The Doctrine of One Hope

The third of seven doctrinal truths in Ephesians 4:4-6 that form the very essence of Christianity and therefore unite all true believers is one hope or our calling.

First, there is the meaning of one hope. As we studied back in 1:18, the Greek behind hope does not picture uncertainty, such as a wish or want, as it does in English. Rather it speaks of absolute assurance and rest in that assurance. There is, therefore, one hope, one certainty to which the true Believer looks: the return of Jesus Christ for His Church. Our calling refers to our calling to salvation, and the final hope, the final certainty of that salvation is the return of our Savior.

There are differing main views of the Second Coming of Christ: Amillennialism, Post-Millennialism, and Premillennialism. While there are very important differences in these views, they all do have one thing in common: all of them hold that Jesus Christ WILL return. That is really what matters most. Why? Because that is what Scripture says. As Revelation 19:11-16 record: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Then, in the last chapter of the Bible, we read twice our Lord’s promise: “Behold, I come quickly” (Rev. 22:7, 12), and then read it again intensified in verse 20, “Surely I come quickly.”

That is our one hope, our certainty. As Paul wrote to the Colossians, “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). Christ is, indeed, the only glory we should ever seek and the one hope to which we look.

Second, the application of one hope is that unity exists with a proper view of Christ’s return, that is, that He will return to the Earth as the Scripture says. One well-known cult, for example, teaches that Christ returned invisibly in 1914 and set up His kingdom in Heaven, but this is in direct contradiction to Scripture. At Christ’s ascension, two angels in the form of men announced, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). The Lord’s coming, then, will be a visible kingdom on Earth, not an invisible Kingdom in Heaven.

This brings up the question, “What about those who don’t agree on their view of Christ’s return? Can a Premillennialist, for example, possibly fellowship with an Amillennialist?” There is today much unnecessary division here. Some who believe one view would not even consider fellowshipping with someone who holds another. But can this possibly honor the Lord? Is that “[keeping] the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace?” (v. 3). I, for example, am convinced that Premillenialism is correct. I believe without question that the reference in Revelation 20:4 and 6 to those who will “[live] and [reign] with Christ a thousand years” refers to a literal earthly Kingdom that will last 1,000 years. But at the same time, I can still fellowship with a brother in Christ who believes that the Kingdom is spiritual not literal. While I certainly think he is wrong and is missing a great blessing, what matters most is that we both know that our Lord is coming back to take us to glory. That is what matters.

The Doctrine of One Spirit

The second of seven doctrinal truths in Ephesians 4:4-6 that form the very essence of Christianity and therefore unite all true believers is one Spirit.

First, the meaning of one Spirit can only be the Holy Spirit of God, the third member of the Trinity, who regenerates the sinner and then indwells, enlightens, equips, and empowers the believer. So vital is the Holy Spirit in living the Christian life that Paul mentions Him a dozen times in Ephesians (1:13; 2:18,22; 3:5,16; 4:3,4; 4:30; 5:9,18; 6:17,18). While we could add several to the list, let’s briefly note seven major ministries of the Holy Spirit to the Believer (I encourage to read each verse in your Bible). What is the Holy Spirit doing in your life?

1. The Holy Spirit regenerates the sinner (Jn. 3:3-6; Titus 3:5; II Pet. 1:4). 2. The Holy Spirit gives the Believer assurance of salvation (Rom. 8:15-16; see also Jn. 10:27-9 and Rom. 8:35-39). 3. The Holy Spirit indwells the Believer, no matter how immature that believer might be (I Cor. 6:15-19; 12:11-13). 4. The Holy Spirit strengthens the Believer (Eph. 3:16). 5. The Holy Spirit illumines and teaches the Believer (I Cor. 2:12, 14; Jn. 14:26; 16:13-14). 6. The Holy Spirit infills the Believer and empowers him for service (Eph. 5:18; Acts 1:8). 7. The Holy Spirit produces the fruit of Christ-like character in the Believer (Gal. 5:22-23).

Second, the application of one Spirit. The pointed application of this spiritual reality is that this one spirit is the energy of unity and fellowship. In thirty years of ministry I have seen some tragic examples of a lack of unity. I am convinced that the reason for this is a failure to allow the Spirit of God to rule. I am not doubting anyone’s salvation, but I am doubting that we are allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us. If we divide over some silly thing, we have just denied the “unity of the Spirit” (v. 3) and have fractured the body of Christ.

On the other hand, a rejection of this truth makes unity impossible. If one examines any cult or false religion, he finds the total absence of the idea of the personal indwelling and empowering presence of God through the Holy Spirit. One well-known cult, for example, teaches that the Holy Spirit is not a part of the Godhead. Both the personality and Deity of the Holy Spirit (which is defined as “the invisible active force of Almighty God which moves His servants to do His will”) are denied. So, as Romans 8:9 declares, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” A rejection of the one spirit of God who indwells every believer, and Who produces unity in the first place, destroys any possibility of unity. Again, as we examined back in verse 3, “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” It is the Holy Spirit Who produces unity. If we, therefore, do not possess the Holy Spirit, how can there be unity in the Body?

Tragically, there are Evangelicals today who advocate unity with political bodies as well as liberal denominations and even false religious groups for the sake of social ends. But this blatantly contracts the doctrine of one Spirit. There can be no unity, and therefore no glory to God, when we join with those who do not possess the Holy Spirit of God.

The Doctrine of One Body

As we began last time, doctrine is the basis of unity and Ephesians 4:4-6 list seven spiritual realities that unite all true believers. Contained in these seven principles is the very essence of Christianity, that is, its foundational truths. Each of these in-turn has two emphases: its meaning and its application. The first basis is one body.

First, the meaning of one body can only be one thing—the Universal Church, the Body of Christ, the Church as an organism, to which Paul has referred several times in this letter.

There are many other references to this in Scripture. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said He would build His Church” (singular), not “churches” (plural). While before his conversion Paul no doubt persecuted individual churches, he recounts in I Corinthians 15:9 how he persecuted “the church,” that is, the entire Body of Christ. That is why the Lord Jesus asked, “Why persecutest thou Me?” (Acts 9:4), that is, My Body, all believers. Later in Ephesians 5:25, Paul also declares that Christ gave Himself for “the church,” that is, the entire Body. That Body was formed on the Day of Pentecost and includes every true believer. He emphasized the same truth to the Romans: “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another” (Rom. 12:4-5).

So there is one body, not many. There is not one church that is for Jews, another for Gentiles, another for men, another for women, another for Caucasians, another for Negroes, and another for Asians. There is one, a single unified Body of Jesus Christ, of which all believers are part. As we studied carefully back in 2:14-18, God has made us all one. Shame on us if we build back any walls that He has broken down.

One word of caution is in order here. A common teaching in today’s pragmatic atmosphere is that only the Universal Church is important. This emphasis tears down and de-emphasizes the Local Church, which is, in fact, actually more important in some ways. The Local Church is the Church as an organization. More precisely, it is the local assembly of believers, organized according to Scriptural guidelines, that carries out all outward ministry. The Local Church is God’s instrument for working in the world today, and each is to carry out all ministry. That is why Paul founded Local Churches. Each is for God’s people to gather for worship, exercise their gifts, and equip them for service. As Paul makes clear later in Ephesians 4:11-16, God has given certain men “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,” and this obviously takes place in the local church, as is also made plain in the book of Acts. Paul likewise wrote to Timothy, the pastor of a Local Church, “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (I Tim. 2:15 with context). So as we will see, the Local Church is the training ground for ministry.

Second, the application of one body is that the Universal Church is a basis of unity and fellowship. One example of those who don’t accept this principle are certain denominations (or some groups who refuse to be even called a denomination) who maintain that their local assembly, along with other local assemblies who agree with them, are “The Church.” In this view, no one else is part of the Church, no matter what they believe. That is, of course, an arrogance that is hard to fathom. Biblically, no earthly denomination or group can be called “The Church.” Every true believer who is in agreement concerning the unique revelation of God through and in Jesus Christ is part of Christ’s Body. Any other attitude destroys unity and any possibility of fellowship.

What is the Basis of Unity?

The first observation we should make here is that Ephesians 4:4-6 is perhaps the most important section of the second half of Ephesians. I say that because this section forms the very basis, foundation, and ground for unity. What exactly unites us? Some today answer “love,” others answer “our shared experience,” and still others answer “a common goal.” Many today, even evangelicals, insist, “Doctrine divides, love unites.”

Many years ago while preaching a week of meetings in a certain church, the pastor came to me with a burden about how his denomination was drifting towards Liberalism. Asking me what he should do, I answered immediately, “Get out. You must separate yourself from those who deny the Truth.” Appalled at that, he responded, “Oh, I could never do that. Our denomination views love and unity as supreme, so I could never pull out.” But that is serious error. Love is never spoken of in Scripture as being superior to Truth. Not even I Corinthians 13, that great “Love Chapter,” implies such an idea. Yes, it says that without “love” certain things, such as knowledge, faith, and giving are empty and meaningless, but neither does it say that love is meant to stand by itself or is meant to replace all those things.

May we ask a simple question: How can love unite people who deny Christ with those who embrace Him? As we saw in our previous study, how can there possibly be unity apart from the unique revelation of God through Christ? If you remove the very essence of Christianity, the very foundation of the faith, you have nothing. Only when we understand the doctrine of unity in Ephesians 1-3 can we understand the duty of unity here. May we say it clearly and with no ambiguity: doctrine must be the ground for unity. Of course, that principle is frowned upon in our day and is ironically considered “divisive,” but it’s still true.

To put this another way: doctrine makes up the building block of unity, while love provides the energy to build. One without the other is useless. If all we have is doctrine, the building materials will lay around and accomplish nothing. What good is Truth if you don’t use it? What good is right Theology if there is no energy? On the other hand, if all you have is “love,” you’ll have everyone running around looking for materials with which to build, but they will find nothing lasting. It is really here that most of Christianity is today. Everyone is looking for something around which to unify, but the last thing they consider is doctrine. We must, therefore, have both: Truth and love. This is why Paul says later in Ephesians, “Speaking the truth in love” (4:15).

Once we accept the fact that doctrine is the ground for unity, a question immediately arises: what doctrine is the ground for unity? This is vitally important. Some base their unity on what translation of the Bible another uses, or where someone went to Bible College or Seminary, or what position another takes on a particular minor doctrine or practice, or what view someone takes of the Second Coming of Christ, and on it goes. But such divisions are not taught in Scripture.

What then is the basis? What doctrine is the ground of unity? What doctrine forms the foundation of our faith? The answer is in Ephesians 4:4-6. These verses list seven spiritual realities that unite all true believers. Contained in these seven principles is the very essence of Christianity, that is, its foundational truths. If we could boil down Christianity to its bare elements, here they are. Our unity and fellowship must be based on these. If someone accepts these, there can be unity, even when there is disagreement on minor points of doctrine or practice. But if one or more of these is rejected, there can be no unity and fellowship. May we again recall our definition of unity: the unanimous agreement concerning the unique revelation of God through and in Jesus Christ. And these seven spiritual realities are rooted in Christ and His Word. In the next seven installments, we’ll examine each of these and note two things about each one: its meaning and its application.

How Do We Maintain Unity? (3)

In Ephesians 4:2-3—With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.—Paul gives us four character traits of Christ himself (Gal. 5:22-23) that will maintain unity among Believers: first, there is love; second, there is peace; and third, there is longsuffering.

Fourth, there is meekness. The common error is that meekness means “weakness,” but this could not be further from the truth. The Greek is prautēs (or praotēs), which means gentleness and mildness. It has been truthfully stated many times that, “Meekness is not weakness, but strength under control.” The Greek was used, for example, of horses that were broken and trained and also of a strong but mild medicine, both of which have strength but is under control.

The ultimate example of meekness is the Lord Jesus in His humanity. As that well-known song proclaims: “He could have called ten thousand angels, / To destroy the world, and set Him free; / He could have called ten thousand angels, / But he died alone for you and me.” Our Savior had the power of the universe at His command. Is that not strength? But still Scripture says He was meek. While our Lord will one day be vindicated and glorified, instead of being vindicated at that moment, He submitted to the greater need of redeeming the lost.

This word is inseparably coupled with another word—lowliness. The Greek here (tapeinophrosune) pictures modesty, humility, and lowliness of mind, having a humble opinion of one’s self, a deep sense of one’s littleness. Think of that! Not a false humility such as, “Oh, I’m not all that great,” rather a deep sense of how little we really are.

The story is told of a group of people who went in to see Beethoven’s home in Germany. After the tour guide had showed them Beethoven’s piano and had finished his lecture, he asked if any of them would like to come up and sit at the piano for a moment and play a chord or two. There was a sudden rush to the piano by all the people except a gray-haired gentleman with long, flowing hair. The guide finally asked him, “Wouldn’t you like to sit down at the piano and play a few notes?” He answered, “No, I don’t feel worthy.” No one recognized him, but that man was Ignace Paderewski (1860-1941), Polish statesman, composer, and celebrated concert pianist. While he was the only person present man really was worthy to play the piano of Beethoven, he didn’t think so. That is lowliness. And if a concert pianist can think that he is lowly in the shadow of Beethoven, how little are we in the shadow of our Lord? Are our feelings, views, and opinions important enough to destroy unity?

The most fascinating aspect of the Greek word behind lowliness is that, as Greek scholar Richard Trench points out, “No Greek writer employed it before the Christian era, and apart from the influence of Christian writers, it is not used later.” This was true because to the Greek and Roman mind such an attitude was synonymous with weakness and cowardice. It was so abhorrent to their mind that they had no term to describe it. That philosophy still lives today in the “self-image” craze that we noted back in 3:8. Lowliness is the very opposite of the world’s basic philosophy of life—the exaltation of self.

So, how can we maintain unity?—through love, peace, longsuffering, meekness, and lowliness. There is no other way.

How Do We Maintain Unity? (2)

In Ephesians 4:2-3—With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.—Paul gives us four character traits of Christ himself (Gal. 5:22-23) that will maintain unity among Believers. First, there is love.

Second, there is peace (Greek, eirene) “a state of tranquility; the opposite of rage and war.” This word is related to the Hebrew word shalom, a common Hebrew greeting. This word, how­ever, means not so much the opposite of war but of any disturbance in the tranquility of God’s people. Because we are in Christ, first there is tranquility and harmony between God and man (Eph. 1:2), and second, there is tranquility and harmony between Jew and Gentile (2:14). We now see the third step in the progression: there is, and must continue to be, tranquility between all believers because of Christ. This is not just the opposite of war, not just the opposite of “going at one another,” not just the opposite of suppressing our seething resentment of someone else, rather a tranquility, a freedom from any agitation or turmoil. We must allow the Holy Spirit to maintain this tranquility, because it is the bond that holds us together.

This challenges us that a lack of peace in the Body is sin, no matter what the reason. A vivid example of this appears in Philippians 4:2-3: “I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I entreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers.” The only problem in the Philippian church was a single unnamed conflict between two women, but that one conflict threatened to do serious damage. Paul obviously doesn’t tell us what the problem was because it didn’t matter. Whether one woman was right and the other wrong didn’t matter either. Both were wrong because they were causing disunity in the body.

Third, there is longsuffering. The Greek here is makrothumia, a compound word from makro, meaning “long,” and thumos, meaning “temper.” The idea, then, is simple; we are to be long-tempered in contrast to short-tempered, to suffer long instead of being hasty to anger and vengeance. This is one of the social characteristics of “the fruit of the spirit” because this is how we are to react to people and how we are to treat them. To maintain unity, we will set aside “self,” set aside our own needs, and be willing to suffer last place instead of first place, even to look like we’re wrong if it will maintain unity. Again, we’re not taking about doctrinal issues here—that is the point in the next passage (4:4-6)—rather we are speaking here of things that don’t matter, the little things of personality and human interaction. What a marvelous testimony it is to be longsuffering, to have the ability to be long‑tempered. “Love suffers long” (1 Cor. 13:4) and we must be “swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath” (James 1:19).

Commentator William Barclay offers a homey illustration. Have you ever seen a puppy and a large dog together? The puppy barks that high pitch puppy yap, pesters the big dog, and even nips him. But while the big dog could snap the puppy’s neck with one bite and a shake, he just bears it with dignity. Perhaps you’ve even seen the big dog look up at you with an expression that says, “Look what I have to put up with.” That is longsuffering, the attitude that bears attack, assault, affront, and abuse without bitterness or complaint. Likewise, as God is longsuffering toward us (II Pet. 3:9), we are to be longsuffering with others. We’ll conclude this maintaining of unity next time.

How Do We Maintain Unity? (1)

Having defined unity—the unique revelation of God through Jesus Christ—how do we keep it, how we maintain it? How do we make sure we keep unity and avoid being divided? The apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:2-3: With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

We cannot over-emphasize these two verses. The unity of Christians has been a perennial problem since the early days of Christianity. In fact, as early as Acts 6 unity was threatened. Additionally, in almost every one of Paul’s Epistles there is something about unity. The most vivid picture is the analogy of the human body, which is not only mentioned here but elaborated in I Corinthians 12, where we see three principles: there is one body but many members, each member has a different function but still edifies the whole, and one member out of sorts affects the whole.

Tragically, there is little true unity in the Church, that is the Body of Christ, today. There are preachers who break fellowship over minor points of doctrine and those who practice “secondary separation,” which means that they won’t fellowship with one group because that group fellowships with another group. To illustrate tongue-in-cheek, I've seen this go even further to “thirdary” and “fourthdary” separation; one group won’t fellowship with another group because they fellowship with another group that fellowships with another group that fellowships with another group. There is also disunity in many Local Churches, which is caused by petty squabbles over nothing, which in turn comes from spiritual immaturity. It is said that it was Spurgeon who first said this little jingle, and how true it is: “To dwell above with saints we love, / O that will be glory! / But to dwell below with saints we know, / Well, that’s another story!”

So how can we maintain (keep) the unity that God has produced in Christ? The answer lies in our text, where we see the “Fruit of the Spirit” of Galatians 5:22-23 in action.

Galatians 5:22-23 also cannot be overemphasize: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Here is the very essence of Christian living because it is the very essence of Christ’s own character. Further, of those nine “character traits,” four of them appear in our text on unity, and these four will maintain unity.

First, there is love. This is mention first for the obvious reason that all the others will flow from it. As we have studied before, the Greek word agape is “a self‑emptying self‑sacrifice.” As we've also noted, God’s love can be defined as, “A self‑emptying self‑sacrifice in which God gave of Himself in the form of His only begotten Son Who gave His life for us.” Now we see that to maintain unity we are to have and practice the same kind of love toward other believers. Just think, how can there ever be disunity when we all have “a self‑emptying self‑sacrifice?” To put it in the reverse, when there is disunity, there is an obvious lack of “a self‑emptying self‑sacrifice.” If there is some rumbling going on in the body, if there is some fuss going on, if a fight breaks out, it is because we are thinking of ourselves instead of someone else.

Paul adds something else. We might think that to speak of love would be enough, but Paul knew that it wouldn't be enough because he understood human nature. So he adds that we are also to be forbearing one another. The Greek behind forbearing (anechomai) means “to hold one’s self upright, to bear, to endure.” This is the same word Paul uses in II Timothy 4:3 to describe people who will not “endure [put up with] sound doctrine” but will seek teachers who will tickle their ears. The idea here, then, is that sometimes we just put up with each other, that we bear with each other in misunderstandings, problems, and conflicts, that we love each other and sacrifice ourselves for them anyway. This doesn't mean we just put up with it but still boil within, rather we forbear in love. Without this kind of love and forbearing, unity will be destroyed and God’s work right along with it. We’ll continue this next time.