Editorial September 6, 1924 Issue

Unity in Principle

Albert F. Gilmore

In his epistle to the Christians in Ephesus, Paul admonishes the brethren to establish unity, the better to escape being tossed about by the diverse winds of doctrine and the machinations of evil men. He impressively exhorts his brethren to hold fast to the doctrine of the Master, "till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."

A new shade of meaning is given to the passage by a recent translator of the New Testament. "And reach mature manhood, and that full measure of development found in Christ," he renders the last two clauses. Manifestly, this translator sees man's goal of perfection in the Christ, which Mrs. Eddy in part defines in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 583) as "the divine manifestation of God." Paul apparently saw man's true unity in the understanding of divine Principle, wherein all are brethren, since spiritual man is the idea or emanation of the one Mind, which is God.

In the passage quoted the apostle gives explicit directions whereby men may establish true unity, ceasing from strife and contention, from enmity and hatred, from self-seeking, envy, and jealousy; in brief, from all malevolence which, through engendering variance, would keep apart those who are in reality brethren. Unity in faith is indeed a bond of brotherhood, for the mere fact of faith in a common cause tends to unite. But knowledge of the Son of God, that is, of the Christ, is the surer bond of unity; for such knowledge, involving as it does the truth about God and man, reveals the true brotherhood, man's unity with the Christ in divine Principle. Herein is the basis of true brotherhood, whereby is established man's oneness with the Father, which constitutes all men brethren.

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