Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam
In my opinion, it is God's will for His people to have unity among themselves. Because we are human, I doubt we ever will. It bothered the Apostle Paul that there were divisions in the Church at Corinth. He addressed this 1 Corinthians 1:10-13 and 3:1-5.
In Ephesians 4:1-16 Paul exhorted the folks in Ephesus to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit. He says that we all have the same Lord and we have all been placed/baptized into one body by the Holy Spirit in verses 4-6. He also mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:13 that we were all placed/baptized into one Body by the Holy Spirit. In verses 11-16 Paul says that God has placed apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers in the Body until we come in the unity of the faith and grow up into perfection. That's why I think we will always have those 5 offices in the church because we will not reach perfection/maturity/completion until the rapture.
|
So, Jesus asked for unity (
John 17; note especially v. 20 -- He's praying for you), it is in accordance with God's will, and it won't happen. Will you be removing
1 John 5:14-15 from your Bible?