Unity (eBook)

Introduction

Avoiding Extreme Views of Christian Unity

As human beings created by a triune God, we are social creatures. We are meant to relate to other humans in a spirit of unity and mutual benevolence. We thrive best when we are in company with others and working together for the common good. Peaceful coexistence is of the very essence of our humanity, hence the well-known phrase “No man is an island.” We want to dwell in a peaceful environment. The subject of peace and unity is vital for us as human beings.

With the entrance of sin into the world, however, one of the areas of human existence most affected has been our ability to coexist in the very atmosphere that we all should long for. Sin has made us so selfish that it jeopardizes our efforts to live together in harmony. As we shall learn in this book, the coming of Christ not only reconciles us to God but also reconciles us to one another. The church, therefore, should be the place where this deep desire among human beings is realized. While unity is realized to a large extent among genuine Christians, there is a lot we need to do to realize this more fully in actual experience, as we shall see.

R. B. Kuiper wrote in his classic The Glorious Body of Christ:

The plight of the Christian church seems almost as sad as that of the world. To all appearances it, too, is a house divided against itself. It resembles a beautiful vase that, fallen from its perch, lies shattered in a thousand pieces. It is like a grand structure transformed by an exploding bomb into a tangled heap of wreckage. Unbelievable though it may seem, the church of Jesus Christ is really one.1

It is this unity that we need to pursue.

When Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians, he was full of joy because of what this church meant to him. It was the church that sponsored his missionary work as he made his way into Europe. Even when he was imprisoned, this church sent him some much-needed supplies. At the time of his writing the letter, they even sent him one of their most able men, Epaphroditus, so that he could minister to Paul while he was in prison (2:25). Yet he knew that the church would be hindered in its work if it became disunited. So he wanted them to not take unity for granted. Already two ladies in the church whose partnership in the gospel he treasured appeared to have been quarreling, and this reached the ears of Paul while he was in prison. So he appealed to them:

I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. (4:2–3)

Central to the book you are reading is Philippians 1:27. It is an appeal for the church in Philippi to ensure that it would remain united both in fellowship and in ministry. Paul made this appeal based on the gospel. He wanted the Christians in Philippi to live lives worthy of the gospel they had come to know. He wrote,

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.

It was as the Philippians remained gospel-centered that they would stand firm in one spirit and strive side by side for the same gospel. This would happen whether the apostle Paul was among them or not.

This gospel-centered unity—or evangelical unity—needs to be emphasized among Christians no less today. You don’t have to be in the church very long before you notice two wrong and opposite—even dangerous—outlooks on Christian unity.

Unity as Merely Organizational?

There are those whose chief concern is merely organizational. They want all who claim to be Christians and Christian churches to come together into some form of global Christian church. Appeal is often made to the words of Jesus in his high priestly prayer, where he said to God the Father, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through [my disciples’] word, that they may all be one . . . so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:20–21). The argument is often made that this visible global unity will have an evangelistic allure, as was stated in the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, surely, who would not want that?

What those who make this appeal often forget is that this unity is meant for those “who will believe in me through [my disciples’] word.” It is a unity of those who have truly believed in the gospel. Whereas belief is in the heart and we should be inclined to accept those who claim to believe, their belief must be based on the gospel as it is revealed in Scripture. This gospel is based squarely on the finished work of Christ by the grace of God without human works added to it. So, for instance, we cannot be in unity with those who believe that the Virgin Mary is a co-redeemer with the Lord Jesus Christ or that we should be praying to her to appeal to her son to have mercy on us. That is a false gospel; it does not save. The unity that our Lord desires is based on what the apostles would proclaim, and we have it in the Scriptures.

There is another dividing line that those who cite John 17 often overlook. It is the fact that although faith is in the heart and therefore cannot be seen, it produces fruit that must be seen. When individuals are converted, they experience a spiritual transformation that is evident to those around them. Jesus saves from sin. If that has not happened, then people who make a claim to Christianity make a false claim, however sincere they may be. It was the apostle Paul who said to Titus, his protégé, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age” (Titus 2:11–12). The grace of God in salvation produces the fruit of holiness. We have no right to include in Christian fellowship individuals and churches that have long abandoned godliness. In fact, if we take the apostle Paul seriously, individuals who show a stubborn affinity for sin must be expelled from the church (see 1 Cor. 6:9–13).

Lastly, advocates for a unity that is merely organizational also forget a crucial phrase in the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ in John 17. Let me quote verses 20–21 in full. Jesus prayed: “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” The prayer of our Lord was not primarily for organizational unity but for spiritual unity. That is what is meant by “just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you.” The very real spiritual bond between the persons of the godhead sets the precedent for unity among true believers. As we shall see, this unity has been achieved by the Lord Jesus Christ and applied to believers by the Holy Spirit. The bond between true believers in Christ is organic rather than organizational. Our task is to maintain it.

We must be careful not to go to the extreme of assuming a unity with everyone who claims to be a Christian. We must ensure that the gospel people claim to believe in is the biblical gospel and that they are bearing its fruit. Commenting on John 17:21, John Calvin wrote,

Wherefore, whenever Christ speaks about unity, let us remember how basely and shockingly, when separated from him, the world is scattered; and, next, let us learn that the commencement of a blessed life is, that we be all governed, and that we all live, by the Spirit of Christ alone.2

Unity as Total Agreement?

The opposite extreme view of Christian unity is found among those who will work together only with those with whom they agree on everything—doctrinal and practical. They often divide over styles of worship, political and social issues, modes of child discipline and education, church organization and administration, the use of social media, eschatological views, and so on. As you will notice, these are all non-gospel issues. Granted, our level of interchurch cooperation does depend on how united we are over matters of doctrine and practice, but there should still be some level of cooperation where it is evident that we stand for the same gospel. Refusing all cooperation with fellow believers is surely wrong. If such division were allowed, the New Testament church would have long split between Jews and Gentiles, because in those early days that was what largely threatened church unity.

The apostle Paul addressed this matter in some of his letters, especially Romans and 1 Corinthians. For instance, to the Romans he wrote:

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. . . .

One person esteems one day as better...