By: Obed Pineda
If you are a history enthusiast and are planning to travel to another city, state, or country, it is very likely that visiting a museum is already a part of your itinerary. Indeed, for you, visiting the local museum is like making a trip within your trip. This experience is made possible through the preservation of ancient artifacts exhibited in the halls of the museum, where these objects are able to share their tales about the past from whence they arrived. These relics can also serve as a confirmation of the existence of past generations and civilizations spoken of by the history books that are sometimes difficult to accept as real. They illustrate the power of human ingenuity upon realizing the achievements that were procured sans the “advantages” that modern technology offers our current society. Achievements that irrefutably laid the groundwork for attaining the aforementioned advancements enjoyed today. For this reason, it would not be out of the question that someone who greatly values and respects the contributions of the past world would readily agree that the best museum experiences are those that are successful in transporting the spectator to the actual past via the art of recreation. Hence, the purpose for a museum curator. A curator is a person who is charged with the duty of caring for an exhibit and is responsible for the collection of ancient artifacts being displayed. Additionally, they are also hired by a collector to acquire new historical objects for the museum, verify if the acquired pieces are legitimate or counterfeit, and, if necessary, to restore recently obtained objects that may have arrived damaged or already owned artifacts that are in need of reparation. Learning about the hefty burden that lies upon the shoulders of a museum curator, their importance to the preservation of history is undeniable. It also reveals the enormous amount of trust that is bestowed by the relic’s possessor upon the curator and their ability to recognize, preserve, guard, and restore antiquities efficiently. This is further validated when we recall that a great number of these antique pieces are extremely rare and expensive. Many of them are one of a kind, making them irreplaceable since they cannot be recreated. With this revelation of what the curatorial duties include, one could relate as a Christian since Holy Writ declares that we are charged with “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). The ancient Greek word translated by the majority of the English versions as “keep” in this pericope is tēreō andis lexicographically defined as “to attend to carefully, take care of; to guard” (Thayer, G5083). The inspired apostle’s word choice makes manifest that we as the Lord’s church have been entrusted with a valuable possession from heaven that is impossible to replicate by man, thus making it irreplaceable. Observe that what this Scripture is revealing as the precious, eternal heirloom that the church is commissioned to guard is “the unity of the Spirit.” Remember that the epistle written to the Ephesians is honed in on the preeminence of the Church, and that the final three chapters of the epistle are instructions in how every Christian is to illuminate this truth with his or her daily conduct. They concentrate on teaching us how to apply these doctrinal lessons imparted in the preceding three chapters of the inspired epistle in our daily lives. It is crucial to comprehend that this commandment is found in Paul’s introduction to this Divine guidance, by design and not by accident. To have a better grasp as to the Holy Spirit’s purpose for doing so, let us bring to memory Paul’s warning to our brethren at Corinth, saying, “I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ…for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men” (1st Corinthians 3:1, 3)? Earlier in the apostle’s inspired letter he uncovered the source of their ensuing contention to be that they were no longer speaking the same language amongst themselves (cf. 1st Corinthians 1:10-12). The apostle Paul highlights this fact by declaring that they were carnal and not spiritual, because they quarreled over which man they followed, causing them to stop following Christ (cf. 1st Corinthians 3:4). They were unsuccessful in keeping the unity of the Spirit because they allowed human opinion to overtake spiritual thought. It is imperative to notice that the bickering commenced when the nature of their conversations switched from spiritual to carnal. Paul explained to the Ephesians that the unity of the Spirit is to be guarded “in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3b). A bond is understood to be something, such as a cord or glue, that holds something together. This is true of the Greek word sundesmos, used in our text, as well with the slight addition that it is also speaking about the ligaments binding the human body in unity (Thayer, G4886). This explanation of sundesmosincredibly expands our understanding as to why keeping the unity of the Spirit is so vital for the church; the body of Christ (cf. Romans 12:4-5, 1st Corinthians 12:12-27). Medicine has taught us that when the body does not communicate well between its members, it ceases to function properly and it will begin to shut down. The miscommunication between the body members causes the body to become sick because of the “arguments” and “disagreements” taking place between them. In order to nurse the body back to health, those parts of the body provoking the schism must return to harmony with the rest of its members by speaking the same thing. This will only take place when it is ready and willing to submit to the directions provided to it by the head. Holy Writ urges “let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments [sundesmos], grows with the increase that is from God” (Colossians 2:18-19, addition mine). These Scriptures make it unmistakably clear that it is the inspired Word of God that binds the church perfectly together, bringing forth true peace. It cannot be denied that when everyone is in accord with one another, harmony and peace emanate. To the Philippians it was instructed, “only let your conduct be worthy of the Gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel” (Philippians 1:27). Because it is through the Bible how one comes to the Gospel where (once obeyed) he makes peace with God and his fellow man (cf. Ephesians 2:13-18, 1st Peter 1:22-25), it makes perfect sense that the Bible continue to be the sacred cords that hold that peace together, when upheld righteously. What a blessing to learn that the God of peace has charged us to be His curators of peace (cf. Colossians 3:12-15, Hebrews 12:14).