EPHESIANS - Chapter 4 - Verse 6

Verse 6. One God. The same God; therefore there should be unity. Were there many gods to be worshipped, there could be no more hope of unity than there is among the worshippers of Mammon and Bacchus, and the various other idols that men set up. Men who have different pursuits, and different objects of supreme affection, can be expected to have no union. Men who worship many gods, cannot hope to be united. Their affections are directed to different objects, and there is no harmony or sympathy of feeling. But where there is one supreme object of attachment, there may be expected to be unity. The children of a family that are devoted to a parent will be united among themselves; and the fact, that all Christians have the same great object of worship, should constitute a strong bond of union among themselves—a chain always kept bright.

The Father of all. One God who is the Father of all; that is, who is a common Father to all who believe. That this refers to the Father, in contradistinction from the Son and the Holy Spirit, seems evident. The Spirit and the Son are mentioned in the previous verses. But the fact, that the "Father of all" is mentioned as "God," does not prove that the Spirit and the Son are not also endowed with Divine attributes. That question is to be determined by the attributes ascribed to the Son and the Holy Spirit in other places. All sincere Christians worship one God, and but one. But they suppose that this one God subsists as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, united in a mysterious manner, and constituting THE one God, and that there is no other God. That the Father is Divine they all hold, as Paul affirms here; that the Son and the Holy Spirit are also Divine they also hold. See Barnes "Joh 1:1"; See Barnes "Heb 1:1"; See Barnes "Php 2:6"; See Barnes "Ro 9:5".

The meaning here is, that God is the common Father of all his people—of the rich and the poor; the bond and the free; the learned and the unlearned. He is no respecter of persons. Nothing would tend more to overcome the prejudices of colour, rank, and wealth, than to feel that we all have one Father; and that we are all equally the objects of his favour. Comp. See Barnes "Ac 17:26".

Who is above all. Who is supreme; who presides over all things.

And through all. He pervades universal nature, and his agency is seen everywhere.

And in you all. There is no one in whose heart he does not dwell. You are his temple; and he abides in you. See Eph 2:22. See Barnes "1 Co 6:19".

The argument here is, that as the same God dwelt in every heart, they ought to be one. See this argument beautifully expressed in the Saviour's prayer, Joh 17:21. Comp. Joh 14:23.