One Body: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:1-16
One of my favorite hymns is “The Church’s One Foundation.” Christians share a common confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is the foundation of our faith. The writer goes on to say that the Church has been chosen from among all different nations over the centuries. We share a common confession of faith. We share in Communion and in baptism. God has put us together; let no man cast us asunder. Yet in this magnificent hymn of our common faith whose text is drawn in the reading from Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, there is a troubling reality that our churches are divided more than they are unified. We are by “heresies distressed.” One group of Christians anathematizes the other. This division is displayed among the unbelievers who scoff at the Christian faith. We are engaged in this battle for truth and must be reminded that our battle is not against each other. It is not even against unbelievers but rather spiritual wickedness in high places. We need to come to the point where we can join in the line form another hymn: “We are not divided, all one body we.” This isn’t to say that there is not heresy in the church. The enemy has invaded us. But we need to fight the real enemy together. So let us dig further into today’s text from Ephesians 4:1-16.
We must remember that Ephesians does not begin with chapter 4 as the British pastor Martyn Lloyd Jones reminds us in his eight-volume commentary on Ephesians. There is a tendency for us to go right to the places in Scripture to where it tells us what to do. We want to jump into the first commandment with “Thou shaly have no other gods besides Me.” But the ten commandments begins with: “I AM the LORD thy God which hath brought thee out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Without this proper context, the Ten Commandments are nothing more than a list of prohibitions. The preamble provides a context of God’s grace. We should not do these things because God has freed us from slavery, slavery to the laws and prohibitions of men. We then see the Ten Commandments as being the means of keeping us free. This makes all the difference in the world.
Paul spends a great deal of time setting up the rationale for our response to the gospel before turning to giving commands that Christians are to follow. The Dutch theologian, Herman Ridderbos, calls this the use of the imperative and the indicative. The indicatives are the facts upon which we are to base our behavior. In the case of Ephesians, Paul introduces us to the facts of the Gospel. He tells us of the magnificent plan He made for us from the very beginning. Ephesians 1:4 tells us that he had chosen us even before the universe was created. He goes on to say that His plan for us was “to make us holy and without blame before Him.” The Sovereignty of God assures us that His plan will be brought to full fruition. So we realize that whatever commands are given are part of this plan.
Paul tells us that the execution of this plan for His church is made possibly solely be grace and faith. It is His work in us and not our own. Ephesians 2:10 states that we are His workmanship, created for the purpose of good works. The death and resurrection of Jesus from the dead is what makes us alive from the dead in a spiritual sense.
The plan of God is for us to share eternity with Jesus Christ. This does require preparation. We cannot enter into this life apart from Him. This is because we are all part of the Body of Christ. This metaphor of body occurs throughout Ephesians and in Paul’s other epistles as well. The Body of Christ is a living Temple, another metaphor of Paul. Let us look first at the idea of Temple. Earthly temples were usually made of stone and precious materials. They were built to contain the presence of the deity. In the Greek tradition, temples were often built with symmetric halves. We can look at the Parthenon and will notice that the left half of that temple is exactly the mirror image of the right. The Greeks also proportioned their temples with human proportions as well. The Greeks worshiped the perfect human body. What was important is that the left side was the mirror image of the right. Being ambidextrous was prized. Most people are right-handed, so the muscles of the left would appear smaller. Their idea of balance meant that the body builder had to work harder on the left side so that it would appear the perfect mirror of the right. They would go so far to have symmetry that if there was a birthmark on one arm, one would be tattooed on the other.
We can’t be sure the degree to which Paul was using the metaphors of body and temple in relationship to these Greek ideas. But these make excellent metaphors for the Church. Paul envisions the harmony of Jew and Gentile in God’s Church. God is a God of symmetry. This means that more work must be done on the weaker parts so that the Body of Christ might be perfectly proportioned. This is why boasting except in the Lord is prohibited and the humble are built up.
Having begun with this extended introduction, we see that Chapter 4 begins with the words” I, Paul, the prisoner of the Lord. He is reminding us of his current humble circumstances. What he is about to say does not come from the position of Paul’s power. He was a prisoner. Paul reminds us that God had sent a thron in his flesh as a means of keeping Paul from boasting in all the revelations he had been given. His boast was to be in the Lord. If Paul was lifted up instead of Christ, then division within the church is a certainty. The squabbles that had befallen him in Corinth would come to Ephesus as well. We do not lift up Paul, Apollos, Cephas, or any other personality. We lift up our Lord and Savior.
Paul then goes on to beg the Ephesians to walk worthily of their common calling. This is to be done with all lowliness and meekness. We are to show forbearance and love. We are to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit and peace. We remember that on Pentecost, the believers were gathered together in one place and one accord. This is when the spirit came down and baptized them. In coming together, they were obeying the commandment of the Lord Jesus who told them to tarry there until they were endued with this heavenly power. The disciples of Jesus had previously squabbled with each other, wanting to be the greatest. Then they were weak. When the Great Shepherd was arrested on that night in the Garden of Gethsemane, the sheep were scattered. One thinks of how Simon the Zealot got along with Levi Matthew, the tax collector. Jesus did the impossible with them. They finally were knit together in love. This is the powerful church. The church in Ephesus was in this manner not to think about their distinctiveness of the members but rather than their common unity. The things which had divided them had passed. The middle wall of separation had come down. The Gentiles could come into this Temple on an equal basis.
Paul goes on with several statements of their newfound common unity. There is only one body and only one Holy Spirit. We have one common calling. We have one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. We have a common Father who is “above all, through all, and in all.” One should notice also how many times the plural “we” and “ye” (you all) are used. Everything is about the body. It is true that people are saved individually, but they are saved into His body. We share the common experience of our faith.
But our unity is not based upon everyone being the same. A temple is made up of many different parts. Some of the parts of the temple are meant to be seen. Other parts are hidden from view. Yet these parts are necessary because they provide a solid foundation for the temple, without which the temple could not stand. Not all of the craftsmen are equally skilled either. There are common laborers who mine the stone out of the quarries. There are those who work the stones. There are those who parcel out the work. There are builders. There are artists. Together, they work to complete the plan of the temple that an architect drew up. It is amazing that the people who shaped the stones, did so off site without seeing how everything fit together. For example, the stones from which the columns were assembled were actually made up of drums carved by various stonemasons. Some who were more skilled were given larger sections. But when the columns were assembled, they had to appear and function like one column, as if the entire column was carved out of a single slab of marble. So the piece of a column which was assigned to a certain craftsman could only fit in one place in the temple. When one looks at the symmetry and balance of the Parthenon, one sees the columns as uniform and straight. Actually, they are not. Lines in perfect parallel appear to bow out in the middle. So for the columns to appear uniform and straight, the columns had to be adjusted so that all appeared to be straight. This means that minute adjustments to the thickness of the stone had to be made so that it would appear straight. There had to be a slight taper in the column. All of this work was needed to make the temple appear straight.
If stones were broken by the craftsmen, or if faults were found in the stone itself, the stone would be rejected. Is it not amazing that God uses broken and discolored stones to make a temple which is actually straight and perfect. Even Jesus is referred to as the stone the builders rejected. But God made him the cornerstone (or capstone).
The body is also an amazing work of engineering. Human life begins as a single cell which divides into two identical cells. We know they are identical because if the cells separated, identical twins would develop. From one united cell comes the diversity of cells which make up the human body. Each type of cell has a function and a place to perform that function. Truly we agree with the psalmist that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. It is important for the health of the body that each cell perform the function it was predestined to be. Cells make up organs, muscle, and bones. The brain coordinates the function of the body. In the Christians church, Jesus Christ is the head, He has the preeminence. The rest of us fit into one part or another of the body of Christ. Some of us are assigned roles which are more public. He made some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and other pastors and teachers. When we are told to give double honor to those who serve in these leadership roles, we must also understand that these are gifts assigned to them by the grace of God. One should boast in the giver of these gifts, which is God and not the gift itself. But along with the specialty of the gift is that they have double the concerns. They must not only look after their own soul but also the souls of those in the church. We are told that there ought not to be many teachers as these will be subject to greater scrutiny. And besides this, Paul was the prisoner of the Lord. When persecution comes, the leaders are among the first to suffer for Jesus’ sake. Leaders in the church’s more public ministries need to remain humble. Especially gifted leaders are greatly tempted to fall when they get praised by the congregation. Do a favor for your pastor. Honor them, but do not exalt them as though the church could not function without them.
There are a lot of “leaders” who have arrogated to themselves the title of “Apostle.” The position of Apostles proper have already been filled and are with Jesus. Their work on earth is done. Even though anyone who is sent by the Lord, such as missionaries, can generically be called “apostle,” it seems to me that this should be avoided at all costs as there is the temptation to pride with the word. Prophets are those who make the will of God known to the congregation. On occasion, the prophets of old also spoke of future events as well. The role of a prophet in today’s church is those who are gifted to cause the people to understand God’s word. The role of evangelist is to proclaim the gospel to the unbeliever with he hope of winning them. Pastors/teachers are those who teach the believers and equip them for their ministry in the church. But whereas one plants and another waters, the increase and the glory belongs to God alone.
The ministries of the church are not just limited to the roles Paul brings out here. There are those whose gift is to pray. Others take care of widows. Some maintain the places of worship. And so on. They are the less visible roles, but they are just as important as the goal is to bring the church to a perfect unity of its parts. All the parts have to be collected and put together. Then the Temple of God, which is the church is built. The purpose is to ultimately glorify God who is the architect of the church even as He is the Creator of all. He wishes to bring diversity into one great unity. There are distinctions, yes, but only one body.
When we look at the enormity of the task before us, and how often we showcase our divisions rather than our unity before the world to whom we witness, it is easy to grow faint of heart. Will we ever get this right? Will we ever become that perfect and united Church? Let it be sufficient to say here that it will be so because God has willed it. God’s purposes cannot be thwarted. The Good News is that the work is God working in us to make it happen. God has graciously invited us to join Him in this work. So with faith, courage, and conviction, let us endeavor to this reality. Praise be to God that I shall someday be perfect! Praise God that His Church will be perfect! Let us keep this in mind as we labor in this world with the work of the Gospel.
