The Restoration Mind . . .

THE BIBLICAL BASIS OF UNITY

The blight of division that has plagued the community of God through the centuries cannot be attributed to any ambiguity on the part of the Bible. The scriptures are abundantly clear as to what God’s will is in regard to the unity of his people. It may be that we have failed the Bible by allowing our divisions to persist, but the Bible certainly has not failed us. It is unequivocal in the demands it lays down for the oneness of God’s people, and it is all too plain in its declarations about division. Let us open the Bible and see what ground is laid for the unity of believers.

1. Unity is prayed for by Jesus himself.

It is a tender scene, the Master praying for men who had difficulty getting along with each other, who had trouble with their ambitious pride. He prayed for his disciples that they might be one, and he included the last one of us in that prayer: “It is not for these alone that I pray, but for those also who through their words put their faith in me; may they all be one: as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, so also may they be in us, that the world may believe that thou didst send me” Jn. 17:20-21).

This is the only mandate the church needs to get on with the task of healing its factious wounds. Jesus prayed to the Father that oneness would be a reality in us. What more do we need to motivate us to take these issues seriously and to become “a company of concerned ones” in reference to a divided church.

Jesus’ prayer in our behalf reveals something very important about unity, that it is a means to something even greater, and not an end in itself. We are not to be united just to be united, however glorious that may be. The church is to be united because of the witness it has to make to the world: that the world may believe that thou didst send me. A divided church never has and never will have an impact upon a troubled world. We are to be one so that the world may be won.

2. Unit is praised as highly desirable.

“How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity,” says Psa. 133. “It is fragrant as oil poured upon the head and falling over the beard, Aaron’s beard, when the oil runs down over the collar of his vestments.” This is to say that unity is as precious as the anointing of the Lord. The psalm goes on to liken it to the fallen dew, refreshing and inviting. The imagery here is especially significant when one realizes how precious oil was in biblical times and how highly prized the cool moisture of the fallen dew upon the hot hills of Zion.

Unity would have the same effect upon our parched and barren world, a world torn by war, racial strife, pollution and hunger. World leaders now speak of the unity of mankind as the only hope of survival. If ever there was a time for the unity of Christians, it is now, for a divided world has nothing to hear from a divided church.

We must rise up as one people and lay claim to the promise spoken of by the psalmist, for we need the refreshing anointment of unity upon our fevered brows and sagging spirits. Too long have we had divided homes and broken hearts; too long have we fractured and splintered into a multiplicity of warring parties; too long have we each gone his own way, unwilling to sit together in the assembly of the Lord; too long have debated and quarreled, dividing and subdividing; too long have we elevated men and their doctrines, allowing them to corral us into a faction of their own creation; too long have we been ruled by “editorocracy,” permitting papers to preserve and solidify our hates and prejudices; too long have we been doctrinaire, accenting the inconsequential while neglecting the things that matter most; too long have we been confronting each Other rather than loving each other.

Now is the time to lay claim to “the seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord” which is promised in the glorious oneness of the body of Christ. It is a blessing far too rare among our people, our party lines being as solidified as they are. What a precious thing it is to claim every child of God as your brother, wherever you find him, however weak he may be. Brotherhood is a relationship created in heaven and sealed with the Holy Spirit, not something manipulated by party intrigue and preserved by sectarian loyalty. To claim a man as your brother on the ground that he is a son of your Father, and to treat him as such, is as sound as the gates of heaven, and as beautiful. It is like oil upon Aaron’s beard. May God deliver us from the oppression of having to give a man the third degree, testing him on all those things that we make conditions of fellowship, before we can receive him as a brother. We do well to remember that whatever we make a requirement of one to enter into our fellowship is our creed. Jot down on a piece of paper what you demand of a brother before he can be in the fellowship of your congregation and you’ll have your written creed instead of an unwritten one.

The Hebrew word for unity is this psalm is yachad, meaning “at one,” which helps us to understand the nature of unity. This occurs when many diverse things become one in purpose and meaning. Unity in diversity. It happens (or should happen) in marriage, in a family. The “at one” idea reminds us of atonement or atonement. Our unity reaches back to the cross, to the atonement, where God’s grace redeemed us, making us one with him and with each Other.

3. Unity is commanded of us.

“I appeal to you, my brothers, in the name of our lord Jesus Christ: agree among yourselves, and avoid divisions; be firmly joined in unity of mind and thought” (1 Co. 1:10) . Surely the apostle would not require of us to avoid divisions if it were not possible for us to do so, no more than Jesus would have prayed for a unity that was impossible. It becomes a matter of whether we desire to heed Paul’s instructions and to fulfill the lord’s prayer more than we desire to preserve our parties.

This passage helps us to see the nature of division as well as unity. The word here for division means schism, which implies a tear. It is properly translated dissension, which suggests that sides were taken, but no actual separation, which would be the word faction. There were cliques at Corinth, but no open split. The difference would be the distinction between a tear in a garment and a piece of the garment that is torn completely away and separated. So parties (or factions) were in the making at Corinth, due to the dissension, and Paul’s intention is to put a stop to them. You notice that he refers to them as “the congregation of God’s people at Corinth” and as “the body of Christ” again and again in his correspondence, and he even says, speaking of the Supper at Corinth, “Because there is one loaf, we, many as we are, are one body; for we, many as we are, are one loaf, one body” (1 Co. 10:17). He would never have said that if they were divided into various parties, each refusing to recognize the other as brothers, as is the case with us.

Paul shows us here that the road to division begins with quarreling: “I have been told, my brothers, by Chloe’s’s people that there are quarrels among you.” And he makes it clear that this condition arises when too much confidence is placed in men.. “What I mean is this: each of you is saying; ‘I am Paul’s man’, or ‘I am for Apollos’; ‘I follow Cephas’, or I am Christ’s’.”

In one of our unity meetings one brother rose to his feet and said, “I can settle this matter of division here and now. Shoot all the preachers!” While this may deserve serious consideration, I hardly think that we should start here and now! But when one looks back over our long years of division he sees that the pattern has been what it was at Corinth: fussing and squabbling, and allowing our Goliaths to fight it out in the arena of public debate, which served only to polarize us all the more.

Paul’s language points to the nature of unity in his use of the word agreement: “Agree among yourselves, and avoid divisions.” Agreement here could hardly refer to unanimity of opinion or thinking alike on all matters, for that never has been and never will be, not even between two people, much less a congregation made up of people of diverse backgrounds. Placed as it is over against “avoid divisions,” agreement refers to that oneness of mind that will not allow dissensions to arise. Agreeing to be agreeable gets close to the idea. A man and wife, basking in the unity of their love, do not see eye-to-eye on everything, but they have agreeable dispositions and allow their affection for each other to transcend the differences. This is the force of the words that follow: be firmly joined in unity of mind and thought. It does not mean that we have to see the millennium in the same way or have the same attitude about Herald of Truth or instrumental music, but rather that we are together in our love for Christ and in dedication to his cause. And we will not let Paul or Apollos or Cephas keep us from allowing love to hide the many faults we all have.

4. Unity is urged upon us.

“Spare no effort to make fast with bonds of peace the unity which the Spirit gives” (Eph. 4:3). This passage is most helpful in that it teaches us that the unity we seek is not ours to gain, but the Spirit’s to give. It does not come by gatherings like this, nor by our wisdom and labor, as much as these things may help. Unity, like love and peace, is a gift of the Spirit.

While it is true that unity comes through love (“Love binds everything together in perfect harmony” Col. 2:14), it is a love that is manifested in our lives through the Holy Spirit. As he lives within us, his love will be shed abroad in our hearts, making us one with all those who are like-minded. This is the unity of the Spirit.

That there is something for us to do in all this is indicated in Paul’s words “Spare no effort” or “Give all diligence.” But notice that it is the bonds of peace that makes fast the unity of believers. We are to learn the fine art of peacemaking. There’s another promise we can lay claim to: How blest are the peacemakers; God shall call them his sons. Peace is something to be made between persons or within a congregation. It is something to be waged. It is a victory to be won. The peace that the Spirit gives us can bind us together in such a precious relationship that the unity of the Spirit is indeed preserved.

Peace is such a lovely word. That is why I like the name Irene, which means peace. We can all be Irenes in the house of God, radiating that peace that preserves unity. Quite obviously the maker of peace has to be patient and forbearing, for some people are hard to take. That is why the apostle prefaces this call for unity with the words: “Be humble always and gentle, and patient too. Be forbearing with one another and charitable.” If unity were based upon conformity, with everyone agreeing on everything and believing alike, there would be no need for patience and forbearance. It is the unlovely brother, the complainer, the one who insists on his own way, the one who is wrong, that the bond of peace encircles and draws to oneself.

There are many things that places strains upon the fellowship of the saints. Careless interpretation of scripture is one of them. Personality conflicts is another. Behavioral problems and “hang ups” of all sorts are others. The “brother in error” is still another, which I presume includes us all in one way or another. But strains are no real problem if the bond of peace is sufficiently strong.

5. Unity is exemplified.

Peter and Paul are good examples of unity in diversity, and surely that is the only kind of unity there is, for unity is certainly not conformity. Look how different these apostles were, even doctrinally. It went so far that on one occasion Paul rebukes Peter openly. And Paul’s mission to the Gentiles called for such behavior on Paul’s part that he was held suspect by his legalistic brethren in Jerusalem, including Peter. But the bond of peace preserved the unity and their fellowship was not threatened. They could extend to each other “the right hand of fellowship” despite the differences: Now if Paul and Peter could allow love for one another to transcend their difficulties, can we not manage things like cups, classes and organs? This means that Paul “fellowshipped a brother in error,” and I’m afraid that if you are in the fellowship with anybody at all, it will have to be with a brother in error. There are no other kind.

What was true of Peter and Paul was true of congregations like Jerusalem and Corinth. How different these congregations were and how wrong! Jerusalem had its racial prejudice while Corinth had its schisms. One was Jewish, the other Gentile; one conservative, the other liberal. So vast were the differences that legalists from Jerusalem sought to undermine Paul’s work at Corinth. Yet they were both the body of Christ and shared the common life. That, by the way, is the meaning of fellowship, which is the child of unity. Fellowship is the sharing of the common life, and some of our problems would be eased if we used the shared life more and the term fellowship less.

The Corinthians shared the common life with the Jerusalem saints through the bounty that they sent to them by the hands of Paul, and this kind of relationship is referred to in scripture as fellowship. This was the purpose of the weekly collections at Corinth. The money was to be sent to the poor in Judea. Would any of our congregations today, as different as Corinth and Jerusalem were, take up offerings for each other? This is one of the highest expressions of the shared life.

In his Midsummer Night’s Dream Shakespeare caught the significance of this kind of unity.

So we grew together

Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,

But yet a union in partition;

Two lovely berries moulded in one stem:

So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart,

Two of the first, like coats of heraldry,

Due but to one, and crowned with one crest.

It is indeed “a union in partition,” for in spite of race, nationality, sex, age, education, social standing, and all other partitions that wall men off from each other, we are all one in Jesus. It was a high and wide partition that separated Peter and Paul, Jerusalem and Corinth, but it was shattered by him who breaks down all barriers through his sacrifice on the cross.

Shakespeare saw too that unity is like berries “moulded in one stem,” which is certainly the nature of Christian unity. We are one, not because we are bound to each other, but because we are together moulded into Christ. The members of our body are related to each other only because of their common relationship to our head. So we are all members together in the body of Christ. This is why all who are in Christ are in the fellowship of the Spirit and are for this reason brothers together. It is not a matter of how many points of doctrine we see alike, but whether we bear the same relationship to Jesus.

6. Division, the opposite of unity, is declared sinful.

“Anyone can see the kind of behavior that belongs to the lower nature: fornication, impurity, and indecency; idolatry and sorcery; quarrels, a contentious temper, envy, fits of rage, selfish ambitions, dissensions (divisions), and jealousies; drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who behave in such ways will never inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19-21).

All of us in our divided brotherhood need to take a long look at this passage so that we can be jarred by the company that division keeps. Division is of the flesh,. partyism is carnal. Our divisive ways are sinful. There is no other way to cut it. Perhaps we did not create these parties; perhaps we were born into them and they are our unhappy heritage. But the fact is that we are, in the main, too unconcerned about the matter. We are guilty of tolerating and preserving the sins of our fathers. Once we see the ugliness and sinfulness of parry intrigue, we will be moved to do something. What Jesus prayed for, what the Spirit urges upon us, what the early congregations exemplified, we can surely realize in our own generation. It is largely a matter of getting our “want to” fixed, and once the desire is there, the Spirit will make it a reality. — Delivered at Restoration Workshop, Los Gatos, Ca., March 27, by the editor.