Paul’s Doctrinal Statement

Let us take one more look at Ephesians 4:4-6: There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

To bring these seven unities together, here we read the very essence of the Christian faith. Down through the ages there have been creeds, doctrinal statements, statements of faith, catechisms, and other forms of stating doctrinal positions. But here we find a Biblical statement of faith on which we base unity and fellowship.

We could, for example, put it in the form of a Creed, which historically begins with “I believe” or “We believe,” followed by one or more paragraphs stating our belief. Or we could put it in the form of a Catechism, first asking a question, such as, “What is one faith?” followed by the Biblical answer. Whatever form we could choose, the result would be the same. What is the doctrine to which we hold?

One Body (Christ’s Body, of which we are all members); One Spirit (the Holy Spirit Who indwells, enlightens, equips, and empowers the believer); One Hope (the certainty of Christ’s return to the Earth for His own); One Lord (the Lord Jesus Christ Who is Savior, Master, and God incarnate); One Faith (salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, apart from any merit or works and the acceptance of the Bible as the only inspired, infallible, authoritative, and sufficient revelation to man); One Baptism (the Baptism of the Holy Spirit that places us into the Body of Christ); One God (the one and only True God Who is the Father of all who receive the Son through the Spirit).

There is a truly Biblical doctrinal statement, and it is based on that that we can have true unity. That great British expositor Martyn Lloyd-Jones closes his exposition of this passage with these words: 

“Have you contemplated this great truth? Have you consider the fact that God the Father, God the Son, and god the Holy Spirit are concerned in your redemption? Have you seen that to realize this alone makes us one? The end of all doctrine is to lead to the knowledge of God, and the worship of God; any knowledge we may have is useless if it does not bring us to that point. If your spirit is not humble, if you are not loving, if you are not concerned about this unity of God’s people, you have nothing better than intellectual knowledge that is barren and may indeed be even of the Devil. Our Lord said, ‘If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them’ (Jn. 13:17). Are you striving to realize that there is ‘one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all?’”

Indeed, until Christianity today rids itself of artificiality and realizes that true unity can be based only on doctrine, it will continue its downward spiral into Relativism and finally oblivion.