Homily 11 — Ephesians 4, verses 4 to 16

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were also called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” [a]

The love Paul asks of us is no ordinary love. It is the love that cements us together, makes us cling to one another inseparably, and brings about a union as great and as complete as the union between one limb and another. For this is the love that bears great and glorious fruit. That is why he says there is “one body.” It is one by feeling with one another, by not standing in the way of another’s good, and by sharing one another’s joy; with this one image he has said all of it at once.

Then he adds, beautifully, “and one Spirit.” He shows that from the one body there will be one Spirit. Or he means that it is possible for there to be one body and yet not one Spirit — for example, if some member of it should be a friend of heretics. Or else by this expression he is shaming them into oneness of mind, as if to say, “You who have received one Spirit, and have been given to drink from one fountain, ought not to be divided in mind.” Or else by “spirit” here he means their zeal.

Then he adds, “just as you were called in one hope of your calling.” That is, God has called you all on the same terms. He has given nothing more to one than to another. To all he has freely given immortality, to all eternal life, to all undying glory, to all brotherhood, to all an inheritance. He is the common Head of all; he “has raised” all “up, and made them sit with him” (Ephesians 2, verse 6). You, then, who in spiritual things have such equality of privilege — where does your pride come from? Is it that one is wealthy and another strong? How ridiculous that must be! For tell me: if the emperor one day took ten people, dressed them all in purple, seated them on the royal throne, and gave them all the same honor, do you think any one of them would dare to taunt another with being richer or more distinguished than he? Never. And I have not yet said everything. For in heaven the difference is not even as great as the ways we differ from one another here below.

There is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Look: there is “the hope of your calling.” “One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.” Can it be that you are called by the name of a greater God, and another by the name of a lesser one? That you are saved by faith, and another by works? That you received forgiveness in baptism, while another did not? “There is one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.” “Who is over all” — that is, the Lord, and above all. “And through all” — that is, providing for all and ordering all. “And in you all” — that is, who lives in you all. Now this they admit is said of the Son; so if it were a sign of being lesser, it would never have been said of the Father.

“But to each one of us grace was given.” [c]

“What, then?” he says. “Where do these different spiritual gifts come from?” For this subject kept carrying people away — the Ephesians themselves, the Corinthians, and many others — some into empty arrogance, others into dejection or envy. That is why he takes this image of the body along with him everywhere, and that is why he has brought it forward now as well, since he was about to mention different gifts. In the letter to the Corinthians he goes into the subject more fully, because it was among them above all that this sickness ruled; here he has only touched on it.

And notice what he says. He does not say “according to the faith of each,” so as not to throw those without great attainments into dejection. What does he say? “According to the measure of the gift of Christ.” The chief and principal things of all, he says — baptism, being saved by faith, having God for our Father, all of us sharing in the same Spirit — these are common to all. So if this or that person has some advantage in a spiritual gift, do not grieve over it, since his labor is also greater. The one who had received the five talents had five required of him, while the one who had received the two brought only two, and yet received no smaller reward than the other. And so here too the apostle encourages the hearer on the same grounds, showing that gifts are given not to honor one above another, but for the work of the church, as he says further on:

“For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of ministering, for the building up of the body of Christ.”

That is why he himself says, “Woe to me if I do not preach the good news!” (First Corinthians 9, verse 16). For example, he received the grace of apostleship; but for that very reason, because he received it, “woe to him” — whereas you are free from that danger.

“According to the measure.” What does “according to the measure” mean? It means not according to our merit, for then no one would have received what he has received; we have all received it as a free gift. Why, then, does one receive more and another less? There is no cause for it, he would say; the thing in itself makes no difference, for everyone contributes toward “the building.” By this too he shows that it is not because of his own merit that one has received more and another less, but for the sake of others, as God himself has measured it out. For he also says elsewhere, “But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as he pleased” (First Corinthians 12, verse 18). And he does not give the reason, so as not to discourage or dishearten his hearers.

Verse 8: “That is why it says, ‘When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to people.’” [e]

It is as if he had said, “Why are you proud? The whole thing is from God.” The prophet says in the Psalm, “You have received gifts among people” (Psalm 68, verse 18), while the apostle says, “He gave gifts to people.” The one is the same as the other.

Verses 9 and 10: “Now this ‘he ascended’ — what does it mean but that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who also ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.”

When you hear these words, do not think of a mere move from one place to another. The very argument Paul establishes in the letter to the Philippians (Philippians 2, verses 5 to 8) is the one he is pressing here too. There, when he was urging them to humility, he brought forward Christ as an example; so he does here as well, saying, “He descended into the lower parts of the earth.”

If that were not so, the expression he uses there, “He became obedient even to death” (Philippians 2, verses 8 and 9), would be superfluous. But from his ascending he implies his descent; and by “the lower parts of the earth” he means death, in the way people think of it — as Jacob also said, “Then you will bring my gray hairs down with sorrow to the grave” (Genesis 42, verse 38). And again, as it is in the Psalm, “so that I do not become like those who go down into the pit” (Psalm 143, verse 7) — that is, like the dead. [f]

Why does he dwell on this region here? And what captivity is he speaking of? The devil’s. For he took the tyrant captive — the devil, I mean — and death, and the curse, and sin. Look at his spoils and his trophies.

“Now this ‘he ascended’ — what does it mean but that he also descended?” This strikes at Paul of Samosata and his followers.

“He who descended is the same one who also ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.” He descended, he says, into the lower parts of the earth, below which there are no others; and he ascended far above all things, to the place above which there is no other. This is to show his divine power and his supreme rule. For indeed all things had been filled even long before.

Verses 11 and 12: “And he gave some to be apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of ministering, for the building up of the body of Christ.” [h]

What he said elsewhere, “That is why God also has highly exalted him” (Philippians 2, verse 9), he says here as well: “He who descended is the same one who also ascended.” It did him no harm that he came down into the lower parts of the earth, and it was no hindrance to his rising far higher than the heavens. So the more a person is humbled, the more he is exalted. With water, the harder someone presses it down, the higher he forces it up; and the farther a man steps back to hurl a javelin, the surer his aim. So it is with humility too. However, when we speak of ascents with reference to God, we must first think of a descent; but with reference to man, not at all.

Then he goes on to show his providing care and his wisdom further. He who has done such things as these, who had such power, and who did not refuse to go down even to those lower parts for our sakes, would never have made these distributions of spiritual gifts without a purpose. Now elsewhere Paul tells us that this was the work of the Spirit, in the words, “in which the Holy Spirit has made you bishops, to shepherd the church of God.” Here he says that it is the Son; and elsewhere, that it is God.

“And he gave to the church some apostles, and some prophets.” But in the letter to the Corinthians he says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” And again, “Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor” (First Corinthians 3, verses 6 to 8). So it is here too. For what if you bring in only a little? You have received only so much. [i]

First he says “apostles,” for they had all the gifts. Second, “prophets,” for there were some who were not apostles but were prophets, like Agabus. Third, “evangelists,” who did not go about everywhere, but only preached the good news, like Priscilla and Aquila. Then “pastors and teachers,” those who were entrusted with the care of a whole people. What, then? Are the pastors and teachers lesser? Yes, certainly. Those who were settled and occupied in one place, like Timothy and Titus, were lesser than those who went around the world preaching the good news. However, it is not possible to work out the order of rank and precedence from this passage; that must come from another letter. “He gave,” he says; you must not say a word against it. Or perhaps by “evangelists” he means those who wrote the Gospels.

“For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of ministering, for the building up of the body of Christ.” Do you see the dignity of the office? Each one builds up, each one perfects, each one serves. [k]

Verse 13: “Until we all attain,” he goes on, “to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full-grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

By “stature” here he means complete knowledge. For as a grown man stands firm, while children are carried about and waver in mind, so it is with believers too.

“To the unity,” he says, “of the faith.” That is, until we are all shown to have one faith. For this is the unity of the faith: when we are all one, when we all alike acknowledge the common bond. Until then you must labor toward this. If you have received a gift for this purpose — to build up others — take care that you do not overturn yourself by envying another. God has honored you and appointed you to build up someone else. Yes, this was what the apostle was busy with; for this the prophet prophesied and persuaded, and the evangelist preached the good news; for this the pastor and teacher were there. All had taken on one common work. So do not talk to me about the difference in spiritual gifts; talk about the fact that all had one work.

Now when we all believe alike, then there will be unity; for it is plain that this is what he calls “a full-grown man.” And yet elsewhere he calls us “children” (First Corinthians 13, verse 11), even when we are of mature age. But there he has another comparison in view: there he calls us children in comparison with the knowledge that is still to come. For after saying, “We know in part” (First Corinthians 13, verses 9 and 12), he adds the word “dimly,” and the like. Here, however, he is speaking with reference to something else — to changeableness — as he also says elsewhere, “But solid food is for the full-grown” (Hebrews 5, verse 14). Do you see, then, in what sense he calls them full-grown there? Notice also in what sense he calls people “full-grown” here, from the words he adds next, where he says, “so that we may no longer be children.” He means that we should keep whatever small measure we have received with all diligence, firmly and steadfastly.

Verse 14: “So that we may no longer…” The words “no longer” show that they had once been in this state; and he counts himself too among those who need correcting, and corrects himself along with them. This is why, he would say, there are so many workmen: so that the building may not be shaken, may not be “carried about,” so that the stones may be firmly set. For this is what children are like: tossed back and forth, carried about, and shaken. “So that we may no longer,” he says, “be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of teaching, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, following the schemes of error.” [l]

“And carried about,” he says, “with every wind.” He turns to this image to point out how great a danger doubting souls are in. “With every wind,” he says, “by the trickery of men, in craftiness, following the schemes of error.” The word “trickery” means the art of gamblers. That is what the “crafty” are like whenever they get hold of simpler people; for they too change and shift everything around. Here he is also hinting at human life.

Verses 15 and 16: “But speaking the truth in love,” he says, “may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ, from whom” (that is, from Christ) “the whole body, fitted and knit together through what every joint supplies, according to the working in due measure of each single part, makes the body grow, so that it builds itself up in love.” [m]

He expresses himself very obscurely, because he wants to say everything at once. But this is what he means. The spirit, or life-force, comes down from the brain and passes on the power of sensation, which travels through the nerves. It does not give it to all the members simply alike, but in proportion to each member: to the one able to receive more, more; to the one able to receive less, less — for the spirit is the root and source. So it is with Christ too. The souls of men hang on him as members, and his providing care and his supply of spiritual gifts, in due proportion to the measure of each single member, bring about their growth. But what does this mean: “by the touch of the supply”? That is, by the power of sensation.

For the spirit that is supplied from the head to the members “touches” each single member, and so sets it in motion. It is as if one were to say, “The body, receiving the supply in proportion to its several members, makes growth in this way”; or in other words, “The members, receiving the supply in proportion to their own measure, make growth in this way”; or again, “The spirit, flowing abundantly from above, touching all the members, and supplying them as each is able to receive it, makes growth in this way.” [o]

But why does he add “in love”? Because in no other way can that Spirit come down. Suppose a hand happened to be torn from the body. The spirit that proceeds from the brain looks for the limb; and if it does not find it, it does not leap out of the body and fly about and go to the hand. If it does not find it in its place, it does not touch it. So it will be here too, if we are not bound together in love. All these expressions he uses with humility in view. For what, he seems to say, if this or that person receives more than another? He has received the same Spirit, sent out from the same Head, working effectively in all alike, giving itself to all alike.

“Fitted and knit together.” That is, with great care spent on it. For the body must not be put together just anyhow, but with great skill and precision, since a part that gets out of place is no longer part of it. So each must not only be joined to the body, but also keep his own proper place; for if you go beyond it, you are not joined to it, and you do not receive the Spirit. Do you not see how, when bones are dislocated in some accident and a bone slips out of its own place and takes up another’s, it injures the whole body and often causes death? Sometimes the bone will even be found no longer worth keeping; in many cases people cut it out and leave an empty space in its place, because everywhere what is in excess is an evil. It is the same with the elements: if they lose their proper proportion and are in excess, they damage the whole system.

This is what it means to be “fitted and knit together.” Consider, then, how very important it is that each should stay in his own proper place, and not encroach on another that in no way belongs to him. You put the members together; he supplies them from above.

For just as there are organs in the body that receive, as we have seen, so it is also with the Spirit, the whole root and source being from above. For example, the heart receives the breath, the liver the blood, the spleen the bile, and the other organs, some one thing and some another; but all these have their source in the brain. So God too has done. He has honored man highly and did not want to be far from him. He has made himself the source on which man depends, and has made them fellow workers with himself, appointing some to one office and others to another.

For example, the apostle is the most vital vessel of the whole body, receiving everything from him, so that he makes eternal life flow through them to all, as through veins and arteries — through their preaching, I mean. The prophet foretells things to come, while he alone orders them. You put the members together, but he supplies them with life, “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of ministering.” Love builds up, and makes people cling to one another, and be fastened and fitted together.

If, then, we want to have the benefit of that Spirit which comes from the Head, let us cling to one another. For there are two kinds of separation from the body of the church: one, when we grow cold in love; the other, when we dare to do things unworthy of belonging to that body. Either way we cut ourselves off from “the fullness of Christ.” And if we have been appointed to build up others too, what will not be done to those who are the first to cause division? Nothing does so much to divide the church as the love of power. Nothing so provokes God’s anger as the division of the church. [p]

Yes, even if we have done ten thousand glorious deeds, if we cut to pieces the fullness of the church, we will suffer a punishment no lighter than those who mangled his body. For that, at least, came about for the good of the world, even though it was not done with that intention; but this brings no benefit in any case, and the harm is beyond measure. I am saying these things not only to those who govern, but also to those who are governed. A certain holy man once said something that might seem bold; yet all the same he said it out.

What was it, then? He said that not even the blood of martyrdom can wash out this sin. For tell me, why do you suffer as a martyr? Is it not for the glory of Christ? You, then, who give up your life for Christ’s sake — how can you lay waste the church, for whose sake Christ gave up his life? Listen to what Paul says: “I am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God” (First Corinthians 15, verse 9), “and laid it waste” (Galatians 1, verse 13). This harm is no less than what she suffers at the hands of enemies; no, it is far greater. For that makes her even more glorious; but this, when she is warred on by her own children, disgraces her even before her enemies. It seems to them a great mark of hypocrisy that those who were born in her, nursed at her breast, and fully taught her secrets should suddenly change and do her enemies’ work. [q]

I mean these remarks for those who hand themselves over without discrimination to the men who are dividing the church. If those men also hold teachings contrary to ours, then for that reason too it is not right to mix with them. If, on the other hand, they hold the same beliefs, the reason for not mixing with them is greater still. Why so? Because then the disease comes from the lust for authority. Do you not know what happened to Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Numbers 16, verses 1 to 35)? To them alone, did I say? Did it not happen also to those who were with them? What will you say?

Is this what you will say? “Their faith is the same as ours; they are orthodox just as we are.” If so, why are they not with us? There is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” If their cause is right, then ours is wrong; if ours is right, then theirs is wrong. “Children,” he says, “tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind.” Tell me, do you think it is enough to say that they are orthodox? Has the ordination of the clergy, then, had its day and been done away with? And what good is anything else, if this is not strictly kept? We must fight for the faith, and we must fight for this just as much. [s]

For if anyone at all may, in the phrase of the people of old, “fill his hands” and become a priest, then let everyone come forward and serve. It was for nothing that this altar was raised, for nothing the fullness of the church, for nothing the number of its priests. Let us do away with them and destroy them. “Far from it!” you will say. You are doing these very things, and you say, “Far from it”? How can you say “Far from it,” when the very things are happening?

I speak and bear witness with no eye to my own interest, only to your salvation. If anyone does not care, that is his own affair; if these things matter to no one else, they still matter to me. “I planted,” he says, “Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (First Corinthians 3, verse 6).

How will we bear the ridicule of the Greeks? If they taunt us over our heresies, what will they not say about this? “If they have the same doctrines, if they have the same mysteries, why does a ruler in one church invade another? Do you see,” they say, “how everything among the Christians is full of empty glory? There is love of show among them, and hypocrisy. Strip them of their numbers,” they say, “and they are nothing. Cut away the disease, that rotten crowd.” Would you like me to tell you what they say about our city, how they accuse us of being so easily led? Anyone who wants to, they say, can find followers, and would never be short of them. Oh, what mockery that is! What a disgrace these things are! [v]

And yet the mockery is one thing, and the disgrace another. If any among us are convicted of the most shameful deeds and are about to meet with some penalty, there is great alarm, great fear on every side, in case, as people say, he should break away and go over to the other side. Let such a man break away ten thousand times over, and let him go over to them! And I am not speaking only of those who have sinned. Even if someone is free of any offense and has a mind to leave, let him leave. I grieve over it, indeed; I mourn and lament it, and I am cut to the very heart, as though I were losing one of my own limbs. But I am not so grieved that fear of this will drive me to do anything wrong.

We have “no lordship over your faith,” beloved (Second Corinthians 1, verse 24), and we do not give these commands as your lords and masters. We are appointed to teach the word, not for power, not for absolute authority. We hold the place of counselors, to advise you. A counselor gives his own opinion. He does not force his hearer, but leaves him fully master of his own choice about what is said; he is to blame in one case only, if he fails to say what occurs to him. That is why we too say these things and press them: so that on that day it will not be open to you to say, “No one told us, no one gave us any command; we did not know; we thought it was no sin at all.”

So I declare and solemnly protest that to make a schism in the church is no less an evil than to fall into heresy. Tell me: suppose a subject of some king did not join himself to another king or give himself to anyone else, but took hold of his own king’s royal purple, tore it all away from its clasp, and ripped it into many shreds. Would he suffer less punishment than those who go over into another king’s service? And what if, on top of that, he were to seize the king himself by the throat, kill him, and tear his body limb from limb? What punishment could he suffer that would match what he deserves? Now if a man who did this to a king, his fellow servant, would be committing a crime too great for any punishment to reach, what hell will he not deserve who kills Christ and tears him limb from limb? The one that has been threatened? No, I do not think so, but another, far more dreadful.

Speak up, you women who are present — for this is mostly a failing of women — and tell those who are absent this comparison I have made. Shake them. If any think they can hurt me and so get their revenge, let them be well aware that they are doing it for nothing. If you want to take revenge on me, I will give you a way to take it without harm to yourself — or rather, there is no taking revenge without harm, but at least with less harm. Strike me, woman; spit on me when you meet me in the street, and aim your blows at me. [z]

Do you shudder to hear this? When I tell you to strike me, do you shudder, and yet tear your Lord and Master apart without shuddering? Do you pull apart the limbs of your Lord and Master, and not tremble? The church is our Father’s house. “There is one body, and one Spirit.” But do you want to take revenge on me? Then stop at me. Why take revenge on Christ in my place? Or rather, why kick against the goads? Revenge is never good or right in any case; but to attack one person when another has done the wrong is far worse.

Is it I who wronged you? Then why hurt him who has not wronged you? This is the very height of madness. What I am about to say I do not say in irony or idly, but as I truly think and feel. I wish that every one of those who share your anger against me — and who by this anger are harming themselves and going off elsewhere — would aim his blows at me, at my very face; would strip me and whip me, whether his charge against me is just or unjust, and let loose his fury on me, rather than dare to do what they are daring to do now. If that were done, it would be nothing — nothing, that a man who is a mere nothing and of no account whatever should be treated so. [aa]

And besides, I, the one wronged and injured, could call on God, and he might forgive you your sins. Not that I have such great boldness before him; but when the one who has been wronged pleads for the one who did the wrong, he gains great boldness. “If one man sins against another,” it says, “they will pray for him” (First Samuel 2, verse 25). And if I could not do it, I might look for other holy men and plead with them, and they might do it. But as things are, whom shall we even ask, when it is God whom we have outraged?

See how consistent they are! Of those who belong to this church, some never come forward to receive communion at all, or only once a year, and then without thought, just as it happens to fall out. Others come more often, it is true, but they too come carelessly and without thought, chatting as they come and joking about nothing. And those who supposedly are in earnest are the very people who are doing this damage. Yet surely, if this is what you are in earnest about, it would be better for you too to be in the ranks of the careless; or rather, it would be better still if they were not careless and you were not what you are.

I am not speaking of you who are present, but of those who are deserting us. The thing is adultery. And if you cannot bear to hear this said of them, neither should you bear to hear it said of us. The law must have been broken on one side or the other. So if you have these suspicions about me, I am ready to step down from my office and hand it over to whomever you choose. Only let the church be one.

But if I was lawfully appointed and consecrated, then urge those who have climbed onto the bishop’s throne against the law to give it up. [ab]

I have said these things not to dictate to you, but only to keep you safe and protect you. Since each of you is of age and will have to give an account of what he has done, I beg you not to throw the whole matter onto us and think yourselves free of responsibility, so that you do not go on deceiving yourselves to no purpose and lament it in the end. We will indeed have to give an account for your souls; but that will be when we have fallen short on our part: when we fail to urge you, when we fail to warn you, when we fail to protest. But after these words, allow me too to say, “I am clean of the blood of everyone” (Acts 20, verse 26), and “God will deliver my soul” (Ezekiel 3, verses 19 and 21).

Say what you like: give a just reason for leaving, and I will answer you. But no, you will not state it. So I beg you: from now on, make every effort both to resist nobly and to bring back those who have broken away, so that with one mind we may lift up thanks to God; for to him belongs the glory forever and ever. Amen.