"May they be one as we are one"

God said from the beginning that it is not good for man to be alone. If this was true in the perfect world of Eden, how much more so in our sinful world? Since God is trinitarian in nature, existing eternally as a community in the Father, Son and Spirit, when God made man in his image he undoubtedly made man for community. Since we derive our being from the Godhead, our very essence then is one that longs for and depends upon community.

When sin entered the cosmos it broke everything, not least of all relationships. Man was ostracized from God; the first marital fight is seen in the same chapter that sin entered; Cain killed Abel a few chapters later; languages and thus the communication necessary for relationships was further destroyed by the curse at Babel. On and on we see throughout the first book of the Bible that relationships breakdown very quickly because of sinners trying to coexist as their own self-proclaimed deities.

But God restores. Ephesians 2 discusses our salvation from sin and death but then immediately goes on to describe how we have been reconciled both in our relationship with God as well as with our fellow man. No longer do the old things like race or ethnicity define us; rather, Christ is all in all.

Thus we think Scripture teaches clearly that relationships and community within the body of Christ are a necessary and essential portion of our displaying the gospel of Jesus Christ.