All Be One
I think something almost everyone who identifies as a Christian can agree on is that the Body of Christ, God’s new humanity, is still far away from the unification and unity that the Scriptures promise us. We now have a couple of billion Christians on the planet and the division we experience just clearly shows us how much sin and darkness are actually still present in the people who are supposed to be the light of the world. I want to give my perspective on this issue and also share what God has shown me about the solution.
A goal of the new creation is unity amongst mankind, beginning with God’s chosen people the Body of Christ. Remember, the gospel is about a new reality that believers are called to share in. This new reality is the passing away of the old creation order - full of sin, sickness, and decay and the manifestation of God’s kingdom, the new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). In this new reality, the presence of God is around all, in all, and through all (Ephesians 4:6).
The unity of mankind and universal brotherhood must begin with God’s people. Jesus Himself speaks of the importance of this during His prayer to the Father in John 17:
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one…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 - so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:20-23 (NIV)
This short excerpt tells us a lot about Christ’s intention for Christian unity and even the unity of all of mankind. Christ’s prayer is that “all of them may be one” - both believers and those who are ignorant of God who will hear the message. Jesus says He has given us “glory” - this is the presence of God, the Holy Spirit. This tangible, experiential glory, or the Holy Spirit, is the force that makes Christians one as Christ and the Father are one. Christ says that unity in Christianity will provoke the world to belief in God and love. It can’t get much clearer.
The reason we have so much division is that we do truly love or fully experience the presence of God. If we did, there would be more unity. We are too busy getting caught up on opinions, doctrines, and dogmas that we miss the bigger picture. We are taught to view with suspicion those who think differently or experience God through a different tradition. The faith of the intellect is easy because it doesn’t require much other assenting to facts. The faith of the heart, true Christian faith, is much harder because it asks for the surrender of the entire human being.
We have to move beyond the dogma and into an experience of God. Paul puts it like this in Ephesians 4:
“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all… so Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” Ephesians 4:3-6, 11-15 (NIV)
The point of this passage is that anything we do as a church has to bring us forward into an experiential knowledge of God. This experience of God moves us beyond dogma and reliance on religious constructs, and into the maturity of experiencing the Christ. It is to share in the glory of Christ so that we may love God and one another in a deep, experiential way. God’s presence must become all and all (1 Corinthians 15:28).
I want to wrap up with an analogy. Imagine that you live in a town of religious people. Everyone in the town has a different idea of what God is like, based on what they have ready in their scriptures or holy texts. Everyone is very adamant about what they think God is like, causing arguments and divisions. There is a sense of unease because it is hard to find total agreement.
One day a stranger appears in town who everyone intuitively recognizes as God Himself. Everyone is overjoyed that God has appeared in their midst! Suddenly, all the ideas people held about God disappear because God is now experientially present. Everyone drops their pre-conceived notions about who or what they think God is because they recognize that God is now with them and can experience Him as He really is.
Hopefully, this analogy is clear enough. Christianity is the town and the people are the hundreds of denominations and sects who all have their respective doctrines, dogmas, and traditions. God is the Holy Spirit, who has arrived to make God real in our experience. This experience brings unity because, suddenly, ideas don’t matter as much as the tangible experience of God’s love that is binding everyone together.
And this is exactly where God is leading all of us - into a tangible experience of God through the transformation of the human body, mind, and heart. We are moving into spiritual maturity through a transformative presence. Paul reflects on this in this way:
“We know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes (the fullness of God’s presence), what is in part disappears…for now we see only a reflection (in traditions, dogmas, and Scripture) as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face (when God has fully transformed us experientially). Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” 1 Corinthians 13:9-12 (NIV)
What is the point of making disciples of “all nations” if we don’t love our brothers and sisters in the faith who may think or believe differently than us? God isn’t about facts or opinions. He needs to become real in our experience. An experience of God transforms us so that we can love like Jesus.
