Biblical Unity

John 17:20-23 “Jesus Prays for All Believers”

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

       C.H. Spurgeon "Unity In Christ" 

        https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/unity-in-christ#flipbook/    

   Public Meeting Of The Various Denominations At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, April 3, 1861, For The Purpose Of Hearing Addresses On Christian Unity; Messages by Spurgeon and others

       https://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/sermons07.xxix.html

       The unity of the Church is one of the grand means of the world's conversion...  

J.I. Packer

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn0VGD8MyZ8          

The Collected Writings of John Murray

The lack of unity among the churches of Christ which profess the faith in its purity is a patent violation of the unity of the  body of Christ, and of that unity which the prayer of our Lord requires us to promote. The prayer of Jesus was directed to the end that the world might believe. The unity prayed for was one that would bear witness to the world. 

Ephesians 4:3

Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

        C.H. Spurgeon  “True Unity Promoted”

        https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/true-unity-promoted#flipbook/  

Richard Baxter "The True and Only Way of Concord of All the Christian Churches", London, 1680. (Quoting Lutheran theologian Rupertus Meldenius)  

In essentials unity; in non-essentials liberty; in all things charity.

http://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/augustine/quote.html 

John Owen, Eshcol, "A cluster of the fruit of Canaan, brought to the borders for the encouragement of the saints travelling thitherward, with their faces toward Zion." Duties of Christian Fellowship: A Manual for Church Members, 1647

Let (compassion), not envy; mercy, not malice; patience, not passion; Christ, not flesh; grace, not nature; pardon, not spite or revenge, be our guides and companions in our fellowship.

        Study Guide - https://ssrpc.org/a-study-guide-to-john-owens-rules-for-walking-in-fellowship/ 

Octavius Winslow  

The Glory of the Redeemer in His Person and Work

By all that is precious in the name of Jesus, by all that is sanctifying in his glory, and attractive in his cross, by all that is sweet and persuasive in Christian love, by all that is solemn in the near approach of death and eternity, and by all that is blissful in the hope of eternal life, springing from the one atonement, reader, seek to promote the visible unity of Christ’s Church. Resolve beneath the cross, and by the grace of God, that you will not be a hindrance to the accomplishment of so blessed, so holy an end. Hold the faith with a firm hand, but hold it in righteousness. Speak the truth with all boldness, but speak it in love. Concede to others what you claim for yourself—the right of private judgment, and the free exercise of an enlightened conscience.

Daily Walking With God

How much does a perfect representation of the glory of the Redeemer by the Church depend upon her visible union! A mirror broken into a thousand fragments cannot reflect the glory of the sun with the same brilliancy, power, and effect as if a perfect whole. Neither can the Church of God, dismembered, divided, and broken...  

J. C. Ryle, Bishop of Liverpool, in his farewell message to his clergy February 1, 1900

Beware of divisions. One thing the children of the world can always understand, if they do not understand doctrine (is)  angry quarreling and controversy. Be at peace among yourselves.

(The world is watching the church, and disunity powerfully demonstrates our lack of love for our brothers in Christ.)

The Upper Room, Being a Few Truths for the Times, 1888

https://www.ccel.org/ccel/r/ryle/upper_room/cache/upper_room.pdf

Chapter VI Acts 17:26 “One Blood”

https://www.ccel.org/ccel/ryle/upper_room.viii.html

Where is that brotherly love which used to be the distinguishing mark of the (New Testament) Christians? Where, amidst the din of controversy and furious strife, where is the fruit of the Holy Spirit and the primary mark of spiritual regeneration? Where is that love by which our Lord declared all men should know His disciples? (John 13:35)

Look at all this ghastly spectacle which any observing eye may see any day in England. And then remember that this is the country in which men are reading the New Testament and professing to follow Christ, and to believe that they are all of “one blood.” Can anything more grossly inconsistent be conceived?

God's Minute: A Book of 365 Daily Prayers Sixty Seconds Long for Home Worship, George Coleman, July 1

We pray that Thou wilt save us all from any pride of spiritual aristocracy, and help us to help each other toward the light. Save us from contempt and bitterness toward those whose eye of faith is not focused like ours, and save those of us who cannot see at all from misjudging those who can see. Thou hast compelled no man to acknowledge Thee, but by Thy good providences and gracious mercies Thou art drawing men unto Thyself. May we, Thy children, go and do likewise; compelling no man, by sneer or by fear, and winning all men by love and by sincerity.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Christian Unity : An Exposition of Ephesians 4:1 to 16

https://archive.org/details/christianunityex0000lloy/mode/2up 

“Speaking the Truth in Love” 

Today many teach that you must not say that one view is right and the other wrong; you must not criticize, for to criticize is to deny the spirit of Christ and to be entirely devoid of love. "Speaking the truth in love" has come to mean that you more or less praise everything, but above all, that you never criticize any view strongly, because, after all, there is a certain amount of right and truth in everything.

We must, therefore, ask the question, Is this a right and true interpretation of Paul's statement? Is this what is meant by "speaking the truth in love"?

I answer immediately that it cannot be, for the reason that the Apostle Paul does not simply tell us here to speak lovingly. What he says is "speaking truth" or "holding truth". We are not told by the Apostle to cultivate a vague, loving spirit, but to hold the truth in love. The very word truth, in and of itself, makes the modern popular exposition of the statement obviously and patently wrong.

Furthermore, and this is where the context is so important if the phrase merely denotes a loving spirit, how is that connected to what the Apostle has said in verse 14? If "speaking the truth in love", " holding the truth in love", means that we are to smile upon all views and doctrinal standpoints, and never criticize and condemn and reject any views, how do we avoid being "children tossed to and fro and carried away by every wind of doctrine"? This supposed "loving spirit" makes it impossible to use such terms as "sleight of men", "cunning craftiness", and "lying in wait to deceive".

The very text itself and especially the context, make that interpretation completely impossible; indeed, it is a denial of the Apostle's statement. We must not hesitate to say so plainly.

To put life, or "spirit" or niceness, or anything else, before truth is to deny essential New Testament teaching; and in addition is to contradict directly the Apostle's solemn warning in verse 14. It is to set up ourselves, and the modern mind, and the modern man as the authority rather than the 'called apostle' Paul and all others whom the Lord has set in the Church to warn us against and save us from, this attitude which so dislikes discrimination and judgment.

Never was it more important to assert that friendliness or niceness or some sentimental notions of brotherliness do not constitute Christianity. You can have all such qualities without and apart from Christianity without truth. So that whatever else it may mean, "holding the truth in love" does not mean a vague, flabby, sentimental notion of niceness, fellowship, and brotherhood.

Lloyd-Jones address to the Evangelical Alliance's 2nd National Assembly  in 1966

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/evangelical-history/50-years-ago-today-the-split-between-john-stott-and-martyn-lloyd-jones/ 

https://divinity.szabadosadam.hu/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/ML-J-AND-JS-2.pdf 

John Piper

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-is-christian-unity

T. F. Kruckenburg  on Hebrews 10:25, A Thought and a Prayer for Every Day in the Year, 1885

Lord Jesus, draw us together by drawing us to yourself.

CAUTION

C.H. Spurgeon

The Sword and Trowel, February 1887

Constantly we hear of proposals for unity and union . . . but what is the use of pretending where there can be none? There is another matter which needs to be thought of as well as unity and union, and that is TRUTH. To part with truth to show charity is to betray our Lord with a kiss. Between those who believe in the eternal verities and those who constantly cast doubt on them there can be no unity or union.  

The Sword and Trowel, April 1887                                                                                                                                                            

On all hands we hear cries for unity in this and unity in that; but to our mind the main need of this age is not compromise but conscientiousness. 'First pure, then peaceable' (James 3:17). It is easy to cry 'A confederacy', but that union which is not based on the truth of God is rather a conspiracy than a communion. Charity by all means; but honesty also. Love, of course, but love to God as well as love to men, and love of truth as well as love of union. It is exceedingly difficult in these times to preserve one's fidelity before God and one's fraternity among men. Should not the former be preferred to the latter if both cannot be maintained? We think so. 

The Sword and Trowel, November 1887

Believers in Christ's atonement are now in declared union with those who make light of it; believers in Holy Scripture are in confederacy with those who deny plenary inspiration; those who hold evangelical doctrine are in open alliance with those who call the Fall a fable, who deny the personality of the Holy Ghost, who call justification by faith immoral, and hold that there is another probation after death...  Yes, we have before us the wretched spectacle of professedly orthodox Christians publicly avowing their union with those who deny the faith, and scarcely concealing their contempt for those who can not be guilty of such a gross disloyalty to Christ. To be very plain, we are unable to call these things Christian Unions; they begin to look like Confederacies in Evil... It is our solemn conviction that where there can be no real spiritual communion there should be no pretense of fellowship. Fellowship with known and vital error is participation in sin.

The Sword and Trowel, July 1889

The day will come when those who think they can repair a house which has no foundations will see the wisdom in quitting it altogether. All along we have said that to come out from association with questionable doctrines is the only possible solution of a difficulty which, however it may be denied, is not to be trifled with by those who are conscious of its terrible reality.

2 Corinthians 6:14b ...what fellowship (coexistence) does light have with darkness?

A.W. Tozer  Man - The Dwelling Place of God, “Some Things Are Not Negotiable”

Imagine Moses agreeing to take part in a panel discussion with Israel over the golden calf; or Elijah engaging in a gentlemanly dialogue with the prophets of Baal. Or try to picture our Lord Jesus Christ seeking a meeting of minds with the Pharisees to iron out differences; or Athanasius trying to rise above his differences with Arius in order to achieve union on a higher level; or Luther crawling into the presence of the pope in the name of a broader Christian fellowship.

The discerning soul who can reconcile separated friends by prayer and appeal to the Scriptures is worth his weight in diamonds.

That is one thing, but the effort to achieve unity at the expense of truth and righteousness is another. To seek to be friends with those who will not be the friends of Christ is to be a traitor to our Lord. Darkness and light can never be brought together by talk. Some things are not negotiable.

On Separation

Andrew Bonar  Life and Remains: letters, lectures and poems of the Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne, Minister of St. Peter's church, Dundee, 1848

http://books.google.com/books?id=ps22CMbuptoC&dq

M‘Cheyne’s letter to Rev John Bonar at Larbert Old, February 1843.

“My soul often goes out at the throne of grace in behalf of Larbert and Dunipace. May the disruption (of 1843 to form the Free Church of Scotland) be more blessed to them than days of peace! How sweet to be in the ark when the deluge comes down!”

J.I. Packer, after walking out of the 2002 Synod of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster which authorized its bishop to produce a service for blessing same-sex unions:

"This decision, taken in its context, falsifies the gospel of Christ, abandons the authority of Scripture, jeopardizes the salvation of fellow human beings, and betrays the church in its God-appointed role as the bastion and bulwark of divine truth."

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

        Mark Sidwell, A Call to Separation and Unity: D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and “Evangelical Unity”

        http://archive.dbts.edu/journals/1998/Sidwell.pdf

        On Schism   

        https://thenarrowingpath.com/2015/08/07/sermon-link-schism-parts-1-2-by-dr-martyn-lloyd-jones/