There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.
The seven unities of spiritual life
1. One body.” Now the body is for our habitation, and it is for our action upon the world around, and it is for our reception of influences that the world around exerts upon ourselves. The body is for habitation, for activity, and for reception. If, then, in our own personal body our spirit so dwells that all the various organs work together for a common end, which end is good, then our body is what God designed it to be. And if in a group of persons the common life actually resides in each individual, so that each for the rest works willingly and earnestly towards procuring a common good, then there is a “body.” So, if through our bodily frame we act well upon the world, the use for which God designed the body is being fulfilled: and if our various senses are inlets of wisdom and of happiness from the world without, then again the use for which God designed the body is being fulfilled. And if a group of men are acting upon the world by their various individualities, combining by one thought to promote one good, they are a body--the use God designed in forming men into societies is being fulfilled. So, too, if they are receiving from without the various influences of knowledge and of happiness, they are as one body--the use that God designed is being fulfilled. We notice then, again, with respect to the body, that some of its members are more essential to existence than others, and yet they are all essential to completeness of existence. And one last thing concerning the body we may say, which is this--that though particular works require particular organs, or a connection of such organs, these are always best done when the general health and aptitude of the body are highest. Thus, if you have to work as a player upon instruments of music, or work as a painter with colours and with the pencil, the hand is requisite; but will it be merely the hand to which your excellence is due? Certainly not. If there be no general fineness of your senses, there cannot be any peculiar excellence in your specialty. Whatever be that specialty of a man which requires a certain organ or group of organs, his work will always be of the best sort according to the general health of his bodily sensibilities, the general harmony of his bodily powers. And so it will be in the works of a spiritual society. Whatever we require to be done, though it may, so to say, need only a part of our organism to fulfil it, that will be best done when our general state is healthiest. If we be full of bodily excellency, then any particular work will be most excellent.
2. There is “one Spirit.” Were there not one life in the root, the blade, and the ear, there could be no progression from the root towards the full corn. Were there not one life throughout the bodily frame, there could not be this union of activities to promote common advantage. There is one life in each thing that lives; nay, it could not be called living, were it not for this fact of internal unity. Now, speaking of ourselves completely, and not of the animal man merely, we say that if there be a disturbance in the spirit, the unity of life will show itself in the distress and groans of experience; but we say also, that whatever we do spiritually aright, whether it be to sing, to pray, to read, to give gifts, to discuss, to advise, to study--whatsoever we do aright, the benefit of the part will produce a blessing for the whole. Especially is the Spirit called the Holy Spirit. Now, the first thing required of us in preparing what is holy is separation; and the next thing is conjunction. The soul disunites from the world, and comes into conjunction with the Lord God.
3. “One hope.” “Ye are called in one hope of your calling.” A happy thought that is, that we are called. We have not in uncertainty come and asked, Is there any heaven, and which is the way there? Is there any God, and is He friendly? But there has come a call to us, and it is a call upwards. That is the only call that is a sufficient one for men. It is the call to glory and virtue that is a sufficing call for man. We are called, then; and as replying to the Divine call, with our active feet and our ready hands, we partake in a hope. Now, what is this hope? We hope for the redemption of the body, and the full perfection of the spirit; and as we are already much interested in one another, it is not simply the full redemption of our own flesh and blood, and the full perfection of our own individual limited spirit, that satisfies us, but we hope for a wise and happy world; we hope for a full and abiding joy. We are all called to do good--all called to be good; and it is quite certain that we can never be satisfied until individually there be a perfect spirit in a harmonious and healthful frame, and socially, also, there be a perfect spirit in a harmonious and healthful frame. This is our hope, and it is a hope of which we need not be ashamed.
4. “One Lord,”--the Lord Jesus Christ. One Lord; but men have not been at one in their thoughts of Him; they have not been at one in their conduct, which they have professed was governed by Him. This Lord has brought strife into the world. Now, to reconcile opposed persons is very hard, but to reconcile opposed opinions much easier; for truths have no animosity to each other; but persons, although their interests may be identical, are often, and soon, and very, angry with one another. Now, we must seek to reconcile truths in our own mind. Of course, as they are in the Divine mind which contains all truths in eternal harmony, there is no reconciliation required; but it will require much effort to make our little minds in some humble manner a transcript of the bright Divine mind.
5. “One faith”: by which we adhere to the one Lord. Faith is at once an expression of a weakness that we acknowledge, and of a strength which we trust and receive. It is, then, our adherence to the one Lord, who in His humanity gives us all necessary example and sympathy, and in His Divinity sustains us with a fund of strength that can never be exhausted.
6. “One baptism.” The actions that pertain to baptism, like the opinions that pertain to faith, are of comparatively little moment; but baptism itself is essential, because it is the application of the purifying element to the soul. Now, there are two principal elements, the water and the fire, that are applied for purification; and surely any man who comes out of the water after baptism, or has used the water thoroughly in any way for baptism, may say to himself, “This very water that cleanses me could drown me; this very water, whose action is so gentle, could sweep me away, as with a mighty rage.” In its gentle application, water removes impurities from us, as still capable of being cleansed; but should we become utterly impure, instead of washing in the wave to be made clean, we are washed away by it, that the earth may be cleansed.
7. Then we may speak last of all of the “one God,”--the one God and Father of us all, who is over all in His creative love, who is through all in the actions of His multiform but harmonious providence, and who is in us all, making the body of the spiritual Church to be the residence of His own love and truth. The Father of all: is the great Fatherhood of God yet manifested to the world? No, Is even His unity as the one Lord of creation manifest to the world? No. And are we approaching--for this is surely a suitable thought to allow ourselves in the closing moments of this discoarse--to a time truly catholic? Is society getting more catholic, or more conglomerate; more of a Church, or more of a medley? Are things becoming more in common; the spirit becoming more truly holy? (T. T. Lynch.)
Gospel unities
1. There is one body--the Church.
2. One Spirit--the Holy Ghost.
3. One hope--the resurrection from the dead.
4. One Lord--Jesus Christ.
5. One faith--the Christian religion.
6. One baptism--Christian baptism.
7. One God and Father of us all--the Lord God Almighty.
(1) He is above all. Then He is supreme. And because of this--
(a) He is worthy of our worship.
(b) He is worthy of all reverence in our worship.
(2) He is through all. Then He permeates all.
(3) He is in you all. Then we may each realize Him. Conclusion: If all this be true--then union should exist everywhere. (A. F. Barfield.)
The unity of the Church
The Church is one. When the apostle wrote this Epistle there were societies of Christians--Churches--in Rome, in Corinth, in Thessalonica, in Philippi, in Colosse, in Ephesus, in the cities and towns of Galatia, in the Syrian Antioch, and in Jerusalem. There were less famous Churches in other cities. They stood apart from each other; every separate Church had authority over its own affairs, maintained its own discipline, elected its own bishops and deacons, organized its own worship. As yet there was no confederation of these independent societies under any central ecclesiastical authority. Their unity was not constituted by an external organization, but by their common possession of the Spirit of God, and it is therefore called by the apostle “the unity of the Spirit.” He has spoken of the unity of the Church in the earlier part of the Epistle. The exclusion of the pagan races from “the commonwealth of Israel” had ceased; “the middle wall of partition” which separated them from the sacred court in which the elect nation had nearer access to God had been broken down. There was now one city of the saints, of which all Christian men of every nation were citizens; one household of God in which they were all children; one holy temple “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,” into the sacred walls of which they were all built “for a habitation of God in the Spirit.” He has asserted this unity in a still bolder form; for after speaking of the glory of Christ, who sits at the right hand of God, “far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come,” he described the Church as “the Body” of Christ, the organ of His life and thought and will, “the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.” And now he returns to this great conception. The “Body” of Christ, he says, is “one”; the “Spirit” of Goal who dwells in it is “one”; and in harmony with this unity of the “Body” of Christ and this unity of the “Spirit” who dwells in it, the great “hope” of all Christian men, of all who have been called into the Divine kingdom and have obeyed the call, is “one.” There is “one Lord,” only one--Christ Jesus the Prince and the Saviour of men; “one faith”--not a common creed, but a common trust in Christ for eternal righteousness and eternal glory; “one baptism,” and one only, the same rite by which Christ visibly claims men as belonging to the race for which He died, and over which He reigns, is administered to all. There is “one God and Father of all”; we all worship before the same eternal throne, and in Christ we are all the children of the same Divine Father; His sovereignty is absolute and supreme--He is “over all”; the power of His life penetrates the whole Body of Christ--He is “through all”; and His home is in all Christians--He is “in all.” (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)
The communion of saints
Believers in Christ are bound together in the ties of a holy brotherhood. Let us look a little at the nature of this communion.
I. With respect to the condition. “There is one Body and one Spirit”; and the exercise of that Spirit and the execution of His office are the same in all--to show them the things of Christ, that thus through Christ they may hold communion with the Father. The whole Body of the faithful are joined together in communion with the Father of spirits. They all meet at the same throne; they all unite in one common feeling, and join in one common song of praise.
II. Their pursuits. The Church is dispersed throughout the world; it is separated by difference of language, rank, age, circumstances; but being partakers off one Spirit and one faith, they are of one heart and one mind in the gospel, and they unite in the pursuit of God’s glory.
III. Their enjoyments. Here again their hearts are one. Christ Jesus is the centre of their joy. (William Reeve, M. A.)
One Body and one Spirit
TheChurch or Body is one. There are not two rival communities. The Body, with its many members and complex array of organs of very different position, function, and honour, is yet one. The Church, no matter where it is situated, or in what age of the world it exists--no matter of what race, blood, or colour are its members, or how various the tongues in which its services are presented--is one, and remains so, unaffected by distance or time, or physical, intellectual, and social distinctions. And as in the Body there is only one Spirit, one living principle--no double consciousness, no dualism of intelligence, motive, and action--so the one Spirit of God dwells in the one Church, and there is, therefore, no rivalry of administration, and there are no conflicting claims. And whatever the gifts and graces conferred, whatever variety of aspect they may assume, all possess a delicate self-adaptation to times and circumstances, for they are all from the “one Spirit,” having unity of origin and oneness of design and result. (J. Eadie, D. D.)
The oneness of Christ’s Church
The real spiritual Church of the Redeemer is one Body. All the members of that Church partake of the same grace, adhere to the same rule of faith, are washed in the same Blood, are filled with the same hopes, and shall dwell at length in the same blessed inheritance. Heretics and ungodly men may find their way into the Church, but they remain really separated from its “invisible conjunction of charity.” There may be variations in what Barrow calls “lesser matters of ceremony and discipline,” and yet this essential unity is preserved. (J. Eadie, D. D.)
The Church is not a material Body
In contemplating this Body you must divest yourselves of a material idea. What we call matter is by no means essential to living organisms. On the contrary, it is essential to the reality, unity, and permanence of a body that it be not material. “There are celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial.” But the celestial is much more strictly a body than the terrestrial. For a celestial body is incapable of decay, but an earthly body soon collapses, and falls into an inorganic mass. A body may be material, or psychical, or spiritual. The material is the lowest, and least worthy of being called a body. Strictly speaking, matter is an apparition. It is essentially deficient of the higher qualities of being, and consequently cannot maintain its integrity. It is a dense vapour that “appeareth for a little time, and then vanishes away.” As our own material body is a veil hiding another body, in like manner, the material universe is a covering upon a more glorious universe. The sanctuary, which was so constructed as to be a figure of creation, had for its outmost covering rough animal skins; but by lifting a series of coverings, you came to gold, and within all was the Divine Presence. Peter, James, and John were permitted to see that our Lord had, within His material body, a divinely luminous one, which was His true body. We are called to become citizens of the kingdom which is the inner and true body of the universe. This is the kingdom of heaven, which our Lord preached and opened to men. Our souls live, move, and have their being in this inner sphere. We are a part of it. (J. Pulsford.)
Sins against unity
All sins against unity are sins against the Holy Ghost. (Dr. Hedge.)
Union is strength
If you consider how it is that a hempen twine is made strong enough to draw a loaded waggon, or to bear the immense strain of a ship as she rides at anchor, you will see a significancy that perhaps did not occur to you before, in the use which Holy Scripture makes of this work of human art as an emblem. It is formed of many threads twisted together into one cord, and these cords are again combined into one cable. Each thread is in itself so weak, that a child could break, or the slightest weight would burst it; but when the threads are turned into one rope, their united strength is such as would have seemed incredible. “A three-fold cord is not quickly broken.” The truth is just before us that union is strength. They who are weak and helpless singly are able to produce a vast result, when they combine their powers. It was in order to restrain His sinful creatures from carrying out what they had combined with the intention of doing, that God frustrated the building of the tower of Babel, and scattered them over the face of the earth, and He gathers together again His elect people in one body in Christ, that by uniting their various energies in one work, and for one end, they may strengthen each other’s hands, and effectually “bruise under foot” the powers of darkness. (Bishop Trower.)
Christian work promotes unity
Captain Moreton, to illustrate the concord that came from union in work, retailed the following incident he had heard from Mr. Macgregor (Rob Roy). He was walking one day on the southern English coast, and fell across some seafaring men quarrelling about the way in which a button had been sewn on one of their coats. They were on the point of coming to blows, when a cry was raised that there was a ship on the Goodwin Sands, and that the lifeboat was needed. Instantly the trumpery quarrel was at an end, and all were heartily at work doing their best to save their shipwrecked brethren.
