Ephesians 4

  4:1-16.  The Unity and Diversity of the Church.

     4:1 Entreat you; i.e., you converted Gentiles (cf. 3:1).

     4:2-3.  The qualities that are the foundation of Christian unity.

     4:4-6.  Seven aspects of Christian unity:  One body; one Spirit; one hope; one Lord; one faith; one baptism; one God and Father.

     4:7.  But there is also great diversity in the unity of the church, for to each one is graciously given gifts according to the measure Christ determines best.

     4:8-10.  In this quote from Ps.68:18 (8), Paul identifies Christ as Jehovah of the OT (cf.5:14).  Of course Jehovah is the one triune God, but as the second person, he came from heaven and returned (9-10), and does the work of mediator.

     4:11.  Some of the gifts Christ gave the church through the Holy Spirit had to do with the delivery and authentication of new revelation.  Once God’s chosen witnesses committed all these things to writing and died, the office of apostle ended, and the miraculous gifts ceased.  That includes the gift of prophecy in the strict sense, though many would disagree with me in that opinion.  Cf.3:3-5.  See 2 Cor.12:12, and notes and references there.

     4:12.  The other three offices, having the gospel in the Scriptures, still equip the saints and build the church.

     4:13-16.  Unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God is what makes a mature Christian (13), no longer adrift at the mercy of the shifting winds and waves (14; cf. Mark 4:35 ff.).  Those grounded in truth (21, 24, 25) and love grow up into Christ, the head of the body (15), who supplies and directs each member (16).

     4:17-24.  In v.17, note that mind is singular.  The Gentiles (who believe any number of things) have a unity of mind also, in that it is futile and contrary to God.  But those in Christ are no longer Gentiles, but saints (2:19), having been renewed in the spirit of their mind (23).

     4:22, 24.  The old self and the new self should have been rendered as the literal translation of the margin.  It is the old man (Adam), and the new man (Christ, the new Adam).  The substitution of the word “self” raises all kinds of false issues and agendas (cf.14) as well as obscuring essential connections.

     4:25-29.  Examples of the difference between the old and new man:  1.  Truthfulness (25);  2.   Self-control (26), and not giving sin and the devil an opportunity (27; cf. Cain, Gen. 4:5-7; also Deut. 24:13, 15 for the necessity of dealing with such issues before the sun sets on them);  3.  Honesty and generosity (28);  4.  Wholesome and edifying speech (29).

     4:30.  Grieve is a word of love, and a proof of the personality of the Holy Spirit.

     4:31-32.  Signs that we have put off the old man and put on the new.  This is response to the kindness and forgiveness we have received from God in Christ.