There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; (Ephesians 4:4, NKJV)
God has revealed His platform for unity in Christ. It is not ecumenism. It is not unity in diversity. It is not all-inclusive and all-accepting. The first plank in God’s “One-derful” platform of unity is “one body.” Paul identified this “one body” in this Ephesian letter. He wrote that Christ is “head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:22-23). One head, Christ. One body, the church. The fullness of Christ is found in His body (church), not outside of it. (Is the church important? Absolutely!) Furthermore, Christ reconciles sinners (Jews and Gentiles) “to God in one body through the cross” (Eph. 2:14-16). Unquestionably then, the church is composed of those who are reconciled to God. (Is the church important? Absolutely!) Yet again, Christ is the head of the church and “the Savior of the body” (Eph. 5:23). Undeniably, those who are saved are in His body, added to the church by the Lord (Acts 2:47). (Is the church important? Absolutely!) Christ loves His church and died for it (Eph. 5:25-27). (Is the church important? Absolutely!) Every Christian has a relationship with God in the “one body” of Christ (the church). And, we share a relationship of brotherhood with fellow Christians in the one body (church) of Christ. His one body – one church – is the relational unity we have with God and with His fellow Christians.
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