The Unity of the Christian Faith

I have spent much of my time in the recent years studying the doctrines of the Christian faith. I have been a lifelong Christian. Baptized into the Faith in a Confessional Lutheran Church when I was six weeks old. That was the day Christ named me and claimed me. In all of my resistance, sin and even a short time attempting to deny the faith given me in my Baptism, He has refused to allow me to depart. I finally, a few years ago, began to embrace this gift and embarked on a quest to fully inform myself about this faith that Christ refused all efforts to be stripped from me. I've heard it said by Christians that the "hound of Heaven" finally tracked them down. I think Christ had to specifically dispatch one "hound" to continually herd this wayward Sheep back to the fold. I'm sure there are many other Christians who understand this.

In honest moments, I ask questions like "Why me?" or "Why, in all my sinful wretchedness, does this belief in Christ not fade or disappear completely?" or "In a world full of philosophical and religious 'truths' that seem more appealing, why does my heart cling to THE Truth of Christ?" It is in these moments of reflection that I understand the essence and truth of the saving Grace of Christ as explained in Titus 3:4-7: 

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

So, what does this have to do with unity in the Church? Well, I think it sheds some light on what Paul means in Ephesians 4:11-16: 

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

We in the Christian Church are very fractured and display a view to the world that there is more disunity than unity. We are significantly divided in this world along denominational and doctrinal lines. Yet, this is nothing new, it has been this way even from the time of the Apostles. We see in Acts 15, which was approximately 49 A.D., the Council of Jerusalem was convened to address the doctrine of the Judaizers. In Acts 18, Apollos is preaching in Ephesus and is corrected on the doctrine of Baptism by Priscilla and Aquila. Paul writes the above passage in the letter to the Ephesians in about 60 A.D. but in 65-68 A.D. he is counseling Timothy and Titus against false teachers. So, the question I ask is, how, 2000 years later, is a Church already beset by heresy, errors and disagreements are sinful humans supposed to find doctrinal unity? The answer is, we won't and we can't, not fully. Our minds, clouded by sin, will not allow agreement across all points of doctrine. Part of this is human arrogance and part is a fear of rejecting what we have come to believe. Both, fear and arrogance, are sin.

So, what is Paul speaking of in this Ephesians passage? How could Paul, who experienced first hand the false teaching and errors arising within the Church and fully knew the corruption of sin in humanity, speak of a potential unity in the Church? 

I think Paul was speaking of two different things in this passage. He is speaking of an earthly ministry resulting in an eternal reality. In verses 11-12 Paul says 

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ

meaning that Christ has instituted the Office of the Ministry to preach the Gospel and Administer the Sacraments through which the Holy Spirit gathers the Church around the Confession of Christ (Romans 10:17; 1 Peter 3:21). Verses 15-16 

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Paul explains how the Spirit works when the Gospel is preached (speaking the truth in love) the remaining explanation is the work of the Spirit. We don't grow as Christians by the force of our own will, we grow by the work of the Spirit. Just as our physical body's growth is a natural occurrence, so is our spiritual growth. Just as our physical bodies can be healthy or unhealthy by what we feed them, so is our spiritual growth by that which we "feed" ourselves. So is the same with the Church. The Church doesn't grow by the force of will of it's preachers and teachers, it is grown by the Spirit on the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ. Martin Luther famously stated that all we contribute to our Salvation is "sin and resistance".

So, what is the reality that Paul is describing in verses 13-14?

until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Paul is describing the eternal reality that we will see in the new creation (to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ) which is the fulfillment of the promise of God to make all things new (Isaiah 11, Isaiah 65, Revelation 21). 

So, while the pagan world points to the apparent "disunity" in the Church as evidence of the weakness of the Christian faith, we know the truth is hidden behind the sin of we Christians who worship a faithful God in great weakness and unworthiness. Like all things with God, the evidence of our experience contradicts what we know to be the truth in His Word. 

We still have the instructions to admonish false teachers (Titus 1:10-11) simply because they lead people away from the truth and cloud the Gospel of Christ behind other teachings. However, on the Last Day, there will be perfect unity among God's people through the Salvific work of Christ and the Holy Spirit who gives and sustains our faith in Christ. It will be revealed to all when His Church is gathered on the Last Day, despite these earthly differences, and ushered into His eternal Kingdom.

The Post Modernism and Fundamentalism Parallel

I have given much thought to current worldviews and the philosophies behind them. This is just my attempt at providing some philosophical and theological insights of the world, life and love.

As I have observed changes in the people around me over the last few years, I cannot help but see the influence of postmodernism. This ideology has swept through the culture over the last 30 years. It’s prevalent in tv, radio and social media. It’s crept into school curriculums and many Churches. Most of the people we encounter in society have unknowingly adopted it and really couldn’t diagnose it if asked. I was an adherent to it for several years, I simply followed the culture. It sounds insightful and attractive from a practical viewpoint, however, it’s completely incompatible with a true Biblical worldview.

Post modernism emerged as a radical response to the modernist philosophies of the late 19th and most of the 20th centuries. The modernist mindset that swept the globe gave rise to political and social ideologies that became destructive and murderous. It led directly to extreme nationalism that gave birth to fascism and nazism (the Pledge of Allegiance was born out of this ideology, that’s part of the reason why I refuse to say the Pledge). The social construct of the modernist worldview led directly to socialism, communism, marxism, racism and...extreme American nationalism. The result of the rise of all of these ideologies was global war, murder and genocide. There were more human beings killed in the 19th and 20th centuries than during any other span of world history. Christians in Europe, Asia and the Middle East were slaughtered because Christianity was completely incompatible with any construct of the modernist ideology. (True) Christianity is about freedom...spiritual freedom that allows us to focus on the needs of our neighbor. Modernist ideologies demanded loyalty to the “collective” and declared any opposing ideology as an enemy. Unfortunately, many Christians fell into a modernist mindset and it still exists in many sects of Christian fundamentalism today.

In the wake of the human destruction that occurred because of modernism, societies began to rebel against authority. The “hippie movement” of the 1960’s and 70’s that swept the globe deconstructed that modernist worldview. This was not a bad thing. Modernism was completely anti-human. In light of that, ancient philosophers were being read again, old philosophies from the Greco-Roman world, the Far East and Arabia were being studied and disseminated. There is nothing wrong with this. The writings of both Aristotle and Augustine still have relevance to the human condition. Many people believe that their worldview is a “new construct”, however, if you understand philosophy from throughout history, most anything proclaimed today is simply a repackaging or merging of old ideas. This is how postmodernism was born.

Experiential philosophies and religions have been around forever. It’s a belief system that teaches we are shaped, molded and improved by our experiences. Ancient religions like Buddhism and Gnosticism are based on these ideas. It’s a belief that our experiences somehow help us “progress” as an individual and a human race by informing our knowledge. These beliefs have become interwoven into all parts of our culture. We see it in society as a form of mysticism in practices like Yoga and in the Church with Pentecostalism. All of these people are chasing “feelings” in order to define themselves as human. It’s infiltrated rationalism by drawing hard dividing lines between science and religion, politics and religion and between our Christian life and our social and practical lives.

A separate ancient philosophy that arose in the early Church called Manichaeism. It was taught by a man called Mani. His theology and philosophy of good and evil was rather extensive, but the main point that culture has pulled from his beliefs is the idea of “I am who I am”...”I am who God made me”. Augustine was a Manichaen for about 10 years, and after renouncing it, he wrote quite a bit against it. However, our modern culture has embraced this belief.

In the mid 1800’s, a man by the name Soren Kierkegaard came along and developed a philosophy that merged these ideas. Basically, he wrote that we are shaped by our experiences and those experiences then define us...it’s who we become. So, every individual basically becomes their own “philosopher”. What they subjectively experience and feel, becomes the impetus to their “belief system”. So, instead of the blind allegiance to the “collective” that modernism produced, postmodernism has created a culture of social, moral, philosophical and religious anarchy. It teaches that every person is an individual authority unto themselves. They are only governed by whatever or however their experiences inform them. Things like “objective truth”, a truth that exists outside of our experiences, does not exist.

Don’t get me wrong, there are nothing wrong with life experiences, some are helpful and some are harmful. They do inform us. However, they do not define us. We do not become what we experience. When we are grounded in an objective truth...like the truth of God’s Word, we fully understand our place and role in society. We simply gain some practical wisdom from our experiences that allows us to function more efficiently and effectively in society.

Because of the ideology behind postmodernism (which is ironic because it’s an ideology that rejects ideologies), the Christian belief in the objective truth of the Bible is completely rejected and declared irrelevant. Postmodern Christians basically ignore the Bible and simply go to Church on Sunday as a “penance” or “act of obedience” that somehow restores their relationship with God. They develop the idea that a Christian life is confined to a couple hours of “doing good” on Sunday morning and becomes completely disconnected from the rest of their life. They allow the culture and experiences inform their faith instead of the actual Word of God.

The one reason I rejected postmodernism is that I saw the intolerant and divisive undercurrent that is inescapable if someone is committed to it. While it professes tolerance, it’s by nature intolerant. A true adherent must believe wholeheartedly in whatever view of the world they have constructed and defend that against anyone who disagrees or declares that truth is objective (comes from a single source like God). While they profess love, it’s not true love. It becomes a weapon of guilt against those whom they disagree and emotional manipulation of those they wish to hold close. They redefine love as some sort of hypocritical grace...accepting all behaviors because the other person “is just that way” or “they are finding themselves”. However, they simply accept bad behaviors because it excuses their own...because they “are just experiencing life”. They ignore the potential or real destruction this life application causes, because they simply justify it as “collateral damage” between people who are “incompatible”.

All of this makes a postmodern lifestyle inherently selfish, it isn’t driven by concern for the other person. It’s “tolerance” is simply a defense mechanism for following one’s own desires. The postmodernist sets conditions on others acceptance. Basically, “I’ll accept you and your beliefs if you accept me and my beliefs”. If someone disagrees, they are attacked as “intolerant” or “hateful” simply from disagreement of stating that we should live by a common objective morality. The true Christian faith and postmodernism cannot coexist...they are ideologically incompatible. Postmodernists know this. Their ideology views Christianity just like every other social and political construct of the modernist era. Unfortunately, many Christians give them plenty of evidence for that opinion.

The Christian life is not about obedience...it’s about freedom in Christ. However, pietism demands obedience in many forms. Many Christians say “saved by grace”, but that understanding is completely different. If you ask a fundamentalist “how do you know you are saved?” you will get all kinds of answers about what “they have done” or “what they are doing” to be obedient to God. Their obedient life is the evidence of their salvation. They point to good deeds, personal testimonies, spiritual walks, accepting Christ, their Christian life, etc, etc, etc. It’s completely subjective and based on how righteously they are living at the moment. That opinion completely reduces Christ’s work on the Cross as a “starting point” of the faith. After that “starting point”, it’s up to you to “stay in grace” by some construct of Christian living. Then they judge other’s salvation by the same standard. I actually heard a fundamentalist minister say, “owners of liquor stores are not saved.” That’s simply ridiculous, not to mention heretical and blasphemous against Christ! In that belief system, the 10 Commandments are a life of obedience with no real concern for others. Good works become a self righteous means to show they are a “good Christian”. It’s no different from what the Pharisees, whom Jesus criticized repeatedly, believed.

If you ask a true orthodox Christian the same question, we simply answer, “because Christ died for me and claimed me in my Baptism. He continues to forgive me in my repentance and delivers that promise in preaching and Holy Communion.” It is not about obedience to the Commandments. We are not saved because we are good people living a good life. We are saved solely because Christ, in His immense mercy and love, went willingly, selflessly, painfully and bloodily to the Cross on a Friday morning 2000 years ago and atoned for our wretched sinful condition. That’s it. It’s completely based on the objective truth of God’s Word and Christ’s promise of Salvation contained in that Word.

Then the Commandments simply become a guide for our lives to protect others from our sinful desires. We don’t keep the Commandments to simply be obedient to God, we do it out of love for our neighbor and family because Christ first loved us. We simply reflect that love to others by restraining our evil desires so we don’t harm them. God doesn’t need our good works of “obedience”, Christ was perfectly obedient in our place, obedient to death. Our family, friends and neighbors need our good works because we were created to love and serve one another. That’s what living in Christian freedom means.

What is inherently ironic is that the true christian life is about selflessness, love, humility and a penitent recognition of one’s sinfulness. Postmodernism and fundamentalism is selfish, self righteous, arrogant, intolerant and narcissistic. Yet, both the postmodernist and fundamentalist (while at odds with each other) look at true Christianity with disdain and misunderstanding. It’s very similar to the world in which Jesus lived. The true penitent Christian is surrounded by self righteous Pharisees and narcissistic Pagans.