The other day, I was talking with a friend about how—or perhaps, to what extent—Christians in Orange County can and should be unified. It was an interesting conversation, and it raised a lot of questions for me.
In seeking answers to these questions, what I found to be a very helpful piece is a little section in Jim Belcher’s new book, Deep Church; the section is called “The Quest for Mere Christianity”. In it, Belcher points out that in our quest for unity we must first agree on what binds Christians together. This is what John Stott calls the “unity of the Gospel.” It is the essential and central truths of the Gospel— the gospel-centered Orthodoxy that has been held by the church for ages past. In defining this orthodoxy, Belcher points to the Apostle’s, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds. These creeds are the result Spirit-guided discernment and the expression of Scripture’s teaching. They draw their truths from God’s truth. We should too.
So how do we fight for unity and not compromise right truth?
There are two components to unity that Belcher says we must pursue:
- the peace of the church
- the purity of the church.
We tend to fragment into one or the other, don’t we? “We place doctrinal purity over unity, or we stress relational unity over sound doctrine” (p. 54). What’s needed is both. The Apostle Paul calls those who believe to live in this tension without compromising peace or purity. We have to be unified by the Gospel and for the Gospel. The whole reason Jesus prayed strenuously for our oneness was this: when the unbelieving world looks in, they will believe!(John 17:10-23) Unity is both apologetic and evangelistic. We are all working together as one man and one soul for the faith of the Gospel.
Many men I highly admire are taking the lead in this unity of the Gospel. When asked what brings many diverse pastors together in the Gospel Coalition, D. A. Carson replied, “We are coming to the common ground of the gospel. Before the cross, the ground is very flat. We are all broken people. We are never more than poor beggars telling other poor beggars where there’s bread. We rejoice in the grace of God in the Gospel.” This gets to the heart of what Paul longed to see in the Philippian church when he said, “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27).
I hate to leave something like this in the abstract. We are either contributing to or dismantling the peace and purity of the church, all the time. From the way we might talk about people with differing theological or political views to the way we avoid people we may not see eye-to-eye with on a social or relational level. Of course, we should never shy from proclaiming biblical truths. With this in mind, love, kindness, and perhaps even friendship are always able to exist amidst theological differences. As Belcher comments, “Dialogue is always a good thing even with those outside the bounds of orthodoxy” (p. 53). For some specific ways that Jim Belcher has applied this concept to his congregation in Newport Beach check out pages 66-68 of Deep Church.
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just 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 have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”
John 17:20-23
7 Comments on "On Christian Unity"
Great post! I find that unity in churches in orange county is extreemly difficult to cultivate. Thanks for these good words. I especially like when you said “Unity is both apologetic and evangelistic.” so true!!!
I love that quote from Carson. I think I’ve heard it befor.
Amen!
Glad this benefited you guys!
Took me time to read all the comments, but I really enjoyed the article. It proved to be Very helpful to me and I am sure to all the commenters here! It’s always nice when you can not only be informed, but also entertained! I’m sure you had fun writing this article.
Awesome post!
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