ACC ~ Ephesians 4 v1 - 6

OVERVIEW:

Paul alludes to his own bonds (JEROME) to humble the temptation to pride that may accompany the lavish gifts of the Spirit (THEODORET). The fundamental virtue of humility (CHRYSOSTOM) is enhanced by other virtues (MARIUS VICTORINUS) and is perfected by longsuffering. Service in love is true freedom, beautiful and not oppressive, uniting people of all races (CHRYSOSTOM). The term one body expresses the relation between Christ and the church (JEROME). The one Spirit is inseparable from the living body (CHRYSOSTOM). The church has one hope because there is one kingdom (JEROME). Idolatrous washings cannot be called baptism (AMBROSE). Threefold immersion celebrates the Trinity (JEROME). The baptismal confession is implicit in the three prepositions: of, through and in—of the Father, through the Mediator, in the Spirit (AUGUSTINE, AMBROSIASTER). God contains all things (GREGORY OF NYSSa), transcending local confinement (ORIGEN).

4:1a | A Prisoner of the Lord

PRISONER OF THE LORD. JEROME: Those who love Christ follow him. They are bonded with him in the ties of love. There is also another explanation [i.e., Origen’s], which it is the reader’s prerogative to accept or not: Suppose what is called here the prison is the body. Because Paul has taken on the body for the ministry of the gospel, he is consequently said to be in bondage to Christ. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.4.1.

CONTENT WITH HIS BONDS ON CHRIST’S ACCOUNT. THEODORET: When Paul recalls his chains his intent is to encourage his hearers to rise above their own infirmities to moral excellence. It is as if he were saying: “Remember that it is in relation to you that I am in prison. Suppose I had refused to preach. I would have been free of all this.” In this poignant way the divine apostle elicits sympathy, for he is more content with his chains on Christ’s account than a king with his crown. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 4.1.

4:1b | A Life Worthy of the Calling

THE TEMPTATION OF PRIDE MAY ACCOMPANY THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. THEODORET: They were enjoying the gifts of the Spirit. They were performing miracles, speaking in many tongues and experiencing much prophetic activity. But all this was prone to boggle their minds. Therefore it is about these that he first gives them advice. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 4.1.

4:2 | Lowliness, Meekness, Patience

LOWLINESS THE FOUNDATION OF VIRTUE. CHRYSOSTOM: How is it possible to “walk worthily” with “all lowliness”? Meekness is the foundation of all virtue. If you are humble and are aware of your limits and remember how you were saved, you will take this recollection as the motive for every excellent moral behavior. You will not be excessively impressed with either chains or privileges. You will remember that all is of grace and so walk humbly. … “With all lowliness,” he says, not in words only or even in deeds but more so in the very manner and tone of your voice. And not meek toward one person and rude toward another but humble toward everyone, whether enemy or friend, great or small. HOMILY ON EPHESIANS 9.4.1-3.

DISTINGUISHING LOWLINESS, MEEKNESS AND PATIENCE. MARIUS VICTORINUS: He speaks of several forms of forbearance, each of which prevents them from being carried away or proud. Lowliness is first, then meekness. Lowliness consists in having a humble mind. Meekness is a curb on pride and cruelty. Patience consists in bearing any adverse circumstance that may befall them. With lowliness and meekness they learn not to be afraid to suffer. With patience they learn how to respond if they must suffer. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 1.4.2-4.

FORBEAR ONE ANOTHER. JEROME: Anyone who understands what it is “forbear one another in love” will understand that this is a precept appropriate to the faithful. It is not indeed saints who have any need to “forbear one another.” Rather it is those in the earlier stages of Christian life, who being human are still under the control of some passion. Nor is it strange that this should be said to the Ephesians. Among them there were surely some who still had to bear patiently with others. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.4.2.

4:3 | Maintaining the Unity of the Spirit

THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT IN THE BOND OF PEACE. CHRYSOSTOM: In the body it is the living spirit that holds all members together, even when they are far apart. So it is here. The purpose for which the Spirit was given was to bring into unity all who remain separated by different ethnic and cultural divisions: young and old, rich and poor, women and men. HOMILY ON EPHESIANS 9.4.1-3.

THIS BOND IS BEAUTIFUL, NOT OPPRESSIVE. CHRYSOSTOM: Again he uses the metaphor of bonding. We have left it behind, and now it comes running back to us. Beautiful was Paul’s bond; beautiful too is this [bond of peace among Christians], and the former arises from the latter. Bind yourselves to your brethren. Those thus bound together in love bear everything with ease. … If now you want to make the bond double, your brother must also be bound together with you. Thus he wants us to be bound together with one another, not only to be at peace, not only to be friends, but to be all one, a single soul. Beautiful is this bond. With this bond we bind ourselves together both to one another and to God. This is not a chain that bruises. It does not cramp the hands. It leaves them free, gives them ample room and greater courage. HOMILY ON EPHESIANS 9.4.1-3.

4:4a | One Body and One Spirit

THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE ONENESS OF THE CHURCH. CHRYSOSTOM: What is this one body? They are the faithful throughout the world—in the present, in the past and in the future. … The body does exist apart from its enlivening spirit, else it would not be a body. It is a common human metaphor to say of things that are united and have coherence that they are one body. So we too take the term body as an expression of unity. HOMILY ON EPHESIANS 10.4.4.

ONE BODY, ONE SPIRIT. JEROME: His words one body and one Spirit can be taken most simply to mean the one body of Christ, which is the church. Or it could refer to the humanity of the Lord, which he assumed from the Virgin. … Yet indeed the one body can also refer to life and the works that are called in Greek “the practical life.” These are distinguished from the oneness of the Spirit in the heart that finds its unity in contemplation. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.4.3-4.

4:4b | Called to the One Hope

THE KINGDOM AND ITS CONSUMMATION. JEROME: If the Father’s house has many mansions, how are we to say that we are called to one hope? One reply is that the one hope of the calling is the kingdom of God. It is as though we were to speak of the one house of God or say that in one house are many mansions. … Or again, this subtler meaning may be implied: at the end and consummation of all things everything is to be restored to its original condition, when we are all made one body and formed anew into a perfect man. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.4.3-4.

4:5 | One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism

IDOLATROUS WASHINGS ARE NOT BAPTISM. AMBROSE: There are many kinds of baptism, but “one baptism” is the cry of the apostle. Why? There are so-called baptisms among unbelievers, but they are not baptisms. They are washings but cannot be baptisms. ON THE SACRAMENTS 2.1.2.

ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM. JEROME: There is one Lord and one God, because the dominion of Father and Son is a single Godhead. The faith is said to be one because we believe similarly in Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Baptism is one. We are all baptized in the same way in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are immersed three times so that the sacrament of the Trinity may be apparent. … There is one baptism in the Spirit, in water and in fire. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 2.4.5-6.

4:6a | One God and Father of All

WHETHER FATHER OF ALL OR SOME. ORIGEN: He is “God and Father of all” by being the God but not the Father of some and both God and Father of others. It is as if, picking out ten men of whom five were someone’s sons and five his slaves, one said, “this is the lord and father of all ten.” PISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.

4:6b | God Is Above, Through and in All

GOD TRANSCENDS LOCAL CONFINEMENT. ORIGEN: It is impossible to speak of any parts or division in the incorporeal, but he is “in all and through all” … insofar as he is understood as either Wisdom or Word or life or truth, an interpretation which undoubtedly excludes all local confinement. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 4.4.31.

A PHYSICAL ANALOGY TO A SPIRITUAL TRUTH. ORIGEN: Here is a physical analogy to a spiritual truth: We can agree that the sun is “above all” things on earth. But by its rays it might be said at the same time to be “through all.” And insofar as the power of its light penetrates everywhere, it could also be said to be “in all.” It is in this way, I think, that God’s majesty is denoted by the phrase “above all.” God’s all-sufficiency is denoted in the words “through all.” It also belongs to the power of God to penetrate into all, so that because of his being in all no one is entirely void of him. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.

SUCCINCT THEOLOGY. GREGORY OF NYSSA: One God contains all and guides all as is fitting and is in all. This one saying of Paul suffices by itself to express everything succinctly, when he says that God is “over all and through all and in all.” REFUTATION OF EUNOMIUS’S CONFESSION OF FAITH 169.

IN THE FAITHFUL BY THE SPIRIT. AMBROSIASTER: God the Father owes his existence to no one. Hence he is declared to be “over all” and “through all.” He is “through all” in the sense that all things come from him. Necessarily he will be “over all” the things that come from him. And God is “in all,” that is, dwelling in all the faithful. For he is in us by our confession, because we confess him, and he has given us his own Spirit, through which without doubt he is dwelling in us. He is not in the same sense dwelling in unbelievers who deny that he is the Father of Christ. EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 4.5.1-2.

FROM THE FATHER, THROUGH THE SON, IN THE SPIRIT. AUGUSTINE: Those who read very closely recognize the Trinity in this passage. Paul writes of God the Father “who is above all and through all and in all.” All things are “from God,” who owes his existence to no one. All things are “through him,” as though to say through the Mediator. All things are “in him,” as though to say in the One who contains them, that is, reconciles them into one. ON FAITH AND THE CREED 19.