LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1967, Page 61

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THE DOCTRINAL ESSAY 61

There is only one faith. There are not many Gospels
but only one Gospel. There are not many faiths but only
one faith. The one Gospel is of Jesus Christ the Lord,
and the one faith is in Jesus Christ the Lord. There are
not many baptisms but only one — one Baptism in His
great name, who was sent by the Father and proclaimed
by the Spirit of the living God.

By this time it must be absolutely clear that the unity
of the church is the unity of those who believe in that
one Lord, God’s messenger to this world, of life in the
midst of death. The only unity known in the New Tes-
tament is the unity of those who are called, gathered,
assembled around that truth which is the Lord Him-
self. This is the essence of their unity, that they look
to the unique One. As long as the lookers keep looking,
there is no real distinction, for they are all one in Him.

One Faith

There is one Lord, and all are justified by faith in
Him. All have sinned and come short of the glory of
God, and all are justified freely by His grace through
the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God set
forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood.
St. Paul goes on to say, faith does away with distinc-
tions. Once a man is justified by faith without the deeds
of the Law, there are no further distinctions. Is He
God of the Jews only, is He not the God of the Gentiles
also? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since He justifies the
circumcision through faith and also the uncircumcision
in the same way, through faith.

In that passage of Romans 1 which has meant so
much to the Lutheran Reformation, St.Paul declares
that he is not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it
is the power of God to salvation to everyone who be-
lieves, both Jew and Greek. In this the righteousness
of God is revealed, for the just will live by faith. This
is the whole argument of the Epistle to the Galatians.
There is one Gospel. Simply put, the Gospel is that
God justifies the ungodly through Jesus. There is one
Lord, one faith.

One Baptism

Just as there is one Lord and one faith, so there is
one Baptism. It could not be otherwise. There is one
body, gathered under one Head. All are baptized into
Christ. By baptism that mystical union with Christ
is established, and all are baptized into one body (1 Cor.
12:13). Although they were in Adam, those who are
baptized are now in Christ. One Lord, one faith, one
Baptism.

One God and Father

There is one God and Father of all. He is the Creator
of all, the One who sent Jesus. We are the children of
God, and if children, then joint heirs and members of
one family, children of the same Father and brothers

. of the one Lord in that one faith and that one Baptism.

It is a glorious unity, the unity of the people of
God. In the family of God we are the sons of God by
faith in Jesus Christ. We did not establish the family
hor its unity, but those who follow Christ can help to

keep the unity created by the Spirit in the bond of
peace. We can be peaceful men and women, not in-
different and complacent, but peaceful in the one hope
of our calling. We are not to be like children tossed
about by all sorts of doctrine, but we are to grow up
in all things together — unto Him, the Head, in whom
the whole body fits jointly together, knit together by
every joint which works for the good of the entire
body.
Toward Perfection

Is the unity of the church perfect? Not here. That
is why it has been given apostles, prophets, evange-
lists, 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
a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4:12-13)

We are all growing — growing in the faith and in
the knowledge of Christ. We are growing into a
certain maturity, the measure of which is the stature of
the fullness of Christ. We all have some knowledge,
just as we all have some faith. Some perfecting is
always necessary, however, some growth. There are
always some weaknesses in the body. Some are still
children, swayed by the first idea that comes along or
acting impulsively as children do. There are always
those in the church who are not strong enough for
meat and therefore have to be fed milk. But none
is in a position where he can take pride in himself.
Even Paul desired to know Christ more, to have a
deeper knowledge of Him. Not even Paul was already
perfect. Yearn for the sincere milk of the Word, said
Peter, that you may grow by it.

Only Believers

The body of Christ exists only among those who
have faith in Christ. There is no fellowship among
those who believe in what St. Paul describes as “not a
Gospel” (Gal. 1:6). There can be no fellowship between
those who believe that Jesus did not become sin for us
(2 Cor. 5:21), who have no confidence that He was de-
livered up for us all (Rom. 8:32). They are sure that
man is saved by what he is and by what he does. With
them unity does not exist. But it does exist where
Christ is Lord, where there is faith in His atoning sacri-
fice, where the Spirit of God has done His work and is
at work through the Gospel.

No church body, including our own, can lay claim
to being the one church of which the New Testament
speaks. None is the whole body. Every church body
represents a certain historical tradition, from which it
cannot wholly escape. That is why the search for
unity, on the denominational or organizational level,
will probably never supply the answer to our Lord’s
prayer that they all may be one.

The search for unity is primarily a matter of re-
pentance and faith, not a matter of organization. It is
not a matter of size or number of churches but the
working of the Spirit within the churches.