The Gentiles, being originally "without hope", hold but the one hope of their calling.

They have no other. They had also been saved by grace through faith, and that not of

themselves, it was the gift of God. This accounts for every item except the one baptism.

That is found as we shall see more clearly presently in the threefold union with the risen

Lord expressed in the word "quickened together, raised together, seated together".

It is important to see that the central feature of this unity is the One Lord. Without the

risen and ascended Christ there is no church which can be called the One Body. Not

until Christ is seen as Head can the church be seen as body. This is clearly stated in

Eph. 1: 21-23. Apart from the risen Son of God the one God would never be known as

the one God and Father. Apart from the risen and ascended Lord the one baptism of the

one spirit is impossible. The unity of the faith embraces the Son of God as we shall see,

and the one hope is nothing less than Christ Himself. Like the central shaft of the seven

branched lampstand of the Tabernacle, all are united together in Him, all receive their

fullness from Him. Severed from Him they are worthless. What hope have we outside of

Christ? In whom can we have faith apart from Christ?

Let us now, having seen the essential position of Christ in this unity, look at the seven

items in detail.

ONE BODY.--It is true that the figure of the body is used in I Cor. 12:, but the

context reveals that it is used in illustration of the distribution, diversity yet unity of

spiritual gifts. The church of the One Body is a new creation, connected with the

ascended Christ as its Head, in a sphere of glory that transcends all others, "far above

all", and is directly related to the revelation of the mystery where it is given its peculiarly

distinctive character, "a joint body" (Eph. 3: 6), a standing unknown before the mystery

was made known. Such in brief is the first item in this sevenfold unity. Such we have to

Some will deny that the one body is peculiar to the dispensation of the Mystery. Some

will teach that the body of I Cor. 12: is "all one and the same". Some even go so far as

to teach that the one body comprises every saved one from Adam onwards. All such

attempts to destroy the testimony of the Lord's prisoner must be resisted. We must not,

however, miss the emphasis on the one body. We can have no connection with "bodies";

such cannot be recognized for one minute. All other unities, bodies, leagues, societies,

are outside this sacred circle.

ONE SPIRIT.--The body, without the spirit, is dead, being alone, says James. What

is the animating spirit of the one body? Referring to the mortal body, the apostle says:--

The analogy holds good. The spirit of the risen Christ likewise is the one spirit of the

one body. In Eph. 1: and 2: two mighty energies are opposed. One is that of the spirit

that now energizes the children of disobedience, the other, though not called by the name