EPHESIANS: Unity and Peace

EPHESIANS Number 41

Unity and Peace

Verse three said, we are “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3) What is the unity of the Spirit, and what is meant by the bond of peace?

Earlier we read that Paul called himself the “prisoner” of Christ. We discovered that the word he used referred to the thing that made him prisoner, the fetter or bond, as it were. Knowing this, we might anticipate the same word being translated “bond” here. That is not the case, however. This word also means “that which binds”, but it is a completely different Greek word.

The word is σύνδεσμος (syndesmos), of which BDAG* says “that which brings various entities into a unified relationship, a uniting bond, figuratively the bond of peace, that is, the bond that consists in peace. Love is the bond that unites all the virtues (which otherwise have no unity) in perfect harmony or the bond of perfect unity for the church, see Colossians 3:14.”

* William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature, 2000, 966.

Colossians 3:14 (KJV) reads, “And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” We don’t really speak this way these days, so phrases like “the bond of perfectness” are difficult for us to grasp.

Let’s see how the New American Standard renders this. Colossians 3:14 in the (NASB 2020) reads this way, “In addition to all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”

What we are discovering here is that Love is the sinew, or the fastener, or the uniting bond that ties all these godly virtues together and this results in unity of the Spirit, or as Paul will frame it in Ephesians 4:13 “the unity of the faith.”

Unity based on, grounded in, or bound by Love does not mean that we all see everything about God in the same way. If that were the case, “Our God would be no larger than the inside of our cranial cavity” as my theologian friend Jim Fowler has said. Rather, this sort of unity is typified by the virtues we’ve been discussing. Virtues like patience and meekness.

This sort of unity is typical of God Himself. It is fully aligned with the traits of His character. Traits like Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control that we read about in Galatians 5.

That’s why our passage continues Ephesians 4:4-6 saying, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

I’m sure you can hear echoes of Jesus’ words in John 17:22 “And the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.” This intimate union of the Trinity is the prototype of the unity to which we are called, and which is the God-ordained-and-energized outcome of living in a manner worthy of that calling.

Paul uses the body to help us envision the way this looks in our lives. He says, “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office (or function). So, we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” (Romans 12:4–5 KJV)

We admire people who are talented or naturally good at doing things we find unwieldy or awkward. Similarly, we may find that we do not understand the things of God in the same way others do. For example, we may consider that refraining from certain things is best, while others find them completely acceptable. We may believe that tribulation will come before the Lord Jesus comes to take His people home, while our friends think He will come only after a time of great tribulation.

Whatever our particular persuasion with regard to sincerely held views, we remain parts of one body and we each have a valuable function in it.

As our passage says, there is “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all.” He is the Truth, and He is “is above all, and through all, and in [us] all.” Since God is One, since there is one faith, since there is one baptism, and since the One God is Father of us all, unity and peace fits us as His children.

Romans 5:1 says, “being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” and Romans 14:17 tells us that “the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”

This is the life our great Lord and God has designed us for. In these days of tribulation and turmoil, of conflict and confusion, of distrust and disillusionment, let’s keep our eyes on that city whose builder is the Lord. Let’s live in this valley overshadowed by death with the assurance that though we live here, we are citizens of another land. Moreover, that Kingdom from which we hail is governed by the Sovereign King of the Universe, the One who was, and is, and is to come.

Knowing all this we can boldly say, “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.