Ephesians talks about unity and diversity if spiritual gifts

Serve one another

The first three chapters of Ephesians have dealt with the theological argument that God has made us alive with Christ; that He has saved us by grace and that, therefore, Jews and Gentiles together are coheirs, members of the same body, partners in the promise of Christ; and that Paul is the proclaimer of this gospel.

The Key Theme of Unity and Diversity

In chapter 4, we see now the implications of these truths. In particular, 4:1–16 is really about how the church as a whole should live together and how the church will walk according to this unity that Christ has created in His own body. We’ll see that this body of Christ needs different body parts—that is, there is one body, a unified body, but there is diversity within the body; the body has different body parts. So the theme of unity and diversity is the key theme through Eph 4:1–16.

The Structure of the Passage

This passage is constructed in two parts. First, 1–6 is about walking in unity, really stressing the importance of that unity—that oneness that all people in Christ have with each other—and then verses 7–16 [reflect] on the fact that there is one body but many parts; in other words, the diversity of the body that serves the body as a whole.

Introduction to Verses 1–3

First, we’ll look at verses 1–3. Paul says, “Therefore I, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, accepting one another in love, diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds us.”

The Transition of “Therefore”

That “therefore” in verse 1 is one of those major “therefores.” I think it’s a “therefore” referring back to the whole sweep of chapters 1–3, given all that Paul has said [about] the riches of the gospel of Christ [and] the glory of God reflected in the revealing of the mystery of Christ so that both Jews and Gentiles may be made right with God in Christ.

The First Imperative

Because of all those things, “Therefore,” Paul says, “I am the prisoner for the Lord.” Again, he is literally and figuratively a prisoner, this time for the Lord rather than for you Gentiles. “I urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received.” Here we have the first major imperative of the book: “I urge you to walk worthy of the calling.” Up to this point, there have been no imperatives. Paul has not told his readers what they should be doing or how they should be living. There are plenty of implications for those things based on what he’s said already, [but] he has not directly said, “Now listen, this is what you need to do.”

Instructions for Walking

So this is a further signal that chapter 4 is turning a corner to the practical half of the book. Therefore, given everything that Paul has said, he urges his readers to walk in a manner that is worthy of the calling they have received. And he says to do this walk—to conduct themselves (verse 2)—“with all humility and gentleness, with patience, accepting one another in love, diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds us.”

The Impact on Unity

Humility Supports Unity

We see these characteristics in verse 2. These characteristics are very important for maintaining unity. If you are humble, that makes it easy for other people to get along with you, whereas if you are proud, pride can cause division, conflict and tension in the group.

Gentleness Supports Unity

Same with gentleness. If you conduct yourself with gentleness, it’s much easier to live in unity, to get along with other people, whereas if you are harsh or angry or difficult, again, that creates division; it creates difficulty and tension.

Patience and Loving Acceptance Support Unity

Then there’s patience and also accepting one another in love. Sometimes that can be difficult to do. We are all different people. We have different personalities and different interests. Sometimes people do things that rub us the wrong way or create tension in our relationships in various ways.

And so we must accept one another in love. It doesn’t mean that we erase our differences or that we pretend that there’s nothing wrong, but we accept people with all their faults in love because that is exactly what God has done for us.

In Ephesians 2, we were dead in our sins and trespasses; we were rebels against God, living according to the way of the world and the devil and our own selfish desires. That’s who we were. We had plenty of faults, but God, in love, accepted us in Christ. He moved toward us and chose to include us in His family, and so we are to model that love to one another.

Keeping the Unity of the Spirit

Finally, verse 3 says believers are to diligently keep “the unity of the Spirit.” We see that unity is the key idea here in these opening verses of Eph 4. This is what it means to live in a way that is worthy of the calling. If the calling of Christ involves our reconciliation, first, with God and then with each other—if that’s what we are called to, then we must live according to that calling. We must seek unity; we must keep the unity of the Spirit. If God’s Spirit lives in me and God’s Spirit lives in you, that is a factor of our unity. We have the same Spirit of God living in us. He unites us, and so we are to do our part. We are to play our role as far as we have power to do it—to keep that unity of the Spirit with each other, with the peace Paul says that binds us.

 Campbell, C. R. (2017). .