The Mystery of Spiritual Unity

The Mystery of Spiritual Unity

The unity of the triune Godhead and the true unity of all believers is a mystery. Jesus prayed in John 17:11 that all believers may be one even as We (the Godhead) are one. Jesus said that this unity of believers is believers being in the Godhead, just as the Father is in Jesus and Jesus in the Father. The perfected unity is described as believers being one just as the Godhead is one; Jesus in believers and the Father in Jesus.

[Jhn 17:11, 20-23, 26 NASB] 11 "I am no longer in the world; and [yet] they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, [the name] which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We [are.] ...

20 "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, [are] in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. ...

26 and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

The question arises as to just what exactly is the commonality that is in the Father, Jesus, and all true believers. Scripture gives us the answer. The “oneness” is the Holy Spirit.

[1Co 6:17 NASB] 17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit [with Him.]

[1Co 12:9, 13 NASB] 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ... 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

[Eph 2:18 NASB] 18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

[Eph 4:4 NASB] 4 [There is] one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;

[Phl 1:27 NASB] 27 Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

True unity in believers (The true Church) is not uniformity or institutional unity, unity in the worldly sense, in personality or even doctrine. True unity is that all true believers are “born again” by the Holy Spirit so that the born-again believer's spirit is the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is in the born-again believer just as the Holy Spirit is in the Father and Jesus the Son.

[Jhn 3:3-6 NASB] 3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?" 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

[1Pe 1:23 NASB] 23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, [that is,] through the living and enduring word of God.

[2Co 5:17 NASB] 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, [he is] a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

The true unity of believers is a spiritual unity; it is a person, the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. When the born again “new creation” that the Holy Spirit rules is ruling the old natural person (the flesh), then beliefs, thinking, and behavior change becoming more and more righteous and Godly, and a commonality of these things begins to take place.  A clear evidence of this unity, the Holy Spirit being in believers, is Godly love.

[Jhn 13:35 NASB] 35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

[1Jo 2:5 NASB] 5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:

[1Jo 5:2 NASB] 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.

New Godly beliefs, thinking, behavior, and love of others and God, are the evidence of true Christian unity. The unity is the Holy Spirit! The disunity so evident in our world today, including the institutional Christian churches, is the weakness of the Holy Spirit’s presence and influence, or worse yet, no recognition or presence of the Holy Spirit at all. No Holy Spirit, no unity. The unity is the Holy Spirit!

Human beings are made in the image, likeness or resemblance, of God.

[Gen 1:26 NASB] Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

[Gen 1:27 NASB] God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

It is generally accepted that man is a trinity in himself; body, soul, and spirit. If this is a likeness or image of God, then God should have a body, soul, and spirit. Indeed, we know that part of the trinity of God is the Holy Spirit. God also has a body. As the Son of God, Jesus spent about 30 years on the earth in the body of a human person. After the resurrection, He has a new body in which He walked on the earth in for 40 days then ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father.

[Luk 24:39 NLT] 39 Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it's really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don't have bodies, as you see that I do."

In the Old Testament, Jesus appeared in a bodily form often called the Angel of the Lord. The phrase Angel of the Lord appears 53 times in the OT. These appearances are called Christophanies. The man who wrestled with Jacob was probably Jesus before His incarnation. We could speculate that Jesus’ body in the OT was the same as His body after His resurrection.

God the Father’s is seen sitting on a throne high and lifted up in Isa. 6:1, by Ezekiel in Eze 1:26, and by John in Rev. 4:2-3. 

[Isa 6:1 NKJV] In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His [robe] filled the temple.

[Eze 1:26 NKJV] And above the firmament over their heads [was] the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne [was] a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it.

[Rev 4:2 NKJV] Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and [One] sat on the throne.

[Rev 4:3 NKJV] And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and [there was] a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.

Since no man has ever really seen God, what was seen in these scriptures might have been a pre-incarnate Jesus or vague, incomplete images of God.
[Jhn 1:18 NASB] No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained [Him.]

The uniqueness of the persons of the Godhead is expressed in the soul, the character, emotions, feelings, thinking, behavior; all of the none physical things that make one person unique from another.

The commonality within the Godhead is the Spirit. It is a common Spirit that makes the Godhead one. The Spirit in God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit that is “in” each one that makes them one. It is also the Holy Spirit that is in a born-again believer in Jesus that makes him or her one with the Godhead and also one with other believers.

As born-again believers, still in an earthly body, we must contend with a body that is perishing, and a soul, and old nature, that is just learning to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. We are learning to let the Spirit within us renew our thoughts and attitudes. We are learning to know our Creator and become like Him.

[Rom 7:5 NLT] When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.

[Eph 4:22 NLT] throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.

[Eph 4:23 NLT] Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.

[Eph 4:24 NLT] Put on your new nature, created to be like God--truly righteous and holy.

[Col 3:8 NLT] But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language.

[Col 3:9 NLT] Don't lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds.

[Col 3:10 NLT] Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.

[Col 3:11 NLT] In this new life, it doesn't matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.

In this life, we all struggle with this battle with our old nature. Paul in Romans 7 made this clear.

[Rom 7:14-25 NLT] 14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can't. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don't. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 21 I have discovered this principle of life--that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God's law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So, you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

The good news is that this struggle all comes to an end when Jesus comes in the clouds to catch up His Bride, His Church, to be with Him forever.

[1Th 4:15-18 NASB] 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of [the] archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Believers' bodies will be changed from a perishing, corruptible body to a new incorruptible, eternal body.

[1Co 15:50-54 NASB] 50 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.

We will be like Jesus and see Him just as He is.

[1Jo 3:1-2 NASB] 1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and [such] we are. For this reason, the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.

We will have unique bodies, but new imperishable bodies. Bodies like Jesus. We will have unique souls, but souls controlled by our new Spirit, the Holy Spirit that makes us one with the Godhead.  Controlled by the Spirit our character, emotions, feelings, thinking, and behavior will be like Jesus. We will be like Jesus in body, soul, and Spirit.