Ephesians 4:4-6 ESV
“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
1. What or who is this “one body”? What or who is this “one Spirit”?
2. What is our “one hope”? (that belongs to our call)
3. Who or what is our one Lord, one faith, one baptism?
4. Who is our one God and Father of all?
5. What is meant by “who is over all and through all and in all”?
There is one body, the body of Christ, his church. So there is one church which is comprised of all people who believe in Jesus Christ with God-given and God-persuaded faith in Christ. We are those who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and who have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness (see Romans 6:1-23). We, collectively, are the church. And we have one head, and he is Jesus Christ.
[Rom 12:1-8; 1 Co 12:1-31; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-21; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13]
And there is one Spirit, who is the Holy Spirit, who is the third person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And when we believe in Jesus Christ with this God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within our lives (hearts and minds and souls). And he is ever present with us in leading and in guiding us into all truth, and in reminding us of the teachings of Christ, and in counseling, encouraging, and empowering us to say “No” to sin and “Yes” to God daily.
[Mk 13:11; Lu 2:26; Lu 4:18-19; Lu 10:21; Lu 12:11-12; Jn 14:26; Jn 15:26; Jn 16:13; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:17-18; Acts 11:12; Acts 13:2; Acts 20:23; Rom 8:9,14; 1 Co 2:14-16; 1 Co 6:19-20; 1 Co 12; Rom 12; Eph 4]
And there is only “one hope,” for Jesus Christ is that hope, and he is the only way, the only truth, and the only life, and only through him can we be saved from our sins and have the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God. For no one comes to God the Father except through genuine God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ which is not of our own doing nor of the will nor of the flesh of man. So God is the only one to determine what that faith looks like, and we would do well to see what his word teaches.
And Jesus said if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, then we have the hope of eternal life. And Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one DOING God’s will (Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).
And God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is our one Lord (Owner-Master), for we are to have no others. And there is only one genuine faith in Jesus Christ and that is the one authored by, gifted by, and persuaded by God/Christ and taught by Christ and by his New Testament apostles (in context). And this faith is submissive to Christ as Lord, surrendered to the will of God, repentant, and obedient to Christ and to his commands. And this faith is something we’re to walk (in conduct) in and it is not lip service only.
[Hebrews 12:1-2; Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Ephesians 4:17-24; Titus 2:11-14; Acts 26:18]
And what is our one baptism? This can get tricky here because there are many different theologies on this. So, I am going to share with you what I believe on this subject based on my understanding of the Scriptures and what they teach. For one, John the Baptist told us that he baptized with water but that Jesus Christ would baptize with the Holy Spirit. So the idea here expressed is that water baptism is separate (different) from the baptism with the Holy Spirit – they are not one and the same.
And then we read in Romans 6 that by faith in Jesus Christ we are crucified and buried with Christ by baptism into death, and this is a spiritual baptism. So here baptism appears to be symbolic of our dying with Christ in death to sin and us being raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to lives as slaves to sin but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. So this is when we are transformed of the Spirit of God from death to life in Christ, so this is symbolic of our new birth in Christ by God-persuaded and God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ. But first we must die that we might live.
Okay, then we have at least one example, and I think there are more, of those who believed in Jesus Christ, and who were filled with the Holy Spirit immediately upon their belief, but who were not yet baptized with water. So, obviously water baptism is not required as a prerequisite to us dying with Christ to sin and being raised to walk in newness of life in him, nor is it required for us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. So, again, it appears here that our water baptism and our baptism into death and resurrection to life in Christ are not one and the same. So which one is our “one baptism”?
It would have to be the spiritual baptism where we are buried with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him at which time we are also filled with the Holy Spirit of God, for without that, we are not saved and we don’t have eternal life with God. But people can be baptized with water and it be only a religious ritual they go through and it have no affect on their spiritual lives whatsoever. So, I believe water baptism is something that takes place subsequent to our baptism into death with Christ, but that it is symbolic of what took place in that one baptism.
[Matt 3:13-17; Matt 10:11-12; John 1:29-34; Mk 10:37-39; Ac 9:15-18; Ac 10:44-48; Ac 18:7-8; Ac 22:12-16; Rom 6:1-7]
And our one God is the same as our one Lord, for he is God – Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is our creator God who made us and who designed us for a purpose even before he laid the foundations of the earth, that we should be holy (separate, unlike, different from the world because we are being conformed to the likeness of Christ). And he created us to worship him by giving our lives to him as living sacrifices to him. And he is the God of both Jew and Gentile who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Messiah.
My Sheep
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Based off John 10:1-18 NIV
My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.
So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.
Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…
They know my voice, so they follow me.
https://vimeo.com/114938263
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