Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Paul as the Lord's prisoner calls believers to walk worthy of their calling with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering and forbearing one another in love, by actively working to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That unity is already made and given by the Spirit, not created by believers, and they are to preserve and guard it with real, earnest, decided and untiring effort. It is kept by living in peace together in brotherly love, mutual forbearance, respect and tenderness, with humility, patience, kindness and love ruling words and acts. Its ground is one body and one Spirit and one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in all. This oneness does not mean sameness of mold, but complete unity amid diversity of minds and gifts working to one end, and when believers of varied dispositions live in such harmony it is the strongest witness that God sent His Son to save sinners.
Meaning and Context
Paul writes as the Lord's prisoner, urging believers to walk in a manner worthy of their calling with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, by actively endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That worthy walk belongs to new men and women in Christ who put on peace, grace and righteousness, and it calls for refusing a striving, satanic will, guarding against suspicion and evil thoughts, and speaking no distrust or evil words. Keeping unity is the work to be done in every church, where love as the law of the kingdom lifts lives to a higher standard of meekness and long-suffering that bears many things without seeking revenge by word or act. By meekness and gentleness, forbearance and love, believers exemplify the character of Christ and the blessings of His salvation.
The oneness to be kept is already given and created by the Spirit, not made by believers, and their part is to preserve, guard and keep it. That keeping requires real, earnest, decided, stern and untiring effort, with every effort made and no halfway work, expressed in a life marked by humility, meekness, patience and loving forbearance. It is to be lived rather than replaced by personal ideas and opinions, since substituting human opinion for God's word misleads others.
The bond of peace means believers are bound, joined and held together by living in peace with one another. Peace is the joining element, maintained through lowliness, meekness, patience and loving forbearance, in brotherly love, mutual forbearance, respect and tenderness under the influence and control of the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit's sanctifying work and dependence on Christ, members of one body share one another's suffering and blessing.
The immediate ground of the appeal is one body and one Spirit and one hope of the calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in all. All members of the body are animated by the same Spirit and the same hope. This shared body, Spirit, hope, Lord, faith, baptism, and God and Father is what the unity rests upon and belongs to.
The setting continues with grace given to each one according to the measure of Christ's gift. Christ first descended into the lower parts of the earth and then ascended far above all heavens to fill all things, leading captivity captive. On ascending He gave gifts including apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints and the edifying of the body of Christ. Those gifts and ministries build believers until all come to unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, growing together into Christ unto mature faith that is not carried away by deceptive teaching.
Foundation in Oneness
The oneness to be kept belongs to the one body with Christ as Head and Center, and all its members are animated by the same Spirit and the same hope of their calling, grounded in one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all. Those who keep it are bound together as one in Christ Jesus with lives hid with Christ in God, with Christ formed within as the hope of glory, and with Christ and His righteousness as the only hope and not sectarianism or legal religion. It is kept by obedience to the commandments of God and by being united in the faith of the Scriptures, and those who keep it practice the golden rule, love one another as Christ loved them, help one another, and bear a living testimony that the Father loves them even as He loves His Son. By courtesy, fidelity, justice and mercy they magnify the law and prove it perfect for converting the soul, use heaven's costly provision to draw souls to obedience, cooperate with God as laborers together with Him, and reveal a healthy religious experience to the world.
This unity is produced by the Holy Spirit's control, direction and sanctifying work through the truth, and it is kept by standing united as brethren under His influence, leaving the mind to be acted upon by Him and drinking in of the Spirit. It requires diligent, self-sacrificing effort to live in Christ's love and to put heaven's principles into practice, with no halfway or half-hearted work, and it is sustained by prayer bringing the divine power that enables working together in spiritual unity. Because believers are members of one body they share one another's suffering and blessing, and they draw spiritual supplies from the same storehouse and the same Source, being fed from the same Source on the flesh and blood of the Son of God. When the same vitalizing current flows through minds and hearts harmonious action follows, while failure to act in harmony denies the Source of all spiritual life.
Keeping this oneness is God's plain and simple appointed plan for His church to the end of time, for showing the unbelieving world a healthy Christian life in oneness and agreement. It is in harmony with the Old Testament and with harmony with God's law and obedience to it as essential to the life and blessings God promises. It belongs to the Lord's manner of working through a variety of gifts held together in unity, where every gift is acknowledged as essential, no spiritual gift is allowed to be lost, and different gifts are essential to the success of God's work. Christian work in every line is not to be separated from the church but carried out as a cooperative part of it.
By this unity believers are made complete as one body in Christ and through Christ one with the Father, partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption in the world through lust, showing they have learned from Jesus. Together they are being formed into a dwelling for God through the Spirit and into His image, sanctified body, soul and spirit, with Christ identifying Himself with the members of His church. This blessed union magnifies the truth, manifests power for truth and holiness, makes known through the church to principalities and powers in heavenly places the manifold wisdom of God, and makes the union of the human and divine a witness that convicts the world.
Character That Preserves Unity
Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace requires walking worthy of the calling with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering and forbearing one another in love. That worthy walk is marked by humility, gentleness, patience, kindness, courtesy, fidelity, justice, mercy and love, for love is the law of Christ's kingdom and the higher standard to which all are called. By meekness and gentleness, forbearance and love believers exemplify the character of Christ and the blessings of His salvation, bearing many things without seeking to be avenged by word or act. This character rests on sharing one body and one Spirit and one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, with all members animated by the same Spirit and the same hope and with different gifts and roles working together as one body under Christ. Christ's gifts build up the members toward unity in faith and knowledge of Him, protecting them from deceptive teaching.
Keeping this unity demands self-examination and humbling the heart before God in contrition of soul, purifying the heart by obedience to the truth and reforming harsh treatment of brethren. It requires controlling the disposition by stern, untiring effort, overcoming self-exaltation, envy, jealousy and evil surmising, refraining from judging and criticizing one another, and ceasing to make a great matter of things unworthy of notice. It means knowing the working of the Holy Spirit instead of remaining hard-spirited strangers to Him, breathing the atmosphere of heaven daily and catching the inspiration of the angels in the heavenly courts. Faultfinding drives away Christ's Spirit and harms those He seeks to save and bless, while a converted, Christlike life supports the unity of the one body, cultivates esteem and confidence in brethren, and helps bring others to Christ. So humbled and cleansed, ministers can agree and walk together and carry on the work of the ministry, yoking up with Christ and cooperating with Him in the good works ordained, accepting His mercy and love and kindness and receiving cleansing of the soul temple instead of manufacturing trials.
Preserving oneness requires being constant learners in the school of Christ where no one is ever graduated, learning His meekness and lowliness line upon line and precept upon precept. Learners carry all true knowledge gained in knowing God and in nearness to Him in saving souls into the higher school, constantly reaching forward for more wisdom and grace and fuller understanding of what God requires until it can be said Ye are complete in Him. They are animated and united by His surpassing love, revealing the tender, compassionate Spirit that long and patiently bore with misunderstanding. Being of one mind while thoughts and expression of truth may vary, they draw as closely together as possible by dwelling on things in which all can agree rather than on things that seem to create difference, viewing all things in the light of the glory in the face of Jesus Christ. They stand in right relation to God with Christ at their head, refusing to seek or emphasize differences of opinion, so that work and relationships together represent His character as one in mind, heart and spirit.
This unity is kept by united fervent prayer and by counseling and praying together, which binds hearts and souls together and brings the divine power that enables working in spiritual unity. When workers counsel and pray together their joined energies give the church a power it cannot obtain in any other way, enabling God to work mightily through it for the conversion of sinners. Ministers who pray together, confess sins and seek God's help receive evidence of His favor, the Spirit works in them and prepares hearers to receive the message, shown in meek, gracious speech and spiritual influence. In the time of temptation when confidence in self, pride, combativeness, resistance, discontent, peevishness, evil surmisings and censure rise, the answer is instant, ceaseless, watchful prayer, so that every movement to draw nigh to God meets response from God and the working of the Holy Spirit produces inward change corresponding to the necessities of the soul. Members who keep spiritual oneness in peaceful bonds carry their own burdens, keep souls in the love of God, help one another as burden-bearers, walk in the light growing in grace and knowledge of the truth, receive wisdom from on high when called to decide, live for God's glory and the saving of perishing souls, work harmoniously under Christ as Head while stirring one another to love and good works, so God works with them, Jesus becomes their sufficiency, the lukewarm are led to work with zeal and the desponding encouraged to trust in God.
Keeping the unity also calls for sober, circumspect words and acts instead of levity and reckless talking, bearing a weight of solemn influence, rich in good works and burdened for souls. Those living in the last days keep on the spiritual armor without laying it aside for a moment through instant prayer and constant watchfulness in the unceasing battle for life against Satan and his host, faithfully representing Christ to win souls. Walking worthy applies to business connection with the work of God and handling sacred things, where honor, integrity and truth must be preserved at any cost to self, every thought, word and action brought under the will of Christ, irreverence, deceit to carry a point, and levity avoided, with Christ remembered as presiding in the midst to impart wisdom, grace and righteousness. When obeyed, an elevating, controlling influence from the Spirit of God pervades the assembly, self is hid in Jesus, and plans and decisions are no longer one-sided and warped but dispassionate and righteous. Even the most splendid temple amounts to nothing if hearts are not right, so the greatest anxiety must be about spiritual condition, shown by reverence in entering and leaving the house of worship, by remembering the presence of God and angels, by living as the temple of the living God, and by educating children that God meets with His people and directing their thoughts heavenward.
Unity Amid Diversity
Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace means complete unity in diversity, not sameness of mold or uniformity of words, style, figures and ways of presentation. No two human minds are precisely alike, just as no two leaves in nature are alike and heavenly angels differ in qualifications and ministry, and those called to God's work differ in character, mind and elements of character, yet all can be of one mind, heart and spirit. Keeping it is to draw as closely together as possible by dwelling on those things on which all can agree rather than on those that seem to create a difference, viewing all things in the light of the glory in the face of Jesus Christ. It is kept with all lowliness and meekness and long-suffering, with humility, patience, loving forbearance, charity and unselfish cooperation, each worker doing the work entrusted to him while allowing others to do theirs. Unity does not require everyone to think alike, for truth speaks its own language through a diversity of gifts and the divine work is carried on by and through them.
All are brethren, not their own but bought with the same price and owned by God, born of God by the same Spirit, members of the same body worked by the same Spirit, and fed from the same Source on the flesh and blood of the Son of God, so that when the same vitalizing current flows through minds and hearts harmonious action follows, and failure to act in harmony denies the Source of all spiritual life. Keeping this unity requires being constant learners in the school of Christ where meekness and lowliness are learned line upon line, being animated and united by His surpassing love, revealing the tender, compassionate Spirit that long and patiently bore with misunderstanding, and drinking in of the Spirit without selfishness or self-exaltation. This is the charge especially to those writing and presenting truth including the third angel's message, to work under the controlling influence of the Holy Spirit to preserve spiritual unity in peace. Meekness, mutual forbearance and charity reconcile differences in gifts and even in doctrine and strengthen fellowship as believers labor together to win souls.
Diversity of gifts, characters, minds and lines of work is all essential and all works to one end, the expression of the mind and will of God through the perfecting of the saints and the perfection of His church, so that every emergency in every kind of labor may be met. God joins different minds so that one supplies what another lacks, and every gift must be acknowledged with no gift lost. Members with different gifts and roles work together as one body under Christ as Head, in humility, patience and love. This unity rests on the shared one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, and it is strengthened as Christ's gifts and church ministries build believers toward unity in faith and knowledge of the Son of God and mature faith that is not carried away by deceptive teaching. Christian work is therefore not to be separated from the church but carried out as a cooperative part of it.
Under the same Spirit different minds present the same history and truth differently to meet the necessities of varied minds, and the different testimonies unite to form one harmonious whole without contradiction. There is no requirement that all speak the very same things in the same words with the same representation, nor a laboring to make everything entirely different and original; under the Spirit's direction one may use the same words others have used and may also use different figures and different ways of presentation to interest and educate different minds, without trying to be entirely different or exactly the same. Kept this way the different testimonies unite as members of the human body depending on one another in harmonious action, and as the books of the Bible are bound under one cover. Straining for originality and presenting new ideas contrary to the Word breaks that unity and makes error appear as new light.
The same unity forbids one man's mind or one woman's mind exerting a controlling power in institutions or in the church, for no human master spirit is sufficient in itself and no one person's thinking is to control. There is to be only one master Spirit, the Spirit of Him who is infinite in wisdom, in whom all the diverse elements meet in beautiful, matchless unity, with Christ alone directing His workers and believers united under Christ the Head through shared belief and knowledge of the truth in Jesus and spiritual union with the Lord. Every form of domineering, man-ruling power is to be set aside, with no man made ruler over his fellow men, no brother dictating another's individual duty, no one required to accept a fellow worker's words and experience or follow human judgment, and no man placed as an authority to whom others must go for permission to do what the Spirit of God impresses as right, for that position is dangerous and leads to exaltation because he is only human. Depending on human agencies and making flesh the arm departs from God's strength and brings feebleness, discord and confusion, as when disobedient nations in the past were punished by subjection to other powers. The Holy Spirit is to be the chief counselor and the Lord of hosts the ruler, while believers counsel together, pray together in difficulty and sorrow, help one another as fellow workers without exercising authority over each other's spiritual experience, and live in mutual dependence in their several callings with assistance and prayer for the wisdom the Lord alone can give.
Blending a diversity of minds into unity of minds does not mean requiring everybody to blend to one person's ideas, but yielding personal strong views to the good judgment of the many and working by the counsel of a group instead of one man outlining policy and acting as dictator, since no one man's mind and judgment is safe to lead alone. It is kept by explaining ideas and ways of dealing so minds can blend, and by acceding and keeping silent when brethren do not see alike rather than pressing an idea strenuously. A difference of opinion that will not blend destroys union, and pressing one's own idea to prominence brings controversy and discouragement and forfeits God's blessing. Those whom the Lord has blessed with experience are fitted to be wise counselors, and it is duty to counsel together.
The gospel is to be carried to all nations, classes, tongues and peoples in meekness and lowliness of spirit, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, and its influence breaks down national prejudice and jealousy, blending hearts into one great brotherhood. Ministers must look carefully to their own hearts to know where they stand, so they do not do the work of persecution that those who claimed to be religious did, but carry the gospel in Christ's spirit. Laborers must not build up separate interests between different nationalities, for accepting the truth as it is in Jesus brings the same mind and purpose to glorify God. With Christ alone as model and mold, all come into perfect harmony, nationalities blending in Jesus Christ, having the same mind, the same judgment, speaking the same things, and with one mouth glorifying God. Partition walls must be kept down, and no word or effort may disunite what God would have united, but all must labor to cement together and have a molding influence on one another by receiving Christ's mold and imitating Christ's character, so that Christ in the German believer recognizes Christ in the French believer. The truth has the same molding, refining, ennobling, subduing power upon all hearts whatever their nationality, producing love as brethren, esteeming others better than themselves, kindness and courtesy, meekness and lowliness, easiness to be entreated, fullness of mercy and good fruit, so that when Christ abides in the heart by faith all are of one mind, strong in His strength, happy and united in His peace, because Christ is not divided.
Witness to the World
Harmony and union among people of varied dispositions is the strongest witness that God sent His Son into the world to save sinners. This witness is given by walking worthy of the calling with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, and by meekness and gentleness, forbearance and love exemplifying the character of Christ and the blessings of His salvation. It rests on one body and one Spirit and one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, with all members of the body animated by the same Spirit and the same hope. Bearing it requires characters molded in harmony with His character and wills surrendered to His will, with each person finding the place God has for him and doing the work God has given him instead of acting like undisciplined, uncontrolled children always out of joint. Failure comes when each one wants his own way, having always had his own way and never learned to yield, while keeping the unity requires each one to confess his own mistakes and errors, not those of someone else.
All believers are to blend together in spiritual unity bound by peace, with Christ identifying Himself with the members of His church. This union of the human and the divine convicts the world, with truth magnified through the blessed union of those sanctified body, soul, and spirit. It belongs to truly converted souls for whom the Lord is strength, light, and life, whose quickening Spirit is recognized by inspiration and abiding influence, and it makes known through the church to principalities and powers in heavenly places the manifold wisdom of God. When kept it manifests power for truth and holiness, makes believers laborers together with God in leading souls to Christ, with Christ formed within as the hope of glory, and requires a much higher standard of righteous character as evidence of possessing the truth. This unity must combine zeal and firmness with meekness and forbearance, and must not be gained by giving up any principle of truth, for obedience to truth sanctifies believers and supports their unity. Love and harmony among Christ's followers show that they are His disciples and serve as evidence to the world that the Father sent Him, for as members of one body they share one another's suffering and blessing through the Spirit's sanctifying work depending on Christ.
Divisions in the church dishonor the religion of Christ before the world and give occasion to the enemies of truth to justify their course and defend their opposition. The command was not for the church in Paul's day alone but is designed for believers now, who must examine what they are doing to preserve unity in the bonds of peace by showing Christ's character through meekness, gentleness, patience, and love. Contention among believers retards the progress of the Lord's work, so they are to unite on the proper basis of unity. Receiving the light of God's Word brings believers into the unity produced by the Spirit and held together by peace, which is the unity for which Christ prayed, marked by one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. The Advent message demonstrated this unity among those who accepted it, when people from different denominations set aside denominational barriers and conflicting creeds and were joined in fellowship, with love and joy uniting hearts.
God appointed a plain and simple plan to keep oneness in His church so its members reveal a healthy religious experience and a healthy Christian life to the unbelieving world. The oneness is kept by obedience to the commandments of God, by being united in the faith of the Scriptures, and by being bound together as one in Christ Jesus with lives hid with Christ in God. Those who keep it love one another as Christ loved them, help one another, practice the golden rule, bear a living testimony that the Father loves them even as He loves His Son, and use heaven's costly provision to draw souls to obedience to the law of God. By courtesy, fidelity, justice and mercy they magnify the law and prove it perfect for converting the soul, cooperating with God as laborers together with Him and partaking of the divine nature having escaped the corruption in the world through lust, so that their united, consistent lives testify to God's love and power and commend obedience to His law with powerful influence. When workers counsel and pray together in this unity, their joined energies give the church a power it cannot obtain in any other way, enabling God to work mightily through it for the conversion of sinners. The unity binds believers into one body under Christ, removes selfish barriers and distinctions, requires the church to be purified, refined and ennobled by casting from the heart the idols that have hindered advancement in spirituality, and by the influence of the Spirit even the most discordant may be brought into harmony to serve effectively in converting others and perfecting the whole body.
One in whose heart Christ abides recognizes Christ abiding in the heart of his brother, for Christ never wars against Christ and never exerts an influence against Christ. The verse applies in the home, where parents keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace by exemplifying in their own character and home life the love and beneficence of the heavenly Father. They make the home full of sunshine and keep home love alive in the hearts of the children, so that childhood home is remembered as a place of peace and happiness next to heaven. Because family members do not all have the same stamp of character, keeping this unity requires frequent patience and forbearance, and through love and self-discipline all can be bound together in the closest union. Mother and daughter, both keeping the faith, exemplify this unity, for they are one in Christ through the Spirit-given unity bound together by peace.
Life in the Church
Ministers, watchmen and gospel teachers are under sacred obligation to watch for souls as those who must give an account, and through divine grace they can do a work heaven approves by laboring to keep the church in unity and peace. Proclaiming the truth includes publishing peace and actively preserving the unity held together by peace. That unity calls ministers to present shared, vital truths clearly and simply in love and meekness, to humble themselves, to avoid needless disputes and unimportant differences, and to cultivate meekness. Such Christlike unity strengthens their work and makes truth persuasive and its unifying power clear, while contention weakens witness and hinders the work.
Every institution established in the interests of the cause must take heed to walk worthy of the calling with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, and bring that word into practical life in working together. Those carrying heavy God-given responsibilities for the sanitarium must come together in unity, giving a capable manager place to see the work on every side without jealousy or selfishness, with every able man harmonizing and working intelligently to supply deficiencies revealed when men are tested in responsible positions, so large loss on every side is prevented. Those laboring in ministry and medical missionary work must wear Christ's yoke and walk in humility before God, using varied gifts to bless humanity as His helping hand, united in one body under Christ with all parts controlled by the wisdom God gives and harmony in every action. There is to be no jealousy over Paul or Apollos or Cephas, but all drawing in even cords without friction, ministers giving room to fellow laborers and not measuring brethren by their own ideas, everyone in whom Christ abides refusing to quarrel, all standing under Christ's standard united by desire to strengthen His work in every line. Gospel ministers and medical missionary workers must be united in interest, the medical workers interested in the conferences and the conference workers equally interested in the medical work, standing on a united platform and one in the faith, for disunion places the worst evil upon the churches. This unity gives no right to unite with and sustain an unsafe leader until he stands where he can safely lead the flock, and none are to follow human devising or fasten the soul to a human leader, for Christ alone is Leader sent by the Father to redeem the race and restore God's moral image for His glory.
Keeping unity means Christian uniting with Christian and church with church under the Holy Spirit, with united activity increasing proportionately in the time of the end to meet the greatly increased activity of Satan's servants. There are to be no territorial lines, but a noble spirit of helpfulness and willingness to use the Lord's money where most needed, helping one another because there is one body and one Spirit, one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, with grace given to each according to the measure of Christ's gift. The different gifts and lines of missionary work are to blend into one whole and not be separated into competing, independent or rival efforts or divided by schism, but advanced in an orderly, harmonious way. It includes standing with the body, accepting the gifts God has placed in it, and working in sympathy with experienced fellow believers rather than pursuing an independent position.
Keeping unity requires putting on peace, grace and righteousness as new men and women in Christ and yielding to the Holy Spirit working on reason and conscience with holy angels, so as to speak only commendation, love, and kindly, uplifting, encouraging words with no evil seed sown. It means refusing the striving of the evil, satanic will, refusing to be an enemy in sheep's clothing, and putting away jealousy, evil surmising, suspicion, distrust, faultfinding, judging, criticizing, evil speaking, and talking over defects, guarding against suspicion and evil thoughts and not speaking evil words. Instead believers go alone to pray, seek the Lord remembering each has a soul to save, persevere to make thorough work for eternity, and notice fellow workers' good qualities, which creates an atmosphere that brings the angels who keep and guard the soul. This takes stern, untiring effort to control disposition and selfish or difficult tempers, for faultfinding drives away Christ's Spirit and harms those He seeks to save and bless, while lowliness, meekness, patience and love in word and act make His grace visible. It requires trusting that God works through others as well as self, respecting their gifts and appointed work, yielding the will to God, letting different gifts work together rather than stand apart, and strengthening one another in remaining united with Christ and with one another.
Keeping unity means being all of one mind by dwelling on things on which all can agree rather than on things that seem to create difference, and seeking how closely to come together rather than how much to differ. Thoughts and expression of truth may vary, yet believers are to be one in mind, heart and spirit because Christ stands at their head, viewing all things in the light of the glory in the face of Jesus Christ and letting work and relationships represent His character. They are to stand in right relation to God, learn from Christ, and refuse to seek or emphasize differences of opinion. That unity is not maintained by following personal judgment regardless of fellow believers, but by respecting one another, sacrificing personal feelings, yielding personal opinions on little things, talking matters over, staying balanced without extremes, and testing relationships and teachings by Scripture with teachable hearts, for where hearts are teachable there is no division and God leads His ministers toward unity in doctrine and spirit.
God's workers must keep unity by acting in concert under one supreme Leader, Christ, rather than working independently and regarding their own judgment as best, blending together so one supplies what another lacks and the people of God work as a perfect whole. Each person is to find the place God has for him and do the work God has given him, instead of acting like undisciplined, uncontrolled children always out of joint and each wanting his own way as when never taught to yield. This unity excludes selfishness, unholy ambition, struggles for supremacy, choosing an exclusive society and company, separating from brethren who will not put away their ideas to accept one's own, lordship over God's people, and one person carrying or controlling everything, for God appoints different people and agencies to serve in cooperation with Christ directing. Living by God's Word and walking humbly with Him in truth in word, spirit and action prevents such trouble, and making this unity plain to the world shows that God sent His Son to save sinners. It requires each one to confess his own mistakes and errors, not another's, to cherish lowliness of mind, and to allow others to do their entrusted work.
The call to preserve unity through peace belongs to each person in relation to church and world, especially amid the perils of the last days, and is not sectarianism or legal religion, for Christ and His righteousness is the only hope and center. It is guidance for faithful conduct in the constant spiritual battle, calling those living in the last days to sober, circumspect words and acts instead of levity and reckless talking, bearing solemn influence rich in good works and burdened for souls, keeping on the spiritual armor without laying it aside through instant prayer and constant watchfulness against Satan and his host. It belongs to setting the churches in order, gathering and upholding the light of truth, heeding warnings against deception, closing the door of unbelief, making straight paths so the weak are not turned aside, and rescuing souls in peril who do not see their danger, with faith and works united to bear aloft the third angel's message. While the world is filled with storm, war and variance and is united under one head, the papal power, in a union cemented by the great apostate to oppose God in His faithful witnesses, God's people are to have the opposite unity cemented by the Holy Spirit, with each worker filled with love and sympathy for fellow workers, each fulfilling his appointment with faithful, undivided effort and seeking earnestly to prepare the Lord's way. All jealousy, evil-surmising and evil-speaking is of the apostate and tends to discord and disunion.
Oneness must be on pure, elevating, ennobling truth in sharp contrast to false, misleading doctrines, not unity on wrong practices, with sin and impenitence called by their right name and wrongdoing never glossed over. It does not require silence about bigotry, spiritual weakness and blindness among people blessed with great light and precious opportunities, but earnest effort to hold the church together can go with firmly protesting wrong by pen and voice until it is expelled and Christ's grace takes its place. Even when reformation is urgently needed and reformers begin to act as the denominational churches acted, keeping oneness means staying with the churches and hoping no further separation becomes necessary. Christ calls His people to this unity instead of entering controversy over disputed subjects and differences of opinion.
Unity is shown in orderly, disciplined, harmonious action, with organized churches enforcing order and believers working together rather than pursuing independent courses. Those in influence are to unite with fellow believers in close bonds of fellowship, treating one another with justice, tenderness and truth in a Christlike spirit, with consideration for those struggling with difficulties. God's people must be united and earnest in prayer and in work as they proclaim present truth while the work fast closes, which gives evidence of sanctification by the Spirit and makes the work a success, for the Holy Spirit always draws believers closer, increasing unity and happiness. In the plan of redemption every soul has an allotted place and appointed work, the work varied yet moved by one Spirit, and keeping unity means receiving the Holy Spirit, coming together in brotherly sympathy, and binding interests together in love, for Christian unity is a mighty agency. This unity supports shared spiritual renewal and leaves no place for criticism, doubt or unbelief, as believers seek God with the whole heart and build Christlike character displaying the Saviour's characteristics.
Paul as the Lord's prisoner calls believers to walk worthy of their calling with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering and forbearing one another in love, by actively working to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That unity is already made and given by the Spirit, not created by believers, and they are to preserve and guard it with real, earnest, decided and untiring effort. It is kept by living in peace together in brotherly love, mutual forbearance, respect and tenderness, with humility, patience, kindness and love ruling words and acts. Its ground is one body and one Spirit and one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in all. This oneness does not mean sameness of mold, but complete unity amid diversity of minds and gifts working to one end, and when believers of varied dispositions live in such harmony it is the strongest witness that God sent His Son to save sinners.
Meaning and Context
Paul writes as the Lord's prisoner, urging believers to walk in a manner worthy of their calling with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, by actively endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That worthy walk belongs to new men and women in Christ who put on peace, grace and righteousness, and it calls for refusing a striving, satanic will, guarding against suspicion and evil thoughts, and speaking no distrust or evil words. Keeping unity is the work to be done in every church, where love as the law of the kingdom lifts lives to a higher standard of meekness and long-suffering that bears many things without seeking revenge by word or act. By meekness and gentleness, forbearance and love, believers exemplify the character of Christ and the blessings of His salvation.
The oneness to be kept is already given and created by the Spirit, not made by believers, and their part is to preserve, guard and keep it. That keeping requires real, earnest, decided, stern and untiring effort, with every effort made and no halfway work, expressed in a life marked by humility, meekness, patience and loving forbearance. It is to be lived rather than replaced by personal ideas and opinions, since substituting human opinion for God's word misleads others.
The bond of peace means believers are bound, joined and held together by living in peace with one another. Peace is the joining element, maintained through lowliness, meekness, patience and loving forbearance, in brotherly love, mutual forbearance, respect and tenderness under the influence and control of the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit's sanctifying work and dependence on Christ, members of one body share one another's suffering and blessing.
The immediate ground of the appeal is one body and one Spirit and one hope of the calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in all. All members of the body are animated by the same Spirit and the same hope. This shared body, Spirit, hope, Lord, faith, baptism, and God and Father is what the unity rests upon and belongs to.
The setting continues with grace given to each one according to the measure of Christ's gift. Christ first descended into the lower parts of the earth and then ascended far above all heavens to fill all things, leading captivity captive. On ascending He gave gifts including apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints and the edifying of the body of Christ. Those gifts and ministries build believers until all come to unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, growing together into Christ unto mature faith that is not carried away by deceptive teaching.
Foundation in Oneness
The oneness to be kept belongs to the one body with Christ as Head and Center, and all its members are animated by the same Spirit and the same hope of their calling, grounded in one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all. Those who keep it are bound together as one in Christ Jesus with lives hid with Christ in God, with Christ formed within as the hope of glory, and with Christ and His righteousness as the only hope and not sectarianism or legal religion. It is kept by obedience to the commandments of God and by being united in the faith of the Scriptures, and those who keep it practice the golden rule, love one another as Christ loved them, help one another, and bear a living testimony that the Father loves them even as He loves His Son. By courtesy, fidelity, justice and mercy they magnify the law and prove it perfect for converting the soul, use heaven's costly provision to draw souls to obedience, cooperate with God as laborers together with Him, and reveal a healthy religious experience to the world.
This unity is produced by the Holy Spirit's control, direction and sanctifying work through the truth, and it is kept by standing united as brethren under His influence, leaving the mind to be acted upon by Him and drinking in of the Spirit. It requires diligent, self-sacrificing effort to live in Christ's love and to put heaven's principles into practice, with no halfway or half-hearted work, and it is sustained by prayer bringing the divine power that enables working together in spiritual unity. Because believers are members of one body they share one another's suffering and blessing, and they draw spiritual supplies from the same storehouse and the same Source, being fed from the same Source on the flesh and blood of the Son of God. When the same vitalizing current flows through minds and hearts harmonious action follows, while failure to act in harmony denies the Source of all spiritual life.
Keeping this oneness is God's plain and simple appointed plan for His church to the end of time, for showing the unbelieving world a healthy Christian life in oneness and agreement. It is in harmony with the Old Testament and with harmony with God's law and obedience to it as essential to the life and blessings God promises. It belongs to the Lord's manner of working through a variety of gifts held together in unity, where every gift is acknowledged as essential, no spiritual gift is allowed to be lost, and different gifts are essential to the success of God's work. Christian work in every line is not to be separated from the church but carried out as a cooperative part of it.
By this unity believers are made complete as one body in Christ and through Christ one with the Father, partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption in the world through lust, showing they have learned from Jesus. Together they are being formed into a dwelling for God through the Spirit and into His image, sanctified body, soul and spirit, with Christ identifying Himself with the members of His church. This blessed union magnifies the truth, manifests power for truth and holiness, makes known through the church to principalities and powers in heavenly places the manifold wisdom of God, and makes the union of the human and divine a witness that convicts the world.
Character That Preserves Unity
Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace requires walking worthy of the calling with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering and forbearing one another in love. That worthy walk is marked by humility, gentleness, patience, kindness, courtesy, fidelity, justice, mercy and love, for love is the law of Christ's kingdom and the higher standard to which all are called. By meekness and gentleness, forbearance and love believers exemplify the character of Christ and the blessings of His salvation, bearing many things without seeking to be avenged by word or act. This character rests on sharing one body and one Spirit and one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, with all members animated by the same Spirit and the same hope and with different gifts and roles working together as one body under Christ. Christ's gifts build up the members toward unity in faith and knowledge of Him, protecting them from deceptive teaching.
Keeping this unity demands self-examination and humbling the heart before God in contrition of soul, purifying the heart by obedience to the truth and reforming harsh treatment of brethren. It requires controlling the disposition by stern, untiring effort, overcoming self-exaltation, envy, jealousy and evil surmising, refraining from judging and criticizing one another, and ceasing to make a great matter of things unworthy of notice. It means knowing the working of the Holy Spirit instead of remaining hard-spirited strangers to Him, breathing the atmosphere of heaven daily and catching the inspiration of the angels in the heavenly courts. Faultfinding drives away Christ's Spirit and harms those He seeks to save and bless, while a converted, Christlike life supports the unity of the one body, cultivates esteem and confidence in brethren, and helps bring others to Christ. So humbled and cleansed, ministers can agree and walk together and carry on the work of the ministry, yoking up with Christ and cooperating with Him in the good works ordained, accepting His mercy and love and kindness and receiving cleansing of the soul temple instead of manufacturing trials.
Preserving oneness requires being constant learners in the school of Christ where no one is ever graduated, learning His meekness and lowliness line upon line and precept upon precept. Learners carry all true knowledge gained in knowing God and in nearness to Him in saving souls into the higher school, constantly reaching forward for more wisdom and grace and fuller understanding of what God requires until it can be said Ye are complete in Him. They are animated and united by His surpassing love, revealing the tender, compassionate Spirit that long and patiently bore with misunderstanding. Being of one mind while thoughts and expression of truth may vary, they draw as closely together as possible by dwelling on things in which all can agree rather than on things that seem to create difference, viewing all things in the light of the glory in the face of Jesus Christ. They stand in right relation to God with Christ at their head, refusing to seek or emphasize differences of opinion, so that work and relationships together represent His character as one in mind, heart and spirit.
This unity is kept by united fervent prayer and by counseling and praying together, which binds hearts and souls together and brings the divine power that enables working in spiritual unity. When workers counsel and pray together their joined energies give the church a power it cannot obtain in any other way, enabling God to work mightily through it for the conversion of sinners. Ministers who pray together, confess sins and seek God's help receive evidence of His favor, the Spirit works in them and prepares hearers to receive the message, shown in meek, gracious speech and spiritual influence. In the time of temptation when confidence in self, pride, combativeness, resistance, discontent, peevishness, evil surmisings and censure rise, the answer is instant, ceaseless, watchful prayer, so that every movement to draw nigh to God meets response from God and the working of the Holy Spirit produces inward change corresponding to the necessities of the soul. Members who keep spiritual oneness in peaceful bonds carry their own burdens, keep souls in the love of God, help one another as burden-bearers, walk in the light growing in grace and knowledge of the truth, receive wisdom from on high when called to decide, live for God's glory and the saving of perishing souls, work harmoniously under Christ as Head while stirring one another to love and good works, so God works with them, Jesus becomes their sufficiency, the lukewarm are led to work with zeal and the desponding encouraged to trust in God.
Keeping the unity also calls for sober, circumspect words and acts instead of levity and reckless talking, bearing a weight of solemn influence, rich in good works and burdened for souls. Those living in the last days keep on the spiritual armor without laying it aside for a moment through instant prayer and constant watchfulness in the unceasing battle for life against Satan and his host, faithfully representing Christ to win souls. Walking worthy applies to business connection with the work of God and handling sacred things, where honor, integrity and truth must be preserved at any cost to self, every thought, word and action brought under the will of Christ, irreverence, deceit to carry a point, and levity avoided, with Christ remembered as presiding in the midst to impart wisdom, grace and righteousness. When obeyed, an elevating, controlling influence from the Spirit of God pervades the assembly, self is hid in Jesus, and plans and decisions are no longer one-sided and warped but dispassionate and righteous. Even the most splendid temple amounts to nothing if hearts are not right, so the greatest anxiety must be about spiritual condition, shown by reverence in entering and leaving the house of worship, by remembering the presence of God and angels, by living as the temple of the living God, and by educating children that God meets with His people and directing their thoughts heavenward.
Unity Amid Diversity
Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace means complete unity in diversity, not sameness of mold or uniformity of words, style, figures and ways of presentation. No two human minds are precisely alike, just as no two leaves in nature are alike and heavenly angels differ in qualifications and ministry, and those called to God's work differ in character, mind and elements of character, yet all can be of one mind, heart and spirit. Keeping it is to draw as closely together as possible by dwelling on those things on which all can agree rather than on those that seem to create a difference, viewing all things in the light of the glory in the face of Jesus Christ. It is kept with all lowliness and meekness and long-suffering, with humility, patience, loving forbearance, charity and unselfish cooperation, each worker doing the work entrusted to him while allowing others to do theirs. Unity does not require everyone to think alike, for truth speaks its own language through a diversity of gifts and the divine work is carried on by and through them.
All are brethren, not their own but bought with the same price and owned by God, born of God by the same Spirit, members of the same body worked by the same Spirit, and fed from the same Source on the flesh and blood of the Son of God, so that when the same vitalizing current flows through minds and hearts harmonious action follows, and failure to act in harmony denies the Source of all spiritual life. Keeping this unity requires being constant learners in the school of Christ where meekness and lowliness are learned line upon line, being animated and united by His surpassing love, revealing the tender, compassionate Spirit that long and patiently bore with misunderstanding, and drinking in of the Spirit without selfishness or self-exaltation. This is the charge especially to those writing and presenting truth including the third angel's message, to work under the controlling influence of the Holy Spirit to preserve spiritual unity in peace. Meekness, mutual forbearance and charity reconcile differences in gifts and even in doctrine and strengthen fellowship as believers labor together to win souls.
Diversity of gifts, characters, minds and lines of work is all essential and all works to one end, the expression of the mind and will of God through the perfecting of the saints and the perfection of His church, so that every emergency in every kind of labor may be met. God joins different minds so that one supplies what another lacks, and every gift must be acknowledged with no gift lost. Members with different gifts and roles work together as one body under Christ as Head, in humility, patience and love. This unity rests on the shared one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, and it is strengthened as Christ's gifts and church ministries build believers toward unity in faith and knowledge of the Son of God and mature faith that is not carried away by deceptive teaching. Christian work is therefore not to be separated from the church but carried out as a cooperative part of it.
Under the same Spirit different minds present the same history and truth differently to meet the necessities of varied minds, and the different testimonies unite to form one harmonious whole without contradiction. There is no requirement that all speak the very same things in the same words with the same representation, nor a laboring to make everything entirely different and original; under the Spirit's direction one may use the same words others have used and may also use different figures and different ways of presentation to interest and educate different minds, without trying to be entirely different or exactly the same. Kept this way the different testimonies unite as members of the human body depending on one another in harmonious action, and as the books of the Bible are bound under one cover. Straining for originality and presenting new ideas contrary to the Word breaks that unity and makes error appear as new light.
The same unity forbids one man's mind or one woman's mind exerting a controlling power in institutions or in the church, for no human master spirit is sufficient in itself and no one person's thinking is to control. There is to be only one master Spirit, the Spirit of Him who is infinite in wisdom, in whom all the diverse elements meet in beautiful, matchless unity, with Christ alone directing His workers and believers united under Christ the Head through shared belief and knowledge of the truth in Jesus and spiritual union with the Lord. Every form of domineering, man-ruling power is to be set aside, with no man made ruler over his fellow men, no brother dictating another's individual duty, no one required to accept a fellow worker's words and experience or follow human judgment, and no man placed as an authority to whom others must go for permission to do what the Spirit of God impresses as right, for that position is dangerous and leads to exaltation because he is only human. Depending on human agencies and making flesh the arm departs from God's strength and brings feebleness, discord and confusion, as when disobedient nations in the past were punished by subjection to other powers. The Holy Spirit is to be the chief counselor and the Lord of hosts the ruler, while believers counsel together, pray together in difficulty and sorrow, help one another as fellow workers without exercising authority over each other's spiritual experience, and live in mutual dependence in their several callings with assistance and prayer for the wisdom the Lord alone can give.
Blending a diversity of minds into unity of minds does not mean requiring everybody to blend to one person's ideas, but yielding personal strong views to the good judgment of the many and working by the counsel of a group instead of one man outlining policy and acting as dictator, since no one man's mind and judgment is safe to lead alone. It is kept by explaining ideas and ways of dealing so minds can blend, and by acceding and keeping silent when brethren do not see alike rather than pressing an idea strenuously. A difference of opinion that will not blend destroys union, and pressing one's own idea to prominence brings controversy and discouragement and forfeits God's blessing. Those whom the Lord has blessed with experience are fitted to be wise counselors, and it is duty to counsel together.
The gospel is to be carried to all nations, classes, tongues and peoples in meekness and lowliness of spirit, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, and its influence breaks down national prejudice and jealousy, blending hearts into one great brotherhood. Ministers must look carefully to their own hearts to know where they stand, so they do not do the work of persecution that those who claimed to be religious did, but carry the gospel in Christ's spirit. Laborers must not build up separate interests between different nationalities, for accepting the truth as it is in Jesus brings the same mind and purpose to glorify God. With Christ alone as model and mold, all come into perfect harmony, nationalities blending in Jesus Christ, having the same mind, the same judgment, speaking the same things, and with one mouth glorifying God. Partition walls must be kept down, and no word or effort may disunite what God would have united, but all must labor to cement together and have a molding influence on one another by receiving Christ's mold and imitating Christ's character, so that Christ in the German believer recognizes Christ in the French believer. The truth has the same molding, refining, ennobling, subduing power upon all hearts whatever their nationality, producing love as brethren, esteeming others better than themselves, kindness and courtesy, meekness and lowliness, easiness to be entreated, fullness of mercy and good fruit, so that when Christ abides in the heart by faith all are of one mind, strong in His strength, happy and united in His peace, because Christ is not divided.
Witness to the World
Harmony and union among people of varied dispositions is the strongest witness that God sent His Son into the world to save sinners. This witness is given by walking worthy of the calling with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, and by meekness and gentleness, forbearance and love exemplifying the character of Christ and the blessings of His salvation. It rests on one body and one Spirit and one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, with all members of the body animated by the same Spirit and the same hope. Bearing it requires characters molded in harmony with His character and wills surrendered to His will, with each person finding the place God has for him and doing the work God has given him instead of acting like undisciplined, uncontrolled children always out of joint. Failure comes when each one wants his own way, having always had his own way and never learned to yield, while keeping the unity requires each one to confess his own mistakes and errors, not those of someone else.
All believers are to blend together in spiritual unity bound by peace, with Christ identifying Himself with the members of His church. This union of the human and the divine convicts the world, with truth magnified through the blessed union of those sanctified body, soul, and spirit. It belongs to truly converted souls for whom the Lord is strength, light, and life, whose quickening Spirit is recognized by inspiration and abiding influence, and it makes known through the church to principalities and powers in heavenly places the manifold wisdom of God. When kept it manifests power for truth and holiness, makes believers laborers together with God in leading souls to Christ, with Christ formed within as the hope of glory, and requires a much higher standard of righteous character as evidence of possessing the truth. This unity must combine zeal and firmness with meekness and forbearance, and must not be gained by giving up any principle of truth, for obedience to truth sanctifies believers and supports their unity. Love and harmony among Christ's followers show that they are His disciples and serve as evidence to the world that the Father sent Him, for as members of one body they share one another's suffering and blessing through the Spirit's sanctifying work depending on Christ.
Divisions in the church dishonor the religion of Christ before the world and give occasion to the enemies of truth to justify their course and defend their opposition. The command was not for the church in Paul's day alone but is designed for believers now, who must examine what they are doing to preserve unity in the bonds of peace by showing Christ's character through meekness, gentleness, patience, and love. Contention among believers retards the progress of the Lord's work, so they are to unite on the proper basis of unity. Receiving the light of God's Word brings believers into the unity produced by the Spirit and held together by peace, which is the unity for which Christ prayed, marked by one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. The Advent message demonstrated this unity among those who accepted it, when people from different denominations set aside denominational barriers and conflicting creeds and were joined in fellowship, with love and joy uniting hearts.
God appointed a plain and simple plan to keep oneness in His church so its members reveal a healthy religious experience and a healthy Christian life to the unbelieving world. The oneness is kept by obedience to the commandments of God, by being united in the faith of the Scriptures, and by being bound together as one in Christ Jesus with lives hid with Christ in God. Those who keep it love one another as Christ loved them, help one another, practice the golden rule, bear a living testimony that the Father loves them even as He loves His Son, and use heaven's costly provision to draw souls to obedience to the law of God. By courtesy, fidelity, justice and mercy they magnify the law and prove it perfect for converting the soul, cooperating with God as laborers together with Him and partaking of the divine nature having escaped the corruption in the world through lust, so that their united, consistent lives testify to God's love and power and commend obedience to His law with powerful influence. When workers counsel and pray together in this unity, their joined energies give the church a power it cannot obtain in any other way, enabling God to work mightily through it for the conversion of sinners. The unity binds believers into one body under Christ, removes selfish barriers and distinctions, requires the church to be purified, refined and ennobled by casting from the heart the idols that have hindered advancement in spirituality, and by the influence of the Spirit even the most discordant may be brought into harmony to serve effectively in converting others and perfecting the whole body.
One in whose heart Christ abides recognizes Christ abiding in the heart of his brother, for Christ never wars against Christ and never exerts an influence against Christ. The verse applies in the home, where parents keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace by exemplifying in their own character and home life the love and beneficence of the heavenly Father. They make the home full of sunshine and keep home love alive in the hearts of the children, so that childhood home is remembered as a place of peace and happiness next to heaven. Because family members do not all have the same stamp of character, keeping this unity requires frequent patience and forbearance, and through love and self-discipline all can be bound together in the closest union. Mother and daughter, both keeping the faith, exemplify this unity, for they are one in Christ through the Spirit-given unity bound together by peace.
Life in the Church
Ministers, watchmen and gospel teachers are under sacred obligation to watch for souls as those who must give an account, and through divine grace they can do a work heaven approves by laboring to keep the church in unity and peace. Proclaiming the truth includes publishing peace and actively preserving the unity held together by peace. That unity calls ministers to present shared, vital truths clearly and simply in love and meekness, to humble themselves, to avoid needless disputes and unimportant differences, and to cultivate meekness. Such Christlike unity strengthens their work and makes truth persuasive and its unifying power clear, while contention weakens witness and hinders the work.
Every institution established in the interests of the cause must take heed to walk worthy of the calling with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, and bring that word into practical life in working together. Those carrying heavy God-given responsibilities for the sanitarium must come together in unity, giving a capable manager place to see the work on every side without jealousy or selfishness, with every able man harmonizing and working intelligently to supply deficiencies revealed when men are tested in responsible positions, so large loss on every side is prevented. Those laboring in ministry and medical missionary work must wear Christ's yoke and walk in humility before God, using varied gifts to bless humanity as His helping hand, united in one body under Christ with all parts controlled by the wisdom God gives and harmony in every action. There is to be no jealousy over Paul or Apollos or Cephas, but all drawing in even cords without friction, ministers giving room to fellow laborers and not measuring brethren by their own ideas, everyone in whom Christ abides refusing to quarrel, all standing under Christ's standard united by desire to strengthen His work in every line. Gospel ministers and medical missionary workers must be united in interest, the medical workers interested in the conferences and the conference workers equally interested in the medical work, standing on a united platform and one in the faith, for disunion places the worst evil upon the churches. This unity gives no right to unite with and sustain an unsafe leader until he stands where he can safely lead the flock, and none are to follow human devising or fasten the soul to a human leader, for Christ alone is Leader sent by the Father to redeem the race and restore God's moral image for His glory.
Keeping unity means Christian uniting with Christian and church with church under the Holy Spirit, with united activity increasing proportionately in the time of the end to meet the greatly increased activity of Satan's servants. There are to be no territorial lines, but a noble spirit of helpfulness and willingness to use the Lord's money where most needed, helping one another because there is one body and one Spirit, one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, with grace given to each according to the measure of Christ's gift. The different gifts and lines of missionary work are to blend into one whole and not be separated into competing, independent or rival efforts or divided by schism, but advanced in an orderly, harmonious way. It includes standing with the body, accepting the gifts God has placed in it, and working in sympathy with experienced fellow believers rather than pursuing an independent position.
Keeping unity requires putting on peace, grace and righteousness as new men and women in Christ and yielding to the Holy Spirit working on reason and conscience with holy angels, so as to speak only commendation, love, and kindly, uplifting, encouraging words with no evil seed sown. It means refusing the striving of the evil, satanic will, refusing to be an enemy in sheep's clothing, and putting away jealousy, evil surmising, suspicion, distrust, faultfinding, judging, criticizing, evil speaking, and talking over defects, guarding against suspicion and evil thoughts and not speaking evil words. Instead believers go alone to pray, seek the Lord remembering each has a soul to save, persevere to make thorough work for eternity, and notice fellow workers' good qualities, which creates an atmosphere that brings the angels who keep and guard the soul. This takes stern, untiring effort to control disposition and selfish or difficult tempers, for faultfinding drives away Christ's Spirit and harms those He seeks to save and bless, while lowliness, meekness, patience and love in word and act make His grace visible. It requires trusting that God works through others as well as self, respecting their gifts and appointed work, yielding the will to God, letting different gifts work together rather than stand apart, and strengthening one another in remaining united with Christ and with one another.
Keeping unity means being all of one mind by dwelling on things on which all can agree rather than on things that seem to create difference, and seeking how closely to come together rather than how much to differ. Thoughts and expression of truth may vary, yet believers are to be one in mind, heart and spirit because Christ stands at their head, viewing all things in the light of the glory in the face of Jesus Christ and letting work and relationships represent His character. They are to stand in right relation to God, learn from Christ, and refuse to seek or emphasize differences of opinion. That unity is not maintained by following personal judgment regardless of fellow believers, but by respecting one another, sacrificing personal feelings, yielding personal opinions on little things, talking matters over, staying balanced without extremes, and testing relationships and teachings by Scripture with teachable hearts, for where hearts are teachable there is no division and God leads His ministers toward unity in doctrine and spirit.
God's workers must keep unity by acting in concert under one supreme Leader, Christ, rather than working independently and regarding their own judgment as best, blending together so one supplies what another lacks and the people of God work as a perfect whole. Each person is to find the place God has for him and do the work God has given him, instead of acting like undisciplined, uncontrolled children always out of joint and each wanting his own way as when never taught to yield. This unity excludes selfishness, unholy ambition, struggles for supremacy, choosing an exclusive society and company, separating from brethren who will not put away their ideas to accept one's own, lordship over God's people, and one person carrying or controlling everything, for God appoints different people and agencies to serve in cooperation with Christ directing. Living by God's Word and walking humbly with Him in truth in word, spirit and action prevents such trouble, and making this unity plain to the world shows that God sent His Son to save sinners. It requires each one to confess his own mistakes and errors, not another's, to cherish lowliness of mind, and to allow others to do their entrusted work.
The call to preserve unity through peace belongs to each person in relation to church and world, especially amid the perils of the last days, and is not sectarianism or legal religion, for Christ and His righteousness is the only hope and center. It is guidance for faithful conduct in the constant spiritual battle, calling those living in the last days to sober, circumspect words and acts instead of levity and reckless talking, bearing solemn influence rich in good works and burdened for souls, keeping on the spiritual armor without laying it aside through instant prayer and constant watchfulness against Satan and his host. It belongs to setting the churches in order, gathering and upholding the light of truth, heeding warnings against deception, closing the door of unbelief, making straight paths so the weak are not turned aside, and rescuing souls in peril who do not see their danger, with faith and works united to bear aloft the third angel's message. While the world is filled with storm, war and variance and is united under one head, the papal power, in a union cemented by the great apostate to oppose God in His faithful witnesses, God's people are to have the opposite unity cemented by the Holy Spirit, with each worker filled with love and sympathy for fellow workers, each fulfilling his appointment with faithful, undivided effort and seeking earnestly to prepare the Lord's way. All jealousy, evil-surmising and evil-speaking is of the apostate and tends to discord and disunion.
Oneness must be on pure, elevating, ennobling truth in sharp contrast to false, misleading doctrines, not unity on wrong practices, with sin and impenitence called by their right name and wrongdoing never glossed over. It does not require silence about bigotry, spiritual weakness and blindness among people blessed with great light and precious opportunities, but earnest effort to hold the church together can go with firmly protesting wrong by pen and voice until it is expelled and Christ's grace takes its place. Even when reformation is urgently needed and reformers begin to act as the denominational churches acted, keeping oneness means staying with the churches and hoping no further separation becomes necessary. Christ calls His people to this unity instead of entering controversy over disputed subjects and differences of opinion.
Unity is shown in orderly, disciplined, harmonious action, with organized churches enforcing order and believers working together rather than pursuing independent courses. Those in influence are to unite with fellow believers in close bonds of fellowship, treating one another with justice, tenderness and truth in a Christlike spirit, with consideration for those struggling with difficulties. God's people must be united and earnest in prayer and in work as they proclaim present truth while the work fast closes, which gives evidence of sanctification by the Spirit and makes the work a success, for the Holy Spirit always draws believers closer, increasing unity and happiness. In the plan of redemption every soul has an allotted place and appointed work, the work varied yet moved by one Spirit, and keeping unity means receiving the Holy Spirit, coming together in brotherly sympathy, and binding interests together in love, for Christian unity is a mighty agency. This unity supports shared spiritual renewal and leaves no place for criticism, doubt or unbelief, as believers seek God with the whole heart and build Christlike character displaying the Saviour's characteristics.