Ephesians 4:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Here one God the Father and one Lord the Son are named with the greatest clarity. This is written still more fully in the Epistle to the Corinthians: "But for us there is one God, the Father, from Whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom are all things, and we through Him" (1 Cor 8:6). As the Son does not take away from God the Father the meaning of Lord, although He alone is called Lord, so the Father does not deprive the Son of the meaning of God when the Father alone is called God.

Elsewhere we read: "Know that the Lord Himself is God" (Ps 99:3). Again, in another place: "The Lord your God is one God" (Deut 6:4). Indeed, if, as the Arians think, only God the Father is God, then with the same consistency one may conclude that only Jesus Christ is Lord. Then neither the Father would be Lord, nor the Son God. But God forbid that we should think there is no Godhead in lordship, or no lordship in Godhead.

There is one Lord and one God, because the lordship of the Father and the Son is one Godhead. Therefore faith is also called one, because we believe in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit in the same way. Baptism is one, because we are baptized into the Father, and into the Son, and into the Holy Spirit in the same way. We are immersed three times, that the one mystery of the Holy Trinity may be made manifest. Yet we are not baptized into the names of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, but into one name, which is understood as God.

I wonder by what sequence of thought Arius, Macedonius, and Eunomius suspect a difference of nature in one name, in one and the same action, and in one and the same mystery. Their disagreement is united in impiety. Having one and the same foul source in the doctrine that the Son and the Holy Spirit are creatures, they produced different streams of heresy.

"One baptism." These words also have force against Valentinus, who tries to prove that there are two baptisms, and against all heretics. They must know that they have no baptism, but that the one Church of Christ alone is the life-giving source. It can also be called one baptism because, although we are immersed three times on account of the mystery of the Trinity, this is counted as one baptism. The baptism in water, in the Spirit, and in fire is also one and the same. So also is that of which the Lord says: "I have a baptism to be baptized with" (Lk 12:50), and, "You will be baptized with My baptism" (Mk 10:39).

The difference of prepositions in the words, "one God and Father of all, Who is over all and through all and in all," points to a different understanding. God the Father is over all because He is the source of all. The Son is through all because He penetrates all things, transcurrit, and passes through all. The Holy Spirit is in all, because without Him there is nothing.

Yet one must not think that the one God is the Father of absolutely everything, so that the name Father may be assigned even to irrational animals. For ten people, five sons and five slaves, we may equally call Him one Lord and one Father for all ten, horum decem. Yet He is not Father of all and not Master of all in the same way. So also in His words, "one God and Father of all," one must understand that for some He is Father, and for others God.

Zeno with his Stoics has the same teaching about creatures and God. Following him, Virgil also says in the Aeneid, Book 6: "For God passes through all lands and the spaces of the sea," and so forth. Again he says: "From the beginning, spirit nourishes and sustains heaven and earth, the watery plains of the sea, the shining orb of the moon, and the great stars. Mind, poured through the members, moves the whole mass and mingles with the great body."

Some think that what is written by the Apostle, "over all, through all, and in all," should be referred to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Thus the Father is over all, as Creator of all. The Son is through all, because all things were created through the Son. The Holy Spirit is in all, for He is given to believers, and we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the Father and the Son dwell in us.

There is one Lord and one God, because the lordship of the Father and the Son is one Godhead. Therefore faith is also called one, because we believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in the same way. Baptism is one, because we are baptized into the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in the same way. We are immersed three times, that the one mystery of the Trinity may be made manifest.

The first pillar is one body; the second, one Spirit; the third, one hope; the fourth, one Lord; the fifth, one faith; the sixth, one baptism; the seventh, one God and Father, the ruler, provider, and indweller in us. The number of the pillars is mystical, and their power is strong. Therefore woe to those who dare to break these seven pillars and overthrow this unity established by God. Some do so as unbelievers by wicked false reasoning. Others do so as heretics by strange doctrines. Others do so as schismatics by prejudicial superstitions. Others do so as lawless lawgivers by laws contrary to God's ordinance. Foreseeing such a rebellion against this unity, the Apostle of God wondrously overthrows it, saying: "But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift."

The Apostle Paul requires from us such love as binds us together and makes us inseparable from one another. Then he most fittingly added, 'and one Spirit,' teaching that, with one body, we should have one mind. By this he wished to move them to mutual concord, as though saying: since you have received one Spirit and drunk from one fountain, there should be no divisions among you. Further the Apostle says, 'as you also were called in one hope of your calling.' That is: God has called us all to one and the same thing. To all He has given immortality, eternal life, unfading glory, brotherhood, and inheritance. For all He has become the Head. He has raised all together and seated all together." "We are united with the Lord Jesus Christ so that through Him we may be reunited with God. See to what height the Apostle has raised the unity of all: to God the Father. He says of Him that He is above all. This means that God watches over all believers in a special way, as over sons. 'Through all' means that God, filling them all, acts through them. 'In all' means that God rests in them by good pleasure, love, and repose. He is at rest with regard to them, for His purposes are fulfilled in them" (Bishop Theophan).

This is where the Apostle has led the unity of all. Now there remains nothing in heaven or on earth that could serve as a cause for isolation from others or division from one another. He has led all to God the Father and says of Him that He is over all, and through all, and in us all. By this he gives us to understand that for one who clearly understands the work of Christianity, any kind of isolation from others is unthinkable. He must behold the one God, the Father of all, filling all, in inseparable union with the Son and the Holy Spirit.

That what is said here of God concerns the way He was well pleased to place Himself in relation to us according to the divine economy of salvation is shown by the words "Father" and "us." That it speaks of Him in inseparable union with the Son and the Holy Spirit is clear from what has already been said. The one Spirit fills the whole body of believers, and all who are baptized by faith into the One put on the Lord. How could God the Father be over all, in all, and through all in separation, when both the Spirit and the Lord are already in all of them?

Therefore the words "over all, through all, and in all" express the relation of the Godhead to humanity reconciled with Him according to the divine economy of salvation. "Over all" means that God especially watches over all believers and extends over all of them with special care and love, as over sons. "Through all" means that God fills them all and acts through them. They are obedient instruments, consciously surrendered to His all-working power, whereas others attempt to do everything themselves and do not give God a place to act in them. "In all" means that God rests in them by His good pleasure, love, and repose. He is at rest in relation to them, because His purposes are accomplished in them. At the Dread Judgment, whoever gives rest to someone will receive recompense from that one.

Chrysostom says: "Over all, that is, above everything. Through all, that is, He provides for all and governs all. In all, that is, He dwells in all." Blessed Theodoret writes: "The phrase 'over all' signifies dominion, 'through all' providence, and 'in all' indwelling." Oecumenius and Theophylact say the same.

Others divide this inseparable relation of the Godhead to believers, though without separation. They refer the first to God the Father, the second to God the Son, and the third to God the Holy Spirit, so that in the last two the Father acts through the Son and the Spirit. Thus Saint John of Damascus says: "One Father is over all, Who is through all by the Word Who is from Him, and in all by His Spirit. Wishing to show how the likeness of divine unity shines forth in us, the Apostle proclaimed the properties of the Trinity in the one God." In other words, he ascribed the distinct actions of the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity in us to the one God.

Blessed Jerome writes the same, among other things: "Some refer the words 'over all and through all and in all' to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 'Over all' refers to the Father, because He is the cause of all. 'Through all' refers to the Son, because all things were created through the Son. 'In all' refers to the Holy Spirit, because He is given to believers, and we become the temple of the Holy Spirit. Both the Father and the Son dwell in us."

The conclusion from all that has been said is this: "We have one Lord, we have received one baptism, we have brought one faith, and one God and Father belongs to us all. Therefore it is fitting for you, as brothers, to have one mind among yourselves" (Theodoret).