Like many lights illuminating a large room, the triune God shines more brilliantly through Christians gathered together than apart. Gifted grace fosters “humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love” and being “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (4:2). Graces are others-centered, which means that gifts cannot be self-centered, because we are “one body” and share “one hope” (v. 4), and we must show deference and give dignity to “each one” receiving the same grace (v. 7). Baptism (v. 5) brings us into the church (Acts 2:41), and without godly living in Christ with other Christians, considering gifts is a nonstarter.

If someone asked you to list spiritual gifts found in Scripture, what would make your list? God’s grace is a gift (Eph. 2:7–8), which includes Christ’s benefits, such as justification, adoption, and sanctification (Rom. 8:29–30). Additionally, Christlike character and characteristics such as wisdom, faith, and mercy are divine gifts, as the Holy Spirit kindly leads us to show the Savior’s kindness to others. Graces such as these are the best gifts and are better than gifts for service in the church, because knowing God is eternal life. It is better to have lots of saving graces with few serving gifts than many gifts to serve and no grace to save. Both Judas and Peter were gifted men, and both denied Christ, but only one had saving grace.

This raises the question: “What do we mean by gifts? Do we mean gospel grace, godly character, or gifts and talents?” In Ephesians 4:1–16, Paul included all three distinctly and intertwined them. His basic point is that the gospel of the triune God results in graces among God’s people, promoted through gifts that Christ gives to the church. What may surprise some readers is that the only “gifts” that Paul listed in the third sense relate to teaching offices in the church. Rather than a granular examination of this rather lengthy passage, this article presents a high-level view of Christ’s provision for His church under the themes of gospel, grace, and gifts.

Gospel

Having gifts in the church is like growing up. We need to be born, then develop, and then do something with our lives. But birth and development must come first. Any discussion of gifts must be grounded in gospel grace, which is itself grounded in God—more accurately, and blessedly, in the triune God and in Christ’s ascension. Rushing toward gifts and forgetting our grounding in the gospel would make us like a group of immature children running into the workforce but skipping the foundational identity and maturity that we must learn in the home before we can do anything else. The gospel of the triune God plants grace in our souls that must precede all gifts for service.

Paul packs a lot about God, the gospel, and Christ into these verses. Trinity and ascension take pride of place. The Ephesian church seemed to be doing fine spiritually, but Paul urged them to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3). Since they were “one body” and had “one Spirit,” God called them to a common hope (v. 4). On what ground? On “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (v. 5). “Lord” refers to the Lord Jesus Christ and reminds us of the Nicene Creed’s statement “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul’s point is that our common calling to eternal life in God is rooted in the “one Spirit” dwelling in all our hearts, and the “one faith” we share in God through Christ. “One baptism” signifies or points to the Spirit’s washing our hearts in new birth (Titus 3:5) and our union with Christ in His death and resurrection (Rom. 6:4), being washed with His blood (Rev. 1:5). On these grounds, we have “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:6). Gospel grace is saving grace, from the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit (1:3–14), so that in the Spirit, we might come through the Son to the Father (2:18).

What is gospel grace about? We have one Father, who has adopted us into His family by washing away our sins and justifying us in Christ, so that the same Spirit who gave us new birth (John 3:5), cleansing our hearts, might also sanctify us and cleanse our lives as we live in the church.

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