The ecclesiastical difficulty of Ephesians 4:1–6 in view of the different perspectives on the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit

Frederick J De Beer

doi:10.4102/ids.v54i1.2641

Abstract

Visible church unity, where believers from different theological traditions accept and regard one another as part of the invisible church, has always been a contentious issue. This article will address this issue by focusing specifically on the relationship between the Reformed and the Pentecostal tradition, being two of the major theological traditions, as it relates to contemporary Christianity and a post-Christian world. While attempting to create an awareness of the necessity that the Reformed and Pentecostal traditions need to re-evaluate their disposition towards one another, Paul’s exhortation in Ephesians 4:1–6 is interpreted. The hypothesis of the article is that the Pentecostal and Reformed tradition should, without negating their respective theological traditions, consider Ephesians 4:1–6 as a possible measuring ethos in view of visible unity, to validate the witness of the church in a contemporary post-Christian world.

Highlights

Unity in the church has been a contentious issue for many decades with the visible church characterised by disunity (Kärkkäinen 2017:309)
The relation between the Reformed and the Pentecostal tradition1 has for decades been inauspicious, coupled with uncongenial opinions of each other, which is an unfortunate witness to the unity of the visible church
While the writer comes from a Pentecostal tradition, the hypothesis of this article would infer that Ephesians 4:1–6 should be considered as a measuring ethos when speaking of visible unity between the Reformed and Pentecostal traditions

Summary

Introduction

Unity in the church has been a contentious issue for many decades with the visible church characterised by disunity (Kärkkäinen 2017:309). In order to find common ground between the Reformed and Pentecostal tradition, Paul’s exhortation of ‘bearing with one another in love’ and to ‘make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace’ should, guide believers in understanding the meaning and significance of baptism that each tradition appreciates. While the mode and specific theology of baptism may differ, there remains one common denominator, the Reformed and Pentecostal believer’s identification with Christ (Swindoll 2015:277), which should be enough to adhere to Paul’s exhortation to ‘make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace’. There is, a need for the Pentecostal and the Reformed tradition to come to a greater realising of their need for each other, because the Pentecostal movement tends to have more practical experience in the use of spiritual gifts, from which the Reformed tradition could benefit from, while the Reformed tradition has a rich understanding of Christian doctrine and the Bible, from which the Pentecostal tradition could learn a lot from (Grudem 1994:1046)

Conclusion

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