God's Heart for Unity - Part Two

 Last week I introduced the theme of this series of messages, and that theme is a cry for unity in the Body of Christ.

It is the unity for which the Lord Jesus prayed in His High Priestly prayer. You will find it in John 17:22-23, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as I are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

The Lord Jesus warned us in Matthew 12: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” (Matthew 12:25) And it doesn’t require a PhD in religion or in history to recognize how deftly Satan has used that principle of division since the earliest days of the church. And, as we also saw last week, the Church is comprised of all Christians.

 

Our understanding about who makes up the Church – which is the Body of Christ – is critical to attaining unity in God’s family. The New Testament writers make it clear that ALL God’s children are part of the Body of Christ, regardless of the church group to which they belong – whether Catholic, or Methodist, or Presbyterian, or Pentecostal, of Baptist, or whatever.

 

Here is what the Holy Spirit tells us about the Church: “And [the Father] put all things in subjection under [Christ’s] feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:22-23)

 

Now while we know Jesus prayed for unity, and unity should be on the hearts of all true Christians, nothing of what I said last week, nor what I will say today means I believe doctrine is unimportant to unity. Doctrine IS important to unity. Nor do I think we should ever compromise ESSENTIAL doctrine for the sake of unity.

 

The Lord Jesus, the prophets, and the apostles NEVER compromised essential Biblical truths for the sake of unity. But that begs the question: What ARE those essential Biblical truths around which we must find unity – truths essential to salvation?

 

And THAT question begs yet another question: Who has the authority to decide what are those essential truths? Certainly, it is not I. And neither is it you. And neither is it your pastor, or priest, or anyone today in any church hierarchy.

 

That decision must be left to the historic teaching of the church dating back to what the apostles themselves taught. And, after they died, how did the early Church Fathers and various early church councils interpret the apostolic teaching specifically related to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

 

Without the teaching of the Church Fathers and the early Church councils, the fledgling church would have devolved into multiple splinter religious groups, each having their own interpretation of the apostle’s teaching – and the early heresies such as Arianism and Nestorianism and Gnosticism would have destroyed the Body of Christ.

 

Scripture tells us in Acts 15 that the first Church council occurred in Jerusalem. History then tells us seven more earlier councils followed, perhaps the most important beginning at Nicaea in AD 325, followed by Constantinople in AD 381 – important because of their focus on the deity of the Lord Jesus and His co-eternality with the Holy Spirit and the Father. 

 

Their decisions about the essential doctrines of Christian faith related to the Person of Jesus became the compass early Christians used to determine their unity in the faith. And what was useful to them then ought to be useful for us now.

 

There were several creeds — statements of faith — that arose in early church history, each usually building on the one before it. Often these statements of orthodox faith developed in response to erroneous or heretical teaching circulating among the scattered churches. Ultimately, the Apostles Creed and the later Nicene Creed became the test of Christian orthodoxy. Those who did not accept those doctrines were considered non-Christians by the Christian church.

The Nicene Creed (also called the Nicene-Constantinople Creeds of AD 325 and 381 respectively) – is the more robust of any of the creeds. That is why we will focus on that creed in this message.

But, before we look at that particular statement of faith, we should first focus attention on what it was to which the various councils appealed as they formulated orthodox doctrine.

 

Each council relied on their common conviction that the Bible is the fully inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God. Without such agreement then or now, how can anyone expect unity of faith in the essentials doctrines? As the prophet Amos wrote: “Can two walk together, unless they be agreed?’ (Amos 3:3)

 

Listen! If we cannot agree on the inerrancy of Scripture, then how can we find agreement about any doctrine based on Scripture, such as what constitutes a holy lifestyle? Is there an eternal heaven AND an eternal hell? Was Mary a virgin when she conceived Messiah? Did Jesus really work miracles? Did He live a completely sinless life? Did He physically rise from the dead on that third day?

 

It is impossible to find unity with those who do not believe in the inerrancy of Scripture because those who disbelieve that essential truth will be quick to reject the supernatural and concoct some natural explanations for them.

 

That’s why the Holy Spirit guided the writers of Scripture to lay such emphasis on the Word of God as the firm foundation of our faith in Christ. Whenever the apostles proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ, they looked to the Old Testament – which should make sense when you realize the New Testament did not yet exist.

For example, Luke tells us when St. Paul and his companions traveled through the cities of Asia Minor, he went to their synagogues and “reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.” (Acts 17:1-3) What Scriptures did Paul reason from? The Old Testament, of course.

 

When the resurrected Christ met with the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, Jesus said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:25-27)

 

St. Paul referred to the Old Testament writings when he told Timothy: “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.” (2 Timothy 4:1-3)

 

St. Peter urged the Church: “[L]ike newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. (1 Peter 2:1)

 

The entire 119th psalm, all 176 verses, magnifies the role of Scripture in the Christian’s life. No wonder St. Paul proclaimed: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.  2 Timothy 3:16-17

 

The Scriptures are so important to our salvation, maturity of faith, AND our unity of faith that Satan has always discouraged Christians and non-Christians from reading the Bible. He has deceived even some religious leaders into keeping their congregations from reading and studying the Bible for themselves. That’s one reason the Catholic Church – for example – writes its Catechism: The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ. (CCC 133)

 

In other words, Jerome’s Biblically oriented point of view is that the more we know Scripture, the better we know Jesus. But the converse is also true – the less we know scripture, the less we know Jesus.

I hope by now it is clear to us that the glue of Christian unity is the Word of God itself. However, over the millennia, the word of God has been subjected to multiple and varied interpretations. That’s why there are so many churches and church traditions – all which center around their own particular interpretations of Scripture. Which brings us back to the question – to WHOM did God grant the authority to interpret Scripture? I guarantee you, it is not I. Nor is it you, or your priest, or your pastor, or some televangelist.

 

That authority first rested in the apostles. After their deaths, the authority rested in the early church councils comprised of godly men who sought direction for the Church from the Scriptures. The first council in Acts 15 served as a prototype for what would follow under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

 

For example, here is St. Paul’s guidance to Timothy: “[I]n case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15)

 

The Church cannot be a pillar and support if truth unless the Church is united in the belief that the Bible is the inerrant word of God.

 

To the Christians at Ephesus, Paul wrote: “And [God] gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-12)

 

These are only a few of the dozens of Biblical examples pointing to the authority God gave to the early church councils to properly interpret and teach the apostolic faith. And as the church continued to expand, its leadership recognized the need for succinct statements of faith to maintain UNITY of orthodoxy among the varied and far-flung congregations.

 

One of the oldest well-known creeds is the Apostles Creed, which dates to around 140 AD. Although not written by the apostles, it forms the basis for the more robust Nicene-Constantinople Creed which we will look at now in some detail.

By the way, the word “catholic” in the Apostles’ and the Nicene Creed does not refer to the Roman Catholic Church. The word as used in its original meaning refers to the universal church, which as we have already seen, is defined by the New Testament as the Body of Christ.

The Nicene-Constantinople Creed came about because of a destructive heresy that nearly took control of the early church. A bishop names Arius had amassed a huge following by teaching that Jesus was a created being and not God in the flesh. Arius believed the doctrine of the trinity of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – was blasphemy. There is only one God, he said, and God is not three-in-one.

Were it not for the Councils of Nicaea in 325 AD and Constantinople in 381 AD, the work of Christ on the cross would have been in vain. Christianity would have disintegrated into the heresy similar to modern Jehovah Witnesses, denying the deity, co-eternality and the co-existence of Jesus and the Holy Spirit with the Father.

And THAT, my brothers and sisters, is one of the reasons God established the early councils of the Church – to protect true doctrine around which Christian unity must revolve. (Another role of the early Councils was to determine which of the thousands of manuscripts circulating throughout Palestine, Asia Minor, and Europe – many of which were spurious and heretical – the Councils determined which were divinely inspired by God and belonged in the Canon which we call our Bible.)

I am running out of time to give proper explanation of the Nicene Creed, so I will simply now read the Creed, and make a few final comments. Next week I will return us to the Nicene Creed and hopefully underscore just why it ought to be the basis of Christian unity today:

I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consub-stantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Here is my final point: The New Testament writers and the Fathers of the early church placed supreme emphasis on the word of God. And because the church Fathers likewise emphasized the Scriptures in their teachings, they formulated their creeds around the Scriptures.

 

Therefore, since ancient church unity centered around the Scriptures AND how the early church councils interpreted the Scriptures – so should we in the 21st century. That means, if we believe the Scriptures are the inerrant, infallible word of God, then we are on the road to unity. If we believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth – then we are continuing to move toward that place of unity.

If we believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God, born of the father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten, not made, consubstantial (of one essence) with the Father, then we are still moving toward unity.

Therefore, if we agree about the inerrancy of Scripture, and we agree with all the tenets of the Nicene Creed, as did ALL Christians in those early centuries – then why must we today insist on full agreement about things on which the early church did not insist necessary for salvation or unity?

 

Unity in the household of God is the only thing that will enable the Body of Christ to put up a vigorous defense and offense against the devil’s work on this planet and in our families. A house divided against itself cannot stand. But a house united is a formidable army to advance even against the gates of hell. Oh, may God help us all to unite against the true enemy of our souls.

Next week we will conclude this series with an exposition of the Nicene Creed.