Eph 775ff 3/30/88
A. What is Unity?
1. Emphasis on people rather than on Bible doctrine, especially the mystery doctrine of the Church Age, has destroyed unity among members of the royal family of God, the body of Christ.
2. For our study, unity is defined in five different ways.
a. The status of being combined with others to form a greater whole. We have been combined with other believers through the baptism of the Spirit at the moment of salvation.
b. The status of being harmonious with other members of the royal family of God.
c. The state of being complete, which means a maximum number of believers execute the protocol plan of God and become invisible heroes. A maximum amount of invisible heroes in the pivot not only changes the nation, but it also provides a tremendous amount of toleration among believers.
d. Complete accord among believers regarding divine viewpoint in the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. This doesn’t mean we agree with each other about everything; far from it. But it does mean there is a general consensus about divine viewpoint in these areas among mature believers.
e. Complete unanimity among believers regarding mental attitudes, motivations, decisions, and actions related to the protocol plan of God. The absence of fragmentation, the absence of judging, bickering, slandering, gossiping, jealousy, bitterness, hatred, anger, revenge motivation and function, vindictiveness, violence, hypersensitivity, self-pity, guilt, and implacability.
3. The two great enemies of unity among the members of the body of Christ which always bring fragmentation are ignorance of doctrine and life in the arrogance complex.
4. Another enemy of unity among believers is wrong emphasis. The present trend of Christianity is to emphasize relationship with people over relationship with God, or to assume that a good relationship with people means a good relationship with God. Both are false.
B. The Solution to Enemies of Unity.
1. The answer to the problem of people emphasis taking precedence over God emphasis is found in two major functions of the Christian life.
a. Consistent post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation, so that mystery doctrine is understood and metabolized. That dispels ignorance.
b. Mastery of the utilization of the ten problem solving devices of the protocol plan dispels arrogance.
2. These two functions are tantamount to the life beyond gnosis, Eph 3:19, and the life beyond dreams, Eph 3:20. Eph 3:19, “And to come to know the love for Christ which is beyond gnosis, so that you may filled up with all the fullness of God.”
a. “Being filled up with all the fullness of God” demands cognition of Bible doctrine related to spiritual adulthood.
b. “Being filled up with all the fullness of God” means you use the ten problem solving devices: the rebound technique, the filling of the Spirit, the faith-rest drill, grace orientation, doctrinal orientation, personal love for God the Father, impersonal love for all mankind, +H or sharing the happiness of God, a personal sense of destiny, and occupation with the person of Christ.
3. Rom 12:2, “Stop being conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renovation of your thought, that you may prove what the will of God is, namely, the good of intrinsic value achievement [advance to spiritual maturity], the well-pleasing to God [function of ten problem solving devices], the mature status quo [execution of protocol plan of God].”
a. Worldliness is a system of human viewpoint thinking.
b. So being filled with all the fullness of God means execution of the protocol plan of God. It means ignorance is replaced by cognizance, and that arrogance is replaced by tolerance, the function of virtue-love as a problem solving device.
c. In the next verse, this passage goes on to teach what worldliness is. The most worldly people are those involved in self- righteous arrogance and resultant legalism. Legalism is worldliness.
4. Rom 12:3, “For I say through the grace which has been given to me to everyone who is among you: stop thinking of self in terms of arrogance beyond what you ought to think, but think in terms of sanity for the purpose of being rational without illusion as God has assigned to each one of us a standard of thinking from doctrine.”
a. Arrogance is the major cause of fragmentation and problems among people.
b. A standard of thinking from doctrine takes the place of worldliness.
c. A standard of thinking from doctrine includes motivation, thought, decision, and action related to the mystery doctrine of the Church Age and the unique factors of this dispensation.
d. This verse mentions the word “thinking” three times. Unity is based upon thinking, not upon action as most people assume.
5. Prov 23:7, “As a person thinks in his right lobe, so he is.” You are not what you appear to be overtly; you are what you think.
a. Marcus Aurelius wrote, “Our life is what our thoughts make it.”
b. Isaac Watts wrote in a hymn, “Were I so tall to reach the pole or grasp the ocean with a span, I must be measured by my soul; the mind’s the standard of the man.”
C. The Role of Christian Fellowship Related to Unity.
1. People emphasis taking precedence over God emphasis results in destroying the benefits which might accrue from Christian fellowship.
2. Christian fellowship is never a substitute for fellowship with God.
3. The believer cannot grow spiritually or execute the protocol plan of God through Christian fellowship and its attendant evils, such as “sharing."
a. Sharing is merely a case of the blind leading the blind, and both reside in the ditch of reversionism.
b. Sharing ignores the gift of pastor-teacher and the importance of the function of that gift in the communication of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age.
4. Fellowship with God is the result of perception, metabolization, and application of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age.
5. Fellowship with God is a part of the protocol plan, while fellowship with other Christians is merely a result at best; at worst, it is a distraction from doctrine. It is an option, not a mandate.
6. Christian fellowship is never a substitute for post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation, or learning Bible doctrine from whomever is your right pastor-teacher.
7. God always provides a right pastor for positive volition. Remember that your right pastor must be a prepared person.
D. What is the key to unity among believers?
1. The key to unity among believers is accurate teaching of Bible doctrine by qualified pastor-teachers and positive response to it.
2. A qualified teacher of Bible doctrine possesses the following.
a. He is a male believer.
b. As such, he has the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher.
c. He has the proper preparation for the function of his spiritual gift.
d. The proper preparation demands exact and functional knowledge of the original languages of Scripture, and a thorough exposure to all phases of Biblical systematic theology. That is minimal.
3. Unprepared pastors must depend on someone else for isagogics and exegesis. Both unprepared pastors and evangelists must have their own pastor-teacher. The gift of evangelism demands that the man has a pastor- teacher. The evangelist must get most of his information from his pastor- teacher through non-face-to-face teaching if he’s on the road.
4. God always provides the right pastor for positive volition.
5. God never denies doctrinal teaching to positive believers who cannot or do not assemble with other believers.
6. Everyone’s right pastor is not found in the same geographical periphery. In most areas of this country today, no accurate Bible teaching exists; no doctrine is taught from the pulpits. 7. Every evangelist must have a pastor. If he does not have a pastor, he will suffer in his ministry. The gift of evangelism does not imply the man has any more knowledge of Scripture than does the “layman” in the pew. Accuracy in the presentation of the Gospel demands perception of especially Christology and soteriology.
a. Because of the nature of evangelistic modus operandi, the man with the gift of evangelism cannot always sit in his own congregation. But he must be fed like all other believers.
b. While he has a spiritual gift of communication, it is not a spiritual gift designed to function in the church. It is one that causes unbelievers outside the church to listen to the Gospel message as he communicates it.
c. All spiritual gifts must be fed by the pastor-teacher, including evangelism. This is why, if the evangelist is faithful in learning doctrine and in using his spiritual gift, he will inevitably learn doctrine in a non-face-to-face situation.
8. If a pastor is not prepared in the original languages, he must also have a pastor who feeds him exegesis constantly.
E. The pastor is the key to unity among believers.
1. More precisely, it is the message of the pastor that is the key to unity among believers. 2. 2 Tim 2:15 commands the pastor: “Be diligent to present yourself approved of God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed [of his message], handling accurately the Word of truth.”
a. The aorist active imperative of SPOUDO means to be diligent, to make a consistent and persistent effort to accomplish something. Hence, it means the persistent exertion of the attributes of the soul and the function of the body to accomplish the divine objective for the pastor, which is to study and teach, study and teach, study and teach.
b. The pastor as a workman doesn’t run around and call on people. His job is to study and teach.
c. The pastor who is not properly prepared cannot handle accurately the Word of God. He depends on some other pastor.
3. Therefore, the responsibility of the pastor-teacher is to study and teach, with emphasis on the mystery doctrine of the Church Age, yet not neglecting the whole realm of Bible doctrine. 4. A pastor is not called to counsel. Counseling merely puts band- aids on problems. The teaching of Bible doctrine provides the solutions to problems from the function of the individual believer. Counseling does not give the believer the opportunity of learning and utilizing the ten problem solving devices.
5. The teaching of Bible doctrine includes the protocol plan of God for the Church Age as well as the ten problem solving devices of the royal priesthood.
6. The teaching of Bible doctrine provides the key to unity among Church Age believers.
a. This unity must come from within your soul. There can be no unity simply from shaking hands and smiling. The old sin nature is still there. The key to unity among believers lies in what you think.
b. There can never be any unity in any place where people gather and interact with each other unless it is unity of thinking. There must be a general basis of agreement in thinking. Only Bible doctrine can take so many different personalities and provide for them the unity which is necessary for fellowship among believers to be meaningful.
7. The power of God is in the Word of God. Do not waste time on false doctrine. False doctrine fragments believers.
8. Therefore, the pastor must be diligent and persevere in the teaching of truth. He must not become distracted by involvement in theological controversies or in personality conflicts. 9. There are two traditions for the communication of Bible doctrine to the believer in the Church Age.
a. Face-to-face teaching in a local church.
b. Non-face-to-face teaching outside the local church.
c. Both are traditional from the beginning of Christianity.
d. When Epaphras left his pulpit in Colossae and became a fellow prisoner with Paul in Rome, Paul filled in for him with non-face-to-face teaching, i.e., the epistle to the Colossians. Col 1:7, 4:12; Phile 23. Paul had not visited Colossae prior to sending this epistle to them.
e. While the apostle John taught face-to-face in Ephesus, he was also teaching non-face-to-face in other parts of the Roman Province of Asia. He taught a woman in this manner in 2 John. He also taught a man in this manner in 3 John. The book of Revelation is a non-face-to-face series of messages to seven churches in the Roman Province of Asia when John was banished by Nero to the Island of Patmos.
f. So from the beginning, non-face-to-face has been a legitimate system of teaching.
10. So whether it is face-to-face or non-face-to-face, the pastor who is faithful in teaching Bible doctrine is the key to unity among believers
. a. No pastor has the ability to bring about unity among believers by the use of his personality or authority.
b. The power to bring about unity belongs solely to the Word of God, as it is expressed in thoughts, motivations, decisions, and actions of believers.
11. The only basis for unity among Church Age believers is found in the content of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. This unity requires post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation, plus the understanding and the utilization of the ten problem solving devices of the protocol plan of God.
F. The Enemies of Unity.
1. Ignorance of Bible doctrine and resultant arrogance are the biggest enemies of unity. Ignorance is the cause, arrogance is the result. This means ignorance of the mystery doctrine for the Church Age, i.e., ignorance of the protocol plan of God, the ten problem solving devices of the protocol plan, our portfolio of invisible assets, the operational-type divine dynasphere.
a. The result of ignorance and arrogance is life in cosmic one, where the believer grieves the Holy Spirit.
b. Arrogance is a complex of sins which result in fragmentation among believers in Jesus Christ. This includes such sins as jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, self-pity, guilt, anger, hatred, inordinate ambition and inordinate competition, revenge motivation and function, gossip, maligning, judging, the demand syndrome, unrealistic expectation, and role model arrogance.
c. The unity of the royal family of God as the body of Christ is based on Bible doctrine perceived, metabolized, and applied to experience. In other words, it is based on the consistent and persistent function of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation.
d. Lack of momentum in the protocol plan of God means fragmentation among believers.
2. Christian fellowship, having eyes on people.
3. No change in self, having eyes on self.
4. Wrong execution through the use of wrong power.
5. Unrealistic expectation. 6. Role model arrogance.
G. Scriptural Documentation.
1. 2 Tim 3:2-7, “For believers will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, implacable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, haters of God, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power; avoid such believers as these. For they are the kind who creep into homes and captivate weak, silly women who are loaded down with sins and swayed with all kinds of evil desires. They are always learning [gnosis], but never able to come to the epignosis knowledge of God.” Both arrogance and conceit are listed. What is the difference between the two? Conceit is arrogant preoccupation with self. Arrogance is arrogant preoccupation with others.
2. 1 Cor 12:25, “That there should be no schisms in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.”
3. Rom 16:17-18, “Now I urge you brethren, be alert for those believers who are causing fragmentations and apostasies contrary to the doctrine which you have learned; in fact, separate yourself from [avoid] them. For such believers are slaves to their own emotions, and by smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the right lobes of the ignorant.”
a. Emotion has absolutely no spiritual connotation. The filling of the Spirit is not characterized by emotion until the Millennium. While Christ is absent from the earth during the Church Age, the filling of the Spirit, designed to appreciate Him, carries no emotion. We may have and use emotions, but it is not a spiritual function.
b. Emotion cannot think and cannot apply doctrine. Emotion is all too often irrational. Emotion is strictly feeling and response to something.
c. Again, ignorance is the basis for fragmentation. In the cause and effect factor, ignorance leads to arrogance.
4. 1 Cor 1:10, “Now I exhort you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another, and that there be no fragmentations [schisms] among you, but that you may be properly equipped in the same mind and in the same thinking [united in mind and thought].” Notice where the unity is: in the mentality and thinking of the soul.
5. 1 Cor 3:3, “For you are still carnal, for since there is jealousy and fragmentation among you, are you not carnal? Are you not walking like unbelievers?” 6. 1 Cor 11:18, “For in the first place, when you come together in your church, I hear that schisms [fragmentations] exist among you.”
H. Wrong Execution by Wrong Power, an Enemy of Unity.
1. God is perfect. Therefore His plan is perfect. His plan for the royal family is the protocol plan.
2. Perfect God can only design a perfect plan. God’s plan for us is perfect, but the problem is that we as believers are imperfect, to put it mildly.
3. We all possess an old sin nature and we continue to sin after salvation, 1 Jn 1:5-10. The old sin nature is most remarkable in that it continues to function after salvation in any circumstance, prosperous or adverse.
The old sin nature never quits functioning until death.
4. Therefore, the old sin nature functions through human dynamics, human works, and human abilities, seeking to use these things to displace the power of God in the execution of the protocol plan.
5. But divine power and human ability are mutually exclusive. There is no place in God’s plan for the function of human power or human ability. That is because God is perfect and His plan is perfect; you are not perfect.
6. The protocol plan of God can only be executed in divine power, which comes in three categories.
a. The omnipotence of God the Father related to our portfolio of invisible assets plus the ten problem solving devices.
b. The omnipotence of God the Son related to the preservation of the universe and the perpetuation of human history.
c. The omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit related to life inside the divine dynasphere, where the power of God is available for the execution of the protocol plan of God.
7. Never before in human history and never after the Rapture of the Church has so much divine power been made available for every believer as in the dispensation of the Church. 8. Divine power is directly related to the first two problem solving devices of the protocol plan.
a. Problem solving device #1 is the rebound technique, without which it is impossible to recover the filling of the Spirit and live in the divine dynasphere.
(1) To rebound means simply to name your sins to God, as per 1 Jn 1:9. No penance or public declaration of your sins is required. All sin is against God. As David said even after committing murder, “Against You and You only have I sinned.”
(2) The reason why you only name your sins to God and are forgiven is because you are actually citing the court case of the cross, acknowledging the fact that all sins were imputed to Christ on the cross and judged by God the Father.
(3) The Greek verb HOMOLOGEO in 1 Jn 1:9 means to name, to cite, and to acknowledge, “If we name our sins, He is faithful and justified to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
(4) When you sin and enter cosmic one, you grieve the Holy Spirit. When you enter cosmic two, you quench the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the only way you can ever recover the filling of the Spirit is to do it God’s way.
(5) As a royal priest, you are to name your sins privately to God, and you are forgiven. Don’t add any other nonsense of human works.
(6) The rebound technique takes up the slack for the believer’s sins, failures, and evil doings.
b. Problem solving device #2 is the filling of the Spirit, which provides the divine power for the execution of the protocol plan.
9. The key to the execution of God’s plan is the fact that divine power and omnipotence is guaranteed to every believer as a new spiritual species, made available and delegated through the perception of Bible doctrine, and utilized through the filling of the Holy Spirit combined with post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation.
10. All human power and ability is excluded from both the function and the execution of God’s will, plan, and purpose for your life.
11. In other words, ignorance and arrogance combine to produce the use of human power rather than divine power in the execution of God’s plan. Therefore, they are contributing factors to fragmentation among Church Age believers.
I. Unrealistic Expectation, an Enemy of Unity.
1. Unrealistic expectation is defined as the frustration of those people who are not treated the way they think they should be treated or loved the way they think they should be loved. This results in fragmentation.
2. Unrealistic expectation manufactures church tramps who go from one local church to another, demanding and expecting special attention. When these vagabonds of apostasy are not treated the way they want to be treated or loved the way they want to be loved, they move on to the next church.
3. Unrealistic expectation causes three serious problems of focus which inevitably hinder the execution of the protocol plan of God.
a. Eyes on self.
b. Eyes on people.
c. Eyes on things.
4. Unrealistic expectation always reacts with a rash of sins related to the arrogance complex, including jealousy, bitterness, implacability, anger, hatred, self-pity, hypersensitivity, revenge motivation and function, slander, gossip, maligning, and judging.
5. Unrealistic expectation is divorced from reality, and moves so rapidly toward preoccupation with self that it results in mental illness.
6. Unrealistic expectation is the enemy of Christian unity and of the execution of the protocol plan of God.
7. Unrealistic expectation causes fragmentation in society in general, as we see today as a part of the third cycle of discipline to this client nation.
8. Worse than that, unrealistic expectation causes fragmentation among believers.
J. Role Model Arrogance, an Enemy of Unity.
1. Role is defined as the proper or customary function of a person related to his job or his function in life.
2. One’s role is often demanded by the unrealistic expectation from others. Society and people in general often assign certain customary functions to certain activities in life.
3. People in the following roles are expected to act in a certain way: politicians, heads of state, husbands, wives, children, public servants, and pastors.
4. When anyone departs from the role model assigned to him, he becomes the object of criticism. He is maligned, slandered, condemned, and rejected by society in general.
5. Both individuals and society as a whole like to see everyone and everything in their proper place. They resent deviation.
6. Consequently, society and Christians specifically have set up a double standard: a strict standard for the role model and a convenient standard for themselves.
7. The individual excuses his own sins and failures, but he condemns the same sins and failures in the role model.
8. Example: Members of the press have been famous in the last fifty years for chasing women. But let a politician or preacher or someone else they do not like do the same thing, and it’s all over the front page.
9. Role model arrogance turns people into hypocrites, and turns Christians into legalists.
10. Role model arrogance manufactures hypocrisy in the clergy and legalism in the congregation, with the result that both clergy and congregation are distracted from what is important in life, i.e., Bible doctrine.
11. The double standard of role model arrogance causes fragmentation in the royal family of God.
12. From the role model syndrome originates the double standard of hypocrisy. A news reporter can fornicate, but a politician cannot. A congregation can sin and raise hell, but a pastor cannot. People everywhere are fragmented by role model arrogance.
13. When you combine unrealistic expectation with role model arrogance, you establish false and conflicting standards in life. A double standard eliminates virtue in society and in Christianity. Yet the Christian way of life demands virtue. Happiness does not exist without virtue. Freedom demands virtue. Freedom without virtue is a fragmented society.
14. Both unrealistic expectation and role model arrogance manufacture a double standard.
15. Both unrealistic expectation and role model arrogance establish arrogant mores, cultural taboos, legalistic hypocrisy. In the Christian way of life, these replace the grace policy of God and the ten problem solving devices of the protocol plan.
16. The combination of unrealistic expectation and role model arrogance hinders the execution of the protocol plan of God as well as metabolized Bible doctrine.
17. The only role model for the Christian way of life is our Lord Jesus Christ. This emphasizes occupation with Christ as the ultimate problem solving device.
18. Role model arrogance regarding the ministry.
a. It’s not the man but the message that is the issue.
b. Ministers sin. Like everyone else, they have an old sin nature that works overtime just like yours!
c. No one is perfect, including pastors and evangelists.
K. Christian fellowship causes fragmentation in the royal family of God.
1. Christian fellowship is never a substitute for fellowship with God.
2. Christian fellowship is never a substitute for learning Bible doctrine.
3. Spiritual growth and momentum, execution of the protocol plan of God, becoming a winner and invisible hero, and thereby glorifying God comes only through perception, metabolization, and application of Bible doctrine.
4. The execution of the protocol plan and subsequent glorification of God never comes through Christian fellowship. Christian fellowship is often a part of people testing; that should tell you a great deal!
5. Assembling together with other Christians for the teaching of the Word of God must never be confused with Christian fellowship. You should not come to church for Christian fellowship, but to learn Bible doctrine and grow up spiritually. You don’t grow up through fellowship. In fact, Christian fellowship is a distraction until you do grow up.
6. Heb 10:25, “Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as is the habit of some, but for the purpose of encouragement.”
a. “Each other” is not found at the end of this verse in the original text.
b. Encouragement comes from the perception of Bible doctrine, not from Christian fellowship. Any encouragement you get from other Christians will not carry you. Only doctrine in your soul can carry you.
7. The exception to the command of Heb 10:25 applies to believers who receive non-face-to-face Bible teaching. Many believers cannot assemble themselves together with other believers for many different reasons.
a. The handicapped are unable to go to church and sit in a pew.
b. When no Bible doctrine is taught in your geographical periphery, that’s a good reason not to go to church.
c. Those who are in pain from illness cannot go to church.
8. Yet the positive volition of such believers is not denied! They do have a right to hear Bible doctrine taught by means of non-face-to-face mechanics.
9. So when believers are isolated from Christian fellowship, they are not deprived of encouragement from Bible doctrine. The point is that they need Bible doctrine, not Christian fellowship or personal contact with the pastor.
10. The encouragement clause of Heb 10:25 stands true for all, for God always supplies a right pastor for positive volition. God never denies doctrinal teaching and encouragement to positive believers. But the encouragement must come from Bible doctrine. This is true whether believers are in a local church or isolated from one.
11. Therefore, in order to communicate the mystery doctrine for the Church Age, a right pastor is provided for people in one of two ways.
a. For many with positive volition toward doctrine, a right pastor is provided in face-to-face teaching in the assembly of the local church.
b. For others with positive volition, Bible doctrine is communicated through tapes, audio, or video, FX systems, radio, television, or books.
12. Everyone’s right pastor is not necessarily located in their same geographical periphery.
L. Fragmentation and The Problem of Growing Up.
1. There are three ways in which people should grow up.
a. When they are born, they must grow up as a human being. While they grow physically, they do not grow in their souls unless they are trained. If they are not trained and disciplined, they never learn to take the responsibility for their own decisions, they lack authority orientation. With misconceptions about responsibility in life, they never grow up as human beings.
b. When they are born-again, we must grow up spiritually from learning Bible doctrine.
c. When they get married, they must grow up as a spouse, the toughest one of all. 2. Failure to grow up in any of these areas causes fragmentation both in society and among believers.
3. Growing up from birth includes many functions, such as learning a vocabulary, authority orientation, establishment orientation, understanding the true meaning of freedom and your responsibility to it, and taking the responsibility for your own decisions and actions in life. 4. When we are born again, growing up is a matter of consistent post- salvation epistemological rehabilitation. This requires Bible teaching from whomever is your right pastor. If your right pastor is a prepared person, your exposure to doctrine will come in one of two ways.
a. Either in a local church under face-to-face teaching.
b. Or in an isolated situation through non-face-to-face teaching.
5. It is Bible doctrine that causes the believer to grow up, not Christian fellowship. Therefore, the unity of the royal family is found in Bible doctrine, not in Christian fellowship.
M. Ephesians 4:3-6 teaches unity in the royal family of God.
1. In Ephesians 4:3-6, there are four concepts.
a. The mandate for unity, verse 3.
b. The basis for unity, verse 4.
c. The escutcheon of unity, verse 5.
d. The source of unity, verse 6. 2. Only God can provide unity in the royal family.
3. God provides unity for the Church Age believers through the mystery doctrine of the Church Age.
4. Unity is a provision of grace, not the striving of human power, not human personality, not a system of patronizing one another under Madison Avenue public relations techniques.
5. In Eph 4:3-6, we learn not only how to avoid fragmentation in the body of Christ, but how to achieve unity through God’s grace provision for each believer in the royal family.
N. What is unity in the royal family of God?
1. Unity is first explained in Eph 4:3 from the standpoint of spiritual mechanics. Spiritual mechanics always relate to the ministry of the Holy Spirit to each individual believer. 2. The unity of the body of Christ or royal family is illustrated by a shield or escutcheon which belongs to each one of us. Each believer in the body of Christ carries the royal family of God coat of arms into the spiritual conflict of the great power experiment of the Church Age. The royal family escutcheon of unity is taught in Eph 4:5-6.
3. The baptism of the Spirit at the moment of faith in Christ is the means of establishing unity positionally. But for unity to exist experientially requires that we learn doctrine.
4. The results of the baptism of the Spirit are that we become a new spiritual species and royal family of God. All Church Age believers are placed on an equal plane of royalty. We are given a royal plan from God, called protocol, because it is the modus operandi for royalty.
5. Unity also recognizes equal privilege and equal opportunity for the execution of this protocol plan.
6. While the ministry of the Holy Spirit is the source of unity for the royal family of God, it is reconciliation at salvation that begins to establish unity.
O. The Escutcheon of the Royal Family of God: “One Lord, one faith, one baptism,” Eph 4:5. 1. The Church Age believer receives the escutcheon, shield, coat of arms of the royal family at the moment of salvation. It is made up of these three phrases, “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” At the moment of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, the unity, equality, and privilege of the royal family begins.
2. Unity begins with the fact that all believers have one Savior and only one Savior, indicated by the word “Lord." Unity begins with the fact that all believers are saved in exactly the same way: personal faith in Jesus Christ. Unity begins with the fact that all believers have the same royal family privileges from the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
3. The source of unity and disunity.
a. God is not the author of fragmentation and confusion.
b. When Christianity emphasizes people relationship over God relationship, it is inevitable that there will be discord, disunion, dissension, and dissidence.
c. Where Christianity emphasizes God relationship over people relationship, consensus, unanimity, agreement, and harmony exist.
d. Cognition of Bible doctrine is the basis of unity, concord, and harmony among believers. Without Bible doctrine, there is no harmony among believers.
e. Discord occurs in the royal family of God where ignorance of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age exists.
f. Dissension, division, and dispute originate from either rejection or ignorance of Bible doctrine, plus the infiltration of human viewpoint which inevitably exists where doctrine is rejected. Sometimes people try to make doctrine conform to philosophical, scientific, or relative concepts of life; that will not work. There is no unity where that is practiced.
g. Consensus among believers can only exist where Bible doctrine is understood, metabolized, and applied.
4. The use of three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter) of the numeral “one” is a reminder of the fact that there is only one way of salvation, one royal family of God, one body of truth, and one game plan for the Church Age, the protocol plan.
5. Unity is a state of being combined with others to form the greater whole. At salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, all Church Age believers are entered into union with Jesus Christ to form the body of Christ through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
6. “One Lord” means there is only one Savior. Therefore it refers to the status of unity, harmony, and consensus with regard to salvation.
7. “One faith” means there is only one way of salvation. Therefore, it refers to unity, unanimity, and agreement with regard to the way of eternal life.
8. “One baptism” means there is one royal family and one body of Christ. Therefore, it refers to compatibility, conformity, and cognition. The baptism of the Spirit unifies us as is shown by the results of the baptism of the baptism of the Spirit.
a. A new spiritual species is created for the utilization of the 100% available divine power. And no one is any better than anyone else.
b. The royal family of God is formed and elected, designed to complement and implement our Lord’s strategic victory of the great power experiment of the Hypostatic Union. We are a royal family of kings.
c. We receive the equal privilege under the computer asset of predestination.
d. Positional sanctification has removed all barriers of arrogance and prejudice, barriers of antagonism and systems of discrimination, to include racial prejudice, sexual discrimination, cultural and social barriers, economic antagonisms, class distinctions, personality conflicts and antagonisms, political and ideological differences, environmental subjectivity, pre-salvation religious prejudice.
e. Positional sanctification makes every believer higher than angels, Heb 1-2.
f. Eternal security is for all Church Age believers, winners and losers. God cannot cancel your salvation, nor can you.
g. Union with Christ. The baptism of the Holy Spirit and resultant positional sanctification produces a new spiritual person designed to replace the old psychological person. The baptism of the Holy Spirit produces a new person by placing you in union with Christ. Union with Christ means you share certain things Christ has.
(1) You share His life which is eternal life. 1 Jn 5:11-12, “And the deposition is this: God has given to us eternal life, and this [eternal] life is in His Son. He, who has the Son, has life.”
(2) You share Christ’s righteousness. So we have a double perfect righteousness: that of the Father’s from imputation at salvation, and that of the Son’s through union with Him. 2 Cor 5:21, “He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” In fact, possessing the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ is the means for the conveyance your escrow blessings for time.
(3) We share the election of Christ, an escrow election, Eph 1:3-4.
(4) We share the destiny of Christ, a protocol predestination, Eph 1:5-6.
(5) We share the sonship of Christ, Gal 3:26. He is the Son of God; “we are sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Jn 1:12.
(6) We are the heirs of God and joint-heirs with the Son of God, Rom 8:16-17. 1 Pet 1:4, “We are now heirs of God.” this is extended into escrow blessings for time and eternity.
(7) We share the priesthood of Christ, a royal priesthood, 1 Pet 2:5, 9.
h. We are adopted into the royal family of God, Eph 1:5.
9. The outline of the motto: One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism.
a. All believers have the same Savior. See the Doctrine of the Substitutionary Spiritual Death of Jesus Christ.
b. All believers are saved or have eternal life in exactly the same way, through faith in Christ. See the Doctrine of Salvation.
c. All believers belong to the same family through the one baptism of the Holy Spirit. See the Doctrine of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
10. Principles of Unanimity.
a. Unanimity begins at salvation.
b. Conformity to God’s plan, will, and purpose begins at salvation.
c. God’s policy of grace begins at salvation, continues throughout time, and goes into the eternal state forever and ever.
11. There is unity in the Trinity. See the Doctrine of the Trinity and the Doctrine of Divine Essence.
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© 1989, by R. B. Thieme, Jr. All rights reserved.
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