. There are many members, but only one body. What is really important is what happens to the body because individual members can accomplish nothing outside of the body. You have your usefulness and functionality within the body. The body of Christ is the church. We can think of the church as the universal church only in the sense that everyone who has ever been saved by faith in Christ is a member of that body. In Ephesians 3:15 the universal church is called the family of God. It says, “Of whom the whole family in heaven and in earth is named.” That verse gives the universal nature of the church. Ephesians 3:21 speaks of the eternal duration of the church. It says, “Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.” Jesus Christ will be glorified by this entity called the church forever and ever and ever. He purchased the church by His blood. The church belongs to Him. Whatever the church does accomplish and whatever it does become, it will do so only by the grace of God that is in Christ Jesus. Jesus is the first one to have used the word church, and He said, “Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

While we are on the subject of the universal church, one more very important thing must be said. God tells us that the universal church exists, but we only experience the church by means of the local church. Only God can see the universal church: we cannot see it. We cannot go to a church service conducted by the universal church. We cannot stand before it and sing a song. We cannot preach a sermon to it. These things we can only do in regards to the local church. Paul could not write an epistle to the universal church. There was no address to send it to. Paul wrote his sermon to the local church in the city of Ephesus. So from a practical standpoint the only church that we can know and be involved with is the local church. By the way the local church is the only human religious organization that God has set up. Any other religious organization has a human origin. As a member of your local church God wants you to be an agent or unity, because there will be strength in unity, and because it is the will of God that His children be united.

If you are a member of the body of Christ, then you are such a member on the same basis that anyone else is a member: faith in the Savior Jesus Christ. That should bring unity. The ground is level at the cross. Christ is the head of the body. Everyone else are members: members of the same body. “There is one body.”

And there is one Spirit. When you believed in Christ, you were led to Christ by the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who brought you to Christ and made you accepted in the beloved did the same work in the lives of the other believers in your congregation. That Spirit is the Spirit of peace and love. If you are still being led by the Spirit, the same Spirit who brought you to Jesus will bring you to peace and unity with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

There is one body, one Spirit, and one hope of your calling. This one hope is the hope that every believer has: the blessed hope of being resurrected with Christ and being with Him forever in the bliss of heaven where there will be no sorrow, no crying, no sin, no failure, no regrets, and no pain. Some people have hope in this world. But those who have hope in this world only are of all men most miserable. What a blessed hope that Jesus Christ has given to those who believe in Him! If you want to feel sorry for someone, do not feel sorry for those who have lost their children to violence or drugs, do not feel sorry for those who have lost their health and who spend their last months in agony as cancer eats away their life, and do not feel sorry for those who have suffered financial ruin not knowing how they will make ends meet or how they will ever dig themselves out of the depths of poverty. No: instead feel sorry for those who do not have this hope, this eternal hope of being in heaven forever. There is one hope of your calling. That same hope that you share with your brothers and sisters in Christ should bind your hearts together.

The next verse states the obvious: there is “one Lord.” There is one Lord. In the Old Testament He was known as Jehovah (the eternal One). In the New Testament He is known by the name Jesus Christ. If I am under the Lord and receive my directions from Him, and my brother is under the same Lord; then obviously there will be unity. The Lord Jesus is not going to direct me to do something and then direct another believer to do something that causes conflict or disunity. If such conflict arises, someone was not following the one Lord. If someone is serving the Lord, they are serving the same Lord that you are serving.

Notice that Ephesians 4:5 says that there is “one faith.” This is talking about the one set of true beliefs. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” There is only one truth, and that one truth is expressed in the various great Bible doctrines. All religions will not have the same end to them. There is truth and there is error. These two things are in opposition to one another. The importance of unity never overshadows the importance of truth. Unity must be based upon truth: the truth of the faith. Those who cause disunity among the brethren will cause great harm to the cause of Christ and will undoubtedly face a harsh judgment. Those who unite, disregarding the sound doctrines of scripture, will only add to the confusion of a confused world and will face a similar harsh judgment. Some people have the wrong divisions for the wrong reasons. Others have shameful compromising alliances. Both will give an answer at the judgment of the Lord when they stand before Him.

What should be done is to simply remember that Ephesians 4:5 states that there is “one faith.” Preach that one faith, create a statement of that faith, and receive and unite with everyone who accepts your biblical statement of faith. In the spirit of unity always hold the door open for those who would come and agree with your teaching of truth.

Concerning the great doctrines of the faith, there may be no doctrine that is more important than the doctrine of baptism. That is because the doctrine of baptism is tied so closely to the doctrine of salvation by faith in Christ; and if you do not have the doctrine of salvation right, then you have essentially nothing right. “What should it profit a man should he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” There is only one baptism, and that one baptism has two facets to it. When you are saved by faith in Christ, you are baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ. After salvation a person is baptized by water as a symbol of what already took place spiritually in the heart and life of that person. There is no such thing as the baptism of an infant, because there is only one baptism and because baptism symbolizes salvation. No one can be saved until old enough to make his or her own decision about accepting Christ.

In Acts 2:38 the Bible says, “Then said Peter unto them, Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins…” First you repent and then you are baptized afterwards. An infant cannot repent, and therefore an infant cannot be baptized. When it says “for” the remission of sins, some have incorrectly interpreted this to mean “for the purpose of” the remission of sins, and have therefore incorrectly claimed that water baptism is a part of obtaining remission of sins. First of all, such a teaching is contrary to the rest of scripture and the doctrine of salvation by faith alone. Secondly, the preposition that is translated “for” can be translated in many different ways and should never be used as the basis of a major Bible doctrine. For example, the same preposition is translated in Acts 2:25 as “concerning.” If we used that translation in Acts 2:38 we would have, “...repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ concerning the remission of sins…” Yes, there is a relationship between baptism and the remission of sins. Once you have you repented and turned to Christ, your sins are forgiven. At that point you are eligible to be baptized, and the water baptism is symbolic of the cleansing that has already taken place in your heart. Anyone who has not had that kind of baptism has not had the one baptism. There is one baptism according to Ephesians chapter four. Everyone who has had that one baptism can be united.

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