In John 17:20-26 the Greek phrase in verse 23 is literally “that they might be perfected in unity.” Christianity is incredibly unified on many essential teachings of the faith: who is God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, angels, humanity, sin, the Bible, salvation, church, our mission and last things. Disagreement on nuances of these and other topics causes some outside the church to believe we are in a food fight of total disagreement, but that is untrue. There is certainly room to grow into greater agreement, leaving the final conclusion to the final judgment. Narrow-minded Christians may think that by threatening excommunication they are creating unity, but that is not unity, just teaching people with brains and wisdom to shut their mouths. Real unity comes about through a bond of peace even with a diversity of opinion (Ephesians 4:3).
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