A House Divided Ephesians 4:1-6 The Search for Wisdom Supplement to Lesson 8 Shared 8-25-2024

A House Divided

Abraham Lincoln’s statement that “a house divided against itself cannot stand” remains one of the most famous quotes from American political history. But how many Americans today realize that Lincoln was quoting Jesus (Matthew 12:25; Mark 3:25)?

Jesus’ statement was in response to accusations that he himself cast out demons by the power of Satan. But it would make no sense for the devil to empower Jesus to cast demons out of people. Satan’s house would be divided against itself.

In today’s passage, Paul applies a similar logic to the mission of the church: it would make no sense for God’s people to divide themselves and work against one another, especially in view of the fact that Christ is working in each of us individually to accomplish his purposes.

No house, no kingdom, and no church can stand if its people do not work together.

Lesson Background

Ephesus was one of the most significant centers of first-century Christianity. With many thousands of residents and serving as a shipping hub for the Lycus River Valley and the Aegean Sea, Ephesus was one of the largest and richest cities in the Roman world. The city’s magnificent temple to its patron goddess, Artemis, was revered as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and was a major tourist attraction. As a cosmopolitan commercial and religious center, Ephesus was widely known for its religious diversity: Jews lived side-by-side with pagans of all stripes, and occult practices and their accompanying superstitions were prevalent (see Acts 19).

Small wonder that the apostle Paul chose Ephesus as a base for evangelistic efforts in western Asia Minor. He spent almost three years in the city (Acts 19:8-10; 20:31) preaching to Jews and Gentiles and sending his own disciples to plant churches in nearby cities like Colossae and Laodicea. Acts 19 and 20are dedicated largely to the history of the founding of the church in Ephesus. Unable to visit personally (see first verse of the lesson), Paul wrote.

Even though the Ephesian Christians enjoyed strong apostolic leadership, they struggled to live faithfully in a world driven by possessions, pride, and false conceptions of God and his will. In Acts 20, some three years before Ephesians was written, Paul warned the elders of the Ephesian church that self-serving leaders would create factions, splitting the body to serve their own purposes.

Reason for Unity

(Ephesians 4:1-6)

Worthy of the Calling (vv. 1-3)

1. As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

The word then marks an important transition in Ephesians. As a prisoner for the Lord under arrest in Rome, Paul has time on his hands—so he writes letters. To this point in this letter, he has been addressing profound concepts relating to adoption as God’s chosen children (Ephesians 1:4-14), the relationship between Jews and Gentiles in the plan of salvation (2:11-22), and his own calling as an apostle (3:1-13).

Building on these themes, the apostle turns to the practical implications of one’s calling in Christ: God expects his chosen people to use what he has given them to work together in advancing the mission of the church.

2. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

This verse defines what it means to live a life worthy of God’s calling as it emphasizes virtues that promote unity. To be humble is to recognize that everything we have comes from God. Such humility in turn influences how we treat others. Character traits of gentleness, patience, and forbearance are to replace traits of harshness, tendencies to quarrel, and impatience. We as God’s adopted children are to imitate our heavenly Father in loving one another.

3. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

· The Holy Spirit, working in each person, produces a spirit of unity within the church. Absence of unity, therefore, means that some are not following the Spirit’s lead. Galatians 5:22-25, Paul’s famous discussion of the “fruit of the Spirit,” also characterizes the Holy Spirit as producing qualities in us that tend to unity,as opposed to the sinful desires of the flesh that selfishly divide us (5:19-21).

· Paul’s reference to the bond of peacemay play on his reference to himself as the Lord’s “prisoner” in verse 1: like the chains that bind a convict, the Spirit ties believers together in a web of peace.

What Do You Think?

How might the characteristics listed in verse 2reveal themselves as we work in unity?

Nature of Our Faith (vv. 4-6)

4. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;

· The verse begins the recitation of Paul’s famous “seven ones,” which he uses to illustrate the vital nature of unity among Christians.

· One body draws on the human body as a metaphor for the church, which Paul elsewhere characterizes as “the body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).

o In this analogy, the parts of the body, each with its own unique function, represent individual Christians with their varied spiritual gifts. While the heart cannot do what the lungs can do and vice versa, both are absolutely vital to life. And so it is in the church.

o With the reference to one Spirit, Paul begins to use the unity of God as an analogy for the kind of unity he expects to see in the church. Also, this verse with the next two present one of the few places in the Bible that address what later becomes known as the doctrine of the Trinity.

o God the Father, God the Son (Christ), and God the Holy Spirit are distinct in their work yet fully united in their purpose.

§ Since God is one and since there is only one God, there is no room for Christians, as God’s children, to divide from one another.

o One hope relates the principle of unity to our salvation. We fulfill our hope of Heaven as we unite and work together.

5. one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

· The New Testament authors often use Lord in reference to Christ. There is only one Christ and only one true faith in him that provides salvation. As Paul reminds the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 1:11-17), no one is baptized in the name of a Christian leader; all believers of all personality types, ages, races, and gifts experience the same baptism reflecting the same faith in the same Christ that takes us to the same Heaven. This being true, how can we not be united in our work?

What Do You Think?

What reminders of common ground in Jesus have helped you defuse conflict?

6. one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

· Although God the Father is in some sense distinct from Christ, they are completely united as one, and there is only one God.

· That God is over all as Creator and Ruler, and that he is through allin the sense that he is everywhere and sustains everything, cannot be disputed.

· It therefore must be true that God is working in all of us individually to bring us together for a common purpose.[1]

Regardless of anything that “people” dream up to separate people, I find in this lesson that God’s grace has made all who have accepted Christ to be equal in His eyes and all just as important in the body/the church.

Look back at the importance of the number one and realize that when you look at another Christian, you are related to that person in every aspect discussed.

So why are we so divided? Perhaps sharing this will tear down those walls and move us toward being the people God wants us to be.

Soak on this and share please,

God has sent the world to Fort Bend County and we have and can have brothers and sisters in Christ from all walks of life…we have much in common and much to share

jsj

[1]Tom Thatcher et al., “Faith to Unite,” in The NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2017–2018, ed. Jim Eichenberger et al., vol. 24 (Colorado Springs, CO: Standard Publishing, 2017), 156.