"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also you were 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 unto each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ."
The love Paul requires of us is no common love, but that which cements us together, and makes us cleave inseparably to one another, and effects as great and as perfect a union as though it were between limb and limb. For this is that love which produces great and glorious fruits. Hence he says, there is "one body"; one, both by sympathy, and by not opposing the good of others, and by sharing their joy, having expressed all at once by this figure. He then beautifully adds, "and one Spirit," showing that from the one body there will be one Spirit: or, that it is possible that there may be indeed one body, and yet not one Spirit; as, for instance, if any member of it should be a friend of heretics: or else he is, by this expression, shaming them into unanimity, saying, as it were, "You who have received one Spirit, and have been made to drink at one fountain, ought not to be divided in mind"; or else by spirit here he means their zeal. Then he adds, "Even as you were called in one hope of your calling," that is, God has called you all on the same terms. He has bestowed nothing upon one more than upon another. To all He has freely given immortality, to all eternal life, to all immortal glory, to all brotherhood, to all inheritance. He is the common Head of all; "He has raised all" up, "and made them sit with Him." [Ephesians 2:6] You then who in the spiritual world have so great equality of privileges, whence is it that you are high-minded? Is it that one is wealthy and another strong? How ridiculous must this be? For tell me, if the emperor some day were to take ten persons, and to array them all in purple, and seat them on the royal throne, and to bestow upon all the same honor, would any one of these, think ye, venture to reproach another, as being more wealthy or more illustrious than he? Surely never. And I have not yet said all; for the difference is not so great in heaven as here below we differ. There is "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." Behold "the hope of your calling. One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all." For can it be, that you are called by the name of a greater God, another, of a lesser God? That you are saved by faith, and another by works? That you have received remission in baptism, while another has 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, ordering all; and "in you all," that is, who dwells in you all. Now this they own to be an attribute of the Son; so that were it an argument of inferiority, it never would have been said of the Father.
"But unto each one of us was the grace given."
What then? He says, whence are those diverse spiritual gifts? For this subject was continually carrying away both the Ephesians themselves, and the Corinthians, and many others, some into vain arrogance, and others into despondency or envy. Hence he everywhere takes along with him this illustration of the body. Hence it is that now also he has proposed it, inasmuch as he was about to make mention of diverse gifts. He enters indeed into the subject more fully in the Epistle to the Corinthians, because it was among them that this malady most especially reigned: here however he has only alluded to it. And mark what he says: he does not say, "according to the faith of each," lest he should throw those who have no large attainments into despondency. But what says he? "According to the measure of the gift of Christ." The chief and principal points of all, he says — Baptism, the being saved by faith, the having God for our Father, our all partaking of the same Spirit, — these are common to all. If then this or that man possesses any superiority in any spiritual gift, grieve not at it; since his labor also is greater. He that had received the five talents, had five required of him; while he that had received the two, brought only two, and yet received no less a reward than the other. And therefore the Apostle here also encourages the hearer on the same ground, showing that gifts are bestowed not for the honor of one above another, but for the work of the church, even as he says further on:
"For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministering unto the building up of the body of Christ."
Hence it is that even he himself says, "Woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel." [1 Corinthians 9:16] For example: he received the grace of Apostleship, but for this very reason, "woe unto him," because he received it: whereas you are free from the danger.
"According to the measure."
What is meant by, "according to the measure"? It means, "not according to our merit," for then would no one have received what he has received: but of the free gift we have all received. And why then one more, and another less? There is nothing to cause this, he would say, but the matter itself is indifferent; for every one contributes towards "the building." And by this too he shows, that it is not of his own intrinsic merit that one has received more and another less, but that it is for the sake of others, as God Himself has measured it; since he says also elsewhere, "But now has God set the members each one of them in the body, even as it pleased Him." [1 Corinthians 12:18] And he mentions not the reason, lest he should deject or dispirit the hearers.
Now, that this God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul the apostle also has declared, .
In accordance with this, too, does the apostle say, "There is one God, the Father, who is above all, and in us all.".
which the Lord grants to those who rightly believe in Him, and love Him, and who know that "there is one Father, who is above all, and through all, and in us all."
These things then, brethren, are declared by the Scriptures. And the blessed John, in the testimony of his Gospel, gives us an account of this economy (disposition) and acknowledges this Word as God, when he says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." If, then, the Word was with God, and was also God, what follows? Would one say that he speaks of two Gods? I shall not indeed speak of two Gods, but of one; of two Persons however, and of a third economy (disposition), viz., the grace of the Holy Ghost. For the Father indeed is One, but there are two Persons, because there is also the Son; and then there is the third, the Holy Spirit. The Father decrees, the Word executes, and the Son is manifested, through whom the Father is believed on. The economy of harmony is led back to one God; for God is One. It is the Father who commands, and the Son who obeys, and the Holy Spirit who gives understanding: the Father who is above all, and the Son who is through all, and the Holy Spirit who is in all. And we cannot otherwise think of one God, but by believing in truth in Father and Son and Holy Spirit. For the Jews glorified (or gloried in) the Father, but gave Him not thanks, for they did not recognise the Son. The disciples recognised the Son, but not in the Holy Ghost; wherefore they also denied Him. The Father's Word, therefore, knowing the economy (disposition) and the will of the Father, to wit, that the Father seeks to be worshipped in none other way than this, gave this charge to the disciples after He rose from the dead: "Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." And by this He showed, that whosoever omitted any one of these, failed in glorifying God perfectly. For it is through this Trinity that the Father is glorified. For the Father willed, the Son did, the Spirit manifested. The whole Scriptures, then, proclaim this truth.
He is “God and Father of all” by being the God but not the Father of some and both God and Father of others. It is as if, picking out ten men of whom five were someone’s sons and five his slaves, one said, “this is the lord and father of all ten.”
It is impossible to speak of any parts or division in the incorporeal, but he is “in all and through all” … insofar as he is understood as either Wisdom or Word or life or truth, an interpretation which undoubtedly excludes all local confinement.
Here is a physical analogy to a spiritual truth: We can agree that the sun is “above all” things on earth. But by its rays it might be said at the same time to be “through all.” And insofar as the power of its light penetrates everywhere, it could also be said to be “in all.” It is in this way, I think, that God’s majesty is denoted by the phrase “above all.” God’s all-sufficiency is denoted in the words “through all.” It also belongs to the power of God to penetrate into all, so that because of his being in all no one is entirely void of him.
The Father makes all things by the Word in the Spirit. So it is that the Unity of the Trinity is safeguarded. So it is that in the Church is proclaimed the one God who is ‘above all and through all and in all (Eph 4.6)’. He is ‘above all’ as Father, as author and source; ‘through all’ by the Word; ‘in all’ in the Holy Spirit.”
- "Letters to Serapion on The Holy Spirit, 1.28"
God the Father owes his existence to no one. Hence he is declared to be “over all” and “through all.” He is “through all” in the sense that all things come from him. Necessarily he will be “over all” the things that come from him. And God is “in all,” that is, dwelling in all the faithful. For he is in us by our confession, because we confess him, and he has given us his own Spirit, through which without doubt he is dwelling in us. He is not in the same sense dwelling in unbelievers who deny that he is the Father of Christ.
One God contains all and guides all as is fitting and is in all. This one saying of Paul suffices by itself to express everything succinctly, when he says that God is “over all and through all and in all.”
Those who read very closely recognize the Trinity in this passage. Paul writes of God the Father “who is above all and through all and in all.” All things are “from God,” who owes his existence to no one. All things are “through him,” as though to say through the Mediator. All things are “in him,” as though to say in the One who contains them, that is, reconciles them into one.
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Ephesians 4:4-7
The love Paul requires of us is no common love, but that which cements us together, and makes us cleave inseparably to one another, and effects as great and as perfect a union as though it were between limb and limb. For this is that love which produces great and glorious fruits. Hence he says, there is "one body"; one, both by sympathy, and by not opposing the good of others, and by sharing their joy, having expressed all at once by this figure. He then beautifully adds, "and one Spirit," showing that from the one body there will be one Spirit: or, that it is possible that there may be indeed one body, and yet not one Spirit; as, for instance, if any member of it should be a friend of heretics: or else he is, by this expression, shaming them into unanimity, saying, as it were, "You who have received one Spirit, and have been made to drink at one fountain, ought not to be divided in mind"; or else by spirit here he means their zeal. Then he adds, "Even as you were called in one hope of your calling," that is, God has called you all on the same terms. He has bestowed nothing upon one more than upon another. To all He has freely given immortality, to all eternal life, to all immortal glory, to all brotherhood, to all inheritance. He is the common Head of all; "He has raised all" up, "and made them sit with Him." [Ephesians 2:6] You then who in the spiritual world have so great equality of privileges, whence is it that you are high-minded? Is it that one is wealthy and another strong? How ridiculous must this be? For tell me, if the emperor some day were to take ten persons, and to array them all in purple, and seat them on the royal throne, and to bestow upon all the same honor, would any one of these, think ye, venture to reproach another, as being more wealthy or more illustrious than he? Surely never. And I have not yet said all; for the difference is not so great in heaven as here below we differ. There is "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." Behold "the hope of your calling. One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all." For can it be, that you are called by the name of a greater God, another, of a lesser God? That you are saved by faith, and another by works? That you have received remission in baptism, while another has 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, ordering all; and "in you all," that is, who dwells in you all. Now this they own to be an attribute of the Son; so that were it an argument of inferiority, it never would have been said of the Father.
"But unto each one of us was the grace given."
What then? He says, whence are those diverse spiritual gifts? For this subject was continually carrying away both the Ephesians themselves, and the Corinthians, and many others, some into vain arrogance, and others into despondency or envy. Hence he everywhere takes along with him this illustration of the body. Hence it is that now also he has proposed it, inasmuch as he was about to make mention of diverse gifts. He enters indeed into the subject more fully in the Epistle to the Corinthians, because it was among them that this malady most especially reigned: here however he has only alluded to it. And mark what he says: he does not say, "according to the faith of each," lest he should throw those who have no large attainments into despondency. But what says he? "According to the measure of the gift of Christ." The chief and principal points of all, he says — Baptism, the being saved by faith, the having God for our Father, our all partaking of the same Spirit, — these are common to all. If then this or that man possesses any superiority in any spiritual gift, grieve not at it; since his labor also is greater. He that had received the five talents, had five required of him; while he that had received the two, brought only two, and yet received no less a reward than the other. And therefore the Apostle here also encourages the hearer on the same ground, showing that gifts are bestowed not for the honor of one above another, but for the work of the church, even as he says further on:
"For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministering unto the building up of the body of Christ."
Hence it is that even he himself says, "Woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel." [1 Corinthians 9:16] For example: he received the grace of Apostleship, but for this very reason, "woe unto him," because he received it: whereas you are free from the danger.
"According to the measure."
What is meant by, "according to the measure"? It means, "not according to our merit," for then would no one have received what he has received: but of the free gift we have all received. And why then one more, and another less? There is nothing to cause this, he would say, but the matter itself is indifferent; for every one contributes towards "the building." And by this too he shows, that it is not of his own intrinsic merit that one has received more and another less, but that it is for the sake of others, as God Himself has measured it; since he says also elsewhere, "But now has God set the members each one of them in the body, even as it pleased Him." [1 Corinthians 12:18] And he mentions not the reason, lest he should deject or dispirit the hearers.