Maintain the Unity of the Spirit (Eph. 4:1-6)

So far in this letter we have seen that Paul mentions several blessings of the work of the Spirit. He mentioned in 1:13-14 that all believers have been sealed by the Spirit – he is the divine seal of ownership – and he works in them as the earnest in order to provide foretastes of the experience of the eternal world.

Paul then mentioned three ways in which they knew those foretastes. First, he has given his people permanent access to the presence of God, which is a great privilege that they enjoy because of Jesus. Second, Paul prayed that they would know the resurrection power of the Spirit in order to become like Jesus, and realise the hope to which they were called – we could say that this refers to their sanctification. Third, Paul prayed that they would be strengthened by the Spirit in order to grow in their intellectual and experimental awareness of the amazing love of Jesus, which the apostle explained by using the four dimensions of length, breadth, depth and height.

It is well-known that Paul in chapter 4 moves from a doctrinal emphasis to a practical emphasis. He will refer to the Spirit several times in the practical section of his letter and we will consider those details in future sermons. In this sermon, I want us to think about the aspect of the work of the Spirit that he mentions in verse 3, that his readers should be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

As we look at what he says in verses 1-6, we can see two accompanying details for maintaining the unity of the Spirit. The first detail is the manner of life that makes it possible to maintain the unity and it is described in verses 1 and 2; the second detail is the motives for maintaining the unity of they are listed in verses 4-6.

Before we consider these details, we should remind ourselves of a crucial fact, which is that we cannot know the unity of the Spirit until we believe in Jesus, until we come to him in repentance and faith, confessing our sins and depending upon him as the only way to experience salvation.

Manner of life

We can see that it is a manner of life because of the word picture that Paul uses when he likens the Christian life to a walk they are all engaged in. Some congregations engage in a literal walk together, but here Paul is describing the authentic church walk. Of course, we can easily see that the literal church walk would not be very pleasant if those participating in it were arguing with one another or engaging in activities that tripped one another up.

So what do the walkers in an authentic church walk look like? Paul mentions three beautiful features. The first is humility. What is humility? Humility is not the same as humiliation. Humiliation is what someone else does to us whereas humility is something we choose to be. A person who engages in humility chooses to act below his status and is glad to do so. The obvious example of humility is Jesus. He is the eternal God who chose to make himself of no reputation. This does not mean that he hid himself and did nothing. Instead he made himself nothing in order to be a servant of those he met. If I am not prepared to do something that would help a needy saint, then I am not like Jesus and I am not living in a manner that maintains the unity of the Spirit.  If I imagine that something is below my imagined status, I then I forgotten two priorities, which are be like Jesus and focus on the unity of the Spirit.

The second feature is gentleness. Gentleness is not being soft. Instead it is a spiritual muscle that has been developed by spending time with our heavenly Teacher. Jesus described himself as gentle and humble and invited weary sinners to learn from him. Gentleness does not mean that a person cannot be straightforward in his or her speech, but it does mean that there is no venom in their words. The Holy Spirit is not like a hawk, instead he is like a gentle dove.

The third feature is patience or persistence. This outlook can be expressed in all kinds of situations. When we go through times of trial, we do so with patience and not with fretting. Yet the main area for exercising patience is by bearing with one another in love. There will be times when we will come across Christians who are not what they should be and it would be easy to grumble about them. But that is not an expression of bearing with one another in love. If I cannot cope with their immaturity or with their sinful mannerisms, there is something wrong with my love. All we have to do is consider the patience of Jesus with the disciples as they showed repeatedly how immature they were. But he bore with them in love. And each Christian today knows that Jesus bears with him in love. Since that is the case, he should be able to bear with his fellow believers.

What enables them to have these features of humility, gentleness and patience? Two things, perhaps. We have already thought about one of them, brotherly love. Pride, roughness and impatience are the opposites of what Paul says about believers and they are never expressions of brotherly love. The other detail is the amazing future experience that Paul has in mind when he refers to the calling that believers share. They have been called to live together until the day comes when they will be together in glory. What thoughts will it bring to your mind in heaven when you meet one there with whom you squabbled with on earth, about whom you said things that were inappropriate? Because we will remember that we did so.

Motives for maintaining the unity

Paul mentions seven motives for his readers to consider and a great deal could be said about each of them. The first is the church, which he describes here as one body. We can understand how a literal body would have a problem functioning if its members were not united, if its feet wanted to go in different directions, if its hands struggled with one another rather than helping one another. If we saw saw such a person, we would be astonished, but we would also be very sad. Yet it is the case that often such behaviour does mark the body of Christ when a congregation forgets that it should be united. I suspect the heavenly audience is astonished and sad when such happens. Instead the body of Christ should serve together and receive together the power of the Spirit.

The second motive is the fact that there is only one Spirit. Every believer shares the priceless blessing of the indwelling Spirit. He is in each of them as the living Water, he is in each of them as the Comforter promised by Jesus, he is in them as the sign that they belong to the heavenly family. He wants to produce in each of them an ongoing and an increasing conformity to the likeness of Jesus.

The third motive is the one hope that believers all have. This hope is connected to what Jesus will yet do when he returns and brings into existence the new heavens and new earth. He is going to create a perfect, peaceful environment in which all his family will dwell together forever. They are going to share glory. And since that is going to be the case, surely they can live together now.

The fourth motive is that they have one Lord, which is a reference to their relationship with Jesus. How did he become their Lord? The path that he had to follow took him to the cross where he paid the penalty for their sins, including the times when they might not maintain the unity of the Spirit. Then he ascended to heaven, to the throne of God, and at the moment he is there as the advocate of all his people. He is Lord because of his triumph on the cross and he is Lord now for the benefit of his body, the church, which means that he is constantly concerned about what is happening to each member.  Since Jesus loves to help them all, surely we should want to be at peace with them all.

The fifth motive is that there is one faith, and by this expression Paul means the various doctrines that Christians confess. This does not mean that they agree on every detail, but it does mean that they are committed to the fundamental doctrines of the faith. The doctrines of the faith are not opinions; instead they are descriptions of divine realities and the people of God rejoice in finding out as much as they can about each of them. Their fellowship is connected to these doctrines; if they share other things, it is not fellowship.

The sixth motive is one baptism, which is a reference to the outward sign by which confession is made to the world. Although subsequent developments have dimmed the message of baptism, we should remind ourselves that it does create a separation between Christians and the world. The one thing it was never meant to do was to create divisions between believers. Other Christians have the name of the Trinity on them, and this should be a motive for maintaining the unity of the Spirit.

The seventh motive is God the Father. We should observe how Paul uses the little word ‘all’ four times with regard to the Father and obviously he is stressing something that he regarded as very important. What does he mean by this fourfold usage? The Father loves all the children in his family, the Father protects all the children in his family, the Father is working through all the members of his family, and the Father lives in all the members of his family. If I choose to think negatively of a child of God, I should remind myself of this fourfold relationship that the Heavenly Father has to that individual.

Those seven motives are very powerful ones for maintaining the unity. We have to remember that they are not merely Paul’s selection of motives. In a far higher sense, they are the Holy Spirit’s choice of motives. If they do not move us to maintain the unity, then we are not listening to the voice of the Spirit. And if we persist in not listening to him, we have to question if we are genuine Christians.

Maintaining the unity

It is worth noting that we are not asked to make the unity. The unity that Paul has in mind here is not formed by humans. Instead it is a divine activity, although it is obvious from Paul’s words that humans can mar this divine working. Nevertheless, the believers have a great responsibility to maintain the unity.

What kind of church unity does Paul have in mind here? He cannot mean the unity of the church in the sense that it is united to Jesus – that is an eternal union which humans cannot affect. Nor does he mean the external union that an outsider might see if he visited the church and in Ephesus and observed them singing and praying together. Instead, he must mean an edifying union in which they build one another up, and this is confirmed by him going on to speak about the use of spiritual gifts.

The first detail that we can note is that maintaining the unity of the Spirit has to be a priority for them. We can see this emphasis in the word translate ‘eager’. This word was used to describe the way a traveller would make an important journey – he would prepare diligently and want to make it as trouble free as possible.

Secondly, they have to recognise the reality of peace which Paul says is the bond of their unity. When Paul wrote this letter, he was in bonds to a guard and he may have used that circumstance as the basis of saying that his readers were joined together by a different kind of cord or chain.

The question that arises here concerns what Paul means by peace. Probably the minds of his readers would go back to what he had said about peace in chapter 2. The Father, in sending Jesus, had created a situation of peace between his people and God as well as a state of peace between Jews and Gentiles. So the bond is connected to the doctrine of justification which expresses the peace that sinners have with the Judge, it is connected to the doctrine of reconciliation, it is connected to the work of the Holy Spirit because it is part of the fruit of the Spirit.

Where do believers show forth this twofold unity brought about by peace? One obvious place is the Lord’s Table where they meet together to recall that they have been saved by Jesus and brought together by Jesus. What is needed in order for unity to be realised at the Table? There should be repentance towards God for wrong thoughts, words and actions towards one another if they have taken place; there should be apologies made and confession of sin if that is required; there should be prayer for one another that each would have assurance of salvation. If I have created a barrier between myself and another Christian, I have also erected a barrier between myself and the blessing of God that could be conveyed to me by the Holy Spirit.