blessed fellowship with the great Worker Who is silently building

up a habitation of God in Spirit.

The reader will have noticed that where the A.V.  reads `the knowledge

of the Son of God' we have substituted as an alternative `acknowledge'.  If

the Scriptural and grammatical reasons for this alteration are not known,

the article entitled Acknowledge1 should be consulted.

The perfect man.  The word used here for `man' is aner which always

means a man as distinct from a woman.  It is translated `husband' in

Ephesians 5, which makes it impossible for this church to be `the Bride'.

Figures and symbols are used with exactness in Scripture.  (See articles on

Body1; and Bride and the Body1.  The goal, too, is `The fulness of the

Christ'.  The wonderful age purpose which this word `fulness' embraces is set

out in some measure under the heading Pleroma3).  Let our endeavours be

directed to the keeping of the Unity of the Spirit.  Let our ministry be

directed to the perfect man.  Let no man -made unity or system be allowed to

intrude or to spoil; let us build upon the One Foundation, that which will

stand the test of `that day'.

The Unity of the Spirit.  In the preceding article, we have considered the

subject of `Unity', in the present one we concentrate upon `The Unity of the

Spirit'.  As this Alphabetical Analysis is a book of reference, some element

of repetition is necessary for the sake of completeness.  The seriousness of

the subject however is an all -sufficient justification for such treatment.

There are two injunctions in the epistles of the present dispensation

that at first sight seem to have little connection, yet upon consideration

are seen to be inseparable, and indeed but two sides of one whole.

`Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to

be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth' (2 Tim. 2:15).

`I ... beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are

called ... endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of

peace' (Eph. 4:1 -3).

The first link that binds these two precepts together is the word

translated `study' and `endeavour', for both represent the one word spoudazo

in the Greek.  This word is derived from speudo which means to urge on, to

hasten.  Upon examination, it will be discovered that mere `hastiness' is by

no means implied, but that some driving urge is at work impelling action and

movement.  What a contrast is established in Scripture between the Chief

Priests and Scribes, who could glibly quote chapter and verse to show that

Christ should be born in Bethlehem, and yet who never went either to see or

to worship (Matt. 2:4 -6); and the shepherds who said:

`Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to

pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.  And they came with

haste' (Luke 2:15).

`They came with haste' indicates not merely speed but diligence, an

urge that surmounts obstacles, a movement with a goal in view.

The same word that is translated `study' in 2 Timothy 2:15, is

translated `Do thy diligence' in 2 Timothy 4:9 and 21.  In one case it is

followed by the word `shortly' in the other by the words `before winter', in