Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
Look at Paul's admonition carefully ...
The one body, "with all lowliness and meekness, bearing one another in love, is diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit." (Eph 4.3)
It may seem like a technical point, but the one body does not equal the oneness of the body, and that's why the Bible never uses this expression. The source of our oneness is not in the body, it is only in the Lord Spirit. That's why we must keep the oneness of the Spirit. God alone defines the rules for this oneness, and administrates its reality.
If this oneness were "of the body," then the leaders of the body could define the parameters of this oneness, and this, unfortunately, has been done many times in church history. That is why I have repeatedly said that distorted oneness is perhaps the most destructive heresy of all. Rome today still administrates her version of the "oneness of the body." LSM has their version of the "oneness of the body," and they make up all the rules governing this "oneness."
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Ohio,
Strictly speaking in the Bible there is not the phrase "the oneness of the Body". Nevertheless, that does not mean the thought is absent and a more detailed review of these verses will reveal that it is.
V3 is a charge to the believer to keep the "oneness of the Spirit" in the uniting bond of peace.
That is further defined by the "ones" that follow in verses 4-6 the first mentioned is the One Body.
Or rather think of the ones in v4-6 as the ingredients of V3. to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace means
to keep the One Body as the first item if you prefer to say it that way. Saying it that way does not feel as grammatically fluid but it is the same thought.
All the ones make up a further definition of V3 and the One Body is the first item.