Unity

Eph 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Amos of old posed this rhetorical question: How can two walk together unless they be agreed?

Much is made these days of having unity. Unity, they say ought to be foremost at all cost. But true unity can only be achieved as we agree on fundamental doctrines. For this reason, the apostle insists that we not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

Apologist John Ankerberg, my Facebook friend, had this to say yesterday about unity, "In its most important sense, it is basic doctrinal truth which unites God's people. True unity cannot be had without it. This is why the Bible commands Christians to stand together in unity against heresy and separate themselves from false teachers on the basis of sound doctrine (2 John 9-11; Romans 6:17, etc.)."

Unity connotes oneness. Paul enumerates those fundamentals of unity in today's passage. These are things we must agree on to have unity in our fellowship.
There is One:
*Body - His bride, the local church.
*Spirit - Third person of the Godhead who convicts, comforts, convinces, converts, leads, guides into all truth, speaks not of Himself, but of Jesus, gives unction, brings all things to our remembrance, fills, empowers for witnessing, etc., etc.
*Hope of our calling - sound eschatology.
*Lord - the Lordship of Christ, His sovereign dealings in our lives.
*Faith - the true faith once delivered to the saints, to be received, lived out and communicated to faithful believers who will disciple others.
*Baptism - Immersion in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, by the proper authority, in obedience to Christ and as a testimony of our newness of life in Jesus.
*Father and God - the dynamic of our theology, Who is above us in position, through us in transcendence and in us in power and might.

On these things we agree and by them we walk in unity.