Chapter 4, Verses 1 to 4 continued
Further in connection with the third verse: before we go on to the fifth:
“Using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace,” tells us unmistakably that we, believers, have a responsibility as well as a privilege in upholding that unity which the Holy Spirit has wrought. Without our knowing it, He has formed a unity of all who confess Christ as their personal Saviour; wherever they may be, all over the world, and in whatever connection they may be found, all the true members of Christ are embraced in the unity of the Spirit. Using diligence to keep this unity, is not only to cherish feelings of love toward our fellow-Christians, who may be found in a thousand different bodies and “denominations,” some at least of which would appear to have been formed without much regard for this verse 3. Diligently, then, we should be maintaining this unity of the Spirit, and doing it in the uniting bond of peace.
In Galatians 5:22-23 we have, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,”; this way of peace must then be ours, if we are to do His work in any measure. As another has written, “God’s Spirit is not occupied with merely giving right opinions about points; deeper purposes are His. He is bowing souls to Christ and exalting Him in their eyes. But to bring one soul out of darkness into light, or out of a little into deeper light, is surely precious; and this is what God Himself is now engaged with.
“We do well, while holding fast our liberty for Christ, not to allow the barriers that men have brought in, but to treat them as null and void. But then it will be, as often said, that every man has a right of private judgment. I deny it totally. No man has a right to an opinion in divine things; God only and absolutely is entitled to communicate His mind. What one has to do, is to get out of the way, that God’s light may shine into the hearts of His children.
“Men in their self-importance, only cause their dark shadows to pass over themselves and each other; they thus hinder, instead of helping the communication of divine truth. Whereas, when the desire of Christ’s servant is that God may lead on and strengthen His children, is it in vain? Never.
“The moment you begin to gather people round a particular person, view or system, you are only forming a sect. For this is a party, though it may contain many members of Christ, which forms it basis of union, not on Christ, but on points of difference, which thus become a special badge and means of separating between the children of God. The apostolic church never challenged a converts’ faith as to an establishment or dissent—never asked, Do you believe in episcopacy, voluntarism, or even the church of God? The true and God-glorifying inquiry ever was and is, Do you believe in the Christ of God? It is true that in early days, if a man confessed Christ, he was cast off by Jews and Gentiles, and became an object of enmity to all the world; and this was no slight a guard then against people confessing Christ unless they really believed in Him. But if a man had received the Holy Ghost through the hearing of faith, he was at once a member of the one body and acknowledged as such.
“Why should this not rule now? Am I not content with the wisdom of God? Would I then supplement His Word, or do without or against it? It is no sect if you act upon the mind of God; it is a sect if you depart from it. The question therefore is, what is God’s intention about His church? How would he have us to meet? Am I willing to receive all real Christians—persons whom all believe to be converted? Doubtless there is such a thing as putting them out if they prove not to be so, for there is no possible case of evil but what the Word of God applies to, so that there is not the smallest need for any rules or regulations of men.
“Unless men are spiritual, they will not keep the unity of the Spirit long; they will soon find abundant ground for fault finding. But those who hold fast and firm to Christ as the center of the Spirit’s unity, as they are no sect, so they never can become one, whatever be the schisms, divisions, heresies of their adversaries. It is very sorrowful that any souls should go away in self-condemnation, but it is the more blessed for those who, spite of all, have faith and patience and grace to stay.
“The apostle said, in writing to the Corinthians, ‘There must needs be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest.’ These were the men who in that day clave to the Lord with full purpose of heart. May the same thing be true of us now! I deny that the Word of God is made of none effect, or that I am in any way bound to sin now more than then. The unity of the Spirit which the Ephesians had to keep, is the unity which God lays upon all His children. If the Word has regenerated my soul through the Holy Ghost; if through it I know my Saviour and my Father; if to it I am indebted as the means God uses for cleansing my soul from day to day, am I to say that I need not follow His Word as a member of Christ’s body in the assembly of God, where He dwells in the Spirit? Surely, if my soul owns its divine authority, woe is me if I do not seek to follow it in all things.
“ ... If a believer falls into sin of a certain character, he ought to be put away. What is merely personal should be dealt with in a private way; it would be monstrous to put all failures on the same ground. The first and deep feeling of the soul ought to be, in vindicating God, to get the person right. The church is a witness of divine grace, and has to seek the blessing of the unconverted, and the restoration of Christians who have gone astray. Are we endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit? How is it that Christians are found formed into different associations? If the Word of God be that which they at all cost, seek to carry out, why do they require human rules and modern inventions? If God gives a rule, I do not want another. I do want to have His in all its strength, so as to bring forth the truth to a man’s conscience, and say, that is God’s will. Is it well or wise to yield this up? God has written a word that bears upon everything moral, by which He intended His children to walk; are we doing so? Some may ask, Are you then perfect? I answer, We are endeavoring to hold fast, and in peace, the Spirit’s unity, we are honestly seeking subjection to the will of God; are you doing the same?
“This is the main question for every child of God—Am I endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit? And am I doing it in God’s way or out of my own head? Have I surrendered myself to do His will? ... But further, this unity is to be kept in the bond of peace. God is forming His church of all those who belong to Himself. It is not Christian persons holding particular views of this or that, but the Spirit holding to His own unity, or to what Christ is to them, not to the points in which they differ one from another. ... ”
The foregoing lengthy quotation is taken from a valuable work “Lectures on the epistle of Paul, the apostle, to the Ephesians,” written about 1860 by William Kelly, a servant of the Lord who faithfully labored for his Master many years.