“For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.”
Some people say there are many paths to God. Some say there are many gods. Some think all religions are basically the same. But the Bible is quite clear (and very different from other world religions): there is one God. There is one body of believers who worship God as a united whole. There is only one hope for the future.
Christians often talk about the “trinity,” a word you won’t find in Scripture. But passages like this give us an understanding that there is a mystery to the way God speaks about himself. These verses say there is “one Spirit,” “one Lord,” and “one God and Father of all.” The word “Lord” is certainly a reference to Jesus given the context of the letter. So we know that there is one God, and almost interchangeably there is one Spirit, Lord, and Father. Three aspects of who God is that cannot be separated but are one united whole.
Here’s your freedom for today: God brings all things together. God himself embodies unity in ways we can only partially describe well. He rules over all and unites his family together in ways we can only get glimpses of. We have one hope and one faith. There is one way to access the Father — the path that Jesus created when he died on the cross and then rose from the dead. God can’t be fully explained or fully understood by our limited minds. This limitation is why we must cling to hope and faith — he is bringing all things together and if you trust in him then you get to be a part of his amazing work.