216. What are some of our responsibilities toward other Christians and church bodies?
A. We should continually pray for all our fellow Christians and work with them wherever possible to alleviate human suffering.
B. We should seek to prevent and heal sinful divisions between Christians and between church bodies that result from human opinions, economic status, race, ethnicity, tribe, caste, and so forth.
C. We should express the unity of the Church by practicing altar and pulpit fellowship with those church bodies with whom we have come to share a common confession of faith based on the Word of God.
D. When we experience disagreement with other Christians regarding the Word of God, we should not pretend that these divisions are unimportant nor give a false witness of unity by communing together.
E. We should lament doctrinal disunity among Christian churches and earnestly engage others in conversation with the sincere hope we can be reconciled and again commune together.
F. We should ask God to heal the divisions that exist within the Church today that we might one day express our unity in the faith, even as we are united in Christ.
Ephesians 4:3-6 [Be] eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
1 Corinthians 1:10 I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.
John 17:17-21 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
G. We should live in forgiveness with everyone around us, readily forgiving those who sin against us, especially those in our family and church (Luke 23:34), and quickly ask for the forgiveness of others (see Matthew 18:21-35).
Eventual commentary
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