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Unity

by Mike Van Meter on July 29, 2019

Unity
By Mike Van Meter

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
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Ephesians 4:1-3 (emphasis added)

Within these few lines, Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, teaches us how to live with one another. He teaches us how to achieve unity in our churches, homes, and marriages if only we are willing to listen. So we’re going to treat this section of scripture with the gravity it’s due and exegete (explain, interpret) properly.

The first thing we need to do to fully grasp what is being written about here is understand the context. Remember, the Bible wasn’t written in verses, for the most part it was written as books or letters. So we know then that whatever comes before and whatever comes after generally has bearing on the meaning of any given section.

Or, here’s an easy way to remember it: Whenever you read “therefore,” remember that it’s there for a reason.

The “therefore” at the beginning of Ephesians 4 refers to Ephesians 3:14-21, where Paul is telling the Ephesians what he has been praying for them. He wants them to grow in their understanding of God’s majesty, grace, power, and love.

With that as our background, we can see then that Paul is saying in Ephesians 4 that these amazing truths of God’s character should affect what our relationships look like.

Humility

When Paul writes that we ought to walk with humility, he’s using the Greek word “Tapeinophrosyne,” which means a deep sense of one’s (moral) littleness. The King James Version translates it as “lowliness,” which is also a good way to think of it. It’s interesting to note that before Christianity, lowliness always had a bad association, but now we have a whole new understanding (Paul goes into further detail about these concepts in Philippians 2:1-11). The long and the short of it is that we shouldn’t think of ourselves as all important. We need to also consider others.

Gentleness

This is the word “prautes,” which means mildness, gentleness, or meekness. Bible Commentator Matthew Henry describes it this way:

By meekness, that excellent disposition of soul which makes men unwilling to provoke others, and not easily to be provoked or offended with their infirmities; and it is opposed to angry resentments and peevishness.

Gentleness resists getting annoyed, worked up, or ticked off. We should all be willing to be drama-free, in other words.

Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
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1 Peter 4:8

Patience, Showing Tolerance

Patience, or “makrothymia” in the Greek, means forbearance, longsuffering, and slowness in avenging wrongs. Tolerance, or “anecho,” means to hold up.

One of the early church fathers, John Chrysostom, defined longsuffering as the spirit that has the power to take revenge but never does. It is characteristic of a forgiving, generous heart.

Matthew Henry writes,

Long-suffering implies a patient bearing of injuries, without seeking revenge. Forbearing one another in love signifies bearing their infirmities out of a principle of love, and so as not to cease to love them on account of these… We find much in ourselves which it is hard to forgive ourselves; and therefore we must not think it much if we find that in others which we think hard to forgive them, and yet we must forgive them as we forgive ourselves. Now without these things, unity cannot be preserved.

Be Diligent to Preserve the Unity

The word we translate as “diligent” is “spoudazo,” which means to exert one’s self or endeavor.

The idea here is that unity is not something that comes passively or naturally. In fact, disunity seems to come naturally because of our sinfulness. It’s all too easy to find fault with each other, isolate ourselves, or grow bitter.

Unity in the church, in your home, in your marriage, and anywhere else in your life will not come or be sustained without being diligent to seek it and preserve it.

How can you seek it? By making a daily choice to be humble, gentle, patient, and tolerant with each other in love, knowing that Jesus has done the same for us.