Principles of Unity and Fellowship . . .
THE HIDDEN UNITY OF THE CHURCH
To speak of a divided church is really a contradiction, for by its very nature the church is one and cannot be otherwise and still be the church. The church is the Body of Christ and that Body is one. It has to be, just as our own physical bodies are one and not multiples. Divisions are not only contradictions but also encrustations and impediments. They cannot be any part of the Body, but are only foreign elements, parasites that invade and threaten the Body. But these invaders make it appear that the Body is, after all, multiple, a collection of warring sects and splintered factions. It thus appears that Christ is divided, despite the apostle's affirmation to the contrary. But this is the great lie. The church is still one, always has been, and cannot be otherwise. The reason is both simple and beautiful: it is the Body of Christ. It is appropriate, therefore, to speak of the church's hidden unity. To erase the hidden and thus make evident the church's oneness is the greatest task that man can put his heart and head to accomplish.
Our problem with what we call "the divided church" is something like a marriage in trouble. A counsellor could well say to the husband and wife: "Our task is not to make you one. God has already done that. Our task is to recover the blessings of conjugal oneness and thus make manifest the unity of the bond of matrimony." He could point to love, trust, companionship and family security as blessings of marriage and the fruit of oneness. But the fruit has been spoiled by such parasites as lust, malice, jealousy and pride. It isn't that they need to be one, for they are already one. They need to recover the fruit of oneness. This involves digging back into the roots that enlivened their relationship at the outset. This calls for renewal through recovery — a recovery of the love they had at first. It also calls for a sloughing off of all the encrustations and impediments that hang on to their marriage like poisonous parasites cling to a helpless body.
Thomas Campbell realized this hid-den unity of the church when he wrote those oft-quoted words in the Declaration and Address: "The Church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one," and it is this principle that is the genius of the Restoration Movement. Campbell was horrified by the divisions that separated believers into warring camps, but still he saw the church, the true church of God upon earth, as necessarily one due to its very nature in Christ. If people are in Christ they cannot be other than one, for Christ is not divided. Parties are therefore an abnormality and a contradiction. Despite their presence the church is one. Campbell saw that, and it gives all of us a better perspective if we realize that we have not the resources to make the church one, for God has already done that. If we could make it one, then it would not be the Body of Christ. You may as well talk about your physician making your body one. He might make it whole but he can't make it what it already is.
That there can be parties within the church, causing it to be sick, is evident enough, just as your body can be made ill by the presence of pestering parasites. This is to say that our continuing task, since Pentecost, is to renew and reform the church through a recovery of those spiritual values that make the church whole, and so root out sectarianism. We thus are ever busy restoring its life and beauty, its institutions and mission in the world. Restoration can mean no more than this, and certainly it is not our task to "restore the church," as if the church did not exist. It has existed since Pentecost and always will, until its Lord comes to claim it. He insisted that all of Hades would not keep it from existing on earth. The Campbells and the Stones did not restore the church. It was their purpose to join the great tradition of reformation, which began with Luther and before, and to restore to the church the glory that God intends it to have.
All this is another way of saying that the only unity that ever has been or ever will be is unity in diversity. It is odd that this principle should now be opposed by some among us as liberal, for it is the very genius of our Movement. Our pioneers not only saw the essential oneness of the church, even in a maze of sectarian divisions, but they realized that that unity could find outward expression only in a diversity of opinions. So their plea became "In essentials unity, in non-essentials (opinions) liberty, in all things love." No one can really believe this slogan (and all our various segments claim to!) and argue for unity only on the ground of conformity. There is to be unanimity or conformity in matters of faith, but these are only truths and principles that are clearly and distinctly set forth in scripture, such as the seven unities of Eph. 4 or the basic facts of the gospel, and these, and only these, can be made tests of communion in the Body. The vast area of doctrinal interpretation must be kept open and free. Diverse opinions are even to be encouraged, for we learn more by an honest and searching exchange of views, and not by being carbon copies of each other's thinking.
This approach to an outward show of our hidden unity is the only thing that will work, for it is realistic about our differences. Some of our "charismatic" brothers and sisters may serve the Lord better if they have their own congregations, in some cases at least. Some congregations will be more "high church" in that they choose to be more formal and liturgical, while others will conduct corporate worship as if they were sitting around a snack bar. Some will have organs and choirs. Some will use only the King James — and spend a lot of their time condemning all other versions! Some will be enthusiastic about cooperative enter-prises and will want to do their thing through this and that agency. And within all these churches there will be even deeper diversity — each one's personal faith in view of his or her own relation to Jesus and the word. What we believe about thousands of things, in the scriptures and out, is going to be different — and why shouldn't it be?
There will no doubt be some error in all these differences, and so the search for truth and understanding must go on — within the fellowship. To say that we must see everything alike before we can share the common life in Jesus is only to say that we must remain divided into various parties, each drawing the line on all the others. Yes, there are and there will always be "brothers in error" — and perhaps a few sisters in error as well — but since we are all ignorant and erroneous about some things that is hardly the point. It is the kind of error that matters. If one is committed to pleasing God in all he does (1 Jn. 3:22), he might be "in error" in many of his fumbling efforts to interpret the scriptures and still be a faithful disciple. On the other hand he might be ever so skillful in his handling of the word and simon pure in his interpretations and yet be far from the kingdom. It is largely a matter of the heart. "If you invoke me and pray to me, I will listen to you: when you seek me, you shall find me; if you search with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord" (Jer. 29:13-14).
Unity lies deeper than doctrinal congruency. Just as in nature, our many congregations can be a harmony of contrasts. The contrasts are already there, so it is the harmony, drawn from the Body's hidden unity, that we seek to restore. This comes in part by a recognition of diverse heritages and histories. Surely we have much to learn from the Lutheran tradition, or the Old Catholic, or the Quaker, or from Tertullian and Origen, or from Barth and Schleiermacher. Once we cultivate a more universal view of the faith, one that reaches beyond Texas and Tennessee to the work of God in Asia and Africa, we are more likely to appreciate the church's hid-den unity — and be more inclined to bring that hidden unity out into the open!
Mention was made of these views being opposed as liberal. Let's not allow a beautiful word to get away from us. Nothing is more liberating than to be set free from the sectarian spirit. We are to be pitied when we presume to be the depository of all truth and arrogate to ourselves the claim of being the only children God has. He has children who have never heard of Alexander Campbell and the Restoration Movement, or the "Christian Church" or "Church of Christ." If all of us "Campbellites" were suddenly removed from the scene, the kingdom of God on earth would still be alive and well, and it would be beautifully represented in the lives of countless souls from all four corners of the earth. And these people are our brothers and sisters, not because they are in the Christian Alliance Church of Ghana, or the Nigerian Reformed Church, but because they are in Christ just as we are. And we are all one in Christ Jesus! That is unity, even if it may be more hidden than manifest.
To say that the world would still have the church, and have it abundantly, if we were not around, is not to say that we are not important. I think we are very important to the ecumenical (world-wide) Church of Christ, especially since I believe a lot of things are wrong and that the work of reformation is an unfinished task. We have much to say in "the great conversation" on the nature and mission of the church. Our own mission has already been charted for us by our pioneers, though I realize we are to continue to examine that course. That course is what we are talking about in this article and on and on in this journal: to bear witness to the constitutional unity of the church and to continually renew its faith and ordinances through a recovery of apostolic and catholic norms.
But we can't do that so long as we are divided and sub-divided a dozen different ways. It is that woefully simple. We cannot ask for uniformity of practice - all of us doing every-thing exactly alike; or uniformity of organization -- all our congregations structured in exactly the same way; or uniformity of corporate worship or of doctrinal interpretation. We can only ask for an expression of the unity in Christ that is already a reality, however hidden. This is the love and acceptance (and as far as possible a working relationship) of all our brothers and sisters in the Body, de-spite the difference. Once we take this step and accept each other, we will then find more and more agreement. But such agreement cannot be made the condition of the acceptance.
Once we take this humble step and manifest the unity that is in Jesus, the Christian world, which badly needs what we can offer, will be more inclined to listen. — the Editor