Paul tells us explicitly that there is “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:6). Most people have little trouble with this concept, understanding that our Heavenly Father created our world and loved us enough to send Christ to save us from our sins. Paul does not speak only of  “One God,” however, but mentions seven “unities.” “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;  One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:4-6). The first of the seven unities Paul mentions is “one body.”    

At the end of the first chapter of the letter to the Ephesians, Paul explained that because Christ obeyed the Father and conquered death, that God “hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all” (Ephesians 1:22-23). The church is defined as His body, the “one body” that Paul mentioned in Ephesians 4:4. This is just what we would expect, one head connected with one body. Our religious world today, however, presents a monstrosity to God, with many churches or bodies claiming to be attached to the one head, Jesus Christ.

The Lord’s desire from the beginning was that all of His followers would be united in His church. As He prepared for the cross, Jesus prayed for His disciples, and then said, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me” (John 17:20-23). Jesus understood that the unity (or disunity) of His followers would be a powerful witness to the world. Surely the disunity of the current denominational system hinders the spread of the gospel of Christ.

Paul warned the Corinthians against disunity, as they began to follow various preachers, forgetting Christ. “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 1:10-13). Jesus promised Peter and the disciples, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). He did not promise to build the many denominational bodies we see today, but His church. The way to be a member of His church today is to reject the creeds, manuals, and catechisms of the denominations, and just be Christians, wearing the name of Christ. This is the plea of the churches of Christ.