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As many of you may know, it is now that week of the year when Christians of various traditions make a particular point of coming together to pray about the differences between them, and to give thanks for bonds that unite them, in the hope that a closer fellowship between the various members of the body of Christ may be achieved. Over the past couple of years I have tried to get involved in moves towards Christian unity at York and have found it an issue which seems to inspire strong opinions among people. As the problems are still as real as ever, I reckoned therefore that this was an issue which should be aired once more in the pages of Christis.
Initially I had intended to write quite a detailed exposition into the problems experienced when unity is grasped at, and how they could perhaps be resolved. However, after reflection I decided that instead of spending my time fancifully trying to create a panacea, I should frankly admit that I have as many questions and problems with regard to this as anyone else. As such, I have decided simply to pose some questions that I believe need to be dealt with by different branches of the Christian community before much progress is made, and to merely add some of my own comments in answer to each one.
1) How do we ensure that we do not compromise our gospel when we seek unity with other Christians?
It is easy to get carried away with the organisation or the social aspect of Christian unity and lose track of our objective in uniting as a body that has its focus primarily in the revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ. The reason for our coming together should never be obscured by other emphases. This is a great danger for Christians of all types.
As the gospel of Jesus Christ is primarily known by the heart and only communicated by words, then so surely we should base the grounds for communion in this gospel in exactly the same way. We should test all things by the truth that is the experience of the external God acting deep within us, always searching for truth that is in Him, and letting the Holy Spirit teach us to be more Christ-like as we read of our Lord and His prophets in the Bible, the Word of God, so we may have the power of God acting through us. It is only from this power that we will speak the words of love that transmit this gospel, and come together in true unity. We should not suppose that the words of the Bible, merely by their use, magically produce this faith or love within those we meet — this is the tragic mistake of Fundamentalism. It starts from the words and treats them as an absolute entity imparting the same truth on each persons heart. However, as the meanings ascribed by people to words are merely a result of the presuppositions derived from their previous experience, they have no such absolute value. The effect is that all too often the only fellowship that can be achieved through Fundamentalism is with those people who possess a similarly narrow background or understanding. As there are a multitude of very different cultures and sub-cultures in which Christianity exists, this approach has sadly been particularly instrumental in fostering the appalling polarisation that is present in the Christian community. No. Words are no substitute for our conscience — which is the only place where we can know the truth and gain an absolute sense of God. Only God can reveal God to our hearts — this is the maxim of all orthodox theology. It is only a direct experience of Him by His Holy Spirit over and above the words of the Bible that we can hope to keep the gospel pure and let it grow in our hearts and with others. It is only by allowing the Bible to be a servant in our relationship with our God that it has the power to reveal God and keep the good news intact. So long as we live with a constant perspective on Him, allowing Him to mould and break us, the danger of compromising our gospel disappears.
2) Given the fact that the Christian tradition is so wide, causing the faith to be expressed in many different ways, is it possible, or indeed even desirable, to set out statements of belief in a dogmatic manner in a way that will be understood as fundamental to faith by all people?
In my opinion, a lack of recognition of the different approaches and word forms of different Christian traditions is an enormous hinderance to unity. It is far too easy for us Christians to become so immersed in our particular denominational thinking that we assume this is the way all Christians think, and that those who for some reason do not conform to our approach should thus be viewed with suspicion. The Christian community needs to realise that there are different ways of approaching Christ, and that these often contain much that we can learn from. This is not to say that we must accept that there are not real differences between the groups, but that we should not magnify them out of all proportion by our obstinate attitude and insistence on esoteric language. There needs to be more of a listening attitude amongst fellow Christians. Only when we learn to tolerate and try to understand one another can we progress at all. It is only then that we can start to formulate statements of doctrine. Though, some would question the necessity of this, I would contend these statements are very important. Words are perhaps the most meaningful way of expressing our fellowship with one another. Verbal agreement is a sign of true communion and understanding. However, I should emphasise that as our conditions and relationships change, we should always be open to the words we use in such agreements, always ready to change or elaborate upon them as we attempt to move towards the truth. It is all too easy to become tied to words as though they possess absolute meaning throughout time and circumstance.
3) If you are inclined to reckon that an adherence to a doctrinal standard is necessary before commencing with Christian fellowship, are the matters of belief you lay down as pre-requisites all absolutely necessary for a lively faith?
I can remember not so long ago in the pages of Christis, someone writing in with a list of conditions he reckoned were vital marks of a Christian. Though I did not have any problem accepting the items on his list with respect to myself, I wondered if whether it was really impossible to be able to have meaningful Christian fellowship with a person who did not hold to all that was laid down. For example, he emphasised the necessity of belief in the virgin birth. As I have already mentioned this is something I do believe, but does either serious doubt or belief in a metaphorical interpretation of the Bible’s accounts make someone’s faith utterly invalid? Surely we can follow Christ, live according to his teaching and accept him our saviour without this belief. However important we might believe it is in a subsidiary sense, surely it is not the core of faith itself. It is our simple faith in Christ which saves us, not our ability to reason through and accept this or that doctrine. As such, should we not be extremely wary if we insist upon prescribing bounds lest in doing so we exclude a large number with which we can join in Christian fellowship?
4) Do we really know what we are talking about?
I have found all too often in the past that I have pontificated fervently about the necessity of this or that only to discover I was utterly wrong, or more usually that I was viewing the truth in a narrow-minded way. No doubt, in everything we do and say there is going to be a certain amount of error, as none of us have yet reached the goal of perfection, and this is obviously going to hinder us in our progress towards unity. Indeed our capacity to be in error about things is something we are not good at recognising and exacerbates the situation. We like to think we know more than we do. Our self-centred pride is a fault once more. Let us therefore centre ourselves instead on the one true God, allowing all our actions to spring from His grace. Let us build everything on our Lord Jesus Christ, letting the life-giving Spirit speak to us through His Word, the Bible. Only then can we begin to knock down the edifices of error that beset our thought.
5) Are our hearts focussed on Christ as we look to come together as fellow Christians?
From my own experience, I know the temptation, when disputing with a Christian on this matter or that, to carry on with an argument, even when I know I have lost, keeping it going artifically with all manner of spurious subtleties. My desire has not been so much to see that from our discussion we should be able to grow in fellowship with one another and with Christ but with rather that my pride should remain intact. I would imagine this is a danger for all of us when we meet those people we disagree with. Our selfishness gets in the way of coming together. Indeed if we were not so selfish we would not be apart in the first place. Let us all then, whoever we are and whatever theology we ascribe to, start from the love of Christ, and let all our dealings with other Christians spring from this.
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Last modified: 25th November 2005
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