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Part Two: THE WALK OF THE CHRISTIANby Ruth Paxson
Ephesians I-III has given us a revelation of our wealth
in Christ. Wealth is never to be hoarded, but rather kept in
circulation, that it may minister to the needs of all. The
wealth of the Christian should be manifest in his walk. This
revelation of divine truth becomes fruitful only as it is
transmuted into life. Revelation must eventuate into
realization; illumination into application.
One of the brightest converts of a Gospel Mission had
become a backslider. In an interview with him, he thought he
would gladden my heart by telling me that he believed
everything in the Bible from Genesis through Revelation. The
only reply that seemed applicable was, "If you believe it,
then why do you not live it?" When a friend was speaking
to the prisoners in Sing Sing prison, one prisoner said to
her very boastfully, "I would have you know that I did not
come in here as these other fellows did. I came in here a
Christian." My friend quietly replied, "I am very sorry
that being a Christian did not keep you out of here." The
more we know the truth and believe it, the greater is our
responsibility to live it. Head knowledge must become heart
experience. Consistency in his daily walk should be the
vital concern of the Christian.
Ephesians I-III tells us how God sees us in Christ in the
heavenlies; IV-VI, how men should see Christ in us on earth. They unfold with crystal clearness the sevenfold walk of the
Christian which is the divine standard for every Christian's
life.
4:1. "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are
called."
Paul's Approach
"Therefore" does not indicate the commencement of
something altogether new, but rather the consequence of what
has preceded. Here it does not present a change of thought,
but a call to prove the reality
of our wealth through the rightness of our walk. "To turn
from the doctrinal to the practical is not a break or a
breach. There is no divorcement between Christian doctrine
and Christian doing." The condition of the Christian must
harmonize with his position. Being in Christ he should grow
up into Christ.
Paul's Appeal
"I beseech you" -- Oh! the intensity of desire and
the deep sense of responsibility which the aged apostle
writes into that word "beseech!" He has already given
them a marvellous revelation of their heavenly calling. Now
with equal clarity he would show their responsibility for a
corresponding conduct. It would well repay you to make a
study of such words and phrases as "therefore," "wherefore,"
"for," "that," "as," "so," "let," "be ye," "be not ye," "see then," in Ephesians to see how Paul's appeals are always made on the ground of one's
condition corresponding with one's position. "Ye are" --
"therefore be ye" -- is invariably the basis of Paul's
appeal.
"That ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are
called." Before making this appeal Paul has shown them
what is their high calling. How could they be expected to
walk worthily without knowing what their calling was? Yet
this is the mistake which many Christians make. They know
that they are not living as they ought, and they try to mend
their ways and improve their manner of living without having
knowledge of the divine standard and its requirements. They
try to "be" (4:32; 5:1), before they "know what"
(1:18). There is tremendous danger in some present-day
movements that ignore or even discard doctrine and place
emphasis primarily, or even solely, upon experience. Such
experiences are as untrustworthy and unacceptable to the
Lord as the premises upon which they are built.
"Therefore -- walk." To walk indicates motion. There
are many words that indicate motion, such as leap, run,
float, drift, creep, but you cannot substitute one of them
for the word "walk." To walk implies purpose, starting for a
goal; progress, steadily advancing step by step;
perseverance, keeping on until the goal is reached. Walking
stands for steady, sustained motion, and involves the action
of the mind in the decision to start; of the heart in the
desire to continue, and of the will in the determination to
arrive.
Then what does to "walk" mean in relation to the
Christian's life? The whole course of his daily living;
his habitual conduct before men; his life lived out in the
open.
"Therefore -- walk worthy." The characteristics of a
worthy walk are given in 4:1-6:9, which we shall study in
detail. But here let us consider briefly the Godward and the manward aspects of such
a walk. God has already determined both its starting point
and its goal, and the road over which the walk is to be
made. His starting point is 1:4, His goal is 5:27, and His
path of travel is 5:18. God has determined that we shall "walk even as he walked" (I
John 2:6). God's goal for every Christian is complete
conformity to the image of His Son, and He would have every
step in our walk bring us that much nearer to the
goal.
Such a walk requires on the manward side fullest
co-operation with God. It demands a set purpose, a steady
progress, and a strong perseverance. The Christian must
resolutely purpose to "put off the old man," and to "put
on the new man"; he must not be content without a
step-by-step growth "up into him in all things"; and be
must keep steadily on his course without faltering or
fainting in spite of all opposition by not "giving place
to the devil," or "grieving the Spirit," but rather by
being filled with the Spirit and empowered by Him.
But how exceedingly difficult is such a walk! The old
habits of life are so binding; the worldly currents about us
are so strong; the temptations of the world, the flesh, and
the devil are so subtle; the fear of being considered
peculiar is so gripping; the opportunity of fellowship with
spiritually-minded Christians is so limited. To maintain a
steady, sustained consistency in daily conduct is not an
easy task. It is far easier to float downstream with the
tide of nominal Christianity; to drift in the listlessness
and lukewarmness of a worldly church; to creep along as a
spiritual babe, fed on the milk of elementary doctrines of
salvation; easier even to mount up with eagle's wing and
soar to spiritual heights of sudden inspiration on some
spiritual Mount of Transfiguration only to relapse into a
backslidden condition when facing the stern realities of
Christian living in an unsympathetic atmosphere; very much
easier, even, to run, rising to some particular task such as
teaching a Bible class, or leading a meeting, or preaching a
sermon, than to practise consistently in the home, office,
or social circle the truth preached. A daily, consistent
Christlike walk; no stagnancy, slump or sloth -- how hard!
So the aged apostle devotes the very heart of this
epistle to telling us what a worthy walk is. Eight times he
uses the word "walk." What shall we do with this divine
standard set for the Christian's walk? We may reject it as
impossible and impracticable, or we may receive it as
possible and livable and rejoice in it, as daily our
faithful Father enables us "to walk even as he walked" by the
power of the divine Spirit. Let us now consider the
sevenfold walk of the Christian.
1. A Walk In Unity
If someone asked what is the first essential of the
Christian's walk, it would seem most fitting to say it was
holiness. Did God not choose us in Christ that we should be
holy? Then is not holiness the fundamental essential in the
Body of Christ? The divine order in Ephesians is otherwise,
and God's order can never be reversed.
4:2-16 shows that the first characteristic of a worthy
walk is unity. What is the primary necessity for wholeness
and health in a human body? It is the harmonious functioning
of all the organs of the body; the perfect co-ordination in
action of every part with every other part. A displacement
of even an insignificant organ or the maladjustment of any
parts of the body can cause disease and disability. A
missionary in China began to have convulsions. She had the
best of medical attention. She was told she had an incurable
disease and advised to go home. On the way back to her
station she consulted an osteopath. Two little bones were
found to be out of adjustment, which caused pressure on the
nerves. Quickly they were brought into unity through
adjustment, and the incurable disease was cured.
So in the Church, the mystical Body of Christ, spiritual
health is dependent upon the harmonious functioning of all
the members and upon their perfect co-ordination in action. But what awful maladjustments we see in Christ's Body
to-day! What sinful failure in co-ordination between its
members! What shameful divisions over secondary matters
which dishonour the Lord in the sight of the world! How
desperately we need to come back to the divine standard set
in Ephesians, and how humbly we need to acknowledge our
failure and sin in not living according to it!
The Divine Standard
The unity to which God is calling His Church is
distinctly defined and definitely declared. It is not a
union of denominations or a federation of the churches of
Christendom. Neither is it the unity of the Body. God
nowhere asks us to make or to maintain the unity of the
Body, for that is God's task. Through baptism with the
Spirit the believer is united to Christ, the Head, and to
every other member of the Body in an indissoluble bond,
which unity is maintained by the indwelling Spirit. So with
the making and keeping of the unity of the Body we have
nothing to do.
But with the outworking of God's eternal purpose for the completion of the Body; for its edification and
sanctification; and for its manifestation of Christ in glory
and power to the world, we have much to do, which requires the harmonious, effectual working
of every member. Hence God's call to keep the unity which
He now defines.
The Unity of the Spirit
4:3. "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in
the bond of peace."
"Endeavouring to keep." God is not asking us to make unity, but to keep a unity that already exists. Just
what unity we are to keep we are also told:
"The unity of the Spirit" -- created and indwelt
by the Holy Spirit, the Church, the Body of Christ, is a
spiritual organism in which there is oneness of mind, heart
and will; a spiritual fellowship of those who share the same
life, purpose and power.
This Spirit-made unity every Christian should set himself
to keep with purposeful, determined, watchful endeavour. He
should do his utmost to keep a zealous, jealous custody over
this Spirit-fashioned oneness with which the Church began on
the day of Pentecost. Such unity is not an intangible,
uncertain thing but, on the contrary, is dependent upon
definitely-stated principles. The basis is in truth, and the
bond is in love. Unity is rooted in God's truth, and it
fructifies through God's love.
The Basis of Unity
Having charged us with the sacred responsibility of
keeping the unity of the Spirit, the Lord now tells how to
do it.
The Sevenfold Unity to be Kept
4:4-6. "There is one body, and one Spirit, ... 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."
The Lord Jesus prayed for visible oneness in the Church
before the world. Ephesians 4:4-6 interprets for us the
meaning of His prayer. Our Lord never asked for a man-made
union of organized churches into a grand federation, but He
prayed for a Spirit-made, Christ centred, God-controlled
unity in the living organism, the Body of Christ.
One Spirit -- One Lord -- One God
It was to be oneness of fellowship through oneness of
faith; an inward unity expressing itself in outward harmony.
One Body
Note that it does not say "one Church." Were that so
then each of the three great divisions into which
Christendom is divided would claim that distinction. It is
even conceivable that some denomination or sect, of which
there are hundreds, would make this unique claim. Neither
does it say there is one federation of all organized
churches forming, as it were, a "Christianized world
trust."
"There is one body," which Ephesians teaches is
eternal in calling, heavenly in conception, divine in
creation, and supernatural in constitution. The living
members of this Body have been called out of every kindred,
tongue, people and nation. They differ in nationality, color,
language, education, training, ability, temperament, and
outlook. Through the human blood running in their veins they
have inherited dislikes, prejudices and animosities that
separate them as far as the east is from the west. But
through the blood of the Saviour and the baptism of the
Spirit they are united to Christ as living members of His
Body.
5:30. "For we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones."
Being organically united with Christ, the Head, each
member is then made one with every other member of the Body.
The oneness is so complete that we are literally a part of
the life of each other. United to the Head there is one
mind, one heart, one spirit.
One Spirit
On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit descended to
form the Body of Christ. The hundred and twenty individual
persons in the upper room were fitly joined together into
one Body through the Spirit's baptism. This same Spirit
took up His abode in the Church and in each Christian, and
by His indwelling and inworking He maintains a visible,
vital unity in the Body of Christ. "Every impulse of the
Spirit is toward unity. He cannot suicidally lead against
Himself."
One Hope
The hope of the saint is to be with and to be like his
Lord. While he praises God for the progressive
sanctification which goes on day by day on earth, every
truly earnest Christian longs for that day when the partial
will give way to the perfect and redemption will be
consummated in glorification. The one hope that in these
days unifies the Lord's own as perhaps no other is the
blessed hope of His soon return to take them unto Himself.
One Lord
Note that "one Lord" is the centre of this sevenfold
unity. It must be so. Everything centres in and around the
Lord Jesus Christ. The eternal purpose of the Father and the
mighty power of the Spirit are directed toward making the
Lord a living reality within the Church and the Christian.
Note also that the central figure of Ephesians is not "the
Jesus of history," but the Lord Jesus Christ. In the
opening verses of the epistle we are shown how we are
redeemed through His blood, but having crossed the threshold
of salvation we are quickly led right into the throne room
where the whole stage of the epistle is set. We are brought
into the presence of the risen, ascended, exalted Lord upon
whom throughout Ephesians our eyes are fixed and held.
It is "one Lord" and a solitary One who is in a class
and on a plane all by Himself, as far above all other men
and even angels as the heavens are above the earth. He is
"Lord of lords, the Lord God Almighty." Note also that
this "One Lord" is Head of the Church, which
automatically excludes any other temporal head of the
visible Body of Christ. To no man has the Lord ever
delegated the headship over the Church. His headship, on the
contrary, is mediated directly by the Holy Spirit whom the
ascended Lord appointed.
One Faith
The apostle Paul writes both of "the faith" and of
"faith" (Galatians 1:23; 3:26). "The faith" is the divine
standard of truth as revealed in the New Testament which
embodies the Christian doctrine once for all delivered unto
the saints (Jude 3) as essential to salvation, and which is
the very foundation of unity in the Body of Christ. The
faith is, no doubt, what Paul means here. "Faith" is the
way of access unto God through an act of believing in the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is the heart of "the faith." The
faith gives us a Person in whom to believe. Faith accepts
the gift and receives the Person.
One Baptism
Accepting the whole standard of divine truth in "the
faith" which centres in the "one Lord," one is united
to Christ and to all other Christians through the sovereign
work of the Holy Spirit, which Scripture designates as the
baptism with the Spirit. Of all the manifold ministries of
the divine Spirit for the believer, this baptism, which
joins him to the Lord and opens the fountain of His fullness
to him, is the most fundamental and essential. Surely then
the "one baptism" is that with the Holy Spirit. It is an
inward process wrought by God alone. But this inward union
should be manifested by an outward symbol, for this
community life in the Body of Christ should be acknowledged
publicly. Hence the baptism by the Spirit is followed by
water baptism.
One God and Father
"One body -- one God." The apostle begins with
the visible circumference, the Body, scattered throughout
the world, and ends with the invisible centre, God, the
generating source of everything.
"One God" -- who is absolute Sovereign, working
after the good pleasure and counsel of His own will (1:5,11) to carry out His eternal purpose in Christ for the Church.
"One Father" -- of us whom He has "chosen"
and "predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ" to be His habitation on earth.
One God
and Father |
{ "above all" --
{ "through all" --
{ "in you all" -- |
Sovereign Purpose.
Pervasive Power.
Indwelling Presence. |
Such, then, is the sevenfold basis for unity in the
Spirit which is God's standard for the Church.
The Professing Church -- An Organization
But as we look at Christendom to-day, what measure of
unity do we find? How far has the divine standard been
followed? We see the professing Church divided into three
major parts, Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Greek Orthodox. In Protestantism we find two clearly-defined sections,
called Liberals and Conservatives, between whom there is a
cleavage that is inevitable, caused by a totally different
interpretation of each of these divinely appointed unities. Both sections are becoming more audible and aggressive in
their opposition to each other, so that the gulf between
them is not only fixed but is growing wider every day.
For such a division in the present-day Church there is a
Scriptural parallel in the relationship of Jesus Christ to
the outstanding religionists of His day, the Pharisees and
the Sadducees. From both of these groups He had to depart
because they had first departed from Him and from the clearly revealed truth of the Old Testament Scripture concerning Him.
The germ of such division was also in the early Church. The apostle Paul saw it and openly rebuked it. He also went
straight to the cause and showed it to be twofold: a
departure from the headship of Christ to accept the
leadership of men and a departure from the truth of the Word
to accept the traditions of men. In his farewell message to
the elders of the church at Ephesus he warned against this
very thing:
Acts 20:29-30. "For I know this, that after my departing
shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the
flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking
perverse things, to draw away disciples after them."
Colossians 2:8. "Beware lest any man spoil you through
philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men,
after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."
The True Church -- An Organism
The Holy Spirit was appointed to dwell within the Church
as the sole and sovereign executor of the Father's eternal
purpose in Christ for and through the Church. The early
Church recognized and submitted to His sovereign control. So
in the book of the Acts we read "The Holy Ghost said,"
and "It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us." What
He said was accepted and accomplished. The affairs of the
Church were managed in counsel and co-operation with Him.
Hence the unity in the faith and fellowship, in the prayers
and program of that first century Church.
Acts 2:42. "And they continued stedfastly in the
apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of
bread, and in prayers."
Acts 4:32. "And the multitude of them that believed were
of one heart and of one soul."
Signifying their union with Christ, the Head of the Body,
they were designated by the name "believers"; and
indicating their union with each other as fellow-members of
the Body, they were called "brethren" -- not capital B.
And when some carnal Christians of the Corinthian church
attempted to start rival sects and become Paulites,
Apollosites, Cephasites, or even to misuse the blessed name
of Christ for such selfish ends, they were severely rebuked
by Paul.
I Cor. 1:11-13. "It hath been declared unto me that
there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that
everyone of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were ye baptized into the name of Paul?"
The results of such unity in the Spirit were very
marvellous. "The Lord added to the church daily such as
should be saved." "And believers were the more added to
the Lord, multitudes both of men and of women." "Then
the churches were edified; and walking in the fear of the
Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied."
As we look at the true Church, the Body of Christ, in this twentieth century, what do we see? The Church is split
up into many churches, each called by its own name,
separating it from all the others. Between these churches
there is often even jealousy and rivalry. Such appalling
division in the professing church is a sad enough spectacle
to present to a godless world. But to behold such division
in the true Church is nothing short of shameful. May we not
go further, and ask if it is not the greatest sin of the
members of the Body against the Head?
The tendency within the Church to-day is to divide over
doctrines and to form little spiritual aristocracies
composed of "the elect," who claim not only special
revelation of truth, but often a special realization of that
truth in experience beyond others. From such exclusive
groups there are constant departures to form other select
circles. I heard of one such group that had become so
advanced that admission to its gatherings was only by
ticket.
This shameful division is often caused by over-emphasis
upon some phase of truth which is lifted quite out of its
setting in Scripture and is made the central doctrine upon
which a new sect is formed. The "One Lord" is displaced
as the centre of the Spirit made unity, and this particular
doctrine takes His place.
Division is also caused by dogmatic insistence upon the
interpretation of the truth regarding some
divinely-appointed rite or ordinance of the Church. One
missionary was refused the privilege of taking the Lord's
Supper with the saints of one denomination in the United
States because she had not been immersed. While in a
European country a deeply spiritual pastor who, because he
had been re-baptized by immersion from real conviction, was
denied the privilege of fellowship in prayer with members of
the denomination to which he belonged. Can one conceive of
cubicles in heaven set apart for those belonging to each of
these groups, so that they will be spared the pain of
fellowship and worship together around the "One Lord"?
Disunity is caused also by one-sidedness of viewpoint due
to some particular experience or the manner of entering into
it and the insistence upon putting every other Christian
into the same mould.
Once in China an invitation was withheld to have
meetings in a certain mission with whose missionaries there
was perfect agreement as to the truths of the sevenfold
unities of 4:4-6. We differed only on one point -- the method
of entering into the life of sanctification provided for us
in Christ.
Division is due also to the attitude which makes one
hopelessly intolerant of another who differs with him on any
point of either major or minor importance; even on points of
doctrine about which equally spiritual and scholarly
teachers do not see alike, as for instance the meaning of
the baptism with the Holy Spirit, or some phases of Advent
truth.
Those who are guilty of thus breaking the unity of the
Spirit invariably justify themselves by claiming to be "contenders
for the faith," when they may be contending only for their
own private interpretation, or for some tradition of their
denomination, or even for their own opinion.
All such need to be saturated with the truth of
Ephesians. They need to pray that divinely-inspired prayer
that they "may be able to comprehend with all saints what
is the breadth, and length, and height; and to know the love
of Christ, which passeth knowledge." They need also to be
reminded of the divinely-given process for the growth of the
Church into the full stature of the perfect man, "Till we
all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of
the Son of God." Not, till a few select ones, like a
little church within the Church, reach that goal; not, till
we come through our segregations into little groups
magnifying some specially deep truths within the Word of
truth; not, till we came through the same knowledge of all
doctrines to exactly the same experience in life of those
glorious truths. Oh no; Ephesians does not teach that. But,
"till we all," every single born-again child of God, "come
in the unity of the faith," already declared to us in
4:4-6, and "in the knowledge of the Son of God," who is
in Himself the middle unity, not only of doctrine, but of
life. We are fellow-members of one Body, and each member
needs every other member if we are all to reach spiritual
maturity in Christ, and every saint has something to
contribute to the edifying and the increase of the Body
(4:12, 16).
What is the solution of this problem of disunity within
the Church? Many in Christendom are greatly disturbed over
it, and see on the part of some leaders in Protestantism
hectic attempts solve the problem by ecclesiastical
federation of existing churches, by a union of separate
units based on uniformity of order and organization. The
approach to union is made by the alley-way of the social,
ethical and ecclesiastical, -- the mere externalities of
religion. There are plans on now for such a world
amalgamation of churches. Dr. I. E. Holt, of The Federal
Council of Churches in the United States, has said, "The
Protestant churches must first unite. Then a Catholic
Protestant church could meet the Greek Catholic church and
the Roman Catholic church, and work out a plan for a World
Christian Church. That ought to come some day; and we have
conferences and groups at work on plans which are
influential."
This is as far from the catholicity for which Christ
prayed, and which the Holy Spirit through Paul preached, as
the sun is from the earth. Such a "World Christian Church"
is not the "One Body" centering in the "One Lord"
through the unifying presence and power of the "One
Spirit." The unity for which Christ prayed and of which
Paul wrote is "the unity of the Spirit" based on "the
unity of the faith." It was oneness of life through
oneness of faith. The approach to such unity is by the
highway of the spiritual, divine, and heavenly -- the true
inwardness of Christianity. It is not the outworking of
man-made "plans," but of the divine purpose.
What is our part, then, in keeping the unity of the
Spirit on this divinely-appointed basis? It is first of all
to obey the Scriptural command, "Examine yourselves,
whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves" (II Corinthians
13:5). If you are in the faith, then unite with every other
saint who also is in the faith, of whatever section of the
Church or of whatever denomination, in the unity of the
Spirit. The Holy Spirit, who unites the Head with the Body
and the members of the Body with each other, will then be
able to maintain that unity in the bond of peace.
  
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