Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

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Christ (Messiah) from Jesus the man. John, the apostle of love, sternly refutessuch teaching. Listen to him in his first letter:‘Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whetherthey are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into theworld. This is how you can recognise the Spirit of God: every spirit thatacknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, butevery spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is thespirit of antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now isalready in the world.’ (1 John 4.1-3)And he continues:‘This is the one who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ. He did notcome by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit whotestifies, because the Spirit is the truth.’ (1 John 5.6-7)Note how John has no hesitation in calling such a teacher ‘anti-Christ’, as onewho denied both the real humanity of Christ and that in his humanity he diedon the Cross. John was passionate for unity in the church, but only on theground of truth.Paul probably had incipient Gnostic views in mind in Colossians when heasserted Christ to be our true gnosis (Colossians 2.3) and not an inferior being,but the very fullness (pleroma) of Deity. If Docetism had won the day, Christwould have been a phantom figure and Jesus’ death only that of a man.MarcionismGnostic views were widespread, and in Rome, in about 160 AD, Marcion, awealthy ship owner, son of a bishop, and a native of Sinope in Pontus on theBlack Sea, began to teach dualist views, particularly in relation to the Hebrewand Christian scriptures. He had been excommunicated from the church in 144AD.He saw the Old Testament to be revealing an inferior God to the one seen inthe New Testament. The God of the Old Testament was inferior in not beingloving and gracious like the God of Jesus; he was the Demi-urge creator whichGnostics talked about. Marcion saw in 10 of Paul’s letters, which hePage 23
interpreted as being against the law of the Old Testament, the true ChristianGospel. The rest of the New Testament writings, except most of Luke, herejected.His movement became known as Marcionism and was a threat to mainstream‘catholic’ Christianity. But out of the church’s tussle with Marcionism came thevery necessary step of deciding which scriptures circulating among thechurches were authentic and canonical and which were not. So it did thechurch an immense service. By the end of the 2 nd Century a canon of Scripture,largely the same as the mainstream churches’ canon today, came into being.Marcionism, in being a highly organised movement, and in appealing to manyby its asceticism, even to rejecting marriage, lasted until the middle of the 5 thcentury in the West.The EbionitesAnother challenge to Christian orthodoxy came early on, towards the end ofthe 1 st Century, when some Jewish Christians claimed to be the true followersof Jesus. They were the Ebionites (from the Hebrew for ‘poor men’). Theyrejected the deity of Christ. From limited sources we learn that the Ebioniteswere ascetics, binding themselves to keeping the Torah rigorously. We knowfrom Acts Ch 15 that Jewish Christians in Jerusalem wanted Gentile Christiansto be made to submit to Mosaic laws, though there is no evidence in thescriptures that these men were Ebionites. A Council meeting in Jerusalemabout 49 AD resisted this call to bring Gentile Christians into obedience to thelaw. Paul, particularly, was adamant that the Gospel would be compromised byinsisting on law-keeping as a way of salvation (see Appendix 2).MontanismMany of the sects which challenged the mainstream church in these first fourcenturies advocated a tough, rigorist, ascetic Christian faith. There is evidencethat as Christianity increased in numbers throughout the Roman Empire,reactions to the disciplined life of the very earliest Christians set in, especiallyafter Christianity became a major religion of the Empire from EmperorTheodosius’s time (c.346-395 AD). One such sect was that of the Montanists.Page 24
Page 11 and 12: Can Christian Unity be expressed ac
Page 13 and 14: ‘In the Trinity the three are one
Page 15 and 16: Protestants, equally, have to be ab
Page 17 and 18: When John Wesley said that Christia
Page 19 and 20: (Geneva) Agreed Statement was issue
Page 21 and 22: While organised Christian endeavour
Page 23 and 24: Christian Unity consist?’ We shal
Page 25 and 26: CHAPTER 1CHRISTIAN UNITY IN THE EAR
Page 27: Almost all the heresies in the Earl
Page 31 and 32: was raised by the Novatian schism.
Page 33 and 34: ArianismArianism was the most impor
Page 35 and 36: the Person of Christ. This was the
Page 37 and 38: Nicaea (325 AD), which asserted, ag
Page 39 and 40: He wrote:‘The ancient doctrines o
Page 41 and 42: agreement into the terms and ethics
Page 43 and 44: authority of the local bishop; Cypr
Page 45 and 46: Protestants. He was born in Tagaste
Page 47 and 48: guide the affairs of men: the Papac
Page 49 and 50: The distinction between laity and c
Page 51 and 52: ule. Christians were allowed to be
Page 53 and 54: fallen corruption and mortality but
Page 55 and 56: During the 1917 Communist Revolutio
Page 57 and 58: his repentance and restoration. The
Page 59 and 60: just before death, they might recei
Page 61 and 62: In both the East and the West heres
Page 63 and 64: The Waldensians were so named after
Page 65 and 66: CHAPTER 4THE SECOND GREAT SPLIT: WE
Page 67 and 68: Far more serious criticisms of the
Page 69 and 70: and the sacraments. He was tried by
Page 71 and 72: and his discovering that the Script
Page 73 and 74: denominational allegiances: confess
Page 75 and 76: aptism and substituting for it bapt
Page 77 and 78: Vincent de Lérins’ threefold bas
Page 79 and 80:
Charles de Guise, Cardinal of Lorra
Page 81 and 82:
CHAPTER 5QUOTATIONS ON THE THEME OF
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Dr Charles Malik - 20 th Century:
Page 85 and 86:
Nicholas Zernov - 20 th Century:‘
Page 87 and 88:
The restoration of the universal Ch
Page 89 and 90:
Timothy Ware - 20 th Century:‘It
Page 91 and 92:
Basilea Schlink - 20 th Century:‘
Page 93 and 94:
Cardinal Basil Hume - 20 th Century
Page 95 and 96:
Keith A Fournier - 20 th Century:
Page 97 and 98:
concept of a contract between a rul
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harmoniously ordered society of pea
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interesting to note that the disput
Page 103 and 104:
• In the Eucharist, Komensky main
Page 105 and 106:
The Conference opened with much pom
Page 107 and 108:
a growing unity among Christians at
Page 109 and 110:
We cannot leave the 17 th Century w
Page 111 and 112:
CHAPTER 7CHRISTIAN UNITY AND THE EV
Page 113 and 114:
In Dr Woodward’s account of the r
Page 115 and 116:
for Whitefield’s work in America,
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the West, the North and the South.
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‘John Wesley, displeased at not b
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formally, though it may have helped
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In view of all this, Charles Wesley
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Some of the refugees were persuaded
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Isaac Watts (1647-1748), the pionee
Page 129 and 130:
CHAPTER 8VISIONS OF CHRISTIAN UNITY
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hymns and Eastern orthodox spiritua
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eplied with a series of Eirenicons
Page 135 and 136:
positively wrote on grace and love
Page 137 and 138:
hand that pours out sorrow’ and t
Page 139 and 140:
He died in England in 1853 an ‘ec
Page 141 and 142:
assembly, without much hesitation r
Page 143 and 144:
‘Loving all whom Christ loves bec
Page 145 and 146:
says, the Broad Church was ‘a moo
Page 147 and 148:
far greater part for the laity in t
Page 149 and 150:
ehind some of the criticism of the
Page 151 and 152:
came together with the clear purpos
Page 153 and 154:
In subsequent missionary conference
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university formed by a federation o
Page 157 and 158:
credo-baptists to accept the provis
Page 159 and 160:
Horton Davies 137 points out in his
Page 161 and 162:
However, since New Delhi, the WCC s
Page 163 and 164:
(b) The Church of Christ in China (
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the Scriptures as the supreme autho
Page 167 and 168:
In 1970 a similar scheme to that of
Page 169 and 170:
indulgences, were all confirmed str
Page 171 and 172:
however, at a lower level, manifest
Page 173 and 174:
In her study of the Evolution of th
Page 175 and 176:
Even within the Reformed Protestant
Page 177 and 178:
the publisher’s foreword to Gee
Page 179 and 180:
and so I have some golden opportuni
Page 181 and 182:
CHAPTER 10 THESE BRIDGES CAN’T BE
Page 183 and 184:
‘Only he - only Christ - was able
Page 185 and 186:
c) Justification by Faith and Works
Page 187 and 188:
However, in the Credo of the People
Page 189 and 190:
f) Purgatory‘Purgatory’ is a na
Page 191 and 192:
The Catechism of the Catholic Churc
Page 193 and 194:
who love and trust the Lord Jesus C
Page 195 and 196:
However, there is a growing awarene
Page 197 and 198:
encouraged to receive a blessing al
Page 199 and 200:
c) Traduction Œcumenique de la Bib
Page 201 and 202:
witness. There is one such Sisterho
Page 203 and 204:
Practically all para-church groups
Page 205 and 206:
s) Missions and CampaignsMissions a
Page 207 and 208:
My Protestant friends say to me tha
Page 209 and 210:
Most Christians, in all three tradi
Page 211 and 212:
of God may be complete, equipped fo
Page 213 and 214:
CHAPTER 12NOW WHAT?This book began
Page 215 and 216:
c) For some Protestants ecumenism m
Page 217 and 218:
The church at Corinth was full of C
Page 219 and 220:
) It has become clear that, realist
Page 221 and 222:
Christians who believe a Catholic d
Page 223 and 224:
There are three confessions that ha
Page 225 and 226:
‘The solution to the ecumenical i
Page 227 and 228:
k) Christ has left us an example -
Page 229 and 230:
day’, the Niceno-Constantinopolit
Page 231 and 232:
APPENDIX 2FOUR BIBLICAL TEXTS ON TH
Page 233 and 234:
of the common good, and when one’
Page 235 and 236:
eaten, as idols did not exist anywa
Page 237 and 238:
14. That to continue in any known s
Page 239 and 240:
What all three traditions have in c
Page 241 and 242:
Calvin held that the Gospel of Jesu
Page 243 and 244:
Relations between Protestantism, Ca
Page 245 and 246:
Brandreth, Henry, R T, The Oecumeni
Page 247 and 248:
Hopko, Thomas, All the Fullness of
Page 249 and 250:
Rupp, E G and Drewery, Benjamin, Ma
Page 251 and 252:
INDEXAAct of Uniformity, 114aggiorn
Page 253 and 254:
Frame, John M, 91, 187Francis of As
Page 255 and 256:
Richardson, Paul, 239Roman Catholic
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