The Purposes of Unity*

      There is more to the Body of Christ than what is referred to as the Five-Fold Ministry. Limiting the Body to that five-fold ministry limits the Holy One of Israel. What else is essential to the Body of Christ? You! Daivd wrote in the Psalms: "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully (yare - reverence, honor, respect)  and wonderfully (pala - set apart, marked out, distinct) made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well...Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect (golem - embryo, fetus, a wrapped together unformed mass, unfinished, not yet developed); and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance (yom - time, day, continually, ever, time period, age, always) were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." (Ps. 139:14-16). The LORD made each one of us distinctly with reverence and honor for each. He wrote of each of us in His book of the distinct members from which we were made. 

     The beginning of man tells us why God held each of us in reverence: "And God said. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over...all the earth...So God created (**aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega: the identity of Christ) man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them (referring to **aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega, man)." (Gen. 1:26-27). Man was made by God in reverence and honor in the identity of Christ.

     As we consider these things, we can recall that Paul wrote to the believers in Christ: "...walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." (Eph. 4:1-8, excerpt). God never called us to division but to unity of the Spirit. There are not many Bodies of Christ, but only one Body, of which we are each members.

 

     Paul then wrote of what we now call the five-fold ministry: "And he (Christ) gave some apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto the perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ...speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." (v. 11-16, excerpt).

  

     We were each created in the **aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega Christly image of the Godhead, and we are to grow by the unity of the faith as one body into the fulness of that same **aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega image.

     Again Paul wrote of the not just five-fold Spiritual gifts, but the many diverse gifts that are needed to make up the body of Christ: "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant...Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." (1 Cor. 12:1-7, excerpt). The gifts given to each member are for the profit the whole Body of Christ. Some of the manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit are, according to Paul: the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, diverse kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues..."But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ...For the body is not one member, but many." (v. 8-14).

     To emphasize his point, Paul compares the diverse but necessary members of the body of Christ to the parts of the human body. The human body is useless if the whole body is made up only of hands, or only of feet, or of only eyes for seeing, or just ears for hearing, claiming not to need any other parts of the body: "But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him...now are they many members, yet but one body." (v. 15-20). There are no members of the Body of Christ that are unnecessary, or unimportant, or less honorable to the health and success of the whole Body. (v. 22-24). 

     In the natural human body, there are more than 30 trillion cells, with 300 billion cells being replaced daily. In the brain alone, there are 171 billion individual cells. Multiplying these numbers by the population of the earth of approximately 8 billion, the number of cells giving life to mankind is too large to count. If the cells within the natural body become divided, one against another, the result is disease. One cell destroying another is the definition of cancer. The human body cannot survive being divided against itself, and neither can the spiritual Body of Christ. Paul wrote: "...there should be no schism in the body (of Christ); but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member to be honoured, all the members rejoice in it." (v. 25-27). Paul corrected the Corinthian church who, when they assembled together, were full of divisions and heresies: "...I praise you not, that you come together not for the better, but for the worse." (1 Cor. 11:17-19). When each member is doing his own thing, the church has no hope of operating in unity.

     Paul wrote that not all in the Body of Christ are apostles, or prophets, or teachers, or helps (antilempsis/antilambano - aid, help, relief, perception/lay hold of, hold fast to, embrace, support, partaker of the benefits, to obtain, to collect, to gather, to take a thing due, to receive a person, to gain, get back, to experience), or government, etc. (1 Cor. 12:28-30). We are all called to be servants.

     Paul gave to the church the revelation of the Lord's Supper, also called Communion, that Christ gave to him (1 Cor. 11:23-26), because this church was not treating the Lord's Supper with the proper reverence and understanding of the unity of the Body of Christ through the sharing of the Body and Blood of Christ broken and shed for us. He wrote this warning: "Wherefore whoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily (anaxios - irreverently, in an unworthy manner, not befitting a thing), shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself...For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." (v. 27-30). There is to be no separation in the body of Christ. The LORD described some of the things that would make us "unworthy" in Prov. 6:17-19, which includes a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a wicked heart and thoughts, those quick to do mischief, a false witness who speaks lies, "and he that soweth discord among brethren."

     Jesus prayed especially for the unity of the believers before He suffered on the cross: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word (referring to us!); That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." (Jn. 17:16-21, excerpt). The unity of the believers that are in Christ is proof to the world that the Father sent the Son, Jesus. John wrote in his epistle that the love of the brethren for each other testifies that we have passed from death unto life, and without that love, we do not have eternal life. Through our love for each other, we perceive the love of God for each of us. (1 Jn. 3:14-19, excerpt).

     A Psalm of Ascent written by David revealed the importance of the unity of the brethren, even as the flowing of the anointing in our lives and its connection to eternal life: "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity, It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for ever-more." (Ps. 133:1-2).

Additional reading homework: Jer. 32:39, Jn. 13:35, 1 Cor. 1:10, Phil. 2, 1 Pet. 3:8

*Based upon Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson, Jr.'s 4/6/25 message to the church. If you would like to hear the complete message, you can find it on Dr. Stevenson's Facebook page. Dr. Stevenson's video messages are also found on You Tube at Kenneth Stevenson. To contact or support this ministry, or to request prayer, you can write to PO Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705. To find out more about the Shroud of Turin, and to receive a free e-book now available in several languages, go to http://www.theshroudofturin.org/freebook.

**NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The meaning of the two pictographic Hebrew letters can also be interpreted "Adonai (Lord) of the Cross/Covenant". In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as ΑΩ , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. These letters are those by which Jesus Christ identifies Himself in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13.