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Putting Unity First
- 04/18/09
- 15
The following quote comes from Iain Murray’s book Evangelicalism Divided (on page 291 if you must know). I think it offers good food for thought (even on a Saturday morning).
The ecumenical call [in the mid-20th century] was not for truth and salt; it was supremely for oneness: the greater the unity of ‘the Church’, it was confidently asserted, the stronger would be the impression made upon the world; and to attain that end churches should be inclusive and tolerant. But it has never been by putting unity first that the church has changed the world. At no point in church history has the mere unity of numbers ever made a transforming spiritual impression upon others. On the contrary, it was the very period known as ‘the dark ages’ that the Papacy could claim her greatest unity in western Europe.
So if we would have true unity, we must have theology. We are to share, profess and enjoy unity with other believers, even those who do not share certain “lesser” doctrines. This is not to imply that any doctrine is unimportant, but simply that some are more important than others. J.C. Ryle wisely observed that believers should “keep the walls of separation as low as possible, and shake hands over them as often as you can.” But there are times when we must reject supposed unity because of the higher importance of truth and sound doctrine. To repeat Murray’s words, “it has never been by putting unity first that the church has changed the world.” Nor will it ever be.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (15)
Amen. Thanks, Tim.
Well spoken.
Not all Israel id Israel, and not all the Church is the Church.
The Wheatfield has many tares, and they grow together until the harvest.
That’s a wonderful book. I read it years ago, and I keep it on my shelf handy. Thanks for sharing from it. It’s a deep book, but also an essential read for the Church.I’d encourage all who can to read it.
Have a joyful Lord’s day. He is risen indeed, and reigns from His heavenly throne with all power and authority. His is the name above every name in the universe.
Tim, Thanks for sharing this…and it’s fantastic for a Saturday!
Iain Murray will be speaking in Oklahoma City on June 5 and 6. Topic: “Revivals and Revivalism.” For more information: http://www.alliancenet.org/CC_Content_Page/0,,PTID307086%7CCHID810174,00.htmlI heard him speak at this lecture series three yeas ago, and it was worth the 6-hour drive.
Amen!
That’s a good point you raise here. As conservative evangelicals, it’s easy for us to think that everyone should change their doctrines to fit ours. But as unfortunate as these doctrines often are, we have to understand the fact that other doctrines aren’t going anywhere. So the question becomes: how do we fight false doctrine even if the people identify very closely with this doctrine while maintaining unity with them? Historically, I don’t know of many cases where this has gone well. Or are we supposed to unify against them?
I don’t know how many times I have heard that, “Love unifies and Doctrine divides.” While that is true, it is also true that love divides and doctrine unifies. Love seeks to embrace that which is holy and rejects that which is evil, [John writes, “love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, If any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him”], and doctrinal unity is exemplified by the words of Amos, in which he writes, “Can two walk together except they be agreed?”
Great Reminder. thanks.
As Christians we must understand that whatever opposes God’s Word or departs from it in any way is a danger to the very cause of truth. Passivity toward known error is not an option for the Christian. Staunch intolerance of error is built into the very fabric of Scripture. And tolerance of known error is anything but a virtue.
We can’t tell the world, “This is truth, but whatever you want to believe is fine, too. It’s not fine. Scripture commands us to be intolerant of any idea that denies the truth.
Lest anyone misunderstand, I’m not defending dogmatism on any and every theological issue. Some things in Scripture are not perfectly clear. But the central teachings of Scripture (in particular, those things related to the way of salvation) are so simple and so clear that even a child can understand.
Error Intolerant(By John MacArthur)
http://www.shepherdsfellowship.org/pulpit/Posts.aspx?ID=4155
“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. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” Jesus (John 17:20ff NIV)
Jesus wanted us to be one, ” …so that the world may believe you [our Father] sent me”“…to let the world know that you [our Father] sent me”
anyone wanna exegete “complete unity?”
Jesus also said He came to bring a sword, and families would be divided.
Unity in the Spirit in the bond of peace is wonderful, and it’s what i long for, but there is always going to be division during different seasons. False disciples will come into the Church, and will try to “draw away disciples unto themselves” (Acts 20:30).
Well said, Tim. Christian history is full of instances where heretical and unbiblical positions were defeated by the working out of doctrine, not a false sense of “unity.” If the unity that some in the ecumenical movement see as paramount have been the driving force in addressing modalism or Arianism, who knows what the Church would look like today.
Thanks Tim.
The consequences of making these “truth” stands are painful at times as is leadership generally. At the New Word Alive Conference that I attended in the UK , Bishop Wallace Benn stated as below at a seminar.
“He pointed out that early on in his ministry he used to think that in circumstances of opposition, to himself and what he wanted to do, that prayer, rationality and kindness could overcome most but he had not factored in also “gospel opposition” and the bitter hostility that that can bring.”
He said a number of other really good things in this context that I have also listed. Consider for a moment and for example what the Episopal Church o North America is doing to Bible believing Christians in the US. Not very edifying.
Paul in 2 Timothy 4 says some very touching things in this context.
It strikes me that one’s position on this may boil down to how one is interpreting the word “unity”. Unity of the body of Christ with non-believers is not only inadvisable, it’s mostly impossible, since the two groups do not both share the Holy Spirit. That said, clearly there can be some superficial cooperation. Whether that is advisable is a judgment call. For instance, participating in a volunteer “park cleanup”, as a church, along side other non-Christian faith communities. I don’t have a problem with that in the slightest, and I doubt Murray would either.
From the pro-Unity side of things, I think the myriad number of denominations that exist today really is damaging to the church’s corporate witness. Some folks from my non-denominational evangelical church have been drawn to the Catholic church because it provides the sense of being part of a “historical” church in a way that “North American evangelicalism” does not. Do I think we should incorporate heresy under the banner of some unified church? Not at all. But most of the things that distinguish denominations aren’t really “deal breakers”.
I wonder whether those outside the church would view “the church” differently if, instead of there being so many denominational congregations, there were just “congregations” that happened to have different beliefs and practices. The presence of so many lines of division gives the appearance that the body of Christ (here meaning “the set of all true believers”) is fractured and internally divided, neither of which is a good thing biblically speaking.