Keeping the Unity of the Spirit
| Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians4:2-3) |
- It provides a thorough, comprehensive, and consolidated message of the Gospels in a clear, concise, and precise manner.
- It addresses many of the fundamental truths, teachings, and doctrines of the Gospels.
- Themes like love, unity, practical faith, and Christ's sacrificial love are central to this letter.
Christ's humble submission to willingly die on the cross for all humanity, His patience, and the love He demonstrated on the cross signify His desire for peace and unity in all our relationships. Paul emphasizes this in his letter, explaining that being united and one in Spirit requires effort and obligation from all of us, calling us to work tirelessly toward the unity of the Spirit.
Our efforts toward unity and peace must be characterized by humility, patience, gentleness, and tolerance.
The brokenness of the world---whether in our homes, marriages, or broader families---often stems from our impatience with one another, our lack of humility, and our tendency to fill the space with our own views, opinions, needs, and desires. As a result, strife and conflict abound.
It is a broken world because tolerance is trampled under the feet of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. Selective or discriminatory love breaks apart the bonds of peace that should unite us all. Yet, it is in the love of Christ that we find one another, and together, we work toward a united family, all striving for the unity of the Spirit.
Jesus Christ is the embodiment of this love---a sacrificial love that binds us together in peace and unity, giving us the strength to love one another more deeply in the Spirit. Paul urges and encourages us to work diligently at maintaining the unity of the Spirit so that we might reduce the burden of the world's brokenness and create unique, united communities of peace.
In Galatians 5:15, Paul stresses again that "biting and devouring" one another will lead only to mutual destruction. The unity of the Spirit is like a living organism that must be continually nourished with humility, patience, tolerance, gentleness---all wrapped in love.
We are therefore obligated and called to live out our faith by actively working to maintain the unity of the Spirit in our families, contributing to a better world.
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Rev. Caesar Murove is a minister in the Presbytery of Zimbabwe and currently serving at Dzivarasekwa UPCSA. He is married to Rev. D. Murove of St Peter's Mtapa Gweru UPCSA.
