Barnabaspiper.com

/

God’s Unity and Ours

“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6).

Seven times in these verses, we read the word one. Paul is very clearly making a point, drawing our attention to something. He wants us to see the unity in God so that we live in the unity that comes from God.

What do I mean that there is “unity in God? We see that there is one Lord (that’s Jesus), one Spirit, one God, and Father of all. Paul is pointing us to the unity within the Godhead, the oneness of the Trinity. These three persons are ONE, and there is only one of each. And he is showing us that all believers worship and follow this ONE God. We all look to the same savior. We are all animated, enlivened, and empowered by the same Spirit. And we all share a single heavenly Father who is God over all and through all and in all. So it is from this Godhead, this three-in-one, that the church is ONE:

  • We are one body–a single spiritual organism, the body of Christ, brought together and given life by the Holy Spirit.
  • We have one hope–in the good news of Jesus Christ, sent by the Father as our savior, our atoning sacrifice, the one who intercedes on our behalf, and the one who now sits at the right hand of God the Father until he will return, make all things new, and rule in righteousness forever.
  • We share one faith–the truth of the words, promises, and doctrines handed down to us from the Scriptures and by the prophets and apostles.
  • That we have one baptism is not a commentary on method or form but a declaration that we are baptized into the people of God, the family of God.

Because God is one, therefore we are to be one. Or rather, because God has worked from his oneness, we have been made into one new man.

I originally wrote this post for my church, Immanuel Nashville, in our Daily Pulse email. If you want encouragement from God’s word delivered Monday thru Friday to your inbox, I encourage you to subscribe!