The Unity of the Spirit

 

Paul wrote,

“12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.”

1 Corinthians 12:12-14

There is a unity of the Spirit, being the uniting of all believers into one body, being the body of Christ and the Church. The Apostle Paul says this unity is something we must "endeavor" to "keep."

Paul writes,

“1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Ephesians 4:1-6

“Endeavoring” speaks of making the effort. The word "keep" is "tereo" that speaks of guarding: it is used in John 17.15 where Jesus prayed for his disciples that God would "keep them from the evil." We are to make the effort to guard the unity that Spirit created, being the one body, in our experience. We are to be unified in the faith through love.