Deutero Q

In my morning sermon I referred several times to Ephesians 4:3: "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." The first three words of that verse really stand out to me: make every effort. I know that the Lord has done His part in dying for sinners on the cross and reconciling people to God. And of course in Jesus Christ barrier walls have come down; there is no longer Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female--believers in Christ are all one in Him.

In a world of more than 22,000 Christian denominations, sects, groups, etc., how important it is for believers to do our part, making every effort to keep Christian unity. To my mind, that does not mean unity at all costs, however. Christians must certainly hold to sound biblical doctrine (Scripture exhorts us to do so), while at the same time remembering that there is but one body and one faith.

As a Christian who stands within the Reformed tradition, I believe that the Reformed understanding of salvation is by far the most biblically sound. Moreover, I have no trouble in affirming with Abraham Kuyper that Calvinism "means the completed evolution of Protestantism, resulting in a both higher and richer stage of human development" (Lectures on Calvinism, p. 41).

On the other hand, I have so much to learn from other expressions of Christianity--for instance, the Pentecostal emphasis on life in the Spirit and the evangelistic emphasis of my Baptist brethren. In fact, I would even go so far to say that there is much to learn from Eastern Orthodoxy. I am thinking here of their exalted and majestic view of God, a view that is often lacking in evangelical circles. We evangelicals are known for our chummy God-talk and a "buddy-buddy" relationship (from our point of view!) with the Almighty. Surely one of the pressing needs of the hour is the recovery of a biblical understanding of God's holiness and transcending awesomeness.

Anyway, these are just a few of my disjointed ramblings on Christian unity! I realize I have much work to do in the area of making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.