Achieving Christian unity has been a goal of every true believer from the time Christ began building His Church 2,000 years ago. No real Christian can honestly say they do not earnestly desire to see the Church completely united. We wish hard that there was only one branch of the faith, one banner under which every church building lay. We all deeply want unhindered fellowship amongst all believers. This is an intrinsic passion in every true Christian heart — that a Christian was a Christian, that a church was a Christian church and a Christian church alone. That there was no division, no separation, no variations among other Christians. But we would be naive to pretend like this is what we have today in Christianity.
Not only is it a sincere desire of every Christian for the Church of the Lord Jesus to be altogether united, it is a biblical imperative. The apostle Paul states in no unclear terms:
Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.
— 1 Corinthians 1:10
Jesus prays in the “High Priestly Prayer” for the unity where which we now speak. Identifying His word as the anchor for every disciple of His and as the means by which this unity is to be gasped, declares the purpose of His word when He says:
that they may all be one; even 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 sent Me.
— John 17:21
A united Church is the hope and desire of every believer. It’s also the desire of Christ, the Head of the Church. We are not alone in this; how often have you heard someone on the outside of the faith express distaste that “Christians cannot even agree amongst themselves!” Everyone knows there should be unity within Christianity, so why don’t we see it?
We must not go any further without recognizing the ultimate reality that the true Church IS united in Christ. All believers, regardless of their denominational affiliations, their background, the time in history that they’ve lived,… All who cling to Christ for salvation are of one body: “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” (Romans 12:4-5) “For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.”
(1 Corinthians 12:12-14) Regardless of how it may appear to us now, the people of God are united in the ultimate sense.
But is this enough? Does this ultimate reality satisfy the longing we all share to experience this reality in our present state? Obviously, we want more. We anxiously await in hope knowing one day this desire will be fulfilled when Christ returns from heaven and sets all things aright. So then, we ignore the disunity we now see and sit content divided in so many ways? If that thought even crosses your mind, better check yo’ self! Really. If you could be content with such division and separation within the faith as we see today, the unity we will one day experience in fullness would never please you.
So what do we do? You can trust me when I say the leaders of the Christian churches around the world are not reading this blog post for the answers to finally bring unity to the Church at large after all these centuries. However, I hope to provide a few thoughts for whoever does read it to think on that very well might help you handle divisions you notice in your local experience, and navigate difficult decisions you will face pertaining to this issue.
1. “Seek peace and Pursue it…
To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. For, “The one who desires life, to love and see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. He must turn away from evil and do good;
He must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” — 1 Peter 3:8-12
Just because we do not, and may never, see the unity we so deeply desire this side of glory, let it never be said of us that we did not seek it with all of our heart. Peter (quoting here from Psalm 34) tells us to “pursue it” — strive for it! Do not ever give up the fight for unity so long as that passion for unity exists within yourselves. And if that passion ever dies out, get to your prayer closet and spend some time examining yourself “to see if you are in the faith.” (2 Cor. 13:5)
2. Learn the difference between Essentials and Non-Essentials
There are certain hills worth dying on in the Christian faith, no doubt. Christianity is not a weak, undefined, absent-minded belief system (though humans absolutely have a tendency to approach the faith in those ways). The true faith is simple enough for children to understand, and yet rigorous enough to give the most intellectual minds depths to explore for an eternity. I’m convinced by experience and the testimony of Scripture that there are many things in the Word of God that we will never fully gasp on this earth. We have to be ok with mystery being that the Scriptures do not always give us all the details.
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God…” — Deuteronomy 29:29
That verse goes on to say, however: “but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.” What God has revealed in His Word IS for us to know, and obey, and love. But even in that, there are certain areas of Scripture and specific doctrines of the faith wherein Christianity stands or falls. These are things like the Trinity, the Deity of Christ, salvation by grace through faith alone, the resurrection and the judgement of the dead, etc. These are worth standing up for and even dying for. The Church must never be silent against distortions of these biblical truths even for the sake of unity. That union would be illegitimate; where the Scripture makes separations, we separate. But not every doctrine is worthy of separating over. There have been many opinions and interpretations given by faithful men and women on particular issues or passages that seek wholeheartedly to be consistent with Scripture. We may disagree with their interpretations of this or that verse or idea, but the differences do not in themselves represent a departure from the true faith that is in Christ. Seek diligently to identify and recognize Essential/Non-Essential doctrines.
3. Be Humble and teachable always
“…grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” — 2 Peter 3:18
How difficult is this one for us all?! Peter says we are to grow in the knowledge of Jesus. This would seem to suggest that we would be in positions where we knew less and would be working our way to a greater knowledge. How easy it is to assume we are right regardless of how long we have been a Christian on any specific topic! We naturally assume we are correct in all aspects of our theology, for if that our interlocutor was right we would quit believing what we had now discovered was wrong and agree with them. But that process is hard. It’s much harder to listen to others carefully and thoughtfully than it is to insist upon your own view. Unfortunately, I have done the latter in the past only to discover I was actually in the wrong. How can we know whether we are right or wrong? One way that will help is to operate with humility and have respect for the fellow believer you are discussing things with, whereby you may actually learn something and grow. Do not be afraid of that process despite the challenge it is to our natural inclinations.
4. “Love one another” (John 13:34, 15:12, Rom. 12:10)
If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. — 1 Corinthians 13:2
Despite our differences with one another, we are called to love all. ALL. Jesus even commands us to love our enemies (Matt. 5:44, Luke 6:27). Love for one another was never offered as a suggestion; Jesus calls it evidence of being His: “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35) He states in another place that love for God and love for neighbor are the two greatest commandments of all (Matt. 22:36-39). There will be many souls in heaven who had disagreed on earth, but there will be none in heaven who did not have love one for the other!
As much as we would all like to see a completely united Christianity, we may not ever see it in our lifetimes. But the desire and pursuit of Christian unity should never be diminished or quenched. Let us go on, striving in love, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.” (Eph. 4:13)
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