UNITY
[p. 235] UNITY
We get both unity and union in Ephesians. Would you say what is the difference?
Unity is taught in this chapter; union in chapter 2. The word ‘union’, although a very much used word, and a right one, and expressive of the truth, is not itself found in Scripture; but the thought of it is in Scripture and is indicated in Genesis 2, reminding us that it was a great thought with God before sin came in. The necessity for unity arose as a consequence of sin. The testimony of unity came out in Israel, but not union.
Yet would you not say that unity existed before time. We find it in the Godhead?
Yes. It was never brought about, it existed. “God is one”; that truth came out to meet divided conditions. It is expressed in God Himself, therefore it takes character from Him. Conditions in creation deviated from the divine thought; in the physical universe things remained in accord. As to what was said as to the effect of sin, we see in a parallel way that righteousness and holiness ever existed with God, but they came out as the answer to sin, and eternal life is revealed to meet conditions which came in through death. As exigencies arise things are met. These things ever existed in the Godhead, and they are set out in view of things here. The testimony of unity among the brethren is seen in Psalm 133 and is that which is reached in Israel. It is seen in the loaf, too, in 1 Corinthians 11.
Would you distinguish between the unity of brethren as seen in Psalm 133 and the unity of the Spirit in Ephesians?
In the unity of the Spirit brotherly affections are developed. We may dwell together in a forced way,
[p. 236] but the point is that love should exist. The unity of the Spirit is an extensive idea, not merely local. It is not only dwelling together, but maintaining in spiritual affections relations with all the people of God on earth, so it runs on to the unity of faith. It is most important that the truth should be held in the mind of the saints generally without divergencies.
The truth of Christianity implies that we are brought together in spiritual affection. In this epistle unity is the state in which we are reconciled. Jew and Gentile are reconciled “in one body by the cross”; Ephesians 2: 16. Unity is a bond of peace; the Holy Spirit in developing spiritual affections tends to unite in a bond. You and I love one another; that brings about peace; there is a bond in that.
Is there a difference between what is local and universal?
Yes, dwelling together is local. Paul speaks of the “whole twelve tribes”, Acts 26:7. This would be the equivalent to the unity of the Spirit; he took in the whole. It is necessary to maintain the universal aspect in our minds in maintaining what is right locally. It is evident that local difficulties must be adjusted in relation to all.
In the reaction thirteen years ago from disregard of local responsibility some are in danger of regarding every locality as separate and independent. Every local difficulty must be considered in relation to the whole assembly, otherwise we are congregationalists.
The unity of the Spirit is never local; the Spirit dwells in all. The bearing of Ephesians is universal; Jew and Gentile are brought together; “that he might form the two in himself into one new man, making peace”, Ephesians 2:15. That is how peace is brought about; it is not effected politically. The new man is a creation and there is only one new man. That creation which included all the saints must of necessity bring about unity. “And might reconcile both in one body to God”. Reconciliation implies unity. There is thus an answer, in this respect, to what God is, as was said. God could not have it otherwise. The exhortation in chapter 4 is based on chapter 2, which is in relation to God, peace under God’s eye; but the “bond of peace” is for us. God would have peace, so the creation of the new man secures it. It is not so many nations brought together by political agreement, but a creation; we have like sympathies and feelings brought about.
Chapter 2 is objective, “so making peace”; but here, chapter 4 is subjective; the thing is worked out, so it is the “uniting bond of peace”.
It is for us to see this, and the opening verses greatly help in regard of it. “I, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you therefore to walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love”. That is how we are maintained in what God has brought about. In the presence of difficulties it would save so much trouble if this were before us.
In chapter 3 he is the prisoner of Christ, as retained by the Lord on account of the purposes of God. Here he is the prisoner of the Lord, that the will of God may be carried out here, so there is presented the unity of the Spirit.
What is the difference between “the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord”, 1 Corinthians 1:9 in Corinthians, and “the unity of the Spirit” here?
Fellowship is a public bond; but this is more secret. Fellowship is that which can be outwardly observed. What lies purely in the Spirit is less before the eyes of men than that involved in fellowship.
Dignity is intimated in the fellowship of God’s Son. Freemasonry is a fellowship which has nothing in the origin of it to give it dignity. There cannot be anything more dignified than the fellowship of God’s [p. 238] Son in our public relations; then there is the other side, the fellowship of His death, which cuts us off from the world. The unity of the Spirit is what we have in a private way. It is what is within. It is like the works of a clock, and fellowship is like the hands of the clock. If the works are not right the hands will not be. So to carry on the symbols of fellowship without this reality is objectionable as well as unintelligent to the spiritual mind. If the clock is not keeping good time, it is because the springs are out of gear; it must be right within. Local troubles always show there is something defective in the underlying spiritual conditions; what the hands of the clock show indicate what is inside. It shows a bad spiritual state with some if not all. The way to recovery is indicated here in verse 2. One observes in these difficulties it is long patience that succeeds; only love can wait. It is not a question of putting the hands right but the works.
It is obvious that the principle of the world is to keep things going by external methods, whereas the physical universe teaches us that things are moved from a centre.
In verse 2, lowliness is the state of soul before God; meekness is in regard to one another. The Lord set it out: “I am meek and lowly in heart” Matthew 11:29; it is what is inside; what is external results from that. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God”, John 1: 1. The statement refers to the deity of Christ, but then He was with God. In John 1: 6, we read: “There was a man sent from God”; this implies that John was with God. The thought is also in verse 14, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only begotten with a father” ). All this is to bring out what a great luminary Christ was. John’s gospel is astronomical. Persons coming [p. 239] into contact with others move, they move in relation to Him; so the first chapter continues the movement, but in relation to Christ. “They abode with him that day. It was about the tenth hour”, John 1:39. Movement all originates from secret relations with God and Christ. It is in coming out from God that one can affect others rightly. Human legislation is like a patent medicine, having at best but a local and transitory effect. Christ came in from God and set men in movement according to God. In result the whole universe will be affected. As lifted up from the earth He will draw all to Him. As in this world He was meek and lowly in heart. The unity of the Spirit is to be kept in lowliness and meekness. John supports Paul so that unity is maintained in a living way. We need to remember in local difficulties, that if one is to help to put others right he has to be right himself. God undertook to set things right by sending His Son. He came out and shed light on all; as a Man in the world He was meek and lowly in heart. All are to be brought to this. We come under the influence of this Person. If we retain our place in relation to Christ our influence helps others.
“I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” John 12:32; it is not only the drawing of men to Christ, but He becomes the universal centre and all synchronise with Him. He holds the universe together and yet comes down to the smallest details of assembly matters, indeed, of each of our lives.
Suppose there is one in a company walking disorderly, what should you do?
Influence is an immense thing in Christianity. The Lord draws all; this is an astronomical reference. You may influence a brother by what you are. Influence is greater than gift. Of course, we have definite instructions in Scripture as to a person who walks in a disorderly manner; see 2 Thessalonians 3.
Each of the stars has some influence. We can [p. 240] illustrate this thought of influence further from John. Nathaniel was sitting under a fig tree, but he occupied no orbit there. Philip gives a full account of Christ; “We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write”, John 1:45. Here is a Man who was written about hundreds of years ago, written about by no less a man than Moses: “Jesus of Nazareth”. This was light to bring Nathaniel into position. It did not move him at first; he said, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip says to him, “Come and see”. Then he moved, and when the Lord saw him coming He said, “Behold one truly an Israelite, in whom there is no guile”. The Lord gives him a name and now he is in relationship to Him; the name is given when the Lord sees him coming.
We may follow the idea further in John 4. The woman at the well of Sychar becomes an influence; she says, “Come, see a man ... is not this the Christ?” John 4:29 The Samaritans were affected and came to Christ. Thus the principle of influence and movement runs through John. In the first chapter one after another is brought into attachment to Christ. It is in this way that local difficulties are settled.
The basis for the unity of the Spirit in Ephesians 4 is, that “there is one body, and one Spirit”. The saints having the light of what is before God can walk worthy of the calling. There are three circles: the inner one being that from which all springs, one body, one Spirit, and one hope of our calling; next the kingdom; then the great universe; these three circles are characterised by unity. The unity of these three circles will be displayed in the world to come. They are concentric.
Ephesians has the universe in view and the bearing of it is eternity. In the first three chapters we get light as to what God has in mind as to the future and the light of this is to affect us now. Chapter 3 ends with glory to God, “unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end”. Unity goes on to eternity, so that all is in accord with God. Union with Christ is peculiar to the assembly, but unity has a general application. The universe is not united to Christ, but the universe is to be unified. The tabernacle is a figure of it. The assembly is a testimony to this now, but in addition to this the assembly is united to Christ.
In Ephesians we have the equivalent to the Feast of weeks or Pentecost; there were no time limits for that. The others were limited by time; that is, the Passover and Tabernacles; but the Feast of Pentecost was not governed by time; Deuteronomy 16. Ephesians is an outlet into eternity; not indeed that there are any words to convey eternity; the word in our minds contains certain limits; there is no language to convey it; it can only be realised in the Holy Spirit. Paul was not conscious of the limitations of natural laws when in the third heavens. Our minds are limited by the time idea; it is doubtful if a finite person can take it in; as the apostle says, “whether in the body I know not, or out of the body I know not”, 2 Corinthians 12:2. The expression, often heard, throughout all the ages of eternity, is not scriptural. Eternity is not divided up in that way.
Ephesians leads to the “world without end”; it conveys something like eternity. It is to be realised, not compassed. We can enter into eternity now in the measure in which we can abstract ourselves in the power of the Holy Spirit. We can enter into an experience not bounded by time. The Holy Spirit having come down from heaven connects us with what is there. If I am in the Spirit I am in an unbounded, limitless state. One in the Spirit has an inlet to things outside natural reckonings. It is little known to me, but the real power of Christianity lies in it; you are in a sphere where you do not take [p. 242] natural bearings; if I am in the Spirit I am in an ocean. The Spirit in me means that I am here for God. How conducive to practical unity it would be if we were in touch with that realm! It is correlated to the state described as being “in Christ”. “I know a man in Christ”. These were individual experiences of Paul and John, but there is nothing to indicate they were exclusive to them, they are a feature of Christianity.
JND realised it, as his hymn shows:
“The Spirit’s power has ope’d the heavenly door”. (74:5)
When is this realised, individually or in assembly?
Both; in Paul’s case it was individual, and so in John’s. The influence exerted by one who enjoys these experiences is very great.
Is the Spirit in the believer limited?
It is limited to the vessel. The Holy Spirit acts in relation to the vessel. It is said of the Lord Himself, “God gives not the Spirit by measure”, John 3: 34.
Stephen was filled with the Spirit and therefore is a sort of exponent of Christianity. He saw the heavens opened and had a look in; this must have had a profound effect. “Be not drunk with wine ... but be filled with the Spirit”, Ephesians 5:18. As regards the indwelling our capacity can be enlarged.
What is true of Stephen is open to all. What develops in Acts 6 and 7 is the product of the attack of the enemy. It was an immense thing; Stephen’s face was like the face of an angel, a heavenly face. Paul’s ministry was the opening up and development of it, only he had a revelation as well. If we had a glimpse of heaven like Stephen our next word would be forgiveness. Most of our local difficulties come from personal feelings; if we were occupied with that Man, like Stephen, personal idiosyncrasies would get adjusted. Verse 2 brings in love. The Lord, in speaking to Peter, says, not seven times, but seventy times seven, stretching it out as it were. That is how [p. 243] we are tested, but every time we forgive we are more like God, more practised in it.
“He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things”. The going down is the point; this should have a voice to anyone who has a gift. Gifts come from One who descended first into the lower parts of the earth. You cannot get any lower than that. One’s gift is to be exercised in the descending spirit.
Verse 7 is important and affects every one; specific gifts are mentioned later; but “unto every one of us is given grace”. Every one receives grace; gifts are from an ascended Christ; but the One that ascends is the same as the One who descends. There is a great moral element in that; we should remember that the gifts come from One who descended into the lower parts of the earth. “I, if I be lifted up”, was said, “signifying what death he should die”; it was the One that died like that.
The gift of grace is to be traded with, and it is developed in trading; we thus become great in the kingdom. Gifts are from an ascended Christ and have the truth in view. And in that connection we have the other unity, “the unity of the faith”, which should run along side with “the unity of the Spirit”, but it depends largely on gift.
Was Stephen on the line of grace or gift?
Grace. In this regard the Spirit moves in accord with the light in the vessel. There is nothing said of specific gift in Stephen, but he had an abundance of grace from Christ. They could not resist the power with which he spoke. It was in the power of the Spirit.
Stephen was raised up at a critical time, and in him the war took on a heavenly character, and this continues. His face shines as the face of an angel. As Deborah says, “From heaven was the fight”, Judges 5:20. There could be only one ending; heaven prevails,
[p. 244] but the conqueror dies; this is a model for Christians of a moral victory.
First there must be unity, if there is to be blessing it is the divine way; so there is the unity of the Spirit and then the unity of faith. One of the most baneful things that anyone should say is, ‘I hold what I hold and you hold what you do, and so we agree to differ’. Now gifts bring in the truth in such force that it cannot be denied, so the saints are built up and there is unity. “Until we all arrive at the unity of [p. 245] the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ”.
“Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ”. His sovereignty pleases to give so we cannot complain about it. Every one, that is, sisters as well as brothers. “One star differeth from another star in glory”, 1 Corinthians 15:41. Attention is called to these in Daniel; they that turn many to righteousness shine like the stars. The Lord acts sovereignly in bestowing His gifts.
The one who complained of small measure did not know the Lord.
The gifts are presented here in order: in Corinthians they are presented as set in the assembly. He has given some apostles; in Corinthians He has set certain in the assembly. God sets certain in the assembly; first apostles, then prophets, then miraculous powers; that is Corinthians order; God prescribed this. In Ephesians Christ gives the gifts. He gave some apostles, that is a necessity to enforce divine rights in this world. Prophets come to convey the mind of God; and evangelists bring others into that; the order is moral. You cannot keep house without authority and the mind of God; then children are brought in by the evangelist; then shepherds and teachers follow. It is all in view of the edifying of the body of Christ till we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Here all gifts come from the glorified Man; in Corinthians they come from God; but here it is a glorified Man’s gifts coming in that He might fill the saints now. It is the endowment of the assembly, founded on Christ’s victory, so that we should be here suitably to Him. This Man will fill everything; these things are the basis of divine housekeeping. “Until we all arrive at the unity of the faith”, is another evidence of the universal character of this epistle; national influence and feeling are all over. The history of the assembly shows the baneful effect of national and sectional feeling on it. Here is an Eastern and Western Church. This epistle was intended to maintain the general unity of the house of God, preserved in the gifts; the unity of the Spirit and the unity of faith, till we all arrive at the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ. The effect of the blue is seen in the wilderness position, as in Numbers 15. “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling”, gives you a heavenly touch. The calling here is sonship; everything comes down from the position the saints have before God.
The effect of the service of the gifts is that the saints are brought in to this knowledge of the unity of the faith. The body functions; gifts are merged in it. It is no longer the prominence of gift but the assembly itself functions; it “maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love”. It is wonderful that there is thus down here what is for God. Think of such a structure functioning in love, building itself up in love!
The practical expression of this is reached after the breaking of bread, gifts are not in evidence and there is the expression of sons before His face. We touch it there more than at any other time.