Unity Defined (1)

“keep them in Your name; those you gave to Me, that they may be one as We are.” John 17:11

One – Why are we so divided?  Why do we argue over theological details, church policy, evangelical focus?  Why does every group of believers build its own steepled fortress?  If “ecumenical” is a bad word, what do we do about Jesus’ prayer of unity?  Have you ever thought about this obvious contradiction to spiritual reality?  Perhaps we can get some small insight if we think in Hebrew.

First, Jesus used the Hebrew word ‘ehad.  We find this word in the all-important Shema.  “Hear, O Yisrael, YHWH is your God.  YHWH is one.”  It signifies the unity that comes from only one God.  There is no other god.   Not politics, not economics, not religion.  Nothing else can take YHWH’s place.  By the way, there is a reason why we use the four-consonant divine name (YHWH) here instead of the usual expression “Lord”.  When you look up Deuteronomy 6:4, you will see the verse as “The LORD is your God,” but, of course, that is only an editor’s substitution for the real divine name, YHWH.  You might decide to continue with the word “Lord,” but remember that God is notifying Israel that He is not any of the supposed dozens of gods that they experienced in Egypt.  He is the God whose personal name is YHWH, the same God known by their ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  It is this god, the only true God, Who is one with the Messiah.

Second, we might notice that the way that we are one is also very Hebraic.  To have only one God, whose name is YHWH, is to observe His instructions for living.  That means following the pattern of living that He established in the constitutional covenant agreement with Israel, a covenant that covered everyone who worships Him without regard to their bloodline. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, there were plenty of people in that exodus who were not from the bloodline of Jacob.  It was the same in the time of Jesus.  It is the same today.  If you want to be one with YHWH and His Son, the Messiah, you must adopt His family rules.  It’s as simple as that.

So, what about the endless theological debates?  Enjoy them!  Stimulate your mind.  Challenge your perception.  Hebrew theology is filled with “friendly” arguments over the precise meaning and application of the text.  But this much is never questioned.  If you worship and serve YHWH, you live by His code.

Think of it this way.  If you were an orthodox Jew, you could travel anywhere in the world and find communities that lived exactly the same way, worshipped the same way, taught the same things and held a worldview that was uniform.  They might have rousing debates about points of interest, but there would never be any question about the authority of the torah.  There would be unity in action even if there were disagreement in concept.

What would happen if “Christians” discovered that they were supposed to be grafted into that kind of uniformity?  What if we started acting according to God’s rules and left the theological debates to the professionals?

Topical Index:  Unity