Ephesians 4-1a

Now we're reading in Ephesians and chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4, and I apologize to those behind me, on my back, Ephesians 4 verse 1, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called with all lowliness and meekness and longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit even as you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. But to every man is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high he let captivity captive and gave gifts unto men.

Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all things, that he might fill all things. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children or infants tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie and wait to deceive, but speaking the truth of love may grow up unto him in all things which is ahead, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted, by that which every joint supply, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, make increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

This I say, therefore, in testifying the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who, being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ. If so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Wherefore, and that's where we'll stop, just wanted to emphasize the wherefore, that he is building a platform for all that follows in the epistle from this moment on. Now just a brief overview, I was not here for the first three chapters, and perhaps others likewise in the audience were not here, so just a brief overview of the epistle to bring us to where we are at this point in time. The pedman, of course, I think we would all agree, the Apostle Paul.

He describes himself in three ways in this epistle. He is Paul the Apostle, he is Paul the prisoner of Christ Jesus, he is Paul the prisoner of the Lord. As the Apostle, we have his authority.

As the prisoner of Christ Jesus, we have the dignity with which he viewed his service, and as we think of him as Paul the prisoner of the Lord, it's his sphere of responsibility under the Lordship of Christ. So the pedman is Paul. As far as the period of time that this was written, obviously he's in bonds, and so it would link us back to what we have at the end of Acts, Acts chapter 28.

Paul, a prisoner in his own higher house, and from that house in Rome emanated four letters which are in many ways the high watermark of Christian teaching. The epistle to the Colossians would remind us of the glory of the head, Christ as head, and all the glories linked with this greatness as head. The epistle to the Ephesians, what we're in right now, is not so much the glory of the head, but the grandeur of the body, and all the teaching relative to the oneness of that body.

We come to Philippians, and we learn there the guidelines for an assembly. You have the ideal assembly at Philippi, and in that personal letter that we have to Philemon, we have godliness in an individual. So we move from the glory of the head, to the grandeur of the body, to the guidelines for an assembly, to godliness in an individual.

So you have a whole span of teaching relative to Christian living in these four great epistles that came from that higher house in Rome. We often wonder about those soldiers as they were chained to him if they realized what they were privy to as the Apostle both bowed his knees in prayer amidst them, and penned his tremendous epistles in that house. Why was this written? What is the purpose for this epistle that we have in our hands? There are at least three things that are obvious as you have studied already in the first three chapters, and as we will look at in these final three chapters.

It was written to unfold something of the mystery of the one body. Now, as I'm sure was emphasized for you last year, the idea of a mystery is not something that is mysterious, as we use the word, but something that if we only had our Old Testament, we would have no idea of, and no suggestion of, really. There, as we look back, there are pictures, but if we were just confined to the Old Testament, these tremendous truths that we're looking at would be totally unknown to us.

So it's something unknown in the Old, but revealed to us now by the Spirit of God in the New Testament. So it is unfolding the greatness of the mystery of the one body. It was written as well to unveil future glories of Christ.

This epistle spans from a past eternity, chapter 1, before the foundation of the world, and you end it in chapter 3, when unto the ages of the ages. It spans all time, all dispensations, and it reveals to us something of the greatness of divine purposes in those ages yet to come, as well as in our current age, divine purposes revealed. And it was written as well to urge, like living consistent with divine truth, which is really where we will be in these three chapters, chapter 4, chapter 5, and chapter 6, living consistent with the truth of one body, as well as the character of God that has been revealed to us, a life marked by holiness and righteousness.

Think just for a moment of the palate, the background upon which this epistle was written, and think of the city of Ephesus, and you can go to the chapters in the book of the Acts especially, that would give background as far as the city of Ephesus and the condition there. Remember that there was someone who was called the great goddess, great is Diana, or Artemis of the Ephesians. There was an idol they worshipped to whom they ascribed greatness, and of course in this epistle we will see something of the greatness of God that is revealed to our souls as we appreciate all that God is in the unveiling of his heart to us in blessing, as well as in divine purposes.

Remember there was a temple in the city of Ephesus, and you were taught in chapter 2 as well, now that there is another temple, one that far exceeds and excels in its reality, in its sanctity, in its purposes, the temple that was in the city there. There were craftsmen there that made their living by the worship of Diana, and Paul has reminded them in chapter 2 that God is at work. He is crafting something far greater, far more significant in his work as he is bringing into being this new man, this one body.

Ephesus was marked by wealth, that's why those craftsmen were so concerned about the spread of the gospel, it was hindering their wealth, and as we come to this epistle we are reminded of the wealth that belongs to believers now who have their place in Christ. So that's the background, the location. What about the letter itself? The first three chapters have reminded us of the unity of Jew and Gentile in one body, one body together, and that is the background relative to the letter.

What about the last verse that you looked at in your previous reading? Chapter 3 ended with that expression, unto him be glory in the church through Christ Jesus, world without end or unto the ages of the ages, and what we will see in these chapters that follow now is how we can bring glory to him in this age. How can we glorify God? Chapters 4, 5, and 6 will reveal to us ways in which we can bring glory to God in our own day, and we'll see some of a very practical, very down-to-earth, and very, very important force in our lives. There to be a tremendous profit if we just looked at the person of Christ in these six chapters before us.

In chapter 1, he's the securer of our blessings in Christ. That expression that occurs so often in this epistle, 10 times in chapter 1 at least, and reminds us of what every Christian has from the moment of conversion on. Christ has secured for us all of these blessings, and they become yours and mine the moment a person is in Christ.

So we have the secure of our blessing. In chapter 2, of course, he is the savior and the unifier of the body. In chapter 3, as you've looked at, he is the satisfier of our souls.

In chapter 4, as we'll see today, he is the source of all gift and the sovereign in his distribution. In chapter 5, he becomes the standard for love and for relationships, and in chapter 6, he is the strength for trial, likewise as we shall see. The dividing of this epistle, obviously, the first three chapters are what we call positional truth, what is true of all of us, and then from chapter 4, 5, and 6, it's what we call practical truth, how we then live the position that God has brought us into.

Another way of appreciating it is in the first three chapters, we are reminded of wealth, the wealth that every believer has as a result of being in Christ. In chapters 5 and 6, it's the health, the health of believers, how you can be a healthy believer. In chapter 6, it's the stealth of the enemy, how he will seek to undermine and to deprive you and deprive me of what we have in those first early chapters of the riches and the wealth that is ours in Christ.

But what about the particular portion that is before us as far as its outline? Now, you have an outline and they are notorious for not being followed by people who then get up and speak, so at least you have a framework to work on, but just in a general way to look at the chapter before us, verses 1 to 3 bring forth grace that is essential. When we come to verses number 4 to 6, we have a ground that is established, a unity that has been established, we see the ground that has been established. When we come to verses 7 to 10, we have the glory of endowments.

When we come to verse 11, we have the gifts that are enumerated for us. Verses 12 to 13 is a ministry that is rather the goal that is being envisioned as we'll look at, and I would take that, I'll just make my plea here for what I see there, and that is that this is a collective, this is not individual in verses number 12 and 13. Verses 14 and 15 is growth that is expected, and here I would take this that this is individual, although there may be some difference there.

And when we come to verses 17 to verse number 24, we have garments that are exchanged, garments that are exchanged. Looked at in another way, in the first few verses we have a charity that is essential, the need for love in these first three verses. We come to verses 4 to 6, there's a unity that has been created, there's unity that has been created.

In verses 7 to 10, we have a majesty that has been conferred upon Christ, the one that ascended up on high, and the one that has now been made to fill all things, all offices. Verse 11 reminds us of a diversity, so we have unity, now we have a diversity, a diversity that has been provided, ministry that is fostered, maturity that is envisioned, and finally purity that is expressed in individual lives going down this chapter. Now just again to be very brief, just to set the stage looking at these first three verses, because it's vital that we come in at the same point and understand what we're looking at together, along with the voice of the prisoner, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you, and along with the virtues that he enumerates, what's essential is to see the viewpoint.

What is he talking about here, and what is involved in keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace? Well the first thing is important to read the whole statement, it's not just keeping the unity of the spirit, it's keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. You remember the first three chapters have time and again emphasized that there has been a unity created by the spirit of God, that unity is Jew and Gentile brought into one body, that unity has been created and cannot be destroyed, separated, marred in any way, it has been created by the spirit of God, it exists. So we do not make the unity of the spirit, we do not maintain the unity of the spirit, we maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

So it's vital to see he is not calling upon us here to suddenly become inclusive, and to suddenly lay aside all differences for the sake of unity, this is a unity that already exists, every believer is part of this new man, this one body, this bride, used in different expressions throughout the epistle, so that what is before us here is to maintain that unity in the bonds of peace. Jew and Gentile recognizing, and he's going to bring us to why that should be so in the seven unities that follow, why we should be keeping it in the bond of peace. So the viewpoint here that we have as we begin this is very very important, so that we understand what is in view, we are responsible not to maintain unity, but to maintain that unity that has been made in the bond of peace.

I hope I'm not belaboring that point, but just want to make sure we have the same understanding of where we are beginning in this letter. So much of what is before us is both positional and practical in these first few verses, and he is laying the foundation for the practical section which will follow, and that's why I read that first verse of verse 25, not to infringe on our brother Oliver's reading, but just to show that he is laying a foundation upon which now we can begin to develop the very practical, very down-to-earth, day-to-day aspects of Christian living that will be consistent with this oneness and with this new man that God has created, as well as with individual living, or the individual aspect that we will look at in verses 17 to 24 in a very special way, how they should be different from other Gentiles in the way in which they are living, in the way in which they are walking. Now having said that, I'm going to stop, and perhaps before we look at the verses individually, there may be some general comments on the entire section, maybe somebody here last year would have the ability to link all of this together in a more profitable way, and once we have done that, we will look at these verses, and my brethren will bear with me if we go through it in a sectional way, verse by verse, and not jumping too far ahead of the time, and trying to address the verses as we can find them and deal with them in their context.

So with that before us now, just leave it open for any of our brethren to have a general comment to make on this section, and then we'll begin the verse number one. Having been here last year, I would just say this brother, I don't think there was any introduction last year of a health and wealth gospel. I mean your outline of wealth and health is good.

Well the deafening silence following, we'll begin in verse number one then, and consider then these things. So we have first of all then the voice of the prisoner, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you. So chapter three began with him being a prisoner of Christ Jesus.

Again, the idea of being a positional truth. Now he's getting to what is related to practical teaching, and lordship involves practical teaching. Paul was a prisoner as a result of his teaching of this one body, that Jew and Gentile were on the same ground now before God, and as a result he was aided by the Jews for that, led to his imprisonment, but now as a prisoner he is beseeching them that they would walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called.

Would you see this whole section, brother, as an exposition of what is already touched on in chapter two, verse ten. We are his workmanship, creating Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Very good.

What we've been reminded of is the fact that from this moment on, I believe it is six times in the epistle, Paul will speak of walking. The only time prior to this is in chapter two, where our brother has just read from that we should walk in them. Now he is going to now give an exposition of that five times from this moment on, from verse one of chapter four on, he will speak about the Christian's walk, and he's going to explain the character of that walk, and I think it's obvious to all we need and emphasize it, just mention that walk has to do with manner of life.

So he's going to use the word walk, conversation and so on to express how our lives should be lived day to day as a result of what God has done. You mentioned that as a prisoner of the Lord, it's responsibility. It can be translated for the Lord's sake, can it not? Very good, yes.

So then, if he's a prisoner for the Lord's sake, subsequently the things that will follow will be done for the Lord's sake. And it's exemplary that he himself is subject to lordship before he expresses a desire for others to be subject to lordship. Lordship seems to characterize the remaining section of the epistle, doesn't it? It's mentioned some 18 times, the word Lord.

Could you maybe give us help, maybe for the sake, some may not be as aware of the difference between being in Christ and being in the Lord, or and so on. So what really is the distinction there, and what really is being stressed by Paul? Lordship would be a responsibility to him, would let our responsibility to him. Being linked with Christ would link us with the blessings that we have in him.

Colossians 3, nicely divided the two sections with that little phrase, in Christ versus in the Lord. That is likely an equal division there. In Christ is a heavenly relationship, but in the Lord is an earthly responsibility.

So if one is always a relationship, the spiritual side, others always the earthly and responsibility side. One is positional in that it doesn't change for any of us. We are all in Christ no matter how we're behaving.

In the Lord indicates submission to him, and that is practical. Very good. Now what about these virtues that are enumerated for us here? With all lowliness and meekness and long-suffering, forbearing, endeavoring or giving diligence.

Why these virtues necessary? How are these virtues operative? What are they? How do they actually express themselves in everyday living? Now we have said, maybe I should just clarify this, we have said that this is body truth. This is the church which is his body. Every believer, wherever they are found, are part of this body.

But now how do I express this? You know, is this just a nice theory? How do we express what is here if not in a local assembly? So what we are going to look at now is the expression that Paul is exhorting in a local assembly. These are virtues which should mark us in our dealings one with another. Relationships are going to be a prime subject which will now follow through in the rest of this epistle.

And while our brother Marcus Kane has the bulk of that in the verses that he will deal with, yet in every section there is the idea of relating either to one another, to the world, to spouses in the business world. Very practical. So can we have some help on putting these virtues actually into real life in our own assembly life? Brother Sandy, would you say first of all that if we took the first three of them, there's a little bit of a progression in them, but more so than a progression is this, that the three of them are obviously attributes of the Lord Jesus.

You'll see nothing greater than the lowliness of the Lord Jesus in his coming death. We'd see nothing greater than the meekness of the Lord Jesus as he walked through. And then when we think of the long suffering, taking him all the way to the cross.

There is this great difference, and I agree with you 100%. The motivation is always different. We forbear and forgive because we have been forgiven.

He never forbore and forgave because he was forgiven. We should be marked by the very first one, lowliness. Why should we be marked by lowliness? The grace of God that has been displayed to us in the first three chapters should bow our hearts.

How can we ever lift up ourselves against another Christian, thinking somehow we are superior, we have more rights, we should be given our place and they shouldn't. When we go back to chapters 1, 2, and 3 and find where grace found us and where what grace has furnished us with and what grace has done with us should make us lowly. The Lord Jesus was not of a lowly mind because he was the object of such grace.

He merited all he received from the Father. We are not in the position of merit, but in the position of grace. So yes, the virtues are seen.

His sprang from his character, tremendous, from who he was, from what he is in himself. Ours springs as a result of a sense of what the grace of God has done for us and our unworthiness. In some sense, it might be worth pointing out that lowliness, when absent at Philippi, created division and that's just the opposite of what we're looking at here.

So that lowliness, likeness to Christ, is absolutely essential for unity in the assembly. Now how would lowliness differ from meekness? Some people think they must be the same. So how should lowliness differ from meekness? Lowliness, having a humble opinion of oneself.

Meekness is an idea of submission. Submitting that God's treatment of me and all that comes my way is directly from him. So this acceptance of God's dealing with me.

So one is the recognition, if I can put it this way, of my relationship with God, that I should be marked by a spirit of lowliness, not walking around saying how humble I am or what a horrible Christian I am, but just the recognition that grace has been operative in my life and I really deserve nothing of myself. Whereas meekness is a relationship to the will of God in my life, a submission to it, an acceptance of it, and in this particular instance the will of God has been expressed in the first three chapters. Jew and Gentile brought together on the same ground, brought in on that basis before God.

Our brother has asked if this comes about when we are sealed by the spirit of God, chapter one, and indwelt by the spirit and have a new life. The capacity for this comes about, but this is a personal responsibility. So the capacity for all God commands of me was given to me a conversion, a new life that could now begin to develop this, but it's my responsibility to appreciate what God has done and as a result then to develop this in my life.

Yes, it is the idea of submitting, as our brother has said, to the word of God as the truth is in Jesus and so on as we'll see as we get down this chapter. Are you suggesting that lowliness is my attitude to myself in relation to God? Meekness is my attitude to myself in relation to self? Long-suffering is in relation to external, but others is in relation to God, self, and others. Yeah, I think that's fair.

Or even circumstances with long-suffering and others with forbearing is another way of looking at it. And just to develop, when you talk about my relationship of self to self, I agree with you, but what does that mean? What does meekness mean in that sense? If we were to go into the Philippian two aspect, esteeming others, it's seeing what I am, nothing of myself, simply and solely an object of the grace of God. So the meekness has the idea of actually self under control.

I have power to do things that I control myself not to do and that would be detrimental things. So here is a believer dealing with Jews, he's a gentile, he gets mighty impatient with them, but maintains meekness, self-control, that is his own reaction is under power. From a practical position, I recognize that before God, even though I'm saved, I truly deserve at this moment to be in hell, in the flames of hell.

So I'm looking at it from, when I see that viewpoint, then everything else falls in line. Our brother has mentioned, is the background of this that an appreciation of the fact that even now I deserve nothing except divine judgment and as a result of that appreciation and everything else takes its cue from that. I certainly think that part of this is appreciating the grace of God that I deserve nothing and divine grace has brought me into this tremendous blessing and position in which I enjoy.

We skipped over the word vocation. Okay. But that's the thought of it now being everything we're going in for our career.

Very good. Sandy, just, I mean, these words are so important. Is it okay just to go ahead and work around them a little bit in terms of lowliness, rather than my working to make myself very humble, which you've done successfully.

It's not a problem for some of us. It is rather recognizing this in a positive sense. I'm only here to serve.

My business here is not for myself. My business here is for others. That's Philippians chapter two, but that's where lowliness brings us.

Meekness then measures how I respond to others and the idea of longsuffering. It doesn't change in the circumstances. My service to others is not changed by the circumstances or by their reaction to me, forbearance.

In what context do we have Moses as the meekest man? Is it not in relation to God's people? In relation to God's people, very definitely. His meekness was expressed and seen. Again, I think what you men have been working on is very vital to recognize there are differences, there are difficulties, and I know what David has been expressing we need to underline that lowliness is not a reverse self-occupation, that I am occupied with making myself become more and more humble.

That is a hopeless, self-defeating, frustrating exercise. Any self-occupation is really pride in disguise. Maybe not so disguised.

Lowliness is really occupation with others and their needs. It's a total absence of self-occupation and unfortunately we are diseased with the problem of self-occupation even when we think we are occupied with the welfare of others. So this is really a spiritual virtue.

This is not a course that you take and learn how to behave this way. This is really a result of occupation with Christ. Nothing short of that will actually develop this in my life.

The mind of Christ developed in my life only will come with occupation with Christ, not with some self-flagellation that is going to keep bringing me lower in my own estimation. I like the thought of forbearing, if Marcus can correct me, but in Spanish it has the thought of supporting. We think of forbearing maybe as enduring, but the word is supporting one another in love.

A brother has mentioned that the word here forbearing one another, long-suffering forbearing one another in love and so on, is more than just gritting your teeth and bearing it. It's interesting there are two different words used in our New Testament, one for long-suffering, one for endurance, and we tend to think of them as the same. But what is instructive is to realize that the first word, long-suffering, is the word used to describe the character of God.

It never uses the word for endurance, for God, because endurance has the idea of living under circumstances and yet prospering. God never is under circumstances, he's always above them. So it uses the word long-suffering for God as he bears with and patiently brings about his purposes.

That is the idea here, it's working towards a goal with another rather than just throwing up your hands and saying, well, can't do anything about it, just live with it. What our brother has mentioned is that as we are occupied with Christ, we will then develop these traits. I think that a very helpful thing, we don't have time to do it in the brief time we have, is wherever you are in Ephesians, look at the corresponding portion or section in the epistle of Colossians, and they will shed light one on another.

So that when you come to Colossians chapter 3, which is the corresponding section, what Paul says there to the believers, just to read it very, very hurriedly, put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercy, kindness, to see each other as God sees them, holy and beloved, chosen by God. That will regulate how I treat other believers, that they are loved by God. They have been brought into divine purposes by God.

Therefore, I should treat them as God has treated them and as God views them. And since you're in Colossians, can I just move down into the next verse and let the peace of Christ, actually the peace of Christ be the arbitrator in your heart? Isn't that really what you have then in verse 3? Yes. So there is a bond of peace going back to chapter 2 that has been formed.

And the constraint for the believer is in assembly life, because it's got to start personally, but in assembly life to express this unity between Jew and Gentile that has been established by Christ. So just to summarize as we have to move on, and I hate to push on too quickly, what we are looking at here is expressed in the local assembly. And while we may not have Jew and Gentile, there can be different cultures.

There can be different stages in spiritual development. There can be different levels of appreciation of divine truth. And we're not talking about jettisoning standards or anything goes in assembly life.

We're talking about areas in which we can display forbearance and long-suffering and lowliness and meekness one with another and maintaining to seeking to endeavoring to keep the unity that the spirit of God has created in a bond of peace in a local assembly amongst believers. Now having said that, can we move now to verses 4 down to verse number 6. Here is why. Here is the unity that has been created and he brings before us three different spheres.

I'm going to suggest to you first of all a unity of redemption. That is verse number 4. One body, one spirit, one hope. A unity of redemption.

Then there is a unity of responsibility. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. And then there is a unity of relationship.

One God and Father who is above all, through all, and in you all. So a unity first of all created by redemption. A unity of responsibility that we have expressed.

A unity of relationship. And this is the basis upon which he has given his previous exhortation. Since this unity has been created, now we are, we have been exhorted to maintain it in the spirit, in the bonds of peace.

So could we look at some of these quickly and consider them and then have some helpful comments. The idea of endeavoring is the idea of a diligence of endeavoring. And at times the word would tell us it's something that we need to have haste or speed to do as in the case of Mary.

And so as our brother Higgins has said, the unity of the spirit is something that has been made. Christ is our peace. Christ preached peace.

But the believer today has the responsibility of endeavoring or being diligent to maintain that sense of unity in the bond of, the bond of peace. This is going backwards on you just for a second. In light of what's in Colossians about that being the arbitrator, the bond, the peace of Christ, endeavoring to keep this unity.

When I contribute in a Bible reading, when I preach the gospel, when I talk with believers, when I pray, when I give corrective ministry, is it all intended to foster a divinely established display of the unity that God intends to be seen? Our brother has both gone back and gone forward because what we'll see is when we come just a few verses on why has Christ given gifts or given men who are gifts to the church? It's all with this in view to foster unity so that all of my activity to get up in a prayer meeting and pray at someone is not fostering unity. To get up in a ministry meeting and just have one person in mind and hammer at him and make everyone realize, you know, he's really hammering at him or anything which is going to create a division. I've got to ask myself, is it in keeping with what we have? That doesn't mean we don't point out things that are wrong or give corrective ministry, but there's a vast difference between giving ministry which is corrective and edifying versus that which is divisive and singling someone out.

My father of the faith often said, Sandy, when you minister to God's people, remember they are the Lord's people, not your people. Very good, very helpful. Brother Sandy, you've mentioned the sevenfold aspect of the unity.

I noticed you divided it into three sections, which is very good. We notice that the Trinity is in here, isn't it? The Spirit, the Lord, and the Father, of course. We notice that it's going to end with three prepositions.

We'll have something to say about that, but we keep in our mind that it starts off not with the Father, not with the Lord, not with the Spirit, but with the subject that's in view, which is the body. So there is one body that has been created by one spirit. Now the emphasis, of course, is this.

We remember from 1 Corinthians, in one spirit were you all baptized into one body. If there's only one spirit, one body, and they're all part of it, then how can they be acting as though there is some distinction between them? So one body created by one spirit with a view to one hope. Not a hope for the Jew and a hope for the Gentile, but one hope.

Chapter 1, Paul speaks of those who forehoped. Chapter 2, those who had no hope. Chapter 4 now, they all have one hope together.

Same prospect. We're moving towards the same prospect, part of the same body, created by one spirit, so there is this unity as a result of redemption. So that one body was established at Pentecost, looking back in the past.

It is maintained now in unity by the indwelling Holy Spirit in each member, and then it's looking forward as well to that one hope, which is heavenly in the future. Would we see that with each of these three that you're looking at here? The one body, as you've just suggested. The one spirit will take us back.

The one hope makes us look forward. That isn't the same up there with the next little triangle. We have the one Lord, the one faith making us look backward to faith in him, and the one baptism making us outward and onward, our manifestation of him.

So that we have in verse number five, our brother has brought us to one Lord, one faith, one baptism. One Lord whom you all own, you express that in your one baptism, and you all have the same kind of faith that embrace Christ as Savior. I would take this faith as being what we call subjective, not objective, the faith that we all, the body of truth, but rather you all express the same kind of faith.

The same idea of Romans chapter three, isn't it of the, how does it express it there? The uncertain decision by faith. Out of faith and by faith. By faith.

Now, you remember that at Ephesus, again, another part of the background of Ephesus there was the baptism, what baptism he spoke of, which is chapter 19. There were those disciples of John who then had to be baptized in the name of the Lord. They had not heard the Holy Spirit had come and so on.

So you had another baptism there, but here is reminding of one baptism. Jew and Gentile both expressed their faith in Christ visibly by baptism. So all of these unities that he has been stressing in these verses should emphasize the fact that there should be no division, no distinction between Jew and Gentile as a result.

So if there was a baptism took place in the name of the Lord only, both in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, is that another baptism? I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I didn't quite get you. There's one baptism. When it comes to baptizing, the person is baptized only in the name of the Lord, or in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Is that a different baptism as opposed to someone baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? No. That certainly is not the thought, it is known. We're not talking formula here, the idea is what Brother Sandy's been saying.

It's one baptism for the Jew and one baptism and the same baptism for the Gentile. It's the same for Jew and Gentile as the thought as we're going through here. And of course that is repeated as we go through the book of Acts.

If you look at the great manifestations of the Spirit of God in the book of Acts, you'll find that what happens to the Jew in Acts 2 happens to the Samaritan in Acts 8 and happens to the Gentile in Acts 10. It's all the same thing. Of course that's the Spirit there into a different baptism, but it's the one thing.

So we have then a unity of operation, what the Spirit of God has done. We have a unity of obedience, what believers have done. Now we come to a unity of origin, or a unity of relationship.

One God and Father, as it is expressed here, who is above all and through all and in you all. Jew and Gentile, both related to the same Father, same relationship, no distinction, and therefore again underlining this unity that exists. Now we have these different prepositions.

One God and Father of all, the source, who is above all and who is through all and in you all. Now maybe somehow... I have a question. God and Father of all, is that of all men? No, this is of Jew and Gentile.

This is of all who are in this one body, in this relationship. So the one God would be a truth that the Jew would have no difficulty with, but it doesn't say God of all. Father, and it's a good way to understand it, is saying Father of the Jewish believer, Father of the Gentile believer, Father of all believers, because they're all one.

And the revelation of the Father is a New Testament truth in itself. Yes. Yeah, again, just to emphasize what our brethren have just pointed out, I think there's only one time in the Old Testament that collectively refers to God as the Father by Israel.

So the idea of God as a Father is a New Testament revelation, a tremendous truth that we become so accustomed to not to appreciate the grandeur of it. Not just that He is our God, but that He is our Father, and all that that implies in its richness to us and to our souls. So He is the one God and Father of all, Jew and Gentile believers, who is above all and who is through all and who is in you all, and there should be that appreciation then which will foster this unity in the bonds of peace.

The reference in the Old Testament to the Father, I think you said this, I just want to unwind it, it's as a Father, so He's like a Father, but He's not like a Father to us. No. He is.

He is. Very good. Do we have any comments then up to verse number seven? We don't want to rush past if some have questions or comments.

Brother, could you help us with verse five? Why are we not looking at Galatians 3, 27, 28, the baptism into the Spirit? Because then there would be two baptisms, okay? This is expressing the one Lord and the one faith, okay? One faith for Jew and Gentile, acknowledging one Lord, how did they do it? They did it publicly through one baptism. What do you mean two baptisms? Well, if this were the baptism of the Spirit, then I would take it, it would not be something visible and something expressed. What did you? No, I just mean there's only one baptism of the Spirit.

Only one baptism of the Spirit, yeah. It is not the one baptism or submission to the Lordship of Christ, and so when somebody comes to the overseers and expresses a desire to be baptized, having put their faith in the Savior, we would like to see a submission to the Lordship of Christ as well, not just saying I have believed. I know that when we come to the book of Acts and we see that people are saved and baptized immediately, perhaps we ask ourselves, well, how are they showing their change of life? But obviously for a Jewish person to have changed their allegiance, shall we say, to the Lord Jesus, to the one that they have rejected as Messiah, they are showing a tremendous change.

Today, perhaps, we don't see the same thing, but we do want to see a submission to the Lordship of Christ. Let me just follow that with a quick statement, because this is what you intend, and there are questions about this, and there are those that say, if you're saved, baptize them. I think we are doing something that's a public testimony that they're being baptized, therefore their testimony personally ought to be consistent with Christianity.

Not perfect, but there are some habits that cannot characterize one who is publicly saying I belong to Christ. Okay, could we move then to the next section versus, I'm sorry. Sorry, did you distinguish for us the three prepositions that Gordon wanted? No, would you do it, please? You might go ahead, you're doing fine.

Gordon? Yes, I'm following. Well, just a quick comment that there are three there because we have dealt with the Spirit of the Lord and God the Father and so on. Above all, of course, that's Ephesians 1, isn't it? That's the beginning of this book.

It's a reminder of one who is above everything. Christ is exalted above everything. Then we have through all.

There is a life that runs through all believers, shall I say. It's a life that comes by the grace of God into the person of Christ and in you all. So we have the fullness of God in that sphere.

Colossians has Christ in you and that is our supply for Christian living from the head. Here it is, our supply is actually in the Father himself as well. It's a different thought in Ephesians versus Colossians.

Is that part of the history revealed back in chapter 3 and verse 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs as well? Oh, very definitely. That's part of the fellow heirs, fellow citizens, fellow members and so on. This unity that has been created, Jew and Gentile together on the same ground, not Gentiles coming to Jewish ground, but Jew and Gentile both coming to a totally different ground to be one in Christ.

So verses 7 now to verse 10, we have the idea now of the glory of Christ that as a result has endowed believers, well, endowed the church with gifts. Now a couple of just general things to mention here and I'm going to ask our brother Oliver actually who I know no one who has handled this issue of the various gifts in a better way, so I'll turn it over to him in just a few minutes. But we want to see first of all that in the three different sections dealing with gifts, there is a different person of the Godhead that is the dispenser of the gift, if you will, the sovereign who dispenses gifts.

When you come to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, it's according to the spirit as he will. So in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, the spirit of God is the source of gift. When we come to Romans chapter 12, the gifts are coming from God and his sovereignty.

And here in Ephesians chapter 4, the gifts are from a risen Christ. One distinction as well in Ephesians chapter 4 is the gifts are men. Okay, so when you come to Romans and when you come to 1 Corinthians, it speaks about gifts in different ways.

When you come to Ephesians chapter 4, the gifts are the men themselves given to the church, which is his body. But those gifts function and are expressed in local assembly testimony. When you take the various lists of gifts and look at them as far as a timeline or the various sections, 1 Corinthians 12 would have been the earliest of these three letters that were written.

Romans would be the next, and Ephesians would be the last of the three. And you see a diminution, you see fewer gifts mentioned as time goes on, as the timeline spreads out. So we have the gifts which were for the commencement, gifts which were for the confirmation, gifts which were for the continuation, gifts for the completion of the church's body.

Now having said all that, we'll look at some of these and then I'm going to ask our brother David to just talk just for a moment about why there are none of the charismatic gifts in this particular section. Why we're looking at gifts such as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, no mention here of healings, no mention of tongues, none of the charismatic sign gifts that were given earlier in 1 Corinthians 12, none are present here. Is that accidental? Is that just an omission? Why is that the case? But having said that, let's look at some of these verses first of all until we come to that section.

So given to every one of us, that's every believer in the body, is that right? I would prefer to look at it the way Roman speaks of it, that every believer has an office, has a work to do. The gifts here are specific, aren't they? Like you wouldn't say that every believer fits into one of these five gifts, would you? No. So I think that in this section we are best looking at just these five gifts as far as gifts technically.

So every one of us is a reference to these five categories? I would take it in this context. But we want to stress that every believer has a work to do in God's assembly. 1 Corinthians 12, Romans chapter 12 giving us the metaphor of the body and every member being necessary for the functioning of that body.

We stress that every believer has a work to do for God, has something they can contribute to the welfare of the growth of that, either look at it locally or corporately, there is that. But I think here to be fair to the context we are just looking at these four or five gifts that are mentioned in this section. Would you have a difficulty with that, Wayne? Are you okay with that? I'd rather like the thought that the preceding verse, we have four times the little word of all of us.

Now suddenly it switches to each of you. And of course it's grace that's given. And then as you say, it's going to enumerate the four or five gifts.

Yeah, actually I was going to point out that the emphasis here is not on the gifts so much as the grace given. The emphasis in Romans is not so much on the gifts as on the measure of faith, the grasp of divine truth. And the emphasis in Corinthians is, it is always to one great purpose, that is for edification.