# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1930_S9
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

of the Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America. 1930. 9

1.

Unity in the Spirit is an essential attribute of the whole of Christendom on earth, of the Church in the proper sense of the word. This unity is a fruit of the Spirit, an expression of faith, which relies on Christ as the Savior of sinners and therefore also accepts the Scripture and holds fast to it in all points. Since, however, the members of this one holy Christian Church are known only to God, he alone knows how perfect or imperfect the knowledge and confession of the individual member of this Church are.

"Unity in the Spirit" is a biblical expression. It is used by the Apostle Paul in Eph. 4:3, where he exhorts his readers: "Be diligent to keep the unity in the Spirit" (σπουδάζοντες τηρεῖν τὴν ἑνότητα τοῦ πνεύματος). By the expression "unity in the Spirit" is certainly not meant, as some older and more recent expositors have supposed, "the unity of the Holy Spirit, who creates and sustains the unity," but, as already lies in Luther's translation, "the unity of mind." It is indeed true that this unity or oneness is a creation of the Holy Spirit, but that it is not an essential attribute of the third person of the Godhead lies already in the word "keep" or "preserve"; for the Apostle would hardly wish to exhort Christians to preserve an essential attribute of the Holy Spirit. No, the unity or oneness of the Spirit is the new life created in Christians by the Holy Spirit, by virtue of which all believers, wherever they may be, are one heart and one soul, as is also expressly said of the visible congregation at Jerusalem, Acts 4:32. For all Christians have one LORD, one faith (the acceptance of Christ as the Savior of sinners and trust in his redemption), one baptism (as the sacrament of admission into the Christian Church), one God and Father of us all, Eph. 4:5, 6; because they are all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, bond or free, and are all made to drink into one Spirit, 1 Cor. 12:13; therefore they are also completely one in the Spirit. This unity is an essential attribute of Christians in their totality.

This unity is a fruit of the Spirit, an expression of faith. In his high-priestly prayer our Savior says: "Neither pray I for these alone [for the apostles, who were present when Jesus spoke the prayer], but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 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. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me," John 17:20-23. Let us note here the expression "that they all may be one," which the Savior repeats four times. It designates the unity of the believers in mind, will and disposition. This unity is a fact; it is found in all people who have come to faith by the power of the Holy Spirit in the Word; it is the expression and attestation of this faith. The Apostle Paul expresses the same thought in Gal. 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." For just as this