There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—

Verse 4 brings us to a statement of fact. There is one body and one Spirit. The church is the body of Christ and each true Christian believer is a member of that one body. Member is not member in the sense of a Lion’s Club member. It is meant in the way that your finger, ear, and leg are members of your body. We’ll get into more of this later, but even though there are many local churches, there is one body. A Christian who is a member of a particular church in the U.S. is part of the same body as a Christian who is a member of a church in Germany or Nigeria.

There is one Spirit. Just as you have a spirit that pervades your body, there is one Spirit, the Holy Spirit, that is at work throughout the body of Christ world wide. As Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 12, there are different manifestations, different workings, but the same God and Spirit that is at work throughout the body.

Paul has just told us in verse 3 that we are to maintain the unity of the Spirit. The reason is because there is only one Spirit in the church.

Finally our calling as believers is focused on just one hope. There are not multiple hopes. As Paul writes in Colossians 1:27 – Christ in you the hope of glory. When all is said and done, Jesus Christ will be the focus of the entire universe. Christians, who have trusted in Christ, will rule and reign with Him in glory as joint-heirs with Him of that glory.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 9:30 AM January 15, 2021.

Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

This is a short verse which basically completes the sentence of the first two verses.

We are supposed to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. We are to do this with humility and gentleness with patience and forbearance. Part of the goal here is to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

What does it mean to keep the unity of the Spirit. In the next verse, Paul is going to tell us that there is one body, one Lord, one baptism, one God and father. So, there already is a unity of the Spirit. God is one. There is no division in Him. The body is one, and so there is no actual division in it organically, even though outwardly it seems as though there are many divisions.

So our goal in living in a way that our calling demands requires that we should be eager to maintain that unity. We have to do all we can to keep the unity. We can’t control what others do.

The unity is held together by a bond of peace. Romans 12:18 tells us that as much as it lies within us, we should live peaceably with all men. Especially in the body this should be true. All that was said about humility, gentleness, patience and forbearance is aimed at making that bond of peace possible. And this results in maintaining the unity of the Spirit.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 10:39 AM January 13, 2021.

With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

Paul has said that we should walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called. In verse 2, he goes on to explain what the characteristics of that walk, or life-style, should be.

First, with all humility. Other words could have been meekness or lowliness. We are to live in a way that esteems others better than ourselves (Philippians 2:3). We shouldn’t be trying to make ourselves the center of attention. We shouldn’t assume that what we have to say is more important than what others have to say. Humility

Next we have the word gentleness. Gentleness means, well, gentleness. Being kind, tender, mild-mannered, with a soft touch. Humility and gentleness go together, don’t they?

Next, patience. Another word for patience would be long-suffering. The Greek word means stretched out. A person who is patient is one who is able to handle being stretched. On a trivial scale, you know how it is to wait for someone who is late arriving. Five minutes of waiting isn’t bad, but as time goes on and it becomes a half hour or longer, you begin to wonder how much longer you are going to have to wait for the person to arrive for the appointment. Sometimes you feel stretched to some kind of breaking point. Being able to endure that stretching is the idea behind patience.

Next, bearing with one another in love. Notice, it’s not just bearing with one another. You could do that with impatience and anger. This is bearing with in love. Bearing means forbearing, putting up with, enduring. Being like this is quite the challenge isn’t it?

All of these are speaking about all our relationships, but especially in the family and the church. God puts people together who are very different. There are attitudes and reactions and idiosyncrasies in other people that are difficult to be patient with and to put up with. But God says that the characteristics mentioned in this verse are necessary if we are to live in a manner that is befitting the calling that we have received from God.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 9:37 AM January 11, 2021.