Ephesians 4.6a-Christian Corporate Unity in a Positional Sense is Defined by One God
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Saturday December 7, 2024
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:6a-Christian Corporate Unity in a Positional Sense is Defined by One God
Lesson # 208
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. 4 It is defined by one body as well as one Spirit just as each and every one of you as a corporate unit were also effectually called into the state of experiencing one confident expectation of blessing which was produced by your effectual call. 5 It is also defined by one Lord. It is also defined by one faith. It is also defined by one baptism. 6 It is defined by one God, namely the Father of each and every one of us as a corporate unit. The one possessing authority over each and every one of us as a corporate unit as well as working through each and every one of us as a corporate unit and in addition bodily in union with each and every one of us as a corporate unit. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 4:6 completes a section, which began in Ephesians 4:4, which presents seven essential, fundamental spiritual elements or realities which define Christian unity in a positional sense.
This section presents the basis for the three exhortations contained in Ephesians 4:1-3.
As we noted, Ephesians 4:4 presents the first three of seven essential, fundamental elements or spiritual realities which define Christian unity in a positional sense, which serve as the basis for Christian unity in an experiential sense.
The first three were that Christian unity in a positional sense is defined by one body, one Spirit and one confident expectation of blessing.
Ephesians 4:5 presents three more, namely that Christian unity in a positional sense is defined by one Lord, one faith and one baptism.
Now, here in Ephesians 4:6 we have the seventh and final essential, fundamental spiritual element or reality, which is that Christian unity is defined by one God.
Paul goes on to describe God as being the Father of each and every church age believer.
He then describes the Father as the who possesses authority over every member of the body of Christ.
The last two descriptions of God are in relation to the Christian community.
The first is that He is working through every church age believer as the ultimate personal agency.
The second is that He is bodily in union with every believer.
Ephesians 4:4-6 contains yet another triadic pattern in the Ephesian epistle because the Spirit is mentioned in verse 4, the Son in verse 5 and the Father in verse 6.
All three verses have a triad.
The first element of the triad in Ephesians 4:4 is the body of Christ, and the second, the Holy Spirit and the third is the church age believer’s confident expectation of blessing, which was produced by their effectual call, which took place the moment of their justification.
The second triad appears in Ephesians 4:5 which mentions the Lord Jesus Christ, followed by the Christian faith and then the baptism of the Spirit.
The third triad appears in Ephesians 4:6 and speaks of God as the Father of every church age believer.
The first element of this triad is that the Father possesses authority over every believer and the second is that He is also working through every believer and the third is that He is bodily union with every member of the church.
Ephesians 4:6 contains five elliptical assertions, which are in addition to the four previous ones that appear in Ephesians 4:4-5.
The first Hen sōma (Ἓν σῶμα) states that Christian unity is defined by one God.
The second elliptical assertion kai hen pneuma (καὶ ἓν πνεῦμα) is in the form of an epexegetical clause, which identifies the one God’s relationship to the Christian community.
It states that God is the Father of each and every member of the Christian community.
This took place at justification through regeneration and adoption.
The next three elliptical assertions are expressed through three prepositional phrases, which are nominalized by a definite article.
Each of these three prepositional phrases continue to describe the one God’s relationship to the Christian community.
The first epi pantōn (ἐπὶ πάντων) describes God the Father as possessing authority over each member of the Christian community.
The second dia pantōn (διὰ πάντων) describes Him as the ultimate personal agency working through each member of the Christian community.
The Scriptures teach that He works through both His Son and the Holy Spirit.
The third en pasin (ἐν πᾶσιν) describes Him as being bodily in union with each member of the Christian community.
The first elliptical assertion in Ephesians 4:6 contains the figure of asyndeton, which expresses the solemn nature of the statement that Christian unity in a positional sense is defined by one God.
The implication is that it presents an emphatic reminder to the recipients of this epistle that Christian corporate unity in an experiential sense is based upon one God.
As was the case in Ephesians 1:1, 2, 3, 17, 2:4, 8, 10, 16, 19, 22, 3:2, 7, 9, 10 and 19, the referent of the noun theos (θεός), “God” in Ephesians 4:6 is the Father which is indicated by the nominative masculine singular form of the noun pater (πατήρ), “Father,” which stands in apposition to it.
Like the nouns sōma (σῶμα), “body,” pneuma (πνεῦμα), “Spirit,” elpis (ἐλπίς), “confident expectation of blessing,” kurios (κύριος), “Lord,” pistis (πίστις), “faith,” baptisma (βάπτισμα), “baptism,” which appear in Ephesians 4:4-5, the noun theos (θεός), “God” here in Ephesians 4:6 is modified by the adjective heis (εἷς), “one,” which pertains to a single unit or thing and not two or more.
In other words, it pertains to one in contrast to more than one.
As was the case with each of these six nouns in Ephesians 4:4-5, the adjective heis (εἷς), “one” here in Ephesians 4:6 functions as an attributive adjective, which ascribes to God the concept of being a single entity in contrast to more than one.
Thus, it emphasizes that God is a unity.
The context indicates that God is a unity of three persons because Ephesians 4:4-6 contains a triadic pattern with the Spirit mentioned in Ephesians 4:4, the Son in Ephesians 4:5 and the Father in Ephesians 4:6.
Thus, this adjective distinguishes the Christian’s God from the Graeco-Roman pantheon of gods, which the unregenerate people of the world in the first century A.D. worshipped.
These gods are the creation of Satan and his fellow evil spirits, which are designed to cause these unregenerate people to worship Satan and his fellow evil spirits rather than God.
As was the case with the four elliptical assertions, which appear in Ephesians 4:4-5, Paul is again using the figure of ellipsis here in Ephesians 4:6.
This is indicated by the fact that he is deliberately omitting the third person singular present active indicative conjugation of the verb eimi (εἰμί), though it is implied.
As was the case in Ephesians 4:4-5, the word here in Ephesians 4:6 means “to define” since in this context the word pertains to identifying the essential nature of something or making a statement which expresses the essential nature of something.
As was the case in Ephesians 4:4-5, the referent of the third person singular form of this verb here in Ephesians 4:6 is the noun henotēs (ἑνότης), which appears in Ephesians 4:3.
This word we noted in our study of this verse means “unity” since the word pertains to the quality of being united into one and refers to Christian unity in a positional sense.
Therefore, the referent of the third person singular present active indicative conjugation of the verb eimi (εἰμί) is Chirstian unity in a positional sense.
The noun theos (θεός), “God” functions as a predicate nominative which means that it is making an assertion that Christian unity in a positional sense is defined by one God.
Thus, the “one God” is the seventh and final essential fundament element or spiritual reality that composes Christian unity in a positional sense, which are presented by Paul in Ephesians 4:4-6.
All seven serve as the basis for Christian unity in an experiential sense.
