Unity of the Spirit

In Ephesians 4:1-6, Paul writes,

"Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore yo to walk in the manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility, and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over and through all and in all"

The Christian on-campus fellowship at SUNY Downstate that I attend has been awesome. It's been an opportunity to meet up with other fellow Christian brothers and sisters at SUNY Downstate and to worship, study the Bible, and fellowship with them. Here, I've been able to meet many others who have a great love for Christ! It's also a great blessing to be able to talk with fellow Christians about their Christian walk in the context of medical school.

One challenge of such a student group is that we are not under the direction of a single parent church or shepherd. As a result, each of us come to the fellowship meetings with many different backgrounds in terms of our understanding of God's Word and the foundation of our convictions, let alone difference in our convictions themselves. As a result, some of the ideas contributed to discussions of scripture are inevitably incorrect, as I believe that scripture is not loaded with many different alternative interpretations, but that God had a specific intention for every part of scripture.  There can be many, many ways to apply scripture to our lives, but only one interpretation.

So the question is, how do you deal with it correctly respond if you are in the midst of a discussion about a passage and the discussion involves some things that you believe are not supported by scripture? How do you stand up for the truth in light of being called to "[show] tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace"?  I think that in this context, this verse calls us to love one another and to be diligent in preserving peace and unity within the body of believers. This does not mean that we are tolerant of false teachings, or any sin for that particular matter, but that we persevere in keeping peace and unity while upholding the truth of God and lives glorifying to God. This means that it is required of us to be gentle, humble, and patient with our fellow brothers and sisters as we direct each other to a better and true understanding of scripture. The fact that Paul had to tell the church of Ephesus to be of one body and of one Spirit and to be humble, patient, and gentle, shows there will be differences and disagreements that will cause us, in our sinful nature, to act pridefully, impatiently, and roughly. It's obvious that there will be differences among the many people in the church, or in my case, a campus fellowship (note: here, we are talking about keeping unity in a body of true believers). But despite of that, we must all remember that we are of "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all."

In 1 John 1:3-4, John writes,

"what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, o that our joy may be made complete."

I want to always be reminded of the joy in knowing the reality of the gospel and the fellowship in Christ that this creates among believers. Of course, there is alway a time and place for admonishment, but let not that be handled incorrectly and become a cause of disunity among the body of Christ.

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