Church follows in verses 4-6. It is sevenfold. Observe the seven “one’s.” (a) “One body.” Here is the oneness of the Church itself. This mystical body of Christ (the Church) already exists. It originated on the day of Pentecost and answered the Lord’s prayer when He prayed: “That they all may be one: as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:21). There are many denominations, many church es, many forms of administration, many gifts, but only one body, one true Church. Through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, “are we all bap tized into one body” (I Cor. 12:13). “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another” (Rom. 12:5). (b) “One Spirit.” Doubtless Paul means the Holy Spirit. The unity is of His begetting. It is called “the unity of the Spirit.” By His operation men are born again and added to the body. When the Holy Spirit came down on the day of Pentecost to form that body, the disciples “were all with one accord in one place” (Acts 2:1). Such is the unity of the Spirit. (c) “One hope.” In Chapter 1:18, Paul wrote about “the hope of His call- ing”; here it is “one hope of your call ing.” It has been mentioned that the believer’s calling is high, holy, and heavenly. The hope of such a calling is our final glorification when we shall be like the. Lord and be forever with Him. The saints have a rich inheri tance in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. While we will not enter fully into our inheritance until Christ re turns, we have the earnest of the Holy Spirit to strengthen our hope. He keeps that hope alive. There is no hope like it in all the world, and in this one all Christians share. (d) “One Lord.” The one Lord is God’s eternal. Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Jude speaks of ungodly men who deny Him (Jude 4). The believer owns Him and walks in obedience to His will. Jesus Chnst is our Saviour;
but He is more: He is our Lord. It is the recognition of His Lordship that preserves the unity of the Spirit. Paul writes: And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord” (I Cor. 12:5). There are many gifts but one Giver. There are many ways of exercising ahd administering those sifts, but the same Sovereignty owns and rules over all. (e) “One faith.” There is only one system of truth; it is “the faith was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). One may possess the right attitude of faith but the wrong object of faith. It matters not how one believes if he does not embrace the one saving ob ject of faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul testified that he preached ‘the faith” (Gal. 1:23). Christian faith has the Word of God as a standard; hence it recognizes one access tis God, and that through believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. When anyone em braces the faith, he immediately is made a part of the body, thereby be coming a contributing factor in keep ing the unity of the Spirit. (f) “One baptism.” I do not believe that baptism in the Spirit is meant in this verse. Baptism in the Spirit has already been dealt with in the preced ing verse. Here the apostle refers to water baptism. It is that ordinance which, according to the New Testa ment, should follow one’s acceptance of the “one faith” and one’s embracing of the “one Lord.” (g) “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (4:6). The message of this verse recognibes the Trinity actively engaged in forming the unity. Looking back from verse six, we have the Fa ther, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The triune God is sovereign in the Church. His presence is all that we need and all that we should desire. He is the Father of all of us who have accepted Christ; hence we believers bear the same relation to Him and to one an other. As we recognize Him as “above all,” we preserve the unity of the Spir it. “In Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). 27
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