Are there different religions within the Christian faith?

No, they are not. As far as true believers are concerned, of course they are. But this takes in the sphere of profession, and for a very long time the sphere of profession has been much larger than the vital sphere. There is one Lord. None could be a Christian even in name, who refused to acknowledge Christ as Lord. There is also one faith, which all profess to acknowledge as God's revelation.

Secondly, there is a unity of those who own one Lord, confess one common faith, and submit to one baptism. This is the unity of a common profession which may be true and real, and yet, alas, may be mere profession. This circle of unity is then obviously larger than the unity of the one body formed by the one Spirit.

In the second circle all relates to the ONE Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ, and is evidently the circle of Christian profession. The ONE faith is the doctrine of Christianity, given to us in the Holy Scriptures, which Jude tells us was "once delivered to the saints." No man could be looked upon as a Christian (in any sense) who refused to acknowledge Jesus as Lord, or who did not accept the Scriptures as the setting forth of the doctrine of Christianity. It may be that some say "Lord, Lord" in a mere formal recognition of Jesus, without divinely given faith in the soul; and nominally assent to the body of Christian teaching without its having power in their lives; but this could not invalidate the reality to the true believer that there is ONE Lord and ONE faith, truths which delight his heart and regulate his walk and ways. Entrance to the circle of Christian profession is by baptism, and in Christianity there is but ONE baptism. It might be that Jews are baptised in the Name of Jesus Christ; that some were baptised in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and others baptised in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; but it is the same baptism, the truth of which is opened out to us in different Scriptures.

Thus we have had, first of all, the great spiritual reality which is always true of Christians, and of none else. They, and only they, have "one Spirit" dwelling in them. They only have the "one hope of their calling." But the moment you come to the "one Lord," this city, yea every city in Christendom, is a witness to a wide-spread profession of His name. As He is outwardly called on, so there is everywhere the "one faith," which does not mean (alas! we know too well) saving faith necessarily, but the faith of Christendom; and accordingly "one baptism" is its mark, because thus they are put on or take the ground of professing the one Lord and one faith.

71 There is threefold unity, one body, one Spirit, and ourselves called in one hope of our calling. We then get the outward profession, one Lord, one faith, one baptism; and afterwards a still greater circle - one God and Father of all, above all, and through all, and in you all. In other words, we get unity of the Spirit, the unity of the lordship, and the unity in connection with one God and Father. It is the Spirit, the Lord, and God, as you find it in 1 Corinthians, where he speaks of gifts, diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; diversities of administrations, but the same Lord; and diversities of operations, but the same God that worketh all in all. It is not Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; this is not the thought, though it is connected with it, but the Spirit and Lord and God. You have the Spirit, the active agent down here, the Lord under whose authority the work is carried on, and after all, it is a divine thing - the same God that works all in all. So it is in the Corinthians, but just the same principle as here. There is a difference between the gifts there and here, and a very important difference, though here as there the Spirit and the Lord and God. We have the Holy Ghost down here; then Christ as Man in glory (He is more than that, but still He is Man; God has made Him Lord and Christ; He has got an official place. It is not that He has not a human nature, and a divine nature: that is all true; but He has an official place): one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Then follows a wider larger circle, one God, who is above all, through all, and (bringing it back to the internal power) He is in us all. Scripture is remarkably correct. Pantheism puts God into everything, and makes it all God; but Paul gives us the truth.

Before we close this, it will be well to notice how the apostle separates these different spheres in the fourth chapter of his epistle to the Ephesians. His seven unities there comprise and are divided into three concentric circles of blessing, of which he begins with the innermost and proceeds outward. The innermost circle is that of the Church: "There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling." Next, we have that of the kingdom: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." Outside, again, is the world; not, of course, in the evil sense, but as the creation of God: "one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all." This is the Scripture classification, which it has been our object to establish here.

(Vv. 4-6). The important question naturally arises, What is the one mind of the Spirit that we are to endeavour to keep? It comes before us in verses four to six. The one mind of the Spirit is set forth in these seven unities, the one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all. These are the great truths that the Spirit is here to make true to our souls and to maintain. Walking with one another in the light of these truths, we shall keep the unity of the Spirit, while any practical denial of them, or departure from them, will be a breach in the unity of the Spirit. Thus there come before us in these verses the different spheres in which a walk according to the Spirit is to be expressed. This walk is seen in connection with the one body, the one Spirit, and the one hope, in the circle of life, in connection with the Lord in the circle of Christian profession, and in connection with God in the circle of creation.

Chapter 4 is a continuance of what we have looked at in chapter 2, that is, at the close of that chapter where we have the calling wherewith we are called set before us, of which we are to walk worthy. And in order to walk worthy the requisite state of soul is plainly set before us, and the moral characteristics are those that were gracefully manifested in the life of Jesus here upon earth—lowliness and meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, using diligence by the exhibition of these moral qualities to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Three circles of this unity are set before us: “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.” How contrary to all this the state of Christendom is! Instead of there being only one body, the bodies in that which professes the name of Christ are uncountable. The Spirits also seem to be innumerable, and everyone seems to have a hope of his own.

Hence the exhortation is afterwards addressed to them, that they should endeavour "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," for, adds the apostle, "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" (Eph. 4:3-6). Here, again, we find the truth practically applied in a way which shows that this oneness of the body was not regarded as an invisible, impalpable thing, never intended to be discerned on earth save by the eye of God, but as the normal condition of the Church, for the outward preservation of which believers were responsible. The Holy Ghost teaches that there is but one body, and that for this reason we are to endeavour "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." How is this to be done? By breaking the one body, as to its outward manifestation, into fifty or a hundred different and rival bodies? If not, then Christendom has failed, and this divided condition of the Church is in direct contradiction to the express teaching of the Word of God.

The apostle proceeds to mention some of the bonds of unity. There are seven: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. We must not confound the unity of the Spirit with the unity of the body though the two things are intimately connected. A recent writer, one worthy of esteem in love for his work's sake, has said, "Is it not clear that, during this age, the Church of Christ was never meant to be a visible corporate body, but to be a great spiritual reality, consisting of all faithful and loyal spirits, in all communions, who, holding the Head, are necessarily one with each other?" It is clear undoubtedly, that the church was meant to be "a great spiritual reality," and this it is. But it is also clear from scripture, that it should have been "a visible corporate body," i.e. all the saints on earth walking together in one communion, keeping the unity of the Spirit. It were better far to own our deep failure and sin, and seek fresh grace from the ever faithful Lord, than to excuse our failure by denying the truth and our responsibility.