Dave, Thank you for these good questions (I counted six): 1) What would Christian unity look like? 2) Do we have it fully already? 3) What practical form does it take for us now? 4) Does it involve all Christian denominations? 5) What is a Christian/Christian denomination by definition? 6) What kind of unity does God want us to have in Jesus? May I begin with an answer to #2 (Do we have it - Christian unity - fully already? The only accurate answer must of necessity be a paradoxical "Yes and no". Why? Because Christian unity, like salvation, is both a present experience, an ongoing growth, and a future promise. Is a baby born today fully a part of his/her family? Of course! Does that baby fully realize what it means to be part of one family? Certainly not! In Ephesians 4:3,4 Paul admonishes us to be "endeavoring to KEEP THE UNITY of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is ONE BODY and ONE SPIRIT...". This certainly harmonizes with his clear statement in another epistle, "For by ONE SPIRIT we were all baptized into ONE BODY... " (I Cor. 12:13) It should be apparent that no one can keep, maintain or guard that which is not already present. Therefore this aspect of Christian unity, the unity of the Spirit, is fully present by God's own act and design. But it is also obvious that this unity is not fully recognized (something impossible for babes and somewhat inhibited by immaturity). Ten verses later (Eph.4:13), Paul refers to another aspect of Christian unity, "till we all come to the UNITY OF THE FAITH and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; (v.14) that we should no longer be children... (v.15) but speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head - Christ...". Behold the paradox: we who are already one in the unity of the Spirit are coming to the unity of the faith (at some future point) as the growth in spiritual maturity results from receiving the various ministries Christ has given to the body via apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers. These biblical concepts are crucial to any informed discussion of Christian unity and lead me to a couple of related observations. First, we need to place stronger emphasis on the finished work of unity just as surely as we emphasize the finished work of Christ on the cross. We do not work for the unity of the Spirit. It's already done. We need to recognize it and learn how to act in harmony with it. Secondly, we need to grasp the significance of time and growth in coming into the unity of the faith. None of us would be so foolish as to disown our one year old baby because he filled his pants. Or tell our four year old to stop crying and act like a man. Or expect our thirteen year old to exhibit the wisdom of an adult. The law of appropriateness must apply while we are on this side of the fulfillment of God's eternal plan and purpose "to bring all things together in one". The most troublesome aspect of this is illustrated in the story of the new minister who seemed repeatedly thwarted in getting his point across to one old deacon. The deacon was constantly reminding the minister how many years of Christian experience he had. Finally, in exasperation, the minister took him aside and said, "Do you know what your problem is? You haven't had 40 years of experience; you've had one year of experience forty times!" (Question #1 on the next post) Yours because we're HIS, Tom temackey.jn17.21@... _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]