CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 4
The opening of the chapter is what it is about:
“Walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye have been called”.
We have come to the field of practice. The interesting point is that we begin with the church as the first circle of interest. If we are effective in that circle we shall be effective in every other circle, but if defective, we shall be defective in every circle. The distinction between God’s calling in chapter 1 and our vocation in chapter 4 is that the first is what we are going on to, the second, what we are to answer to. God’s calling in chapter 1 is to be “before him in love”. That is His calling. His calling is your full calling, and in result is future.
Chapter 4 is what you are to be here, and is connected with chapter 2. The first point is to endeavour to “keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace”. We all form one body, one corpus. There is only one unity in my frame, in my corpus - the unity of my spirit, and all must conserve that unity. Here it is the Spirit’s unity, and we are to endeavour to maintain it. All members of the one body are alive; but, so far as the manifestation of this unity is concerned in the church, it is like a person suffering from paralysis - the members refuse to act in accordance with the head. Life is not union. It is the Spirit of God that brings into union. I want my hand to write,
[p. 137] but instead of writing it goes the wrong way; it is not that there is not life, for it is alive, but it does not act in accordance with the head; if it were a member of my body, I should do my utmost to get it restored.
Do we so act towards others as to endeavour to get them into their proper place?
The unity of the Spirit is the realisation of our relationship to Christ and to one another, “using diligence to keep”, etc. The unity was formed on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended; there were two fillings, of the house and of each person. The church is the habitation of God through the Spirit. It is the circle in which the unity of the Spirit is to be kept. The same Spirit who effects union has a unity. If I were on a desert island I should be in the unity of the Spirit; but if another joins me we should express it.
What is the difference between the unity of the Spirit and the unity of the body of Christ?
The unity of the Spirit is the thing to be carried out down here, and the only power one has to walk in it is the power of the Spirit. If we allow the flesh to work we are out of it, we are out of health.
The Spirit of God does not lead into opposite ways; we cannot agree to differ. In John 17 we have unity, but not union. The Lord prays for the expression of it. It will be fulfilled in the new Jerusalem. It is every member going on in correspondence with all the others by the Spirit. If we take in the fact of our own body and one spirit in it, we can understand what the unity of the Spirit means.
In verse 2 we are in the presence of God, and therefore we are lowly - lowliness being in respect of God, and meekness with regard to one another. The unity of the Spirit is a practical thing, and therefore we can touch it. The unity of the Spirit may be described as an abstract idea; it is there to be kept. It must not be limited to ecclesiastical unity; we might be right [p. 138] ecclesiastically and yet not keep the unity of the Spirit. The practical difficulty is in realisation. The unity of the body cannot be touched. Everything on earth is against it.
There are seven unities in these verses one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism (that is more outside), one God and Father. We should be practically expressing these on the earth. Jew and gentile are formed into one.
National prejudices crop up and the unity of the Spirit is broken. It has not been kept, but it is there to be kept. I need to be walking in the power of the Spirit to maintain the unity of the Spirit. The defect of everybody begins above - at the higher circle. If I am defective in my actions as a member of the body of Christ, I shall be defective as a father, a husband, etc. If the unity of the Spirit be maintained, I shall be right in the lower circles and in the upper. In Romans you get a man personally; there is not a single relationship spoken of; nothing relative, but what he is. In Hebrews it is the same, except that we have love of the brethren. When we come to Colossians, we find the relative duties, although in a lower way than in Ephesians, because there we are not looked upon as in heaven. A man full of the Spirit would make the best husband - he would be unselfish. The better we are as churchmen, the better we are in our relationships. It makes a wonderful alteration in a man’s house when he knows that all that is his belongs to God. It colours everything.
The gifts are given to produce, in verse 13, a state of things on the earth which is perfectly incomprehensible to the natural man. This verse is not future. It is a standard for here - “until we all arrive”, etc. We do not want gifts in heaven.
Verse 14 shows it cannot be future. It must not be relegated to the future. The gifts are given to bring this state about. It is individual - we arrive at it one by one. There is the standard, “the full-grown man”, and the provision for arriving at the standard. See Colossians 1: 28. The apostle desires to present every man perfect - he could not have a lower standard. The perfect man is individual. I do not think that a person learns anything of Christ without the dislodgment of what is in himself.
As regards gifts, it is not merely a question of salvation, but God has to fit the vessel - the will must be broken. Jonah had to go into the fish’s belly and into the depths of the sea for this purpose. All ministry is given superior to every adverse power - no power can interfere with your gift. Gifts are from the top. Christ is above all adverse power. He has surmounted all actually. Our commission is from heaven, and we have to report to the place whence we get our commission. The evangelist works down here - in the slums perhaps - but makes his report to the place whence he obtained his commission. The gift is given superior to all here. In ministry, we have a Christ to present who fills all things.
The gift is effectual in liberating me from all that which Christ has overcome. There is many a man who has a gift, but he has not realised that he has received it from above. There may be a field with plenty of coal in it, but through too much bearing - rocks, etc. - the coal cannot be reached; the obstruction must be removed. The place where we were snubbed most is the place where we get distinct countenance. If there were more devotedness, more gift would be manifested.
JND said that God never gave a man anything to do, but that he was unhappy till he did it. The power of God displaces that which is contrary to Him, so that He may fill you with the power which belongs to Him. I am to get space for Christ in the sphere of opposition, and to begin at myself. Arriving at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of [p. 140] God - they should go together. We may be in unity - without being at the same level.
The perfecting of the saints individually is the great point here in verse 13. The other two points I cannot say much about - a man may interpret Scripture, but one can only be effective according to the effect the word has upon himself. I would not speak on a passage I have not been in. The end in view, the great object of ministry, is the perfecting of the saints. The work of the ministry and the edifying of the body of Christ are subsidiary.
Scripture does not contemplate a long period - until we all come. They are first perfected, and then put into place. In the professing church the gifts are put into wrong places, like a housemaid might put candles in wrong rooms. An evangelist is made a pastor. A pastor is made a missionary. A man is not effective in ministry save to the extent of its effect upon himself. The man who was the greatest evangelist was the greatest churchman - Paul. The pastor, etc., is himself the gift; he receives his gift from the Lord. The object of the evangelist is not only that people may be saved, but brought to Christ. He has his gift from Christ, but starts from the assembly and returns to the assembly. After drawing in his net, he has to sit down and select. Natural ability is not a gift. J.N.D. said that what makes a man an evangelist is intense love for souls. Sometimes a person may have a gift which seems quite opposed to his natural ability; one of the most effective evangelists I know could not say much.
In Ephesians, the man is characterised by the gift. God took away Paul’s power of utterance, but not his capacity, so that it might be seen what God’s power was. The one who has not natural gift is often the one whom the Lord chooses. In Matthew 25 the talents were given according to several ability.
The saints of God are suffering from lack of development [p. 141] of gift. Verse 14 is a contrast to verse 13. Instability is the characteristic of a babe. It is a state we have been in, but we are to be so no more. We have not kept up the standard enough before people as to what God’s mind is as regards us. People say they have got this or got that; but the point is not only what I have got, but what I am, according to the word of God. Paul could say to Timothy, “thou hast been thoroughly acquainted with my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings”.
We should never see a wrong thing done in the assembly without doing what we can to put it right. The laws of war, as set out in Numbers 31: 26 - 30, were that half the spoil should go to those who sat at home. If 1,000 head of cattle were taken, 500 would go to those who remained at home; but out of those, one in every fifty would go to the levites, but from the 500 belonging to those who went to battle, only one would be given, and that to the priest. In the first case it would be in connection with service to man; in the other, communion. The evangelist would get the higher blessing - service in communion brings joy to God - the assembly gets the increase. The impression on the mind under ministry when in a right state is, ‘O Lord, show me Thy mind and give me grace to follow it’.
I ought to be exercised by the truth. Verse 21 - the Lord was the truth down here on earth - it is a Person. When I cease to be morally what I am positionally, truth is gone. (A man converted through A.P.C. remarked after his preaching, I’ll follow him home - I wonder if he’ll have a good supper. He peeped through the window; but, instead of sitting down to supper, he saw him kneel down in prayer. The man was persuaded of his reality.)
Some, perhaps, are afraid of being intimate lest they should be found out.
[p. 142] Ministry is to rear up from babyhood. It is the fault of the ministry if saints are still children. Verses 22 - 24 are abstract, what is true in Christ; but we are to carry it out, we come into it and must keep it up. In Colossians it is more practice, Christ subjectively. In Ephesians it is what is of God coming out: “which according to God is created”, etc. (verse 24). In Colossians a new spiritual condition is entered upon. I am going into it. Here, in Ephesians, we are coming from it. It is the pretension of the flesh that makes the difficulty. The devil does not tempt a dog or a buffalo, but he tempts a man. In the dog there is no rival to Christ - nothing for Satan to work upon.
The flesh is not an easy thing to get rid of; as has been said, it is not an easy thing to die. It is true of us here as “in Christ”, and we are to come out in a new character. In Colossians it is more the practical side - suitability to the Head; a brand-new man in Colossians, a new kind of man as well in Ephesians. In verses 25 and 26 the practical part comes out. The “old man” is what I was as characterised by the flesh. The “new man” is what I am as characterised by Christ and the Spirit. My “old man” is put off before God, so that I can come out morally new. We are connected with the old creation by the body; with the new, by the Spirit.