Christian unity

This is off the topic of stewardship, but is fresh on my mind. I have spent some time recently in the book of Ephesians. God seems to be showing me through His Word, classes that I have taken at Westminster Theological Seminary and experience with others the importance of Christian unity. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:3, "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."

Don't misunderstand me. I believe there are some issues worth fighting for. Christians throughout history have called these items dogma. These are areas that the Scriptures speak loud and clear on. Such as:

1. God is the Creator of all things.
2. All of creation is affected by the curse of sin and is in need of redemption.
3. Jesus Christ is God's plan for the redemption of creation from the beginning.
4. Christ will return to this earth to redeem mankind and all creation and establish His kingdom.

The Scriptures declare that Christ is our only hope of glory- Colossians 1:27. I can never deviate from this and must put my stake in the ground and fight for these truths. But there are a host of other issues that Christians have been fighting each other on for years. These issues fall under the categories of doctrine and opinion.

Doctrine includes some important areas- predestination versus free will; infant baptism versus believer's baptism; theories on the end times- dispensationalism, premillenialism, amillenialism and postmillenialism- to name a few. But the Scriptures are not 100% clear on any of these debates. We see these things through a glass darkly but one day they will fully known- I Corinthians 13:12.

Opinion includes areas that the Scriptures are silent about- whether to use guitars in worship; dress formal or casual for church; whether sermons should be expository or topical. All of us who claim the name of Christ should be careful over what we make a big deal over. We need to be constantly reminded of Paul word's, "Make every effort to maintain unity through the bond of peace."

A wise person once said, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." The gospel needs to be preached and lived to a cynical world. I urge us all to not allow pride or the divisive schemes of our spiritual enemies to distract us from this focus.

Ashley Hodge