Articles
How Important Is Unity? (1)
How Important Is Unity? (1)
Greg King
Isn’t it interesting and sad that there are so many different churches claiming to follow Christ and Jesus prayed for unity among His disciples? “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” John 17:20-21
Some will make the claim that "All denominations are one.” How can that be when the very word, denominate means to divide? Most denominations claim to belong to Christ, but are they "one," "unified" as Christ prayed for? It is a good thing that Christ went on to explain how believers are to be "one”.
Jesus prayed, "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us" (John 17:21). Christians are to be "one" as the Father and the Son are "one." How was the Father & Son one? The Father and the Son were "one" because they spoke the same doctrine. In John 12:49-50 Jesus said, “For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak." He continues in John 14:10-11, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.”
Likewise, Christians are to be "one" by speaking the same doctrine. Paul made an appeal to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 1:10, “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.”
Can you imagine Jesus and his Father teaching two different doctrines and yet claiming to be "one" and unified? Then many human denominations teaching many different doctrines cannot be "one" as the Father and Son are "one."
If you are in a denomination, please consider what Jesus prayed for and what Paul commanded of Christians who desired to follow Christ. How could you truly believe denominations are pleasing to God?
