April 2, 2001
EDITORIAL:
Christians need to keep talking
___"I pray also for those who will believe in me ..., that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." (John 17:20-21)
___What did Jesus mean when he prayed for Christian unity?
___Unity eluded Christians from the start. During Jesus' ministry, the apostles bickered over power and prestige. The Book of Acts records early disagreements regarding the nature of salvation and the scope of the gospel. The epistles seek to reconcile divided congregations. Division is as old as the church.
___Yet at the very end of his ministry, Jesus agonized over the unity of his followers. He desired unity as an instrument of evangelism, "so that the world may believe ..."
___No doubt, most Baptist sermons preached from Jesus' prayer for unity have encouraged unity within local churches. Many have urged unity among Baptists. But a much smaller portion have prodded Baptists toward unity with other Christians.
___Jesus' prayer came to mind a few days ago, when the Southern Baptist Convention declared it is discontinuing formal dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church. The announcement signals an end to almost three decades of spirited, direct and yet open conversation. These talks have been singularly important, since Roman Catholics and Southern Baptists comprise the two largest faith groups in the United States, an estimated 78 million members between them. But talks will end after two more sessions.
___"We're not ecumenists. We're evangelicals committed to sharing the gospel," Phil Roberts, president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and former interfaith relations director for the SBC North American Mission Board, told the Associated Press.
___Both history and theology back Roberts' assertion. Baptists and our spiritual forebears, Anabaptists, were born and bred on dissent. Our birth-cry wailed for religious liberty. It bawled for fidelity to the Scriptures, not creeds. In return, our ancestors suffered persecution at the hands of church leaders on both sides of the Atlantic. That's not a climate conducive to ecumenism.
___And yet Jesus prayed for Christian unity.
___To what degree should Baptists and other Christians seek unity? We will not see a one-world church this side of heaven. Catholics are no more likely to give up the pope than true Baptists are to give up the priesthood of the believer. Lutherans are no more likely to forsake infant baptism than Baptists are to dispense with believer's baptism by immersion. The Churches of Christ will believe baptism is required for salvation until kingdom come, even though Baptists believe it is symbolic, though holy.
___And yet Jesus prayed for Christian unity.
___Discontinuing dialogue doesn't seem to be an appropriate response. Although seeking a unified church seems ill-advised as well as impractical 2,000 years after Christ, Christians of all faiths can seek unity.
___The benefits are bountiful: We can learn from one another. We can partner with each other. We can, as Jesus prayed, present a winsome, unified front to an unbelieving world, giving them reason to seek Christ, not rationalization for turning away from our Savior.
___The cause of Christ cannot afford for churches, and especially denominations, to refuse dialogue. Timothy George, dean of Samford University's Beeson Divinity School and a participant in the Baptist/Catholic dialogues, told the Associated Press that a small faction of Baptists had "a strong and somewhat strident reaction" against the talks. SBC leaders should refuse to let this minority stall discussion between the two largest faith groups in America.
___And yet this response to extremist activism at least partly explains disunity that strikes much, much closer to home. Disunionists who control the SBC see no need for dialogue, much less reconciliation, with other Baptists who see things differently.
___Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a leader of the new SBC, described his faction as the "truth party," which protects "the faith once and for all delivered to the saints, and those truths are non-negotiable and essential."
___That's his version of "truth" and his version of saintly "faith." But that attitude, which cut off dialogue with the Catholics, previously severed any hope for Baptist reconciliation. After all, if you own truth, why negotiate?
___We may disagree, but Catholics deserve better treatment. Dissenting Baptists deserve better. The cause of Christ deserves better.
___After all, Jesus prayed for Christian unity.
___ Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com
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