Unity in Diversity
We recently planted some hosta plants in our front flower bed. These are no ordinary hosta. These plants originated in my great-grandmother’s flowerbed in the mountains of north Georgia and were given to us by my green-thumbed Nanny. Like most plants these hostas need nutrient rich soil and the deer to be kept at bay to grow. In his letter to the Ephesians Paul uses horticultural language to describe life in the church (2:21, 3:17, 4:15). Like a garden plant, the local church needs rich soil and protection from pests to grow towards unity. According to Paul, diversity is essential to the mix.
God grows his church toward unity through diversity. Diversity is the nutrient rich soil in which the church grows. Earlier in the letter Paul explained, “[The church is] built upon the apostles and prophets.” Now, in verses 11 and 12 Paul writes, “And he gave (to the church) the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry.” God planted his church upon a diversity of voices with Jesus Christ being the chiefest. As a seedling the church began to grow in the soil of diversity, and continues to do so.
Diversity is essential for the church to become a Christ-like, unified community. From this passage, we learn that grace has been ministered to every member from Christ himself for building up the body (v. 7, 12-14). That is each believer in this early congregation, whether Jew, Gentile, male, female, slave, or free, has been gifted by Christ himself with the message of the gospel. Some will speak the gospel-truth through preaching and teaching. Others will put the same into words over meals, phone calls, or in passing. Either way, through diverse, gospel proclaiming voices the Lord grows his church into a unified community. So on one hand diversity is like a nutrient dense soil; but, on the other, it is also like a fence keeping away hungry and destructive pests.
God protects the unity of the church from false gospels with diversity. In verse 14, Paul acknowledges a real threat to this sapling of a congregation: the winds and waves of false doctrine. False doctrine is nothing but human cunning and crafty, deceitful schemes. Should false doctrine take root in the church it would be fatal! It would fracture the church’s Spirit-given unity. It would be like an overgrowth of weeds or an invasion of hungry caterpillars! So, what sort of false doctrine would be so life threatening?
In another letter, Paul addressed the false claim by some that the church needs dietary restrictions, syncretistic worship practices, and esoteric religious experiences to grow in Christ (Colossians 2:16-23). This couldn’t be further from the truth! Instead, Paul argues, all the church needs is the gospel, the word of Christ, to dwell richly among them in the teaching, singing, and conversing (Col. 3:16-17). In Ephesians, Paul shows us that diversity in the church protects the church from false gospels like the one addressed in Colossians.
Among our members we need Democrats and Republicans, GEDs and PhDs, country bumpkins and city slickers, and the full spectrum of God-given melanin. Aren’t these many of the categories that tend to pull the church apart? And yet, we need diversity in all of its conceivable forms because we need to hear the gospel of the descended, ascended, and ruling Christ from every voice to grow toward being a Christ-like, unified community (Eph. 4:8-9, 15-16). Hearing the gospel from different people and expressed in different ways will, like a good fence, guard our hearts and minds from non-gospels.
