Ephesians 4

V 1–6: UNITY Paul urges the Ephesians to a worthy walk which reflects the oneness of the body of Christ in spiritual unity. In so doing, he clearly emphasises that there is only ‘one Lord, and one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all’. Unity for him does not mean sacrificing truth. It is because of his stand for God’s truth that he writes as ‘the prisoner of the Lord’. V 7–10: INDIVIDUALITY This unity does not detract from the fact that grace is individually given to each person who trusts Christ, and that God gives enabling gifts to individual believers. He is the universe’s highly ascended Lord, and can do that easily! V 11–16: COMMUNITY God has given certain gifted people to His church. They are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. His aim, through them, is to equip and edify His people so, together, they know Christ, stand firm on biblical doctrine against those who would deceive, and recognise how they all together fit into the body of Christ of which He is head. V 17–19: FUTILITY The Christian Gentile is to be contrasted with the other Gentiles who, as unbelievers, walk ignorantly, blindly, and in sin and greediness. V 20–24: IDENTITY In coming to know Christ, their old ways are dispensed with and the ‘new man’ is put on, in righteousness and holiness. There is a spiritual renewal of the mind and a radical change of identity for the born-again Christian. V 25–32: QUALITY There is a new quality of life of the Christian which reflects the fact that he does not ‘grieve the Holy Spirit of God’. He rejects former sinful ways, words and works, and applies himself to replacing them with positive good. He gives the devil no place in his life and rejects his former negative behaviour and sin. His new quality of life is shown by tender-heartedness, showing forgiveness to others, and avoiding grieving the Spirit. The springboard for this is that ‘God in Christ forgave you’.