Pushing Forward Toward Christian Unity

By Tom Gilson Published on October 31, 2017

I couldn’t believe the pushback, from fellow believers, no less. It was about eight years ago. I had just taken a public stand as an original signer of the Manhattan Declaration, a strong statement on behalf of life, marriage and religious freedom. The document had been authored by Charles Colson, Timothy George and Robert George (no relation). Based on some emails I received, you’d think I’d abdicated the whole Christian faith. It wasn’t about the document. It was about who I was associating with.

I’m a Protestant, you see, and Robert George is Roman Catholic. For the people who emailed me then, there was no point of contact, nothing in common, nothing shared between the two. Catholicism was just wrong, and urgently to be avoided.

Which is wrong.

Obviously doctrine matters. Truth matters. Conviction matters. Just as obviously, I don’t agree with everything Catholicism teaches. In fact, I do think some of it’s wrong. There are reasons I’m not a Catholic. Lest that sound belligerent, I remind you that my Catholic friends could say the same in reverse: There are reasons they’re not Protestants.

There are some critics for whom the difference is a deal-killer in all working relationships. 

But there are some critics for whom the difference between the groups is a deal-killer in all working relationships. This is both thoughtless and unhelpful.

Thoughtless in View of What We Hold in Common

It’s thoughtless because, first of all, Protestants and Catholics hold a lot of belief in common. We believe in one triune God, revealed especially in Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father, who died on the cross for our sins, rose again for our salvation, and is returning to judge and to save. That’s a very significant body of agreement in this secular age.

(Of course I’m speaking of agreement between believing Protestants and believing Catholics. I have a lot more in common with believing Catholics than with liberal Protestants.)

Thoughtless Because It’s Not Well Thought Through

It’s thoughtless, second, because when one says “Convictions matter,” that’s an incomplete thought, a mere beginning of a sentence. It communicates little unless we finish it out: “Convictions matter for ____.” Convictions matter in different ways in different contexts.

There are times when beliefs necessarily divide. The Baptist seminary will not be searching among Catholic priests for its next president. We can divide over all sorts of things. But why would we want to, unless our convictions demand it?

I think some of my emailing critics thought I should separate from Catholics just to make sure no one thought I agreed with them. But I do agree with Catholics, on so many central matters! Where I don’t agree, it seems to me simpler and more loving simply to say so — if it even needs saying, that is.

Convictions matter, but for what purpose?

So yes, convictions matter, but for what purpose? Depending on the purpose, Catholics and Protestants have more than enough in common to work from, especially when it comes to questions of the existence of God, His incarnation in Christ, Christ’s death and resurrection for our salvation, ethics, marriage, morality, life, religious freedom, the meaning of humanness, the priority of Christian love and service, the need to be giving, and — hold on a moment! Did I say “especially”? The list of common beliefs and interests is so long, it would be a lot shorter and quicker to state our differences instead. They exist, we need not deny that, but they are relatively few by comparison to our commonalities.

Unhelpful, Unwise

Doctrine matters, but for what? Sometimes our disagreements affect what we do, necessarily and unavoidably. Let those times be what they are. Not all situations are that way, though. I said earlier it was “unhelpful” to treat them all as if they were, but it would be more accurate to say it’s strategically foolish to let disagreements in one domain divide us in all things. We’ve got work to do in this world, and if we can do it together, we’d better!

Pushing Forward Instead of Back 

Finally, it’s unloving to let our divisions dominate our relationships. We can do better than that in Christ. For His sake and in His name, we need to push forward toward Christian unity, not push back against it.

It was a 19th century Baptist, the man known as the “Prince of Preachers,” Charles Haddon Spurgeon, who said,

Wherever this abiding love of truth can be discovered, we are bound to exercise our love. No narrow circle can contain our gracious sympathies, wide as the election of grace must be our communion of heart. Much of error may be mingled with truth received, let us war with the error but still love the brother for the measure of truth which we see in him; above all let us love and spread the truth ourselves.

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