The touching earnestness with which "the prisoner of the Lord" appeals to the Ephesian saints "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; using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace," (Eph. 4:1-31I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1‑3)) is sufficient proof of how much he had, at heart, as one in fellowship with Christ, that saints should in their walk one with another, as "the habitation of God in the Spirit," keep that unity.
That energy may have its proper aim and effect, the object before the mind, that should call it out, must be clearly apprehended and desired. It may seem rather late in the day, when "the unity of the Spirit " is on every tongue, and on the tip of many pens, to ask the question, What is the unity of the Spirit?- what is comprised by this term- what in God's mind it is that His people are enjoined to keep? Still we are convinced the question is not out of season, and that much confusion of mind, to say the least, is abroad concerning it.
With no desire to be dogmatic, but with the simple wish to help others, so that there may be more unitedness of aim and object amongst those that are "called in one body," we make the following few remarks, looking earnestly to the Lord, that, in a matter that concerns so much His glory, and the comfort and joy of "His own which are in the world," we may write nothing that will mislead or stumble the weakest. We will first try and make clear what is not "the unity of the Spirit;" and then attempt to unfold briefly what, as we believe, it is.
It is not the unity of the body, though it is intimately connected with it, and if fully carried out, secures its manifestation.
It is not the unity of believers, though it results in and effects this, where it is kept.
To make it either of these, would be to reduce it, either to the manifestation of the unity of the body, in connection with fellowship at the Lord's table, maintained through discipline; or to the agreement of believers one with another, where what would tend to separate is by common consent excluded, keeping together being the object aimed at, but with the effect of producing a sect.
Making it the unity of the body or the church, so that the realization or manifestation of that unity is the object with which diligence is to be used, is the principle that underlies Popery- an external unity, maintained at all costs, where man can have his place, and his will and rule take the place of God's and the holiness that becometh His house forever. It is the fatal error of making the church, instead of Christ Himself, the object before the mind.
It is a great mistake to regard the unity of the Spirit as an accomplished fact- as something now here in unbroken existence. The unity of the body, or "the body" more correctly, is this, therefore we are not enjoined to keep it as if it could be broken, which the expression, "using diligence to keep," plainly supposes possible. Now, though we have not to make the unity of the Spirit, we are enjoined to keep it, but this is not the same thing as saying, the Spirit has formed such a unity, in the sense of its having been formed and existing now as once formed. This would be to confound it with "the body" into which Jews and Gentiles have all been baptized by the one Spirit, and which exists in unbroken unity at all times.
That we are all, and always, responsible to seek to manifest the unity of the body, of which Christ is the Head in heaven, none will surely deny, and more, that to tolerate anything in doctrine or practice that would destroy or enfeeble the expression of this blessed unity is one form, if not a gross one, of the iniquity that those who name the name of Christ should refuse and depart from; nor could any one truly endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit make light of the importance of that which is itself a part of what is involved in endeavoring to keep that unity; but to make it one and the same thing, is practically to lose both; and, where it is a question of dealing with evil, it is to confound the demands of God's holiness in His own house, with the gracious bearing of saints towards one another in what affects themselves, and in which they are to exercise lowliness, meekness, and long-suffering, forbearing one another in love.
A moment's reflection will convince any godly person that where dealing with evil is in question according to the claims of God's nature in holiness, forbearing one another in love would be totally mistaken; hence we find in scripture, that when evil has to be dealt with the very reverse of such a line of conduct is enjoined. Saints are not, then, besought to exercise all the gracious ways of Christ toward one another, so that they may walk together in the Spirit's unity, but the manner of Him who could say, "the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up," and who unsparingly denounced and drove out the evil that was there, is sternly forced upon them. The word now is, "Get thee up; wherefore liest thou on thy face, Israel hath sinned:- "Up, sanctify the people;" " Purge out therefore the old leaven;" " Put away from among yourselves that wicked person"; "Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you"; and "Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity." Surely none will say that this means, "bearing with one another in love; using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace." A bond of peace enjoined in connection with the toleration of evil, of any kind or degree, would be corruption of the worst sort. A making grace minister to sin, and Christ the companion of Belial; it would, I believe, be the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes “which thing I hate," saith Christ.
A view long held, and still acted upon by many, is that the Spirit has formed a unity that embraces all the members of Christ's body, and that this is the unity that we are enjoined to keep, acknowledging all to be in and of this unity, save those whom discipline, according to the word, excludes from it. Now, what is this unity? It cannot be the body, for we cannot be enjoined to keep it, and, thank God, to exclude any from it, even by discipline according to the word, is impossible. It cannot be the house of God- that which is "builded together for an habitation of God in the Spirit," for to be enjoined to keep God's house would be equally out of the question; though discipline is here thoroughly in place, but surely not "forbearing one another in love" in connection with it.
There is a manifest incongruity in such an association of ideas, besides which there is the danger, that evangelists and pastors who have souls specially before them are peculiarly open to, that in regarding things from the side of love for souls, and with a feeble sense of God's holiness and the Lord's claims, the unity of the Spirit might be stretched, so to speak, as far as possible in dealing with evil, lest any should be excluded from it that the Lord would have retained. The question then would really be, if fairly looked at, how much of what we acknowledge to be wrong in one another, we can forbear with and tolerate ere we exclude them from our fellowship at the Lord's table. In this way the plea of unity might be used to cover sin and retain it amongst us, lest we should break the unity, or sin against the Lord by reason of harshness to those that are His.
There is also another danger that flows out of this view of the unity of the Spirit, and that runs in a totally different direction, a danger to which teachers, especially those who have the truth of the church and the well ordering of God's house at heart, are open to. With such, any breach of this unity is so serious a matter that exclusion from fellowship at the Lord's table is considered imperative; and intelligence as to the truth of the church, with open separation from the systems around, are desirable, if not absolute pre-requisites for the reception to the fellowship of this unity. Hence there is a tendency to harshness, the gracious and tender feelings of the Lord's heart towards wayward, and it may be willful, members of His body, are not realized. With this there is often lack of interest in souls requiring the gospel, and we cannot but express our conviction that, allied with this, the principle of legality, with a subtle form of self-righteousness, is unconsciously working, the absoluteness of divine grace, upon which all divine government in the church rests, not having been fully apprehended. It will not be difficult to see that the outcome of this view may be two widely separated and antagonistic parties; the one characterized by looseness, and the other by exclusiveness.
By the misuse of a leading and influential truth the heart and conscience are alike put into difficulty and act in a wrong direction, and this misuse of scripture is one of the cleverest and most effectual ways by which the enemy works to dishonor Christ, and rob His saints of their best blessings.
We have, we think, said enough to show what "the unity of the Spirit" is not, and to make it plain, too, that discipline, all-important as it is, connects itself with the unity of the body, and not directly with the unity of the Spirit. The one is ecclesiastical, and engages the mind and conscience with what is at the circumference; the other is moral, and occupies the heart and energies with what is at the center, a distinction of the utmost importance. C. W. (To be continued.)