This week is the 11th week after Pentecost in the Year of Mark, and our Second Reading continues in Ephesians, but now there is a change. Ephesians 4:1-16 builds on the glorious announcements of God's work in chapters 1-3, and now invites us into a life lived in these glorious gifts. The preacher's task will be to invite the listeners into the lifestyle of unity that is raised up.
(The following questions are not meant to be exhaustive, but have been developed to lift up the function of the Word in the text, a central concern of Law and Gospel preachers. These questions are best used in conjunction with other fine sets of questions available to exegetes. For more on this particular method and on Law and Gospel preaching in general, see my brief guide, Afflicting the Comfortable, Comforting the Afflicted, available from wiptandstock.com or amazon.)
1. How does the Word function in the text? What the Word is doing here is inviting us into a life that is "worthy of the calling to which we have been called." Certain characteristics (humility, patience, forbearance, etc.) are lifted up as examples of such a life, but a main concern is unity, unity of the Body of Christ, (vs. 3) and the "unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God." (vs. 13).
2. How is the Word not functioning in the text? This is an unusual text in that neither the Law nor the Gospel are explicitly present. One might consider the creed-like pronouncement in vs.5 that we have "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, etc." as a Gospel function, in that this is God's work. One might also consider the warning in vs. 14 that "we must no longer be like children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine" as a Law function, lifting up our need for a Savior. Nevertheless, as said above, the main function of the Word is the call to obedience, the call to a faithful life.
3. With whom are you identifying in the text? We are those addressed by this text. We are those who have been given the gift of the Spirit and are being exhorted to do everything we can to live in unity with other believers, and enhance the unity of our faith and knowledge of Christ.
4. What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by this text? Since this text is primarily a call to obedience, we will need to manufacture some couplets wholesale. Some ideas: adrift/safe on shore; fraying/holding tight together; quarreling/at peace.
5. Exegetical work: Modern commentator, Ralph Martin, notes how this 4th chapter of Ephesians builds on the first 3 chapters. "The foundation has been laid," he says. "The writer now turns to a practical outworking of the ideal in everyday living." (Interpretation series, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon, p. 46). "Based on what has preceded it, 4:1-16 announces in five bold strokes what the author believes about the church as they confront the society around them" (Ibid. p. 47.) It is obvious that what the writer is exhorting his listeners to most urgently is unity. Recognizing that unity is a gift of the Spirit, he nevertheless exhorts them to make "every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (vs. 3). It is clear that unity needs to be intentionally cultivated. One might recall from the earlier chapters that both Gentiles and Jews were part of the audience of this letter, thus unity was a challenge. Dick Dickson, the 17th century Scottish reformer, summarizes the writers exhortations to unity in this way: "...seven special virtues that are necessarily required to preserve the unity of the church, that so concord might abound in all its members. (1) Humility, to which pride is the opposite. (2) Gentleness, to which cruelty is opposite. (3) Quietness of mind, or easiness to be pleased, to which is opposed rashness or a readiness to be angry. (4) Forbearance, to which revenge is opposed. (5) Charity... to which is opposed hatred of one's neighbor... (6) Virtue... (7) Peace or external concord; and if these precede, both the spiritual and external unity of the church will be easily preserved, it being one and the same labor to keep it and these virtues." (Reformation Commentary on Scripture, NT, vol. X, p. 331).
Blessing on your proclamation!
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