Unity Does Not Mean Uniformity

(Ephesians 4:7-13)

Undeniable Unity

A significant cog in the wheel of Paul’s message to the Ephesians is that there is now only one unified group of redeemed people.  While it is (and has always been) by faith that any receive the grace of salvation (Eph 2:8,9), there had historically been a sharp division between the Jew and the gentile (Eph 2:12-13).  In the previous chapters, Paul explained how Christ demolished the dividing wall separating Jew from Gentile when He purchased salvation and peace with God through His blood.  This unity culminates in the clear affirmation that all believers, Jew and gentile, all share in one body, Spirit, hope, Lord, faith, baptism, one God and Father of all (Eph 4:4-5).

Definite Diversity

But in the very next verse Paul explains that there is a variation of grace in the unified experience.  The grace here referred is not a saving grace, but a serving grace that is lovingly measured out in accordance with the gift of Christ (Eph 4:7).  “The grace which each believer has received for the discharge of his particular function in the community is proportionate to the gift which he has freely received from his glorified Lord.” (F. F. Bruce, Epistle to the Ephesians, 80)  Paul then gives justification for the fact that Jesus is able to give gifts to His own by quoting the Psalms identifying Jesus as the one who ascended because He first descended. It is because Christ is the ascending victor that He has the authority to give gifts to His people. 

Gracious Gifts

Here is the heart of the passage that, in my experience, seems to get the most attention: the delineation of Spiritual gifts given to the church. It is noteworthy that the gifts described here are persons (i.e. apostles, prophets, evangelists, etc.) whereas the gifts described in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 are the things given to different individuals (word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, etc.).  All five of these gifted individuals would have similar traits and, to a certain degree, overlapping skills, abilities and functions in the church. However, the apostles and prophets had a unique role in the early church related authoritative teaching and in the revelation of God’s Word, in writing and in other forms of teaching.  With the maturation of the church and the dissemination of the gospel, some of the distinctive elements of the apostles and prophets were taken over by the inspired Scriptures of the New Testament. So while these first two gifts were good and necessary for the foundation of the church (cf. Eph 2:19), their role has been fulfilled while the gracious gift of evangelists, pastors and teachers continue to be necessary for the ministry in the church.  The evangelists today would most fit with frontier missionaries who go into areas that have, as yet, been untouched by the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Pastors and teachers refer to men who are elsewhere called bishops or elders and who are tasked with oversight and care for the church. 

Godly Goal

The goal of that Christ has for His gifts is that they will prepare the saints to serve and contribute to the building up of the body of Christ so that ultimately we all will attain to a unity of the faith and knowledge of Christ (v.12). And while we are beginning with one common faith (v.5), the goal of attaining to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of Christ is a bit different.  The common faith that initially identifies the whole body of Christ is the basic childlike confession of faith (cf. v. 14) while the unity of the faith refers to a mature and thorough understanding and knowledge of Christ and the gospel, which serves to deepen and strengthen the faith.  The unity of the faith is not merely the exercise of faith, which unites the body initially, but it is the substance of what the faithful believe.  Furthermore, this is not merely the goal of the individual Christian, but the goal is that spiritual maturity would be what characterizes the “corporate personality of the church.” (Bruce, 86-87)

Summary:

In a Paragraph:  There is an unbreakable unity and unalterable equality for all people on whom the saving grace of Christ is bestowed.  While the grace given for salvation is the same, the grace given for service differs based on the spiritual gift that Christ has given to us.  Christ is able to give gifts to His people, not merely because of the fact that He is God, but because Jesus defeated death and freed to life those who were formerly in bondage to death.  The unified body of Christ, which is growing into a holy temple (Eph 2:21), has been given with many different, but complementary, gifts to achieve the goal of the building up of the body of Christ so that the body, not merely individual members, would become mature in their faith and knowledge of the Son of God. 

In a Sentence: There is diversity in the gifts that Christ gives to the church in order that the whole church would be characterized by maturity in faith and knowledge of the Son of God.