The Book of Ephesians Pt. 27 Unity and Diversity in the Body of Christ. All Glory to God.

 We began studying Ephesians four by noting that Paul was in prison and that he was exhorting all believers of all generations to remain faithful to the apostolic teaching that God gave to the church. Then God through Paul gave us a command to walk worthy of our high calling in Christ Jesus. 

Paul taught us that if the Spirit of Christ is in us, we will have a character marked by being meek, lowly, longsuffering and forbearing of others. The Holy Spirit is in the process of building the character of Jesus Christ into each one of us. 

Paul exhorted all believers to make the effort and take the necessary steps to foster unity within the body of Christ and within each local church family. 

Unity explained.

Ephesians 4:4-6  There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5) One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6)  One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

We probably do not think enough about each of us being living stones joined together in the world wide body of Christ. The indwelling Spirit of God is the glue that binds us all together so  we can love and serve our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The Spirit of Christ is also the one who gives us spiritual strength for various ministry opportunities God has prepared for us so we can be privileged participants. He is also the one who imparts a wide variety of spiritual gifts to us in order to facilitate ministry within the local church, and within the global body of Christ. We are part of something small and something incredibly vast at the same time.

The words "one body" refer to the universal body of Christ, His church of which He is our glorious head. The words "one Spirit" are in grammatical neuter gender which means to use the masculine "He" for the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit of God is not a mystical force but a Person. He is the third person of the trinity. 

Finally, our faith has "one hope", which is connected with the Spirit of God. He gives us great hope by regenerating our heart and creating a new spirit and a new man within us. He gives us hope by sealing us as one of God's treasured possessions for eternity. He gives us hope by offering His indwelling presence as the earnest money or down payment of the future inheritance God has promised each believer in Christ. 

Ephesians 4:5,6  One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6) One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 

There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby all people must believe in before they gain admission to heaven (Acts 4:12). Jesus is the blessed name that every angel and demon, every believer and Christ rejecter, will bow down before and confess that He is Lord to the Father's glory (Philippians 2:5-11). As born again believers whatever we do in word or deed we do all for the glory of God in the name of Jesus Christ. 

Do all things in the name of Jesus.

Colossians 3:16-17  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17) And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. 

There is "one faith" and what we see in Christianity today is an anomaly compared to the church we read about in the book of Acts. According to "Christianity Today" there are about 45,000 distinct denominations under the umbrella of Christianity. 

False teachers and false doctrines abound and this is why we must study hard to know these truths. Paul tells us we must have the word of God dwelling in us richly. This is the idea that we read it, meditate upon it, study it and memorize it.  

In the apostolic era there was one church in each city. Ephesus, Colosse and Philippi each had one Christian church and denominations as we know them today were non existent then. 

Only one gospel. 

Jude 1:3  Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 

Jude tells us that there is a common salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the common faith that was once delivered to the saints. The apostles spread the gospel and established churches in many different locations. There is only one gospel and it follows the apostolic truths recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Galatians 1:6-10).

Part of this unity is the truth that there is only one baptism. Paul is not speaking about immersion by water. Rather, it is the baptism of the Spirit of God whereby He puts us into the body of Christ with all other believers. 

1 Corinthians 12:12-14  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13) For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14) For the body is not one member, but many. 

Paul wrote about our baptism by the Spirit of God into the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12. The body of Christ is one universal body composed of each believer (living stones) but yet it has many different members. Unity in the body and diversity in the body are both great gifts from God and can coexist in the body together. This is the body the Spirit of God baptized us and placed us into. 

Ephesians 4:6  One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 

All of these wonderful things are of God the Father. He is the initiator, planner and power behind all Creation, Redemption and our Salvation. We live in a pluralistic society that says all "gods" are equal and all faiths lead to heaven. However, the Bible makes it crystal clear that there is one Lord, one faith, one Spirit, one God and one gospel.

All things are under the power and authority of the Father. He holds sway over all human life. He is the source of all Light and Life. He has spoken to us by His Son in these last days. All men must hear and heed Him!

Thoughts to Ponder...

Paul gave us more explanation about the unity and diversity within the body of Christ. We need to think long and hard about why there are so many denominations and so many churches in each city when it is clear from scripture that this is not God's plan.

It would seem that part of our mission is promoting unity within the body of Christ. Not a false unity that compromises truth but a true unity of likeminded believers living by the same inspired book given us by God. 

We need a mighty working of the Spirit of God to help all believers regardless of denomination, to seek the unity of the Spirit and the bonds of peace among all believers. 

Bob