More On Church Unity

There can still be unity among all Christians even if there are differences between them. As long as the issues are not doctrinal, there can be absolute unity among all Christians. God would never give a command that we would be unable to follow. Everything else is opinion. Romans 14 refers to inconsequential things, opinions. Opinions will always differ because we are all unique individuals. Opinions do not get us to heaven or keep us out of heaven. But other matters regarding Christian living can be embraced by all Christians, and we can still be unified.

Different religions include different ideas in their group of key issues, hence their creed statements. But if we stick to the Bible, then there is no disagreement until personal preferences start to creep in. As for members of our congregation who disagree, are they matters of opinion or not? If they believe differently on important issues, why are they still there? There are plenty of denominations who have differing viewpoints. Surely one of them would match their beliefs. If they are not going to a different denomination, they either do not think the matter is important enough to change or they are not totally sure and they would rather be safe than sorry.

It is very easy to determine who is saved – anyone who does God’s will, which He gave us in the Bible. He would not provide a Bible for us and then make it too hard or confusing to understand. It is not my job to judge the intent of another’s heart, thankfully! But where we go to worship does say something about what we believe. That is why we have a sign on the door saying church of Christ. There are other acceptable Biblical names as well, but this is just what it is called in these parts. I have visited a congregation in Vienna where the only thing on the sign was The Lord’s Church meets here with the times. After speaking with them, the only difference I could see was a different order in the services and they had wine for communion. My point here, is it is not the name (as long as it is Biblical), it is what we believe and practice.

Members of other denominations are not members of the church of Christ because our differences mean too much to them. To them, our differences are a matter of doctrine, not opinion. It matters to them enough to mark the difference. So if they believe one way strongly enough not to be members of the church of Christ, they have already drawn the line of separation.

As far as denominationalism, the definition is a religious organization uniting in a single legal and administrative body of a number of local congregations, a sect. Sect means to cut or divide. We get the word "section" from this word. How can a church who follows only what the Bible teaches (nothing more or less) be a sect, a division of the whole? Divisions only come when some part is added, changed, or taken away from the original. Some churches who claim to be non-denominational merely refuse to take a stand on any tough religious issues, resulting in what they call "unity". This is unity in error. Christ demands unity in truth. By biblical example, there is no church government above the eldership at the local level. So a church with no higher government cannot be a denomination by definition. The Lord’s church is often imitated but never duplicated.

Is Unity In The Church All-Inclusive?

Some believe unity in the church should extend to all denominations or at least a few. If this is true, where do we draw the line? Where does God draw the line? We are to have one faith as Christians. I Corinthians 1:10 says that it is possible for everyone to be of the same mind and judgement. This is contrary to what most people will say – that there is no way people will interpret the Bible the same way as everyone else. They believe that people aren’t wrong when they believe differently, they just have differences in opinion.

There is only one body who is going to heaven. This body won’t include the majority of people –Matthew 7:13-14. There will be lots of people who thought they were included in this body, but will find out on the day of judgement that they were not –Matthew 7:22-23. Inclusion in this body is gained by the one baptism –Ephesians 4:4-6. We get into this body one way – baptism for the remission of sins –Acts 2:37-38. Those who are not cleansed by Christ’s blood cannot enter heaven because His blood continues to cleanse us of our sins. Sin separates us from God –Romans 6:23.

So this is how we become part of the unified body of Christ. Now how do we stay in it? We can’t continue in sin. To do so would not be repentance –Matthew 3:8. We must continually study God’s word –Acts 17:10-11. II Timothy 3:16-17 says that if I study the Bible, I should be able to glean everything I need to know for life as a Christian. God has given me everything I need. My job is to study what he wants me to do and follow through with obedience.

Everyone who reads the Bible and truly searches for the truth will find it. This is a promise from God –Matthew 7:7. The Bible is absolute truth. If not, then God doesn’t know what He’s talking about, and the Bible is irrelevant. This being the case, you can’t have one set of beliefs that is “true” and a different set of beliefs that is also “true”. God compares His word to a seed. A seed produces the same thing over and over again. It doesn’t change. God’s church today should be following the same model it followed when it was first started.

God wants His Christians to be unified. He hates division. Those who cause division in the church are sinning –Galatians 5:19-21, and they won’t be in heaven. So obviously if they won’t be in heaven, their followers won’t be in heaven either. We are supposed to know who they are and avoid them –Romans 16:17. Additionally, these divisive people are to only have 1 or 2 warnings and then we are to leave them alone and have nothing to do with them –Titus 3:9-10.

We can have unity when we don’t ignore the Bible and the commands of God. Being united in error is not what God intended. We are united in truth through God’s word.