In chapter one of the book of Acts just before Christ ascension back to the Father, the Apostles asked Jesus, “Will you now restore the Kingdom of Israel?” After three years of following Jesus, seeing him resurrected, and touching the nail prints in his hands, they still didn’t get it. Even after Pentecost and the baptism of the Holy Spirit it took a special vision for Peter to understand that kingdom was for Gentiles as well as Jews. And after that it took the special council of Jerusalem to have this universally accepted. From the viewpoint of our hindsight, we see that even with the indwelling of the Holy Spirt the Apostles had to overcome their own bigotry and the theological errors. So, we must ask, “If the Apostles had died before correcting these theological mistakes would they have damned? And was God’s grace extended to them even with these errors?”

I think all Christians would agree that God’s grace covered the Apostles despite their theological errors. And that should give us hope, since none of us have perfect understanding or perfect knowledge. Which means we are all in error, and like the Apostles our own prejudices and failings require God’s grace. And since I have the hope that God’s grace covers my own theological errors I’m blinded to, then I have to assume His grace is given to others, provided their love is for Him. For as Peter said in, I Pet 4:8 “…love covers over a multitude of sins.”

I make this point in hopes that we will gain more unity in the Church, and by Church I speak of the entire believing body. My own fellowship began about two hundred years ago as an attempt at unity. At that time, we had the motto, “We are Christians only, but we are not the only Christians.” Unfortunately, we strayed from that and began to think we were the only Christians. This was especially strong in my grandparents’ and parents’ generation, and you will still see it in many members of our fellowship. However, more and more of us are trying to return to the call for unity.

In fact, I believe the call for unity is raging across all denominations and sects of Christianity. Which is not to say we are to accept out and out heresy or falsehoods, but more and more there is the realization that there is a lot of ambiguity in scripture, and we are realizing that our interpretation is not perfect.

I am old enough to remember when Protestants would say Catholics weren’t real Christians and Catholics would say the same about Protestants. It has been a while since I’ve heard that. I think the lawfare we are seeing against believers, whether it’s against Catholic adoptive agencies or Protestant bakers, has forced unity. Could it be that this mild persecution we suffer is allowed by God? And could we be wrong to pray for its end? I’ve heard it said that Chinese Christians pray that their American brothers would know the blessing of persecution, for in such persecution we grow in faith, perseverance and unity.

My hope is that more and more of us can see one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, and we can discuss (not debate for debate suggest a desire to win and not to understand) scripture and theology to gain greater understanding, and to know that even in our errors we have grace.

#Grace, #Unity