With chapter 4 the letter turns on a single word: “therefore.” Three chapters have described what God has done — chosen, redeemed, raised, united. Now Paul describes how those who have received it should walk. The chapter moves from the unity of the one body, to the gifts Christ gave to build it, to the daily business of putting off the old life and putting on the new. And at its center stands a warning that shows who the Holy Spirit really is: “grieve not the holy Spirit of God.”
A study in Ephesians 4 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 21 min read
Walk Worthy Of The Vocation
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 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.”
Ephesians 4:1-3
“Walk” becomes the key word of the second half of the letter; Paul will use it again in 4:17, 5:2, 5:8 and 5:15. The Christian life is not a single leap but a daily pace. And the first marks of a worthy walk are not dramatic achievements but humble, patient attitudes — lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance. Notice, too, that Paul does not ask believers to create unity. The Spirit has already made it. Their task is to “keep” it, and that takes effort — “endeavouring” means to make every effort, to be diligent.
“If God’s professed people would receive the light as it shines upon them from His word, they would reach that unity for which Christ prayed, that which the apostle describes, ‘the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.’”
Ellen G. White · The Great Controversy, p. 379
One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism
“There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
Ephesians 4:4-6
Seven times Paul says “one.” And the seven are arranged around the three persons of the Godhead: one body and one hope around the “one Spirit”; one faith and one baptism around the “one Lord,” Jesus Christ; and above all, the “one God and Father of all.” The unity of the church is not built on agreement for its own sake. It rests on the unity of God Himself — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
He Gave Gifts Unto Men
“But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)”
Ephesians 4:7-10
Unity does not mean sameness. Having said “one” seven times, Paul now says “every one of us” — each believer receives a particular gift. He quotes Psalm 68:18, a psalm of God marching up to His sanctuary in victory with captives in His train (see this site’s study of Psalm 68). Paul applies it to Christ: He came down all the way to earth, won the victory, rose far above all heavens, and like a returning conqueror distributed the spoils to His people.
“The talents that Christ entrusts to His church represent especially the gifts and blessings imparted by the Holy Spirit. … All men do not receive the same gifts, but to every servant of the Master some gift of the Spirit is promised. … The gifts are already ours in Christ, but their actual possession depends upon our reception of the Spirit of God.”
Ellen G. White · Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 327
“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”
Ephesians 4:11-13
The leaders Christ gives are not there to do all the ministry themselves but “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry” — to equip every member to serve. And Paul says how long these gifts were meant to last: “till we all come in the unity of the faith… unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” That goal has plainly not yet been reached. Nothing in the passage limits the gift of prophecy, any more than the gift of pastors and teachers, to the first generation of the church.
“In like manner, after the close of the canon of the Scripture, the Holy Spirit was still to continue its work, to enlighten, warn, and comfort the children of God. … Scripture plainly teaches that these promises, so far from being limited to apostolic days, extend to the church of Christ in all ages.”
Ellen G. White · The Great Controversy, Introduction
The same Introduction is just as firm about where every such gift must stand: beneath the Bible, never beside it or above it.
“The Spirit was not given—nor can it ever be bestowed—to supersede the Bible; for the Scriptures explicitly state that the word of God is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested.”
Ellen G. White · The Great Controversy, Introduction
No More Children, Tossed To And Fro
“That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”
Ephesians 4:14-16
Paul’s picture is a small boat with no keel, pushed wherever the next gust blows. “Sleight” is the word for dice-playing — the tricks of a man who loads the dice. The remedy is maturity, and Paul names its two ingredients together: “speaking the truth in love.” Truth without love wounds; love without truth deceives. Growth needs both. And it is growth of the whole body, “every joint” supplying its part. No member grows up into Christ alone.
“So the spiritual life is sustained by the use of those means that Providence has supplied. If the follower of Christ would grow up ‘unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ’ … he must eat of the bread of life and drink of the water of salvation. He must watch and pray and work, in all things giving heed to the instructions of God in His word.”
Ellen G. White · The Acts of the Apostles, p. 284
Put On The New Man
“This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”
Ephesians 4:17-19
Paul traces the downward path in order: an empty mind, a darkened understanding, a hardened heart, and finally a life “past feeling” — a conscience so callused that it no longer registers pain. Sin rarely begins with the body; it begins with what a person has stopped believing and stopped feeling.
“But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
Ephesians 4:20-24
“Ye have not so learned Christ” — a striking phrase. Christ is not only the teacher but the lesson, and “the truth is in Jesus.” The picture is changing clothes: take off the old garments of the former life, put on the new. Between the two, Paul places the inner change that makes it possible: “be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” The “new man” is not the old one improved. It is “created” — the same word used of God’s work at the beginning — and created “after God,” in His likeness.
Grieve Not The Holy Spirit Of God
“Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.”
Ephesians 4:25-28
Now the new clothing is described piece by piece, and every command has a reason attached. Tell the truth, because “we are members one of another” — lying to a fellow believer is like one hand deceiving the other. Anger itself is not forbidden, but it must not be nursed overnight; “let not the sun go down upon your wrath,” because unresolved anger gives the devil a “place,” a foothold. And the thief is not only to stop stealing but to start working, so that the hands that once took can now give.
“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”
Ephesians 4:29
“We should accustom ourselves to speak in pleasant tones, to use pure and correct language, and words that are kind and courteous. Sweet, kind words are as dew and gentle showers to the soul.”
Ellen G. White · Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 336
“And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”
Ephesians 4:30
This single verse says something essential about who the Holy Spirit is. A force cannot be grieved. Electricity is not saddened; wind does not feel sorrow. Only a person can be hurt by what others do. When Paul warns that lying, anger, theft and corrupt speech grieve the Spirit, he speaks of Him as Someone who loves, who is present, and who is wounded by the sins of those He lives in.
Paul says the same thing in the closing benediction of 2 Corinthians: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14). “Communion” is koinonia, fellowship — and no one has fellowship with a force. (This site’s study of 2 Corinthians 13 draws out the same point.) Ephesians has been saying it all along. Every chapter so far names the Spirit alongside the Father and the Son: the doxology of 1:3-14, access “through him… by one Spirit unto the Father” in 2:18, Paul’s prayer in 3:14-17, and the “one Spirit… one Lord… one God and Father” of 4:4-6.
“We need to realize that the Holy Spirit, who is as much a person as God is a person, is walking through these grounds. … The Holy Spirit is a person, for He beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God.”
Ellen G. White · Evangelism, p. 616
“Sin could be resisted and overcome only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come with no modified energy, but in the fullness of divine power.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 671
The verse also carries a promise. The Spirit is the one “whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” — the same seal Paul described in 1:13-14, God’s mark of ownership on those who belong to Him, guaranteeing that the redemption begun now will be completed when Christ returns. The One we are warned not to grieve is the very One who keeps us.
“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
Ephesians 4:31-32
“God’s forgiveness is not merely a judicial act by which He sets us free from condemnation. It is not only forgiveness for sin, but reclaiming from sin. It is the outflow of redeeming love that transforms the heart.”
Ellen G. White · Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 114
The chapter closes by setting the standard for forgiving others: “even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” We do not forgive because the other person deserves it. We forgive because we have been forgiven far more, and because the same love that reclaimed us is now meant to flow through us.
