The Center for the Study of Global Christianity estimates that there are over 45,000 Christian denominations worldwide, with about 200 in the U.S. We are divided in many ways—including doctrine, practice, ethnicity, and, unfortunately, disputes. While some significant differences divide the different branches of Christianity, most of them are relatively minor.
The church of Paul’s day was not nearly so fractured, but division was developing, especially within the church at Corinth. In this letter to the Ephesian church, Paul urged them to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3). He then shared with them what was likely a creedal statement of the early church.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:4-6 NIV
We sometimes focus so much on the things dividing us that we forget what we have in common. There is one body of Christ to which all of us, as believers in the Lord Jesus, belong. There is only one Holy Spirit, one Lord Jesus, and one God and Father that we worship and serve. We all have a common hope that we look forward to—the hope of eternal life. We have one faith, trusting our lives to the one who died for us. And we have a common baptism in water and the Spirit.
We understand some of those things differently. And discussing our differences can be helpful. But as we do, we should never lose sight of the more significant things that unite us. And we should always strive to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. To love as brothers and sisters within the family of God.
