The unity of believers.
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is not male and female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."
I. IT IS AN ORGANIC UNITY. Believers are "one body in Christ" (Romans 12:4, Romans 12:5); "one man;" "one new man" (Ephesians 2:15). The unity in question is no ecclesiastical unity; for it joins together those who are ecclesiastically separated, and it connects together the believers of all generations. I. It has a sevenfold relationship. "There is one body, and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one hope of your calling, one God and Father of all" (Ephesians 4:4-6).
2. It is created in Christ by the Holy Spirit. It is Christ, not the Spirit, who "hath made both one" (Ephesians 2:14); and we, "being many, are made one body in Christ" (Romans 12:5). But wherever the Spirit is there is union with Christ. The indwelling of the Spirit is therefore the bond of unity in the Church.
II. IT IS A UNITY WHICH OBLITERATES OR IGNORES MANY WORLDLY OR NATURAL DISTINCTIONS. All distinctions, whether of condition, or nature, or sex, are in Christ lost sight of or forgotten.
1. National distinctions. "There is neither Jew nor Greek." This distinction meant much in pre-Christian ages. The Jews were God's peculiar people, blessed with great privileges and prepared for great destinies. The Greeks, representing the Gentile world, stood apart from the Jews—"aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise" (Ephesians 2:12). But Jew and Greek stand on exactly the same footing in the kingdom of God, possessed of equal privilege, equally sons of God, and equally heirs of God. Christ broke down the middle wall of partition that severed them for ages, and made them one commonwealth.
2. Distinctions of human station. "There is neither bond nor free." Slaves were excluded from certain rites of heathen worship. But Christ takes the slave by the hand and places him in his kingdom side by side with the free man. The largest body of practical counsel in the apostolic Epistles is directed to slaves.
3. The distinction of sex. "There is not male and female." The apostle does not touch the original subordination of the woman to the man, which is a still existing fact (1 Timothy 2:11-14), but shows how, religiously regarded, men and women are equal. Their relation to Christ does not destroy the old fact, but causes it to be lost sight of. How true it is that Christianity alone has elevated women, has created the sentiment which destroys slavery everywhere, and creates a better understanding among the nations of the world!