The Lord Our God is One

To understand the Book of Romans, it is absolutely necessary to understand why Paul was writing it. He was addressing a division in the church in Rome. The Jewish Christians had left when exiled, and when they returned to Rome, they found Gentile Christians running the church. This ruffled feathers and caused division. God hates division. God loves unity. The great Hebrew prayer, the Shemah Yisrael, begins with the declaration, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4). The Hebrew word used there for “one” is in fact the word “unity”. God is Unity. God is One. God desires for His people to worship together in peace.

Years ago, our little community of faith in Texas was visited by a group of Amish men and women from Wisconsin. They came to put a new roof on our fellowship hall, but only under a few conditions. One condition was that I would give a devotional every morning before we started work. As I prayed about what to teach on that first morning, my mind stumbled across Psalms 133. It states, “See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity! 2It is like the precious oil on the head, that ran down on the beard, even Aaron’s beard, that came down on the edge of his robes.” The anointing of Aaron isn’t recorded anywhere else in scripture, but David was talking about it. It must have been a big event, but that wasn’t the big idea in this verse. 

David states that unity among brethren is like the precious oil used for anointing the head. I did a deep dive and learned that the “anointing oil” was a special blend of oils and spices set forth by God. It could not be holy with just one kind of oil. What made it holy was the mix of diverse ingredients, all required by God to make the special oil holy. God is not interested in uniformity, but in unity. Some of my Amish listeners understood the implications. Uniformity in dress, buttons, suspenders, and other outward things had very little to do with unity. We should all strive for unity in our church body if we’re not getting along with someone. Get that “thing” worked out. In this passage, Paul calls those who create divisions evil. Whether they know it or not, they are being used by Satan to stir up trouble. Don’t give the devil a foothold. Strive for unity with other believers with all your abilities. Paul knew that the only things that truly threatened the unity of God were divisions and offense. Always remember that offense is the bait of Satan. Don’t fall for it. As much as you are able to do so, focus on those things that bring you into unity with others in the church.