THE CHURCH - The New Testament foundation for unity

EXPLORING CHRISTIANITY - THE CHURCH

THE BIBLE
Can we trust a book written 2000 years ago?

EYEWITNESS
Did the writers of the New Testament get their picture of Jesus right?

GOD - MAN
Is Jesus really God?

RESURRECTION
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

RELIGIONS
With so many religions, why Christianity?

SUFFERING
If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?

TRINITY
Understanding the Trinity.

SCIENCE
The complementary nature of Science & Christianity.

FORGIVENESS
What it is and why it matters?

GUIDANCE
How does God guide?

REPENTANCE
What it is and why you can't get to heaven without it.

BORN AGAIN
What does it mean to be converted and born again?

SAVING FAITH
The kind of faith that will get you to heaven

ASSURANCE
Can I know for sure that I am going to heaven?

TRUTH
What is truth and does it matter?

MORALITY
Does it matter how we live? A Christian view of morality.

THE CHURCH
God's vision for his family, the Church. A call to the churches of the new millennium.

PURPOSE
How can I find a great purpose for living?

IDENTITY
Who am I; Finding my true identity as a human being and as a child of God.

SELF-ESTEEM
How can I feel good about my self? The Christian basis for proper sel-esteem.

LIFE AFTER DEATHChristianity's Hope & Challenge.

THE CROSS
Why did Jesus Die? What the Bible says about the Cross.

Grace
The importance of grace in the New Testament.

The New Testament foundation for unity

As I have been indicating, it is the nature of the church as a loving community in which members relate in complementary, interdependent service to one another, that is a dominant theme of the New Testament letters. Perhaps it is the dominant theme. Though we have been pointing to this all along, let's look now in some detail at what the New Testament says about why this is so and what the foundation is for this unity.

"We have no right to separate ourselves from our spiritual brothers and sisters and deny them the benefit of whatever gifts we may be able to share in the building up of the whole community"

There are three passages that are particularly significant in this regard. The first is Jesus' "high priestly" prayer for his disciples and his future church on the eve of his crucifixion, in John 17. Brian Hathaway points out in Living Below with the Saints We Know that in this prayer Christ links himself to the Father as many times as he links us to either the Father or Son. Forty-two times the Father and Son and linked together - you/me, I/you, us. Forty-two times we are linked to either the Father and or Son - I/you/those, they/yours, you/them/me, I/them, they/you/me. The relationships he desires us to model for the world are similar to that which exists between him and his Father. "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...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" (John 17:20, 21, 23). The relationship between his followers is to be to the same extent, and with the same intensity, as his relationship with his Father. And all the resources that his Father had given him, he has given to his followers, in order that they may bring about this oneness. "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" (v. 22).

Brian Hathaway comments:

This relationship between Father and Son is the example for all Christian relationships. This is the standard, it is the yardstick, anything else is second-rate. This is the model for Christian marriage and family. This is the model for relationships within and between local congregations. This is the model for home-groups, church committees, youth ministry and leadership teams. This is the example for the world-wide Body of Christ. This is the maturity that God has in store for his people (Ephesians 4:13), oneness exemplified by that between Father and Son - "that they may be one as we are one" (John 17:22).

We have seen that there is a sense in which members of the divine Trinity dwell in one another in a sense which is not true of our relationships. However, in becoming Christians the Holy Spirit literally comes to live in us. We "participate in the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). The same Spirit that lives in me also lives in every other believer. It is this experience that gives us a sense of belonging to one another and provides us with the resources that should enable us to make this unity a reality. "We were all baptised by one Spirit into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink" (1 Corinthians 12:13). In this passage Paul goes on to explain in some detail how this should work out in practice (vv. 14-30). It is significant that it is always groups that are "baptised in the Spirit" whereas individuals are said to be "filled" with the Spirit.

There are passages where the Spirit is said to dwell in the Christian community, pictured as a temple, rather than just the individual (e.g. 1 Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 2:20-22). The first of these passages contains a severe warning for any who would cause division in the fellowship, as was happening in the Corinthian Church: "If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him: for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple" (1 Corinthians 3:17). Such is God's concern for oneness.

This experience of God living in his people, and its counterpart of us as a community living in God, will be fully worked out in heaven. In Revelation 21, heaven is pictured as a perfect cube (v. 16). The book of Revelation is full of symbolism taken from the Old Testament temple, and no doubt this is meant to represent a supradimensional Holy of Holies, that part of the temple in which God dwelt, which was also a cube (1 Kings 6:20). "God's home is now with his people. He will live with them, and they will be his own. Yes, God will make his home among his people" (Revelation 21:3). Conversely, God himself is the temple in which his people dwell. "I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple" (v. 22).

The second significant passage which points to the relationships within the Trinity as the basis for our own unity is 1 Corinthians 12. This chapter deals with the variety of spiritual gifts that God gives to his people in order that the whole body may have the resources necessary to function effectively as a body. But, in order to do so, it is not only necessary to have diversity in the body, but also unity as the diverse parts are held together in functional relationship. So, in the middle of the chapter he gives a graphic description of the kind of relationships that are necessary if this unity is to be real. He then goes on to give a whole chapter on love (chapter 13) as the most important quality necessary for such relationships to exist.

In dealing with issues such as this Paul, as usual, thinks theologically. In other words, he starts with God. He begins this section of his letter with the statement: "There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they all come from the same Spirit. There are different ways to serve the same Lord, and we can each do different things. Yet the same God works in all of us and helps us in everything we do" (1 Corinthians 12:4-6). He begins with the Trinity, and the implications are obvious. Diversity begins with the Trinity. The Spirit, the Lord (Jesus), and God the Father are different. But as they cooperate together in loving relationships, so should we. And as it is the same Spirit, the same Lord and the same God who works in and through each of us, we have no right to separate ourselves from our spiritual brothers and sisters and deny them the benefit of whatever gifts we may be able to share in the building up of the whole community.

"Rigid and uniform structures or organisation stifle community, whereas flexible and adaptable forms of organisation promote participation, ownership, and growth"
Bilezikian

The third passage is Ephesians 4:1-16. This passage deals with unity and growth within the body. He begins with the virtues we need to cultivate if true unity is to exist. "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love" (v. 2). He then points to the Spirit as the one who creates this unity. "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" (v. 3). Then he gives the theological basis for this unity. "There is one body and one Spirit...one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all" (v. 4). Here again is the Trinity - "one Spirit...one Lord...one God and Father of all". It is within the context of the grace we have each received from this one Trinity (v. 7), and in mutual service to one another (v. 12), that we are to grow together into the maturity of Christ (v. 13).

Another passage we could mention is John 15:9-13 which compares the love of the Father for the Son, the love of the Son for us, and our love for one another.

So what we have been saying so far is that the unity the New Testament talks about is a unity that is forged out of loving relationships, and it is always the Trinity that presented as the model for these relationships. It is the desire and function of the members of the Trinity, working in and through God's people, to produce this unity. It often seems that those religions and sects that are deficient in their teaching about the Trinity are also deficient in their teaching about relationships. (Not that we always get it right!). Charles Colson says:

We pray, sometimes unthinkingly, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven." But what we're really praying is that the community on earth called the church is to reflect the will of God as it is in heaven. That's a pretty heavy prayer.

When the New Testament talks about unity it never talks about organisation or any specific outward structure as a means of attaining that unity. When a church gets bothered about "rules" of behaviour such as whether or not they should eat meat, or which days they should celebrate, then Paul responds by talking about relationships, focusing on their relationship to God and brotherly relationship to each other. "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14 - see also Colossians 2:16-23). As Bilezikian says:

Not only common sense and the experience of the corporate world but also Scripture shows that rigid and uniform structures or organisation stifle community, whereas flexible and adaptable forms of organisation promote participation, ownership, and growth.

At Babel, in Genesis 11, we have a structural unity - a central tower, human organisation and one language - uniformity.

At Pentecost the Spirit creates relational unity:

Diversity - each hears in their own language.

The most insignificant are empowered and gifted: "even on slaves, men and women, I will pour out my Spirit...and they shall prophecy" (Acts 2:18).

It is a unity of love - they were "one in heart and mind" (Acts 4:32).

The idea of structural unity crept into the church early on in its history. In the letters of Ignatius, bishop of Antioch (c. 100), the preservation of unity becomes a specific task of the bishop. Here, the "council of the bishop" corresponds to the "unity of God". The bishop is thereby in a position to preside within the church "in the place of God" and thus preserve its unity. However, this is not a New Testament understanding. There, the unity of the church is a relational unity created by the one Spirit (and with it the entire Trinity) in every person. The calls to foster unity are always directed to all members (e.g. Romans 16:17; 1 Corinthians 1:10-17; Ephesians 4:3).

"Having separated himself from God, Satan becomes the sinister perpetrator of separation"

Jesus demonstrated this principle of relational unity in his life and ministry, particularly in his encounters with the Pharisees. In the Gospels he is pictured as a lover of life, liberty and relationships. Of course, when relationships are not good, then structure is necessary to hold things together, but that is a failure. Brian Hathaway says:

What structure holds a volunteer organisation like a congregation together? Well, there are two main ways that we can structure such an organisation - by regulations or by relationships. Most groups that are highly regulated will be light on relationships, whereas those that function from a relationship basis can afford to be lighter on regulations. Where there is trust, you do not need so many rules. Where there is trust, there is greater flexibility and therefore greater ability to modify and adjust to changing conditions and situations....It permits changes and adjustments to occur more easily within the group. This is a crucial point in today's fast moving, rapidly changing society. Many churches have set up so many rules and regulations with committees for everything, that it takes them forever to bring changes.

It is not the love of power but the power of love that is to be the cement of the Christian Church. It is a church where all are to "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Ephesians 5:21), "clothe yourselves with humility toward one another" (1 Peter 5:5) and "in humility consider others better than yourselves" (Philippians 2:3).

In the Old Testament the evil one is called "Satan", which means "adversary", "enemy". In the New Testament he receives a new name, the "devil", which come from a Greek word meaning "to throw apart." That is what the devil does best: to separate and divide, to destroy community. Having separated himself from God, Satan becomes the sinister perpetrator of separation. He is the wolf who "attacks the flock and scatters it" (John 10:10, 12). And no doubt he knows that the weakest point in the defence system of the church against the attacks of hell is its practise of community.