Category: Unity

There are little churches all over this country that exist because of some division that occurred twenty five years ago that only a handful of people can even remember. But if you were to suggest that one of these close their doors and unite with other brethren of like faith in their same community, that messenger would likely be burned at the stake or worse.

At every turn, the doctrine of unity in diversity, which allows ongoing fellowship in spite of doctrinal disagreement, is unsupported by the word of God. It must be rejected as a doctrine of man (Gal. 1:8-10).

My dear brethren, nowhere in the Scriptures does grace mean that we may ‘agree to disagree’ over the revealed doctrine of Jesus Christ. This is not the oneness shared by the Father and Son, and it is not the oneness we are to promote. (Jno. 17:20-21; Eph. 4:1-6).

The gospel calls us to a unity which is based upon the revealed truth of God (Eph. 4:1-6; 1 Cor. 1:10). The only credible standard of authority to which we may rightly appeal to establish unity is the revealed word of Christ, the New Testament (Jno. 17:20-21; Col. 3:17). It is His word that establishes faith and enables unity. The inspired teachings of His apostles make it possible for us to have fellowship with them and with God (1 Jno. 1:1-4, 5-7). When we go beyond the teaching of Christ – His New Testament – we forfeit our fellowship with the Father and the Son (2 Jno. 9).

We live in the information age, in which both truth and error travel at rates measured in fractions of seconds. No longer is the false teacher confined to horse and buggy. Now, he can wreak havoc with a magazine or a modem, in locations which he could never visit, perhaps even continents away. It is not wise to contend that an error on the east coast is not dangerous to folks on the west coast. Though we may think ourselves safe in “the mountains of Esau” (Obadiah 3-8), the forces of destruction can invade like a bolt of lightning.