Divine Unity

I’ve titled this note “Unity Divine”.

The reason for this title is because Christian Unity is not that which is derived from man but rather it is “Divine” in nature.

Not only do you find Unities origin in God but I believe it is an essential truth given to all believers who have been regenerated in Christ.

In this note my intentions are to point out the supremacy of unity as compared to a multitude of other activities Christians believe they are called to in the Lord. Some of which are genuine and some of which aren’t.

I will begin with a brief description of Christian unity as given to us in the gospel of John chapter 17.

In this chapter we see our Lord praying to the Father. In verse 5 we see Jesus praying that He will once again be glorified together with the Father. Jesus was preparing to die at the hands of sinners and once again be glorified together with the Father. A glory in which they had before the creation of the world. This verse describes a glory or a “Unity” the He and the Father had even before the creation of the world.

Jesus in verse 11 continues to pray that now that He is leaving the world, now that He will once again be glorified together with the Father, He prays that the Father would keep those whom have been given to Christ, (His Disciples) that the Father would keep them in this position of relationship so that they too may be ONE as He and the Father are One.

Jesus prays that the Christians will be unified together as One just as He and the Father are unified together as One. We see this again in verse 21 where He says;

…….”that they all may One as you Father are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be One in us, that the world may believe that you sent Me.”

So from this we see Christian unity defined as well as having its origin in the Godhead.

SECOND POINT
I believe from this 17 chapter of John we can also see the SUPREMACY OF CHRISTIAN UNITY.

This is what I mean by supremacy.

In Christ we have been given Wisdom and insight into the mysteries of life. We understand things such as the nature of man, the deception of the world, the nature of evil. We have also come to understand the attributes of God, the means of grace, and Gods design for sanctification. We have also come to know many other things such as the cultural mandate, our call to evangelize and the order of Worship, and the list goes on…

My point is, everything in this bag of wisdom and commands of Christ are given to us by Gods grace through the gospel of Christ, all of it comes to us FROM the supremacy of our POSITION IN GOD.

Whereas the unity of the Spirit, the Oneness of believers, is not an attribute or fruit of the Spirit such as Wisdom or a heart to obedience, but rather Christian unity is SUPREME in that IT IS our position in the Godhead. We are unified together IN CHRIST.

Christians are One together IN Christ, IN the Father. As Christ and the Father are One. So now, through the gospel, Christians are One in Christ and IN the Father. This is our IDENTITY.

Whereas, all Wisdom and obedience of heart given to man by Gods grace comes from HE of whom we are now identified with. Our works come FROM our position and oneness IN the Godhead. This makes our Unity IN Christ supreme.

One is a fruit FROM our position and the other IS our position.

ALL GENUINE BELIEVERS WHO ARE IN CHRIST ARE CONNECTED TOGETHER AS ONE JUST AS JESUS AND THE FATHER ARE ONE.

This makes our Christian unity supreme over all else. All our differences need to take a back seat to our common unity in the Faith. In fact in Ephesians 4 we are commanded to KEEP THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT IN THE BOND OF PEACE.

This means while we all have our differences, especially these days of political differences, (while we shouldn’t stop striving altogether in politics) we need to agree to disagree and hold to the supremacy of our Unity in Christ. Not just laying down our differences begrudgingly but holding our common faith in high esteem and being passionate in it above all else.