Christianity UNITY OF THE FAITH

                                              Growing up in Christ

"He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that He might fill all things,  And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers: for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.  Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ"     Ephesians 4v10-13.

The unity of the Spirit is a fact, a done deal in modern parlance.  "One body and one Spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling."  As we saw before, we are not called to create it, for such a thing is beyond human ability, we are simply asked to guard it.  In Christ, all God's people are one unit, vitally and indivisibly united, never to be divided.

The unity of the faith, however is something into which we all must grow, as he says "Till we all come..."; this is something we must strive for, using all the resources at our disposal.  These resources are powerful and we must use them to develop this what He calls the unity of the faith.  The power comes from above from the ascended, glorified Christ.  It is couched in the context of victory over the hellish hosts which control the thinking of the world in opposition to God.  Note the thought flow:

Triumph over Satan "He ascended on high and led captivity captive"-4v8

Exaltation to universal power  "Ascended up far above all heavens"-4v10

Gave gifts unto men  the spoils of victory-Psalm 68v18 and Eph. 4v8v11

These gifts to motivate every member  Eph. 4v12

The goal the maturity of all members   Eph. 4v13

Scripture speaks of faith, that is personal faith in the Lord; it also speaks of the faith, that is the corporate faith of the body of Christ.  This is the common belief in the heart of every believer.  This is found throughout the new testament writings; some references are tabulated;

Jude v3 "...the faith that was once delivered to the saints."

Titus 1v4 "...the common faith..."

Romans 6v17 "...ye obeyed from the heart that form(mould) of doctrine which was delivered you."

Acts 2v43 "And they continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine..."

These and many others proclaim a core belief that is shared by all.  We are at different stages of growth and understanding, and so the work of edification will go on, and must go on until unity of faith is real in every one of us.  There may be many different viewpoints and practices, but attention is to be prioritised to the core belief of all saints.  We are opposed by an enemy too great for us, but we have Divine help and resources and these we must use to grow in the things of God.  One word of caution: the unity of the faith is no mere mental assent to tenets of doctrine, for it is placed here side by side with "the knowledge(the full knowledge, the growing knowledge) of the Son of God.  

There is a sense in which the work is done, there is another in which it is ongoing, and this requires a response from everyone, whether in a leading or support role within the great entity, the ultimate unit, the body of Christ.

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