Here in this section, we see Paul begin a discussion on how to live life as the people we truly are. He does this by telling the Ephesians that they need to begin living in unity as believers, and not be broken up by division of race or social class. Paul begins by telling the believers at Ephesus that he hopes they will live the life worthy of the calling the Lord has placed on them. He then says that there is one body, one spirit, under one God, and he seems to be implying a theme of unity here. Paul then spends the next few verses talking about how Christ ascended and how he surely must have descended to what Paul calls the lowest parts of the earth. The interpretation of this chapter is up for debate, so I won't try and tackle it here. Paul then begins to describe the different roles given to believers by the Spirit, Apostle, teacher, pastor, prophet, evangelist. He explains that these gifts were given to equip the saints to do the ministry of service, and to build up the body of Christ. He does seem to imply here however that these gifts were given until such a time when the believers have reached maturity in Christ, to where we are no longer children tossed around by the winds of bad teaching (since we haven't escaped that yet, the gifts remain). He then tells the Ephesians to speak the truth in love, and that we should all strive to grow up into the head of the body, Christ. Paul concludes that the body only grows when the whole body is growing, and in so helping the body build itself up in love.
"Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!" Psalm 133:1
"Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind." 1st Peter 3:8
I think what we should gather from this section is that we need each other. I think a lot of the time we think that we can do this Christian life on our own. In fact, what we need to do is be doing life together, building each other up and bearing one anothers burdens. If the church today could get back to a point where we are doing life together, in community, the church would function so much better.
I think another interesting portion of this section is how it describes that those who are given the gifts of prophecy and teaching and evangelism are given those gifts to build up the saints. It never says anything about those who are given those gifts to be the only ones doing any kind of service. Again, I see a real problem in some churches today where the body believes that the only people who should be doing ministry are those who are the teachers and the leaders. There is just no biblical support for that. This book says that those who are teachers and leaders are to build up others to do the ministry of service.
LORD, help me today be able to be a unifying force among your believers. God may I not be divisive or setting up walls, but Lord may I be one to tear down the walls that separate your believers. May your people begin to be unified today in you father, for our unity is found in your son and his death on the cross. May we see past our own prejudices and realize that we do need each other. Amen.
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