One

This week I have been struck by the “one-nesses” found in Scripture. First, while studying Ephesians in a seminary class, we looked at descriptions of one which are built around Father, Son, and Spirit. During my drive to and from work, I listened to an audio book and was reminded of the one in the Shema. And in my own time reading Scripture, I saw another list of one in 1 Corinthians.

For many modern Christians (particularly Evangelical Protestants), Christianity is about a single relationship between the person and Christ. Has the person personally accepted Christ as their Savior? Is the person personally walking with God? What have you been learning in your personal quiet time?

I do not diminish or minimize any of these concepts. I do see the importance and practice of all these questions in Scripture and in Church History. But how does this one in Scripture connect to me and the rest of the Church?

Shema

For those unfamiliar with the Shema, or just did not know that’s what its called, the Shema is a Jewish prayer recited daily by many. For the ancient Israel’s, when the Shema was recited in the temple, it was similar to the Christian recitation of the Creeds. The Bible Project has a great six-part video series on the Shema. I encourage you to check it out for more.

The Shema comes from Deuteronomy 6

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord Your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

What is the Shema and how does it have to do with one?

As I mentioned, the Bible Project has a great video series on the Shema and is the best place I know of for people of all ages to start. But briefly, the Shema drives its name from the first word of the prayer, שָׁמַע (shaw-mah), which means hear but can also be translated as listen. The word shema has a calling to it, it demands action, the action of listening. We hear a lot of things through out our day, but do we listen to all of them?

The beginning of the Shema demands that Israel (יִשְׂרָאֵל, yis-raw-ale) listen. Listen because the Lord is God. Listen because the Lord is our God. Listen because the Lord is one.

The Israelites had been in Egypt for 430 years surrounded by a people who did not see the Lord as God because they had their own gods. They were entering the Promised Land where they would come into contact with people who did not see the Lord as their god because they had their own gods.

The Shema continues, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Since the Lord is our God and is one, God was telling them that when they go into this new land, the Promised Land, to love Him and not the gods of the people who inhabited the land. This coincides with the command to drive the people out because, as can be seen by reading the rest of the Old Testament, by living with those in the land, the Israelites stopped listening to their Lord. They stopped loving their Lord with all their heart, soul, and strength.

The part of the Shema I was struck by this week is just the first verse, the Lord is one, but the rest is important. Since the Lord is one and we are to love Him, we are to act in a certain way.

How We Act Because the Lord is One

The Shema instructs us to begin with having the commandments (the Ten Commandments come directly before the Shema in chapter 5) on our hearts, we begin with ourselves. Next, we are to pass the commandments on to our children. We do not just impress it upon them when we are at church (or in the Temple), but all day long. When we put them to bed at night and when we get them up in the morning and when we go on walks and drive in the car or when we are watching TV at home.

Next, according to Deuteronomy, we are to have them literally on our physical person. And finally, they are to be written on our doorframes and gates so that when we enter our homes we walk under them.

If the commandments are in our hearts, they are to flow out to everything else around us. Personal to corporate.

The Shema teaches us that because God is one, because He is our God, we respond with love and obedience.

One-ness in Paul’s Epistles

As I mentioned, there were two places this week where I saw Paul emphasize this one-ness of God: 1 Corinthians 1:10-17 and Ephesians 4:3-6. There are many other places in Scripture where one is important, but these two places are good examples.

One Church

In 1 Corinthians, Paul writes to the church at Corinth to correct some behavioral issues as well as to help them better understand the Church and encourage them in their new freedoms as believers.

Paul begins his letter with a greeting (1:1-3) and a thanksgiving (1:4-9) and then he jumps right into his appeal for them to agree with each other and not be divided (1:10).

Anyone who is a Christian was brought to Christ by someone, whether it was through a lifetime of parents bringing you to church and instilling the love of God at home, or a friend during adolescence inviting you to a youth group event where you heard the Gospel message, or as an adult hearing the compelling testimony of an evangelist, someone showed you and led you to Christ.

Similarly, in Paul’s day – and throughout Church History – all who are Christians were brought to Christ by someone else. In Corinth, people were pointing to a different person then their neighbor as to who led them to Christ and it led to quarreling. Paul says, “One of you says ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas [Peter]‘; still another, ‘I follow Christ'” (1:12).

Paul continues, “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (1:13).

What Paul is pointing out to them is that, while a human person told them about Christ – Paul, Apollos, Peter, or even someone else – we only follow Christ. These human people – the apostles, evangelists, prophets, shepherds [pastors], and teachers – are just people. They are the conduits for the message of God – Christ crucified, Christ resurrected, Christ ascended, and Christ exalted at the right-hand of the Father – to be taken to people. That’s it. They are not the one who was crucified, or resurrected, or ascended, or exalted. He is telling them, stop putting your identity in a person and identify with Christ. Don’t let your gratitude to the one who shared Christ with you turn into divisions among you.

One Church Today

I think about “one” Church today and how complex that is. Not only are there dozens of churches in every city – sometimes on every corner like Starbucks – but there are also dozens of denominations. The World Council of Churches[1] is made up of 350 “member churches” in 110 countries, and these are only the ones who are members, this doesn’t count those who are not members (such as the Roman Catholic Church, which works with and alongside the World Council of Churches but is not a member so is not a part of that number). This number makes the idea of one Church seem impossible today!

But, it doesn’t actually seem that much different than what the Corinthians, or rest of the first generation Church, were experiencing in Paul’s day.

In the early Church, churches were not individual congregations. A “church” was made up of all the believers in a given city. Note how Paul addressed 1 Corinthians: “to the church of God in Corinth” (1 Corinthians 1:2).

Now, there would be “churches” which met in individuals houses, such as the church which met at Philemon’s house, “Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker— also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home” (Philemon 1:1-2) (many – including myself – would say that the your is actually referring to Apphia, but that is a different point). In Acts 16:40, we see Paul and Silas receiving care at Lydia’s house “where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them.” Although the word “church” is not used, this has been seen through out Church History as the church which met in Lydia’s house.

Even in the 1 Corinthians 1 passage we see different “households” – Chloe’s (1:11) and Stephanas’ (1:16) – which are families, but also, if similar to the case of Lydia, seems to imply this is where some of the church met.

So while there was one church in each city, there was divisions – or denominations you could say – being created. This is what Paul was chastising them for, for giving their allegiance to a person, not Christ.

How often do we see this today? How many people do you know who constantly talk about one or two high profiled pastors (who they have probably never met and don’t even attend their churches)? Is there much different between them saying, “Well Pastor X says,” and someone in Paul’s day saying, “I follow Apollos”?

One God

Finally, take a look at Paul’s teaching on one God in Ephesians 4:3-6:

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

This passage includes both of the previous passages and concepts of one God (Deuteronomy 6:4) and one body (1 Corinthians 1:10-17).

If you look closely, you can see the Shema. Paul took the Shema – the Lord our God, the Lord is one – and “updated” it to include what we know about God, that is, Father, Son, Spirit.

In the passage Paul exhorts the believers to “keep the unity” because “there is one body.”

Because the Lord is one, there is one Church. Because the Lord is one, there is one Body. We are one Body, the Church, and our Body is filled with the Spirit. This Body is called to share in one Hope, the Hope that comes from the Gospel message. This Body is to serve one Lord because we have one Faith, and (no matter the mode) all were Baptized in the same waters. Since we are one Body, there is one God, one Father, who is in all.

One God in One Church

Hear, O Church, the Lord our God is one. Hear, O Church, we are one.

There is one God who is Father, Son, and Spirit. The One Father created the heavens and the earth. The One Son lived a sinless life, died, rose again, ascended, and was exalted at the right-hand of the Father. In the One Son we are all baptized. The One Spirit is in and through us, giving us the one Hope of the conquering Christ.

Hear, O Church, the Lord our God is one. Hear, O Church, we are one.

Christ is your head. Allow Christ to be the one you follow, not another person, no matter how holy, wise, and mature in their faith they are. They are holy, wise, and mature so they can point you to Christ, not to be your Christ.

Hear, O Church, the Lord our God is one. Hear, O Church, we are one.

Love your fellow brothers and sisters. Recognize the Image of God in them and rejoice in the one hope, one baptism, and one faith we all share.

Hear, O Church, the Lord our God is one. Hear, O Church, we are one.

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[1] The World Council of Churches is a non-governmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland who’s purpose is to be”a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the Scriptures, and therefore seek to fulfill together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” They seek to advance the unity which Jesus prayed for his followers in John 17. For more information, visit them at oikoumene.org.

All Scripture used on Oregon Christian Girl comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®  Unless otherwise noted.