Introduction | Table of Contents | Chapter 7

In saying, "I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord," he not merely resumes what he had said of the Church at the close of chapter 2, but bases it likewise on all that he has unfolded in chapter 3.

How to Keep the Unity

While now beginning that part of his Epistle which consists more especially of practical exhortations, he has yet more to say, by way of the development of his subject, concerning the Church as the Body of Christ. The sublime character of his theme leads him at once to enjoin upon the saints the need of a walk worthy of their calling. Such a walk could be marked only by "all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering" and by forbearance of one another in love. Indissociable from these is the diligence necessary "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

Unity can exist only where we have a right estimate of ourselves, a realization of our own littleness and demerit, and that unassuming self-abasement which is a reflection of the lowliness of Christ; when, too, we exercise that spirit of glad submissiveness to God's dealings which produces considerateness towards others even when under provocation, the "invincible might of meekness," which reflects the meekness of Christ and overcomes evil with good. To these is to be added the longsuffering which patiently bears with unreasonableness and meets disappointments with quiet fortitude. Only so can we forbear one another in love. That kind of forbearance is not studied courtesy or frigid endurance, but is characterized by the holy attachment which binds believers together in the bonds of Christian love.

Formation of the Unity

Since these things are exhibited by reason of our relation to Christ, and are the fruit of the Spirit, they are essential to the maintenance of the unity of the Spirit. We are to "give diligence" (not merely "endeavour"), i.e., to make it our business, to keep this unity. The unity is there; it is not for us to fashion it. The Church is one, a Divine entity. The Spirit of God makes it so. As the presence of the Holy Spirit imparts to the Church its fitness to be God's Temple (2:22), so His power imparts its unity to it. That unity is not formed by man, nor by any ecclesiastical organization on earth. Human arrangements and institutions may devise, and have devised, something which possesses a show of uniformity from the natural point of view, but the unity of the true Body of Christ of which Scripture speaks, is spiritual in its course of development and heavenly in its position and character, its design and destiny.

Believers, then, are not exhorted to make the unity but to keep it. Each has a responsibility to act consistently with it, keeping it in the bond of peace, by exhibiting those traits of character and that conduct which are here enjoined. Such a manner of life is necessarily connected immediately with local conditions and circumstances. The Apostle was, for instance, directing his injunctions to the church at Ephesus, thus bringing his general instruction about the character of the whole Church as the Body of Christ, to bear upon their life as a local community. By dwelling together in harmony in "all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love," they would walk worthily of their high and spiritual vocation, and, as he says further on, by speaking truth in love (or rather dealing truly¹² in love), they would "grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ" (verse 15). Again, "putting away falsehood, they were to speak truth, each one with his neighbour, since they were members one of another" (verse 25). All bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour and railing, and all malice were to be put away from them; they were to be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave them (verses 31, 32). Thus maintaining unity in the local church, their harmonious conduct would be in conformity with the unity of the Spirit which pervades the whole mystical Body.

¹²"Speaking truth," represents the one verb aletheuo in the original. It signifies to deal faithfully, or truly, with anyone. "The idea of integrity of conduct as well as of truthfulness of speech is included in the word, see Gen. 42:16, LXX, "whether ye deal truly or no"' (Notes on the Epistle to the Galatians, by C. F. Hogg and the writer, p. 207).

An Unscriptural Unification

There is no hint here, or anywhere else in the New Testament, of anything like a unity consisting of the combination of a number of communities, or assemblies, delimited by geographical conditions, or formed into earthly associations or circles of fellowship, nor is there any hint of a number of churches bound together by the bonds either of formulated religious creeds or of human tradition. No matter whether such communities are organized by mutual consent or under a church council or any form of ecclesiastical authority centralized in a given locality, all such combinations are a distinct departure from the plain teaching of Christ and His Apostles. They do not constitute the unity spoken of in this passage or any other in the Word of God. They are the outcome of human conceptions and operations. They satisfy the aspirations of men but are contrary to the mind of the Lord.

The unity which the believer is to give diligence to keep is determined neither by efforts to bind churches into an earthly organization, nor by human ideas of what is or is not a local church. The risen and glorified Head has made provision for the spiritual direction and care of each local assembly. The traditions of men and the bondage, or confusion, which has been brought about by them have naught to do with the unity formed by the Holy Spirit. Where a local church acts in conformity with the teaching of the Word of God, it is thereby an expression of the unity of the Spirit.

Elements of Unity

There are elements of unity which characterize the whole. These are enumerated in verses 4 to 6:"There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye were also called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." The mention of the Trinity, "one Spirit," "one Lord," "one God and Father of all," is significant. The Spirit is put first, for the immediate subject dealt with is the unity of the Spirit. Associated with Him are the spiritual and heavenly unities of the Body and the hope of our calling. The Body, yet incomplete, and only a small portion of which is on the earth, is the entire Church, formed by the Spirit of God. The hope is associated with the Spirit, inasmuch as He is "the earnest of our inheritance" and is in that connection called "the Holy Spirit of promise" (1:13, 14).

The next three unities are associated with Christ. They have to do with public witness; firstly, the acknowledgment of Christ as Lord; secondly, the one faith, the complete Divine revelation, which testifies of Christ; he who holds it confesses Him; thirdly, the one baptism, an ordinance involving the public recognition of, and identification with, Christ as Lord. Then, to crown all, "there is one God and Father of an, who is over all" (His transcendence and supremacy), "and through all" (His pervading and controlling power), "and in all" (His indwelling and sustaining presence).

All these constitute "the unity of the Spirit" (verse 3), and they are enumerated as inducements for us to give diligence to keep this unity in the bond of peace. They have to do with the one Church, the Body of Christ, in which all believers are thus united to Him. Its unity is not yet visible, for the Head is not visible, but it will become so when He is manifested and His saints with Him.

Introduction | Table of Contents | Chapter 7

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