Resources/Articles
Unity Based on Truth
Why is it that 12 inches is one foot? When we buy wood for the winter, how do we know we are getting a rick or a cord? It is because of recognized standards. Webster defines “standard” as “something established by authority, custom, or general consent as a model or example.”
In every facet of life, we recognize the need for standards. Go to the fabric shop and ask for a yard of material. They will give you 36 inches. If a shop is not giving a full 36 inches of material, then they are cheating their customers. Stop at the gas station to fill up your car and notice the stickers on the pumps signed by the state Commissioner of Agriculture. Those stickers say that the pumps meet the standards of delivering gasoline by the gallon and metering the fractions of gallons correctly. Standards are important. Where no standard exists, confusion reigns.
If there were no standards for medicines, people would be overdosing or underusing and death would result. There must be a standard to have peace and unity in society. In matters of religion the same holds true. A standard must exist. If there is no standard, any doctrine or practice or practice could be considered legitimate, and that would lead to utter confusion.
Sadly, this is the idea most people have today, failing to recognize the standard that God has put forth for pleasing him. We are not talking about matters of judgment such as what time to have services, whether to have a Sunday night or Wednesday evening service, what color to paint the meeting place, or anything such as that. We are talking about the doctrine which we practice. Paul told Timothy, “All scripture inspired of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly furnished unto every good work” (2 Timothy 3.16-17). We know that God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14.33) and gives man a standard which he can follow.
The admonition given to the Corinthian brethren was that they “speak the same thing” (1 Corinthians 1.10) and to accomplish that, we must speak by the same standard. The verse points out the result of not speaking the same thing — division — which is displeasing not God. The peace of God that is to rule in our hearts unites us in one body (Colossians 3.15) because we have the same standard to follow. When one rejects the standard, strife and division occur.
Often members of the church of Christ are accused of being divisive; however, the opposite is true. Our plan is for unity, but for unity based upon God’s truth. We believe in uniting men under one standard: the Bible. Being the inspired word of God, it is the ultimate standard. If one adheres to it, peace and unity can reign.
God does not wish for us to base our service to him on our own opinions of what he will like or dislike. He does not reveal one thing to one and something else to another. This would be confusion. Rather, God has given us a standard for unity. There are matters of liberty pointed out in the New Testament (Romans 14), and we should be careful not to bind where God has not bound, nor loose where he has not loosed. However, the core principles of God’s word are the same for everyone. No one can be pleasing to him and reject his standard for salvation, the work of the church, or any such thing for which he has given specific instruction.
Some today cry for unity, but do not accept the standard. The question is: Who causes division when such is opposed? Is it the one who believes there are 36 inches in a yard (the standard), or the one whose yardstick is only 30 inches?
