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== Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament <ref name="term_57718" /> ==
<p> The idea of unity is one of those that are most pervasive in the apostolic writings; and naturally so. [[Christianity]] is the religion of reconciliation; and, fully recognizing the radical character of the antagonisms that reveal themselves in experience, it everywhere discloses a profounder unity in which these opposites are harmonized. While it does not assume the function of a philosophy, it does claim to give, from the moral and teleological standpoint, a synthetic view, and, indeed, the only synthetic view, of reality; in Christ it finds the way, the truth, and the life by which the unity of God and man and the whole universe of being must be finally achieved. </p> <p> On the cardinal issue, existence is seen both as a unity and as a duality. The duality is wholly and tragically real. [[Physical]] evil is no illusion, but is the correlate of moral evil; and moral evil is not an inevitable stage in the evolution of moral good, but is <i> sin </i> , that which absolutely ought not to be. Yet this duality exists within the circumference, so to say, of an eternal unity before and after; an original self-existent principle of evil is excluded by NT thought. On the other hand, it attempts no solution of the problem how duality has arisen out of pre-existent unity; it is content to trace sin back to the beginning of human history, or, if further, to the agency of a [[Tempter]] who had himself fallen from his first estate. Its interest in the problem is not at all speculative, but solely practical-to emphasize, on the one hand, the fact of man’s innate sinfulness, and, on the other, the fact that sin is precisely that which has no point of origination in the [[Divine]] causality, but is in essential antagonism to the nature and will of God. </p> <p> <b> 1. The Being of God as the primal source of all unity. </b> -( <i> a </i> ) As against all polytheistic or dualistic systems, apostolic thought posits this as its first truth (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 8:4; &nbsp;1 Corinthians 8:6, &nbsp;Ephesians 4:6, &nbsp;James 2:19). And this ensures a unity in nature and history. Although the marks of imperfection and disorganization are everywhere seen upon the face of Creation, although it is in bondage to the law of decay and corruption, and is the scene of apparently fruitless tragedy (&nbsp;Romans 8:20-22), yet it is pervaded by a unity of rational purpose and control (&nbsp;Romans 8:28, &nbsp;Acts 27:22-24); and this is true not only of natural processes and events, but of those that are brought about by the volition of men or other free agents (&nbsp;Acts 2:23; &nbsp;Acts 21:10-14, &nbsp;2 Corinthians 12:7). </p> <p> ( <i> b </i> ) The Divine nature is ethically a unity-light in which there is no darkness at all. God is ‘faithful’ (&nbsp;1 John 1:9, &nbsp;2 Timothy 2:13), unchangeably self-consistent (&nbsp;James 1:17). His different modes of action upon different objects only prove the immutability of His moral nature (&nbsp;Romans 2:6-10, &nbsp;2 Thessalonians 1:6-7; &nbsp;2 Peter 2:4-9). And the centre of this unity, from which all His ethical attributes derive, is Love; the ultimate explanation of all that God does, and purposes, and permits is-God is Love (&nbsp;1 John 4:8). Hence, also, the [[Righteousness]] of God, His Will as imperative for all beings capable of ethical life, is a unity. His Law is an ethical organism, expressing in every part the same principle (&nbsp;Romans 13:8-10), to violate which in one point is virtually to violate the whole (&nbsp;James 2:10). Hence, again, sin is a unity. Within all individual sins (ἁμαρτήματα) there lives that (ἡ ἁμαρτία) which makes them to be sinful. St. Paul almost personifies this principle of sin (&nbsp;Romans 7:11; &nbsp;Romans 7:14). St. John defines it as ἀνομία, lawlessness, the assertion of an evil egoistic will against the perfectly good will of God (&nbsp;1 John 3:4). [[Sin]] is not seen in its true character until it is seen in its unity. </p> <p> <b> 2. Unity of mediation. </b> -The explanation of the dualism we are conscious of in experience is not found, as in Gnosticism, in the transition from the transcendent God to the created universe. The unity of the Divine self-existence is not lost when related to other being; its fullness is not portioned out in successive separate emanations. There is one God, and one [[Mediator]] (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 8:6, &nbsp;1 Timothy 2:5)-He who became in human history the ‘man Christ Jesus.’ In Him, as the Image and Only-begotten of the Father, the undivided fullness of the [[Godhead]] dwells (&nbsp;John 1:14, &nbsp;Colossians 2:9); and He is not only, by His Incarnation, the one Mediator to mankind of all Divine life, truth, and saving grace, but the Divine agent in all creation (&nbsp;John 1:3, &nbsp;Colossians 1:16), and the principle of its unity (&nbsp;Colossians 1:17). See Fulness; Mediation. </p> <p> <b> 3. The unity of man. </b> -( <i> a </i> ) The generic unity, physical and moral, of mankind (already seen in the OT and in Stoicism) is a presupposition of [[Christian]] soteriology; human nature has everywhere the same spiritual capacities, needs the same salvation, and is capable of appropriating it by the same means (&nbsp;Romans 1:16, etc.). This unity is categorically affirmed (&nbsp;Acts 17:26); historically it has its source in descent from one common primal ancestor (&nbsp;Romans 5:14-19, &nbsp;1 Corinthians 15:22; &nbsp;1 Corinthians 15:47), but ultimately in the fact that man as man is the image and offspring of God (&nbsp;Acts 17:28-29). </p> <p> ( <i> b </i> ) Hence there is unity as regards responsibility. Apart from special revelation, man possesses a rational and moral nature, made for the knowledge and love of God, with capacities for discerning the self-manifestations of God in His creative and providential activities (&nbsp;Acts 14:17, &nbsp;Romans 1:19-21); and especially does conscience bear witness to the sovereign imperative of His righteousness (&nbsp;Romans 2:14-15). </p> <p> ( <i> c </i> ) But, actually, unity in responsibility has become unity in sin. Human character has become corrupt at its hereditary source (&nbsp;Romans 5:12; &nbsp;Romans 5:17-19; &nbsp;Romans 5:4 <i> Ezr </i> &nbsp;Romans 3:26, <i> Apoc. Bar </i> . liv. 15, 19); human life universally characterized by wilful sin (&nbsp;Romans 3:9-20), involving guilt (&nbsp;Romans 3:19) and that separation from God (&nbsp;Ephesians 4:18, &nbsp;Colossians 1:21) which is death (&nbsp;Romans 6:23, &nbsp;Ephesians 2:1; &nbsp;Ephesians 2:5, &nbsp;Colossians 2:13). </p> <p> <b> 4. Unity of redemption </b> .-( <i> a </i> ) For the common human need one common redemption is provided (&nbsp;Acts 4:12, &nbsp;Romans 10:4; &nbsp;Romans 10:12, &nbsp;1 John 2:2), to be received by the same means (&nbsp;Romans 4:11-16, &nbsp;Galatians 2:16, &nbsp;1 John 1:7-9), working to the same issues of forgiveness (&nbsp;Romans 8:1, &nbsp;Revelation 1:5), reconciliation to God (&nbsp;Romans 5:1; &nbsp;Romans 5:10, &nbsp;2 Corinthians 5:18-21), enduement with the Spirit (&nbsp;Romans 8:1-16), eternal life (&nbsp;Romans 5:17; &nbsp;Romans 5:21, &nbsp;1 John 5:11; &nbsp;1 John 5:13; &nbsp;1 John 5:20). [[Possessing]] such fellowship with God in Christ, as the source of their common life and object of their common faith, [[Christians]] also possess a unique spiritual affinity and fellowship with each other. And, in the [[Apostolic]] Age, the consciousness of unity reaches its intensest point in the conception of this fellowship, alike Divine and human, as embodied in the Church. In this, racial and social distinctions-Jew and Gentile, bond and free-serve only to emphasize and enhance the fact that those who are united in Christ, however different in all else, have immeasurably more in common than those who are separated by Christ, however alike in every other respect (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 7:22, &nbsp;Galatians 3:28, &nbsp;Ephesians 2:11-22). So, also, distinctions of custom and even of conviction do not disappear (&nbsp;Romans 14:5); yet even such diverse interpretations of truth and duty ought only to evoke a fuller realization of supreme truth and duty, the faith and love in which all are one. Unity is emphasized as against mere uniformity (1 Corinthians 12). In the spiritual body, as in the physical, a rich diversity of gift and function is necessary to the complete expression of the organic life-principle (&nbsp;Romans 14:4-6). It is only in its complex collective unity that renewed humanity can reach its Divine ideal (&nbsp;Ephesians 4:11-13). </p> <p> ( <i> b </i> ) But in the [[Pauline]] [[Epistles]] it is seen that, Christ being what He is, universal Mediator and Lord, He is destined to become by His reconciling work the centre of a unity that embraces all existence, and that is essential even for the full redemption of man. Christ must be Head over all things to His Body, which is the Church (&nbsp;Ephesians 1:22); hostile elemental forces must be subdued (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 15:24, &nbsp;Ephesians 1:21); all things, whether on earth or in heaven, must come under His reconciling sway (&nbsp;Colossians 1:20), and the whole creation be emancipated into the liberty that belongs to the glorified state of God’s children (&nbsp;Romans 8:21), that God may be all in all (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 15:28). </p> <p> <b> 5. The final unity. </b> -As has been said, the NT attempts no solution of the problem how duality has arisen out of an original unity, and the same is largely true of the converse problem, how the existent duality is to be finally overcome, resolved into the eternal unity of Divine truth and love. One thing only is seen as a certainty for Christian faith: of such unity Christ is the sole cause and ever-living centre. He must reign: it is unto Him that all things must be subdued; it is as the fruit of His sacrifice that God will reconcile all things unto Himself; it is in His name that every knee shall bow, Him that every tongue must confess as Lord, to the glory of God the Father. But in apostolic thought (which here virtually means Pauline) the age to come seems to be viewed in different perspectives. In the one the curtain falls upon an unresolved or, at any rate, imperfectly resolved dualism. Christ’s enemies are made His footstool; yet their subjection, if not merely physical, is not completely moral. Evil is still evil, though in chains and, to this extent, subject to the righteousness of God. This is the vision which arises when the final issue is viewed from the side of human freedom and responsibility. If absolute finality is not ascribed to the spiritual choices of the present, the future of those who in this present world reject the life-giving Spirit is left in unrelieved gloom. From another point of view, the necessary consummation of Christ’s victory is seen to be nothing less than the moral unification of all existence. The ruin wrought by Adam and the redemption wrought by Christ seem to be co-extensive in human history (&nbsp;Romans 5:16, &nbsp;1 Corinthians 15:22); and in the dispensation of the fullness of the times it is God’s purpose to bring all things again into unity (ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι) in Christ (&nbsp;Ephesians 1:10; cf. &nbsp;Colossians 1:19-20, &nbsp;Philippians 2:9-11). When Christ’s work is done, God will be all in all (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 15:28). And this is the vision that arises when the final issue is regarded from the side of Divine sovereignty and purpose. As to the means by which such a consummation may be hereafter achieved the NT is silent. Again it has to be said that its interest in the problem is wholly practical, not speculative-to emphasize the fact that there is complete, eternal deliverance and blessedness for all who are Christ’s; that in some sense, at some time, by some means beyond our ken, Christ will be universally victorious, because God is God, and God is Love. </p> <p> [[Robert]] Law. </p>
       
== Holman Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_44481" /> ==
<p> Old [[Testament]] Central to the faith of [[Israel]] is the confession of the unity of God: “Hear, [[O]] Israel: The Lord Your God is one Lord” (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 6:4 ). Because God is one, one set of laws was to apply to both [[Israelites]] and foreigners (&nbsp;Numbers 15:16 ). Human history is a story of sin's disruption of God's ordained unity. God's ideal for marriage is for husband and wife to experience unity of life, “one flesh” (&nbsp;Genesis 2:24 ). Sin in the garden bred mistrust and accusation (&nbsp;Genesis 3:12 ). [[Stubbornness]] of will (“hardness” of heart, &nbsp;Mark 10:5 ) continues to disrupt God's desired unity in marriage. God's ideal for the larger human family is again unity. The primeval unity of humanity (“one language” &nbsp;Genesis 11:1 ) was likewise disrupted as a result of sinful pride (&nbsp;Genesis 11:4-8 ). The prophetic vision of God's future anticipates the day when God will reunite the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah, bringing back all the scattered exiles (&nbsp;Ezekiel 37:15-23 ). Indeed, the prophetic hope includes the reuniting of all the peoples of the world under the sovereignty of the one Lord (&nbsp;Zechariah 14:9 ). </p> <p> New Testament Jesus prayed that His disciples would experience unity modeled on the unity Jesus experienced with the Father (&nbsp;John 17:11,lb21-23 ). Such unity verifies Jesus' God-sent mission and the Father's love for the world. Jesus' prayer for unity was realized in the life of the earliest church. The first believers were together in one place; they shared their possessions and were of one heart and soul (&nbsp;Acts 2:1 ,Acts 2:1,&nbsp;2:43; &nbsp;Acts 4:32 ). As in the Old Testament, sin threatened the God-ordained unity. The selfishness of [[Ananias]] and [[Sapphira]] (&nbsp;Acts 5:1-11 ), the prejudice of those who neglected the Greek-speaking widows (&nbsp;Acts 6:1 ), the rigidness of those who demanded that [[Gentiles]] become [[Jews]] before becoming disciples (&nbsp;Acts 15:1 )—all threatened the unity of the church. In every circumstance, however, the [[Holy]] Spirit led the church in working out creative solutions that challenged the church to go beyond dissension to ministry (&nbsp;Acts 6:2-7; &nbsp;Acts 15:6-35 ). Paul spoke repeatedly of believers as “one body in Christ” which transcends varieties of giftedness (&nbsp;Romans 12:5-8; 1Corinthians 12:13,&nbsp;1 Corinthians 12:27-30 ) and human labels (&nbsp;Galatians 3:28; &nbsp;Ephesians 2:14-15; &nbsp;Ephesians 3:6 ). For Paul, the unity of the church reflects the unity of the Godhead: one God (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 12:6 ); one Lord (&nbsp;Romans 10:12; &nbsp;1 Corinthians 12:5; &nbsp;Ephesians 4:5 ); and one Spirit (1Corinthians 12:4,&nbsp;1 Corinthians 12:11; also &nbsp;Acts 11:17 ). Christian unity has various aspects: the shared experience of Christ as Lord and confession of Christ in baptism (&nbsp;Ephesians 4:5 ,Ephesians 4:5,&nbsp;4:13 ); the shared sense of mission (“one mind,” &nbsp;Philippians 2:2 ); the shared concern for one another (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 12:25; “same love,” &nbsp;Philippians 2:2; &nbsp;1 Peter 3:8 ); and the shared experience of suffering for Jesus' sake (&nbsp;2 Corinthians 1:6; &nbsp;Philippians 1:29-30; &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 2:14; &nbsp;1 Peter 5:9 ). </p> <p> Chris Church </p>
       
== King James Dictionary <ref name="term_64005" /> ==
<p> U'NITY, n. L. unitas. </p> 1. The state of being one oneness. Unity may consist of a simple substance or existing being, as the soul but usually it consists in a close junction of particles or parts, constituting a body detached from other bodies. Unity is a thing undivided itself, but separate from ever other thing. 2.Concord conjunction as a unity of proofs. 3. [[Agreement]] uniformity as unity of doctrine unity of worship in a church. 4. In christian theology, oneness of sentiment, affection or behavior. <p> How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! &nbsp;Psalms 133 . </p> 5. In mathematics, the abstract expression for any unit whatsoever. The number 1 is unity, when it is not applied to any particular object but a unit, when it is so applied. 6. In poetry, the principle by which a uniform tenor of story and propriety of representation is preserved. In the drama, there are three unities the unity of action, that of time, and that of place. In the epic poem, the great and almost only unity is that of action. 7. In music, such a combination of parts as to constitute a whole, or a kind of symmetry of style and character. 8. In law, the properties of a joint estate are derived from its unity, which is fourfold unity of interest, unity of title, unity of time, and unity of possession in other words, joint-tenants have one and the same interest, accruing by one and the same conveyance, commencing at the same time, and held by one and the same undivided possession. 9. In law, unity of possession, is a joint possession of two rights by several titles, as when a man has a lease of land upon a certain rent, and afterwards buys the fee simple. This is a unity of possession, by which the lease is extinguished. <p> Unity of faith, is an equal belief of the same truths of God, and possession of the grace of faith in like form and degree. </p> <p> Unity of spirit, is the oneness which subsists between Christ and his saints, by which the same spirit dwells in both, and both have the same disposition and aims and it is the oneness of christians among themselves, united under the same head, having the same spirit dwelling in them, and possessing the same graces, faith, love, hope, &c. </p>
       
== Webster's Dictionary <ref name="term_190479" /> ==
<p> '''(1):''' ''' (''' n.) In dramatic composition, one of the principles by which a uniform tenor of story and propriety of representation are preserved; conformity in a composition to these; in oratory, discourse, etc., the due subordination and reference of every part to the development of the leading idea or the eastablishment of the main proposition. </p> <p> '''(2):''' ''' (''' n.) Such a combination of parts as to constitute a whole, or a kind of symmetry of style and character. </p> <p> '''(3):''' ''' (''' n.) Any definite quantity, or aggregate of quantities or magnitudes taken as one, or for which 1 is made to stand in calculation; thus, in a table of natural sines, the radius of the circle is regarded as unity. </p> <p> '''(4):''' ''' (''' n.) Concord; harmony; conjunction; agreement; uniformity; as, a unity of proofs; unity of doctrine. </p> <p> '''(5):''' ''' (''' n.) The state of being one; oneness. </p> <p> '''(6):''' ''' (''' n.) The peculiar characteristics of an estate held by several in joint tenancy. </p>
       
== Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words <ref name="term_79750" /> ==
<div> '''1: '''''Ἑνότης''''' ''' (Strong'S #1775 — Noun [[Feminine]] — henotes — hen-ot'-ace ) </div> <p> from hen, the neuter of heis, "one," is used in &nbsp;Ephesians 4:3,13 . </p>
       
== Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature <ref name="term_64289" /> ==
<p> as a philosophical term, signifies oneness. [[Aristotle]] makes it the element of number, and defines it as indivisibleness. In the Kantian philosophy it is defined as "that mental representation in the understanding by which the manifold is thought of as linked together." It is by the same authority classified as anatlytic, or unity of a logical connection; and synthetic, or unity of intentions in the concept of an object. As a theological term, unity is employed to signify a oneness whether of sentiment, affection, or behavior (&nbsp;Psalms 133:1). The "unity of the faith" is an equal belief of the same great truths of God, and the possession of the grace of faith in a similar form and degree (&nbsp;Ephesians 4:13). The "unity of the spirit" is that union between Christ and his saints by which the same divine spirit dwells in both, and they have the same disposition and aims; and that unity of the saints among themselves by which, being joined to the same head, and having the same spirit dwelling in them, they have the same graces of faith, hope, love, etc., and are rooted and grounded in the same doctrine of Christ, and bear a mutual affection to each other. When Christian unity is spoken of in the New. Test., it generally means the unity of dispensation for the various classes of converts. It is expressive of the great principle that all were to be under one fold and one Shepherd. </p>
       
== International Standard Bible Encyclopedia <ref name="term_9251" /> ==
<p> ''''' ū´ni ''''' - ''''' ti ''''' : &nbsp; Psalm 133:1 for ( יחד , <i> ''''' yāḥadh ''''' </i> , "unitedness," and &nbsp;Ephesians 4:3 , &nbsp;Ephesians 4:13 for ἑνότης , <i> ''''' henótēs ''''' </i> "oneness." Also [[Sirach]] 25:1 the King James Version for ὁμόνοια , <i> ''''' homónoia ''''' </i> "concord" (so the Revised Version (British and American)). </p>
       
==References ==
<references>


Unity <ref name="term_57726" />
<ref name="term_57718"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hastings-dictionary-of-the-new-testament/unity Unity from Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament]</ref>
<p> <b> [[Unity.]] </b> —In the [[Nt]] the term ‘unity,’ like its Gr. equivalent ἑνότης, occurs only in &nbsp;Ephesians 4:3; &nbsp;Ephesians 4:13—both times with reference to the unity of the [[Christian]] Church (&nbsp;Ephesians 4:3 ‘the unity of the Spirit,’ &nbsp;Ephesians 4:13 ‘the unity of the faith’). But the idea of the unity of the Church as the ‘body of Christ’ is one that constantly meets us both in positive and in negative forms—in connexion, <i> i.e. </i> , alike with exhortations to Christian unity and with the deprecation and rebuke of <b> schism </b> or of the divisive spirit. </p> <p> St. Paul in 1 Cor. (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 1:13; &nbsp;1 Corinthians 11:18; &nbsp;1 Corinthians 12:25) is the first to use ‘schism’ (σχίσμα) with an approach to its present technical meaning. The σχίσματα, however, which he condemns are parties only in the Church, not sects; ‘strifes,’ but not separations. There is no suggestion that those who called themselves ‘of Paul’ had ceased to communicate with those who called themselves ‘of Apollos’ (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 1:12). The ‘divisions’ apparent in their meetings for worship (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 11:13-21) were of class, of richer and poorer (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 11:22), and did not prevent the common meeting. The ‘schism’ deprecated in his parable of body and members (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 12:25) amounts only to carelessness of mutual interest; solution of continuity in the body of Christ is not contemplated. The word αἵρεσις (Authorized and Revised [[Versions]] ‘sect,’ ‘heresy’). comes nearer in [[Nt]] use to the idea of ‘sect,’ though it does not reach it. It still denotes any party or faction within a single communion, as of the [[Sadducees]] (&nbsp;Acts 5:17), of the [[Pharisees]] (&nbsp;Acts 15:5, &nbsp;Acts 26:5), or of [[Christians]] considered as a school of [[Judaism]] (&nbsp;Acts 24:5; &nbsp;Acts 24:14, &nbsp;Acts 28:22). It goes no farther in &nbsp;Galatians 5:20, where αἱρέσεις are counted among works of the flesh, as the natural sequence of ἐριθεῖαι and διχοστασίαι. In &nbsp;2 Peter 2:1 they are the secret work of pseudoprophets, and are αἱρ. ἀτωλείας; but there is no suggestion that they amounted to separations: they work ‘among you.’ The strongest expression used on the subject is that of St. Jude (&nbsp;Judges 1:19), who speaks of some as ἀποδιορίζοντες, ‘marking themselves off’ from their fellows; but apparently only in tone and conduct—there was no interruption of formal fellowship: the murmurers still ‘feasted’ with the Church, and were present at its ἀγάπαι. The [[Nicolaitans]] (&nbsp;Revelation 2:6; &nbsp;Revelation 2:15) were a party within the Church, not a separation from it. The idea of communions severally arranged upon differing bases of opinion or order does not exist within the [[Nt]] thought. What is conceived as possible, only to be reprobated, is the tendency to faction, or the spirit of party, or the ‘divisive course’: as for actual schism—μὴ γένοιτο. </p> <p> <b> 1. </b> <i> Our Lord’s personal teaching </i> on the subject is positive, not negative; He inculcates unity rather than forbids division. It is to be gathered (1) from His example, (2) from His recorded sayings. </p> <p> (1) The condition of religion in the [[Jewish]] commonwealth of His time was profoundly unsatisfactory to Him. It called forth His sharp rebuke. Its teachers, their doctrine and their practice, incurred His denunciation. The [[Temple]] demanded cleansing at His hands; the synagogues were in possession of those scribes and lawyers and Pharisees on whom He cried ‘Woe,’ as hypocrites. Nevertheless, He bade His disciples respect their authority and obey their ordinances—always without imitating their conduct. They ‘sit in Moses’ seat’ (&nbsp;Matthew 23:2); a seat self-assumed,—their office had no recognition in the Law,—but in a sense they represented the prophetic succession, and <i> de facto </i> stood for constituted order. Christ neither separated Himself, nor allowed others to separate, on the ground of their corruption, error, or abuse of power; though He recognized that all these existed, and protested against them. His custom was to go up to the synagogue on the [[Sabbath]] days. He observed the [[Feasts]] of the Temple, that of the [[Dedication]] (which had only customary sanction) as well as those prescribed. His example suggests no extremity of circumstance under which separation from the [[Divine]] Society becomes the course of duty. </p> <p> (2) His express teaching is as emphatic as the circumstances permit us to expect. He establishes a [[Kingdom]] which in time and place is to be represented by the [[Ecclesia]] which He will build upon the confession of Himself (&nbsp;Matthew 16:18). The essential unity of the Kingdom necessarily reflects itself in the unity of the representative society. Unity is involved in the fact that its bond is a relation to Himself: the one [[Shepherd]] implies the one flock, the one door implies the one fold (&nbsp;John 11:9; &nbsp;John 11:16). It is presented under similes which convey the idea of unity: it is one building on one foundation (&nbsp;Matthew 16:18), one enclosed vineyard (&nbsp;Matthew 20:1-11), one shoal taken in a single net (&nbsp;Matthew 13:47-48), one company of watchers (&nbsp;Matthew 25:1-13), or of guests at one feast (&nbsp;Luke 14:7-24); it is a perfect century of sheep, a complete sum of money, and the breaking of its completeness is intolerable (&nbsp;Luke 15:4; Luk_15:8). </p> <p> Its unity is primarily theological, necessitated by its causation in the unity which is in God (&nbsp;John 17:11; &nbsp;John 17:21), and objectively effected by the indwelling in its constituents of the one Christ (&nbsp;John 17:23). The subjective unity in mutual affection of which Christians are conscious is a result of this objective unity, and is evidential of their common relation to Christ (&nbsp;John 13:35, cf. &nbsp;1 John 3:14; &nbsp;1 John 3:19); but that sense of unity does not constitute the bond which unites Christians; the bond is antecedent to the sense of it, and stands in the life of Christ transfused through the discipleship. This transfusion of life is effected by the mission of the Paraclete, the [[Holy]] Ghost mediated by Christ in His heavenly intercession (&nbsp;John 14:16-19), and results in a vital unity of Christ with the recipients of the Paraclete; which is comparable to that of a single organism (the True Vine, &nbsp;John 15:1-8) in which the individual inheres by the fact of his inherence in Christ (&nbsp;John 15:6-7). So much our Lord declares of His own operation; for the rest, He implies that He is in measure, in this as in all, dependent for the realization of His purpose on our apprehension of it and co-operative obedience. Undoubtedly He desires that the vital and spiritual unity which He effects should have a concrete expression—such expression as is apprehensible, not only to the spiritual man discerning spiritual things (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 2:11-16), but to the world, which cannot receive the Spirit (&nbsp;John 14:17), and is aware of that only which with eyes of flesh it sees. He commands us, as a condition of the world’s recognition of our discipleship, to love one another ‘as [[I]] have loved you’ (&nbsp;John 13:34). He prays the Father that we may be one in such fashion that the world, seeing it, may believe in His mission: and defines this unity as comparable to His own unity with the Father. Beyond question He demands a unity manifested in terms of the common understanding of the man of this world. He prays, not that believers may be ‘at one’ (in harmony of faith or temper—or as [[Abraham]] and [[Lot]] were at one in agreeing to part peaceably), but that they may be ‘one thing,’ ἵνα ὧσιν ἕν (&nbsp;John 17:11; Joh_17:21-22); ‘completed into one thing’ (&nbsp;John 17:23). It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that this ‘one thing’ is, spiritually, the Kingdom which His [[Incarnation]] brings among us (&nbsp;Luke 17:21); representatively, the Society which He builds (&nbsp;Matthew 16:18), to which by His institution the one [[Baptism]] (&nbsp;Ephesians 4:5) admits, and which the one [[Bread]] (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 10:17) shows. Every kingdom, He says, divided against itself (the Kingdom of heaven is included in the argument) is brought to desolation; every city or house (the City of God, the House built of living stones, is included) divided against itself shall not stand (&nbsp;Matthew 12:25, &nbsp;Mark 3:24-25). The unity which our Lord teaches appears, then, to be a visible and organic unity, based upon a vital unity in the Holy Ghost, and necessary both for evidence and for stability. His verdict upon schism, as the interruption of such unity, must be inferred—it is nowhere stated* [Note: The possible exception is where (&nbsp;Matthew 24:51, &nbsp;Luke 12:46) Christ threatens the evil servant who smites his fellow-servants and eats and drinks with the drunken, that He ‘will come and cut him asunder (διχοτομήσει αὐτόν). The [[Rv]] translators and others suggest for this remarkable phrase (ἁπ· λεγ. in [[Nt)]] ‘will scourge him severely’—which is as if one were to say in our speech ‘will flay him alive,’ and is an expression which one has difficulty in hearing with that sense from those lips. Ruskin somewhere interprets it of the judicial aspect of schism, as ‘God’s revenge’ upon worldly and oppressive priesthoods—an interpretation which the history of schism may seem to commend.] —from the sanctions assigned to unity, and from the intensity of His supplication that it may be realized in the experience of His Church. </p> <p> <b> 2. </b> In this sense <i> the [[Apostolic]] writers </i> have understood Christ. It is noted that the disciples were ‘all with one accord in one place’ to receive the Spirit (&nbsp;Acts 2:1); that, as the result of Pentecost, they ‘were together, and had all things common’ (&nbsp;Acts 2:44); ‘the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul’ (&nbsp;Acts 4:32). The assumption of the [[Epistles]] is that ‘the saints’ anywhere are ‘the church of God’ which is there (&nbsp;Romans 1:7, &nbsp;1 Peter 1:1 etc.). If they are ‘churches,’ they are not less one fellowship in the unity of Christ (&nbsp;Galatians 1:1, &nbsp;Revelation 1:4). </p> <p> <i> St. Paul </i> is copious on the subject. The unity on which he insists is not only of spirit; it is also embodied unity. Many as we are, we are one loaf and one body, being partakers of the one sacramental food (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 10:17; cf. <i> Did </i> . ix. 4). The one Spirit makes us one body, and members one of another (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 12:4-27), ‘that there should be no schism in the body.’ The unity of the Spirit is to be guarded in the bond of peace—‘one body, one Spirit,’ as there is unity in every basis of our life (&nbsp;Ephesians 3:4-6). This body is the Body of Christ, and requires for its attainment to completion the harmonious interworking of every member and group, as constituting a single organism in which all inhere (&nbsp;Ephesians 4:13-16). The Church is a Body, of which Christ is Head (&nbsp;Colossians 1:18; &nbsp;Colossians 1:24; &nbsp;Colossians 2:19). It is ‘the mystery of Christ’ that the [[Gentiles]] should be of the same body with [[Israel]] (&nbsp;Ephesians 3:6). Baptism is into a unity to which neither race nor status nor sex is a barrier (&nbsp;Galatians 3:27-28). It is against first principles to assume the name of any leader as a party distinction (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 1:13); to do so is ‘carnal’ (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 3:3-4). God is to be glorified with one mouth, as well as with one mind (&nbsp;Romans 15:5-6). The Churches of God have no custom of love of controversy (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 11:16); God is not the author of confusion but of peace; and so it is in all the Churches (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 14:33). The contentious earn indignation and wrath (&nbsp;Romans 2:8); those who cause divisions are to be noted and discouraged (&nbsp;Romans 16:17); a partisan after repeated admonition is to be rejected (&nbsp;Titus 3:10). [[A]] Church is commended which follows other Churches already in Christ (&nbsp;1 Thessalonians 2:14). [[Doubtful]] disputations are to be avoided; the weak to be borne with; uniformity of opinion on ceremonial or ritual points is not to be insisted upon; to insist on uniformity may be ‘to destroy the work of God’ (&nbsp;Romans 14:1 to &nbsp;Romans 15:3). It becomes the gospel of love that men should stand fast in one spirit with one mind (&nbsp;Philippians 1:27): nothing is to be done through strife or vainglory—the guard of unity is humility (&nbsp;Philippians 2:3); we are to do all things without murmurings or disputings, as children of God (&nbsp;Philippians 2:14 f.). </p> <p> <i> St. Peter </i> assumes the same general conception; diffused as the Church is (&nbsp;1 Peter 1:1), it is one building, one priesthood, one nation (&nbsp;1 Peter 2:5; &nbsp;1 Peter 2:9). <i> St. John </i> conceives of the Church as a fellowship with [[Apostles]] who have fellowship with God (&nbsp;1 John 1:3), united in love, which is to be in deed and truth, not in phrase (&nbsp;1 John 3:18). The Epp. to the Churches of Asia deal with conditions of corruption, moral and doctrinal; but there is no thought of self-segregation as the duty of the faithful, even where deeds that Christ hates are tolerated (&nbsp;Revelation 2:6); He lays no other burden on His servants but to hold fast (&nbsp;Revelation 2:24-25). </p> <p> The teaching of the [[Nt,]] in fact, is positive. It shows <i> a threefold unity </i> of the Church:—(1) <i> An objective unity </i> of origin and of vital relation of its constituent elements, which (like the racial unity of blood) is constituted by the Divine act and exists antecedently to any action, for it or against it, of ours; to which we may do violence, but which we cannot abrogate; and which is the Church’s spiritual oneness. (2) <i> [[A]] social unity </i> , the result and therefore the manifestation of this common Divine life, which is related to the life communicated in the Holy Spirit as the physical organism of the individual is to the personal life which co-ordinates that of its component cells, one body for one spirit; which (being body) may be wounded, but only with suffering and to its hurt and weakening. (3) <i> [[A]] unity of temper and intention, of consent in belief and thought </i> , which it rests with us to supply; which is the co-operation with the Divine action that is required of us,—obedience to the law of the nature of the Body of Christ in which we find ourselves—the bond of peace in which we are to observe (τηρεῖν) the unity of the Spirit (&nbsp;Ephesians 4:3). The existence of a state of schism is not contemplated in the [[Nt,]] nor is any direction given for conduct in such a case. Party spirit and divisive courses are condemned, but there is ‘no precept for the regulation of the relations of one sect to another.’ The Apostolic doctrine as to schism can be inferred only from these facts. </p> <p> <b> 3. </b> According to the conception of <i> the Church of the first centuries </i> , unity was locally constituted by association in acts of communion with God (especially in the Eucharistic <i> synaxis </i> ), and by recognition of the authority representing the discipline of the Church; œcumenically, it was constituted by intercommunion, evidenced by reception on the part of each local community of the <i> formatœ </i> (commendatory letters) of the rest, by homologation of each other’s discipline, by the encyclical letters of their respective chief pastors, and later by common Conciliar action. It was jealously a unity in the faith, but not necessarily in identity of expression of the faith; the Creed, as repeated in different Churches, was not in all verbally the same. It was a unity in moral obedience, but not a uniformity in ceremony or custom: each Church ordered its own liturgy, and determined its own ritual and usage; wide differences might exist in practices, <i> e.g. </i> of fast and festival (Eus. v. 24—Polycarp and Anicetus, [[Irenaeus]] and Victor). Such differences were held only to demonstrate identity in the faith: ‘in una fide nihil officit sanctae ecclesiae consuetudo diversa’ (Greg, <i> ad Leandr </i> ., quoted by Bingham; see also his letter to Aug. of Cant. in Bede, <i> Hist. </i> ). For the sojourner or incomer to scruple at local custom in things indifferent, or to abstain from the common worship on account of unfamiliar details, was in itself a schismatic act (Aug. <i> ad Januar., ib </i> .). </p> <p> In the earlier stages of the Church’s life, government by bishops and presbyters in one local community could coexist with government by college of presbyters in another, without offence to either; Antioch, Epbesus, [[Smyrna]] communicated with Rome and Corinth. [[Ignatius]] addresses the collegiate Church at Rome as cordially as he does the monepiscopal elsewhere. [[Clement]] has no criticism for the absence of a bishop at Corinth, but only for insubordination to its presbyters. Churches autocephalous (externally independent of each other) might exercise large discretion in internal arrangement, yet recognize each other’s sacraments and discipline. The centre of unity was in heaven, not on earth. It was a unity as that of Hellas, rather than as that of the Empire. Local Churches were ‘as bays of the one sea.’ Unity was essentially maintained when intercommunion was maintained. [[Schism]] was the interruption of communion: ‘schismaticos facit, non diversa fides, sed disrupta communionis societas’ (Aug., quoted by Sprott, <i> Macleod Lect </i> . ‘Schism,’ p. 2). </p> <p> As for local unity, the safeguard of that was the recognized principle that only one valid ecclesiastical authority could exist in the same community; latterly, that only one bishop could validly occupy one seat, that presbyters could not act validly without him, and that the flock should communicate with him in sacraments and prayer. The worst form of schism was held to be the violation of this rule, as it produced sect within the same area, and led to the setting up of ‘altar against altar’—a greater evil than interruption of communion between one local Church and another, as civil war is a greater evil than war between State and State. The converse responsibility was equally recognized: that no uncatholic or heretical term of communion should be locally imposed or required between Church and Church. In the case of that being done, the schism was held to be on the part of the authority imposing such terms, or of the Church requiring them. Thus Firmilian writes (with reference to the excommunication by [[Stephen]] of Rome of those who disallowed the baptism of heretics): ‘While thou thinkest that all may be excommunicated by thee, thou hast excommunicated thyself alone from all’ ( <i> Epp. of [[Cyprian]] </i> , lxxv., Oxf. translation p. 284). </p> <p> <b> 4. </b> It was to this latter principle that the <i> [[Reformers]] </i> generally appealed, as justifying in [[Catholic]] order their action in reclaiming the autonomy of national Churches, and in continuing their administration independently of the Roman See; which they regarded as a ‘tyranny,’ under which impossible terms of communion were schismatically demanded. As to schism generally, the Reformers maintained the traditional doctrine, and Calvin’s view may be taken as typical: ‘Such is the value which the Lord sets on the communion of His Church, that all who contumaciously alienate themselves from any Christian society in which the true ministry of His word and [[Sacraments]] is maintained, He regards as deserters of religion’ ( <i> Inst </i> . iv.). </p> <p> <b> 5. </b> The modern tendency is to recognize that responsibility for divisions has generally been a diffused responsibility, and that a distinction is to be drawn between that of the authors of separation and of the inheritors of positions of confusion which personally they have not created; to accept the essential validity of the conceptions of unity which guided the Church in its inception, while recognizing the difficulty of return to their practice; and to welcome the efforts of those who desire to be called ‘repairers of the breach, restorers of paths for men to dwell in.’ See, further, artt. Church, Communion, Oneness. </p> <p> Literature.—Augustine, <i> de unitate Ecclesiœ </i> ; Ambrose, <i> Epistles </i> ; Calvin, <i> Institutes </i> , iv.; Bacon, <i> Essays </i> , ‘Of Unity in Religion’; Barrow, <i> Of the Unity of the Church </i> ; Bingham, <i> Ant </i> . xvi.; Archp. Wake, <i> [[Letters]] </i> ; Walker, <i> Scot. Theol </i> .; Durham, on ‘Scandal,’ 1659, <i> Com. on Revelation </i> , 1660; Boston, Serm. on ‘Schism’; Wood of St. Andrews, <i> Works </i> , 1664; Ferguson, ‘Sermon before the [[Synod]] of Fife,’ 1653; Rutherford, ‘Due right of Presbyteries,’ 1644; Bp. [[A.]] [[P.]] Forbes, <i> Nicene [[Creed]] </i> ; Sprott, <i> Macleod Lecture </i> , 1902; Lightfoot, <i> Apostolic [[Fathers]] </i> ; Gore, <i> Body of Christ </i> ; Dale, ‘The Idea of the Church’ in <i> Essays and Addresses </i> , and ‘The Unity of the Church’ (Lect. xv.) in <i> Ephesians </i> ; Fairbairn, <i> Christ in Modern [[Theology]] </i> , 513 ff.; Denney, <i> Stud. in Theol </i> . 186 ff.; Lindsay, <i> Church and [[Ministry]] </i> , 10 ff. </p> <p> [[H.]] [[J.]] Wotherspoon. </p>
       
 
<ref name="term_44481"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/holman-bible-dictionary/unity Unity from Holman Bible Dictionary]</ref>
== References ==
       
<references>
<ref name="term_64005"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/king-james-dictionary/unity Unity from King James Dictionary]</ref>
<ref name="term_57726"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hastings-dictionary-of-the-new-testament/unity+(2) Unity from Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_190479"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/webster-s-dictionary/unity Unity from Webster's Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_79750"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/vine-s-expository-dictionary-of-nt-words/unity Unity from Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_64289"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/cyclopedia-of-biblical-theological-and-ecclesiastical-literature/unity Unity from Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_9251"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/international-standard-bible-encyclopedia/unity Unity from International Standard Bible Encyclopedia]</ref>
       
</references>
</references>

Latest revision as of 14:03, 14 October 2021

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament [1]

The idea of unity is one of those that are most pervasive in the apostolic writings; and naturally so. Christianity is the religion of reconciliation; and, fully recognizing the radical character of the antagonisms that reveal themselves in experience, it everywhere discloses a profounder unity in which these opposites are harmonized. While it does not assume the function of a philosophy, it does claim to give, from the moral and teleological standpoint, a synthetic view, and, indeed, the only synthetic view, of reality; in Christ it finds the way, the truth, and the life by which the unity of God and man and the whole universe of being must be finally achieved.

On the cardinal issue, existence is seen both as a unity and as a duality. The duality is wholly and tragically real. Physical evil is no illusion, but is the correlate of moral evil; and moral evil is not an inevitable stage in the evolution of moral good, but is sin , that which absolutely ought not to be. Yet this duality exists within the circumference, so to say, of an eternal unity before and after; an original self-existent principle of evil is excluded by NT thought. On the other hand, it attempts no solution of the problem how duality has arisen out of pre-existent unity; it is content to trace sin back to the beginning of human history, or, if further, to the agency of a Tempter who had himself fallen from his first estate. Its interest in the problem is not at all speculative, but solely practical-to emphasize, on the one hand, the fact of man’s innate sinfulness, and, on the other, the fact that sin is precisely that which has no point of origination in the Divine causality, but is in essential antagonism to the nature and will of God.

1. The Being of God as the primal source of all unity. -( a ) As against all polytheistic or dualistic systems, apostolic thought posits this as its first truth ( 1 Corinthians 8:4;  1 Corinthians 8:6,  Ephesians 4:6,  James 2:19). And this ensures a unity in nature and history. Although the marks of imperfection and disorganization are everywhere seen upon the face of Creation, although it is in bondage to the law of decay and corruption, and is the scene of apparently fruitless tragedy ( Romans 8:20-22), yet it is pervaded by a unity of rational purpose and control ( Romans 8:28,  Acts 27:22-24); and this is true not only of natural processes and events, but of those that are brought about by the volition of men or other free agents ( Acts 2:23;  Acts 21:10-14,  2 Corinthians 12:7).

( b ) The Divine nature is ethically a unity-light in which there is no darkness at all. God is ‘faithful’ ( 1 John 1:9,  2 Timothy 2:13), unchangeably self-consistent ( James 1:17). His different modes of action upon different objects only prove the immutability of His moral nature ( Romans 2:6-10,  2 Thessalonians 1:6-7;  2 Peter 2:4-9). And the centre of this unity, from which all His ethical attributes derive, is Love; the ultimate explanation of all that God does, and purposes, and permits is-God is Love ( 1 John 4:8). Hence, also, the Righteousness of God, His Will as imperative for all beings capable of ethical life, is a unity. His Law is an ethical organism, expressing in every part the same principle ( Romans 13:8-10), to violate which in one point is virtually to violate the whole ( James 2:10). Hence, again, sin is a unity. Within all individual sins (ἁμαρτήματα) there lives that (ἡ ἁμαρτία) which makes them to be sinful. St. Paul almost personifies this principle of sin ( Romans 7:11;  Romans 7:14). St. John defines it as ἀνομία, lawlessness, the assertion of an evil egoistic will against the perfectly good will of God ( 1 John 3:4). Sin is not seen in its true character until it is seen in its unity.

2. Unity of mediation. -The explanation of the dualism we are conscious of in experience is not found, as in Gnosticism, in the transition from the transcendent God to the created universe. The unity of the Divine self-existence is not lost when related to other being; its fullness is not portioned out in successive separate emanations. There is one God, and one Mediator ( 1 Corinthians 8:6,  1 Timothy 2:5)-He who became in human history the ‘man Christ Jesus.’ In Him, as the Image and Only-begotten of the Father, the undivided fullness of the Godhead dwells ( John 1:14,  Colossians 2:9); and He is not only, by His Incarnation, the one Mediator to mankind of all Divine life, truth, and saving grace, but the Divine agent in all creation ( John 1:3,  Colossians 1:16), and the principle of its unity ( Colossians 1:17). See Fulness; Mediation.

3. The unity of man. -( a ) The generic unity, physical and moral, of mankind (already seen in the OT and in Stoicism) is a presupposition of Christian soteriology; human nature has everywhere the same spiritual capacities, needs the same salvation, and is capable of appropriating it by the same means ( Romans 1:16, etc.). This unity is categorically affirmed ( Acts 17:26); historically it has its source in descent from one common primal ancestor ( Romans 5:14-19,  1 Corinthians 15:22;  1 Corinthians 15:47), but ultimately in the fact that man as man is the image and offspring of God ( Acts 17:28-29).

( b ) Hence there is unity as regards responsibility. Apart from special revelation, man possesses a rational and moral nature, made for the knowledge and love of God, with capacities for discerning the self-manifestations of God in His creative and providential activities ( Acts 14:17,  Romans 1:19-21); and especially does conscience bear witness to the sovereign imperative of His righteousness ( Romans 2:14-15).

( c ) But, actually, unity in responsibility has become unity in sin. Human character has become corrupt at its hereditary source ( Romans 5:12;  Romans 5:17-19;  Romans 5:4 Ezr  Romans 3:26, Apoc. Bar . liv. 15, 19); human life universally characterized by wilful sin ( Romans 3:9-20), involving guilt ( Romans 3:19) and that separation from God ( Ephesians 4:18,  Colossians 1:21) which is death ( Romans 6:23,  Ephesians 2:1;  Ephesians 2:5,  Colossians 2:13).

4. Unity of redemption .-( a ) For the common human need one common redemption is provided ( Acts 4:12,  Romans 10:4;  Romans 10:12,  1 John 2:2), to be received by the same means ( Romans 4:11-16,  Galatians 2:16,  1 John 1:7-9), working to the same issues of forgiveness ( Romans 8:1,  Revelation 1:5), reconciliation to God ( Romans 5:1;  Romans 5:10,  2 Corinthians 5:18-21), enduement with the Spirit ( Romans 8:1-16), eternal life ( Romans 5:17;  Romans 5:21,  1 John 5:11;  1 John 5:13;  1 John 5:20). Possessing such fellowship with God in Christ, as the source of their common life and object of their common faith, Christians also possess a unique spiritual affinity and fellowship with each other. And, in the Apostolic Age, the consciousness of unity reaches its intensest point in the conception of this fellowship, alike Divine and human, as embodied in the Church. In this, racial and social distinctions-Jew and Gentile, bond and free-serve only to emphasize and enhance the fact that those who are united in Christ, however different in all else, have immeasurably more in common than those who are separated by Christ, however alike in every other respect ( 1 Corinthians 7:22,  Galatians 3:28,  Ephesians 2:11-22). So, also, distinctions of custom and even of conviction do not disappear ( Romans 14:5); yet even such diverse interpretations of truth and duty ought only to evoke a fuller realization of supreme truth and duty, the faith and love in which all are one. Unity is emphasized as against mere uniformity (1 Corinthians 12). In the spiritual body, as in the physical, a rich diversity of gift and function is necessary to the complete expression of the organic life-principle ( Romans 14:4-6). It is only in its complex collective unity that renewed humanity can reach its Divine ideal ( Ephesians 4:11-13).

( b ) But in the Pauline Epistles it is seen that, Christ being what He is, universal Mediator and Lord, He is destined to become by His reconciling work the centre of a unity that embraces all existence, and that is essential even for the full redemption of man. Christ must be Head over all things to His Body, which is the Church ( Ephesians 1:22); hostile elemental forces must be subdued ( 1 Corinthians 15:24,  Ephesians 1:21); all things, whether on earth or in heaven, must come under His reconciling sway ( Colossians 1:20), and the whole creation be emancipated into the liberty that belongs to the glorified state of God’s children ( Romans 8:21), that God may be all in all ( 1 Corinthians 15:28).

5. The final unity. -As has been said, the NT attempts no solution of the problem how duality has arisen out of an original unity, and the same is largely true of the converse problem, how the existent duality is to be finally overcome, resolved into the eternal unity of Divine truth and love. One thing only is seen as a certainty for Christian faith: of such unity Christ is the sole cause and ever-living centre. He must reign: it is unto Him that all things must be subdued; it is as the fruit of His sacrifice that God will reconcile all things unto Himself; it is in His name that every knee shall bow, Him that every tongue must confess as Lord, to the glory of God the Father. But in apostolic thought (which here virtually means Pauline) the age to come seems to be viewed in different perspectives. In the one the curtain falls upon an unresolved or, at any rate, imperfectly resolved dualism. Christ’s enemies are made His footstool; yet their subjection, if not merely physical, is not completely moral. Evil is still evil, though in chains and, to this extent, subject to the righteousness of God. This is the vision which arises when the final issue is viewed from the side of human freedom and responsibility. If absolute finality is not ascribed to the spiritual choices of the present, the future of those who in this present world reject the life-giving Spirit is left in unrelieved gloom. From another point of view, the necessary consummation of Christ’s victory is seen to be nothing less than the moral unification of all existence. The ruin wrought by Adam and the redemption wrought by Christ seem to be co-extensive in human history ( Romans 5:16,  1 Corinthians 15:22); and in the dispensation of the fullness of the times it is God’s purpose to bring all things again into unity (ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι) in Christ ( Ephesians 1:10; cf.  Colossians 1:19-20,  Philippians 2:9-11). When Christ’s work is done, God will be all in all ( 1 Corinthians 15:28). And this is the vision that arises when the final issue is regarded from the side of Divine sovereignty and purpose. As to the means by which such a consummation may be hereafter achieved the NT is silent. Again it has to be said that its interest in the problem is wholly practical, not speculative-to emphasize the fact that there is complete, eternal deliverance and blessedness for all who are Christ’s; that in some sense, at some time, by some means beyond our ken, Christ will be universally victorious, because God is God, and God is Love.

Robert Law.

Holman Bible Dictionary [2]

Old Testament Central to the faith of Israel is the confession of the unity of God: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord Your God is one Lord” ( Deuteronomy 6:4 ). Because God is one, one set of laws was to apply to both Israelites and foreigners ( Numbers 15:16 ). Human history is a story of sin's disruption of God's ordained unity. God's ideal for marriage is for husband and wife to experience unity of life, “one flesh” ( Genesis 2:24 ). Sin in the garden bred mistrust and accusation ( Genesis 3:12 ). Stubbornness of will (“hardness” of heart,  Mark 10:5 ) continues to disrupt God's desired unity in marriage. God's ideal for the larger human family is again unity. The primeval unity of humanity (“one language”  Genesis 11:1 ) was likewise disrupted as a result of sinful pride ( Genesis 11:4-8 ). The prophetic vision of God's future anticipates the day when God will reunite the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah, bringing back all the scattered exiles ( Ezekiel 37:15-23 ). Indeed, the prophetic hope includes the reuniting of all the peoples of the world under the sovereignty of the one Lord ( Zechariah 14:9 ).

New Testament Jesus prayed that His disciples would experience unity modeled on the unity Jesus experienced with the Father ( John 17:11,lb21-23 ). Such unity verifies Jesus' God-sent mission and the Father's love for the world. Jesus' prayer for unity was realized in the life of the earliest church. The first believers were together in one place; they shared their possessions and were of one heart and soul ( Acts 2:1 ,Acts 2:1, 2:43;  Acts 4:32 ). As in the Old Testament, sin threatened the God-ordained unity. The selfishness of Ananias and Sapphira ( Acts 5:1-11 ), the prejudice of those who neglected the Greek-speaking widows ( Acts 6:1 ), the rigidness of those who demanded that Gentiles become Jews before becoming disciples ( Acts 15:1 )—all threatened the unity of the church. In every circumstance, however, the Holy Spirit led the church in working out creative solutions that challenged the church to go beyond dissension to ministry ( Acts 6:2-7;  Acts 15:6-35 ). Paul spoke repeatedly of believers as “one body in Christ” which transcends varieties of giftedness ( Romans 12:5-8; 1Corinthians 12:13, 1 Corinthians 12:27-30 ) and human labels ( Galatians 3:28;  Ephesians 2:14-15;  Ephesians 3:6 ). For Paul, the unity of the church reflects the unity of the Godhead: one God ( 1 Corinthians 12:6 ); one Lord ( Romans 10:12;  1 Corinthians 12:5;  Ephesians 4:5 ); and one Spirit (1Corinthians 12:4, 1 Corinthians 12:11; also  Acts 11:17 ). Christian unity has various aspects: the shared experience of Christ as Lord and confession of Christ in baptism ( Ephesians 4:5 ,Ephesians 4:5, 4:13 ); the shared sense of mission (“one mind,”  Philippians 2:2 ); the shared concern for one another ( 1 Corinthians 12:25; “same love,”  Philippians 2:2;  1 Peter 3:8 ); and the shared experience of suffering for Jesus' sake ( 2 Corinthians 1:6;  Philippians 1:29-30;  1 Thessalonians 2:14;  1 Peter 5:9 ).

Chris Church

King James Dictionary [3]

U'NITY, n. L. unitas.

1. The state of being one oneness. Unity may consist of a simple substance or existing being, as the soul but usually it consists in a close junction of particles or parts, constituting a body detached from other bodies. Unity is a thing undivided itself, but separate from ever other thing. 2.Concord conjunction as a unity of proofs. 3. Agreement uniformity as unity of doctrine unity of worship in a church. 4. In christian theology, oneness of sentiment, affection or behavior.

How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!  Psalms 133 .

5. In mathematics, the abstract expression for any unit whatsoever. The number 1 is unity, when it is not applied to any particular object but a unit, when it is so applied. 6. In poetry, the principle by which a uniform tenor of story and propriety of representation is preserved. In the drama, there are three unities the unity of action, that of time, and that of place. In the epic poem, the great and almost only unity is that of action. 7. In music, such a combination of parts as to constitute a whole, or a kind of symmetry of style and character. 8. In law, the properties of a joint estate are derived from its unity, which is fourfold unity of interest, unity of title, unity of time, and unity of possession in other words, joint-tenants have one and the same interest, accruing by one and the same conveyance, commencing at the same time, and held by one and the same undivided possession. 9. In law, unity of possession, is a joint possession of two rights by several titles, as when a man has a lease of land upon a certain rent, and afterwards buys the fee simple. This is a unity of possession, by which the lease is extinguished.

Unity of faith, is an equal belief of the same truths of God, and possession of the grace of faith in like form and degree.

Unity of spirit, is the oneness which subsists between Christ and his saints, by which the same spirit dwells in both, and both have the same disposition and aims and it is the oneness of christians among themselves, united under the same head, having the same spirit dwelling in them, and possessing the same graces, faith, love, hope, &c.

Webster's Dictionary [4]

(1): ( n.) In dramatic composition, one of the principles by which a uniform tenor of story and propriety of representation are preserved; conformity in a composition to these; in oratory, discourse, etc., the due subordination and reference of every part to the development of the leading idea or the eastablishment of the main proposition.

(2): ( n.) Such a combination of parts as to constitute a whole, or a kind of symmetry of style and character.

(3): ( n.) Any definite quantity, or aggregate of quantities or magnitudes taken as one, or for which 1 is made to stand in calculation; thus, in a table of natural sines, the radius of the circle is regarded as unity.

(4): ( n.) Concord; harmony; conjunction; agreement; uniformity; as, a unity of proofs; unity of doctrine.

(5): ( n.) The state of being one; oneness.

(6): ( n.) The peculiar characteristics of an estate held by several in joint tenancy.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words [5]

1: Ἑνότης (Strong'S #1775 — Noun Feminine — henotes — hen-ot'-ace )

from hen, the neuter of heis, "one," is used in  Ephesians 4:3,13 .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [6]

as a philosophical term, signifies oneness. Aristotle makes it the element of number, and defines it as indivisibleness. In the Kantian philosophy it is defined as "that mental representation in the understanding by which the manifold is thought of as linked together." It is by the same authority classified as anatlytic, or unity of a logical connection; and synthetic, or unity of intentions in the concept of an object. As a theological term, unity is employed to signify a oneness whether of sentiment, affection, or behavior ( Psalms 133:1). The "unity of the faith" is an equal belief of the same great truths of God, and the possession of the grace of faith in a similar form and degree ( Ephesians 4:13). The "unity of the spirit" is that union between Christ and his saints by which the same divine spirit dwells in both, and they have the same disposition and aims; and that unity of the saints among themselves by which, being joined to the same head, and having the same spirit dwelling in them, they have the same graces of faith, hope, love, etc., and are rooted and grounded in the same doctrine of Christ, and bear a mutual affection to each other. When Christian unity is spoken of in the New. Test., it generally means the unity of dispensation for the various classes of converts. It is expressive of the great principle that all were to be under one fold and one Shepherd.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [7]

ū´ni - ti  :   Psalm 133:1 for ( יחד , yāḥadh , "unitedness," and  Ephesians 4:3 ,  Ephesians 4:13 for ἑνότης , henótēs "oneness." Also Sirach 25:1 the King James Version for ὁμόνοια , homónoia "concord" (so the Revised Version (British and American)).

References

  1. ↑ Unity from Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
  2. ↑ Unity from Holman Bible Dictionary
  3. ↑ Unity from King James Dictionary
  4. ↑ Unity from Webster's Dictionary
  5. ↑ Unity from Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words
  6. ↑ Unity from Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
  7. ↑ Unity from International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
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