One Body

There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling….

Ephesians 4:4

Paul has been promoting unity among believers.  His previous statement was that believers should be, ‘endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.’  To illustrate what unifies believers, he begins with the most obvious illustration.  He declares, ‘There is one body.’  The body to which he refers is the Body of Christ.  He will continue to make reference to this body later in the chapter when he says, ‘but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:  from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love’.  It is not the only place in his writings that Paul will use the example.  I Corinthians 12 lays out the interconnectedness of the Body of Christ and the purpose we serve in relation to one another.  He raises the subject again in Colossians and Romans.  Why does this discussion become important to us?  It does so because it enables us to understand how we are related to Christ as the Head, and how we are related to each other as members of the Body of Christ.  This will affect our view of unity, to which Paul referred in the previous verse.  It will bring us to consider what will be best for the Body, and what contribution we can make for the health of it.  It will, by default, raise the subject of what hurts the Body.  Overall, it will continue to bring as us to Christ, Our Living Head.

Our Holy and Wise God,
we rejoice that You have brought us together in Christ.
We praise You that You will show us,
through Your Word and by Your Spirit,
how we relate to one another.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning