Ephesians 4.3a-Making Every Effort to Maintain the Unity Produced by the Spirit
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday November 2, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:3a-Making Every Effort to Maintain the Unity Produced by the Spirit
Lesson # 199
Ephesians 4:1 Therefore, I myself, the prisoner because of the Lord’s will, exhort and encourage each and every one of you as a corporate unit to live your lives in a manner worthy of your effectual calling with which each and every one of you as a corporate unit have been effectually called 2 with the fullest expression of that which characterizes humility resulting in that which characterizes gentleness. Specifically, by each and every one of you as a corporate unit continuing to make it your habit of tolerating one another with that which characterizes patience by means of the practice of divine love. 3 In other words, by all of you without exception continuing to cause yourselves to make it a habit of making every effort to maintain the unity produced by the Spirit by means of the bond, which produces a peace, which is divine in quality and character. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 4:3 is composed of the following:
(1) participial clause: spoudazontes tērein tēn henotēta tou pneumatos (σπουδάζοντες τηρεῖν τὴν ἑνότητα τοῦ πνεύματος), “In other words, by all of you without exception continuing to cause yourselves to make it a habit of making every effort to maintain the unity produced by the Spirit.” (Author’s translation)
(2) prepositional phrase: en tō syndesmō tēs eirēnēs (ἐν τῷ συνδέσμῳ τῆς εἰρήνης), “by means of the bond, which produces a peace, which is divine in quality and character.” (Author’s translation)
Ephesians 4:2 and 3 parallel each other because both are composed of a participial clause which identifies the means by which the Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia were to live their lives in a manner worthy of their effectual calling with which they have been effectually called by God the Father (Eph. 4:1).
Also, both participial clauses are modified by a prepositional phrase.
In Ephesians 4:3, the prepositional phrase en tō syndesmō tēs eirēnēs (ἐν τῷ συνδέσμῳ τῆς εἰρήνης), “by means of the bond, which produces a peace, which is divine in quality and character” (Author’s translation) parallels the prepositional phrase en agapē (ἐν ἀγάπῃ), “by means of the practice of divine love” (Author’s translation) in Ephesians 4:2 because the referent of both is the practice of divine love.
Now, even though these two participial clauses in Ephesians 4:2-3 parallel each other there is a distinction between the two with regards to their content.
The participial clause in Ephesians 4:3 actually presents the ultimate goal of the participial clause in Ephesians 4:2, which is maintaining unity experientially among members of the Christian community.
As we noted, the referent of both of these prepositional phrases, which modify these participial clauses, is the practice of divine love by means of obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He has loved the believer.
Both present the means by which the participial clause they modify is to be accomplished.
Thus, the practice of divine love by the Christian community is not only the means by which they were to tolerate each other but also the means by which they were to maintain unity experientially when interacting with each other.
Therefore, a comparison of Ephesians 4:2 and 3 indicates that the ultimate goal of the Christian community tolerating one another by means of the practice of divine love when interacting with each other is to make every effort of maintaining unity experientially with each other.
This is produced by the Spirit when they obey the Lord’s Spirit inspired command to love one another as He has loved them.
Together, these two participial clauses and the prepositional phrases which modify them constitute the means by which the Christian community was to live their lives in a manner worthy of their effectual calling with which they have been effectually called by the Father at justification (Eph. 4:1).
In Ephesians 4:3, the verb spoudazō (σπουδάζω) means “to conscientiously making every effort to” discharge a particular duty, “to conscientiously try hard” in discharging a particular obligation or duty since it pertains to doing something conscientiously with intense effort and motivation and with a sense of urgency.
The referent of the masculine plural form of this verb is the recipients of this epistle, who we noted were not only the Ephesian Gentile Christian community but also the entire Gentile Christian community throughout the Roman province of Asia.
The masculine plural form not only refers to the Gentile Christian community as a corporate unit but also refers to them as individuals because it is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.
The verb tēreō (τηρέω) means “to keep” and specifically, “to maintain” since it pertains to keep something in a particular state or in other words, it pertains to causing a state, condition or activity to continue.
The noun henotēs (ἑνότης), “the unity” pertains to the quality of being united into one.
In context, the word is used with reference to the recipients of this epistle, who again were Gentile Christians in the Roman province of Asia, maintaining unity with each other experientially.
This would be accomplished by their obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He loves them, which is the purpose of Ephesians.
Specifically, it speaks of the Gentile Christian community maintaining unity experientially with the Jewish Christian community through the practice of the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He loves them, which is the purpose of Ephesians.
This interpretation is indicated by the fact that Paul discusses at great length the relationship between the two races in Ephesians 2:11-22 as the new humanity and in Ephesians 3:2-13, which describes both as fellow heirs, fellow members of the body of Christ and fellow partakers of the Messianic promise.
The articular construction of the noun henotēs (ἑνότης) is monadic, which expresses the “uniqueness” of the unity among Jewish and Gentile church age believers experientially.
It is “unique” because it is produced by the Holy Spirit when they obey the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command recorded in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He loved them.
The genitive form of the noun pneuma (πνεῦμα), “produced by the Spirit” indicates that this unity experientially among Jewish and Gentile church age believers is “produced by” the Holy Spirit.
It is used produced by the Holy Spirit when these church age believers obey the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He has loved them.
The present tense of the verb spoudazō (σπουδάζω) is a customary present, which expresses the idea of the Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia “making it a habit” of conscientiously making every effort to maintain unity experientially with each other and Jewish church age believers.
Also, the present tense expresses the idea of these Gentile Christians “continuing” to make it a habit of conscientiously making every effort to maintain unity experientially with each other and with Jewish church age believers.
This interpretation is indicated by the contents of Ephesians 1:15, which affirms that they were in fact practicing divine love when interacting with each other and when interacting with Jewish church age believers.
This was accomplished through their obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He loved them.
The active voice of the verb spoudazō (σπουδάζω) is a causative active voice, which indicates that these Gentile church age believers maintaining unity experientially with each other and Jewish church age believers are the ultimate cause of this unity but not directly involved in causing this unity because the Holy Spirit is the direct cause of it.
The Holy Spirit is directly involved in this unity because He produces it when they obey the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love another as He has loved them.
This interpretation is supported by the genitive form of the noun pneuma (πνεῦμα), which we noted functions as a genitive of production.
This indicates that this unity experientially among Jewish and Gentile church age believers is “produced by” the Holy Spirit.
As we noted, it is produced by the Holy Spirit when these church age believers obey the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He has loved them.
The participle conjugation of this verb spoudazō (σπουδάζω) functions as a participle of means which indicates “the means by which” the Gentile Christian community living in the Roman province of Asia were to live their lives in a manner worthy of their effectual calling with which they have been called by God the Father.
Therefore, this construction expresses that they were to do this “by” or “by means of” continuing to cause themselves to make it a habit of conscientiously making every effort to maintain experientially the unity produced by the Spirit with each other and Jewish church age believers.
The participial conjugation of the verb spoudazō (σπουδάζω) functions as a nominative of simple apposition.
This means the word “defines specifically how” or “by what specific means” the recipients of this epistle were to live their lives in a manner worthy of their effectual calling with which they were called by God the Father at justification.
Thus, they were to make it a habit of continuing to continuing to cause themselves to make it their habit of conscientiously making every effort to maintain experientially the unity produced by the Spirit with each other and Jewish church age believers.
