Your Kingdom Come
Christian Unity: What We Share
Jesus prayed for the unity of all who would believe in him:
“20 My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 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. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:20–23)
May Jesus’ prayer come true in our lifetimes.
Paul likewise urges Christians in Ephesians 4:3 to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Christian unity is not something we should treat casually. It is something Jesus prayed for and something Christians are commanded to actively pursue.
The Christian Church includes people from an enormous range of traditions and communities: Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Protestants, Pentecostals, Evangelicals, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, Reformed Christians, Biblical Unitarians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Latter-day Saints, and many others. We disagree—sometimes profoundly—about important theological questions. Yet disagreement does not erase everything we share.
I believe that everyone who believes the gospel, puts faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, and receives the Holy Spirit belongs to Christ. Christians may disagree about whether Jesus is God, how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit should be understood, whether the Holy Spirit is God and Mother, what ultimately happens to every human being, and many other significant questions. These are important subjects. I believe we should study them carefully, discuss them honestly, pray for wisdom, and continually return to God’s Word in our search for truth.
But our disagreements should not cause us to overlook the many truths we already hold in common.
Across the Christian world, we share a remarkable amount: belief in God, faith in Jesus Christ, the gospel, Scripture, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, love of God, love of neighbor, the work of the Holy Spirit, hope in God’s kingdom, and the desire to follow Jesus faithfully. We worship in different ways, understand some doctrines differently, and belong to different traditions, but we are still called to pursue peace, love one another, and seek unity wherever unity is possible.
Unity does not require pretending our disagreements are unimportant. Nor does it require abandoning the search for truth. Biblical unity allows us to pursue truth seriously while continuing to recognize, love, listen to, and serve alongside other followers of Jesus.
Satan can use division to harm God's people, while God repeatedly calls His people toward love, reconciliation, and peace. Jesus prayed that his followers would be one, and Paul tells us to make every effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit.
So, in that spirit, this page focuses not on what separates Christians, but on what we share.
Whatever Christian tradition you come from—Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Pentecostal, Evangelical, Biblical Unitarian, Jehovah’s Witness, Latter-day Saint, or another community—I invite you to begin here: with the many, many truths we already hold in common.
May we take Jesus’ prayer seriously, make every effort toward peace, and become increasingly united in our love for God, our love for one another, and our desire for God’s kingdom to come.
1. Shared Mission
Christians across traditions desire to see God's kingdom of love increasingly reflected on earth, for God to be glorified, and for evil ultimately to be overcome. All Christians resonate with Amos 5:24, "Let justice roll down like a river, righteousness like a never failing stream!" Christians desire justice and righteousness to reign on this earth. Christians across traditions affirm Jesus' Great Commission to make disciples of all nations and teach them to obey his commandments (Matthew 28:19-20).
2. Shared Commandment
Matthew 23:36-40 says, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
All Christians believe that the greatest commandment is to love God and love others, and all Christians strive to orient their lives around obeying this greatest commandment that Jesus gave us.
3. God's Word
All Christians believe that the Bible is God's inspired Word to us and is true. While Christians do differ on the biblical canon, all at least agree that all the books in the Protestant canon are true and divinely inspired. Christians believe the Bible is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105). We share the same 66 books of Scripture as a common biblical foundation. Some Christian traditions recognize additional books or scriptures, and Christians differ over questions of canon, translation, and interpretation, but the 66 books contained in the Protestant Bible are shared across the Christian traditions represented here.
4. The Apostles’ Creed
The Apostles’ Creed is one of the oldest and most widely recognized summaries of Christian belief. Many Christian traditions formally affirm it, while others do not use historic creeds or interpret some of its statements differently. Even so, it is striking how much of what this creed expresses is shared across a very broad range of Christians.
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic* church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
*“Catholic” here means “universal,” not specifically Roman Catholic—the worldwide community of Christians across times and places
.
5. The Gospel
Christians across traditions affirm the gospel, which means “good news.” At its heart is the biblical proclamation that Jesus Christ is the promised Jewish Messiah, through whom God brings salvation, reconciliation, and life.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Scripture begins with God's good creation and traces humanity's sin and death back to Adam. All people have subsequently sinned and disobeyed God. This is called “sin” and is fundamentally the failure to love God and neighbor.
I do not understand this to mean that every human being inherits a sinful nature or Adam’s personal guilt; rather, as Romans 5:12 says, “death spread to all men because all sinned.”
Romans 5:12, 17–18 says:
“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned… For if, because of one man’s [Adam’s] trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.”
God sent Jesus, whom Paul calls the “last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45), to bring humanity back to God and to show us the Way, the Truth, and the Life by embodying that way himself (John 14:6).
Without God's saving work through Jesus, humanity would remain subject to sin and death and alienated from God. Jesus overcame sin, learned obedience through suffering, was made perfect, and willingly gave his life to bring humanity back to God. Through his death and resurrection, God defeated the power of death.
While people still die now, anyone who puts their faith in Jesus has the promise of eternal life and will live eternally with God. Romans 10:9–10 says, “…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
God promises eternal life to all who put their faith in Jesus, who died on a cross and was raised from the dead on the third day. God promises that those who put their faith in Jesus, though they may physically die, will rise again as Jesus did and live forever with God in the restored creation—the new heaven and new earth—where death, mourning, pain, and ultimately all that corrupts God's creation are gone.
This is described in the last two chapters of the Bible, Revelation 21–22.
What is more, whoever puts their faith in Jesus and what he did for humanity on the cross, believing that God raised him from the dead and that Jesus is the Son of God, becomes a child of God. Galatians 3:26 says, “for in Christ Jesus you are children of God, through faith.”
Christians are saved from death and judgment through Jesus and are given eternal life with God. They are forgiven by God and given the opportunity to have an intimate relationship with God. Upon becoming Christians, believers receive the gift of God's Holy Spirit, who works within them to sanctify them and transform them into Christ's image (2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 8:29).
Christianity is therefore not just about being saved from death. It is about becoming a new person—one who loves God and those around them (2 Corinthians 5:17). Christ died to create a new humanity characterized by love of God and others rather than sin and rebellion against God.
Scripture promises Christians that they will become “participants in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) and be conformed to Christ's image (Romans 8:29). Christians understand the precise meaning and extent of these promises in different ways. As I explain elsewhere on this site, I believe they ultimately mean something extraordinary: God intends to fully sanctify His children so that we truly become like Christ.
This process of becoming like Christ is called sanctification.
In Philippians 1:6, Paul says, “…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Christians can find great comfort in this promise: God will complete the work He has begun in us. In my understanding, Scripture ultimately promises that God will fully sanctify His children and conform us completely to the image of Christ.
Throughout this website, I also explain why I believe Scripture ultimately promises that God's saving work through Christ will succeed for all humanity. Faith in Christ is not a way of escaping a world God abandons; it is participation now in the salvation and restoration God ultimately intends for His creation.
Conclusion
Much of what is listed and explained above represent core Christian beliefs that deeply shape the way Christians think and live. At the same time, I believe we should be careful not to add requirements to Scripture that Scripture itself does not give.
In particular, I do not see any Scripture that says a person must believe that Jesus is God in order to be saved. Therefore, Christians who do not believe Jesus is God—including me—should not automatically be considered non-Christian on that basis. Rather, I believe the Bible identifies faith in the gospel of Jesus, together with the fruit of genuine faith—especially love for God and love for others—as the marks of belonging to Christ (Romans 10:9–10; John 13:35; 1 John 4:7–8).
This does not mean that our theological disagreements are unimportant. The questions I explore throughout this blog are very significant and can profoundly affect Christian belief and practice. The question of whether Jesus is God is especially important: if Jesus is not God, then worshiping him as God would amount to unintentional idolatry. Likewise, our understanding of God, the Holy Spirit, salvation, and the destiny of humanity matters greatly.
But I do not believe these disagreements determine whether God receives us as His children. God receives us through faith in the gospel—a message simple enough for even a child to hear, understand, and trust. I was one of those children: I put my faith in Jesus when I was five years old. You can read the full story on the “My Testimony” page.
Christians may disagree deeply about theology while still sharing faith in Jesus, the gospel, the Scriptures, the call to love God and neighbor, and the mission Christ gave His followers. My hope is that we will take those shared foundations seriously.
May we pursue truth without abandoning love, discuss our differences without denying our common faith, and make every effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
