Is Christian unity even possible?
I don’t know about you, but I am really tired of all the debates among some Christians about whose theology is correct and whose church is the one true church. I’m much more interested in what brings us together and how to foster Christian unity among the churches.
Over the last year or so I’ve seen on social media, people from a number of different churches each claiming to be the only true church, the only church that is faithful to Jesus. And often, people from these churches will say why other churches and other theologies are wrong.
Sometimes they even send people who disagree with them to hell.
This really bothers me on several levels.
Divisiveness kills Christian unity
First of all, who gave these people the authority to decide who is going to heaven and who is going to hell? For any human being to think they can decide or discern the eternal fate of another human being, based on whether they agree or don’t agree with their own religious doctrines, is really profoundly arrogant.
Now, to be fair, it’s not the majority of churches doing this. But the ones who are, are pretty vocal about it, and they’re doing a great disservice to Christianity, and really to the whole world itself .
Another reason this bothers me is that we could all be wrong, to some degree. Now we don’t want to admit that. Nobody wants to admit that their theology might be wrong. But it kind of reminds me of the parable of the five blind men who each examined a different part of an elephant. Since they couldn’t see the whole elephant, they could only describe the part they could feel.
The one who touched the tail said an elephant was like a snake. The one who touched one of the elephant’s legs said an elephant was like a tree. And so on. They argued the rest of the day about what an elephant was. They were only aware of what they touched and couldn’t imagine what the whole was like.
You can argue all day that an elephant is like the trunk of a tree if that’s all you know, and that anyone who disagrees with you is completely wrong, but the only reason you believe that is because you don’t have the whole picture.
And you can argue all day that your theology is the only correct faith, but you may not have the whole picture.
We need Paul’s humility
Even Paul had the humility to say,
Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. 1 Corinthians 13:12 NIV
We see things partial and incomplete and therefore that’s all we can talk about.
Paul didn’t claim to know everything. We need to remember his spirit of humility.
What lens are you looking through?
Let’s come back to the metaphor of the elephant. Imagine you’re not blind but you’re looking at the elephant through a piece of hand-made glass that has imperfections and squiggles and wrinkles in it. The image of the elephant will be slightly distorted.
What if you looked at an elephant, or anything, through a microscope and someone else was looking through a telescopic lens? You would each see something different because of the different lenses you were looking through.
This is a metaphor for how we look at God and all creation, and then, as a result, interpret the Bible. What you believe about God and the Bible is affected by the perspective you’re looking from as well as the lens of your own preconceptions and opinions you’re looking through.
The problem is you can’t use your human mind to figure all this out.
Discerning the things of God
Paul points out that it’s impossible for the human mind to discern and take in the fullness of God and His creation.
However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2: 9, 10 NIV
The only way to discern what is truly from God is through revelation from the Holy Spirit.
But just because you think God has revealed something to you, doesn’t mean that revelation hasn’t been distorted in large of small ways because of the mental sieve of your own mind you filter this revelation through.
And just for the sake of discussion, let’s say you actually do have the absolute revelation of truth itself, directly from God. You have the perfect theology. This should make you much more compassionate toward others instead of being judgmental of them.
People longing for Christian unity
Recently I’ve been at two different conferences related to podcasting and how to get the message of The Bible Speaks to You in front of the people who are looking for healing and want to learn how to think and love like Jesus did .
I’ve had dozens of deep conversations about faith, how people are engaging with the Bible, and how they pray. It’s been a real eye-opener to what’s going on spiritually in people’s lives.
When I share the focus of this podcast, and my ministry as a whole, of moving past all the theological debates about who is right and wrong, and getting back to living and loving the way Jesus wants us to, every single person I’ve talked to has agreed this is really needed in the church and the world today.
Why do you suppose that is? Because they’ve seen and sometimes experienced for themselves the judgmental attitudes of the people who think they are the only ones who are right.
Christian unity in the body of Christ
So let’s come back to this idea of Christian unity, what I like to call unity in the body of Christ.
There is absolutely no way to establish unity in the church based on doctrine, unless every single Christian is willing to relinquish their theological beliefs. But I don’t really see that happening too soon.
If you expect someone else to change their beliefs to agree with you, then according to the spirit of the Golden Rule, you must be willing to give up your theological doctrines as well, or at least take an honest and objective look at them instead of blindly defending them.
The only thing that can truly unite all Christians, everyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus and making an effort to do so, is to think and act like Jesus.
It has to begin with the awareness that you need to follow Christ, to obey Jesus: to do what he said to do, to pray like he said to pray, to love like he said to love.
Thoughts and actions the basis for Christian unity
The more you think, pray, and love like Jesus, the more Christlike you’ll become and the natural result will be that you act more like Jesus.
But the Christlike thoughts have to come before, and become the foundation for, Christlike actions and behavior.
What would happen in the Christian world if we all stopped arguing about our theology and condemning everyone we disagree with and focused instead on being and acting more like Jesus?
What if you discovered within yourself your God-given ability to think, act, and love like Jesus did? What difference would it make in your own life? What difference would it make in your church? What difference would it make in the world? And what would happen if more and more Christians joined you in this effort?
There is no limit to the good that comes when we do this. There is no obstacle that can resist this love.
Jesus’s prayer for Christian unity
Jesus has prayed for this kind of unity. Hours before he would be arrested, tired and nailed to a cross, he was focused on the well-being of his followers and the future of the movement he created.
He prayed for his immediate disciples, but he didn’t stop there.
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” John 17:20, 21 NIV
Imagine for just a minute that you’re in that room. The disciples didn’t really know what was about to happen, but Jesus knew. And right in the midst of the approaching confusion and agony, Jesus prayed for his disciples, including you and me, that we all be one with, in unity with, God and himself, and therefore with each other.
Jesus knew the world would try to divide us. Jesus knew the enemy would try to separate us. The fact that Jesus prayed for unity at this decisive moment shows the profound importance Jesus placed on unity.
If unity was important to Jesus, then it should be equally important to you and me and every Christian on the face of the earth. When we follow Christ instead of our own preconceptions and what we’ve been taught it means to be a Christian, we’ll discover more of the unity Jesus prayed for.
The path to Christian unity
And perhaps his prayer gives us a clear path to this unity. Jesus prayed that we would have the same unity with the Father through him that he had with the Father. When we are one with the Father and with Christ, when we embrace our unity and live it in our daily lives, unity among Christians will be the natural outcome.
Christian unity is the result of unity with God and Christ. You can’t have unity among other Christians until you are one with God and His Christ.
In other words, don’t put the cart before the horse. Don’t try to establish Christian unity among believers until you have first and foremost embraced and lived your unity with God and Jesus. You can’t expect or force someone to submit to your will and be in your theological kingdom. We need to surrender all to God, follow His will, and be part in His kingdom.
So, once you have a sense of your oneness, your unity with God and Christ, how do you establish this greater sense of Christian unity among all believers? What is our role individually and collectively in this process?
How to achieve unity
Well, is it really a process? Are you and I responsible for or capable of establishing Christian unity among our fellow believers? In one sense, yes of course, we do what we can to bring this unity to the way we see and interact with others.
But in another sense, you and I cannot manufacture Christian unity. We cannot make it happen. It’s not something that can be forced upon or coerced out of people. It’s something that already exists in the kingdom of heaven and it’s up to us to become aware of and bear witness to the unity in Christ that already exists in heaven.
Jesus explained to Pilate why he came to earth:
In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. John 18:37 NIV
The truth Jesus came to tell us about is the kingdom of heaven. That’s the message he started his ministry with.
…the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew 4:17 KJV
This is the same message Jesus commanded his disciples to talk about when he sent them out to preach.
And as you go, preach, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand,” Matthew 10:7 NKJV
Heaven and Christian unity
Now you may be wondering: Hey James, how does the kingdom of heaven at hand apply to unity in the body of Christ? That’s a great question.
The presence of the kingdom of heaven here and now, the at-handedness of the kingdom of heaven, is the perspective Jesus saw the world from, it’s the lens he looked through. It’s the truth he came to bear witness to and testify to.
In the kingdom of heaven there is no division in the body of Christ.
Paul points to this fact when he asks the question,
Is Christ divided? 1 Corinthians 1:13 NKJV
Of course Christ is not divided.
Here on earth, the Christian church appears to be splintered and fractured beyond repair and redemption. As I said earlier, there is no way to establish Christian unity through human will and debate.
Christian unity impossible based on doctrine
That was the fatal flaw at the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. The bishops of the church gathered there were attempting to bring unity to the Christian church, but if you know anything about the history of that event, you know there were a lot of political maneuverings, fierce debates, and strong opinions expressed. I talk about this in more detail in Episode 224: Why Should I Believe in the Nicene Creed?
At the Council of Nicaea the bishops tried to establish Christian unity based on doctrine, and they argued back and forth. But it didn’t work because not everyone agreed. Once the vote was taken, it didn’t bring unity. People, who the day before had been considered faithful Christians, were suddenly considered heretics.
For everyone today debating that Christianity is defined by doctrine and theology, they’re making the same mistake the bishops did in 325.
When the Christian church today defines Christianity by doctrine instead of thinking and acting like Jesus, the result is division, not unity.
Christian unity comes from following Christ
As I said earlier, the only way to find Christian unity is through becoming more Christ-like, all of us becoming more Christlike. So how do we do that? Again, as I said, it begins with discovering and living your oneness with God and Christ.
And then it’s about bearing witness to, or testifying to, the fact that in the kingdom of heaven the body of Christ is not divided. In heaven, which is at hand as Jesus reminds us, all God’s children are in unity with God and each other.
You don’t have to create unity in the body of Christ. You don’t have to make something happen. All you need to do is see what is already true in heaven, that Christ is not divided, that the body of Christ is incapable of being divided.
The more clearly you see the indivisible Christ in heaven, the more Christian unity you’ll see here on earth. You can’t see this with your material eyes. You have to use your spiritual vision, your spiritual awareness, to discern what God is revealing to you through the Holy Spirit.
From the perspective of what’s going on here on earth, there is division in the church. We don’t all agree. But from the perspective of what’s already true in heaven, unity already exists.
Prayers for unity
In your prayers for Christian unity, you’re not trying to create something that is illusive or doesn’t exist. It’s about bearing witness to the unity which already exists in the kingdom of heaven.
I want to reemphasize this point. The more you can see clearly that in heaven the body of Christ is not divided, the more you’ll see evidence of unity in the Christian church here on earth.
We often use the metaphor of the body of Christ to refer to the church. To be a member of the body of Christ doesn’t mean you just say the words that you believe in Jesus. It means you are following him and becoming more like him. It means you’re doing what he tells us to do.
This is what Jesus says:
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. John 14:15 ESV
And that is the simple and clear path to Christian unity, obedience to Christ, following Christ, living and loving like Christ.
And how do we do that? How do we become more Christlike?
Be Christlike
No matter how many times you’ve read the Sermon on the Mount and the other things Jesus says, it all comes back to not just knowing the words and the teachings of Jesus, but putting them into practice in your daily life.
If you’ve been listening to The Bible Speaks to You for a while, you know I have often encouraged you to read the Sermon on the Mount, Chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew, and make a list of everything Jesus says to do, including how to think. If you’re new to the podcast, I invite you to join us all on this path of following Jesus.
Start with the Sermon on the Mount. See what Jesus says to do. And do it.
The very best way to become more Christlike is to think and act like he did. To the degree you do this, you become increasingly in unity with him and his followers.
Obedience to Jesus, acting, thinking, and loving the way he did, individually and collectively, is the only way to establish Christian unity here on earth. It will never come from trying to prove everyone else is wrong but you.
Obedience to Jesus is the only thing that can and will unite us.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Photo Credit:
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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and church mentor. He conducts Bible workshops online and in person. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by learning to think, pray, and love like Jesus. Contact him here.
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Bible References
1 Corinthians 13:12 NIV
12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
1 Corinthians 2: 9, 10 NIV
9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—
10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
John 17:20, 21 NIV
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
John 18:37 NIV
37 In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth.
Matthew 4:17 KJV
17 …the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Matthew 10:7 NKJV
7 And as you go, preach, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand,”
1 Corinthians 1:13 NKJV
13 Is Christ divided?
John 14:15 ESV
15If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
