We live in an extremely divided world. You don’t have to watch the news for very long before you see instances of people being divided by political party lines and the racial divide in our society seems to be as wide it has ever been. As the Body of Christ we are called to be beacons of light in a world seemingly freefalling into darkness. God’s word provides insight into how He feels about the need for unity, especially among His children.
Unity in the Old Testament
While the New Testament is filled with letters to the Church that highlight God’s desire for unity among His children, the concept of unity among the People of God can be traced all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
In Genesis Chapter 1 we read the Biblical account of creation. God speaks water, grass, the sun, the moon, animals and everything else that makes up our world into existence, and at the end of each day He declares that what He made “was good.” In fact, there are 8 instances of God declaring His own creation “good” in the first chapter of the Bible’s opening book. However, after He formed Adam from the dust of the earth, God noticed something:
Genesis 2:18 (ESV)
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
Out of everything that God had made and proclaimed as good, He made Adam and declared that it was not good that he was alone. God immediately recognized the need for the Earth’s first human to have a connection, or to be united with another living soul. Even though Adam was living in a eutopia made my God, God realized that Adam’s life would be lacking if he did not get to experience unity with another human, prompting the need for Eve to be created. The principle of Godly unity dates back to the first person God ever created!
Biblical unity is a common theme throughout the Old Testament. The ancient heroes of the faith were often united with at least one other person who came along with them in partnership as they pursued the promises that God had for them. Moses had Aaron and Hur, Isaac had Rebecca, David had Jonathan and Ruth had Naomi. The thread of unity runs throughout the Old Testament and seamlessly flows into the New Testament.
Unity in the New Testament
God’s mandate for unity doesn’t stop at the end of the Old Testament. In fact, you could argue that the concept of unity appears even more important in the New Testament than it was in the Old. In Luke 24:41-52, we read the account of Mary and Joseph losing the 12-year-old Jesus after they had been to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. The Bible teaches us that they traveled for an entire day, assuming that Jesus was intermingled in the crowd of travelers before finding him on the third day back at the temple in Jerusalem “listening to the teachers and asking them questions” (Luke 24:46). At only 12 years of age, Jesus had realized the need to be connected to teachers of God’s word!
Jesus carried this principle of unity into His own earthly ministry two decades later. In the tenth chapter of the Book of Acts, we read about Jesus calling and commissioning the original 12 disciples. The first principle he instilled in them was the fact that they would be stronger together than they could ever hope to be on their own.
Acts 10:7 (ESV)
And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits.
The men who would serve as Jesus’ closest friends, confidants and the most direct witnesses to His miraculous works needed to be sent out in pairs. Why? Because the work that they were undertaking would require them to come together in unity.
Finally, Jesus addressed the need for unity in some of the last words He spoke before His crucifixion. When Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, John records these words:
John 17:11 (TPT)
Holy Father, I am about to leave this world to return to be with you, but my disciples will remain here. So I ask that by the power of your name, protect each one that you have given me, and watch over them so that they will be united as one, even as we are one.
There is a great deal of importance placed on the last words of people before they die. Some of the last words Jesus spoke before He was crucified at Calvary focused on the need for unity among His disciples. In fact, He prayed that His followers would be as united as He was with the Father.
Unity in the Church Today
Even though we were not in the Garden of Gethsemane with Jesus, the prayer for unity that He prayed applies to us. That is why Paul’s letters to the churches that make up so much of the New Testament deal so much with the concept of unity among the Church.
A divided church cannot bring healing to a divided world. Instead, we are to be catalysts of unity. That doesn’t mean that we simply align ourselves with people who agree with us on every point, look like us or think like us. Instead, it means that we walk alongside other believers who have been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. Paul addressed this concept in his letter to the Galatian church:
Galatians 3:28 (TPT)
And we no longer see each other in our former state-Jew or non-Jew, rich or poor, male or female-because we’re all one through our union with Jesus Christ with no distinction among us.
Take another look at the last part of that verse: there is no distinction among us. The “us” that Paul is referring to is those who have sought salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ and have experienced the gift of His grace and forgiveness.
Unity does not simply happen; instead, it is cultivated. It is cultivated by believers who examine themselves, identify areas where they are living outside of God’s design for unity and make the changes within themselves through prayer and study of God’s word.
Ask God to show you areas in your life where you could do more to walk in unity with other believers. Once you identify these areas, pray that God would show you opportunities to rectify that situation and spend time in His word so you can better apply His teachings on unity to your everyday life.