New Testament and the Early Church
The texts of the NT speak about the church and its unity in specific historical situations. Rather than offering one timeless picture of the church, they present a number of ecclesiastical images. The Gospels portray → Jesus making fellowship (koinōnia) a reality among those who followed him. Other texts offer the picture of a fellowship in the Holy Spirit in the confession of Jesus the Christ, a fellowship in worship and love. The rule of Christ under the Spirit is the source of unity, but it is a unity that assumes diversity. Tensions and differences, even contradictions, are evident in the NT with its different theologies; the NT nevertheless proclaims one church, a fellowship of local churches with a mutual recognition of confession, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper (→ Confession of Faith).
Unity is at the center of the thought and theology of the apostle → Paul. Closely connecting the unity of the church with → Christology, Paul employs unitary images such as “the people of God,” “the temple of God,” and “the body of Christ.” He also recognized much diversity that did not threaten the fundamental unity of the church. Organizational patterns or differing Christological formulations did not affect this unity. The Gospel of Mark, although not using the word ekklēsia (church), presents a view of the true community of the elect. The Gospel of Matthew reflects an ecclesiology of the body of the elect versus the nonelect; the unity of the former is in constant danger. Both the Gospel of Luke and Acts give considerable attention to the unity of the church (esp. Acts 2; 4; 15). Here is presented an idyllic situation of correct belief, → community of goods, and unity of heart and soul. The Johannine literature is much interested in unity (e.g., John 17). In this gospel, unity with Christ leads to unity of believers; unity of the latter reproduces the unity of believers with the Father and the Son.
With its considerable diversity the NT maintains a remarkable unanimity on many aspects of unity. The unity of the church is not merely a desirable feature of the life of the church but is a condition of the church’s very existence. This unity derives from its one Lord. The NT does not know → denominations or opposing churches; it recognizes diversity, but not divisions. Its church knows tensions and disputes, but divisions and large numbers of Christians separated from fellowship with one another are not to be found.
The unity and diversity of the church affirmed in Scripture was largely maintained for centuries, in spite of controversy and theological dispute. In the second century → Irenaeus stressed unity as a unity of teaching, or orthodoxy. In the fourth century the unity of the church received a new dimension when Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire. The ecumenical councils of → Nicaea (325), Constantinople (381), → Ephesus (431), and → Chalcedon (451) demanded universal recognition with a definition of belief. The earlier unity maintained by the first four councils was broken after the Council of Chalcedon in 451, when churches that did not accept this council’s Christological formulations established themselves in Egypt and Syria. By the fifth century the patriarchal structure formed an organizational principle of unity for the churches accepting the decisions of Chalcedon.
Another break in unity occurred in 1054 between the Latin patriarch and the Eastern patriarchates (→ Heresies and Schisms 3). Cultural and political as well as theological factors were the cause of this rupture, and one of its results was the creation of two views of unity. In Eastern Orthodoxy the patriarchal model with sister → autocephalous churches prevailed, while in the West Roman primacy was so strengthened that the Roman Catholic Church came to understand itself as the universal church of Christ, from which the Eastern churches had separated themselves.
Fahlbusch, E., & Bromiley, G. W. (1999-2003). Vol. 2: The encyclopedia of Christianity (49–50). Grand Rapids, Mich.; Leiden, Netherlands: Wm. B. Eerdmans; Brill.
The texts of the NT speak about the church and its unity in specific historical situations. Rather than offering one timeless picture of the church, they present a number of ecclesiastical images. The Gospels portray → Jesus making fellowship (koinōnia) a reality among those who followed him. Other texts offer the picture of a fellowship in the Holy Spirit in the confession of Jesus the Christ, a fellowship in worship and love. The rule of Christ under the Spirit is the source of unity, but it is a unity that assumes diversity. Tensions and differences, even contradictions, are evident in the NT with its different theologies; the NT nevertheless proclaims one church, a fellowship of local churches with a mutual recognition of confession, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper (→ Confession of Faith).
Unity is at the center of the thought and theology of the apostle → Paul. Closely connecting the unity of the church with → Christology, Paul employs unitary images such as “the people of God,” “the temple of God,” and “the body of Christ.” He also recognized much diversity that did not threaten the fundamental unity of the church. Organizational patterns or differing Christological formulations did not affect this unity. The Gospel of Mark, although not using the word ekklēsia (church), presents a view of the true community of the elect. The Gospel of Matthew reflects an ecclesiology of the body of the elect versus the nonelect; the unity of the former is in constant danger. Both the Gospel of Luke and Acts give considerable attention to the unity of the church (esp. Acts 2; 4; 15). Here is presented an idyllic situation of correct belief, → community of goods, and unity of heart and soul. The Johannine literature is much interested in unity (e.g., John 17). In this gospel, unity with Christ leads to unity of believers; unity of the latter reproduces the unity of believers with the Father and the Son.
With its considerable diversity the NT maintains a remarkable unanimity on many aspects of unity. The unity of the church is not merely a desirable feature of the life of the church but is a condition of the church’s very existence. This unity derives from its one Lord. The NT does not know → denominations or opposing churches; it recognizes diversity, but not divisions. Its church knows tensions and disputes, but divisions and large numbers of Christians separated from fellowship with one another are not to be found.
The unity and diversity of the church affirmed in Scripture was largely maintained for centuries, in spite of controversy and theological dispute. In the second century → Irenaeus stressed unity as a unity of teaching, or orthodoxy. In the fourth century the unity of the church received a new dimension when Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire. The ecumenical councils of → Nicaea (325), Constantinople (381), → Ephesus (431), and → Chalcedon (451) demanded universal recognition with a definition of belief. The earlier unity maintained by the first four councils was broken after the Council of Chalcedon in 451, when churches that did not accept this council’s Christological formulations established themselves in Egypt and Syria. By the fifth century the patriarchal structure formed an organizational principle of unity for the churches accepting the decisions of Chalcedon.
Another break in unity occurred in 1054 between the Latin patriarch and the Eastern patriarchates (→ Heresies and Schisms 3). Cultural and political as well as theological factors were the cause of this rupture, and one of its results was the creation of two views of unity. In Eastern Orthodoxy the patriarchal model with sister → autocephalous churches prevailed, while in the West Roman primacy was so strengthened that the Roman Catholic Church came to understand itself as the universal church of Christ, from which the Eastern churches had separated themselves.
Fahlbusch, E., & Bromiley, G. W. (1999-2003). Vol. 2: The encyclopedia of Christianity (49–50). Grand Rapids, Mich.; Leiden, Netherlands: Wm. B. Eerdmans; Brill.
