Chapter Four
Eph. 4:1. Therefore I, a prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling to which you are called,
A teacher must not lord it over, but serve the disciples for the sake of their salvation. Therefore Paul also, as a servant, beseeches. He even puts forward his bonds for the success of his request. For he is "a prisoner in the Lord," that is, not for an evil deed, but for the sake of the Lord. So then, show honor to the bonds borne for the Lord's sake. And what do I beseech? Not for myself, but for you, that you may walk worthily of your calling. For you have been called to great things: to sit together with Christ and to reign together with Him, and you must not disgrace your dignity by deeds unworthy of Christ. And from doctrinal teaching he transitioned to moral instruction, thereby imparting sweetness to his word.
Eph. 4:2. with all humility.
He shows how it is possible to "walk worthy of the calling" — if we are humble. For then you will fully understand what you are and what you have been deemed worthy of, and you will humble yourself and strive to serve your benefactor. Moreover, it serves as the foundation of every virtue; therefore the Lord also began His beatitudes from this point, calling the poor in spirit blessed, that is, the humble-minded. "With all," he says, "humility," not in words only, but also in deed, in outward appearance and voice, and not so as to show oneself humble toward one person but not toward another, but toward everyone, whether he be small or great.
Eph. 4:2. and with meekness and longsuffering,
For it is possible to be both humble and at the same time irritable and wrathful; but such humility is useless.
Eph. 4:2. condescending to one another in love,
He teaches what the benefit of meekness and longsuffering is – it is forbearance toward one another. Then, lest someone say: how can I be forbearing toward my neighbor when he is wrathful and insolent? – he points out the way as well – in love. For if we have love, we will bear with one another.
Eph. 4:3. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
As the spirit in the body encompasses and unites everything, so too does the Holy Spirit unite the Church, even though we differ in race, character, and occupation. And through the Holy Spirit we become one body. Therefore, let us strive to preserve this unity by living in peace with one another. For if we do not have the bond of love and do not live in peace with one another, we will destroy the unity that the Spirit has granted us — just as if a hand or foot were to quarrel with the rest of the body and refuse their union with the other members, they would no longer be under the authority of one spirit. Therefore, great diligence is needed, and we must not sluggishly maintain peace, but be firmly joined to one another, so that where one strives, the other does likewise (for such are allies), rather than directing ourselves by our own will; only then shall we be in one Spirit.
Eph. 4:4. One body and one spirit,
Paul seeks not simply love, but a love that makes all one body, through complete union with one another, so that, like members of a body, they would suffer together and rejoice together with one another. "And one spirit." He said this beautifully, showing that, having become one body, they will also be one spirit, or else that it is possible to be one body but not one spirit (just as if someone were in friendship with heretics but did not follow their teaching). Or: having received one spirit through faith, you ought also to be of one mind. Or by spirit he means the same disposition of soul and unanimity among all, as if saying: one body and one soul.
Eph. 4:4. as you were also called to one hope of your calling;
God says, He called you to one and the same thing, granted life to all, equally became the head of all, co-raised and seated all with Himself, and simply received all with equal honor, and we all have one and the same hope. Therefore you ought to be one also in the bond of love. For in relation to Him we are equal, even though we differ on earth.
Eph. 4:5. one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
For it is not so that you have a higher Lord, and he a lower one; that you are saved by faith, and he by works; that baptism sets you free, but not him.
Eph. 4:6. One God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in us all.
That is, He is over all and through all He penetrates with His providence and governance, and dwells in all of us. Note also that the heretics apply the preposition "through" to the Son, and the preposition "in" to the Spirit, as though it had a diminishing significance⁸; yet they are applied to the Father, certainly not to His diminishment.
Eph. 4:7. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
If everything, as you say, is common, then why does one person have a greater gift and another a lesser one? For this aroused envy in them, in the Corinthians and many others. Resolving this, the apostle says that to each one a gift was given in the measure that the Giver determined. Therefore, since it is a gift, be content, because you received it after all, and it was not given to you as something owed. And since God determined this measure, do not be curious. For if God determined it, then of course He did so in a manner entirely fitting. Thus, what is essential and without which one cannot be a Christian is common to all, and if someone has a somewhat greater gift, do not grieve, because greater labor is also joined with it, as he will say further on. And he did not say "according to the measure of each one's faith," lest those who have little of it fall into faintheartedness, but he places the measure in the will of the Giver, so that they would not even dare to question it at all.
Eph. 4:8. Therefore it is also said: "Having ascended on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men."⁹
That He gave a gift, he says, is evident from the words of the prophet: He gave gifts to men. But the prophet says: you received gifts, and this is the same thing, because God, in granting gifts, receives service in return. And whoever receives gifts receives them in order to work and labor. Therefore one must not be idle. He ascended "on high" — either onto the cross, or into heaven at the ascension, which is even better, as is evident from what follows. Of what captivity does he speak? Of the captivity of the devil. For He took captive the devil and death, and the curse, and transgression, and also us, who were under the power of the devil and subject to what has been said.
Eph. 4:9. But "He ascended," what does it mean, if not that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?
Eph. 4:10. He who descended, He is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.