“4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
Last week, we looked at the way we can work at the unity we have in Christ. We looked at how we are to see ourselves and to treat each other. We are to be lowly, gentle, and long-suffering toward each other. We are to forgive each other over and over again and always deal with each other gently. We are to work diligently to maintain the bond of peace that God gives us in Jesus.
This week, we will look at the unity we are to have in doctrine. Some in the ‘church’ world would have peace at all costs, but the Bible does not allow this. Our peace, the peace that we have in and through Jesus, must be based on TRUTH. As such Paul lays out some things we need to have one mind in.
Sadly, there has been a falling way from the faith by many people. Some say that they are beyond the Gospel now. Others no longer want to hold on to the truths that are clearly laid out in scripture – we are old-fashioned; we need a more modern interpretation of certain scriptures. Some ‘pastors’ claim that Jesus would not say things the same way today – He would see it differently, and on and on. But the truth is that Jesus knew what He was saying. He said what He meant and meant what He said.
Let us then consider the things that create unity and peace in our local church bodies.
One Body: The local church is ONE body. We are made up of many parts, much like the human body, but we are one. Paul lays this out for us in 1 Corinthians 12:15-26, where he teaches us about the unity, the oneness of the local church by using the human body as an example. The foot needs the hand; the ear needs the eye, all working in concert with each other to make us this amazing machine we call the human body. The local church is just that. One body, all members sewn together in Jesus.
Then there is ONE Spirit: The Holy Spirit that holds us all together. Notice in Acts 16:29-34 that the Philippian jailer went from Paul and Silas’ enemy to feeding them and caring for their wounds once he had been saved. A total difference now that they had the same Spirit. Peter in Acts 10:47 could not deny Cornelius water baptism because they saw that He had received the same Spirit as they had.
One Hope: We are all saved the same way. In Ephesians 2:8-9, we are reminded that we are all saved by grace through faith. Abraham, we are told in Acts 4:4, believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Our faith is in the promises of God and character of God. In Numbers 23:19, we are told that God is not man that He should lie, thus we are assured that when we place our faith in Jesus and trust in His death, burial and resurrection as the full payment for our sins, then we can believe God and have hope that we have eternal life as a gift from God.
One Lord: We find the famous verse from Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” We serve one God. He exists in three persons, but He is ONE LORD. This is very important; many people talk about Jesus as God, but they do not see Him as the All-Mighty God but as a lesser god. The scripture in many places clearly lays out the Trinity. Even here in our verses, the Lord is ‘above all,’ ‘through all,’ and ‘IN ALL.’ Our one Lord is in all of us who believe in the person of the Holy Spirit.
One Faith: Our faith is in Jesus and Jesus alone. It is amazing that we can meet people from all walks of life, different languages and backgrounds, and once we find out that we have our faith in Jesus and Jesus alone, there is a oneness that transcends creeds, cultures, and languages. There is one faith that is more powerful and more uniting than any other metric in the world.
One Baptism: Immersion into water after we have been saved is the only true baptism. All else is not true baptism. We see even in the very ministry of John the Baptist that as soon as Jesus came on the scene, John made it clear in John 3:30 that Jesus would increase and then decrease, then we see that, by John 4:2, the apostles are the ones doing the baptisms. All proper baptisms are done by local churches on those who have made a public profession of faith (see Acts 8:35-38). The Eunuch made a public profession of faith, and then he was baptized by Philip, a member and a deacon from the Jerusalem church.
One God and Father of us all: All believers are children of God the Father, Sons and daughters of the Highest. We are able to call Him ‘Our Father.’ We can call Him ‘Abba’ (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:4); we are one family in Jesus.
These fundamental truths are the basis for unity; these are the basis for our peace together. Sometimes we add a lot of other stuff in here to clarify, and often cause more division than unity. These ‘Ones’ laid out here by the Holy Spirit, using the pen of the Apostle Paul, give us a good foundation, a true guideline for peace and unity in the family of God.
There is a question that we should consider from Amos 3:3 – how can two walk together? The answer is that we must find some kind of agreement. Well, we have had this idea of agreeing to disagree over doctrine for too, too long. The Bible gives us some ‘need to have doctrines’ that promote and, in fact, strengthen unity. These are sacred truths that should not be compromised or abandoned in the name of ‘unity.’ Instead, we create a fake unity that is weak and helps no one to grow; it does not help us to be stronger, but once we compromise, there will be calls to compromise more and more for the sake of unity. In the book of Jude, we are told to contend for the faith, contend for the truth that was given to us.
Let these truths be the foundation, the basis, the sure footing for our fellowship and unity. How can two walk together? When they agree on the fundamental truths of the scriptures.