CHAPTER XVI.
THE FUNDAMENTAL UNITIES.
“I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
“There is one body, and one Spirit,
Even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling;
One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
One God and Father of all,
Who is over all, and through all, and in all.”
Eph. iv. 1–6.
This Encyclical of St Paul to the Churches of Asia is the most formal and deliberate of his writings since the great epistle to the Romans. In entering upon its hortatory and practical part we are reminded of the transition from doctrine to exhortation in that epistle. Here as in Romans xi., xii. the apostle’s theological teaching, brought with measured steps to its conclusion, has been followed by an act of worship expressing the profound and holy joy which fills his spirit as he views the purposes of God thus displayed in the gospel and the Church. In this exalted mood, as one sitting in heavenly places with Christ Jesus, St Paul surveys the condition of his readers and addresses himself to their duties and necessities. His homily, like his argument, is inwoven with the golden thread of devotion; and the smooth flow of the epistle breaks ever and again into the music of thanksgiving.
The apostle resumes the words of self-description dropped in chapter iii. 1. He appeals to his readers with pathetic dignity: “I the prisoner in the Lord”; and the expression gathers new solemnity from that which he has told us in the last chapter of the mystery and grandeur of his office. He is “the prisoner”—the one whose bonds were known through all the Churches and manifest even in the imperial palace (Phil. i. 12–14). It was “in the Lord” that he wore this heavy chain, brought upon him in Christ’s service and borne joyfully for His people’s sake. He is now a martyr apostle. If his confinement detained him from his Gentile flock, at least it should add sacred force to the message he was able to convey. The tone of the apostle’s letters at this time shows that he was sensible of the increased consideration which the afflictions of the last few years had given to him in the eyes of the Church. He is thankful for this influence, and makes good use of it.
His first and main appeal to the Asian brethren, as we should expect from the previous tenor of the letter, is an exhortation to unity. It is an obvious conclusion from the doctrine of the Church that he has taught them. The “oneness of the Spirit” which they must “earnestly endeavour to preserve,” is the unity which their possession of the Holy Spirit of itself implies. “Having access in one Spirit to the Father,” the antipathetic Jewish and Gentile factors of the Church are reconciled; “in the Spirit” they “are builded together for a habitation of God” (ii. 18–22). This unity when St Paul wrote was an actual and visible fact, despite the violent efforts of the Judaizers to destroy it. The “right hands of fellowship” exchanged between himself and James, Peter, and John at the conference of Jerusalem were a witness thereto (Gal. ii. 7–10). But it was a union that needed for its maintenance the efforts of right-thinking men and sons of peace everywhere. St Paul bids all who read his letter help to keep Christ’s peace in the Churches.
The conditions for such pursuing and preserving of peace in the fold of Christ are briefly indicated in verses 1 and 2. There must be—
(1) A due sense of the dignity of our Christian calling: “Walk worthily,” he says, “of the calling where with you were called.” This exhortation, of course, includes much besides in its scope; it is the preface to all the exhortations of the three following chapters, the basis, in fact, of every worthy appeal to Christian men; but it bears in the first instance, and pointedly, upon Church unity. Levity of temper, low and poor conceptions of religion militate against the catholic spirit; they create an atmosphere rife with causes of contention. “Whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal and walk as men?”
(2) Next to low-mindedness amongst the foes of unity comes ambition: “Walk with all lowliness of mind and meekness,” he continues. Between the low-minded and the lowly-minded there is a total difference. The man of lowly mind habitually feels his dependence as a creature and his unworthiness as a sinner before God. This spirit nourishes in him a wholesome self-distrust, and watchfulness over his temper and motives.—The meek man thinks as little of his personal claims, as the humble man of his personal merits. He is willing to give place to others where higher interests will not suffer, content to take the lowest room and to be in men’s eyes of no account. How many seeds of strife and roots of bitterness would be destroyed, if this mind were in us all. Self-importance, the love of office and power and the craving for applause must be put away, if we are to recover and keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
(3) When St Paul adds “with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love,” he is opposing a cause of division quite different from the last,—to wit, impatience and resentfulness. A high Christian ideal and a strict self-judgement will render us more sensitive to wrong-doing in the world around us. Unless tempered with abundant charity, they may lead to harsh and one-sided censure. Gentle natures, reluctant to condemn, are sometimes slow and difficult in forgiveness. Humbleness and meekness are choice graces of the Spirit. But they are self-regarding virtues at the best, and may be found in a cold nature that has little of the patience which bears with men’s infirmities, of the sympathetic insight that discovers the good often lying close to their faults. “Above all things”—above kindness, meekness, longsuffering, forgivingness—“put on love, which is the bond of perfectness” (Col. iii. 14). Love is the last word of St Paul’s definition of the Christian temper in verse 2; it is the sum and essence of all that makes for Christian unity. In it lies a charm which can overcome both the lighter provocations and the grave offences of human intercourse,—offences that must needs arise in the purest society composed of infirm and sinful men. “Bind thyself to thy brother. Those who are bound together in love, bear all burdens lightly. Bind thyself to him, and him to thee. Both are in thy power; for whomsoever I will, I may easily make my friend” (Chrysostom).