PRACTICAL PORTION OF THE EPISTLE
Ephesians
4
Church Principle of Growth and Progress –
the Church as a Body (vs. 1-16)
1 “I
therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith ye are called.”I therefore. Inference
not only from last chapter,
but the whole Epistle. Paul’s
interest in the Ephesians led him to a double application
of the great subject which he
had expounded:
measure of the blessing to which of His grace they
were entitled
(ch.
3:14-21); and
calling (chps.
4-6.). To this second application he proceeds now.
The
prisoner in the Lord. Not merely “of the Lord,” but ἐν Κυρίῳ
- en kurio -
in the Lord– the usual
formula for vital communion with Christ, indicating that his
captivity
was the captivity of a part or member of the Lord. An exhortation from
such a prisoner
ought to fall with double weight. Beseech you that ye walk
worthy
of vocation wherewith ye were
called. The word “vocation” means “call” - their call
was to be
God’s people (compare Romans 9:25); this not a mere speculative distinction,
but one that
must have practical form and that must lead to suitable fruit. True grace
in the
heart must show itself by true goodness
in the life. They were not
to conceal
their
religion, not to be ashamed of it, but to avow it and glory in it, and their lives
were not to be disgraced by unworthy conduct, but to be brightened and elevated by
their relation to Christ. Our walk is to be a pattern for others to
follow, pointing to
Christ,
as we follow Him!
It is a great obligation and
a great blessing to walk that
walk! Christ
has given us an ensample that we should
follow. (I Peter 2:21)
Christianity
includes duties as well as doctrines. It does not merely hold out a refuge
to the
guilty, but takes all who accept Christ under its supreme and exclusive
direction.
It evangelizes human life by impregnating its minutest
transactions
with the spirit of the gospel. But we must be always
careful, in preaching the
necessity
of good works and in enforcing Christian duties, to ground them,
as the
Scriptures ground them, in the doctrines of grace. The true walk of the saint
tends
powerfully to promote the unity of the church.
The
Christian Walk (v. 1)
“Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” We now
come to
the practical
part of the Epistle, and the first exhortation is a striking one.
Paul
attached great importance to the element of walk or character. He
skillfully
puts two things in connection with each other — vocation on the
one hand,
and walk on the other.
The preceding chapters had shown the
wonderful
glory of the Christian vocation. The succeeding chapters are
directed to
secure a correspondingly elevated Christian walk. Two main
topics
present themselves.
1. Generally,
the value of the Christian walk or character.
2. The
kind of walk required — “worthy of the vocation,” etc.
·
VALUE OF
CHRISTIAN WALK OR CHARACTER. This may be
shown in three aspects. As a plea for Christianity, or
evidence of the reality
of Christian faith; or as a persuasive towards it, and as a
pattern for imitation.
ü A plea. Skeptical tendencies of the present age are
such that logic is not
sufficient for
them. The strongest popular evidence of Christianity is its
inherent truthfulness and its self-commending power. But
next in power
is the
consistent lives of earnest Christians. Men and women
consistently following Christ, breathing His spirit, and
moving
heavenwards, show that His religion is not a sham or a
deception,
but a great reality.
ü A persuasive. Such lives appeal to the heart as well as the
head. They
show religion to be, not only a reality, but a great
obligation and a great
blessing which appeals to the conscience and force it to
say, “That is
what we ought to be.” Men feel they ought to live like such, and
certainly they would fain die like them.
ü A pattern. Do we need it? Have we not other and more
perfect patterns
like the Sermon on the mount and the life of Christ? Yes, but human
nature yearns for something on its own level — something
visible and
tangible, a steppingstone between heaven and earth. Hence
Paul gave
thanks that the Thessalonians became followers of
him and of the Lord,
and he told the Philippians that he and others were given
them “for an
ensample.” Every Christian congregation should have a
number of
model
Christians fitted to be examples to the rest — the elders and
elderly
people especially. Men may sneer at model Christians, but
they do not sneer at model soldiers or model servants, and
certainly
every Christian worthy of the name should aim at being as
near Christ
as possible.
·
THE KIND
OF WALK. “Worthy of the vocation
wherewith ye are
called.” We have
all an idea of consistency; inconsistency should be the
object of our abhorrence. The world has a keen eye for inconsistencies of
Christians, and exposes them mercilessly. It takes
comfort from them to
continue in sin. Sins detestable in the godly are thought
nothing of in the
worldly. If what David did in re
Uriah had been done by Nebuchadnezzar, no
one would have said anything. A consistent walk is, by God’s help, within
the reach of all. It is an impressive sermon to the world, a
continual sermon,
an unanswerable sermon.
Let all preach this sermon, though it be their only one.
The “walk worthy” is a
walk of holiness, humility, forbearance, forgiveness,
patience,
charity. In order to promote it, let us be much with Christ, and as far
as we can, with those who are like Christ. Let us study the biographies of
Christ-like men and
aim at conformity to their example. Let us often pray
the prayer of the third chapter of this book, and other
prayers of the like tenor.
Let us use earnestly our means of grace, praying that each sabbath, each
sermon, each sacrament, may serve to make us more worthy of the vocation
wherewith we are called.
Ethics
after Theology (v. 1)
The
doctrinal part of the Epistle is now finished and the practical part
begins.
This is the true and natural order.
·
IT IS IN
THE SPHERE OF THE DOCTRINAL THAT WE FIND THE
POWER
THAT CARRIES US THROUGH ALL PRACTICAL DUTIES.
In all the Epistles the duties enforced are grounded in the
doctrines
declared or explained. The doctrines are the reservoir which
sends its
stream of power down over the human life. The engineer
scoops out a
hollow space to be filled with water, constructs his
machinery, and then
lifts the sluice that sets all the machinery in motion. When
the doctrines of
grace have been fully expounded, the apostle lifts the
sluice and lets on the
stream that sends life spinning round and round in a course of holy activity.
“I beseech you therefore, by
the mercies of God, that ye present your
bodies a living sacrifice” (Romans
12:1).
·
IT IS
NECESSARY TO INCULCATE CHRISTIAN DUTIES EVEN
IN THE CASE
OF CHRISTIANS. If the apostles did it, we must do it. It
is only Antinomianism — resting on the doctrines of grace
without
watchfulness of the walk before God — that contests this
principle. An
Antinomian Bible would have no place for duties. Christianity includes
duties as well as doctrines. It does
not merely hold out a refuge to the
guilty, but takes all who accept Christ under its supreme
and exclusive
direction. It evangelizes human life by impregnating its
minutest
transactions with the spirit of
the gospel. But we must be always careful, in
preaching the necessity of good works and in enforcing
Christian duties, to
ground them, as the Scriptures ground them, in the doctrines
of grace.
The
Obligations of the Christian Calling (v. 1)
“Walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye are
called.”
·
THE NATURE
OF THIS CALLING. It is the
Christian vocation. We
are called:
ü out of
darkness into God’s marvelous light (I Peter 2:9),
ü into the
grace of Christ (Galatians 1:6),
ü into the
fellowship of Christ (I Corinthians 1:9);
ü unto
holiness (I Thessalonians 4:7);
ü unto glory
and virtue (II Peter 1:3);
ü unto peace
(I Corinthians 7:15),
not only with God, but with our consciences and with one
another (ch. 4:2;
Acts 24:16). This calling is a high calling, a holy calling,
a heavenly
calling. We may well, therefore, walk worthy of it.
·
THE WALK
IN HARMONY WITH OUR CALLING. It is
emphatically “to walk worthy of the Lord
unto all pleasing”
(Colossians 1:10); “to walk worthy
of God who hath called you unto
His kingdom and glory” (I
Thessalonians 2:12); to have a conversation
becoming the gospel of Christ (Philippians 1:27). In human
society,
men are often kept from unworthy courses by a feeling of
honor, as
gentlemen; how much more ought
Christians to cherish a sense of honor as
disciples of the Savior and
joint-heirs with Him of the kingdom of heaven!
The feeling of family honor is often a powerful guard
against mean or
ungenerous actions. It is a profound disgrace to find the
descendant of an
ancient and noble family forswear all its best traditions. As members of the
household
of God, as brethren of Jesus Christ Himself, shall we disgrace
this sublime relationship? We
cannot afford:
ü to bring
shame upon our profession (Hebrews 6:6),
ü to lose the
comfort of our calling (Psalm 19:11), or
ü to lose its
end (Hebrews 12:14).
Let us not, therefore, affront our calling by
inconsistencies, but walk in a
way that will fully harmonize with its nature, glory, and
end. It is all the
more necessary to do so as the true walk
of a saint tends so powerfully to
promote the unity of the
Church.
2 “With all lowliness
and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another
in
love.” Here are
some points of a worthy
walk. He begins his
enumeration with
passive
graces — eminently those of Christ. Lowliness
or humility may well be
gendered by
our remembering what we were when God’s grace took hold of us
(ch. 2:1-3).
Believers
are not to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think (Romans
12:3), nor
exalt themselves above their degree (II Corinthians 10:13-15), but to esteem
others
better than themselves (Philippians 2:3). Let believers, therefore, have a
humble
apprehension
of their knowledge, for “knowledge puffeth up” (I
Corinthians 8:1);
and humble
thoughts of their goodness, for we cannot understand all our errors, and
need to be
cleansed from our secret faults (Psalm 19:12). Let them “put on
humbleness of mind,” as the brightest
ornament of Christian character (Colossians 3:12).
Meekness is the
natural expression of a lowly state of mind, opposed to boisterous
self-assertion
and rude striving with others; it genders a subdued manner and a
peace-loving
spirit that studies to give the soft answer that turneth
away wrath.
(Proverbs
15:1) –
Christian
victories are often gained by meekness and endurance — what
called
“the invincible might of meekness.” It is that disposition which does not arraign
God and
does not avenge itself on man. As regards God, it implies a ready submission
to the
authority of His Word (James 1:21), and a cheerful resignation to His
providence,
as opposed to murmuring and fretfulness (Psalm 39:9; see whole psalm).
As regards
man, the meek will have a calm temper under provocations; he will
be “slow
to
wrath” (James 1:19); he will give “the soft answer that turneth
away wrath”
(Proverbs
15:1); he will show that ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which adorns
more than
rubies (I Peter 3:4). When joined
with strength, it makes one of the most
effective
characters. It is especially to be esteemed in a religious life.
Therefore the
apostle
says, “Let him show out of a good conversation his works
with meekness of
wisdom”
(James 3:13). It is with meekness and fear that we are to give a reason of our
hope (I
Peter 3:15), and it is in a spirit of meekness we are to recover the erring
(Galatians
6:1). It is one of the nine graces of the Spirit (ibid.
5:23). The meek
man has
great power with men. See how it contributes to the comfort of life;
for it
keeps him from the friction of temper that so often detracts from true repose;
it brings
us nearer and nearer to Him who was preeminently “meek and
lowly of
spirit” (Matthew 11:29); and it has the promise of the
earth for an inheritance
( ibid. ch. 5:5). Let us, therefore, seek meekness (Zephaniah 2:3).
“Longsuffering” is the disposition that leads us to suppress our anger (II Corinthians
6:6;
Galatians 5:22); and is opposed to that irritability often expressively
called shortness of
temper, which is quick to show resentment. This spirit is of great moment in the Church,
where there may be frequent collisions of opinion, or interest, or feeling, and it waits with
patience till the passionate or
obstinate see their way to more reasonable courses.
God
commands it (Romans 12:17). He exemplifies it (Matthew 5:44; Romans 5:6-8),
and His Son has left us a most impressive exhibition of it (I Peter
2:21-23). We all fail in
our duty and need to have due consideration made to our
failings. We are above all to
bear and. forbear in matters of religious fellowship (Romans
15:1).
“forbearing one another in love” - Christians are not to resent injuries or retaliate for
wrongs done to them, but are to bear with each other’s infirmities, to
cover each other’s
weaknesses, to pity each other’s frailties, and to forgive the provocations they inflict upon
each other. This is to be done, not from a principle of merely worldly
courtesy or from
contemptuous indifference, but from that love which “suffereth long, and is kind.”
(I Corinthians 13: 4) - It is “charity which covereth
a multitude of sins,” (James 5:20;
I Peter 4:8) - just as surely as “hatred stirreth up strife” (<201012>Proverbs 10:12).
Long-suffering and loving forbearance are phases of the same state of mind — denoting
the absence of that irascibility and proneness to take offence which
flares up at every
provocation or fancied neglect, and strives to maintain self-control on
every occasion.
It is from such qualities in God that our redemption has come; it is miserable to accept
the redemption and not try to attain and exhibit its true spirit. Neglect of
this verse has
produced untold evil in the
Christian Church. These graces have reference mainly to the
ordinary intercourse of social life; what follows has to do
more with the public life
of` the Church.
Believers are not to think of themselves more highly than they ought to
think (Romans
12:3), nor exalt themselves above their degree (II Corinthians
10:13-15), but to esteem
others better than themselves (Philippians 2:3).
Graces that Promote the
Harmony of the Church (v. 2)
“All lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one
another in
love.” These graces are specially needful in the
Church; for their opposites,
pride, irascibility, and impatience do much to
create heart-burning and
division.
·
LOWLINESS
OF MIND.
ü Its nature. It is that deep humility, as opposed to pride,
arrogance, and
conceit, which is produced by a right sense of our weakness,
ignorance,
and dependence, and by a due appreciation of the undeserved
glory to
which we are called in Christ Jesus. Men are made humble and
self-
distrustful less by the knowledge that they are weak,
ignorant, and mortal,
than by the fact that, while striving for a higher end, they
are always
coming short of it by their
mistakes and their follies, and are in constant
need of a strength greater than their own. It is thus
possible to unite a
high aim with a profound humility.
ü Its importance. It is necessary because:
Ø God
requires it (Micah 6:8);
Ø Christ
exemplified it (Matthew 11:29);
Ø God dwells
with the humble (Isaiah 57:15);
Ø it is the way:
o to learn
wisdom (Proverbs 11:2),
o to attain
grace and holiness (ibid. ch 3:5-6; James 4:6),
and to preserve unity in the Church.
It has many promises made to it. God will:
Ø respect the
humble (Isaiah 66:2),
Ø give them
grace (I Peter 5:6),
Ø exalt them
(ibid.), and
Ø reward them
with all good things.
Its importance is specially manifest in Church relations.
Believers are
not to think of themselves more highly than they ought to
think
(Romans 12:3), nor exalt themselves above their degree (II
Corinthians
10:13-15), but to esteem others better than themselves
(Philippians 2:3).
Let believers, therefore, have a humble apprehension of
their knowledge,
for “knowledge puffeth up” (I Corinthians 8:1); and humble thoughts
of their goodness, for we cannot
understand all our errors, and need to
be cleansed from our secret faults
(Psalm 19:12). Let them “put on
humbleness of mind,” as the brightest ornament of Christian character
(Colossians 3:12).
·
MEEKNESS.
There is a natural connection between meekness and
humility, and therefore they are often joined together.
ü Its nature. It is that disposition which does not arraign
God and does not
avenge itself on man. As regards God, it implies a ready
submission to
the authority of His Word (James 1:21), and a cheerful
resignation to His
providence, as opposed to murmuring and fretfulness (Psalm
39:9). As
regards man, the meek will have a calm temper under
provocations; he
will be “slow to wrath” (James
1:19); he will give “the soft answer that
turneth away wrath” (Proverbs 15:1); he will show that ornament of
a
meek and quiet spirit which adorns more than rubies (I Peter
3:4).
When joined with strength it. makes one of the most
effective characters.
It is especially to be esteemed in a religious life.
Therefore the apostle
says, “Let him show out of
a good conversation his works with meekness
of wisdom” (James 3:13).
It is with meekness and fear that we are to give
a reason of our hope (I Peter 3:15), and it is in a spirit
of meekness we
are to recover the erring (Galatians 6:1). It is one of the
nine graces of
the Spirit (ibid. ch. 5:22-23).
ü Its importance. See how largely it contributes to the
usefulness of
Christian life. The meek man has great power with men. See
how it
contributes to the comfort of life; for it keeps him from the friction of
temper that so often detracts
from true repose; it brings us nearer and
nearer to Him who was pre-eminently “meek and lowly of spirit”
(Matthew 11:29); and it has the promise of the earth for an
inheritance
(ibid. ch. 5:5). Let us, therefore, seek meekness
(Zephaniah 2:3).
·
LONG-SUFFERING.
ü
Its
nature. It is the
disposition that leads us to suppress our anger (II
Corinthians 6:6; Galatians 5:22); and is opposed to that
irritability often
expressively called shortness of temper, which is quick to
show
resentment. This
spirit is of great moment in the Church, where there
may be frequent collisions of opinion, or interest, or
feeling, and it
waits with patience till the passionate or obstinate see
their way to
more reasonable courses.
ü Its importance. God commands it (Romans 12:17). He exemplifies
it
(Matthew 5:44; Romans 5:6-8), and His Son has left us a most
impressive exhibition of it (I Peter 2:21-23). We all fail
in our duty
and need to have due consideration made to our failings. We
are above
all to bear and forbear in matters
of religious fellowship (Romans 15:1).
·
THE SPIRIT
IN WHICH THIS LONG-SUFFERING IS TO BE
EXERCISED. “Forbearing one another in love.” Christians
are not to
resent injuries or retaliate for wrongs done to them, but
are to bear with
each other’s infirmities, to cover each other’s weaknesses,
to pity each
other’s frailties, and to forgive the provocations they inflict upon each
other. This is to
be done, not from a principle of merely worldly courtesy
or from contemptuous indifference, but from that love which “suffereth
long, and is kind.” (I Corinthians
13:4) It is “charity which covereth a
multitude of sins” (I Peter
4:8), just as surely as “hatred stirreth
up strife”
(Proverbs 10:12). It would be impossible to secure the
equanimity (self-
control in a difficult situation) of life if the principle of forbearance,
prompted
and guided by love, were not generally exercised. The
counsel
of the apostle in this whole passage pointedly condemns the proud, arrogant,
censorious disposition, which
tramples, not only on the rules of courtesy,
but of Christian affection. We owe to
others what they require at our
hands. (Do unto others
as ye would have them do to you! (Luke
6:31)
There is much in us they have to allow for, and therefore it
becomes
us to allow for much in them. Therefore our very manners
ought to show
true Christian consideration, for the poet has rightly said
—
“ And manners are not idle, but the
fruit
Of loyal nature and of noble mind.”
3 “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace.”
Endeavouring to keep the unity of the
Spirit. The concord to be preserved is
the “unity of the Spirit” —the
unity of which the Holy Spirit is the Author; not
mere
external uniformity, but inward agreement. It is a fact that there is much
inward
agreement
wherever the Spirit of God works. It is our duty to preserve this — to keep
it
from being broken or even appearing as if broken. Σπουδάζοντες - spoudazontes -
striving; make haste to be
zealous – is stronger than the Authorized Version’s
“endeavoring,” and denotes an object to be carefully and
earnestly watched for and
promoted. “The unity of the Spirit” is equivalent to the unity of
which the Spirit is
the Author.
In all in whom He works savingly, the Spirit produces
a certain oneness
in faith,
in repentance, in knowledge, in their views of sin, grace, Christ, the world,
etc.
This
oneness exists, and cannot but exist, even when Christians are not careful of
it,
but the manifestation
of it is lost; it seems to the world as if there were no such
oneness.
“Many
men, many minds,” says the world, when believers differ much and contend
much, and are at no pains to preserve and manifest the unity
wrought by the Spirit.
It is due
to the Spirit, as well as to the interests of the
of the
Spirit be maintained in the bond of peace. This
unity is to be maintained by
the
bond which consists of “peace;” by a peace-loving and peace-seeking spirit,
that
spirit of which Christ said, “Blessed are the
peacemakers: for they shall be
called the children of God.” (Matthew 5:9) The danger of breaking the unity of
the
Spirit is great;
ü readiness to
take offence,
ü pride,
ü regardlessness of the welfare of others,
ü forgetfulness
of the vast Christian work and warfare committed to us,
are
temptations to this.
On the
other hand, the habitual striving after the graces enumerated above, and trying
to
exercise them habitually, tend to preserve the unity of the Spirit, and to a
large extent,
too,
to preserve external agreement in the government and worship and work of the
Church. The
genitive, εἰρήνης – eiraenaes – peace – is commonly held to be that of
apposition,
the bond which consists of peace — a
peace-loving spirit, a spirit laying
more stress
on the points in which Christians agree than those in which they
differ.
Those who are combative,
censorious, careless of peace, do not walk
worthy
of their vocation. We are:
ü called by the God of peace,
ü redeemed by Christ who is our Peace,
ü sanctified by the Spirit whose fruit is peace, and
ü edified by the gospel of peace,
that we may walk as sons of peace.
Walking
Worthy of Our Vocation (vs. 1-3)
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord,” etc. The
verses, looked at homiletically,
suggest the
following truths:
·
THAT MAN’S EXTERNAL
CONDITION IN THIS WORLD IS NO
TRUE TEST
OF HIS REAL WORTH. A greater man than Paul, greater in
true thought, lofty aims, disinterested sympathies,
self-sacrificing love,
Christ-like devotion, and philanthropy, never lived. He was
great in
himself, great in his spiritual influence, great in the
estimation of all capable
of appreciating worth. Yet he was a “prisoner” and doomed to martyrdom
— a condition the most ignominious and painful. This fact
shows:
ü The corruption of human society. So blind in moral judgment and so
perverse in heart has civil
society been, almost from the beginning
(compare Genesis 6:5), that it has doomed its best men to
degradation,
suffering, and often martyrdom.
ü The reality of a future retributive
dispensation. The beheading
of John the Baptist, the imprisonment of a Paul, the
crucifying of the
Christ, proclaim with a tongue of thunder a coming judgment,
a day when
“all ungodly men shall be
convinced of all ungodly things which they
have ungodly committed.” (Jude 1:15)
·
THAT THE
END OF ALL TRUE THEOLOGY IS THE
IMPROVEMENT
OF CHARACTER. The apostle, after laying down in
the preceding chapters the grandest theological truths,
begins in these
verses an application of these truths to practical life. “I beseech you
therefore.” “Therefore.” Why?
Because of the wonderful things I have
stated. Theology, if it remains with us merely as a science,
will do us no
spiritual service. It may stimulate thought, widen the realm
of intelligence,
afford scope and incentive to our speculative faculties, and
develop our
powers of logic and controversy. But what boots all this? Devils in
depravity and torture are theologians. It is only when theological truths
pass from the intellect
to the
heart, and thence
circulate as blood through
every particle of our being — in other words, when doctrines are
translated
into deeds — that
they really serve us. Theology is bread; but undigested
bread does not impart health, but impairs it, does not
invigorate the man,
but enfeebles him. A great theologian is often a moral
invalid.
·
THAT THE
PRIVILEGES OF A MORAL BEING ARE THE
MEASURE
OF HIS OBLIGATIONS. “Walk worthy of the
vocation,” etc.
The Bible teaches us our duty, not so much by written precepts
as
by
principles, either expressed or implied. Indeed, it seems
to me no code of
legislative propositions, though its volumes filled the
world, could supply
directions for the boundless activities of an undying soul. You cannot bring
all the obligations of souls into any number of written
sentences. Hence we
have principles, and often one principle will meet all the
possible activities
of a soul, determine its duty in every separate act. The
principle we have
stated is an example. When a real Christian is told to “act worthy of his
vocation,” he is told
everything touching all conceivable obligations. This
point supplies us with two general remarks.
ü
Christians
are called into a Divine sonship, and their duty is to walk
worthy
of that. The call you
have in the fifth verse of the first chapter.
“Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ
to Himself, according to the
good pleasure of His will.” We are called
to be the sons of
God. What is our duty? To act worthy of our
relationship, act as sons
ought to act towards such a Father.
Give Him:
Ø The highest reverence. Our
heavenly Father is not only greatest
to us, BUT GREATEST TO THE
UNIVERSE! Therefore
reverence Him.
Ø The highest gratitude. We owe everything to Him — being
and the highest blessings
of being. Therefore to Him our
profoundest and incessant thanks are due.
Ø The highest esteem. He is:
o the best of Beings,
o the Fountain of all virtues,
o the Standard of all character,
o the Totality of goodness.
Therefore He
should be loved with all our soul and strength.
(Mark 12:29-30)
Ø The highest confidence. Yield to
Him a cheerful trust, a
boundless reliance. TRUST IN HIM
FOREVER!
Ø The highest attention. He should occupy more of our
thoughts than any other being. You should:
o study His character,
o trace His ways,
o anticipate His wishes,
o imbibe His Spirit,
o imitate His character, and thus become
o partakers of His nature.
When Christians are told to walk worthy of their sonship,
what more can be said? It means to live a pure, useful,
elevated, morally royal
life.
ü
Christians
are called into a spiritual corporation, and
their duty is to
walk
worthy of that. When on
earth Christ founded a new society, its
members consisted of those who practically accepted Him as
their great
Teacher, Example, Savior and Lord. That
society, few in numbers at first,
has been increasing ever
since. Millions
have gone to heaven, and
millions are still on this
earth found in connection with all Churches,
and not a few in connection
with none. This society, though its members
are divided by sentiment
and ritual and distance, are nevertheless one —
one in:
Ø spirit,
Ø purpose,
and
Ø life.
They are but branches of one tree, the Root of which is CHRIST,
members of one body the Head of which is Christ. Now, every
Christian is called into this grand corporation. And the
apostle here
states two things concerning our relation to it.
Ø The grand purpose we should aim at. “Endeavoring to keep the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” “Unity of the Spirit”
means the unity of which the
Spirit is the Author. Unity, not
merely doctrinal or ecclesiastical, for there may be doctrinal
and ecclesiastical unity where there is spiritual separation.
It is the
unity of souls IN CHRIST! Now, every one belonging
to this
corporation should diligently endeavor
to maintain its
unity. This unity is consonant with diversity; the
waves are
different, but the ocean is one; the branches are different,
but
the tree is one; the members are different, but the body is
one;
the stars are different, but the system is one. Men’s
thoughts
may be different, but men’s loves may be one, and loves are
the
bonds of souls.
Ø The method for promoting this purpose. Three things are
indicated here.
o Humility. “With all lowliness and
meekness.” Pride,
arrogance, and haughtiness in all its forms, have ever
been amongst the most
disturbing elements in Church life.
o Mutual forbearance. “Forbearing one another.” The
best members of this Church are imperfect in belief,
sympathies, and conduct; hence mutual
forbearance is
necessary in order to
maintain unity. He who feels
disposed to quarrel with every fault of his associates
may spend his time in doing nothing else.
o Brotherly love. “Forbearing one another in
love.” Love
is the healer of
discords. No hand but hers can retune the
discordant harp of Church life. These — lowliness,
meekness, long-suffering,
loving forbearance — quiet,
unpretending, unshowy virtues are
amongst the best
means for promoting true unity in the
is the most useful Christian? Not as a rule he who has the
most transcendent genius, brilliant talents, and
commanding eloquence,
but he who has the most of
this quiet, loving, forbearing spirit. The world may do
without its Niagaras, whose
thundering roar and majestic
rush excite the highest amazement of mankind, but it
cannot spare the thousand rivulets that glide unseen and
unheard every moment through the earth, imparting life
and verdure and beauty wherever they go. And so the
Church
may do without its men of splendid abilities,
but it cannot do without
its men of tender, loving,
forbearing souls.
Walking
Worthily (vs. 1-3)
It is
touching to see how the great apostle, who had a right to issue
commands to
the Churches in the name of Christ, prefers to beseech his
readers
with gentle entreaty as “the prisoner in the Lord.” This
method is
as much a mark
of his wisdom as of his humility and kindness of heart. For
we are all more easily moved by persuasion and sympathy than by
patronage and authority.
·
CHRISTIANS
ARE CALLED TO A HIGH VOCATION.
ü
There is a Divine call. We are not left to drift through life
aimlessly, nor
are we permitted to carve out careers for
ourselves. Divine purposes go
before us, mapping out our course of future
service; and Divine voices in
the gospel and in our hearts bid us follow our
vocation.
ü
The call is lofty and worthy of all honor. Christians are
not saved with a
bare and beggarly deliverance, like shipwrecked
mariners flung upon the
beach, half drowned and bereft of everything. When we enter the Christian
life we commence a course of high service,
vast enterprise, and splendid
aims.
ü
The purpose of this vocation is to glorify God and bless the world by
realizing the idea of the Christian Church. In the previous chapter Paul
has been describing some of the great privileges
of Christians, which
consist chiefly in their being built into one
great temple and growing
together in union. The breaking down of national, ecclesiastical,
intellectual, and moral barriers, and the building up of one great family,
knit together by love and united through a common union with Christ, is
Paul’s magnificent conception of the fruits that
the gospel is to bear onearth.
·
IT IS THE
DUTY OF CHRISTIANS TO WALK WORTHILY OF
THEIR
HIGH CALLING.
ü
The responsibility of fulfilling our vocation rests upon us. We are called,
not driven, and we can disobey the Divine voice.
But though we are free
from compulsion, we are not free from
responsibility. For God has a right
to call us whither He wilt, and Christ has laid
us under peculiar obligations
by His work and sacrifice for us.
ü
This fulfillment of our vocation must be in our daily conduct. We are to
“walk
worthily.” Belief and worship are not enough. The life and the whole
work and daily occupation are to follow the Divine call.
ü
Christian consistency is squaring our
conduct with our calling. Many
make much of mere self-consistency; but it is
well often to be inconsistent
with ourselves, or we can never progress, much
less repent and amend.
Nor is it enough to make our actions consistent
with our opinions, unless
both opinions and actions are consistent with
truth, with God’s will, and
with our vocation.
·
WALKING
WORTHILY OF THE CHRISTIAN CALLING
CONSISTS
CHIEFLY IN MAINTAINING AND INCREASING OUR
MUTUAL
BROTHERHOOD. Love is the queen
of the New Testament
graces. Selfishness, moroseness, lack
of sympathy, and the like are sins
against the peculiar genius of the gospel. To be zealous in
defending the
faith, to be pure as white marble in saintly separation from
vice, to be strict
in integrity, etc., will not be enough; for our calling is
to a brotherhood,
and our worthy walking must help this.
ü Negatively,
we must have:
Ø lowliness which
declines to assert one’s self before one’s
brethren,
Ø meekness which acts
gently to them, and
Ø longsuffering which bears with any provocations they
may give us.
ü Positively,
we must extend Christian unity and the spirit of peace.
The peaceful
brotherly spirit must not only be passively harmless,
it must be earnest, active, and diligent.
The Unity of the Spirit
and the Mode of Its Keeping (v. 3)
“Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond- of
peace.”
·
CONSIDER
THE NATURE OF THIS UNITY.
ü It is not
the unity of the body, the Church. That is an immutable unity
which man cannot keep. God alone keeps it. Neither are we
commanded
to make the unity of the Spirit, but simply to
keep it — for it exists, in a
sense, independently of man’s fidelity; but in the degree in
which it is
kept in the bond of peace, it will eventually lead to visible
oneness.
ü Much less
is it a unity of external organization. That unity existed
already at
which must have existed at
mixed membership of Jews and Gentiles. Christ did
undoubtedly make
both one on the cross, but the apostles allowed a
considerable diversity
of order and usage to exist in the Churches, according to
the dominance
of the Jewish or the Gentile element in them. There were
Churches that
followed the rule of Moses — the apostles themselves holding
by the
ceremonial law till the end of their lives (Acts 21:20-26).
And there
were Churches that did not observe days nor follow Jewish
usage,
but took a course authorized by apostolic command itself. If
the
differences that existed in the days of the apostles did not
destroy
the unity of the body, it is difficult to see how similar
differences
in order and worship can destroy it now.
ü The unity
of the Spirit is that unity of which the
Spirit is the Author. His
indwelling is the principle of unity in the body of Christ.
Man, therefore,
cannot make it, nor can he destroy it, though he can thwart
or disturb its
manifestations. The use of the word “endeavoring” implies that it may be
kept with a greater or lesser degree of fidelity.
·
CONSIDER
HOW THIS UNITY IS TO BE PRESERVED. “In the
bond of peace.” That is,
the bond which is peace, springing out of humility,
meekness, and forbearance. Just as pride, arrogance, and
contention are
separating elements, the opposite dispositions are conducive to unity. The
peace which is the element of Christian society is that to
which we are
called in one body; for:
ü we are
called by the God of peace,
ü redeemed by
Christ who is our Peace,
ü sanctified
by the Spirit whose fruit is peace, and
ü edified by
the gospel of peace, that we may walk
as sons of peace.
Thus the unity is preserved and manifested by peace, as it
is marred or lost sight
of amidst conflicts and disagreements. The apostolic injunction
is very
inconsistent with the Darbyite
principle that the unity of the Spirit is to be
preserved by separation from evil, theological, ecclesiastical, or moral.
It is strange that the apostle never hints at such a thing
as separation, but
speaks only of such graces as “lowliness,
meekness, with long-suffering,”
which are but little exemplified in many of the separations
brought about
by such a principle. The Darbyite
principle is not a bond of peace. It multiplies
separations and divides the saints of God. There is uniting
power in a
common belief or in a common affection, but there is none in
mere
separation from evil. The common rejection of Arianism can never become
a center of union for Protestants and Roman Catholics,
because they are
still so fundamentally apart in the whole spirit of their
theology. The unity
of the Spirit which we are enjoined to keep is, therefore, a
unity compatible
with minor differences, and ought to be the grand means of growing the
unity of the body into more glorious distinctness before the
world.
Seven
Particulars of Unity (vs. 4-6)
4 “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are
called in one hope of your
calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 One God and Father of all,
who is above
all, and through all, and in you all.” There is one body. (see ch. 2:16).
The Church is an organic
whole, of which believers are the members, and Christ the
Head, supplying the vitalizing
power: The real body, being constituted by vital
union with Christ, is not
synonymous with any single
outward society. One Spirit;
viz. the Holy Spirit, who
alone applies the redemption of Christ, and works in the
members of the Church the
graces of the new creation – All sins against unity are
sins against the indwelling Spirit. Sectarian or diversive course have a tendency
to
grieve the Spirit. Indeed, it is a mark of a separating APOSTASY that it HAS
NOT THE
SPIRIT! (Jude 1:19)
As ye also were called in one hope of your
calling.” This is
one of the results of the Spirit’s work; when the Spirit called you
He inspired
you all with one hope, and this one hope was involved in the very
essence of your calling (compare Titus 2:13, “Looking for the
blessed hope, even
the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Savior Jesus Christ”). To all
believers
the Spirit imparted this one blessed hope. Hope is the
expectation of future
good. All
believers have the same aspirations, the same anticipations of the coming
glory – we have
“a lively hope” because
of the resurrection of Jesus from the grave.
(I Peter 1:3)
One
Lord. Jesus
Christ, unique and beyond comparison:
ü as Teacher, all hang on
His words;
ü as Master, all own His supreme
authority;
ü to His
example all refer as the standard;
ü in His likeness all covet as
the highest excellence!
(where Mary is worshipped, though nominally you have but one
Lord, virtually
you have two) – There is no
part of our being, there is no event of our lives, that is
not subject to this authority which brooks NO RIVAL! One faith. not objective
in the
sense of creed, but as denoting the one instrument
of receiving salvation
(ch. 2:8), the one belief in the one Savior by which we are
justified, adopted, and
in other ways blessed –
The grace of faith has a thoroughly uniting
tendency,
because
it brings us near to the Savior, and the nearer we
stand to Him we stand
the nearer to one another.
One
baptism. One
initiatory rite admitting into the
visible
Church — baptism in name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, symbolic
of
the washing of
regeneration, the one way of entering the Church invisible.
One God and Father of all. We rise
now to the fountain of Godhead, the one
supreme Being with whom all have to do, the
only Being who is or can be the
Father of us all; who can be to us what is
implied in the name “Father, whose
love and grace can satisfy our hearts. There
is no part of our being, there is no
event of our lives, that is not subject to His
authority which brooks no rival.
Who is above all. The supreme
and only Potentate, (I Timothy 6:15) exercising
undivided
jurisdiction, “doing according to His will
in the armies of heaven.”
(Daniel
4:35) And through all. Pervading the
whole universe, sustaining and ruling it,
not dwelling apart from His works, but pervading them; not,
however, in any
pantheistical sense, but as A PERSONAL GOD, whose essence is separate
from His
works. And in you all. A closer and more abiding influence; He dwells
in
them, and
walks in them, molding their inner being, and filling them with His own light
and love.
Some commentators of mark have tried to find a reference to each of the
persons of
the Godhead in the three prepositions over, through, and by, but this
seems
a strained
view. The three persons, however, appear clearly in the seven elements of
unity, but,
as before (ch. 3:16- 19), in the reverse of the
common order:
These seven
elements constitute the true rarity of the Church. It is out of the question
to
identify the Church which is thus one, with any external organization like the
Roman
Catholic Church. How many millions have been connected with it who
have
notoriously been destitute of the one hope, the one Spirit, the one Father!
It is
of the invisible Church the apostle speaks, and his exhortation is, seeing
that
this blessed sevenfold unity is the unity wrought by the Holy Spirit, maintain
that
unity; maintain the manifestation of it; give no occasion to any one to say
that
there is no such unity - that the Holy Ghost is a Spirit of confusion and
not a
Spirit of order and unity.
The
unity of the Church finds its consummation at last in God, who originated the
scheme
of grace and from whom all the other unities are derived. If God be our Father,
then
are we members of one family, brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, and are
therefore
bound to live together in unity. The counsel may well come to us,
“See that ye fall not out by the way” (Genesis,
45:24).
Details of a Walk Worthy
of the Vocation (vs.
2-6)
This walk
demands:
·
THE
PRESERVATION OF SOCIAL
QUIET OR
PASSIVE VIRTUES, which, having been very characteristic
of Christ, are eminently incumbent on all who bear His Name.
ü Lowliness, arising from a chastened sense of our sin and
unworthiness.
ü Meekness, which is in speech what lowliness is in spirit.
ü Long-suffering and forbearance in love; in opposition to hastiness,
irascibility, impatience, ill temper, which, though often
little thought of,
are eminently unworthy of the Christian calling. Christian
victories are
often gained by meekness and endurance — what
invincible might of meekness.” These graces have reference
mainly
to the ordinary intercourse of social life; what follows has
to do more
with the public life of` the Church
·
THE
PRESERVATION OF ECCLESIASTICAL
THROUGH
THE BOND OF PEACE. The concord to be preserved is the
“unity of the Spirit” —the unity
of which the Holy Spirit is the Author; not
mere external uniformity, but inward agreement. It is a fact
that there is
much
inward agreement wherever the Spirit of God
works. It is our duty to
preserve this — to keep it from being broken or even
appearing as if
broken. This unity is to be maintained by the bond which
consists of
“peace;” by a
peace-loving and peace-seeking spirit, that spirit of which
Christ said, “Blessed are the peacemakers:
for they shall be called the
children of God.” (Matthew
5:9) The danger of breaking the unity of the
Spirit is great:
ü readiness
to take offence,
ü pride,
ü regardlessness of the welfare of others,
ü forgetfulness
of the vast Christian work and warfare committed to us,
are temptations to this. On the other hand, the
habitual striving after the graces
enumerated above, and trying to exercise them habitually,
tend to preserve
the unity of the Spirit, and to a
large extent, too, to preserve external
agreement in the government and worship and work of the
Church.
·
In connection with this subject, the apostle
shows WHEREIN THE
UNITY OF
THE SPIRIT CONSISTS, AND WHEREIN IT IS TO BE
PRESERVED. There is a
sevenfold unity (see Exposition). That true
believers are ONE IN CHRIST is one of
those truths which happily even
controversy and sectarianism do not quite obliterate. But a
more full, rich,
and constant manifestation of this unity would make a great
impression on
the world; it would remove one of the most common excuses of
skepticism; it would tend powerfully
both to edify and to extend the cause
of Christ; and it would
make the fellowship of the Church much more
delightful, spreading
more of the atmosphere of heaven upon earth.
The Unities of Christianity a Reason for
(vs. 3-6)
“Endeavoring to keep
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
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.” These
various unities in Christianity are
here
specified by the apostle in order to enforce the importance and
obligation
of a loving concord amongst all true Christians. By noticing
these
unities with a little closer attention we shall see how they formed in
the
apostle’s mind an argument for a loving union amongst all the
disciples
of Christ.
“One body.” Though
they are very numerous and ever increasing, though
they differ widely in many morally fundamental points, and
live in
different lands and different worlds, still they are parts
of one great whole.
The tree, though it has a thousand branches all varying in
size and shape
and hue, is an organic whole. This unity, though not
visible, really exists.
To be a Christian is to be a branch of the one tree, a stone
in the one
building, a member of the one body. Now, this fact is
certainly a strong
reason for the cherishing amongst all of brotherly love and
hearty
fellowship. “That there should be no
schism in the body; but that the
members should have the same
care one for another. And whether one
member suffer, all the
members suffer with it; or one member be honored,
all the members rejoice with
it.” (I Corinthians 12:25-26)
“One Spirit.” What the
body is to the human soul, this great organization,
this universal Church, is
to the Spirit of the living God.
ü Servant. As every
member of the body is the servant of the soul, every
genuine Christian is the servant of the Spirit, and obeys
His dictates in
everything.
ü Symbol. As the
body reveals and expresses the soul by its looks, words,
and operations, so the
true Church reveals the Divine Spirit;
reveals its
quickening, redeeming,
elevating, sanctifying influence.
ü Residence. As the body is the residence of the soul, even
so the Church
is the temple for the Holy Ghost to dwell in. If there is
this one Spirit
running through all, guiding, animating, overruling all, should there not
be through all a mutual,
loving sympathy and interest?
What is the object of a true Christian’s hope? Not
happiness. He whose grand
object in life is his own happiness is under the influence
of that selfishness
which is the essence of sin
and the devil of the soul. That spirit in Churches
which cries, “Oh that I had the wings of a
dove! then would I fly away and
be at rest” (Psalm
55:6), is discontented selfishness, nothing more. Alas! that
there should be churches, chapels, and pulpits ministering
to an
insatiable avarice that considers this beautiful world not good enough for
its home! But if the
object of a true Christian’s hope is not happiness, what
then? Moral
goodness. Goodness as exemplified in the life of Jesus. To
become like Christ, to be
partakers of the Divine nature, to be holy even as
God is holy, — this is the great object of a true Christian’s
hope. And
herein is heaven and nowhere else. To be happy is to be good, to be good
is to be like God, and this is the grand object of genuine
Christian hope.
“Then shall I be satisfied
when I awake up in thine own image.” (Psalm
17:15) Moral goodness
is the only true
Who is this one Lord? By the general consent of
acknowledged expositors,
THE ONE
LORD JESUS! “One is your Master, even Christ.” (Matthew
23:10) There are men
in Christendom who assume titles indicating authority
over human souls. We have the Pope of Rome, the lord bishop,
and the “Primate
of all
lay His head, and who taught that the least should be
greatest in His kingdom,
thereshould be found men either so dull
or daring as to assume such titles as
these. Call no man “master,” said this “one Lord.” He is the Head of the
Church which is His body, the only
Head. Is not
this also a potent reason
for loving concord among Christians? They have to:
ü draw their doctrines from one Teacher,
ü learn their duty from one
Master,
ü fashion their character after one Model, and
ü depend for reconciliation
to God upon one Mediator.
means, as we have seen, one Object
of faith. What is the one creed?
Theological propositions put forth as articles
of belief? If so, there are
many faiths — faiths almost as numerous as there
are Christian professors.
No two men can perhaps believe the same thing in
exactly the same way; the
same proposition shapes itself differently to
different souls. The New Testament
teaches with unmistakable explicitness that the true creed
of a Christian is
not a propositional manifesto, but
a personal life — the life
of Christ. In
more than thirty passages of one Gospel, the Gospel of John,
we find
with reference to Christ the expressions:
ü “trusting to me,”
ü “trusting to him,” or
ü “trusting to the Son.”
Take two or three as specimens.
ü “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath
sent.”
(John 6:29)
ü Again, “He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” (ibid. v. 47)
ü Again, “He that believeth on Him shall not be damned.” (ibid. ch. 3:17)
ü Again, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall
he do also.”
(ibid. ch. 14:12)
ü “Do this in remembrance of me.” (I Corinthians 11:24)
Christ is
the one Creed. He is, in truth, the Bible. See how
this one creed
argues the importance of loving union
amongst Christians. If our creed is a
series of propositions we shall be divided,
but if our creed is the personal life
of One all-holy, all-loving, all-good,
we shall be united. If all the members
of all the Churches believed with a
living faith in the one personal Christ,
there would be a loving concord of
souls.
The primary meaning of "baptism” is
cleansing. βαπτισµός - baptismos
- is
rendered "washing" in several places (Mark 7:4, 8; Hebrews 9:10).
There are
two kinds of baptisms or cleansings mentioned in the New
Testament —
the material and the spiritual, that of water and that of
fire. The latter,
namely, the fiery baptism of the Spirit, is the great thing.
This undoubtedly
is the one baptism, the one cleansing.
ü This is the one essential cleansing. Without
this, though we were
baptized in all the rivers of the world, we are not members
of that one
body of which Christ is the Head. Millions have entered
heaven without
water baptism, but not one without the spiritual.
ü This is the one Divine cleansing. It is the
Spirit’s work. This is the
“washing of regeneration and
the renewing of the Holy Ghost".
(Titus 3:5) Is not
this one essential, Divine cleansing another good
argument for unity of love in all Christians?
·
ALL
CHRISTIANS HAVE ONE
ADORABLE GOD. “One God and Father
of all, who is above all, and
through all, and in you all.”
ü THERE IS BUT ONE GOD! This fact
is supported by the structure
and order of nature; stands in direct antagonism
to atheism, fetichism,
polytheism, and pantheism; and is accepted as a fundamental truth in
all
evangelical Churches throughout the world. The glorious fact
reveals the greatness of the Creator, the
definiteness of moral
obligations, the fitness of religion for the
constitution of man, and
the universal brotherhood of souls.
ü This one God is universal Father. “Father of all.” “Of all and through
all.” “All" is not
neuter: πάντων - panton. It is true that God is the
Author of all nature, is
over all nature, and lives through all nature;
but the apostle’s reference
here is undoubtedly to intelligent existences,
and it may be that he intends
only the members of the true Church. All
the members
of the true Church recognize Him as “the
Father of all,
over all, through all, and in all.”
true union amongst men. Notwithstanding all the discords and
conflicts
that rage and revel through the world, there lies
deep down in the heart of
humanity an
ineradicable desire
for unity. The greatest events that have
marked and helped the progress of the human race are the
outcomes of this
desire. Mankind have tried for this unity in many different
ways. They have
tried by:
ü Political means. In ancient times kings and warriors endeavored
to bring
men together under one iron scepter. The Assyrian, the Persian,
the
Greek, the Roman, each in his turn made the desperate
endeavor. In
modern times
(
is the
antichrist and his cronies - CY - 2019)
Far enough are we from
denouncing or even depreciating such a grand political
purpose. For our
own part, we should like to see what we think will one day
appear on this
earth — one great cosmopolitan government — a government
embracing
within its majestic arms of righteous and sanitary law all
the children of
men the world over. The fact that
religion, habit, nor remoteness of position from the central
power are
necessary obstructions to the establishment of such a rule.
With such a
government immense and manifold would be the advantages. The
liberties of all would be secured. The spirit of
nationality, the prolific
parent of desolating wars, would find no place. All would be
fellow-
citizens of one state. All the tyrannies and rivalries of
little despots
would be played out.
The age of standing armies would be over.
The markets of the world be open alike to all. Such a
government,
I believe, will come. The gradual absorption of the smaller
into the
larger states, the ever-multiplying facilities of
intercourse between
the remotest parts of the globe and diversified races of
mankind, and
the ever-advancing intellectual, moral, numerical, and
colonizing
superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race charm my poor soul at
times
with the belief that such an empire is in the tenor of
things inevitable.
But let it come. The real unity for which the human soul
craves will
not be met. Law cannot create love.
ü Ecclesiastical means. Religion has made one great attempt to bind the
human race into one grand confederation. The Church of Rome
sets up
one head to which all souls must bow, prescribes one ritual
through
which all souls must move, propounds one creed to which all
souls
must adhere. The object is a noble one; our hearts go with
it. But the
means, involving priestly assumptions and the infringement
of the rights
of conscience, are amongst the worst damnabilities
of history. Hence it
has failed in its object.
Aiming at unity, it has led to endless divisions.
Many a peace-loving soul, pained with the controversies of
the sects,
has sought refuge in
perilous port.
ü Commercial means. Merchandise in this age is preached as the
uniting
power. Self-interest is to be the golden chain to bind all
men together.
Nothing is more unphilosophic than
this. Self-interest is not a
uniting
but an insulating power. The battles of the market, if
not as bloody,
are as base and as heartless as those of the field and the
ocean. The
true principles of union are in the text. For universal union
there must be universal
love, for universal love there must be
universal excellence, and for universal excellence
there must
be the universal recognition of
the one body, the one Spirit,
the one heaven, the one
Master, the one creed, the one
cleansing, the one God and
Father of all.
The
Sevenfold Unity (vs. 4-6)
The apostle proceeds to state the nature and grounds of the unity which is
to be so carefully guarded. It has its
basis in the fact that the Church is one,
and does not consist of two rival societies.
·
“THERE IS
ONE BODY.” The body with its many members and its
many functions is yet one. Similarly, “we being many, are one body in
Christ, and every one members
one of another” (Romans 12:5); so that
believers, no matter how separated by race, color, language,
station,
opinion, interest, circumstance, experience, are members of this one body.
The body cannot, therefore, be an external visible society,
but a spiritual
body of which Christ is the Head. It may not be so easy to
realize this unity
in the midst of the multiplication of sects and
denominations, each with its
well-defined lines, of doctrine and order, and each
more
or less sharply
distinguished from its neighbor. Yet there is still but “ONE BODY” —there is
amidst accidental diversities a substantial unity, a unity
that covers all truly
essential elements. The diversity arising from temperament,
culture, habit,
has had its due effect in the development of truth;
for some parts of the
Church have thus given prominence to some truth which other
parts have
allowed to fall into the background. The beauty of the
Church is manifest
in this very diversity, just as it requires all the hues of
the rainbow to make
the clear, white ray of colorless sunshine. The duty, therefore, of
believers
is to regard the differences that keep
them apart, not as hindrances to
loving fellowship, but as helps to the fuller development of Divine truth
and the
fuller manifestation of the mind of God to the Church.
·
“ONE
SPIRIT.” As in the human body there is but one spirit, with a
single vivifying power, so IN THE CHURCH
THERE IS BUT ONE SPIRIT
animating all its members, as the
common principle of life. “By one Spirit were
we all baptized into one body,” and “were made to drink into one Spirit”
(I Corinthians 12:13). “We have access
by one Spirit unto the Father.” There
is, therefore, no room for a conflicting administration. “There are
diversities of gifts, but the
same Spirit” (ibid. v. 4); and therefore all
sins against unity are sins against the indwelling Spirit. Sectarian or
divisive
courses have a tendency to grieve the Spirit. Indeed, it
is a mark of a separating apostasy that it has not the
Spirit (Jude 1:19).
Let us remember that the one Spirit who animates the
body of Christ
produces as His own choicest fruits — “love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23).
These are graces with a distinctly unifying tendency.
·
“ONE HOPE OF
YOUR CALLING.”
ü Its nature. Here it is not the thing “hoped for,” as it is in Colossians 1:5
and Titus 2:13, but
the emotion of hope, the expectation of future
good. All believers have the same aspirations, the same
anticipations of
coming glory, as the effect of the Spirit’s indwelling. The
hope is
subjective.
ü
Its
origin. The hope is
“of your calling.” It springs out of the effectual
call of THE SPIRIT, who begets
us to “a lively hope” (I Peter
1:3), being
HIMSELF THE EARNEST AND SEAL
of the future inheritance. We
naturally hope for what we are invited to receive.
ü Its effect. Just as two strangers meeting for the first
time on the deck of
an emigrant ship, both bound for the same new land, and
purposing to
pursue the same occupation, are united by a common interest
of
expectation, so believers are drawn
together into unity by a
consideration of their common
hopes.
·
“ONE
LORD.” As the Head of the Church, the supreme Object of
faith, and into whose Name all saints are baptized. There
are two ideas
involved in this blessed lordship:
Ø ownership and
Ø authority.
ü Ownership. Jesus Christ is not only Lord of all, but
especially Lord of
His own people. We are not our own, for we have been
redeemed and
bought with a price (I Corinthians 6:20), even
with His precious blood.
For this end He both died and rose and revived, that He might
be Lord
both of the dead and of the living (Romans 14:9).
ü Authority. Therefore we are subject to Him:
Ø our reason to His guidance,
Ø our conscience to His precepts,
Ø our hearts to His constraining love.
There is no part
of our being, there is no event of our lives, that is
not subject
to THIS AUTHORITY which brooks
no rival. It is this
subjection of all believers to one Lord that marks the inner
unity of
the Church; for loyalty to a common Lord makes them stand together
in:
Ø a common hope,
Ø a common life, and
Ø a common love.
·
“ONE
FAITH.” Not one creed, though all believers do really hold all
that is essential to salvation, but one faith in its
subjective aspect, through
which the one Lord is apprehended. It is one in all
believers, for they are all
JUSTIFIED IN EXACTLY THE
SAME MANNER and it is
in all a faith
that:
ü “purifieth the heart” (I John
3:3),
ü “worketh
by love” (Galatians 5:6) and
ü “overcometh the world.” (I John
5:4)
It is not, therefore,
an external unity that this faith builds up, but a union of a
spiritual character, wrought by the
grace of God. This principle or grace of
faith has a thoroughly uniting tendency, because it brings
us near to the
Savior, and the nearer we stand to Him we stand the nearer
to one another.
·
“ONE
BAPTISM.” There is but one baptism, once administered, as
the expression of our faith in Christ; one initiation into
the one body by one
Spirit (I Corinthians 12:13); one dedication to the one
Lord. All
believers are baptized
unto the Name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. “As
many as have been baptized
into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is
neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor
female: for ye are all one in
Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:27-28).
Christendom owns but one baptism. It has been remarked as
strange that
the Lord’s Supper — “the one bread” (I
Corinthians 10:17) — should
not have a place among the unities, as it is essentially the
symbol of union
among believers. But it differs from baptism in two
important respects:
ü baptism is
individual, the Lord’s Supper is social;
ü it is by
baptism, spiritually regarded, we are carried into the unity of the
one body (I Corinthians 12:13); it is by the Lord’s Supper
we
recognize continuously a unity already accomplished. Thus
baptism is
included among the seven unities, because it embodies the
initial
elements that enter into the unity.
·
“ONE GOD
AND FATHER OF ALL, who is
above all, and through
all, and
in all.” The unity of
the Church finds its consummation at last in
Him, who
originated the scheme of grace and from whom all the other
unities are derived. If God be
our Father, then are we members of one
family, brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, and are
therefore bound to live
together in unity. The
counsel may well come to us, “See that ye fall not
out by the way” (Genesis,
45:24). All the unities are secured by the relation
of God the
Father to the Church. He is “over all” its
members, and
therefore there can be no rival
sovereignty. The Church “is the habitation
of God through the Spirit.” (ch. 2:22) HE IS “through all,” in respect
of
pervading and supporting energy; HE IS “in all” as the
Source and Spring
of constant light and grace and goodness. Thus there are
seven unities, like so
many distinct obligations, to incline believers to the
unity of the Spirit, which
can only be preserved in the bond of peace. Believers ought, indeed, to be of
one heart and one soul.
Christian
Unity (vs. 4-6)
This is a
frequently recurring theme in the Epistle to the Ephesians, and it is
always
treated with an emphasis that marks its supreme importance, and
with a prophetic
hopefulness that regards the higher development of it as
one of the
grandest features of the ideal future.
·
WHEREIN
CHRISTIAN UNITY CONSISTS.
ü Externally it
consists in the “one body.” Plainly
the “one body” is the
Church, the community of Christians. It should be clear to
an impartial
reader of the New Testament that neither Christ nor His
apostles
contemplated the ideal of the kingdom of heaven on earth as
we see that
kingdom realized only in a Christendom torn and distracted
with the
bitter rivalries and mutual excommunications of innumerable
sects. The
one great family, harmonious, mutually sympathetic and
mutually helpful.
ü
Internally it consists in the “one Spirit.” So long as there is not oneness
of spirit in the Church, the attempt to preserve
external union by force is
futile; nay, it is positively hurtful. It is
best not to have a mock semblance
of union when at heart we differ strongly. But
if there is a unity of spirit,
that should be regarded as the most essential
thing. History shows that the
greatest breaches of unity have been caused by
the illiberal efforts of bigots
to constrain uniformity. If we want true unity we must dispense with
agreement in doctrine, form of worship and
ecclesiastical order, and be
content with oneness
of spirit. This unity will be realized, not by increasing,
but by minimizing, the points of uniformity; in
comprehensiveness, not in
stringent discipline; with larger charity, never
with more absolute authority.
·
TOWARDS
WHAT END CHRISTIAN UNITY IS TENDING. The
Christian calling points to “one hope.” All things
make for final integration
(ch. 1:10). We fail of our
vocation if we are satisfied with a
churlish isolation. There will be varieties of life in the
future, no doubt, as
there will be “many mansions.” But all
Christians will be united in the one
city of
becomes, therefore, our manifest duty to heal the breaches
of
Controversialists should ask themselves whether they bring
the millennium
nearer by their pugnacious advocacy of pet doctrines, or
drive it further off
by deepening the fissures of a sorely divided Christendom;
and
ecclesiastical advocates of Church unity should consider
whether it is likely
they will win over to their side all the divergent sects by
standing on the
narrowest possible ground and erecting about it frowning
ramparts.
·
ON WHAT
ORIGINAL FOUNDATIONS CHRISTIAN UNITY IS
BASED.
ü
One Lord. We all have one and the same Christ, and in Him
we are one.
In proportion as Christianity becomes less an
affair of theological dogmas
and ecclesiastical systems, and more a religion
of personal devotion to
Christ, shall we be able to realize our true
unity.
ü
One faith. All Christians must experience the same
spiritual faith in
becoming Christ’s, and must walk equally by
faith. Opinions and rules may
differ, but we do not live by
opinions and rules — we live by
faith. Now,
faith is the same spiritual act in a child and
in a philosopher, in a penitent
and in a saint, in the shouting recruit of the
Salvation Army and in the grave
Quaker, in the evangelical Methodist and in the
devout restorer of
medieval theology.
ü
One baptism. There is one outward sacrament common to nearly
the
whole of Christendom significant of the washing
and renewal all need and
all can receive in Christ.
ü
One God and Father. A common worship
unites. Communion with our
one Father
makes us members of one family.
The Variety of Gifts in Connection with
Unity
and
the Use to be Made of Them
(vs. 7-16)
The marks of Christ’s care for His church are innumerable,
they recede back through
all eternity and forward for evermore. (ch. 3:18-19)
The subject of gifts divides into two:
7 “But
to each one of us is grace given according to the measure of the gift of
Christ.” Christ leaves no one out! To every one of us is given
grace!
In the Church
all do
not get alike; grace is not given in equal measures as the manna in the
wilderness;
Christ,
as the great Bestower, measures out His gifts,
and each receives according to
His
measure. Compare parable of talents. “Grace” does not refer merely to supernatural
gifts,
but also to the ordinary spiritual gifts of men. These are varied, because what each
gets he gets for the good of the rest; the
Church is a fellowship or brotherhood,
where
each
has an interest in all and all in each, and is bound to act accordingly.
DIVERSITY
OF GIFTS. As in the human body there are many members
with different functions, so the
Church is “not
one member, but many.”
Diversity of gift, so far from being
inconsistent with unity, is really essential
to it. “If all were one member,
where were the body?” (I Corinthians 12:
14, 20) All the great purposes of
life would be frustrated if every part of the
organism did not find its due place.
This does not say that any one
member has all gifts. Each has received his
measure. There are those who would
make the Church all “tongue,” as if
all were called to the gospel ministry.
The gifts differ both in nature and in
measure. One has the gift of speech,
another the gift of sagacity, another
the gift of enterprise, another the
gift of sympathy, another the gift of
wealth and influence. All ought to be
contributory to the unity of the
Church.
TRACED
TO CHRIST. The position of each member in the body is not
determined by itself, but by God.
The eye does not make itself the eye, nor
the hand the hand. So the position
of believers in the Church is determined,
not by themselves, but by Christ.
The grace “is
given according to the
measure of the gift of Christ.” Christ is
the Source of all spiritual gifts, and
He determines their adjustment as
well as their amount. He does not give
according to our merit, or our
capacity, or our desires, but according to His
sovereign pleasure. There is,
therefore,
ü no room for self-inflation if we have received the
largest gifts;
ü there is no room for envy or jealousy because others have received
more gifts than
ourselves;
ü but rather
an argument in the fact that one has a grace which another
wants, for our helping
each other in the Lord. Thus the true unity of the
Church is promoted.
Measured
Grace (v. 7)
·
CHRISTIANS
ARE RECIPIENTS OF GRACE.
ü Without grace we
can do nothing. All our
attainments will be
proportionate to the amount and kind of grace we receive. We
cannot
fulfill our vocation nor realize the grand unity of the
Church by
unaided human efforts.
ü But grace is
vouchsafed to Christians. It is the
peculiar privilege of
the New Testament dispensation that it brings the energy of
grace as
well as the light of truth.
·
CHRISTIAN
GRACE IS THE GIFT OF CHRIST.
ü Grace
must be a gift. It would cease to be grace if we could create,
earn, or deserve it. All the blessings of the gospel are free gifts,
as are also our natural
endowments.
2. Christian grace comes direct from
Christ. His sacrifice won it. His
ascension enables him to dispense it (vers.
8-10).
·
THIS GRACE IS GIVEN TO ALL CHRISTIANS. It is not reserved
for high ecclesiastical officials and select saints. We are no
Christians if we
have it not. The Church
is the body of all Christians, and it is one because
‘the same grace flows
through the whole brotherhood. The gospel
is broad
and democratic.
·
THIS GRACE IS
DISPENSED TO EACH INDIVIDUAL SEVERALLY.
(I Corinthians
12:11) Each one receives the gift. We cannot be blessed by
Divine
grace in crowds and masses. The Church
can only be endowed with
grace when her private members are personally blessed. We do
not receive
grace by becoming part of the grand universal Church. But we
realize the
unity of the Church when we have been first blessed with Christ’s grace
in
our own souls.
·
THIS GRACE
IS MEASURED OUT IN VARYING PROPORTIONS.
In Christ there was grace without measure. In us it is measured. Christ
has a right to measure it, because it is a gift which He can
withhold or bestow
as He pleases. Yet if it is measured there is no stint, for
if Christ has first given
us Himself, we may be sure that He will never keep back any
needful lower
blessings. The
measure of the grace is determined by:
ü our spiritual capacity,
ü our faith,
ü our need, and
ü our special mission.
8 “Wherefore
He saith, When He ascended on high He led captivity
captive,
and gave
gifts unto men.” The speaker is God, the author of
Scripture, and the place
is the
Psalm 68:18. That psalm is a psalm of triumph, where the placing of the
ark
on
in its
deepest sense is Messianic,
celebrating the victory of Christ. The substance rather
than the
words of the passage are given, for the second person (“thou hast ascended,”)
is changed
into the third; and whereas in the psalm it is said, “gave gifts to
men,”
as
modified by
the apostle it is said, “received gifts for men.” As in a literal triumph, the
chiefs of
the enemy’s army are led captive, so the
powers of darkness were led
captive by Christ
(captivity, αἰχμαλωσία - aichmalosia – captivity – and
denotes
prisoners); and as
on occasion of a triumph the spoils of the enemy are made over
to the
conqueror, who again gives them away among the soldiers and people,
so gifts were given to Christ after His triumph to be given by Him to His Church.
We must not
force the analogy too far: the point is simply this — as a conqueror
at a
triumph gets gifts to distribute, so Christ, on His resurrection and ascension,
got the
Holy Spirit to bestow on His Church (compare ch.1:22
The same Lord who went about every day doing
good upon earth, is now doing
good every day in the fullness of spiritual
blessings which He is dispensing from
the throne of His ascension-glory.
Even the
unworthy may be recipients of these gifts. “Yea, for the rebellious also”
(Psalm
68:18). They were for men, as the apostle asserts; for rebels, as the psalmist
asserts. It
is not usual for conquerors to divide their spoils among rebels, yet our
conquering Lord gives gifts even to those who put Him to death. The
ministry is
still the Lord’s gift to A WICKED WORLD, for He is still the Source of
the inward
life of the Church and of its authority.
9 ("Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended
first into the
lower parts of the earth?" Now that
He ascended, what is it but that He also
descended first” The ascent
implied a previous descent; that is, the ascent of the
Son of God — of one who
was Himself in heaven, who was in the bosom of the
Father (compare John 3:13),
implied that He had come down from heaven, a striking
proof of His interest in and
love for the children of men. And the descent was
not merely to the ordinary
condition of humanity, but to a more than ordinarily
degraded condition, not merely
to the surface of the earth, but into the lower
parts of the earth? This has
sometimes been interpreted of Hades. If
the
expression denotes more than
Christ’s humble condition, it probably means the
grave. This was
the climax of Christ’s humiliation; to be removed out of men’s
sight, as too offensive for
them to look on - to be hidden away in the
depths of
the earth, in
the grave, was indeed supremely humbling. (Here is the One who
carried out the designs of the
Creator, hidden in a hole in the earth!
CY - 2019)
The object is to show that, in
bestowing gifts on men, Christ did not merely bring
into play His inherent bountifulness as the Son of God, but acted as Mediator,
by right of
special purchase, through His work of
humiliation on earth; and
thus to lead us to think the more highly both of the Giver and of His gifts.
10 “He
that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens,
that He might fill all things.)" He
that descended is the same also that ascended
up far above
all heavens. When Christ came to
earth and took upon Himself our
form, it was no holiday visit to earth! “He was taken from prison and from
judgment” (Isaiah
53:8) Yet even there He triumphed over
all His enemies, and
now He is exalted “far above all
heavens.” This last expression is very remarkable,
especially
in the view
of what modem astronomy teaches on the extent of the heavens.
(See Fantastic Trip on You Tube. CY - 2019) It
is a marvelous
testimony to the
glory of the risen Lord. Still
higher is the testimony to His glory in the purpose
for
which He has gone on high —“that He might fill all things.” There
was a
proportion
between the descent and the ascent. His
descent was deep — into
the
lower parts of earth; but His ascent was more glorious than His
descent had
been
humbling. The Hebrew idea of various heavens is brought in; the
ascent
was
not merely to the third heaven, but far above all heavens. That He
might fill all things. A very sublime
view of the purpose for which Christ reigns
on high. The
specific idea with which the apostle started — to give gifts to men —
is swallowed up for the
moment by a view far grander and more comprehensive,
“to fill all things.” Jesus has gone on high to pour His glory and
excellence over
every creature in
the universe who is the
subject of grace, to be THE LIGHT
OF
THE WORLD THE ONE SOURCE OF ALL GOOD! As in the solar system it
is from one sun that all
the supplies of light and heat come, all the colors that
beautify earth, sea, and
sky, all the influences that ripen the grain and
mature the fruit, all the
chemical power that transforms and new-creates;
so the
ascended Jesus is the Sun of the universe; all healing,
all life, all
blessing are FROM HIM! It is quite in the manner of the apostle, when
He
introduces the mention of
Christ, to be carried, in the contemplation of His
person, far above the
immediate occasion, and extol HHE INFINITE
PERFECTION AND
GLORY that distinguish Him.
The Source
of all the Gifts (vs. 8-10)
It is Christ Himself in virtue of His
exaltation.
·
THE
ASCENSION IS THE GROUND ALIKE OF THE FOUNDING,
THE
PRESERVATION, AND THE PERFECTION OF THE CHURCH,
This historic circumstance is the sequel of our Lord’s
resurrection from the
dead, and can only be rightly appreciated by marking its
connection with
the humiliation by which it
was preceded. It was the Son of God who
descended, and therefore it was the Son of God who ascended
up far
above all heavens, and who, like a conqueror, is here
represented as
dividing the spoils of conquest. He is exalted to give the
Holy Ghost with
all His gifts and graces. It is a very touching as well as
inspiring thought
that the humanity of our ascended Lord has not been so
transmuted as to
change His relation to us. We cannot doubt the identity of
His person. The
same Lord (Acts
1:11) who went about every day doing good upon earth,
is now doing good every day
in the fullness of spiritual blessings which
He is dispensing from the
throne of His ascension-glory.
·
THE GIFTS
OF THE ASCENSION. These stand in abiding
connection with the peace, the sanctification, the hope, of
believers. But
the special reference is to the blessing of the Christian
ministry. Ministers
may be nothing in themselves, but as the gifts of Christ
they ought to be
highly esteemed. If we love Christ, we ought to set store by
His servants,
who shepherd the flock in the absence of the great Shepherd.
·
THE
UNWORTHY RECIPIENTS OF THESE GIFTS. “Yea, for the
rebellious also” (Psalm
68:18). They were for men, as the apostle
asserts; for rebels, as the psalmist asserts. It is not
usual for conquerors to
divide their spoils among rebels, yet our conquering Lord
gives gifts even
to those who put Him to death. The ministry is still the
Lord’s gift to a
wicked world, for He is still the Source of the inward life of the Church
and of its authority.
The
Universal Experience of Christ (vs. 9-10)
·
THE
ASCENSION OF CHRIST IMPLIES THAT HE HAD PREVIOUSLY
DESCENDED.
ü
It implies that He was low down at some period. Had He always enjoyed
His rightful honors there could have been no act
of rising to them. The
coronation shows that the sovereign had once
been a subject. The
greatness of the elevation of Christ and the stir and change it produces
are significant of the low depth of an earlier
state.
ü
It implies that He had been highly exalted at a previous period. The
mere act of ascension may not show this, but the
spiritual character of it
does. All things ultimately find their level.
The high-shooting fountain is an
evidence that its water has come from a great
elevation.
ü
It implies that by His
deep humiliation Christ merited His great
exaltation. He did not simply deserve it by way of
compensation. He
earned the high honor of the Ascension by the patient sacrifice of
Himself in
his descent down to a life of lowly service, down to the cross, down
even
to the dim land of the
dead (Philippians 2:5-11). Thus the last is first,
and He who humbled Himself is exalted.
·
THE
ASCENSION AND
PREVIOUS DESCENDING OF CHRIST
ENABLE HIM
TO FILL ALL THINGS.
ü His presence enters into every grade
of being. From His awful primeval
glory down to
the dread depths of Hades and then up to the throne and
the right hand of God, by the
vast sweep and range of His profound
humiliation and superb
exaltation, along every step of existence
traversed, Christ comes into
personal contact with all life and death.
ü His experience gives him knowledge of
every grade of being. And with
this knowledge He has sympathy for all. Our lack
of wide sympathies is
chiefly owing to our narrow experience. Christ’s sympathy is
as universal
as His experience. In His exaltation He does not forget the scenes that
moved His heart in lowlier walks.
“...Resting
by th’ incarnate Lord,
Once bleeding, now triumphant for my
sake,
I mark Him, how by seraph hosts adored,
He to earth’s lowest cares is still
awake.”
ü Filling
all things by experience, knowledge, and sympathy, He has power
over
all things. Down even
to the spirits in prison to whom He preached
(I Peter 3:19) by the Divine Spirit, and through
every rank of life, He has:
Ø
influences to exert,
Ø
graces to bestow,
Ø
redemption to accomplish.
There is no
order of things, BEYOND THE REACH OF CHRIST!
As the great
reward of:
Ø
His sacrifice and
triumph,
Ø
His deepest humiliation and His highest exaltation,
He fills:
Ø heaven,
Ø earth, and
Ø hell
with a
presence as when He lived among men, is EVERYWHERE
HEALING and REDEMPTIVE!
11 “And He
gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists;
and some, pastors and teachers;” And He gave some (to be) apostles. Coming back
to the diversity
of gifts (v. 7), He enumerates some of these, as Christ (αὐτὸς – autos –
He, emphatic)
bestowed them. The organization of the Church is not a
mere human arrangement; its officers are of Divine appointment. The first
gift is, His apostles. It is
not meant that He gave to some the gifts needed to
constitute them apostles,
though that is true; but that, having qualified
some to be apostles, He gave
them to the Church. An apostle had his
commission direct from Christ
(Matthew 10:5); he possessed supernatural
gifts (ibid. v. 8); it
was necessary for him to have seen the Lord
(Acts 1:22); his diocese was
the whole world (Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15).
The apostles were the
constituent body of the Church — they had all necessary
gifts for setting it up, and as all Christian history has testified,
they were a
marvelous
gift of Christ to His Church. And some, prophets. Next to
the apostles in point of
value, as gifts to the Church, having supernatural
knowledge of God’s will
present and future (Acts 21:11). Prophets were
indispensable before the New Testament
was given as the Church’s infallible
guide to the will of God, but not
apparently necessary after the will of God
was fully recorded. And some,
evangelists.The nature of
this office is
known only from the meaning of
the term and the work of those who bore
the designation (Acts 21:8;
II Timothy 4:5), persons not attached to
a
particular congregation,
but who went about preaching the glad tidings, and
otherwise building up the
Church, but without the full powers of apostles.
And some, pastors and
teachers. The more
ordinary settled ministers of
congregations, called pastors,
because they watched over the flock, trying
to lead all in right ways; and
teachers, because they communicated Divine
knowledge. Some have thought
that each expression denotes a separate
office, but, coupled as they
are together, it is better to regard them as
indicating two functions of
one office (see I Timothy 5:17; Acts 13:1).
Christ’s Gifts to His
Church (vs. 7-11)
The grand
object
of the apostle in this section of his Epistle is to show the
ample
provision made by Christ for the welfare of His Church. The Church
may sing as
well as the individual, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I
shall not want.”
(Psalm
23:1) The particular object is
to indicate that the gifts conferred by Him
on the
members individually (vs. 7-10), and especially the appointment of
the several
classes of office-bearers (v. 11), show the Lord’s earnest
desire to
raise His Church:
ü to the
highest possible condition of grace and honor;
ü to make her
complete and glorious, as the one body of
which He is the
Head,
ü the one
vessel into which He is to pour all His fullness, and
ü the brideon whom He is to exhaust every ornament.
The marks
of Christ’s care for His Church are innumerable; they recede back
through all
eternity and project forward for evermore (ch.
3:18-19). His death
marked the
climax of His self-sacrifice; but even that did not end Christ’s service
for His
Church. For her He not only descended from heaven to earth, but for her
too He
ascended from earth back to heaven; like the high priest, He went into
the holiest
of all with His Name on His breastplate, and He
only changed the
sphere in which His mediatorial office
was exercised. But more; the good
Shepherd is
ever renewing the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes;
ever saying
with reference to His people, “Give ye them to eat” (Matthew
14:16;
Mark 6:37);
and ever appointing and qualifying suitable officers to take care of His
Church and
break among them the bread of life. He is ever qualifying His
ministers
for:
ü ruling
and feeding His flock,
ü filling
the empty soul,
ü speaking
a word in season to the weary,
ü guiding
the perplexed,
ü reclaiming
the erring,
ü strengthening
the weak,
ü supporting
the feeble-minded, and
ü sending
on the ransomed of the Lord to
everlasting joy
upon their heads. (Isaiah 35:10)
The subject
divides into two:
ü the
gift-giving (vs. 7-11), and
ü the end or
purpose for which the gifts are given (vs. 12-16).
In the
first part we find:
1. The source
of the gifts and the principle of distribution (v. 7).
2. Confirmation of this from the Psalm 68:18.
3. Commentary and inferences therefrom
(vs. 9-10).
4. The special gift of suitable officers.
·
CHRIST IS
THE GREAT SOURCE OF GRACE including ordinary
and extraordinary gifts (“the gift of
Christ”).
ü Christ leaves no one out; to every one of us is given
grace.
ü The grace
was not given in equal measures to all.
ü But
according to the measure of the gift of Christ,
·
From the sixty-eighth psalm it appears that this
proceeding was
symbolized when the ark was placed on
victories were celebrated, and a distribution of gifts took
place.
·
The word “ascended,”
applied to the Son of God, implied a previous
descent; for when He ascended, He went to His own home and
seat;
previous to this He came down, and the apostle dwells
especially on His
having come down to the lower parts of the earth, such as:
ü
ü
ü the grave.
His was no holiday visit to earth, to green fields, or
golden palaces; “He was
taken from prison and from
judgment.” (Isaiah 53:8) Yet even
there He triumphed over all His enemies, and now He is
exalted “far above
all heavens.” This last
expression is very remarkable, especially in the view
of what modem astronomy teaches on the extent of the
heavens. It is a
marvelous testimony to the glory of the risen Lord. Still
higher is the
testimony to His glory in the purpose for which He has gone
on high —
“that He might fill all
things.” The sun, in the center of the solar system, fills
that system, spreading light and heat and manifold
influences to its
extremest limits. All the colors that
beautify earth, sea, and sky; all the heat
that fosters life and gladdens living creatures of every
kind; all the chemical
influences that are so manifold in their effects on the
economy of nature,
radiate from the sun. So Christ is Sun and Center of the
infinite universe,
and THE UNIVERSE IS FILLED BY HIM
WITH HEAVENLY
INFLUENCES! There are
many suns, but only one Savior; there are many
systems of worlds, according to our modern astronomy, and
even firmaments
of worlds, beyond the reach of our strongest instruments;
but all are joined
by one glorious
bond; for not only have they been all formed by
ONE CREATOR but all have been “filled” by the ONE ALL-GLORIOUS
MEDIATOR-LORD! What resources does that expression, “that He might
fill all things,” ascribe to
Christ! If He can fill all things, HE CAN FILL US,
our hearts are not
easily filled; but what can be wanting to us out of such
fullness? (This would
fulfill man’s hankering! See
Ecclesiastes 3:11! CY –
2019)
·
But from the stars we come back to the Church,
and consider Christ
as exalted
to fill His Church. With this view He has qualified and
commissioned certain officers to minister to His Church. Of
these it is
generally allowed that apostles and prophets were special
and temporary;
while evangelists, pastors, and teachers are ordinary and
permanent (see
Exposition). Observe that such men are to be received (and when needed
to
be asked too) as gifts of Christ to His
Church. It is the Lord of the
harvest who equips and furnishes laborers for His harvest.
We should not
seek ministers of the gospel, as some do, for our own
pleasure or credit,
rejecting them if they do not quite answer our idea; but as gifts of Christ, in
which their great object will be to build up His Church and
promote the
beauty of His bride.
The Variety of the Gifts (v. 11)
The Lord
Himself gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and
teachers.
Provision is thus made for three great objects.
inspired men to lay the foundations. Hence believers are
said “to be built
upon the foundation of
apostles and prophets” (ch. 2:20). The
foundation, however, had only to be laid once for all, and these apostles
and prophets passed away in the first age of Christianity.
There is no place,
therefore, now in the Church for either class; for the “apostles” of the
Irvingite sect possess no single
qualification of the original apostles of
Christ. As the apostles wrote nearly the whole of the New
Testament
Scriptures, which supply the literary foundation of Christianity, they may
thus be regarded as still identified with the progress of
the gospel in all
lands and all ages.
designed to preach the gospel in districts where it had not
been previously
known. They are on this ground distinguished from pastors
and teachers.
They itinerated from place to place, carrying with them the wonderful story
of the cross, and were
quite exempt, as such, from the labors of
organization or discipline. Our missionaries in modern times
do the work
of evangelists.
were stationary ministers appointed for the continuous
edification of the
flock. They represent, not two classes of office-bearers,
but two aspects of
one and the same office. They are distinguished alike from
prophets and
from evangelists, and had to do with the permanent
instruction and
guidance of the flock. The existence of such an order of
teachers proves
that the Christian Church was not to be propagated or
maintained by mere
gifted persons. Why, in that case, should the Lord have
appointed such
ordinary officers at all? The pastors of
from the prophetically gifted persons in both Churches (v.
11; I Corinthians
14). Private persons,
no matter how gifted, were not allowed to take the place
of apostles and prophets at
If they could not take the place of the one, they could not take
the place of
the other. If all believers were to exercise the gift of
ministry in the Christian
dispensation, why should not the apostles have started with
this arrangement
from the first? Why should the Lord give pastors and
teachers to one
generation — and that a generation provided with at least
two inspired orders
of teachers — and make no similar provision for all future
generations?
12
“For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying
of the body of Christ:” For the perfecting of the saints. The ultimate end for which
the gifts bestowed (compare
Hebrews 12:1). Christ has a work of
perfection on hand.
This
denoted by — “for
the perfecting of the saints” , and “unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ” (v. 13).
What a high aim with reference to creatures so poor and needy as
the
members of His Church! A work of
completion is in hand, which must
be fulfilled (see v. 13): the
saints, now compassed about with infirmity, have
to be freed from all stain (ch. 5:26-27), and as instruments towards this end,
the ministers of the Church
are given by Christ; they are not mere promoters
of civilization, men of
culture planted among the rude, but instruments for
advancing men
to complete holiness. For the work of the ministry.
The preposition is changed
from πρὸς – pros – toward - to εἰς πρὸς
– eis pros -
into toward - denoting
the ultimate end, εἰς (into) the immediate object (compare
Romans 15:2); the office of the
Church officers is not lords, but διακονοί - diakonoi –
servants, as
Christ
Himself was (Matthew 20:28). For the edifying of the
body of
Christ. Bringing bone to its bone and sinew to its
sinew, increasing the number
of believers, and promoting the
spiritual life of each; carrying on all their work
as Christ’s servants and with
a definite eye to the promotion of the great work
which He
undertook when He came to seek and to save the lost.
A revival
of religion is always accompanied or followed by “a building up
of the body of Christ.”
The Design of the
Ministry (v. 12)
It is to
perfect the saints for Christian service and for sharing in the
edification
of the Church. The ministry is intended to “equip or prepare for
future
enterprise by means of perfecting the power and adaptation of the
man for his
task.” It prepares the saints for two services.
·
THE WORK
OF MINISTRY. It is maintained by some that this passage
warrants all saints to preach the gospel, because the four
classes of officers
spoken of are said to prepare saints for the work of
ministry. If so, then
these officers, or some of them, are still needed for the
purpose; yet this is
expressly denied. The passage, however, implies that the
preparation in
question is to be continuous, for it is to last till the end
of time. The word
“ministry,” however,
must be taken in a large sense to signify general
spiritual service, that may assume a thousand different
forms (Hebrews 6:10;
Acts 6:4; 11:29; I Corinthians 16:15; II Corinthians 9:12-13;
11:8; II Timothy
4:11). Every believer is not only to be “fruitful in
every good work”
(Colossians 1:10); but to “hold forth the
Word of life” (
though he should be neither trained nor called to the
Christian pastorate.
·
THE
EDIFICATION OF THE CHURCH. This is the second end
included in the Christian pastorate. The action of the
ministry upon the
saints is blessed to the enlargement of the Church, both in numbers and in
spirituality. A revival
of religion is always accompanied or followed by “a
building up of
the body of Christ.”
13 “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of
the
Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fullness
of Christ:” Till we all come. This
marks the duration of the office of the ministry.
Some maintain that it
implies that all these offices are to continue in the Church
until the result
specified is obtained (Catholic Apostolic or
is contradicted by
Scripture and by experience, so far as apostles and prophets
are concerned, for the
gifts for these offices were not continued, and without
the gifts the offices are
impossible. The meaning is that, till the event specified,
there is to be a
provision in the Church of the offices that are needed, and the
apostle, in using “until,” probably had in view the last office in
his list — pastors
and teachers. In the unity of the
faith, and of the knowledge of the
Son of
God. Both genitives are governed by unity;
already there is
one faith (v. 5), but we
all, i.e. all who compose or are yet to compose the
body
of Christ, the totality
of this body, have to be brought to this faith. As in v. 5
“faith” is not equivalent to
“creed,” or truth believed, but the act of believing; so
here the consummation
which the ministers of the Church are given to
bring about is a state in which faith in the Son of God shall
characterize all,
and that, not a blind
faith, but a faith associated with knowledge. Usually
faith and knowledge are
opposed to each other; but here faith has more the
meaning of trust than of
mere belief — trust based on knowledge, trust in
the Son of God
based on knowledge of His Person, His work, and His
relation to
them that receive Him. To bring all the elect to this faith is the
object of the ministry; when they
are all brought to it, THE BODY OF CHRIST
WILL BE
COMPLETE and the functions of the Christian ministry will cease.
Unto a
perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness
of
Christ:” The idea of organic completeness is more fully
expressed by these
two clauses; the consummation
is the completeness of the whole body of
Christ as such; but that
involves the maturity of each individual who is a
constituent part of that body; and the measure or sign of maturity, both for
the individual
and for the whole, is the stature of THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST!
(compare Romans 8:29, “Whom he did
foreknow, them he also foredained to
be conformed
to the image of his Son”). The
question has been put — Will this
consummation be in this life
or the next? The one seems to melt into the other;
the idea of a complete Church
and that of a new economy seem inseparable;
as the coming of Christ will
terminate the observance of the Lord’s Supper,
so it will terminate the
ministries ordained by Christ for the completion of `
His Church.
“A perfect man” - points
to the full development of our manhood. We are
fragmentary
and often one-sided. The believer is imperfect both in faith and in
knowledge,
but he is growing into that unity of life which involves perfect knowledge
and perfect
holiness unto “the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ”.
The true standard is CONFORMITY TO CHRIST! The stature of the Church is
ever
expanding, as it receives of Christ’s
fullness, into that very fullness. The end
of this
growth cannot be seen in this life. The Bible nowhere represents the perfection
of the
Church as occurring on earth. It is to be
without spot or wrinkle when the
day of its glorious presentation comes. Thus the
design of the Christian ministry
is to
labor for the perfection of the Church.
The Ministry is not a
Temporary Institution (v. 13)
It is to continue
till the Church shall have arrived at its completed unity.
This does
not imply that there are still apostles and prophets in the Church.
It is the
ministry, not these particular offices, that is to continue in the
Church. The
ministry is to continue till the Church reaches its destined
goal, which
is here described in three forms.
·
UNITY OF
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE SON OF GOD.
This implies:
ü
That faith and knowledge are distinct from each
other in nature, though
they are inseparable in the experience of
Christian men. Faith is fed by
knowledge, and knowledge, especially in the
sphere of Divine realities, is
based on faith.
ü
That religion is not a mere matter of feeling,
but intellectual as well,
resting upon correct
apprehensions of Divine
truth.
ü
That the central Object of religion is the Son of God, not only
apprehended, but appropriated by faith. It is eternal life to know Him.
ü
That saints have yet to attain to a truer faith
and a larger knowledge of
the Son of God. All believers, it is true, have “one faith;” yet they
are to
attain to the unity of faith. Unity is a matter
of degrees. The apostle does
not, however, say that we are to begin with it,
but to end with it. It is to be
realized, not in the course of the dispensation,
but as one of its blessed
results. The unity of the faith includes more
than the unity of the Spirit —
that unity of mutual kindness and forbearance
that will promote the other
unity — for it points to the result of the Spirit’s continuous working
in the
Church. There is an absolute truth independent of all our opinions, and the
same to every man, whether he believes it or
not. We shall not here attain
to it; but we shall reach it when we are at
length set free from our
imperfections and our infirmities. We shall then be of one mind, because
we shall be
conformed to one image.
·
A PERFECT
MAN. This points to the full development of our
manhood. We are fragmentary, one-sided, without a true
adjustment of
powers. The believer is imperfect both in faith and in
knowledge, but he is
growing into that unity of life which involves perfect
knowledge and
perfect holiness.
·
THE
MEASURE OF THE STATURE OF THE FULLNESS OF
CHRIST. The true
standard is conformity to Christ. The
stature of the
Church is ever expanding, as it receives of Christ’s
fullness, into that very
fullness. The end of this growth cannot be seen in this
life. The Bible
nowhere represents the perfection of the Church as occurring
on earth. It is
to be without spot or wrinkle when the day of its glorious presentation
comes. Thus the
design of the Christian ministry is to labor for the
perfection of the Church.
14 “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness,
whereby they lie in wait to deceive;”
That we henceforth be no
more children,
tossed to
and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine. The apostle
goes
back to illustrate in another way the purpose of the
ministry; it is designed to
remedy childish fickleness and the
causes that lead to it. We are consequently
warned not to continue
children, but to advance steadfastly towards manhood.
Children are immature and inexperienced. They have not become so firmly
rooted in the truth as to be
settled against the influences in their
world within
or
without! They are like “a wave of the sea driven of the wind and tossed.”
(James 1:6)
- Believers ought to be well founded in the truth; not mere babes,
but such as
“are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their
senses
exercised to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews
5:14). They are warned
against the tendency to be blown about by the winds
of doctrine that blow from
every quarter. The
counsel is much needed in this age of startling suggestion,
radical
denial, (separation of church and state, to the entirety of separation from
God
and things spiritual
– CY – 2010) and deep unsettlement. There are men who
go the
rounds of all the sects, swinging from side to side with a movement which
indicates that they are true
to nothing but the love of change. (Mr. Spurgeon once
said
that “There is nothing new except
that which is FALSE” – CY –
2010) It is
hard
for unstable natures to hold the poise of their judgment in the midst of such
terrible
cross-fires of theological and DIABOLICAL
PHILOSOPHICAL
SPECULATION!
(Like Paul, we should “...marvel
that ye are so soon removed
from Him that called you into the grace of God unto another
gospel.” Galatians
1:6 –
CY – 2019) The
ignorant and inexperienced
lie at the mercy of abler persons,
and, when
there is no regular ministry provided by Christ, are liable to be swept
along by
any plausible person that professes to be a Christian teacher, and such
persons are
often very dangerous, working By the sleight of
men. I.e.
the
cunning
legerdemain
(skillful use of
one's hands when performing conjuring tricks) by which
the
teachings of men — teachings devised by the hearts of men — are made to appear
to the
uninitiated the same as Christ’s teaching.
And cunning craftiness, whereby
they lie in wait to deceive. (Like their father “The Old Deluder Satan”
– CY – 2010)
That
Satan often succeeds in seducing the unwary by the dexterous tricks of such
teachers,
who cunningly mingle the truth with such error as
robs it of its healing
virtues. Such
teachers employ crafty methods, apparently harmless, but tending to
further the
method or scheme of error. The strong language here used
corresponds
with that
in which, at
“grievous wolves” that were
to come in among them, and of the men “speaking
perverse things” that were to
arise among themselves, not sparing the flock
(Acts
20:29-30).
Warnings against
Instability and Deception (v. 14)
The
ministry has been appointed to bring the Church forward to maturity, and
therefore it
is concerned to carry it safely through the intermediate stages. We
are
consequently warned not to continue children, but to advance steadfastly
towards
manhood. There are two faults hinted at by the apostle.
·
CHILDREN
ARE APT TO BE UNSTABLE. “Tossed to and fro and
carried about by every wind
of doctrine.” They have not become so firmly
rooted in the truth as to be proof against unsettling
influences either within
or without them. Consequently, they are like “a wave of the sea driven of
the wind and tossed.” (James 1:6)
ü The warning
implies that truth is a matter of supreme moment. Holiness
of character is impossible without it. Believers ought to be
well founded
in the truth; not mere babes, but such as “are of full age, even those who
by reason of use have their
senses exercised to discern both good and
evil” (Hebrews
5:14).
ü They are
warned against the tendency to be blown about by the winds of
doctrine that blow from every quarter. The counsel is much needed in
this age of
startling suggestion, radical denial, and deep unsettling
times. There are
men who go the rounds of all the sects, swinging
from side to side with a movement which indicates that they are true
to nothing but the love of change. It is hard
for unstable natures to
hold the poise of their judgment in the midst of such terrible cross-fires
of theological and secular
philosophical speculation.
·
CHILDREN
ARE APT TO BE DECEIVED. Their want of knowledge
leaves them open to imposition and deception. The apparatus
of
theological seduction is always at hand. The language of the
apostle
implies:
ü That there
were errorists either at
the Christian communion, marked by “the sleight of men and cunning
craftiness whereby they lie
in wait to deceive.” It is a mere dream to
suppose that the primitive Church was perfectly pure either
in doctrine
or practice. The apostle’s farewell address to the Ephesian elders at
ü That such “false teachers” were marked by selfishness, deceit, and
malignity. This is the character which the apostle usually
ascribes to such
men (Romans 16:17-18; Colossians 2:18; Galatians 2:4;
II Corinthians
2:17). Error is, therefore, not harmless, though it may appear
to be the
mere sword-play of a speculative temperament. False teachers
are
not innocent. Yet our judgment in all cases of this sort
must be exercised
with charity and meekness, because men may be better than
their creed,
and may be influenced by the sounder parts of it.
ü That Satan often succeeds in seducing the unwary by the dexterous
tricks of such teachers, who cunningly mingle
the truth with such
error as robs it of its healing virtues.
15 “But speaking the truth in love,” - Ἀληθεύοντες – aletheuontes – being true -
is hardly translatable in
English it
implies being true as well as speaking the truth
and following the truth. We are to speak the truth,
especially as the truth
is in Jesus – (v. 21) Truth
is the element in which we are to live, move, and
have our being; fidelity to
truth is the backbone of the Christian ministry.
But truth must be inseparably married to love; good
tidings spoken harshly
are no good tidings; the charm
of the message is destroyed by the discordant
spirit of the messenger. The
more painful the first impression which a truth is
fitted to produce (ch. 2:1-3), the more need is there for dealing with
it in love
- a much-needed and
much-neglected exhortation. . “may grow up into Him
in all things, which is the head, even
Christ” - The whole Church is articulated
with
Christ; (see ch. 3:20-22 – today I have been working
on laying stones for
steps
to my house – a part of the building – we are like those stones joined
together in Christ – CY – 2010) its parts are articulated
with each other, but
all
are designed to communicate with the Head, and to GROW! So it is in
the
human body; it is all jointed and connected together; but the object of
this
is to facilitate the transmission of the vital force throughout the whole.
Growing up into
Christ
is like baptizing into the Name of the Father, etc.; it
implies that the growth tends
to a closer union to Christ, as, on the
other hand, union
to Christ causes the growth:
the two act and react on
each other. This growth is to be “
in all things” - in the whole man — in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness,
in all
the communicable properties of Christ. How great the work of
growth is that should
be sought in the case of every living believer is evident from the
enormous
gulf there is between his
spiritual and moral state and that of Christ. Yet
such growth is reasonable,
considering the relation of the body to Him, its
Head. The fact of this relation
should encourage us to seek and expect the
growth, and encourage
ministers to labor hopefully towards promoting it
(Like it or not, the following
paragraph tells the story of our wonderful plight –
CY – 2010)
- As the Church is a spiritual body, so the characteristics of
the
natural
body are found in it. It is a body divinely framed as truly as the
natural body, and designed to bring greater
glory to God than the body
which
types it. Its Head is the Lord Himself. It
has its being and form in Him,
as
well as all its
nurture, such as its life and light, grace and joy, strength and
fruitfulness;
it depends
upon the Head for subsistence and for safety; it is united to the Head
by a
bond
that is both close and indissoluble.
The agent
of this growth is THE HOLY
SPIRIT. For “by one Spirit were we all
baptized into one body” (I
Corinthians 12:13). As the
one spirit of man wields at
will all
the functions of the body, and concentrates the
various members upon its
purposes as they arise, so the Holy
Spirit gives each member of the mystic body its
peculiar action and power in
the divinely appointed diversity which contributes
to its eventual unity.
16 "From whom the whole body joined together and compacted by that
which
every joint supplieth, according to the
effectual working in the measure of
every part, maketh increace
of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."
From whom
the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by
that which
every joint supplieth. The
relation of ἐκ in this verse to εἰς in
v. 15 is to be noted — growing
up vitally into Him, the body derives vital substance
from Him. Not,
however, in a mere individual sense, but as an organization, the
parts being adapted and
articulated to one another
(this process being continuous;
see present participles, (συναρμολογούμενον - soon-ar-mol-og-eh’-o
– menon –
fitly compacted
together; and συνβιβαζόμενον - soom-bib-ad’-zo-menon
– knit
together). In the
Church there are babes in
Christ, also young men and old men; some
are clear in intellect, some strong in faith, some warm in love, some
excel in passive
virtues, some in active; but in a
well-ordered Church these should be getting
jointed
together, and learning to work with and for one another, no one
despising gifts which he has
not but another has; in this sense, there ought
to be a spiritual communism,
for all are one spiritual body. But spiritual
communism does not involve
social communism or even social equality,
nor will social distinctions
be obliterated in a pure Church, except so far as
they hinder
spiritual communion - “The whole body is fitly joined together and
compacted by that which
every joint supplieth.” Each member is in
relation
with
all other members as well as with the Head. Each is dependent upon the other.
No member can
dismiss another as useless; none is so great as not to
be indebted
to the least. “God has tempered the body together.” (I
Corinthians 12:24) - Now,
just
as the parts of the human frame are necessarily of different functions, and set, some
in
superior, some
in inferior, places, yet all act together in the fullest sympathy; so all
the members of Christ’s body must keep rank and order, acting
within their own
sphere with due wisdom, harmony, and love, the
eye not doing the work of the hand,
nor
the hand the work of the foot, but abiding each in his own calling. According to
the effectual working of the measure (proportion) of every
part. This clause seems to
be most
naturally connected with what follows. In the fit framing
of the body, channels
as it were
are laid for the propagation and working of the vital force throughout
the
body; this
force is not alike, but of various amount in the different parts; some
members
have much
of it, some little, but the measure of this vital force regulates the
growth.
Maketh increase of the body. Or growth of the body. The middle voice, ποιεῖται -
poieotai – is being made; is making
- indicates that it is a growth from
within,
while depending on the energy
furnished by Christ. Unto the edifying of itself in love.
This is the end, so
far as the body itself is concerned, though,
of course, the
completed spiritual body, like the
completed natural body, has work to
do outside
itself. In a healthy Church there
is a continual work of building up: construction,
not destruction, is its proper
business — promoting
peace, purity, prayerfulness,
trust, activity in the work
of the Lord, but ALL IN LOVE, the
absence of which
makes winter instead of
summer, declension instead of progress, death instead of life.
In illustration of the various measure of grace, and yet its
real efficiency in all the
members of the Church, Eadie says,
“No member or ordinance is superfluous.
The widow’s mite was commended
by Him who sat over against the treasury.
Solomon built a temple. Joseph provided a tomb. Mary the mother gave birth
to the child, and the other Marys wrapped the corpse in spices.
the apostle, and Phoebe
carried an Epistle of old, the princes and heroes went to
the field, and wise-hearted women did
spin. While Joshua fought, Moses prayed.
The snuffers and trays were as
necessary (Exodus 27:37-40; Numbers 4:9) as the
magnificent lamp-stand.... The result is that the Church is built up, for love is the
element of spiritual progress.
That love fills the renewed nature.” The
Church has
been defined as an institution that has:
ü truth for its nourishment,
ü love for its atmosphere, and
ü CHRIST FOR ITS HEAD!
One great lesson
here is that, as Christ is the Truth, so He also is the Life.
The gospel
as a system of truth has Christ in the center; so the
Church as a
living
agency has Christ in the center. Take Christ from either, and
“Ichabod” (I
Samuel 4:21) may be inscribed on the wall.
The Unity of
the Church (vs. 1-16)
The
doxology has just died away with its ascription of glory to God in the
Church
throughout all ages, and now the apostle turns from his
intercession
to admonish the Ephesian Christians about the
necessity of
cultivating
lowliness of mind and mutual consideration, that in the Church
there may
be preserved “the unity of the Spirit in
the bond of peace.” It is
plain from
the verses that follow that Paul’s conviction was that the Divine
glory could
only be manifested in a Church thoroughly united. To the all-important
subject of the unity of the Church we are consequently led