The first verse of the fourth chapter of Paul’s Letter to the Church in Ephesus is one of the most powerful statements regarding the visible effect grace is expected to have on our behavior.
Some pseudo-theologians from mainline denominations claim that requiring a change in behavior makes Christianity a “religion of works” rather than one of faith. Scripture, however, disputes that.
Another verse with a similar perspective that comes to mind is James 2:26 —
For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.
Here is Paul’s exhortation:
I, therefore, a prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, — Eph 4:1(ESV)
In English, we try to avoid repeating the same or similar words in a sentence, but in Greek, they often do the opposite. In describing a baseball game, we would never write, “The hitter hit a hit”; however, it would be perfectly fine in biblical Greek. And that’s what Paul does in this verse. The words urge, calling, and called all share the same root word which is recognized easily when read aloud—as all of Paul’s letters were: parakalo, klesios, and eklethete.
We could translate Paul’s plea as: I…call you to live worthy of the calling of which you have been called! This is an urgent appeal for us to change our behavior in response to God’s grace. Paul goes on to explain that the Holy Spirit provides us with the means to accomplish this through our unity in the Body of Jesus Christ.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. — Eph 4:4-6 (LEB)
I fear (if comments on social media are any indication) that sometimes we embrace our Anglicanism more than our Christianity. But it’s not just us; each denomination seems to have the attitude that Jesus is really one of them and tolerates those other Christians who don’t quite have the correct doctrine. Paul consistently tries to dispel this “us vs. them” idea throughout his letters, but it seems like modern Christians are blind to the idea that it might possibly refer to ourselves and think “those Presbyterians, Baptists, Pentecostals, Mennonites, (insert any other denomination here), should really pay attention to what Paul says here…”
Each of us is given grace through our one Christ, consistent with the gifts the Holy Spirit gives us. Spiritual gifts are given to us, but for others. Think about it. Healing, teaching, and even administration are all useless without other people to receive the benefits of those gifts.
Paul tells us who those other people are: the saints.
But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. … 11 The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ — Eph 4:7,11–12
We have been led to think of saints as a particular group of super Christians that God selected and to whom he gave abilities and powers beyond those of normal humans so that they could live the type of godly life expected of saints and be examples to us of what real devotion looks like, and that we’ll never have that.
Christians today consider saints to be like the military’s Medal of Honor recipients: rare, heroic, and usually killed in action. But that’s not what Paul believed. He used the term saints to describe all brothers and sisters in Christ.
To all those in Rome who are … called to be saints — Rom 1:7
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints … — 1 Cor 1:2
To the saints who are in Ephesus — Eph 1:1
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi… — Phil 1:1
To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae— Col 1:2
So, we’re all saints, which means we’re all called to ministry (to equip the saints for the work of ministry). We’re all ministers of Jesus Christ, not just the clergy.
In other words, God has gifted some of us with abilities as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, with the expectation that they will train the other Christians in their community to use their spiritual gifts effectively.
Every Christian is called by God to do more than just sit back and watch the show Sunday morning. We are each given gifts that will help someone else if we use them. Hospitality, encouragement, giving, serving, wisdom, and mercy are just a few.
I urge each of you to set aside about 20 minutes to go to the web site https://spiritualgiftstest.com/ and take the free online spiritual gifts test to help you discern what your own spiritual gifts are. Then pray about how Jesus can use you to further his kingdom. Finally, accept his call.
I call you to live worthy of the calling to which you’re being called.
Welcome to sainthood.
Your Brother in Christ,
Fr. Austin