Much has been said of late on the matters of Separation and Unity between independent Baptist brethren. In some respects, it’s as if we have become modern day religious leaders, arguing among ourselves which is the greater command: Unity or Separation. Sides have formed. Lines have been drawn. Grenades have been launched.
Stepping back from the fray, one asks, “Are these two truths really at odds with one another?”
The Foundation For Separation Is The Holiness Of God.
In fact, by its very definition, to know that God is Holy is to know that He is separate from all that is common or unclean. God is light, most certainly; but He is also absent of all darkness.
God used Isaiah to call His people to Himself and to His Holiness:
Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD. 12 For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward. Isaiah 52:11-12
God’s Law was given to be an echo chamber of His holiness – as well as our sinfulness. Every law and our every violation of it, reinforces to us that we fall far short of His holiness, early and often. The Law is, indeed, our schoolmaster, teaching us the terrible reality of our own sin.
The problem with rules is that we break them. We are, by our very nature, rule-breakers. Unholy. It is the holiness of God that forms the foundation of all Biblical separation.
Though we have been saved from the depths of sin by the grace of Jesus Christ, and though we still deal with our sinful flesh on a daily basis and fail, God still calls us to holy living.
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. 1 Peter 1:15-16
The foundation for separation is the holiness of God.
The Foundation For Unity Is The Love Of God.
John knew this and challenges us:
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 1 John 4:7-8
The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus recorded in John 17, reveals to us the heart of the Very Son of God, our Savior. As Jesus prays for the unity of His disciples, He prays first and foremost that we will be one with God the Father and with the Son, in a similar way that He is one with Father.
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: John 17:21-22
The unity of God the Father with God the Son [and by extrapolation, God the Holy Spirit], is not only the pattern of our oneness, it is the very source. We are to be one in Him, which then makes us one with each other. The vertical unity in Him is expressed first, which then leads to the horizontal unity with one another. Because of the Person, the Work, and the Truth of Jesus Christ; because of the Gospel, we are one. To two different local assemblies, Paul stressed the oneness of the entire body of Christ:
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many. 1 Corinthians 12:13-14
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. Ephesians 4:2-6
God Is Perfect Holiness And Perfect Love.
As God, Jesus is at all times perfectly holy and perfectly loving. To say that His holiness and His love are in “perfect balance” is to imply that they weigh against one another as opposite forces. Yet God does not have these in conflict. It would be better to think of His perfect love and His perfect holiness in “perfect harmony” with each other, along with all of His other perfections.
As Josh Teis points out, “Unity is not the antithesis of biblical separation.” [Why Does Unity Matter]
In cataloging the perfections of God, Charles Ryrie admits, “Holiness is the attribute by which God wanted to be especially known in Old Testament times.” [Basic Theology: A Popular Systematic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth.]
Many wrongly think that the God of the Old Testament is a God of holiness, while the God of the New Testament is a God of love; as if there’s a difference. Certainly, the holiness of God may be stressed in the Old and the love of God stressed in the New; however, God is at all times perfectly loving and perfectly holy. No serious student of the Scriptures can deny the patient love of God for Israel as seen throughout the Law and the Prophets. Nor can any one credibly deny the absolute holiness of Jesus Christ in every moment and each encounter in the Gospels. Perfect holiness. Perfect love. Always.
Then there is us. We love, but not perfectly. We strive for holiness, but fall short. What God has in perfection, we have as unfinished. Even now as redeemed, we struggle to become what God has already declared us to be in Christ. Our sin often causes great imbalances as our flesh wars against His Spirit in leading us toward Christlikeness. We know in our core Paul’s own daily battle as our own:
For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Romans 7:14-23
Even more, our own heart cries out:
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Romans 7:24
The answer echoes back:
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 7:25
We, too, conclude:
So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. Romans 7:25
Surely, if we have such battles within us as Believers in balancing holiness and separation with love and unity; is it any surprise that we have such battles among us as Brethren?
How often do our discussions with each other in these matters take on the air of a Pharisees-versus-Sadducees debate in the Sanhedrin of Jesus’s day? We draw our lines, polarize our positions, and dig our trenches on opposite side of no-man’s land from our perceived enemies, who just so happen to be our brothers.
The intersection of God’s perfect Holiness (Separation) and God’s perfect Love (Unity) is at the cross of Jesus. God’s holy demands were satisfied as Christ died to make full payment for our sin. His love was satisfied in that He sent His only Begotten as a Child Born and a Son Given for us.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
In fact, the coming of Christ to this earth is the culmination of God’s holiness, which demands separation from all unholy and unclean, with God’s love toward unholy sinners. You’ll find in the Gospel accounts that in every encounter, in every conversation, in every parable taught, and with every miraculous healing, the holiness of God existed in perfect harmony with the love of God in Jesus.
So then, the bottom line is that Separation and Unity are not opposites, as ironic as that sounds. In Christ, they reside in perfect harmony. Perfect holiness in tandem with perfect love. We err whenever we emphasize one over the other, if even by the smallest degree. Our goal then, must be Christlikeness – to be holy as He is holy, and to love as He loves, simultaneously. Only in Christlikeness will we find the perfect merger of separation and unity. In our separation, we must at all times strive to be loving. In our unity, we must at all times strive to be holy.
