# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1906_S7
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1906. 7

there have been two interpretations of this passage. Chrysostom explained: unity of the Holy Spirit, who creates and maintains the unity; Ambrose, on the other hand, explained: unity of mind (animarum studiorumque consensus). Chrysostom is followed by Beza, Calov and, in more recent times, all the most capable exegetes who seek to interpret Scripture in faith, e.g. Harless, Meyer (in the old editions) and Schnedermann. Ambrose is followed by Anselm, Erasmus, Luther and most of the more recent exegetes.

In our passage the third person of the Godhead cannot be meant in the sense that He alone is the One who rules in the Church. The thought is not false in itself. One can grasp it figuratively thus: The Church is a body, and the Holy Spirit is the spirit that rules in this body of the Church. But this is not Paul's manner of expression and does not fit the context. He does speak of the fact that the Holy Spirit dwells in us and that we are His temples, e.g. 1 Cor. 3:16: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" Rom. 8:9: "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." But there he speaks each time of the individual Christians, not of the whole Church as one body. The thought is therefore not incorrect, and if we were to adopt the expression analogy of faith, we would say: It is spoken according to the analogy of faith. According to the Apostle's ordinary usage it is not to be understood so, hence not in Ephesians either. Moreover, there would also be something in the image that does not fit the context. If the Holy Spirit were meant, the Apostle could hardly say, "Be diligent to keep," to preserve, for we cannot preserve an essential attribute of the Holy Spirit.

But the other interpretation of the expression, "the Spirit who creates the unity," is also not to be accepted. In this case too the thought is not false; in itself nothing could be objected against this explanation. But when another interpretation lies closer, is simpler and appears immediately given, we must nevertheless accept that one. The meaning of the genitive in such a place depends in many cases on the word on which the genitive depends. The most obvious interpretation here is that it is a unity which belongs directly to the spirit. When there is talk of an operation, e.g. the operation of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit must be thought of as the one who operates; likewise, when one speaks of the creation of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit must be thought of as the Creator. But with henotes, "unity," the immediate meaning is: the unity of him who has it as an attribute.

In our passage the word must therefore mean: the unity of the spirit, which is the new life created in the Christians by the Holy Spirit. This life is in the many Christians one and the