Paul’s letter to the
Ephesians is a letter addressing the issue of the unity of the Church. In Ephesians 4.7-16, he turns to the theme of
Christ’s gifts for unity in the church.
This theme applies to every believer and to the church’s
‘ligaments’—ministers of unity. We have
much to learn from these few verses in an epistle devoted entirely to the theme
of unity.
Ephesians:
Paul’s ‘Politics’ of Church Unity
The Greek philosopher,
Aristotle, wrote a work called Politics
over 300 years before Paul. It explores
the nature of community in terms of the city state, although it also addresses
the family as the basic unit for society.
In a similar way, Paul addresses the dynamics of Christian community—the
Church—in Ephesians. He, too, addresses
the family as a basic unit for this new concept of community (Ephesians
5.22-6.9).
The Church can be
contrasted not simply to the city state but to the Roman Empire itself. The Roman Empire unified a large portion of
the known world that extended to the borders with the Persian Empire in the east. It included the habitable regions of North
Africa, Spain in the west, and it drew its northern border with the Germanic
tribes. In this vast region, numerous
ethnic groups were united under a single emperor through all the mechanisms of
unity that the Romans offered: its system of law, its amazing system of roads,
and, especially, its military power that established the pax Romana, the peace of Rome.
Paul’s letter to the
Ephesians offers a very different understanding of unity from Rome. If the Roman division was between itself and
the barbaric tribes, the Church offered a concept of community that could
include the barbarians. The Church was
made up of people from any group that accepted the Lordship not of the Emperor
but of Jesus Christ. There were no
‘citizens’ and ‘non-citizens’ as in the Roman Empire—all believers were
citizens of the Church. Paul begins
Ephesians by emphasizing this point. The
greatness of God’s power, unlike Rome’s power, is demonstrated in God’s raising
Christ from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavenly places
(Eph. 1.20). The ruler of this new
people, the Church, is not the Roman Emperor but Jesus Christ: God put
everything under Christ’s feet
and gave him as head over all things to the church, which
is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1.22-23)
The Church, like the
Roman Empire, is, indeed, a place of unity and peace. But this peace begins as a peace with
God. Unlike the powerful personalities
of the Roman Empire, Christians rejected the way of the world, disobedience
towards God, the passions of the flesh, the desires of the body and mind, the
life of anger (being, prior to Christian faith, ‘children of wrath’) (Eph.
2.1-3).[1] Instead of the hand of power to maintain
peace, God meets the human condition with a love that offers mercy, salvation,
and a new existence in Christ (Eph. 2.1-10).
With Christ as our peace (Eph. 2.14), the wall of division between Jews and Gentiles is broken down so that all believers might be built up into a new Temple to be God’s dwelling place (Eph. 2.11-22). In Paul’s explanation of the reconciliation and peace that we find in Christ in Ephesians 2.11-22, he brings several texts together from Isaiah. Isaiah prophesied that the conflict between Israel and her oppressors would end when a child was born to occupy the throne of David and establish justice and righteousness forever (Isaiah 9.1-7). He would be called, ‘Prince of Peace’ (v. 6). Paul links Isaiah 57.19 to this in Ephesians 2.17, which says, ‘And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.’ In Isaiah 57, God says that He had been angry with Israel but would bring healing and comfort. Verse 19 reads, ‘Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the LORD, “and I will heal him.’ Previously, God said that after His anger, He would have compassion on Israel and be her Redeemer (Isaiah 55.8). His ‘covenant of peace’ would have no end (v. 10).
A number of other passages in Isaiah point to the coming peace of God. Isaiah envisions a day when the nations would stream to Zion to learn righteousness from God, saying,
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide
disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into
plowshares,
and their spears into
pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore (2.4).
The ‘good news’ that the runner announces about the restoration of Israel from captivity is the news of peace and salvation (Isaiah 52.7). God’s Servant would sprinkle many nations (52.15) and be pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, and bear the chastisement that would bring peace (53.5). Thus, the peace Paul has in mind is the peace of which Isaiah spoke. It was a peace that would restore Israel and that would include the Gentiles.
Ephesians 3 continues to
make the point that Jews and Gentiles are now united according to God’s mystery
revealed in the Church. The Church,
then, is the place to find unity in a world that otherwise knows no peace. The ‘mystery’ that Paul shares is the Gospel
and its outcome of Jews and Gentiles united as fellow heirs in the Church, the
body of Christ:
This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of
the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel
(Ephesians 3.6).
Ephesians 4.1-5.20
explores several dimensions of the unity of the Church. At the risk of rushing too quickly through
this important section, we might highlight six significant points about Church
unity in these verses. First, there are
Christian virtues for every believer in the Christian community: humility,
gentleness, patience, love, unity of the Spirit, and peace. The parallel letter to Ephesians, Colossians,
also lists virtues for Christian unity.
There are, first, vices that bring enmity between humanity and God, and
believers need to rid themselves of these vices in their pursuit of Godly
unity:
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is
idolatry. 6 On account of
these the wrath of God is coming (Colossians 3.5-6).
This
passage in Colossians next lists vices that bring about disunity between
people—vices that should not be present in Christian community:
In these you too once walked, when you were living in
them. 8 But now you must put
them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your
mouth. 9 Do not lie to one
another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self,
which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and
Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but
Christ is all, and in all (Colossians 3.7-11).
Paul
then lists virtues that establish communal unity within the church:
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,
compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and,
if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has
forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14
And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect
harmony. 15 And let the peace
of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And
be thankful. 16 Let the word
of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all
wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your
hearts to God. 17 And
whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3.12-17).
Second, unity of the
Church is a unity in the life of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. Paul says,
There is one body and one Spirit- just as you were called
to the one hope that belongs to your call-
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who
is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4.4-6).
Third,
Christian unity is maintained through gifts of Christ to each person in the
Church and the gift of certain ministries of unity (Eph. 4.7-16)—a point to be
explored in more depth, below. Fourth,
unity is upheld as people reject the false, sinful life and embrace the truth
in Jesus (Eph. 4.17-5.21). Fifth, Paul
examines the smaller unit of Christian society—the family—and argues that its
peace and unity depends on submitting every relationship to the Lordship of
Jesus Christ (Eph. 5.22-6.9). Sixth, as
with Rome, peace comes through military might, not weakness and unpreparedness. Unlike Rome, though, this is a spiritual
warfare and requires fighting with the armor of God (Eph. 6.10-18).
The Gifts of Christ: Ephesians 4.7-16
In Ephesians 4.7-16, Paul emphasizes that unity is a matter of Christ’s
gifting. The point is made ever so
briefly with respect to the gift that each person is granted (v. 7). One must recall in this point its elaboration
in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12.3-8.
In 1 Corinthians 12, as in Eph. 4, Paul begins with a Trinitarian
reflection on the unity of the church:
Now there are varieties of gifts,
but the same Spirit;
5 and there are varieties of
service, but the same Lord;
6 and there are varieties of
activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone (1
Corinthians 12.4-6).
He
then lists gifts of the Spirit that promote unity: word of wisdom, knowledge,
faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, speaking in
tongues, interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians 12.8-12). He later lists services and activities appointed
by God in the community that contribute to unity: apostles, prophets, miracles,
gifts of healing, helping, administration, and kinds of tongues (1 Corinthians
12.28).
In
Romans 12.3-8, the gifts that promote the unity of the body are prophecy,
service, teaching, exhortation, generosity, oversight, mercifulness.
In
the Ephesians passage, Paul supports his thoughts about Christ’s gifting his
people with a quote that he alters from Psalm 68. The Psalm actually says,
Psalm 68:18 You
ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts
among men, even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.
Paul,
though, says
Ephesians 4:8 Therefore
it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave
gifts to men."
However,
the Psalm ends with the point that God ‘gives power and strength to his people’
(Psalm 68.35). Thus, Paul captures the
point of divine gifting in the Psalm.
Yet there is more to this psalm and its relevance for Ephesians: its
emphasis on the community of God’s people.
Psalm 68’s description of God’s people has the same theological
understanding as Ephesians: the dividing line is between God’s enemies and
God’s people. Thus, any concept of unity
has to do with unity of God’s people, not unity of all peoples. It is a unity that cuts across every other
division that is of no importance: status, ethnicity, gender—as long as one is
among God’s people. This obvious point
nevertheless needs to be made: unity has nothing to do with tolerance of
diversity but is about diverse gifting that produces unity. Psalm 68 speaks of God’s gracious gifts for
his people—his care for them, protection of them, saving his people, and his
powerful working for his people.
Thus
Psalm 68 relates to the notion of the gifted people of God, the body of Christ,
in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and Ephesians 4, where he quotes from the
psalm. The quotation in Eph. 4.8
includes reading ‘You ascended on high’ as Christ’s ascension. Christ’s Lordship is essentially an authority
to give gifts to the Church. Paul
therefore turns to explain that gift-giving authority in terms of ministers for
the Church.
Ligaments of Unity
The metaphor
of ligaments for the Church’s ministers is most appropriate. The earlier description of the body of Christ
in 1 Corinthians and Romans focuses on the members of the body each
contributing to the unity of the body.
Ephesians 4.11, however, adds that there are ministers of unity, like
ligaments that connect the parts of the body.
A hand or a foot might have a function it delivers for the sake of the
body, but the ligaments help to forge the unity of all the body’s parts. Paul lists these ligaments—these ministers of
unity—as apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers (the Greek
suggests an overlap or relatedness of ‘pastors’ and ‘teachers,’ perhaps because
pastoral care overlaps with giving correct teaching in the local church. That is, the different roles of apostle,
prophet, and evangelist involved ministry outside the local church, whereas
pastors and teachers involve ministry inside the local church. If this is the correct way to understand the
roles, we can see that there are ministers that provide unity between churches
(apostles, prophets, and evangelists) and ministers that work to create unity
within the local church.
Apostles
establish the apostolic teaching of the Church. It is foundational and
not in dispute. As Jude says, the faith was 'once for all delivered to
the saints' (Jude 3). The prophets, of course, can foretell something
about the future, but their primary function is to warn. They warn and
encourage people, reminding them of what God says. Evangelists proclaim
the Gospel--their function is to state the Gospel and to clarify what is and is
not God's 'Good News.' Pastors care for the sheep, bringing correction,
feeding them good food, protecting them, and being present with them in all
life's stages. Teachers teach the Word of God, being knowledgeable and
careful in their interpretation to honour what was written by persons inspired
by God. These roles are the roles of agents of unity in the local and
universal Church.
[1] Often, ‘children of wrath’
is understood to mean children with whom God was angry. He NIV even translates the phrase as ‘objects
of wrath’ to make this point. That is
theologically correct and may be Paul’s meaning here. Yet Titus 3.1-7 is a parallel to Ephesians
2.3-10 and encourages a reading of this phrase to mean that people before
coming to Christ passed their days in ‘malice and envy, hated by others and
hating one another’ (Titus 2.3).
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