In apostolic times unity among the faithful was understood as a direct consequence of assuming the new life in Christ. St Paul sees the reconciliation of man with man and particularly of Jew and Gentile as effected through the crucified Christ. ‘But now in Christ you who were once far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace who has made us both one—(that he) might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross’ (Eph. 2. 14-16). Through baptism we become members of this body ‘For by one Spirit we were all baptised into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free’ (1 Cor. 12.13) whose head is Christ while we ‘are one body in Christ and individually members one of another’ (Rom. 12. 5).