Ephesians 4:2-7 English Standard Version

² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³ eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. ⁷ But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

This instruction is given to the workers of these ministry gifts; the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers. The oneness found here is the Lord, faith, baptism, God, and the Father of all. In this oneness is not unity. We can distinguish that by the measure of grace that is given to each of the ministry gifts. Each has a role that differs from the other.

Unity of faith is only found in He who is over all, through all and in all. What is common among all the ministry gifts is the goal of those ministries, serving the will of God in the maturing of Christ’s bride. Verse 12 calls this the building up the body of Christ.

We are in fact each one of us part of the body of Christ and at the same time His betrothed. As such we have not attained to our pure white robes of righteousness which are our own. We only have the righteousness of Christ in us to deal with what remains of our humanity. Faith is the active agent of change which ensures that the service ministries can be effective in serving the will of God by the faith that binds us all together.

This is seen because of one faith and yet different graces.

Ephesians 4:13 English Standard Version (ESV) until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,^{[full grown man]} to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

There is more than one way to approach the issue of unity in faith as it is expressed here. A review of commentaries seems appropriate to see what others have gleaned out of the scriptures.

Chuck Smith in his sermon notes says this “There is one thing that I think is more important than the unity of the faith, and that is the unity of the Spirit, of which Paul speaks in verse 3.”

Refocusing a subject does not explain the subject, even if a point is well made.

David Guzik says “Again, by clearly stating that this is a unity of the faith, Paul did not command a structural or organizational unity, but a spiritual unity around a common faith.”

While a good point Ephesians 4:5 points out there is but one faith and we should not lean towards thinking that there is uncommon faith.

Matthew Henry included these words “till all true believers meet together”. This has been viewed to some as an indication that unity in faith is impossible until all who are going to be part of the body of Christ are saved. That is an eternal view and does not help us at this present time.

John Brown focuses on the ministries and concludes that verse 13 is all coming to know Christ without addressing faiths role in the maturing of the saints.

They all hint around the issue without addressing the issue. Those who have and use the gifts of ministry and the congregation of saints all have this same faith. It is the common thread that runs through all of us and ties us together as each of us are in fact a part of the body of Christ.

To use the idiom “the ties that bind” would be appropriate here but is only supported in scripture by Ephesian 4:5 as there being only one faith. It is in all of us and is not different for any of us.