As in every spiritual struggle, the question comes down to trust. Do we trust worldly wisdom? Do we, like worldly people, look at mountains of evidence and say, “Real unity is impossible”? Or do we trust the Wisdom of God17 when He assures us that by His death He creates “in Himself one new man” (Ephesians 2:15).
… I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd (John 10:15-16).
… Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad (John 11:51-52).
This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel (Ephesians 3:6). M
Hear this vital truth: Jesus unites “through the Gospel.” He makes no promise of unity for people while they yet disbelieve and disobey. He unites “children of God,” the sheep who, He says, “listen to My voice.” Certainly such sheep have human problems. But, if they keep listening, the divine logic always brings them back to unity.
There is one Christ.18 Therefore all in Christ are one.19
Paul has that logic in mind when he asks three questions of those in God’s family at Corinth that are dividing:
For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:11-13)
Surely we know each answer: No, Christ is not divided! Just as the Head is one, so His body is one. No, mortal leaders cannot take the Savior’s place! They may be as devout as Paul,20 as famous as Cephas (that is, Peter),21 as persuasive as Apollos,22 but they have no right to their own groups. No, baptism is never into human leaders or their parties! Modern groups make their own kinds of baptism as special doors into their denominations. But biblical baptism enjoys the opposite effect. Far from dividing or denominating,23 biblical baptism brings “all” who receive it together “into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13).
…for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:26-28).
No peoples are further apart than Jews and Gentiles. No cultures clash like those of Greeks, barbarians and Scythians. No social distance is wider than that between slaves and free men, especially masters. Yet all these, and many more, melt together in the one Man, Jesus Christ.
Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all (Colossians 3:11).
18. Matthew 23:10; Galatians 3:16
21. Galatians 2:6-9; Matthew 16:19; Acts 2:14; 15:7
22. Acts 18:24,27; 19:1; 1 Corinthians 3:4-6,22; 4:6; 16:12; Titus 3:13
23. To denominate means to name. Here it means to name in ways that separate Christians against God’s will cf. 1 Corinthians 1:10-12
Pictures:
- A modern Greek shepherd leads his sheep, a scene that recalls Jesus words, “So there will be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16).
- “That they may become perfectly one” (John 17:23).