The Race for Unity

We are on a race to unity. We cannot get there fast enough! Or can we? Ephesians 4: 3, exhorts us, “Let us make haste to pursue the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

The matter is so urgent that we cannot wait. Why is it not so? Jesus saw the urgency. He prayed to his Father, “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

Jesus was not seeking artificial outward unity of a formal nature. He was not careless on matters of truth. He did not come to build a confederation of factions, but fellowships with a unity of vision and relationships, built upon his Word and energised by his Spirit.

In Ephesians 4:15-16 we read, “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body… grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

Andrew Lincoln, who wrote a scholarly commentary on Ephesians writes, “Any claim to loyalty to truth which results in lack of love to those perceived to be disloyal stands as much condemned as any claim to all-embracing love which is indifferent to truth.” (Word Bible Commentary, Ephesians, 1990, p.260)

He also looks to the context (v.14) and points out that just as “truth” is contradictory to “error”, so is “speaking the truth in love” contrasted with “craftiness”. There are some who argue that “speaking the truth” involves “doing the truth”. When I was a young pastor I came close to believing I was being loving just by speaking “The Truth”!. One of the dangers in church activity is that we shall feel we have to defend truth by a massive amount of political activity. This arises out of fear of deception rather than trust in the ability of truth to stand. Jesus said, “I AM the truth”, and he is not about to abandon us. We need prayer more than politicisation. The Word needs more to be taught than protected. The New Testament concept of defence of the Gospel (apologia) in 1 Peter 3: 13-18 is not aggressive machination, slander and triumphalistic politics, or personality cult. Rather it is the confident, prayerful, and gentle presentation of Jesus and his Word. Then we can trust the Holy Spirit to guide as and the wider church to know how and when to influence policy (to be rightly political).

Lindsay Johnstone

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