<p>4:3- see on Jn. 17:23.</p><p><i>Giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace</i>- The patient forgiveness and making allowance for others just spoken of (:2) will in practice mean that the unity the Spirit has potentially created will be realized in practice. We have here another encouragement to live in practice what we are by status- a united community. The implication is that by dividing, by intolerance, both of practical and intellectual matters, we are going against the unity which the Spirit has potentially created; and we are thereby out of step with the Spirit. It is &quot;peace&quot; which is to be the bond or uniting principle; and &quot;peace&quot; is often a reference to peace with God through the forgiveness achieved in the Lord Jesus. An awareness of our own experience of forgiveness is what will connect us with others who have experienced the same in Christ; mere adherence to the same set of theology will not, and evidently does not, create true spiritual unity between believers.</p>