Christian Unity Maintained, Pt2
Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-6.
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II. THE UNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS SEVEN-FOLD
That which binds us together is seven-fold.1. There is one body. This is a reference to the body of ChristÕs church. To it belongs all the people of God, 3:15. What a wonderful illustration of unity! What pain, disablement, weakness ensues when the unity of the body takes place!
How unseemly for division in that which God united and made one! “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another,” Rom 12:5.
2. There is one Spirit. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” 1 Cors 3:16. Each believer is born again of the Holy Spirit and made to be a partaker of His grace.
3. There is one hope. Entrance into this one body is by the grace of the Holy Spirit. “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his,” Romans 8:9. Each true believer shares a common hope wrought in them by the Holy Spirit.“ Christ in you, the hope of glory,” Cols 1:27. “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began,” Titus 1:2.
4. There is one Lord. This is the centre of unity. Every believer owes allegiance to one Lord and saviour. “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s,” 1 Cor 6:20. “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,” 1 Peter 1:18-19.
5. There is one faith.“And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith,” Acts 6:7.“But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed,” Galatians 1:23. The “faith” is that system of doctrine revealed in the Word of God, Jude 3. It is THE FAITH. Every true believer acknowledges the Word of God to be only rule of faith and practice.
6. There is one baptism. This does not refer to water baptism but rather that which water baptism represents. It is the act of the Holy Spirit by which we are placed into Christ and rise to walk in newness of life. Baptism is illustrated, 1 Cor 10:1-2. This union with Moses symbolised what happened to us as stated in Col 1:13. “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son,” Cols 1:13.
7. There is one God and Father of all. He is our Father and Creator. Here is the family image again. Our Father pervades our whole being. “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all,” verse 6.
The unity of believers is based on One Spirit, One Lord and One Father. Our union with the Trinity establishes our unity together. “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me,” John 17:21. Each believer is part of an eternal, spiritual mystical and divine union.