While we rightly seek eschatological unity, when we strive to have things go our way rather than God’s, our attempts often bring exactly the opposite of what we are seeking. If our churches and congregations impatiently seek the eschatological unity of Ephesians 4 by forcing diverse congregations into the world’s universal mold for achieving unity, we may instead lose the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and actually exacerbate disunity in the church.

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It may seem counterintuitive, but the desire for diversity in the church is a desire for unity. The bringing together of Jew and Gentile, black and white, and rich and poor is a picture of the future of God’s kingdom. David explains the motivations of the Christian pursuit of unity:

• Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!
• It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard,
• on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!
• It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion!
• For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore. (Psalm 133, ESV)

The pursuit of unity through diversity in the church is a desire to bring all people of all cultures into the one true culture where all can experience fellowship with Jesus Christ. Not everyone will be included in this inclusive union because they refuse partake, but its members are “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace [in the] one body and one Spirit” (Ephesians 4:3-4), hopeful that all can partake, by God’s grace, through the righteousness of Christ.

There is also a worldly pursuit of unity through diversity, but it is very different. In the worldly model, unity is achieved by forced (rather than voluntary) exclusion. This pursuit is clearly seen in Islam.

Sayyid Qutb claimed that Islam is the religion of peace because when Islam has achieved its goal and Islamic law is universally triumphant because all submit to it, peace will reign (Islam and Universal Peace). Along the way, those who choose not to submit to Islam will be excluded from the peace by the sword. But this is not the Christian sword, the Word of God, that cuts into the hearts of non-believers to bring repentance. The sword of Islam is a metal sword that cuts into the necks of nonbelievers.

As we see in the attacks on free speech, marriage, and Christianity in general today, liberalism is taking the same approach—too often aided by the sword carried by the government. If you make an unpopular comment or will not bake a cake for someone, be prepared to pay fines, lose your job, or even wind up in jail.

Unlike with the biblical perspective, there is no patience in liberalism’s pursuit of unity; those who are so diverse to be outside the agreed-upon boundaries of unity must either submit or be eliminated now. This rush hints at the One who is the ultimate target for elimination. Christ and His righteousness are not welcome in the world’s fellowship of unrighteous unity.

Of course, the Christian’s eagerness for true peace and unity is a good thing. But it is an eagerness that must be subservient to God’s will. Final unity is coming, but it is going to take a while:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:11-16, ESV)

Christians, like everyone else, are subject to impatience. And, like everyone else, we are subject to worldly influences. Unfortunately, American churches too often succumb to worldly counsel on racism, forgetting that the unity the world seeks is not the one God is bringing to His church. The world’s solution calls for everything to be viewed in black and white: whites are racists and blacks are oppressed.

This perspective pushes all congregations and members to be subject to the same universal, generic prescriptions for unity. Losing sight of the great diversity that already exists in the church today, many of the leaders who have supported the various denominations’ work on racial reconciliation over the years want to achieve the unity of Ephesians 4 now by making congregations a mirror image of society around them. White churches are to be judged because they do not have their quota of black or other minority members, even if the minorities do not want to be there because they have different theological or cultural backgrounds.

Yet there are two kinds of unity in Ephesians 4. The one we can experience today is as we endeavor “to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” through love, grace, kindness, ministry, turning the other cheek, and forgiving our neighbor when he sins against us, even he if does not “seven times, but seventy-seven times” (Mathew 18:22). This can be accomplished even when we are separated by denominational, cultural, racial, and political divisions.

But the other unity, where “we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” is not one we can have today. It comes in the fullness of God’s time, not when we want it; Achan learned this lesson the hard way after Jericho in his pursuit of silver and gold when all he had to do to have them was wait until after Ai. We must accept that some prefer to live, worship, and socialize with others rather than with us for whatever reason. And that this is ok.

While we rightly seek eschatological unity, when we strive to have things go our way rather than God’s, our attempts often bring exactly the opposite of what we are seeking. If our churches and congregations impatiently seek the eschatological unity of Ephesians 4 by forcing diverse congregations into the world’s universal mold for achieving unity, we may instead lose the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and actually exacerbate disunity in the church.

Bill Peacock is a member of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Austin, Texas. His writings on religion, culture, and politics can be found at www.excellentthought.net.