◄ What Does Ephesians 4:4 Mean? ►

In His final High Priestly prayer, the Lord Jesus prayed that we would be one, even as He and His Father were One - united together with a single focus and a singular resolve, joined as one in our fellowship with God and with one another, and standing firm on the truth of the glorious gospel of Christ.

It is those that are walking worthy of their calling in Christ who are lowly of heart, gentle in spirit, long suffering in body, and of great kindness. It is they who embody the unity of the spirit - where there is one body of believers and one Holy Spirit of God Who indwells each one. Just as we have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, we have also been called into one hope of that calling and exhorted to live at peace with one another.

It is those who mirror the Christ-like character of our Lord Jesus in their everyday living and who bear each other's burdens in godly love, that are bound together in the unity of the Spirit - in the bond of peace.

Paul was not unaware of the petty squabbles and unnecessary disagreements that permeated the different churches in his care, but he was also quick to condemn such disunity in the Body of Christ and stressed the importance of Christian unity - where any differences of race, colour, nationality, culture, language, gender, and status, are brushed aside in love.

Paul was certainly not encouraging doctrinal compromise, for he was a man who contended earnestly for the faith in all his epistles. But his letters are quick to warn against false teachers, false prophets, false doctrines, and false followers of Christ. He was certainly zealous in stressing the importance of keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace - where by grace through faith in Christ, we are ONE Body and ONE Spirit... with ONE hope, ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism into the Body of Christ - and ONE God and Father, Who is above all, through all, and in us all.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the ministry of Paul and the inspired Word of God that we have received through his apostolic ministry. I pray that I would live my life in holy living, through Christ' sufficient grace, keeping the unity of the indwelling Holy Spirit in lowliness of heart and gentleness of spirit, so that others may see Christ in me and glorify our Father Who is in heaven. This I ask in Jesus' name, AMEN.