Last week a few leaders from the New Orleans Baptist Association published a tremendous piece calling for unity within the SBC. I am grateful for this article, and I agree with their call for unity. I do believe we can all struggle with pseudo-unity (sweeping real issues under the rug) but there is also something to be said for uniting around something bigger than the things we disagree upon. I’ve been encouraged by the SBC in the last few years as regards unity.
As I read the Scriptures I see biblical unity as being diverse people united to a glorious God. We ARE united to one another. Christ has already purchased our unity but we are called to maintain that unity. What does that look like in practice? I like to say it this way: We walk in unity when we both believe that X is more vital to our relationship than non-X. I think some of what we see within the SBC is arguing about what “X” actually is. For the most part I see many of our leaders saying that X is our shared relationship with Christ, our shared conviction that Christ is the only hope of the nations, and our shared conviction that we are called to work together for sharing the gospel of Jesus with as many people as we possibly can.
We are united by Christ to all believers. And we are united by choice (not negating the workings of a sovereign God in uniting us as well) to other Southern Baptists. We have chosen together to say that X is more important to us than non-X and so we take various divergent view points and say they are secondary to our primary focus of sharing Jesus with the lost world. We have seen in annual meeting after annual meeting this call for unity.
So how then can we call out those we consider divisive? There are many websites (Those of the SBCToday stream AND those of the Pulpit & Pen stream) which I wouldn’t recommend anyone to read. Personally, I believe they should be ignored. So is this being hypocritical? Am I just sweeping issues under the rug? How can I say, “I really cannot be united with these folks” and in the same breath call for unity within the SBC? Are those in the NOBA being hypocrites by calling their fellow LBC leaders to repentance?
No. And, I say that because from our perspective they are saying, “No, non-X is actually more important to us than X”. They are choosing to make something other than our shared unity in Christ to be a determining factor. They are more passionate about things like Calvinism (whether for it or against it) than they are about the gospel.
Putting this on a local church level you can see what was happening in Titus 3. Some were saying that non-X (foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, quarrels about the law, etc.) was important than X. And it was splitting the local church. Titus was told to “warn him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him.” This is why for the most part I think our biblical response to such divisive folks is to “have nothing to do with them”.
And lest I be misunderstood, it is not about complaints. It is not about even asking good and often needed questions of entity heads. It’s not even the calls for transparency. The problem, at least as I see it, is because you have consistently made a non-X to be more vital than X. And it is because of this that men who agree with you soteriologically (men like Fred Luter and David Crosby) are saying enough is enough. Anyone who makes a non-X to be more vital than X is being disruptive and moving away from unity. That is what we are saying when we are calling for unity. To say that we have shared convictions that are more precious than secondary matters. Yes, our beliefs on soteriology are huge and it does impact the particular way we do missions, but the leaders of our convention (and history) is crying out that our X is far bigger than our non-X.
True biblical unity is grounded in something. Our unity has already been purchased for us by Christ. When we move away from Him as our center then we are destined for disunity. When something other than the gospel and the Great Commission is the driving force of our time and energy then we are bound to be distracted by secondary issues.
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This post is an edited version of a comment which originally appeared here.
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I’ve grown mostly tired of online theological debates. It is not that theology doesn’t matter—it does. It’s just that rarely is anything accomplished on social media. I’m still convinced that most of the New Testament was written to local churches and such things ought to be worked out in a local church context where relationships are central. That’s not to say there isn’t a place for online discussion it’s just that it should not be the place.