The Precious Church

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Ephesians 4:4–6

When you see a church fellowship, what do you see? Why is the church important? What is the basis of our unity?

We should respect churches and not look down on them. It is always simple to criticize a church — not a single one is perfect — but we should be careful because God is the author of the church and for the sake of His work, out of reverence and respect for who He is, we should be quick to love the church and to esteem her potential.

The meaning of these words in Ephesians 4:4–6 is simple. Paul identifies seven “ones” or seven things about which we have only one reality as followers of Christ.

“One body” refers to the church universal or invisible or catholic (not Roman Catholic, but the word “catholic” means “universal”). God has only one work that He is performing in this world in terms of His people. This leads us to respect the different Christian denominations, and see us as members of the same invisible church, even if we meet in different places and under slightly different rules. “One Spirit” refers to the Holy Spirit of God who seals each believer and administers each church.

“One hope” refers to heaven and all the experiences of grace as we journey toward that place on earth (Col.1:5). “One Lord” — Jesus Christ. “One faith” — we believe singular things about Him, of His life, His sacrificial death, of His resurrection and His Lordship, of His Second Coming. The gospel is often called “the faith” in the New Testament (Gal. 1:23 and Acts 6:7 for examples) and it reveals that there was a body of Christian thought in the New Testament church — central truths centered in Christ that all believers were to embrace.

“One baptism” — the meaning is not water baptism, I believe, but the spiritual baptism spoken of in the New Testament. from John the Baptist on, Jesus was the one who would baptize with the Spirit (Matt 3:11, Acts 1:5). Galatians 3:26–28 states that this baptism forms our unity: “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 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 neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Though there are different levels of spiritual maturity among the people of God, there is a common experience among us all as well — the baptism of the Spirit — that enables us to grow into Christlikeness through transformation.

“One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” — many religions have a concept of a distant deity, a god who is god is generalities only but not personally involved in the affairs of this world. But Christianity proclaims the opposite, that the Father is close and near and involved. He is above all in authority. But He is through all and in all by the Spirit. This is basically a Trinitarian concept, that the Son and the Spirit and the Father work together to achieve our salvation and they are the basis of our unity.

The application of these words is also simple: God builds His church through Christ, through His Spirit, and through His Word, and we should respect His work. The next time you see a church, whether it is your church or another one’s church, stop to consider these seven things and realize how precious an organization it truly is.