UNITY AT ANY PRICE?

While it is rare these days for a reader of this journal to cancel his subscription, we did receive such a request from a subscriber in Kentucky. His complaint was that he did not want to receive a paper that advocated unity “at any cost,” as he put it. I promptly wrote the gentleman that Ouida would remove his name from our mailing list, but I told him that it concerned me that even one reader of this paper would conclude that we advocate an unconditional unity or a unity stripped of any substance. There is indeed a “cost”, if that is the word to use, in “preserving the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” to use Paul’s language.

I told our Kentucky reader that this journal pleads for a unity based upon both truth and freedom. These are indeed absolutes. Unity without truth would be meaningless; unity without freedom would be a cruel conformity. These have been our constant themes, stated in different ways but lest there be even one reader who has not heard us, I want to say it yet again, perhaps in still a different way.

I have said it many times, in unity conferences as well as in writing, that in the unity for which we plead no one is asked to surrender any truth he holds. Indeed, I would insist that he should not compromise even the least of the truths he believes. If he believes, for example, that the Spirit has given him the gift of tongues, he should not repudiate this for the sake of unity and fellowship. It may be appropriate for him to restrict himself in the exercise of such a gift in certain situations for the sake of unity, but he can never be asked to violate his conscience.

The basic truth that makes us one is, of course, Jesus Christ and him crucified. One is not only to believe this but be committed to it. Loyalty to Christ is thus basic to unity, and there can be no unity or fellowship where there is disloyalty to our Lord. We will differ in our walk with him, but walk with him we must. When he calls “Follow me,” we must respond in loving obedience. All those who heed that call and follow only Jesus as Lord are “walking in the light” and thus have fellowship one with another (1 Jn. 1:7). We will have our differences, whether in reference to baptism, prophecy, methods, but these can be quietly studied in an atmosphere of unity and acceptance. If we insist upon agreement on all doctrine and methods before we accept each other, then unity will only be a matter of talk and not action.

If there is “cost” involved in unity, it would be in putting loyalty to Christ before loyalty to a party. Those who insist that following Christ means to submit to all the unique features of some party make unity and fellowship difficult if not impossible. I may be right in my understanding of baptism, for example, but I cannot demand that a person have my “perfect” practice and understanding before I accept him in the Lord.

We must realize that this is a high cost to those who not only love their party but look to it for approbation, security, and perhaps even a livelihood. To go beyond the party line and accept all those as equals who are in Christ usually brings the anathema of the party upon one. But freedom in Christ is easily worth the cost, for Christ has already paid the only real cost there is to being a Christian.

Unity must also be free, for one cannot be a true disciple of Christ if he is pressured to think like everyone else. Unity allows for the individuality implied in the apostolic principle “Let everyone be fully convinced in his own mind” (Rom 14:5). Freedom allows for differences and precludes a judgmental attitude.

Unity in truth and freedom not only means that we find oneness in the basic truths of the Christian faith, but that we allow liberty of opinion to one another. We are free to hold our opinions and even to express them so long as we do not try to impose them upon others. When one is “pushy” about his opinions he makes a joyous fellowship difficult and may even threaten the unity of the Body. This is why heresy is not simply an opinion, but an opinion made into a law and forced upon others even if the opinion happens to be right.

This is why love is the bond that preserves the Spirit’s gift of unity to the church. Love does not insist on its own way. Col. 2:14 says it well: “Above all these things put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

So the unity for which we plead is substantial, not vacuous. It is authentic, not artificial. It calls upon the most basic principles of Scripture, as well as of human reason and dignity: truth, freedom, love. Unity’s counterfeits lack all these ingredients. It is not the basic truth of Christ that is called for, but “being right” on a catalogue of opinions, theories, and dogmas (the party line). Freedom gives way to pressure and conformity, and one is held as suspect if he hears or reads anything that does not toe the party line. And there is little place for loving forbearance since the bonding element is a cold allegiance to what is called “sound doctrine.”

The ultimate “cost” is to make whatever sacrifice is necessary to be “a man in Christ,” to use Paul’s language, rather than a sectarian. Jesus has already united all those who are in him in “the fellowship of the Spirit.” And he has paid the price. —the Editor

 

The starting point in considering the question of unity must always be regeneration and belief of the truth. Nothing else produces unity. —D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in The Basis of Christian Unity