Unity in the Body of Christ. (Chap.4)
God has chosen us to be the ambassadors in this world. Apostle Paul exhorts the church to display the unity among themselves. In the first 16-verses (4:1-16), Paul speaks of the practical application of the doctrine taught in the first 3-chapters of the letter. God is building a body, a temple. He has reconciled Jews and Gentiles to Himself in Christ. The oneness of believers in Christ is already a spiritual reality. Here comes the believers’ responsibility to protect and preserve that unity.
Christian unity: (4:1-6):
Paul gives 6-virtues and 7-doctrinal truths in order to keep the Christian unity.
The 6-virtues are:
- Humbleness: Humbleness or humility is that grace that, when you know you have it, you have lost it.” Humility means putting Christ first, others second, and self last. It means knowing ourselves, accepting ourselves, and being ourselves to the glory of God. God does not condemn us when we accept ourselves and our gifts (Rom.12:3). He just does not want us to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to or less highly than we ought to.
- Gentleness: Gentleness in other words is meekness which is not the weakness. It is the power under control. Moses, Lord Jesus Christ.
- Patient or long suffering: This is the ability to endure long discomforts. It is also one of the fruit of Spirit (Gal. 5:22). When a believer has the patience, he walks in unity of the body of Christ.
- Bearing with one another:This is the grace of experiencing with one another in love. Love is kind and long suffering. Love does not find faults with others. This is an amazing experience when we walk in the unity of the body of Christ.
- Unity of the Spirit:The unity of the Spirit is again an off shoot of love. When we love others we can maintain the unity of the Spirit. The Apostle John spoke of love every Sunday in the church of Ephesus during his old age: “Dear children love one another. If you do this, it is enough.”
- The bond of Peace: The bond of peace is a must virtue for every believer. If we cannot have peace with others, we cannot have peace with God. The Peace of God passes all our understanding or it is beyond human understanding. The bond of Peace can only keep all the believers in unity for any spiritual activity to perform through the church.
The 7-doctrinal truths are:
- There is one body: (4:1-4a): All believers belong to one body and all are united under one head. Every one has a God given ability which he must recognise and bring to work so that the body of Christ may be edified.
- There is one Spirit: (4:4b): The one Spirit is the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is one of the Triune God Head and freely gives us the gifts and fruit. One has to develop his gifts and fruit in order to fulfil the God-given responsibility in our life.
- There is one hope: (4:4c): The one hope is the Eternal life. We are only pilgrims in this world and our citizenship is in Heaven. God has prepared a place for us to live in heaven.
- There is one Lord: (4:5a): The Triune God. The Lord Jesus Christ will one day come back for us. He is the creator and redeemer. Through His greatest plan of Salvation, He has reclaimed the world back to Him.
- There is one faith: (4:5b): All believers have one faith, e. the faith in the one and only God the Lord Jesus Christ. By faith we believe that He is our Saviour. Without faith we can do nothing. “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Heb. 11:1). We know that “for it is by grace we have been saved, through faith” (2:2a). This one faith keeps all believers in unity
- There is one baptism: (4:5c): This “one baptism” is probably the baptism of the Spirit, that act of the Holy Spirit when He places the believing sinner into the body of Christ at conversion (1 Cor.12:13). This is not an experience after conversion, nor is it an experience the believer should pray for or seek after. We are commanded to be filled with the Spirit (Eph.5:18), but we are never commanded to be baptized with the Spirit, for we have already been baptized by the Spirit at conversion. As far as the one body is concerned, there is one baptism the baptism of the Spirit. But as far as local bodies or assembly of believers are concerned, there are two baptisms: the baptism of the Spirit, and water baptism.
- There is one God and Father: (4:6):One God and Father. Paul likes to emphasize God as Father. We are children in the same family, loving and serving the same Father, so we ought to be able to walk together in unity. Just as in an earthly family, the various members have to give and take in order to keep a loving unity in the home, so God’s heavenly family must do the same. The “Lord’s Prayer” opens with “Our Father” – not “My Father.”