'One Lord, one faith, one baptism.'--Eph. iv. 5.
The thought of the unity of the Church is very prominent in this
epistle. It is difficult for us, amidst our present divisions, to
realise how strange and wonderful it then was that a bond should have
been found which drew together men of all nations, ranks, and
characters. Pharisee and philosopher, high-born women and slaves, Roman
patricians and gladiators, Asiatic Greeks and Syrian Jews forgot their
feuds and sat together as one in Christ. It is no wonder that Paul in
this letter dwells so long and earnestly on that strange fact. He is
exhorting here to a unity of spirit corresponding to it, and he names a
seven-fold oneness--one body and one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one
faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. The outward institution
of the Church, as a manifest visible fact, comes first in the catalogue.
One Father is last, and between these there lie the mention of the one
Spirit and the one Lord. The 'body' is the Church. 'Spirit, Lord, God,'
are the triune divine personality. Hope and faith are human acts by
which men are joined to God; Baptism is the visible symbol of their
incorporation into the one body. These three clauses of our text may be
considered as substantially including all the members of the series. We
deal with them quite simply now, and consider them in the order in which
they stand here.