Ephesians 4:6 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

Navigator

Ephesians 4:6

Comments

Here is yet another reason why the believers in Ephesus and in every local church should strive for unity. There is one God, one being who is almighty, all wise, having all knowledge and who should receive the praises of men, so that through Isaiah he says, ‘Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any’ (Isaiah 44:8).He is ‘above all’ or ‘over all’. He has an authority over all which entitles him to demand our respect and obedience. His word is the final arbiter in settling all disputes and he has told us to forgive each other and to make repeated and even costly efforts to be reconciled to each other. No dispute over some trivial matter can be justified. We have each been forgiven so much that for us to refuse to forgive minor offences is preposterous. He is ‘through all’ in the sense that he is operating in all of us. Because he is through us then there is no part of the church that we should not recognize as the workmanship of God and therefore no part that we should regard as alien and fail to love. He is ‘in you all’. By his Spirit he resides in each one of us so that when we love one another we are loving Christ in each other. When we love them we are loving him, for in this world we cannot do good to him directly, but must for his sake love his children in his absence. This passage on unity has now named all three members of the Godhead, one Spirit, one Lord, and one Father. By doing so it has set before us the Trinity as the grounds of our unity. Consider the Godhead. Has there ever been a disagreement between the Father and the Son? No, it is impossible. They are in perfect harmony, they are three distinct and wonderful persons, equally divine, equally eternal, equally powerful, sharing the divine essence and absolutely one in plan and purpose. It is impossible for there to be any difference between them: the triune Godhead, the great picture of harmony and love. We have the triune God over us, through us, and in us.

Application

Unless we are ready to regard each other as unconverted, we must admit that we share the same God and Father. Is God willing to estrange himself from one child at the request of another. This, in effect, is what we are asking for when we refuse to love one another and to recognise the debt of love we owe. We are saying that in our estimation this one is unworthy of being part of the family of God, and the Father is mistaken in accepting them along with us. But God has chosen each one of us though we are all equally unworthy of his love, and we are to be transformed in our minds so that we embrace the members of our new family in love, since we find that they too have the mark of his calling in them. Once in the family of God, we are his adopted children forever. Even a human father knows the danger of favouritism. God is the perfect Father and treats all his children fairly. He wishes to create a family where love is the guiding principle in all their relationships, and he knows how to resolve disputes between us.

Now, what is my position, we say to ourselves? Do I glide through my Christian life and my church, the family in which I worship, acknowledging people, saying a few nice words but never really thinking of what I can do for others, how I should be closer to people, how I should help and co-operate and join in as one family in the Lord? Well, that is the strength of the exhortation here. God would have us bound together deeply and preserving our peace and oneness and spirit of co-operation.

What an argument for the importance of union among ourselves based on love, kinship, closeness, co-operation, and longsuffering. How accountable we must be to God for this unity. It is based on so many arguments, so many reasons, all spelled out, showing us the priority and the significance of it, and the importance of settling differences, small hostilities, and watching out for drift.

Questions

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Ephesians 4:6 Commentary and Bible Study

Explain meaning of Ephesians 4:6