Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

All who believe in Christ as dead and risen are sealed by the Holy Spirit and form part of His body. The body is viewed as on the earth. “There is one body.” This is as true now as when the apostle penned the epistle to the Ephesians. This body is indissoluble. Its unity cannot be broken. There is no such thing as “rending the body of Christ” or “cutting off limbs.” These are expressions which are used without due attention to Scripture. We are bound to recognize as a great foundation truth the unity of the body.

We are not called to form a unity, but to own the unity which God the Holy Spirit has formed. It is as contrary to the truth to set about forming a unity as to set about working out righteousness for ourselves. God reveals His righteousness on the principle of faith; we believe and possess it. So also, God reveals His unity; we believe and walk in the light of it. Sadly, men refuse to submit to God’s righteousness and go about to establish their own. In like manner men refuse God’s unity and go about to form their own, but both man’s righteousness and man’s unity must pass away like the vapors of the morning, whereas the righteousness and the unity which are of God shall endure through everlasting ages.

We most fully agree with you in saying that our motto should ever be, “Truth first; unity if you can, but truth.” If unity is attained by the sacrifice of truth, it cannot be “the unity of the Spirit.” Many fall into the mistake of thinking that unity is something which they themselves have to set up, whereas the unity of the body is a grand reality, a substantial truth in the light of which we are called to walk and judge ourselves and all around us. We are no more competent to form that unity than we are to atone for our sins or to work out a righteousness for ourselves. It is God’s work from first to last. He has revealed His righteousness; we receive it by faith. He has revealed His unity; we receive it by faith. As it would assuredly be a grave error for us to attempt to work out our own righteousness, so it is a grave error to attempt to work out our own unity. Christ is the center of God’s unity; the Holy Spirit is the power, and truth the basis.

As to man’s unity, you will find all manner of centers — a man, an ordinance, a doctrine, something short of Christ. This unity may be maintained by the energy of the human will and is often based upon tradition, expediency or reason. In a word, it is not Christ or the Spirit or the truth. It is not of God, and if we do not gather with God, we must scatter.