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“Endeavoring to Keep the Unity of the Spirit (Part 1)”
Endeavoring to Keep
the Unity of the Spirit (Part 1)
Wade Webster
To the saints at Ephesus, Paul wrote, “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3). Endeavoring means “to make effort” or to “labor” and keep means “to guard from loss or injury…by keeping the eye upon.” Clearly, great energy and effort is required to keep the unity of the Spirit. After all, unity can be lost very easily.
Sadly, unity had been lost in the church at Corinth. Upon hearing from the household of Chloe that there were “contentions” and divisions at Corinth (1 Cor. 1:11; 3:3), Paul wrote to them begging them to be united. We read, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10; cf. Rom. 2:16; 15:5-6; Phil. 1:27; 1 Pet. 3:8; 2 Cor. 13:11).
Although they were together physically, they were worlds apart spiritually. Paul wrote, “For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it” (1 Cor. 11:18; cf. Rom. 15:7; 1 Pet. 4:9). Paul made clear that this division was contrary to the design and desire of God. He wrote, “For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked: That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another” (1 Cor. 12:24-25).
Please note that the members were to have the “same care” one for another. They were not to care for one more than another. Earlier in the letter, he declared, “And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another” (1 Cor. 4:6).
In like manner, to the saints at Philippi, Paul wrote, “Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” (Phil. 2:2; cf. 4:2; John 13:34-35; Jam. 3:17; Rom. 15:5). Repeatedly, in the letter that he penned to Corinth, Paul called Christ into focus. He knew that the only way to keep unity was by fixing one’s eyes and mind on Jesus. In this lesson, we want to see three things as we focus on Jesus.
