The Foundation and Nature of Church Unity

　　Conflict and strife are common church problems, and if they occur at the level of church leadership, say among pastors and deacons, they often end up in church divisions. Recently, an elderly lecturer in a seminary in Sydney brought out the importance of this issue in a humorous way, saying, “Churches usually have one major division every ten years, and if your church has been safe and sound for the past nine years, you ought to be careful.”

　　The Book of Philippians does not deal with disputes in general but with conflicts between two co-workers in the church. That Paul was dealing with conflicts between co-workers is made clear by the fact that Paul uses expressions such as “has served with me,” “fellow worker and fellow soldier,” “have contended at my side” (2:22, 25, 4:3) to encourage Euodia and Syntyche to be united in the Lord. These two sisters were co-workers with Paul (4:2-3) and by sharing the gospel with other women. They were leaders of the women ministry in the Philippian church, but because they were not united, Paul was afraid that the women’s ministry would be adversely affected. Thus, unity in the church must first begin at the leadership level. What is fundamental to Christian unity? What is Christian unity? How can unity be attained in a church? The answers to these questions can be found in the scripture passage below:

¹ If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others more imporatnt than yourselves. ⁴ Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵ Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: ⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, ⁷ but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death –– even death on a cross!
(Philippians 2:1-8)

1. The Foundation of Unity

　　Verses 1-2 form a conditional sentence: (a) If Christians have experienced encouragement, comfort, fellowship, tenderness and compassion, then (b) they need to go one step further, that is, to become united. ¹ This conditional sentence shows that encouragement², comfort, fellowship, tenderness and compassion are foundational to unity. New Testament scholars in general point out that these four elements are what Christian have already received from God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit, as a result of their salvation. ³ There is no question that this interpretation fits nicely with Paul’s theology. For example, in 2 Corinthian 1:3 Paul says that God is “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,” and in 2 Corinthian 13:14 he also speaks of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. ⁴ However, if we only focus on the origin of these various kinds of grace, we may overlook the relation between (a) and (b). In other words, we may overlook why such grace is foundational to Christian unity. According to Paul’s theology, Christians have the obligation to share with others the grace that they have received from God:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
(2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

Thus, if Paul’s purpose in Philippians 2:1-2 is to encourage Christians believers to share with others the encouragement, comfort, fellowship and compassion which they have received from God, then the relationship of (a) and (b) is clear. In other words, the Christian unity is founded upon mutual encouragement in the Lord, mutual comfort through the love of God, in-depth fellowship through the Holy Spirit, and mutual compassion.

　　First of all, Christians must encourage one another so that they can be united in ministry. It is easy for us to see our co-worker’s weaknesses and make criticism of them or to correct them. Many years ago, I was given the task of leading a youth group while I was serving as a student pastor in a church. At that time, I corrected a brother in this youth group not soon after I noticed that he was not able to bring out the main points of a Bible passage when he was leading a Bible study. As I reflect upon this incident many years later, I found out that what I did was not encouraging to him at all. I should have said to him that he had done a good job in leading the group discussion. As for the problem of not being able to bring out the main points, I could have encouraged him later, at a more appropriate time, to enroll in appropriate extension courses offered by Bible colleges. We need to speak words of encouragement and appreciation before relationships can be built up. If we only keep on correcting and admonishing others, then it would be hard to build a good working relationship with our co-workers.

　　Besides encouragement, Paul also mentions comfort that comes from love. When a co-worker feels dejected, depressed and downhearted, we need to comfort him with love. Never try to act like the three friends of Job who tried to accuse Job and make him feel guilty. Listening and comforting with love can help a dispirited co-worker to regain confidence. Corrections that lack love and admonishments with improper words will not only fail to help a depressed co-worker, but on the contrary make him all the more despondent.

　　Fellowship in the Holy Spirit is also foundational to unity. Here it refers to the spiritual communion brought about by the Holy Spirit. Very often fellowship between co-workers is maintained at a superficial level. Sometimes communication is confined only to gossip or exchange of information, but unable to go deeper to the personal or spiritual level. Often we are afraid to share our weaknesses with our co-workers because we are afraid that they will look down upon us. We may protect ourselves by hiding our inner world, but ultimately it will become a hindrance to true unity.

　　Finally, “tenderness and compassion” refer to strong emotions evoked from the depth of the heart. The Greek word for tenderness is σπλάγχνον. It refers to a person’s intestines or internal organs, and it has the connotation of strong human inner emotions such as hope, tenderness and admiration. ⁵ In Luke 15:20, σπλάγχνον refers to the feeling of the father toward the prodigal son (that is the emotion that God has toward sinners). Similarly, the term “compassion” (οίκτιρμός, which appears in Romans 12:1 and 2 Corinthians 1:3, is also used to refer to the compassion of God toward men. In other words, when God sees the predicament of sinners, he shows his mercy by sending his only begotten son to die for their sins. According to Paul, “tenderness and compassion” are not only used to describe God’s feeling toward men, but also refers to the tender and compassionate attitudes that Christians have for their brothers and sisters in Christ, with the tender mercy that they have received from God. Paul says in Philippians 1:8 how he longs “for all of you with the affection (σπλάγχνον) of Christ Jesus.” Colossians 3:12 points out that Christians, as God’s people, should have a heart of compassion (οίκτιρμός). If the church lacks compassion, then unity will be hard to find. If someone has done something wrong, will we treat him with compassion, in the same way that Jesus reached out to sinners? Or will we despise that person with the attitude of the Pharisees? The attitude of the latter will not have a happy ending. In my pastoral experiences over the years, whenever I hear brothers and sisters being caught in sin—even adultery—I would model after Jesus, regarding them as lost sheep and pray that God will help me encourage them to repent and return to God’s bosom of love. If our church lacks unity, then first we must ask ourselves whether our church is lacking encouragement, comfort, fellowship, tenderness and compassion, for all these elements are the foundational to unity.

2. The Nature of Unity

　　The foundation of unity is not sufficient in itself; we also need the spirit of unity. Paul points out in Philippians 2:2 that Christian should be “like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” Many Christians misinterpret this verse by thinking that church unity means brothers and sisters having the same opinion or view point in church meetings or committee meetings, with motions being passed unanimously, or there is agreement with regard to rules and regulations in the church. This is a confusion between uniformity and unity, however. Compared with the biblical usage of unity, uniformity is only superficial. For instance, a company may have its entire staff wearing the same uniform and abide by the same rules, but this does not mean the staff is united at heart. In the New Testament church unity is an attitude. To understand correctly the type of unity that Philippians 2:2 is referring to, we need to note that Paul advises the Philippians to have “the same love” and love is an attitude from the heart rather than a viewpoint or opinion we have in relation to certain issues.

　　In fact, it is only natural that Christians should hold different viewpoints in regards to different subject matters because they come from different backgrounds. Ministers graduated from different seminaries will hold different views as to how a church should run or how a worship service is to be conducted. Even ministers who graduate from the same seminary will often hold different views and maintain different theological perspectives. In a pluralistic post-modern society, besides basic beliefs, it is hard for churches to demand their congregations to be uniform in their way of thinking or to share the same viewpoint in everything. This is not to say that the church has to take the path of post-modernism, but the church should adopt the attitude of unity advocated by the letter of Philippians.

　　Verses 3-4 goes on to explain the spirit of unity. The like-mindedness in verse 2 refers to the mentality outlined in verses 3 and 4, that is, do “nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others more imporatnt than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” In other words, even when there is a difference in viewpoint over certain matters, (as long as it does not involve the fundamentals of faith), Christians can still maintain unity if they do not compete with each other out of selfish motives, but respect each other out of humility. In saying this, Paul is implying that this is precisely the type of attitude that Euodia and Syntyche are lacking.

　　According to my pastoral experiences, the problems mentioned in verses 3 and 4 are often the main causes of church division. Church division often encompasses competition, power struggles, vanity, pride and selfish motives. People who have embrae such motives may be very active in the church, but they do everything with an impure motive. In Philippians 1:17 Paul mentions that some people “preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely”, for they serve with the purpose of earning praise from men. They do so to affirm their own worth and to compete for success. Ministries that are motivated by selfish motivation will often result in conflict. I know a brother who was not respected by his children and his wife. Owing to a lack of affirmation from own his family, he tries to gain praise and appreciation from others by becoming very active in the church. In the end, his purpose was to bring glory to himself rather than to God. There are not a few people like these in the church and they think that they have sacrificed a great deal of time and energy for the Lord but in fact they are living in self-deceit.

　　In order to maintain unity in the church, we all need to imitate Christ Jesus. In verses 5-8 Paul uses the example of Christ to illustrate the nature of church unity. The Greek word used for “being like-minded” (v. 2) and “attitude” (v.5) is the same word. So “by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose” (v.2) means that believers should have same humble “attitude” as that of Christ, but this does not mean that they cannot have different opinions at certain points. Jesus’ opinion differed from that of God with regards to God’s plan of redemption. “Obedient” in verse 8 implies that it was not Jesus’ own will to sacrifice himself on the cross for the world, but that of God. Even though Jesus has the image of God and was equal to God, he humbled and submitted himself to God. What Paul is saying here reflects the gospel tradition of Jesus submitting to God’s will in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36) In other words, although Jesus and God the Father had different views in the Garden of Gethsemane, they were able to cooperate with each other in order to realize the salvation of humankind. This is because Jesus has the true spirit of unity; he took the Father’s will as more important than his own (“consider others more important than yourselves,” v. 3). The spirit of unity that Philippians 2:3-8 advocates has the quality of humility, considering others more important than ourselves, and servanthood.

　　Today, the spirit of individualism and the breaking-up of human relationship are widespread. The modern day relationship breaks easily when there is a difference of opinions. Divorce rate in certain countries soars to an alarming level and lovers prefer cohabitation to marriage. Not only has this kind of atmosphere infiltrated the Christian family (for example, in Western countries, Christian divorce rate is not any lower than that of non-Christians), but churches as well, with the result that churches often split because of trivial matters. God’s will is that churches should maintain unity and that by loving each other, we will “become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which you shine like stars in the universe …” (Phil 2:15). Let us reflect upon Philippians 2 and pray that we ourselves have the foundation and spirit of unity.

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¹ (a) is the conditional clause; (b) is the apodosis.
² παράκλησις can be translated as exhortation (as in the Chinese Union Version) or encouragement, but “encouragement” is preferred because it is closer in meaning to comforting, fellowship, tenderness and compassion.
³ For example, Gordon D. Fee, Paul’s Letter to the Philippians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 174-182; Peter T. O’Brien, The Epistle to the Philippians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 176.
⁴ The word is translated as “touched” in the Chinese Union Version, but the original meaning is “fellowship.”
⁵ See BDAG, s.v. σπλάγχνον.