David Ward: Unity in the Church

"Bond of Peace"

The Apostle Paul's letter to the Ephesians is one of the key books of the Bible concerning the church. It enunciates important principles related to both the calling and conduct of the church. A key passage is Chapter 4:1-6.

In this passage Paul appeals to his readers to be unified, and love is a central element. For instance, verse 2 states that we in the church must be patient with and quite literally, put up with one another in love. Conversely, if we don't truly have love for each other there is no way we can be patient with, much less "put up with" each other.

Verse 3 commands us to be quick and zealous to guard and maintain the oneness we have in the Holy Spirit, in the bond of peace, i.e., we must labor to maintain the unity of the church. And the verse gives us the methodology, "the bond of peace." In short, despite denominational or doctrinal differences, it is the responsibility of all Christians to keep the bond of peace, so we may maintain the unity of the Spirit. Notice this is the singular means of protecting the unity of the church.

And this singular mechanism should not be surprising, for in verses 4-6 Paul espouses the essential oneness (singularity) of the 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 us all…" We can only maintain this oneness by being at peace with each other.

Yet, I grew up in a community where pastors routinely railed on other Christian churches as the enemy, whose members were not welcome in their churches, and frankly told their members to stay away from them. Peace and the unity of the Spirit only applied to the members of their assembly. And almost without fail these admonitions were born out of doctrinal differences that were, and still are, what I call nonessentials, i.e., they weren't differences about the way of salvation, which all Christian churches should have in common, but pet doctrines or denominational distinctives. I'm in no way judging these distinctives or doctrines; all churches have them, but the truth is we will only find out "who was correct," so to speak, when we get to heaven, at which time no one will care. The point is that we have Christ as Savior in common, and therefore, are commanded to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Yet, the church remains divided over these superfluous differences.

Over against this division, the Apostle John said, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." In other words, love is the keystone of the church; it should be as apparent and brilliant as the marquee on a theater. It is also the concrete that holds things together. But even concrete needs a catalyst to properly set. And in the church, according to Ephesians 4:3, the catalyst is peace.

I believe this peace is critical to the church becoming glorious, without spot or wrinkle, a bride who has made herself ready (Ephesians 5:27/Revelation 19:7). Without peace the mortar of love cannot possibly "set up" and therefore hold up the structure of the Body of Christ. How about it?