Unity of the Church Matters! - Thesis #17
I was inspired to write this next thesis at this time in light of current events. We are living in a wonderful time where Jesus’ church is coming together. Even amidst trial and tragedy, we have an amazing opportunity to draw close, to honor and love one another.
Jesus said, “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.” (John 17:22-23)
By the Finished Work of Jesus Christ, we have already been made one! We are not striving toward oneness, we already have it, inwardly, mystically, ontologically, objectively and actually! We are all in Christ. This is wildly relevant good news!
And, Jesus prayed that we would experience this. Paul confirms that this prayer will also be realized! (Ephesians 4:13) So, have no fear, we will experience what is ours in Christ!
It matters deeply to our Beloved Trinity that we come to live in unity. This is going to be our greatest evangelism. Unified love is the highest and most powerful miracle of all!
As I write this, we have just celebrated Easter in the year 2025. Not only was this one of the rare occasions where the Eastern and Western churches celebrated resurrection Sunday on the same day, this was also the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed. What’s more is, as we stand today, church leaders globally are moving more and more toward embracing one another!
Many of us reading this have also heard that Pope Francis just passed away this week as well. And, sadly, I watched as so many people spewed hate after the death of the Pope; actual hate… from Christians. Unfortunately, that is also not surprising. There is still a lot of anti-catholic sentiment, some of which is understandable. We have all had blemishes some bigger, some smaller. We are all still included, though boundaries may be needed for some seasons.
But, I also saw many folks across denominational lines thanking God for Francis, and honoring his legacy. I have also read posts from all corners of the Body of Christ praying for the Roman Catholic church as they grieve and begin the process of electing a new pope. (Not that I’m a big proponent of the concept of popes, but this is where we are at.)
Many of us may not realize how much Pope Francis, as well as leaders across the entire globe, have been moving toward a unity and a coming together among the Body of Christ. (And, I do see the entirety of humanity included in the Body, though many are not yet consciously participating. Wink wink.)
Francis said this, “Only a love that becomes gratuitous service, only the love that Jesus taught and embodied, will bring separated Christians closer to one another. Only that love, which does not appeal to the past in order to remain aloof or to point a finger, only that love which in God’s name puts our brothers and sisters before the ironclad defense of our own religious structures, will unite us.”
Pope Francis, after officially being elected as pope, would refer to himself as “Bishop of Rome,” rather than “Pope,” in a sign of recognition of the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchates. He also re-affirmed the idea of bringing East & West celebration of Easter back to the same day on whatever day they could agree upon. It seems almost like a sign that Francis fell asleep the day after the calendars “just happened” to align on Easter 2025.
Strides are being made in many ways across the world toward an outward and tangible experience of the unity that we have in Jesus.
Eastern Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople has also recently said that the divisions between East and West “are not insurmountable.” “Of course, problems have accumulated over a thousand years. But we are full of hope that they will be resolved in a few years,” he said.
Wow! A few years! Do we dare to believe for this?
Another quote from Patriarch Bartholomew, “The highest model is the unity that joins the Most Holy Trinity where the Father is Himself because He is not the Son; the Son is Himself because He is not the Father; but the love that there is between the Father and the Son generates none other than the Holy Spirit who is the Third in this Trinitarian dimension, but is also the First since He links the Father and the Son. And this can happen because each of the Three Divine Persons of the Most Holy Trinity completely loses Himself in the other. This is precisely what is required for the Church’s journey; that is, that each one be able to completely lose himself in the other church; which means being able to reach all the way down to the bottom of one’s own richness and give it all to the other, to the others. Therefore, it requires knowing how to be love in order to build that Church of Christ in which each Christian, no matter what Christian community they belong to, feels like a sharer in the Body of Christ.”
This is powerful stuff! And, I absolutely love how Bartholomew sources our unity to the Trinity, Themself! As we behold and partake of Their love, how could we not come to an actual unity with one another? It is already ours! We are in Trinity and Trinity is in us!
Karl Barth said it this way, “You are right to tell me that much of the route to the unity of the church is laid when we come together again in love. Being the friend of many Roman Catholic theologians, I add that I am happy to affirm that in truth as well we have come closer on both sides than could ever have been imagined fifty years ago. One thing is certain: the more both your theology and ours concentrate on the person and work of Jesus Christ, true God and true man, our sovereign Lord and only Savior, the more we shall find ourselves already united in spite of some important differences. Do you not also think the day will one day come when we shall no longer speak of Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians but simply of Evangelical Christians forming one body and one people?”
I am calling us in this thesis to look again at the heart of Jesus! Behold how He loves! See who He is and what He’s done! In this we will find our barriers melted.
Does this mean we have to agree on everything in order to be unified? No. Love continues despite disagreement! We can partake of the Mystery together, even before we understand. This is why I personally think that taking the Lord’s table with anyone who would partake is a wonderful act of unity!
And, yet, the scriptures, the Spirit, and the early church are clear that doctrine does matter. We are going to eventually actually come to agreement on reality and truth in Christ! Wild to imagine, right?
“Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” - Ephesians 4:13-16
There is an unknown quote that says, “In essentials, unity, in non-essentials, liberty, in all things, charity.”
We really need to stop excluding whole groups of people because their doctrine isn’t the same as ours.
Pope Francis said: “This question attempts to divide, to separate people into those we should love and those we should shun. This kind of division is never from God; it is from the devil.”
And, yet, we thank God for the ways in which healthy doctrine has been preserved.
There are many conversations to be had around this one, and how it looks practically. But, during this time, may we honor those who have helped, and may we ourselves continue to move in the Spirit toward an outward manifestation of the unity of this Trinitarian life!
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Also, please watch the video version of this thesis where Matt shares more here: