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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Describe the unity of the saints of toda | John 17:11 | RealImage | 4068 | ||
Will someone please describe the proper idea of unity within the body Christ, and the shape it is suppose to be demonstrated? | ||||||
2 | Describe the unity of the saints of toda | John 17:11 | Hank | 4069 | ||
In the Old Testament the Shema, "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!" [Deut.6:4] was the central confession of the faith of Israel. Because God is one, one set of laws was to apply to both Israelites and foreigners. The result intended was a unified body of believers. In the New Testament, Jesus prayed that His disciples would enjoy the unity that He had with the Father. [John 17:11] Unity was achieved in the earlist church. The first believers were together in all things, united in one place in one heart and soul. [Acts 2:1, 43; 4:32] As in the Old Testament, sin crept in with all its ugliness and divisiveness and threatened the unity of the church. [Acts 5:1-11; 6:1; 15:1] One of Paul's central and pervasive themes was unity of the believers -- "one body in Christ" [Rom 12:5-8; 1 Cor.12:13,27-30; Gal.3:28; Eph.2:14-15; 3:6] These verses will give you a fair idea of the New Testament ideal of unity as well as some of the consequences of division. Informed people today, both inside and outside the church, are most of them keenly aware that the church is a mess. It is not merely torn by rampant denominationalism and cultism. It is torn by bitter infighting among members in the denominations themselves. A cursory inspection of the decline in the membership and attendance of many of the so-called mainline churches suggests something is wrong, and in some cases, fatally wrong. Church doors are closing. Some churches die. We all of us who call ourselves Christian must, to a certain degree, share the blame. Collectively we have sat idly by (as Saul did when he watched the martyrdom of Stephen) and done little to stem the invasion of secular humanism that has eaten away at the very core and vitals of the integrity of the church. We have seen the eternal word of God supplanted by the ephemeral philosophies and doctrines of men. How can we -- or can we indeed -- fix it? There are no easy answers, but there is a sure answer. Back to the fundamentals. Back to giving the authority of Scripture more than mere lip service. Back to honest, fervent, constant prayer. Back to being an evangelist in the truest sense of the word. In short, back to God through the Door, Jesus Christ our Lord. --Hank | ||||||