Eph 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
I don't know if we have come to the full understanding of what "the unity of the faith" is. Is it "unity in doctrine"? That seems unlikely as there are so many differences in doctrine among us.
In verse 4, Paul wrote about "the unity of the Spirit" Is this the same as "the unity of the faith". Or is it that it is impossible for us to ever achieve "unity of faith" until we attain "unity of Spirit?"
Unity of Spirit is seen on the day of Pentecost. In fact, virtually every outpouring of the Holy Ghost in the Bible, and in history, was preceeded by spiritual unity. Azusa Street was attended by people of many different religious persuasions, yet, because spiritual unity was the focus, God moved wonderously in their midst. This "spiritual unity" is what Jesus prayed for in
John 17. As long as we allow doctrinal division to separate us, we will never see any "unity of the faith"- with or without the 5 fold ministry. We have far too many dividing lines between us for God to be pleased. There are any number of people I disagree with doctrinally, but that doesn't mean I disagree with them spiritually. Even the brother who created this thread. I love him like a brother, but there are doctrinal differences between us- just as there were doctrinal differences between his father and myself. Yet, of all the pastors I knew in days of long ago, no pastor had the respect and love I had for Bro. Marvin Taylor. I felt he was wrong on some issues- and I told him so. And he, in turn, told me where he felt I was wrong. But we had a spiritual unity that transcended our differing doctrinal views. And that spiritual unity is what we all should be endeavoring to achieve.
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