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UNITY EFFORTS AND POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS

Prescription drugs are intended to help the body but one must also watch out for adverse side effects. A certain drug designed to help heal one part of the body, may, at the same time, seriously harm other parts. This is one of the reasons they are dispensed only as ordered by a doctor and are  given with instructions for proper usage.

Unity among believers is something we should all want for it has to do with good spiritual health. Biblical commands to put forth efforts on behalf of unity are, in essence, a prescription from God. They are designed to install right practices among Christians and to be a healing balm to the spiritual body of Christ, the church. With the commands God also gave instructions for right usage. There is reason to be  concerned about adverse side effects of unity efforts when they are handled improperly, not according to instructions. These can harm the body rather than healing it.

Not far back in history the unity procedure adopted by protestantism illustrates our point. In early America the various denominations first tried to over power each other doctrinally. They found that to be a no win situation. After a time they were sick of controversy and very much wanted to quit fighting. So they just declared peace, without resolving their differences. They implemented their own prescription for unity. What they achieved was a cease fire, at least for most of them, but not Biblical unity. That was a procedure which left the divisive issues unresolved. Denominationalism came into being. It is a religious monstrosity that lives in the midst of multiple divisions while denying the fact. This then becomes an adverse side effect, continuing to impose poor health on the body of Christ to this day.

It seems that many of the unity efforts in recent years are following a pattern very smilar to that. Being tired of fighting, most folks want to simply declare peace. They do not want to put forth a lot of effort toward resolving the issues that divide religious people. They see such efforts as being like chewing on a tough piece of steak. The longer you chew it the bigger it gets. So they declare the “chewing” to be unethical and say, “Just don’t talk about doctrines.” The adverse side effect is that we lay aside the God given standard of truth and become like a ship without a rudder. 

 But I suggest there is a better way. It is given with the instructions that originally came with the Biblical prescription. Brethren can resolve differences on matters in which God has specified His will, but only if there is full blown respect for Biblical authority. I do not mean that the procedure is to agree with me. I mean the procedure is to agree with what God has expressly stated and not make judgments beyond that.

The approach to unity of the restoration pioneers made use of the right prescription. It was the first unity effort since the apostles that worked. It was simply a matter of exercising the premise set forth in James 4:12, “There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?” Here is what they did: What was stated expressly in scripture they held to be authoritative, non-negotiable. What was deduced by human reasoning was seen as private opinion, the property of each individual doing the reasoning. We would be wise to use this method today.

When someone speaks on unity, as I often do, emphasizing tolerance and forbearance, someone will usually ask, “But where do you draw the line?” My reply is always, “Let’s draw it where the Bible draws it.” This is a surprise for many because they do not even know that the Bible draws any lines. But it does. For example, concerning brethren who are argumentative minded and insist on disputes and strife about words, Paul said, “From such withdraw yourself.” (1 Tim. 6:3-5). That draws a specific line. Paul wrote to the Romans about brethren who cause division and offenses contrary to the doctrine they had learned, and said, “Avoid them.” (Rom. 16:17). That draws a line. To Titus Paul wrote that a man who is a “heretic,” a divisive person, should be admonished, and after the third time, if he remains so, reject him. (Titus 3:10).

But in the 1960s and 70s our brotherhood was almost totally taken over by men of this sort, divisive, argumentative, and factious. To this day the Spiritual Sword and Firm Foundation continue to strongly promote that perspective and so do several schools of preaching. But we don’t hear anything said about drawing a line there. Yet we have strongly maintained a fellowship line against churches where instruments of music are used, about which the New Testament says nothing. So, not only have we been unlearned as to where God draws the line, but we have been accustomed to drawing lines on our own, without orders from God to do so. I would say we need to rethink the matter of our approach to unity.

Unity, achieved in right procedures, is healthy for the church. It gets us all on the same page on Bible specifications and makes unspecified things to be not fellowship matters. Unity of any other sort will likely produce adverse results, along with whatever good might be done. The choice of a basis on which we should seek unity is as important as the fact that we should strive for unity in the first place. That basis can be put very simply, “Draw the line where God has drawn it.”  Where God did not draw a line, do not draw one. Let’s work toward the kind of unity God prescribes.