Church Unity

There is a great deal said in the New Testament about church unity.  This was important to God and to His Son Jesus.  We will look at a couple of verses that relate this point. 

In John 17, Jesus prayed there for the apostles and all of His people who would be left behind, that they would be unified in their faith and practices.  Jesus was about to leave this earth and He appealed in prayer to the Father that "they may be one" as He and the Father are one.  

The subject is well discussed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1, where it has been reported to Paul that the Christians in Corinth were quarreling.  Beginning in verse 10: "I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.  My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.  What I mean is this: One of you says, 'I follow Paul'; another, 'I follow Cephas'; still another, 'I follow Christ.' Is Christ divided?"  Obviously, Paul is upset over what he has been hearing regarding the dissension going on in the church.  He is telling them to stop it.

When we look at this teaching of Paul to this Corinthian church, we realize that the truths he was teaching apply to us today.  When one looks at "Christianity" today, do we see splintering, division, and quarreling?  of course we do.  There must be over 1000 different denominations of so called Christians.  And it is all about division.  Would Paul be upset with what he would see in this regard today were he here?  You know he would, based on his teaching.

In the message of 1 Corinthians 1, we can see that Paul did not want different names put on Christians.  He said no Paul Christians, no Apollos Christians, no Cephas Christians; just Christians.  And it can be noted that he never wanted unity at the expense of truth, at the expense of doing His commandments, doing things His way.  But as he teaches here, we must seek to get along, agree, and not divide.

Paul wrote to the Philippian church, "..make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose."  This must be our goal.  We can start by just being Christians and wearing no other name. 

Have a great week!