Why is Unity, Per Se, Not a Mark of the Church?
May 24th, 2010
We confess that the church is one on the basis of the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. The reasons for this unity we explained earlier (§ 34), among which the chief is the unity of faith and doctrine (Eph. 4:5). (2) Therefore unity per se is not a mark of the church. Rather, it must be connected with faith and doctrine, Eph. 4:5: “One Lord, one faith;” v. 13: “. . . until we all attain to the unity of faith” (Athanasius, Letter ad Antioch.). “Only that is the true concord which is of faith. Without that, it is the best dissent; the most destructive concord,” as Gregory Nazianzen writes (Orat. 1, de pace).
(Johann Gerhard, Theological Commonplaces: On the Church, § 231).
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Saw this come through Tweetdeck; immediately I said to myself, “it’s a consequence of confession”. Much better put by Gerhard though.
… then WHAT is the point of “reciting” nicely every Sunday in our Lutheran liturgy that we believe in “ONE, holy, catholic and apostolic Church” ?
If “unity” is to be understood as moving or wanting to work towards the “unity of Faith” as Athanasius had written, what is the LCMS doing towards that goal ?!?
How do we in the LCMS express our Oneness in relation to the other splintered and divided branches in Christendom/Christianity ?!?
These are serious issues, and it pains me to think, that our Synod is not doing enough or may not take seriously that our Christian division is a shame to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In relation to Gospel of St. John ch. 17, if it pains our Lord to see us divided, WHY does it not pain us equally ?!?