Church Voices

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.

Ephesians 4.4-6

The streets of my community has many churches on them.  Several Baptist churches, two instrumental Churches of Christ, three Lutheran churches, and at least four of the non-denominational variety.  All in all there is probably at least 20 churches in this small town of 15,000 people.  One way to interpret this verse with the reality of the church today would be to conclude that the church has been so badly damaged, so fractured, and is so far from what was intended by God for his bride that there is no possibility of the church looking like, well, the church.  If we accept this interpretation there’s really only some variety of two ways of looking at this.  First, we can conclude the church is a complete and utter failure.  That whatever there was of God in it is gone, and what’s left is as dried up and useless as a branch that failed to graft to the tree it was placed on.  Or you can conclude that out there somewhere is the church that got it right.  That out of all those congregations, denominations and churches there’s one of them that is unified that got it right enough to be called the bride of Christ.  Unfortunately that’s what at least some Christians have concluded.

But, if we take a look at the verses just prior to these there might be another way to frame the issue.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4.1-3

I don’t think what Paul is urging here is a lock-step theological unity*.  If that were the case it wouldn’t be couched in terms of a lifestyle of humbleness, gentleness, and patience.  Instead it would be urgings toward studying, holding fast to the faith, and remembering what was of first importance.  But that’s not what’s going on here.

I don’t think Paul is talking primarily about doctrinal unity here.  Rather he’s talking about relational unity.  Whether or not we are obedient to these scriptures has little to do with how many churches we have, or how many strains of doctrine exist within the body.  What these verses have to do with is our relationships with each other, both in terms of the others within our respective churches, and the other found in other churches.  This command given by Paul would not necessarily be fulfilled even if we all got together in some kind of massive, theologically monolithic, Voltron-esque church. 

This command is only fulfilled when we are humble, gentle and patiently bearing in love with those who we disagree with. There is one Lord, one savior, on baptism, and one God and Father over all and through all, and well all need to live a life worthy of our calling, especially towards those we disagree with.

*This is not to say that theology doesn’t matter, or that doctrine is unimportant.  Just in case you were given that impression.