Ephesians 4:1-6

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³ eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— ⁵  one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶  one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

For Paul, the point that draws and keeps believers together is not simply a common membership in a congregation but the common experience of the Spirit. Agreements on confessions and creeds may signify unity, but they do not produce it. Surely there are disagreements in regards to theologies and traditions within the Body of Christ, but this cannot discourage believers from working “diligently to preserve the unity of the Spirit.” Surely there have been negative compromises by some to hollow out their doctrinal beliefs due to cultural pressures, but this err cannot detour Christians from being united in Spirit. The unity of the Spirit is shown to the lost world when, within the church, there is true fruit of the Spirit, and when Christ is the one who is glorified by all the members of his body working together. Paul teaches unity is not a product of human energy or efforts, but rather is a product of the Holy Spirit produces because of the cross of Christ.

Sin is a disruptive force. It always divides, separates, and splinters. It divides a man within and against himself. It has produced the constant fight and struggle which we are all aware of in our own lives and in the life of the church. Consequently, the central object of salvation, in a sense, is to re-unite, to bring together again, to reconcile, to restore the unity that God created before sin and the fall produces this terrible havoc between God and people, and between people, one with another. So, the unity we have in Christ is part of the grand design. Thus, one of the peculiar mark of the Christian calling is to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The unity which the Spirit establishes is rooted in more than cooperation and organization. It is rooted in Christ and grounded in the work of the Holy Spirit.