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STUFF ABOUT GOD AND CHRISTIANITY
This column represents the thoughts and opinions of Dr. Ron Braley. This is not the opinion of the Elgin Courier.
God loves a unified creation. He equips us for that purpose. When we move as one body, we uplift God and proclaim his greatness. The spiritual hands, feet, eyes and ears are to work as one to point to the Creator. But that’s not the reality today: theological segregation, human traditions and pride have fractured the church.
One denomination revels in study and programs but remands the Holy Spirit to the first century and chastises charismatics. Another focuses on supernatural signs and speaks and acts unbiblically. Others staunchly plant the stake of “we’re the only way to heaven” into the soil of biblical ignorance. Human-born mysticism and legalism have corrupted the once-simple practices of communion and baptism, causing even further division.
However, this is not what God desires, nor has this always been the case. Here, we’ll explore godly unity in a three-parter that defines it, shows our departure and attempts to make unity a priority again.
First things first: an overview.
Unity is a bond, a oneness, that joins individuals into a single entity, as in the Body of Christ. In that context, we are unified by the Father, Son and Spirit, and our unity magnifies (honors) God. Here are some biblical examples:
• We are unified by one Father, Son and Spirit for peace and God’s ministry of reconciling creation (Ephesians chapter four): “There is one body and one Spirit … one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all … for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith.”
• The world should see our unity (John 17:23): “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.” But it sees brokenness instead of unity.
• The parts of the church only work when unified (1 Corinthians chapter 12): “For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. … If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? … Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.”
Summary. The church only functions effectively when everyone works together as one body, sharing spiritual gifts and resources as God permits. This is not the case today. Next? Let’s look deeper into how the lack of unification crippled Christ’s body and made God’s Kingdom an ugly thing to many people. Meanwhi le, consider how you, as a spiritual eye or ear, can help the body see and hear.
Blessings and peace. Braley, an Air Force veteran, husband and father, earned a master of divinity degree from Regent University in 2018 and a doctor of ministry from the same school in 2021.
