Unity

 

The apostle Paul's teachings on the importance of unity in the body of Christ are too often overlooked or ignored by believers in Jesus who often suffer from division and strife in their churches and in the church as a whole. Start by asking yourself what it means to have unity in the body of Christ. Can you think of real-life examples? What would you say is the state of the body of Christ in your church and in the church in general as far as unity is concerned? These same questions can be asked in a group Bible study, a private study or during a Children's Bible study.  Either will work in this case.

After you think about your answer to those questions a couple times, you're ready to see how the apostle Paul taught on this vitally important topic. In 1 Corinthians 12:14-22, he says, "For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath G-d set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be feeble, are necessary."

Essentially, Paul makes a comparison between natural body parts and spiritual body parts (members of the church) to explain the importance of unity in the body of Christ.

Paul makes mention of specific parts of the body such as the eyes, ears, hands, and feet in correlation with spiritual body parts. However, the message still might not be fully grasped. Let's take a look at how the parts of the body of a person in a building when a fire breaks out cooperate to save the entire being. We will see the extreme importance of unity in the natural body and compare it to unity in the body of Christ.

Somebody is alone in a building when a major fire breaks out. Smoke is smelled; the nose has done its job in the need to ensure that the body survives. Now the body must get up and get out of the burning building, the threat to its life. It stands up and runs because the legs and the feet do their job. They do what the nose couldn't do, but the body is running because the nose smelled the smoke.

As the body runs to save itself, it has to see where it's going. The eyes are at work to guide the feet and legs as they run. The body reaches a door leading to the outside--to safety. The nose, eyes, legs and feet are now depending on at least one arm and one hand to grab the door knob and turn it or to push it to open it. The various parts of the body all worked together for the rescue of the entire being. The nose didn't try to do the job of the eyes and the eyes the job of the hands, because each member of the body was designed to do a specific job as part of one unit.

Although this is a very simplified example of how the parts of such a complex body operate, the message is one of cooperation and relationship. The concept is very much the same when considering the necessity of unity in the body of Christ. The members of the body of Christ are true, "born-again" believers in the Son of G-d. One very unfortunate mistake is often made by some Christians with good intentions to be obedient to the scriptures that command unity in the body of Christ.  That can make for a number of difficulties within you and the body of Christ, church, as a whole.    

Unity in the Body of False Prophets/Teaching

There is also a great unity in false prophets and so many times just unified wrong teachings.  Something we can't help, the Bible says to stay away from the wrong prophets but false teaching, at least a little of, can be found in just about any church you can walk in to.  The church is united but there are those that refuse to change some teachings.