In Ephesians 2:18, Jew and
Gentile are together before the Father in communion. The unity of the Spirit
begins here, but it goes a good deal further.
The three great principles of
the unity of the Spirit are these:first, the new man; second, access by one
Spirit to the Father; third, builded together for an habitation of God through
the Spirit.
The unity of the Spirit is the
power of the Spirit which keeps saints in the realization of what their
relationship is to all other saints, and when fully carried out, this secures
the realization or manifestation of the one body on earth.
The unity of the Spirit is an
abstract idea, and the difficulty comes from making it an absolute fact. The
unity of the Spirit is shown when your mind and mine go on together with the
mind of the Spirit. When we do not see together, the unity of the Spirit is not
realized, but one would not say it is broken. If you and I are quarreling, we
are not acting in the unity of the Spirit.
But, apart from all
ecclesiastical questions or ideas, I am to go on with you; I am to forbear with
you in love. Then the unity of the Spirit is kept on my part, whatever it is on
yours. (This to no way sets aside assembly discipline and corresponding
shunning by saints when conduct or doctrine may require such action. Love may
be displayed in different ways but, "By this we know that we love the
children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments" (1 John
6:8).) Two godly Baptists might be morally endeavoring to keep the unity of the
Spirit, but they have also broken it by being strict Baptists. Taking the unity
of the Spirit in its completeness, you cannot separate it from "the one
body." The "bond of peace" is the result of walking as Christ
walked.
Unity is the power of the Spirit
down here when God’s mind and yours are all in one. Abstractedly, I understand
the unity of the Spirit to be God’s mind.
Walking according to the Spirit
can be done individually, but for the unity of the Spirit there must be walking
with others.
The unity of the body cannot be
touched, for the Holy Ghost unites to Christ all those who have been baptized
by the Holy Ghost, that is, received Him, and they are members of the one body.
It is the unity of the Spirit we have to keep:that is to walk in that power of
the Spirit which keeps us in unity on the earth, and that needs
"endeavoring.