Theological Musings

long time ago (in blog terms), I started talking about John 17 and unity (here and here). It seems that the subject of unity has popped up on a number of blogs that I read, and I wanted to share some more thoughts on that topic.

This post started as a response on a post over at The Pursuit, but I decided to just write it here instead. In one of Lew’s “Question of the Week” posts, he asked:

Why do the things that cause us to separate ourselves by denomination have little to do with what God’s Word tells us to separate ourselves from?

Recently, in response to that, a commenter wrote:

…the union of people who have conflicting ideas is really no unity at all.

I think this is 1) a red herring, and 2) a false dichotomy, and 3) an excuse for the utter lack of attempts at unity in the body of Christ.

There can be a lot of “conflicting ideas” in a unified group. The unity is not always a simple function of unity in thought (or better yet, a unity in knowledge), but rather a unity in identification.

I find my identity in Christ. Who I am is found in Christ. Anyone else who finds their identity in Christ is my brother, and I should be able to be unified with them without any problem.

What if we disagree on methods of evangelism? So what?

What if we disagree on the use of certain spiritual gifts? So what?

What if we disagree on exactly how God created the heavens and the earth? So what?

What if we disagree on exactly what/when the millenial kingdom of Christ is? So what?

What if we disagree on exactly how God has “chosen” us? So what??

That need not divide us. Unless we twist any of those things, or a million other “issues” like them, into issues of true fellowship, they are not reasons for division. And if those things divide us, we should ask ourselves: From what do we get our identity?

For example, take a look at some of the leaders of large denominations who say that they can’t “cooperate” in the work of the Gospel with those who have not been baptized by someone in their denomination. Are they really seeking unity? In my opinion, no. They are seeking to defend their particular belief system as the only true and correct belief system.

That is not of Christ. It never has been, and never will be. And it is not those outside of that denomination who are the heretics. It is the one causing division who is the heretic.

Let’s quit coming up with excuses for our division and start really accepting and loving those who confess Christ, and seeking unity with them.

Conflicting ideas? Sure. Ability to fellowship and work together despite those differences? Absolutely — because it is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one Spirit that unites us.

Until next time,

steve

continue to generate a backlog of potential posts in the middle of my hectic life, but once again I am bailing on those potential posts to give you a brief update on things here in the Sensenig household.

First of all, I am very late in mentioning this, but several weeks ago, Christy and I (along with our son) had the great pleasure of having dinner with Brandon and Heather, long-time readers and commenters and blogging buddies. They decided to vacation up here in the Boone area, and we were able to meet them for dinner one evening. What a joy!

Even though Brandon and Heather haven’t been as active in the blogosphere for several months as they used to be, we still had lots to talk about. Our dinner together ended up being about 3 1/2 hours together, only cut short because the restaurant was closing! Thanks for a great visit, both of you, and I hope we can do it again!

My quest to meet each of my readers personally continues…

Additionally, I am still waiting to have an interview scheduled at Barter Theatre in Abingdon, VA. They had hoped to interview late this month, but it’s already the 24th and I still don’t have an interview date. They have assured me that they want to interview me, but I’m not sure how much longer the process will take. So, for the time being, there are no real plans to move.

I had mentioned a while ago on this blog that Christy and I were going through the process of getting licensed for foster/adoptive care. We have a separate blog that talks about that: Love Each Child. If you would like to see some recent exciting events in our lives, please go there and read this post by me, and this one by Christy. (Those of you who read Christy’s blog have already seen these links.)

Needless to say, life around here is very exciting, even though we know very little of what tomorrow will bring! But I do know this: Our God is a very good god, and we feel so very blessed to be able to be His children. While many things in our future remain to be seen, we are very much at peace with the fact that God is orchestrating things that go beyond our dreams and imaginations. And we feel very blessed already.

One more little update: Several months ago, I asked for assistance in writing an article for a publication. Thank you very much to those of you who answered my request and gave suggestions. I used many of those suggestions. I am pleased to announce that within a couple of weeks, the Fall issue of the wonderful quarterly publication The Old Schoolhouse will be carrying the resulting article in their special Christmas section.

I’m very honored to be published in this magazine, one which has very quickly become perhaps the leading publication for the homeschool community. With a publication run of about 33,000 I am pleased to know that my first published article will be helping many people celebrate Christmas this year by bringing new meaning to some well-known songs.

I guess that about wraps up this personal update. Thanks for sticking around, even with the lack of regular posting here! I appreciate every one of my readers and commenters.

Until next time,

steve

eaders of my blog are no doubt familiar with “ded”, a frequent and insightful commenter. On one occasion back in July of this year, he even guest-blogged here.

David (”ded”) is a great friend and brother to me. I first met David when he was one of our son’s seventh-grade teachers. Since that time, David and I have become very good friends. I value him as a brother in Christ and as one who functions as an elder in my life.

David and his wonderful wife are ones that we try to fellowship with often. The path to finding points of intersection in our schedules has not always been easy, but every time we get together, it is a blessing to us. I always find myself coming away from conversations with David feeling more in love with Jesus, more in tune with the Spirit, and more desirous to live life fully in the Spirit.

For a long time now, David has been contributing very insightful comments on this blog. Several of you have commented in the past how much you appreciate his wisdom and input into the conversation. I couldn’t agree more!

So, it is with great pleasure that I introduce David to you now, not just as a friend, not just as a brother, not just as a vital part of the comments here, but now as a blogger as well. David’s new blog, Spirit in the Wild Wood, is now open, and he’s already got a couple of posts up there for your edification.

I can’t recommend highly enough that you add David to your blog reader, favorites, or however you keep up with your blog reading. You will definitely be blessed by this dear brother!

Until next time,

steve

ell, I finally am getting around to sitting down to write some of my own thoughts on this topic. Thank you to all of you who contributed such insightful comments in response to my question.

Much of what I would like to say has been said in one form or another in the comments that were posted previously. This has the net effect of letting me know ahead of time that my thoughts won’t be overly controversial to everyone in the discussion! But seriously, it is refreshing to see such thought being given to this topic. I likely will not address everything that was written in the comments, but they are there for you to read for yourself. Instead, I want to share my thoughts, some of which will overlap the thoughts of others.

It is easy, I think, for us to agree that whatever Jesus meant when he prayed for our unity, we’re not fulfilling it. I don’t think I’ve ever come across anyone who says that the body of Christ is experiencing unity at the level that Jesus prayed for. Part of this is because we don’t even agree on what the unity is supposed to look like!

Some options of interpretation that I have come across in my time of examining this passage include:

• Unity = Unanimity — Unity can only come when we fully agree on everything that is believed, practiced, taught, etc.
• Unity = Consensus — Unity means that we “agree to disagree”
• Unity = Anything Goes — Unity means that every person’s belief is valid, and we should never “debate” or try to convince others of our viewpoints
• Unity = Eschatological Perfection — The unity that Jesus prayed for is only possible, and will only exist, when Jesus returns and we are made perfect.

With that in mind, I posed the question, “What is the unity that Jesus prayed for in John 17 and is it primarily (or even solely) eschatological in nature?”

Let me first of all give my thoughts on the eschatology aspect of the question. I think determining the eschatological import (if any) helps us determine what the unity actually is. It also impacts what we believe to be our responsibility toward the unity in question.

In other words, if the unity is primarily (or solely) eschatological, we can easily assume that it is not attainable in this lifetime, and we will generally feel like it’s not even worth trying. If, however, the unity is a present possibility and reality, we will understand our own response to the prayer of Jesus.

As some have already commented, I do not believe that the unity for which Jesus prayed is eschatological. Eschatological unity is almost a given. Why would Jesus take the time to pray for what is essentially a guaranteed part of the future kingdom?

But more importantly, the words of Jesus in John 17 give us ample evidence that eschatology is not in view during this prayer. Verse 21 tells us specifically that the prayer of Jesus for unity is for this purpose: “…so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

Verse 23 expands on this by saying that the purpose of the unity is “…so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

In my opinion, these two statements of purpose that Jesus gave for his prayer for unity remove any eschatological implication from the prayer. The purpose of the unity is to demonstrate to the world that God sent Jesus and that God loves us.

If this is correct (and obviously, I believe it is), then this greatly impacts our understanding of what that unity is and whether or not we should actively be pursuing it. Since it is not a future unity (any eschatological implications must come from outside the text), there must be a present unity for which Jesus prayed.

Within this prayer, Jesus gives some indication as to what the unity should be. Namely, it should be a mirror of the unity that Jesus and the Father share. He compares the unity of us with his unity with the Father in verse 21:

…they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us….

Would we say that the unity of Jesus and the Father is manifest in “you go your way and I’ll go mine and we won’t bother each other”? Yet this is frequently what ends up happening among Christians.

You believe in infant baptism? Then I can’t fellowship with you. You believe in speaking in tongues? You’ll have to have church across town. You believe that the Genesis account of creation is metaphorical? I have nothing in common with you.

This cannot be what Jesus prayed for.

And with that, I will have to hold off on the rest of my thoughts because I am out of time. Comments are open, and I will return with a further post at some point.

Until next time,

steve

’m going to do something out of the ordinary for this blog.  Instead of writing out a whole bunch of thoughts on a subject and then getting your responses, I’m going to open up a question and let the discussion run before I post my thoughts.

I may not be around much on the blog over the next few days, but will try to follow along as much as possible.  I’ll hopefully post my thoughts early next week.

The question: What is the unity that Jesus prayed for in John 17 and is it primarily (or even solely) eschatological in nature?  (In other words, is it a future promise of unity in eternity?)

Thoughts?