The Call for Christian Unity

04 Mar

In the past two weeks two different people have called what I said, on two different subjects and at two different times, heretical. Both came as a shock since I have never been accused of heresy in the more than six decades that I have been a born-again believer. Heresy is a very strong word and my understanding of the biblical term is that of taking someone outside to stone them to death. My first reaction was prayer: “Is this true, Lord? Is it my pride that is hurt here, or is there something else I need to confess? Show me the sin in my life that I missed this.” But there was nothing forthcoming.

After my confusion came an analysis of what exactly had occurred. In both cases, the issues were not about biblical text, but about opinions on Christian topics. And in both cases there are many opinions of belief about those topics. It appears that the two people involved both considered that, because I had said something they did not agree with ‒ on bible-related topics, not biblical text ‒ I was making heretical statements.

There are three important facets to knowing what information hills we, as Christians, need to fight for, and what hills are not worth the effort.

First, we need to know the difference between important biblical knowledge, i.e. the prime directives of Scripture, and the sometimes unnecessarily divisive non-biblical peripheral issues. In the well-known text of 2 Timothy 2:15, God calls us to “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Second, as 1 Peter 1:20-21 points out, this study is based on the Holy Spirit-directed comprehension and understanding of Scripture, not individual opinion: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

Third, it is a waste of time and energy to quarrel over debatable opinions regarding man-made constructs intended to help us understand incomprehensible spiritual truths: “Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers” (2 Tim 2:14). That is not to say we stop trying to understand and explain things in comprehensible terms.

Instead, it is about the unity of God’s people. In Ephesians 4:1b-6, our vocation is towards unity based on the presence of the same Holy Spirit in each of us and our resultant obedience to God: “…that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”