Preserving Unity

I’m sitting here at the Atlanta International Airport with a long layover before heading to Mexico. I’m leading a trip with several young adults from my church. We left very early in the morning. And not “very early” for a college student home for summer break. I mean so early that no human should see the hour. I set my alarm for 2:30am today. So it should go without saying that I left the team after landing in Atlanta (don’t worry, they are all adults), found a coffee spot, ordered a double espresso, and sat to do some reading, praying, and thinking.

If you read my last post you know I’m spending time this year learning more about God as Triune. Father, Son, and Spirit. As a reminder, my goal here is not to (necessarily) teach the doctrine of the trinity, although I hope we all grow here. My goal is simply to fall more in love with the God that created this world, saved me, and sanctifies me. It’s a relational pursuit.

As I was reading in Ephesians 4 today I was stuck on verses 4-6. I’ll provide it here for your reference:

“4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Notice the repetition. One. One. One. One this. One that.

Notice there are seven of these “one’s.” Body, Spirit, hope, Lord, faith, baptism, and God. Seven, as you may know, is symbolic for perfection.

I also learned, whether right or wrong, that these are grouped into three’s. You might be thinking, “Eric, there are only seven. How can it be grouped into three’s? That would make nine.”

Great thinking. Let’s break it down then.

One body, one Spirt, one hope.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism.

One God and Father, who is… over all, through all, and in all.

Do you see it?

Now, we must remember the point of this whole section is unity. And although Paul may not have set out to prove the reality of the triune God here, he nonetheless uses the very nature of God to encourage our “eager[ness] to maintain the unity of the Spirit” (verse 3).

Just as God is one, we are to be one, or unified. All throughout Ephesians, Paul uses this phrase “in Christ.” It’s rich and we won’t be going into it now. But our unity “in Christ” should reflect the very unity within the Godhead.

If you are familiar with Ephesians you know all of this sets Paul up to then talk about diversity. But that’s for another day.

God is one. And He is three. We, the body of Christ, those who are “in Christ,” are many. Yet we are ONE body.

The fact that Paul is talking about unity likely means there was disunity in Ephesus. Makes sene, right?

What about you? Think about your relationships. Is there disunity anywhere? Is there disunity in your marriage? Is there disunity in your church? Is there disunity in your family? If so, Paul would encourage you to not just seek unity, but to eagerly seek it. Another way of saying it may be to diligently preserve the unity.