Ephesians 4:3 Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Were all Churches and church members concerned to "keep the unity of His Spirit," a bond of peace, strong as the everlasting firmament, would encircle them. But how is it possible that we should worthily conceive of the riches comprehended in "the unity of the Spirit"? We have seen a company of a thousand musicians and singers playing and singing one tune in harmony. The persons were distinct, the instruments distinct, and the voices very distinct, and yet all were a composed unity. An army of a hundred thousand men, in movement and operation, may be a perfect unity. But in order to form an idea of the "unity of the Spirit," we must imagine that the whole universe, visible and invisible, with all its distinctions, elements, powers, and virtues were dissolved in one sea of being. For all have sprung from such a sea, and, in the Spirit, are such a sea of living, blissful unity. Even in the sphere of striving, corrupt nature, we see enough to make us wonder at the variety which the Spirit carries in the bosom of His unity. For all the variety, in earth and heaven, is wrought "by One and the self-same Spirit." The new growths, the joy and the glory, which constitute our summer, are so much of the fulness of the Spirit opened to our view. The creatures in different elements and latitudes are so distinct that they have no communion with each other; but they are all One in the Spirit which animates them. The sea and its contents, the innumerable tribes of the air, and all the species found on our hills and in our plains and valleys, are but very partial manifestations of the wealth and variety of the Spirit. The all things of the Father, and all things of Creation, and the all things in Christ's finished work are included in the Spirit's unity. Pause and contemplate "the river of God's pleasures," "the fulness of joy" which the perfect know above. Whatever our understandings may hold as truth, is but a mere division of this unity. "The unity of the Spirit" is "the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus," and can only be apprehended by the affections. (J. Pulsford.) Parallel Verses KJV: Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.WEB: being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. |
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