Walking Worthy: the Cause

I think many young women have ideas of the kind of man they want to marry. I did. God had a different idea. Although my husband and I both enjoy watching sports, value family, like tacos, and prefer vacations involving the ocean or exploring nature, we are very different in the way we think, act, and interact with others. The Biblical view of marriage means we become one. The foundation for our oneness, what unifies us, is our shared belief in in God and the absolute standard of His infallible Word. When our sin starts to cause division, our foundation in Christ keeps us united.

Over the past several weeks, we have considered the call and the characteristics of walking worthy. Today we will examine the cause of walking worthy and ultimately, the cause of our unity with other believers.

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³ eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴ 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.^[1]

Ephesians 4:1-6 (emphasis added)

We left off in verse 3 with a worthy walk maintains the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. In verses 4-6, Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, listed seven ones that are the foundation of our unity with other believers. Although Paul didn’t elaborate on each one, we will examine them a little more.

Before we do look at the individual ones, it is important to note the key Person in each verse: The Holy Spirit (vs 4), the Son, Jesus (vs 5), and God the Father (vs 6). Each Person in the Trinity is a distinct Person with a distinct role, yet the Three are also One. There are several doctrines throughout these verses, but the doctrine of the Trinity encompasses them all. Thus, the Trinity is fundamental to the unity among believers.

Now, what are the seven ones?

1.    One body (vs 4) – This is the church, the body of Christ (vs 1:22-23), comprised of all those who have placed their trust in Christ alone. The body is made up of many members with different functions, but at the same time, though we are many members, we are one, and members of one another (Romans 12:4-5). In this we reflect the Trinity. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 20).

2.    One Spirit – All believers have the same Holy Spirit indwelling them. The same Holy Spirit who has sealed us (vs 1:13), through Whom we have access to the Father (vs 2:18), who builds us together into a dwelling place for God (vs 2:21-22), who strengthens us in our inner being (vs 3:16), and who unites believers together (vs 4:3).

3.    One hope – We were called (vs 1) to the one hope that belongs to our call. Paul is not talking about hope as wishful thinking or even the Biblical confident expectation. Here, hope is the actual content of our confident expectation: we will be holy and blameless (vs 1:4), conformed to the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29), and perfectly like Jesus when we are glorified (1 John 3:2).

4.    One Lord (vs 5) – Jesus. In Paul’s day, Caesar and Artemis (of the cult temple in Ephesus) were called lord, but Jesus alone is King of kings, and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16). “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him” (Romans 10:12).

“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Although Paul’s audience was primarily Gentiles, “one Lord” connects Jesus with God in the Old Testament, the Jewish Scriptures. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4).

5.    One faith – Paul is not referring to the act of believing but to the content of what is believed (Galatians 1:23). “One faith”, then, is a set of specific doctrines. “One faith” is certainly the Gospel, but also, more broadly, the entirety of God’s revealed Word (Jude 3).

6.    One baptism – F.F. Bruce explains: “It is beside the point to ask whether it is baptism in water or the baptism of the Spirit: it is Christian baptism – baptism ‘into the name of the Lord Jesus’ (Acts 8:16; 19:5; cf. 1 Corinthians 1:13-15) – which indeed involved the application of water but… was closely associated with the gift of the Spirit.”^[2]

7.    One God and Father of all (vs 6) – This again reflects the Old Testament truth in Deuteronomy 6:4 which is carried into some New Testament letters as well (1 Corinthians 8:4-6; James 2:19). God the Father is over all. He is sovereign. God the Father is through all. He is omnipotent. God the Father is in all. He is omnipresent. There is some speculation if all denotes all believers or all creation. All creation is most likely because God is Creator. As such, He is sovereign, omnipotent, and sustains all created things not just believers.

This seven-fold doctrine, rooted in the Trinity and the Gospel, is the cause for which we walk worthy. If these core doctrines unite us and unity is the message of the Gospel (vs 2:11-22; John 17:22-23), then unity is not an option we can take or leave. We must eagerly promote and pursue unity by walking worthy (vs 1-3).

Reflection

1.    When it comes to beliefs, believers can go to one of two extremes. They might have an attitude of getting along regardless of what each believes. In this case, doctrine, even essential doctrine, doesn’t matter. Or they might go the other extreme, having to agree on even non-essential doctrine to be unified. I don’t know that any two people will agree on every point of doctrine, but we must be unified on the essential doctrines. Examples: Scripture is true, authoritative, sufficient, and without error. There is only one God, Creator and sustainer of all things existing in three Persons (the Trinity). Original sin. Jesus, fully God and fully man, born of a virgin and lived a sinless life. Salvation in Christ alone (through His substitutionary death, resurrection, and ascension), by faith alone, through grace alone. A future physical resurrection of the dead and judgment. (Those who have not trusted in Christ alone will be raised to eternal punishment in hell. Those who have trusted in Christ alone will be raised to eternal life.)

Do you know the essentials? If you don’t, the Apostle’s Creed or the Heidelberg Catechism are good places to start. Do you go to one extreme or the other? If so, which one and why? Do you take a stand for the essentials? If so, are you argumentative or winsome? If not, where might you need to take a stand?

2.    The characteristics of walking worthy (Ephesians 4:1-3) are essential for unity. Go back through them and write out how each one would promote unity and how not walking in that way would cause disunity or division.

3.    What specific ways can you pursue unity within your local church family (based on vs 1-6)?

^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Eph 4:1–6.

^[2] Burce, F.F. The Epistle to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians. NICNT (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1084), 336-337.