Addressing A Fragmented Christian Unity: Part I

As much as I delight in the gift of grace God gave believers through Christ, there are nuances that today create barriers and frustrations in the day-to-day living requirements as followers of Christ listed in the Bible. This is the main reason for the growing division splitting churches and, ultimately, America. We are standing at a fork in the road, and the potential consequences of our combined secular and religious cultures and American society fragmenting are grave and may never merge again.

Christian unity has always been at risk, but today, cordial tolerances and mutual societal kindnesses are fragmenting. Many undercurrents are based on personal fears, competition for power, and politics.

The Proverbial Fork in the Road of Christian Unity

What is behind these undercurrent decisions, and what do the scriptures teach? We need to grasp the foundations of the Christian faith and understand the historical efforts that sought to bring control of societies under the religious-legalistic Christian banner. Our decisions today are not made in a vacuum, but in the context of a rich and complex history.

Under the Old Testament, the first laws, according to Moses, were extensive and demanding. So brutal were the practices, customs, and rituals that the first apostles in the New Testament debated if new Christians should be required to live under the law. They had good precedence to require the law, as Jesus told them, not one iota of the law will pass away once all is accomplished.[1]

We see this debate in Acts, chapter 15. The addition of Gentiles to the church, which was built on the foundations of Judaism, produced stress on the early church leaders. Our generation isn’t the first to address a division in Christian culture nor efforts to nationalize a dedicated religious legal government. The decisions we make now echo those made by our predecessors, and the weight of history is upon us.

Many efforts towards theocratic governance have occurred throughout history — with dire consequences. In relatively recent times, we have learned of the Puritan experience in early America, which resulted in the famous witch hunts. Around the same time, a similar spirit was occurring in England, known as the Oliver Cromwell revolt. Indeed, that revolt was behind why many Christians in England fled to the New World — to escape religious persecution. It is interesting that those who fled, in turn, became persecutors themselves.

Great American novels by a descendant of the Puritans, Nathaniel Hawthorne, provided such stories as The Scarlet Letter and Young Goodman Brown. These works describe the horrors of religious labeling, legalism, and shunning of religious people, often due to false accusations due to envy, slander, and desires. This is not to mention the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition and the murdering of many Jews — in the name of Christian conversion.

The leaders of ancient Israel had their attempts at theocracy with terrible outcomes. Their national religious enforcement efforts were no better than a drunk man navigating a straight line, even resulting in the death of the Savior! However, this, too, was accounted for in God’s plan.

The early church leaders recognized that Gentiles received the same gift of the Holy Spirit while not observing the rules of Moses’s laws.

This persuaded them not to place the burden of the law on Gentiles. This makes sense as the rituals under the law were a constant reminder of sins and the need to have sins forgiven. These practices pointed to the coming Christ that would end the sin offerings once and forever. The Spirit of prophecy that defines the Old Testament was, after all, the testimony of the coming Christ (Revelation 19:10)

However, Jesus claimed the laws would only pass once fulfilled, as seen in Matthew 5:17–20. In fact, during his teachings, he often hardened the law beyond Moses’ original intent, as seen in Matthew chapters 5–7, where Jesus compares his teachings to that of Moses on a series of issues ranging from marriage, lusting, divorce, anger, love of enemies, retaliation, making oaths, giving, fasting, and prayer. If Moses’ interpretation of the laws were burdensome, Jesus made them even worse.

We know that the laws of Moses have essential components: the Torah or Ten Commandments, the Talmud (Jewish religious laws) composed of the Mishnah (ceremonial), the Gemara (civil), and rabbinic sundry laws for day-to-day living based on the Torah. There are rabbinic commentaries in the Mishnah that have grown in volume over the years based on rabbinic thoughts. The Jewish laws are highly demanding, with many observations and ceremonial procedures. According to Wikipedia, the Talmud contains rabbinic debates from the second to the fifth centuries CE. One can only imagine the many interpretations that accumulated over the centuries.[2]

Jesus taught that perfect love fulfills the Torah, the Ten Commandments. Only two of the Ten fulfill them all: love God and love your neighbor (humankind). Paul reminds us in Galatians 3: 19–29 that the law’s true purpose was to remind us of our imperfections. Much as the Jewish temple was a reminder of the need for sin sacrifices. The two, the laws and the sacrifice, go together quite well for their intent and purpose.

Jesus removed the guilt and need for the sin offering, including the penalties of the law, and in doing so, fulfilled the purpose of the law.[3] However, there is still a need for guidance in day-to-day living as a Gentile (non-Jewish) Christian beyond the law.

In Acts 15:28–29, the apostles and elders decided not to impose the laws of Moses on Gentiles (non-Jews) but did place a few restrictions — don’t eat foods offered to idols; don’t eat the blood of strangled animals and do not fornicate (sex outside of marriage). Perhaps today, these rules seem strange given our modern times and the lack of open sacrifice for images and idols. But they were very significant at the time the first churches started. We also see that the apostles and elders thought these limited restrictions seemed good to the Holy Spirit then. This was not a simple majority rule judgment made by logic or historical reviews.

I am again reminded that the churches were to be managed by spiritual judgments and the Holy Spirit -not by the simple will or vote of people.

The churches were, and are, managed by God, not based on our whims and selfish direction. That is critical in understanding the church’s purpose. A lack of sensitivity to the Spirit is the primary cause of today’s fragmented churches.

The Spirit of God can be sensed in events of the times. Trends in local, national, and world events and to the truly spiritual, an inside impression based on the Word of God what is needed. Often, it isn’t an act or acting but knowing God is in control regardless of what is happening around us. Sometimes, it is a growing urgency, but no prophecy should be acted on based only on one person’s understanding. The urgings must be evaluated from multiple perspectives…seeking a standard message from various inputs.

Often, unusual circumstances will point in the right direction of the Spirit. Serendipity is the modern term for correlating events that are unrelated in causality. In the book of Acts, we see correlations at work and how the church leaders became more sensitive to such occurrences.

· Peter has a vision — 3 times — what is called clean by the Spirit is clean

· Peter’s proclamation in Acts 11:1–18 to the Jewish Church leaders under the Holy Spirit’s influence that led him to the home of the Gentile Cornelius

· Paul is called to preach to the Gentiles, and the gospel is spreading

· Cornelius and his household are witnessed receiving the Holy Spirit

These occurrences are reported to the apostles and elders in their deliberations.[4] A pattern emerges, and they begin to understand that a movement of the Holy Spirit is taking place. Only then do they question their scriptural perspectives. Perhaps they did not fully understand Jesus’ statement in Matthew 5:17. He said not one aspect of the law would pass…until fulfilled.

This revelation was the foundation for why the early church did not impose Moses’ law on the Gentiles and continued to grow and spread throughout the world.

[1] Matthew 5:17–20

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud

[3] Matthew 5:17; Romans 8:3

[4] Acts 15: 1–21 the Spirit led council in Jerusalem rules in favor of the Gentiles