The ordinance of Baptism has been the source of endless controversies and divisions. It remains a constant source of antagonism among various sects and denominations. The reason for this disagreement is a historic one. A few short years after the Apostle Paul received the revelation of the Mystery, he wrote, “all men have forsaken me.” What he meant, by this, is that the Christians who had, initially, believed the latest report from God forsook the ONE FAITH. It is in Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy he recorded that Present Truth had been forsaken.

Our last study of “The Unity of the Spirit” ended as we were considering the significance of the ONE FAITH at the time of its revelation.
 
At the time the ONE FAITH was revealed to Paul, the Gentile believer was no longer being used to “provoke them [Israel] to jealousy” (Rom. 11:11). The Gentile was no longer “a wild olive tree” (Rom. 11:17) being grafted into the “good olive tree [Israel]” (Rom. 11:24). Paul could say that NOW Christ is “among the Gentiles” and is their “hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). Embodied in the ONE FAITH is the fact that every vestige   of Jewish privilege is done away with. There was no longer an advantage in being a Jew.  There was no longer profit in circumcision. The item which always separated the Jew from the Gentile was the Law. The Apostle Paul, a teacher of the Gentiles (2 Tim. 1:11), announces from Christ’s Embassy, a Roman prison, that the “law of commandments contained in ordinances” have been “abolished,” “broken down,” and “slain”             (Eph. 2:14-16).

The fifth feature of the Unity of the Spirit is that of the ONE FAITH. Here, the word is a metonymy in which “faith” is put for that which is believed. The word, “faith,” is defined, very clearly, in Hebrews 11:1 and Romans 10:17.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”        (Heb. 11:1).

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).

With the background presented in the last issue, The One Lord, we can look at a most controversial and misunderstood  section of Scripture which, clearly, sets forth the ministry of the spiritual “lords” who ruled over the Acts period Church of God.

“One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism” (Eph. 4:5)

The fourth feature which now comes before us in the seven-fold Unity of the Spirit is that of the “One Lord.” Previously, we have considered the One Body, the One Spirit, and the One Hope.