The implausibility of ministry, maturity and purity outside of the relational unity prescribed in Ephesians 4:1–6

Abstract

The significance of relationships as an expression of authentic spirituality and central to Christology has not always been emphasized in biblical studies. In this paper we argue for the failure to articulate the primacy of redemptive relationships as an oversight of an emphatic Pauline injunction that relationships are the foremost expression of spirituality necessary for all other Christian pursuits