The Unity of the Spirit

In transforming our hearts and minds into the likeness of Christ, the Spirit transforms how we live in relationship with one another, creating spiritual community, i.e., the church. Spiritual community is the product of the Spirit’s work in us, through us, and among us.

One of the two dominant characteristics of Spirit-empowered spiritual community is unity — oneness that transcends and transforms differences. This oneness is centered in Christ Jesus. It is produced by the Spirit. It is expressed in a self-giving, servant spirit that seeks the wellbeing of the other, i.e., love.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and we were all made to drink of one Spirit (2 Corinthians 12:12-13).

The unity or oneness found in spiritual community is intended to reflect the unity and oneness of the Trinity — the Three in One. The oneness enjoyed by the Father, Son, and Spirit is grounded in a shared character. Each lives out of a character of self-giving, servant love. All that they do individually and collectively grows out of and is an expression of self-giving, servant love.

The unity experienced in spiritual community is a precursor to the unity that God is seeking to bring to all of creation (Ephesians 1:10; 3:7-12). In Christ, the animosity and dividing wall that separated Jew and Gentile have been broken down (Ephesians 2:14). People of all ethnicities and social groups are now “members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19). Their oneness in Christ creates “a holy temple … a dwelling place for God” on earth (Ephesians 2:21-22). The spiritual community, bound together as one in Christ, becomes an in-the-flesh embodiment of God and convincing evidence of the beauty of the ways of God (Ephesians 3:10). Such unity is essential to God’s eternal redemptive purpose (Ephesians 1:3-10). It is to be protected and maintained at all costs – “making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). The unity experienced in spiritual community is a gift given by the Spirit that is to be recognized, treasured, and protected.

The key to maintaining the unity of the Spirit is the mind of Christ. It is living out of the servant spirit of Christ (Philippians 2:1-10). Conflict between two of its key leaders was disturbing the church at Philippi (Philippians 4:2). Paul wrote urging the two women “to be of the same mind in the Lord.” They were to come to agreement by looking for that which reflected the Lord’s purpose, not their own desires. They were to embrace the mind of Christ, relating out of humility, seeking the wellbeing of the other (Philippians 2:3-4). In addition to humility, the writer of Ephesians said gentleness, patience, and “putting up with” one another (Ephesians 4:2) were needed in order to maintain the unity of the Spirit.

Conflict grows out of what Paul called “the flesh” — our anxiety-driven, ego-centered self (Galatians 5:19-21). In other words, it does not take any effort to experience conflict. It is a normal part of our human condition. In conflict, each person looks out for their own interests and desires with no thought of or concern for what underlies the other person’s position. Each defends their own position while attacking the other and the other’s position. Winning — getting my way — becomes the objective. Power is used against the other for our own personal benefit. Such functioning is the opposite of the servant spirit of Jesus. It does not know the mind of Christ.

Conflict in the church — an all-too-common experience — occurs when members act out of their default human nature rather than out of their relationship with Christ. It happens when members protect their manufactured, ego-centric selves rather than living out of their crucified-with-Christ selves. It happens when members function out of what’s-in-it-for-me thinking rather than out of the mind of Christ. It happens when members demand their way, equating it with the will of God and, thereby, the only way.

The antidote to conflict in the church is personal spiritual growth — the transforming work of the Spirit. As the Spirit conforms our hearts and minds to the likeness of Christ, how we live in relationship with one another is transformed. Unity centered in Christ and expressed in self-giving love displaces the ego-centered conflict that is an inherent part of our human nature.

Unity is the product of the Spirit’s work in our lives. But it requires our work, as well.

The Body of Christ

 The Spirit works to make God’s salvation — the transformation of our hearts and minds, conforming us to the image of Jesus — a reality in our lives. The Spirit helps us grow up emotionally-relationally-spiritually (Ephesians 4:13-15). The biblical word for this process of transformation is sanctification (2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 6:22; 2 Thessalonians 2:13).

The ultimate and inevitable outcome of this transformation of our hearts and minds is the ability to love as Jesus loved. As we grow emotionally-relationally-spiritually, how we view and relate to others changes. In transforming us, the Spirit transforms how we live in relationship with one another. The result is spiritual community. The Spirit’s work in us produces spiritual community with others. We call this spiritual community “the church.” Paul spoke of it as the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-13).

Paul’s metaphor of the body of Christ communicates two essential elements in genuine spiritual community: unity — one body; diversity — many parts of the body. The theological term used to describe such community is unity in diversity producing community.

Unity in diversity describes the pattern of relationship found among the members of the Godhead — Father, Son, Spirit. Their oneness lies in their shared character of self-giving, servant love. How that love is lived out is different for each, shaped by the uniqueness of each. Each gives freely and generously of self to the other, for the other. In God’s eternal redemptive purpose (Ephesians 1:3-14), each gives freely and generously of self to us.

When the church is a spiritual community, it reflects the life of the Godhead, the life for which we were created — unity in diversity. Such spiritual communities are always Spirit-designed and Spirit-empowered. They are the product of the Spirit’s work in us, through us, and among us. 

When the church is a spiritual community, it is “a holy temple … a dwelling place for God” (Ephesians 2:21-22). It is an in-the-flesh expression of God's ways — the ways of the Kingdom. It offers the community in which it lives an alternative way of living in relationship. 

Apart from the Spirit’s transforming work, churches are seldom more than a human-designed, human-created institution. Rather than reflecting the life and community for which God created us, they duplicate the ways of the culture in which they live. They are homogeneous rather than diverse. They function out of sameness rather than oneness. As such, they are vulnerable to conflict and division because they do not know how to deal with the diversity that is an inherent part of life.

Authentic spiritual community is the product of the Spirit’s work.

The Sword of the Spirit

 Sword is not a word we normally associate with the Spirit, but the writer of Ephesians spoke of the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17). It was listed as a part of the armor of God.

The writer exhorted his readers to stand firm in the face of a hostile world. They had once followed the ways of the world (Ephesians 2:1-2) but now, as the followers of Jesus, they were living as the children of God (Ephesians 5:1), following God’s way of self-giving love (Ephesians 5:2), living out of a servant spirit (Ephesians 5:21). They were putting off their old self that followed the self-indulgent ways of the world and were putting on a new self that reflected the likeness of Christ (Ephesians 4:22-24). Now, they had to stand firm against the world.

The world in which they lived — and in which we live! — was hostile to the ways of God. The author of Ephesians attributed this hostility to spiritual forces of evil aligned against God and the ways of God. He spoke of “the course of this world” as “following the ruler of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:1-2). Consequently, we humans live out of a spirit of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2). He spoke of “the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:10) and of “cosmic powers of this present darkness” and of “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).  

Because the Ephesians 6 text speaks of the devil along with cosmic powers and spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12), some interpreters use this text to speak of spiritual warfare. They understand our struggle as the followers of Jesus to be a struggle with Satan. But I understand our challenge to be a hostile world that embodies the ways of evil rather than following the ways of God (Ephesians 2:1-2). I understand our struggle to be with our default human nature – what is often called our sin nature (Romans 7:14-25). This nature is at odds with the nature of God. We are self-focused and self-serving. God is self-emptying and self-giving. We are ego-driven, living out of a what’s-in-it-for-me spirit. God lives out of a servant spirit. We use power over, down against others for our own advantage. God uses power to serve, addressing the needs of the other and nurturing them into emotional-relational-spiritual maturity. We live out of merit-based thinking, relating to others based on what we think they deserve. God relates out of grace. We harbor hurts and hold grudges. God forgives … freely, unconditionally, lavishly. We divide people into us-them groups, viewing the other as less than us. God embraces all as beloved children. God never gives up on or abandons anyone … including us! When our default, self-serving, power-over nature - the spirit of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2) - gets embodied in and institutionalized in the structures and systems of the world, then the world is hostile to the ways of God.

As for Satan and cosmic powers and spiritual forces of evil: Satan was defeated in Jesus’s death and resurrection. His power has been broken. “The one who is in you (the Spirit) is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). Focusing on so-called “spiritual warfare” distracts us from learning and living the ways of God that Jesus taught.

In order to stand firm in their new calling, the Ephesians needed to put on the full armor of God, including the sword of the Spirit.

Every piece of the armor of God was designed to defend us from the attacks of this hostile world … except the sword of the Spirit. It is the only offensive weapon in the armor. The armor of God — truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation — empowers us to stand firm in the face of a world at odds with the ways of God. It allows us to deflect those things that come at us, seeking to weaken us and defeat us, squeezing us back into its mold. But the sword of the Spirit is the one piece of the armor that we use to fight back. And that sword is “the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). Many people today use the phrase “the word of God” in reference to the Bible, but the biblical writer was not referring to the Bible. The word of God is what God says through his Son and through the Spirit. It is the spiritual truth the Spirit teaches us (1 Corinthians 2:6-16). Spiritual truth is the way we counter the false thinking and self-destructive ways of the world.

Spiritual truth — the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:23) — is what the Spirit uses to transform our hearts and minds. It is also the means by which the world will be transformed and a new heavens and earth created.

 

Jesus and the Syrophoenician Woman

The lectionary gospel reading for today is the story of Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman. As this text is frequently misunderstood, I am sharing my interpretation of the story. I will return to my reflections on the work of the Spirit next week.)

It is a strange story … one that stirs lots of questions. It relates things Jesus said and did that are seemingly out of character … at least, out of character with how we think of Jesus. It is the story of Jesus’s interactions with a Syrophoenician woman — a Gentile. It is recorded in both the gospel of Mark and the gospel of Matthew.

The woman approached Jesus, begging him to heal her young daughter who was described as having an unclean spirit.  

Both Mark and Matthew record that Jesus responded to the woman with what looked to be a cold shoulder, even referring to her as a dog. “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs” (Mark 7:27). Matthew’s account adds that Jesus first ignored her before responding in such an insensitive, demeaning manner.

How are we to understand Jesus’s response and, thereby, the story?

For me, the key to understanding the story is its context. The story took place in Gentile territory (Mark 7:24). It was one of three stories in Gentile territory recorded by Mark: this one, the healing of a deaf man, the feeding of the 4,000. The three stories go together.

Just before the story, Jesus had responded to a complaint by the Pharisees that his disciples ate without ceremonially washing their hands, that is, with “unclean” hands (Mark 7:1-2).  Jesus used the occasion to point to the heart, not ritual or behavior, as the primary human problem and as the proper focus of the spiritual life (Mark 7:14-23).  The Jews, including Jesus’s disciples, considered Gentiles to be ritually unclean. The way Jesus treated the Syrophoenician woman – ignoring her, giving her the cold shoulder, speaking to her with disrespect — was in keeping with how the Jews typically treated Gentiles. Matthew’s account records the disciples urged Jesus to send the woman away because she was an irritant (Matthew 15:23).

The way Jesus viewed and treated the woman was the way Jews typically related to Gentiles. Was it what he himself believed about Gentiles or is there another explanation for his actions? Some suggest Jesus’s actions were what he himself, as a Jew, believed and the Syrophoenician woman taught him to think differently. Personally, I believe there is another explanation. Jesus knew what he was doing. His actions were intentional.

These stories involving Gentiles are in the section of Mark’s gospel in which the disciples “don’t get it.” They did not understand Jesus’s teachings. They did not understand the meaning of Jesus feeding the 5,000 (Mark 6:52). They did not understand his teaching about the heart (Mark 7:17-23). They did not understand his teaching about the leaven of the Pharisees (Mark 8:14-16). This section of Mark’s gospel ends with Jesus asking them a string of questions: “Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? Do you not yet understand?” (Mark 8:17b-18, 21).

Jesus led the disciples into Gentile territory in order to teach them a truth they could not grasp: God embraced the Gentiles just as God embraced the Jews. His interaction with the Syrophoenician woman was a part of his effort to teach them a truth what they did not want to accept.

In his interaction with the Syrophoenician woman, Jesus mirrored the attitude of the disciples toward Gentiles … but it was not his attitude. His attitude was reflected in the word he used with the woman. The word translated as “dog” is a word meaning a lap dog, a beloved household pet. Had his attitude been that of the disciples, he would have used the word for dog that meant a cur, a dog that roomed the streets scrounging for food. The woman’s comeback suggests Jesus made his comment with a playful, teasing tone — although we cannot know that for sure. Her comeback played off of the word Jesus used. The family pet eats the crumbs that fall from the table. Jesus affirmed the woman’s comeback and healed her daughter. What would the disciples have thought about the healing? We know what they felt about the woman. 

The second story that is a part of the lectionary reading is Jesus’s healing a man who was deaf. Because of his deafness, he could not speak clearly. This man, too, was a Gentile but he represents the disciples. They could not hear the truth that Jesus was teaching. They needed Jesus to unstop their ears.

This story of the Syrophoenician woman mirrors our own spiritual experience. Like the disciples, we all have spiritual truths we are not ready to hear. We need Jesus to unstop our ears so we can hear what we don’t want to hear.

What might that truth be?