.
Christian Unity
What Is Christian
Unity?
Article by John Piper
Founder &
Teacher, desiringGod.org
Unity among two or
more people gets its virtue entirely from something else.
Unity itself is
neutral until it is given goodness or badness by something else.
So if Herod and
Pilate are unified by their common scorn for Jesus (Luke
23:12), this is not a
good unity.
But if Paul and
Silas sing together in prison for Christ’s sake (Acts 16:25), this is a good
unity.
Therefore, it is
never enough to call Christians to have unity. That may be good or bad.
The unified vote
fifty years ago in my home church in South Carolina to forbid blacks from
attending services was not a good unity.
The unified vote of
a mainline Protestant denomination to bless forbidden sexual acts is not a good
unity.
What Makes Unity Christian?
Christian
unity in the New Testament gets its goodness from a combination of its source,
its views, its affections, and its aims.
Source of Christian Unity
Paul
tells us to “be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3).
I take that to mean
that the Holy Spirit is the great giver of unity.
“In
one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free
— and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13).
Views of Christian Unity
Paul says that
pastors and teachers are to equip the saints “until we all attain to the unity
of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God” (Ephesians 4:13).
In other words, the
unity we pursue is unity in the truth.
Of course,
Christian unity is more than shared truth, but not less.
Paul
piles up the words for common-mindedness in Philippians 2:2, “Complete
my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full
accord and of one
mind” (see
also Philippians 4:2).
Everything is to “accord
with Christ.”
“May
God . . . grant you to live in harmony with one
another, in accord with Christ Jesus” (Romans 15:5).
Affections of Christian Unity
To
be sure, unifying love in the body of Christ includes a rugged commitment to do
good for the family of God whether you feel like it or not (Galatians 6:10).
But, as difficult
as it is for diverse people, the experience of Christian unity is more than
that.
It includes
affectionate love, not just sacrifice for those you don’t like. It is a feeling
of endearment.
We
are to have affection for those who are our family in Christ. “Love
one another with brotherly
affection” (Romans 12:10).
“Having
purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love,
love one another earnestly from a pure heart” (1 Peter 1:22).
“All
of you, have . . . sympathy, brotherly love, a
tender heart, and a humble
mind”
(1 Peter 3:8).
Aims of Christian Unity
Spirit-rooted,
Christ-manifesting, truth-cherishing, humbly-loving unity is designed by God to
have at least two aims: a witness to the world, and an acclamation of the glory
of God.
The
apostle John makes the first of these most clear. “A new commandment I give to you,
that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one
another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love
for one another” (John 13:34–35).
Piper: “Christian unity includes affectionate love,
not just sacrifice for those you don’t like.”
Jesus’ famous
statements in John 17 are rooted
in the profound spiritual unity between the Father and the Son, and with those
whom God has chosen out of the world (John 17:6).
“I
ask 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” (John 17:21).
Note the witness to
the world is that the disciples are in
the Father and the Son so
that the world might believe.
This is vastly more
— deeply more — than being related through a common organization.
The oneness that
shines with self-authenticating glory for the world to see is union with the
Father and the Son so that the glory of the Father and the Son is part of our
lives.
“The
glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be
one even as we are one” (John 17:22).
That
glory is owing to this: “I in them and you [Father] in
me” (John 17:23).
From this union
with God, and the glory it gives, shines something the world may see, if God
gives them eyes to see.
God’s
aim for this vertically-rooted, horizontal, glory-displaying unity is that he
might “gather into one the children of God scattered abroad” (John 11:52).
The ultimate aim of
such Christian unity is the glory of God.
Hence
Paul prays, “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such
harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that
together you may with one voice glorify the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has
welcomed you, for the glory of God”
(Romans 15:5–7).
What Implications Follow for Us?
1. Seek the fullness of the unity-creating Holy
Spirit.
“Do not get drunk
with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).
Seek to be led by
the Spirit and to bear the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:18, 22–23) for these are the
cogs in the wheels of love.
If you are a
stranger to the Holy Spirit, you will care little for the unity He builds.
2.
Strive to know and spread true views of Christ and his ways.
Seek to “attain
to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God” (Ephesians 4:13).
“Grow in the grace
and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).
Share, by every
means you can, what you see of Christ. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,
teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16).
3.
Love Christians across boundaries.
Cultivate affection
across differences for those who are truly your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Hate serious
blunders, not sincere brothers. Humans have never been good at this.
And the
philosophical and emotional climate today makes it even harder — since truth
claims are only seen as a cloak for power-grabbing.
But consider what
Spurgeon says and seek to become like him. Notice the intensity of hate and
love.
Where the Spirit of
God is there must be love, and if I have once known and recognized any man to
be my brother in Christ Jesus, the love of Christ constraineth me no
more to think of him as a stranger or foreigner, but a fellow citizen with the
saints.
Now I hate High
Churchism as my soul hates Satan; but I love George Herbert, although George
Herbert is a desperately High Churchman.
I hate his High
Churchism, but I love George Herbert from my very soul, and I have a warm
corner in my heart for every man who is like him.
Let me find a man
who loves my Lord Jesus Christ as George Herbert did and I do not ask myself
whether I shall love him or not; there is no room for question, for I cannot
help myself; unless I can leave off loving Jesus Christ, I cannot cease loving
those who love him.
(The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. XII, 6)
4.
Serve Christians across boundaries.
For the sake of a
witness to the world, seek out ways to show love for brothers and sisters
across boundaries — both the kind of boundaries that should be removed, and the
kind of boundaries which commitment to the truth (and unity in the truth)
forbids you to remove.
Do this for the
glory of God. Let Francis Schaeffer be your guide.
It is in the midst
of a difference that we have our golden opportunity.
When everything is going well and we are all standing around in a nice little
circle, there is not much to be seen by the world. But when we come to the
place where there is a real difference, and we exhibit uncompromised principles but at
the same time observable love, then there is something that the
world can see, something they can use to judge that these really are
Christians, and that Jesus has indeed been sent by the Father. (Complete Works, vol. 4, 201,
emphasis added)
Ambiguity and Hope
When
all is said and done, ambiguities remain.
What kinds of
boundaries should define local churches, schools, denominations, conferences,
para-church ministries, city-wide prayer gathering, evangelistic efforts?
Nevertheless we are
not without anchors. We are not without rudder and sails. We have the stars
above and our trusty sextant.
In reliance on the Word
and the Spirit, in humility we will arrive home — together.
Spurgeon: “Unless I can leave off loving Jesus Christ, I cannot cease loving
those who love him.”
John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of
desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33
years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He is author of more than 50 books, including Reading the
Bible Supernaturally
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