The basis of our unity is not found in culture, race, language or even doctrine. The basis of our unity lies in God and in the Salvation He offers us. We are one because we are saved by Jesus. Paul made this clear in chapter two and here, in almost creedal form, he re-iterates it.
There are seven "one's" in this passage.
Three of them refer to the Triune Godhead.
* One Spirit - the one who binds the body together
* One Lord (The Greek word is "Kurios") which in the NT refers to Jesus
* One God and Father of all
Three of them refer to our salvation:
* Hope: This is the start of our faith journey - we discover we don't have to save ourselves.
* Faith: We put our trust in Christ for there is no other way to be saved.
* Baptism: In New Testament times baptism was a public sign that indicated faith in Christ and allegiance to the Church.
And there is one
* Body: The church, which is the place where this unity is experienced and where we grow. Not the institutional church, but the Body where Jesus is the Head.
Paul uses a different sequence to what I have: The way he spells it out to us is the way most of us come to faith:
We come into contact with the BODY (Church) and the SPIRIT begins to draw us in and then we begin to have HOPE that Jesus Christ is the LORD who saves us and we put our FAITH in Him and BAPTISM signifies our allegiance to Him and we spend the rest our our lives giving glory to the FATHER.
This is the basis of our unity.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
