One of the great themes of the first half of the letter has been the unity brought about by Christ. We have a responsibility in maintaining this unity, and it is fair to say we have not been overly successful. If we adopt the attitudes of verse 2 we will be a long way along the road towards maintaining unity.
The grounds for unity are founded on the theology of the church. The church is Christ's body, and so there is only one body. When we are disunited we are malfunctioning. There is only one Holy Spirit. We are all called to the same hope. This latter fact is one of the reasons why Paul prayed earlier that our eyes would be opened to realise what this hope is. We may have our own ideas about what the hope is, but in the end it is God's hope. ie it is not for us to make it up for ourselves and decide what we like, rather it is for us to discover what God's hope is.
There is only one Lord of All, and only one faith. We were all baptised into the same church through faith in the same Lord. Now of course different churches have different baptismal practices, and while it is fine for us to argue and debate about these, we should remember that the fundamental factor is faith in Christ. I happen to think that believer's baptism is what is taught in Scripture, but someone who was baptised as an infant and actively believes in the Lord is in a far better position than someone who was baptised as a believer but is very dilatory about their faith, and is definitely in a better position than someone who was baptised and then fell away.
There is one God and Father, and He is over all and in all. The bottom line is there is only one God, and therefore there is only one church. We need to recognise that no matter how wonderful or doctrinally pure our own branch of the church is, the current situation is not the way things will be when God brings them to completion.
The grounds for unity are founded on the theology of the church. The church is Christ's body, and so there is only one body. When we are disunited we are malfunctioning. There is only one Holy Spirit. We are all called to the same hope. This latter fact is one of the reasons why Paul prayed earlier that our eyes would be opened to realise what this hope is. We may have our own ideas about what the hope is, but in the end it is God's hope. ie it is not for us to make it up for ourselves and decide what we like, rather it is for us to discover what God's hope is.
There is only one Lord of All, and only one faith. We were all baptised into the same church through faith in the same Lord. Now of course different churches have different baptismal practices, and while it is fine for us to argue and debate about these, we should remember that the fundamental factor is faith in Christ. I happen to think that believer's baptism is what is taught in Scripture, but someone who was baptised as an infant and actively believes in the Lord is in a far better position than someone who was baptised as a believer but is very dilatory about their faith, and is definitely in a better position than someone who was baptised and then fell away.
There is one God and Father, and He is over all and in all. The bottom line is there is only one God, and therefore there is only one church. We need to recognise that no matter how wonderful or doctrinally pure our own branch of the church is, the current situation is not the way things will be when God brings them to completion.
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