How crucial is our unity as a church? According to our Lord’s high-priestly prayer in John 17:21, our unity is a witness to the world that Jesus indeed is the Son of God and the only Savior of the world. By our unity, we demonstrate that Christ alone can remove the hostility that exists between different people groups, enabling us to live together in peace and harmony; as we read in Eph 2:14, “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.”
Christ has united us to the Father and to one another by his death on the cross. We now have one faith, one hope, one Savior and one God and Father, to whom we have access by one Spirit (cf Eph 4:4-6). Now, one might think that with this supernatural unity, nothing can divide us, right? Well, in a perfect world, that would be true! But since we are still in this sinful flesh, and since there is an active devil, whose aim is to divide and to destroy the church of Christ, then sadly, and to our shame, division in the church is far too common.
For this reason, Paul wrote Eph 4:1-16, to exhort the Ephesian church and us, to strive for unity. As he says in verse 3, “[Be] eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” The church of Ephesus was made up of Jews and Gentiles, who previously despised one another, and now, because of what Christ had done in them, they were to live together in peace and unity. Paul then proceeds to tell them how this peace is enhanced, by the teaching gifts that Christ has given to his church. These gifts were given to help each member to grow to spiritual maturity, which is essential for growth in unity.
In verses 13-16, he gives us five things that we all need to grow in, in order to maintain unity in the body. Please take time to read the passage and see if you can pick out what those are. May the Lord help us, by his grace, to grow to spiritual maturity so that we can each contribute to the maintenance of the unity of the body in the bonds of peace.