One

God has an interesting thing He likes to do. From the beginning of time God has made a unity from a plurality. In the Garden of Eden He joined Adam and Eve together in holy matrimony, saying, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined unto his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).” Through biblical marriage (“a man…his wife”) two individuals become. There was still Adam and there was still Eve, but they were one.

That isn’t possible. How can they be separate, yet still be one? This is something only God can do. In fact, He leads by example. Notice how the same word onecomes up as God describes Himself: “Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one (Deuteronomy 6:4)!” The word one is the same Hebrew word in both passages. God or Elohim,is plural (literally “the Gods”). We know He is plural because He is Father, Son, and Spirit, and yet He is one God. This is another unity of plurality. He can be three distinct individuals, and yet be one God. It wasn’t the Holy Spirit who died on the cross, it was Jesus; it isn’t Jesus that seals the believer’s heart, it is the Holy Spirit—but both are a work of God. They are unique, and yet they are one. 

God leads by example in uniting that which is plural, and He does something similar when He unites us in marriage. There is still another way that He does this, and that is in bringing Christians all over the world into one body. In Ephesians 4 Paul uses that word one seven times in verses two through five, and he uses the word all three times in verse five. Speaking to “you all,” he says, “There is one body.” As part of the collective Bride of Christ, believers around the globe comprise one large body, and each local church is also composed of many members, and yet is one. This is what Paul is talking about when he said, “For as the [human] body is one and has many members…so also is Christ…For in fact the body (church) is not one member, but many (I Corinthians 12:12-14).”  

Part of the way we are created in the image of God is in the unity of plurality. If you are in a biblical marriage, God has turned two into one; and as part of the true church, God has made many into one. Your marriage can only work if you are willing to be part of something bigger than yourself, and the same is true of church. Your local church body is counting on you to be faithful and use your spiritual gifts, so don’t let them down. If you aren’t involved in a local body, you need to be. Until then, you are an individual, and God wants to unite you into His plural family.