05/01/2026
Ecumenicism and Unity in the Body of Christ
Ecumenicism is the modern movement throughout the world in the Christian Church [1] to resolve, or at least downplay, sectarian differences in order to establish unity in the Body of Christ (the Church [2]). Granted, the doctrinal mechanics involved present a monumental challenge but the scriptural mandate for its pursuit is clear, even from the Old Testament, e.g., Psalm 133 –“How good and pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity!…”. In the New Testament, unity in the Church is a nearly supreme directive and priority. In John 13: 35 Jesus says, “By this all [people] will know that you are my disciples, if you [all] love one another”. This implies that by failing in love (which includes unity) towards one another Christians will fail in their witness, a paramount travesty. This is reiterated and expanded upon explicitly in John 17: 20-23 in which Jesus specifically calls for unity in the Church Age yet to come.
So what justification is there for the disunity found today in the Church on virtually every level – from theologically disagreed minor ministries within a given congregation on up to the major schisms dividing Protestantism from Catholicism from Eastern Orthodox? Perhaps none. For, the consequence of this failure of love between “brothers” writ large across time and distance is that the world will question our testimony of connection to God, because God is love, yet His “people” can’t seem to love one another. While only the more mature among us may know that true love can and must make allowance for disagreement, everybody knows that love and disunity cannot coexist; more precisely and more accurately: in whom one is, the other cannot be.
Where love is, disunity cannot be? What about the doctrine of excommunication? Here is where those who “rightly divide the Word of truth” need be careful and appreciate the subtle implications inherent in the truth of the preceding paragraph. Unity by definition is necessarily a bilateral, or multilateral, affair; it must flow from all members to all members. When one member ceases to remain in unity through sin in perhaps a more private or low-visibility manner, Jesus instructs the Church to, in love, “…[win] your brother over” [3] through a course of confrontation and if necessary, discipline. Now, when the offending brother “refuses to listen even to the church” and the sin inevitably comes into public view, to the outside observer the confronting institution often appears to be the one violating unity by exercising judgment that leads to discipline, especially when that discipline leads to handing over to Satan those who have shipwrecked their faith (1 Timothy 1: 20). However, in such cases where correctly prosecuted, the unity that is ultimately rooted in each member’s love for the LORD God was first violated by the unrepentant individual necessitating, out of love for both the individual and the community, the response by the Church proscribed in Matthew 18. Therefore, in light of Scripture, it must be understood that the Church is not instructed to put on a veneer of unity for the world to see when, in truth, unity has already broken down due to sin. Unity is a top priority, but not the top priority. When unity can be restored according to scriptural principle, truth and love there is no excuse to not do so; it must be done and when it is, let the world see so and God receive the glory. But are these scriptures only applicable in dealing with interpersonal sins and transgressions against laws, ordinances and godly life or are they also applicable in dealing with subscription to heretical beliefs, such as those Catholics might ascribe to Protestants and vice-versa?
Throughout the history of the Church these scriptures have been the basis of excommunication even against those whose “sin” is that of having a different opinion of what the Bible seems to be revealing theologically and doctrinally. This may or may not be justified depending on how one interprets Matthew 18, to say nothing of which translation one reads from, as all do not seem to say precisely the same thing owing to differences in each one’s source manuscript [4]. In any case, the need to define “sin” arises. Is it a sin to disagree with a teaching, even an orthodox one? Perhaps a more critical question: is it a sin to teach theologically heterodox [5] doctrines? Herein lies the issue when considering whether or not to divide over points of doctrine and theology [6]. The stakes of rightly acting on this consideration are heightened greatly in light of Jesus’ words in John 17: 20-23.
So what degree of theological heterodoxy should “those who have correctly understood God’s word” [7] tolerate before drawing the line between “us” and those decidedly “beyond the pale” of orthodoxy? Well, in Jesus’ day His disciples had their own notion of what might not be orthodox. In Luke 9: 49-50 the Lord told His disciples that “Whoever is not against us is for us” and that if someone from outside the “orthodox” community is claiming unity and working righteousness in the Lord’s name we are not to oppose them. Once again, some précising definition is required for “against us” [8], but a good place to begin is with a clear understanding that there exists a critical difference between the true, core doctrines that define our faith and those lesser debatable doctrines that are incidental to our faith. But even for those who don’t have even the core doctrines down quite according to the orthodox there is some virtue, deriving from Scripture, in responding with genuine love, mercy and a spirit of unity rather than the walls and (for some, soul-comforting-) clannishness that separates and creates an “us” and a “them”.
If we feel a burden to enlighten our perhaps misguided brethren about their errors, then this is well and good, provided it can be done, and then is done, in love. Such an admonishment fails to be loving or Godly if it flows from or feeds into an attitude of division.
Perhaps worse yet, in that it is subtle, is the passive complacency of accepting the centuries-old status quo of sectarianism and distrust, if not outright animosity between diverse members of the body of Christ.
>>> My prayer is not for [today’s Church] alone, I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in me and I am in You. May they also be in Us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and You in Me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.
