1. Preliminary Considerations
1.1 The Cry for Unity in the Church Today
1. This is being embraced by Evangelical Christians globally in a measure that seems to be historically unique .
2. At one level it is driven by the end of Christendom and the emergency situation of the church. Where, in the past, individual denominations and spiritualities have prospered in their isolation there has been little motivation for cooperation.
3. One outstanding feature of postmodernism is pragmatism. This facilitates working together for greater effectiveness.
4. Sociologically and psychologically, values and experiences have replaced ideologies as foundational in culture. This has assisted the de- emphasis on doctrine; “values unite, doctrine divides”. (This is of course a doctrine.)
5. The loosing from tradition has greatly assisted this process of melding together.
6. However, in many places in the western church there are signs of “unity – fatigue” as the hoped for results of unity (transformation/revival) have not eventuated.
1.2 Dangers and Deficiencies: General
1. The above brings with it a range of attendant dangers and deficiencies as well as opportunities.
2. One of these is the tendency to meet on the basis of a common experience rather than a shared relationship.
3. The distinction between “sharing” and “having a common share in something” is often not appreciated. The Greek word koinonia means the latter. What Christians have in common is not a shared human experience as such but the person of Christ. Or, to put it another way, a common share in the humanity of Jesus. (I Cor 1:9; 10:16; Phil 3:10)
4. The danger in the dominant medium of pragmatic experience is that the centrality of Jesus may be lost .
5. Another problem is overlooking the missional context of the major unity passages in the New Testament. John 17:20 -23 is set on the eve of the Son’s return to the trinitarian glory, and the express purpose of Jesus’ prayer for the unity of the church is that “the world may believe that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:23). Ephesians 4:3- 6, with the appeal “Make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (v3), finds its place, as discussed in the other study, in a letter framed by the plan of God to unite and fill all things with Christ. To effect that is the mission of the church.
1.3 The Ascension of Christ and the Defeat of the Powers
1. The exaltation language of the New Testament emphasises that Jesus is “higher” or “above” the principalities and powers in the heavenly realms (Eph 1:19 -22; Phil 2:9; Col 2:10; Heb 1:4)
2. This language must not however be understood literally or spatially.
3. To be “above” or “higher” means to be superior in honour, glory, love, faithfulness, wisdom and so on (Pss 36:5; 103:11; Isaiah 55:9).
4. The verticality of the ascension (Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9) does not indicate a location in a geographic sense but a return to the inner glory of God (John 17:5); hence the shekinah glory of the cloud (Ex 13:21; Num 9:17 -22; Daniel 7:13; Luke 9:34; Acts 1:9; Rev 14:14).
5. As these are all relational attributes the superiority of Christ over all created things is not to be thought of as a greater measure of power but a greater kind of power.
6. Whilst this is the power of love, it is a love that exists in a certain way. This is the unity of the relationships between the Persons of the Godhead that finds expression as relational “oneness”.
2. The Oneness of God and the Mission of the Church
2.1 The Nature of Oneness in God
1. Jesus proclaimed his oneness with the Father as something dynamic and the reason behind his ability to completely reveal the Father in words and works (John 10:25 – 30; 14:5 -14).
2. This oneness in revelation is the glory of the Father and the Son in their mutual revelation (Matt 11:27; John 5:23;12:23; 13:31- 32; 17:1,5). It is complete in Jesus as the Father’s (John 1:14) only Son because he does not seek to image any reality other than his Father (John 8:50;54;12:23,28)
3. It is a glory that finds its climax in the cross – resurrection – ascension, for here the full nature of God as one – in – love is realised in the humanity of Christ as revealed to the world (John 12:23 – 32; 13:31 -33;17:1).
4. The revelation of God is God, it is not something that simply comes from God. What God gives in his works and words, that is, in the works and words of Jesus, is a share in his own life (John 5:24; 6:63; 8:52;14:10, 24; 17:8).
5. Since only God can reveal God, the recipients of saving revelation would need to be one with God. (That is, united with God. Hence the use of union language in the New Testament (Rom 6:5; 1Cor 6:17; 2 Pet 1:4).
6. This oneness or union would have to have a form that conforms to the nature of God. This can be expressed in various ways, but most simply in terms of mutual indwelling; God lives or abides in us and we in him (John 15:1ff; 2 Cor 6:16; Eph 2:21- 22; 1 John 2:14; 4:12, 15 -16; Rev 21:3- 4 etc.).
7. To bring his creatures into oneness or unity with himself is the content of God’s whole plan of salvation.
2.2 Oneness is Salvation
1. The biblical declaration of the oneness of God is not an abstract formula but the foundation for wholeness in human existence.
2. All of the relevant passages to do with the oneness of God are contained within a framework, and express, the foundational reality apart from which there can be no salvation (Deut 6:4; Rom 3:30; 1Cor 8:6; Gal 3:20; Eph 4:6; 1 Tim 2:5).
3. They are intrinsically and, at times, contextually, anti -idolatrous. For behind the absolute insistence that only the God of the biblical revelation be worshipped is the understanding that there can only be one object of that total undivided affection which is necessary as an expression of full human functioning and is a participation in God’s own undivided internal love for himself as Father for Son for Spirit. Since in God all of loving is mutual and reciprocal, humanity as the image of God can only be fully true to its nature if it both receives and gives total love. Idolatry means a multiplicity of contending and divided affections that ruin all of human life, not only with God himself but all horizontal relationships.
4. The vision of the one God unifies everything. There can no longer be two separate worlds of the sacred and the secular, Sunday and Monday – Friday, worship and work, family and church and so on.
5. Oneness is therefore not a strategy of the church to “get people saved”. Oneness is salvation. In being one with God and with one another we are sharing in the life of God as it exists by indwelling the church.
2.3 The Oneness of the Church and the Saving Plan of God
1. The most basic statement about humanity is that it is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26).
2. This image existed in the Garden of Eden and was to be multiplied across the face of the world (Genesis 1:26- 28).
3. In the beginning the image of God in man existed in a provisional form which was largely lost and deformed through the Fall. The basic sin was that something other than God was worshipped as God so that oneness with the Godhead was lost. Multiplicity of relational commitment is incompatible with total union with the Godhead.
4. Since the oneness of God is his glory, sin meant the loss of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
5. The eternal plan of God in Christ (see other study) was always to bring humanity back into unity with himself (Eph 1:10 -11 etc.).
6. This could only be achieved through God’s words and works as the necessary media of revelation. However, no amount of supernatural inbreaking could ever reconcile humanity to God, as the receptor for this revelation, the heart of humanity, was itself incapable and unwilling to know God (Jer 7:19; Rom 1:18 – 23). Yet the deformation of the created order itself (Rom 8:18ff) meant that no way could be found of restoring this order from inside itself. Only if the supernatural God himself entered into the condition of the fallen world and humanity could the works and words of God, as the works and words of the Word made flesh (John 1:14), transform and renew creation and humanity from inside itself.
7. How God brought this to pass is the salvation – history line of the Bible.
8. This plan begins clearly with election of the one man Abraham and the covenant by which God bound himself to his descendants. It is an exclusive union for an inclusive purpose, that all the nations be blessed in the seed (offspring) of this one man (Gen 12:1 -2, 7; 13:15; 21:12).
9. Israel as Abraham’s descendants are a nation of priests, kings, shepherds and teachers of the Law of God Israel is called to image God to the world (Ex 19:5 – 6). They were the one elect people of God on the earth.
10. To be a light of the only true God to the world the diverse tribes needed to be united in their worship of the one God (Ex 20:3 – 5; Deut 6:4 -5).
11. This was most nearly achieved when the tribes were united under the kingship of David and Solomon. The opening of the Temple as the place of worship (Deut 12) where God would dwell intimately (2 Chron 7:16) was marked by a manifestation of glory (2 Chron 7:1- 3) corresponding to the oneness with the LORD which the Temple symbolised and (instrumentally) brought about.
12. The nations sought the glory of the God of Israel by travelling up to Jerusalem (2 Chron 9).
13. Solomon’s idolatry however leads to the division of the kingdom and the end of united worship (1 Ki 11 -12). These are judgements of God that perfectly match the sin.
14. The subsequent history of the divided kingdoms embraces regular rise and decline dependent upon the faithfulness of the people to the worship of the one true God of all the earth.
15. This series climaxes in the exile out of the Promised Land and the removal of the glory of God from a Temple now filled with idols (Ezek 8 -10).
16. This however is followed by promises of a new covenant glory which will enable God to dwell in greater intimacy with humanity by changing their hearts and forgiving their sin; these people will follow idols no longer (Ezek 11:18 -20; 36:24- 27; Jer 31:31 -34).
17. In this renewed relational environment the nations will turn to the LORD. Much of this is associated with a chosen deliverer or Messiah (Ps 2; Isa 9:7 -9; 11:1- 9; 40:1 -11; 49:1- 6; 55:4 -7; 60:22; 61:1 – 2; Jer 12:14 -16; Mic 4;1 -4; Zech 2:11) .
18. Jesus fulfils all the types and figures of the Old Testament . He is the one true human mediator (1 Tim 2:5) the second Adam (Rom 5:14; 1 Cor 15:22,45); one faithful descendant of Abraham (Gal 3:15 -16), true Son of David (Matt 1:1); true Israelite (Matt 2:15) etc. in whom all the purposes of God find their fulfilment.
19. He is the image and glory of God, the one in whom the fullness of God dwells completely so that in him all the truth of God is revealed and imparted (John 14:6; 2 Cor 4:4,6; Col 1:15; 19; 2:9).
20. It is the life of the church to serve Christ in his revealing of the Father as the one true God to the world (see other study).
21. The thrust of the church into universal mission, imaging God across the world to the whole of humanity, will therefore be in direct proportion to the intensity of the revelation of the oneness of God given in Jeus Christ. As intensively as it is knows that the revelation of the one God in Jesus Christ is eternal life (John 17:3), to that degree it will be moved in the Spirit extensively to take the saving message to the one world over which Christ is universal Lord. (The other study explains that the new creation in Christ is the one world.)
22. This explains why the apostles could not be sent out to all nations until Jesus had returned to the Father in glory and poured out upon the church the fullness of the Spirit who would unite them as the one people fully indwelt by God (John 7:37 – 39).
23. It is in the glory of oneness with the Father and the Son in the power of the Spirit that the church goes out into the world in the power and presence of God.
24. It is through the church Christ wills to fill the cosmos with himself so that all creatures may share in the oneness of God and so be saved.
2.4 The Oneness of the Church and the Powers
1. The people of God, the church, are now the primary locus of the image of God upon the earth. This is expressed in the New Testament by metaphors like the bride of Christ and the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:12,27; Eph 5:25 -27; Rev 19:7).
2. As to their essential nature they cannot be other than one, and this to the same degree that the Father and the Son are one in the Spirit (John 17:20 -26). God only has one bride, temple, body, family etc.
3. The principalities and powers in the heavenly places realise the true identity of the church because they know it is raised to heavenly authority with Christ (Eph 1:3, 20- 22; 2:6; 3:10).
4. Knowing that the coming unification of the cosmos under the headship of Jesus means their defeat upon the earth (1 Cor 15:24- 25; the conflict scenes after the ascension in Revelation (see 12:5, 9ff ) are upon the earth) the powers wage war, illegitimately, from the heavenlies against the church on the earth.
5. Their central weapons are deception (2 Cor 11:3; 2 Thess 2:10; 2 John 7; Rev 13:4; 20:10) and accusation (Zech 3:1; Rev 12:10 ) for by these means they fragment the relationships and experienced unity of the people of God.
6. To the degree that the church is fractured and divided, to that extent the powers maintain their tyranny through idolatry and the fear of death over a fallen and lost world (Heb 2:14- 15).
3. APEPT and the Oneness of the Church
3.1 APEPT and Ascension Unity
1. The origin and so the unity of the APEPT in the church derives immediately from the ascended Christ (Eph 4:11) as head of his body (1 Cor 11:3; Eph 4:15; 5:23; Col 1:18;2:19).
2. APEPT’s are to recognise for themselves and reveal to the people of God through their ministry that spiritual authority derives from Jesus and not from earthly authority of an institutional, cultural or personal (such as intellectual) kind.
3. APEPT’s are to recognise for themselves and reveal to the people of God through their ministry that there is only one essential minister, Christ, who is the apostle (Matt 15:24; Luke 4:18; John 20:21; Heb 3:1), prophet (Luke 1:33; 13:33), evangelsit (Luke 1:19; 2:10; 8:1; Eph 2:17 etc.), pastor (John 10:10; Heb 13:20; 1 Pet 2:25) and teacher (Mark 9:5;11:21; John 1:38) and that true Christian ministry can occur only in union with him.
3.2 APEPT as Ministers of Christ’s Unity
1. APEPT’s are called to resist any action or attitude amongst the people of God that is divisive. Much of the New Testament is taken up with this struggle in the church to preserve unity (Acts 15; Rom 14:1 – 15:13; 16: 17 -20; 1Cor 1:10 -17; Gal 3:28; Phil 2:1- 11etc.).
2. APEPT’s, as relating to the ascended Lord for supply and direction, are called to resist any action or attitude amongst the people of God that draws people away from the centrality of Christ’s authority by means of control or coercion (Col 2:19 -20 ).
3. APEPT’s, as faithful ministers of Christ’s universal reconciliation (Rom 5:10; 2 Cor 5:19;Col 1:19 -20), are called to minister maximum inclusiveness in and through the church. Apostles and evangelists will spread the church into all nations, prophets will speak against idolatry, racism, sexism, classism and so on; pastors will strive to see that no sheep is disconnected, teachers will open up all the riches of Christ for the whole people of God (Rom 15:20; 2 Tim 4:5; Rev 11:1- 14; 1 Pet 5:1 -4; Eph 3:8).
4. In doing these things the APEPT’s reveal to the church and the world that the reign of the powers is ended (Eph 3:10).
3.3 APEPT as Unified Team Through Christ the One Minister
1. Many conflicts within the church arise because of polarised differences between members of the “5 – fold ministry”.
2. Typically, something like the following occurs: apostles are misunderstood as breaking with honoured traditions and forced to leave their home denominations; prophets are rejected by pastors (elders) for hurting the sheep or being unnecessarily provocative; pastors are looked down on as “unspiritual” and passive by prophets; evangelists frustrate teachers as they never open up the “deep truths of the Word”; evangelists think many other ministers are dispassionate about the salvation of the lost and so cause offence; and so on.
3. In this way the enemy wins much ground by damaging the relationships between leaders in the church and bringing disillusionment to the people of God.
4. The whole body cannot live as members of one another in interdependent love (Eph 3:6; 4:25; 5:30) and grow up to maturity unless this is effectively lived out by the APEPT team.
5. Unless individual APEPT’s are profoundly moved by the nature of the fullness which is in Christ they will be dominated by their own gifting and introduce partiality and imbalance into the life of the church.
6. Unless individual APEPT’s are profoundly moved by the nature of the fullness which is in Christ they will be subject to forces that lead to imitation or “cloning”.
7. If APEPT’s are gifts to the church (Eph 4:8), of which they are a part, then they must be gifts and ministers to one another.
8. The key to the unification of the APEPT and the church is love which binds everything together in perfect unity (Col 3:14).
9. As individual APEPT’s are committed to fellowship with Christ and each other they discover that their mutual gifts are not their own property as such but exist only in relation to Christ (1 John 1:3). These gifts are perfectly integrated and intercontained “in him”.
10. When this is revealed by means of our common participation in Christ all rivalry and competition ceases and the whole church partners in the gospel (2 Cor 8:23; Phil 1:5).
3.4 Unity Within Distinct APEPT Members
1. The principles of unity within distinct APEPT members are the same as that within the APEPT team.
2. In many ministries the main gift of the minister comes progressively to exclude the balanced function of other gifts within the individual. Prophets become less effective as evangelists, evangelists cease to study theology, pastors do not function prophetically, and so on.
3. In many single – pastor congregations this deprives the people of the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).
4. If however the fullness of Christ lives in us (Col 1:27) and he is the one true APEPT then all the gifts of Christ are found within every Christian. As each APEPT grows in Christ we should expect them to grow in each of the “ascension – gift ministries”.
5. This will happen to the degree that Jesus, not gifts and personalities, is the centre of personal and corporate devotion.
4. APEPT As A Missional Reality
1. Each of the APEPT’s is essentially and instrumentally missional.
2. Apostles will go to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
3. Prophets will tell the church to “go” (Matt 28:19; Acts 13:1- 3).
4. Evangelists will preach the gospel in every place (Col 1:5 -6).
5. Pastors will make disciples of the nations (Matt 28:19).
6. Teachers will instruct how to observe all the commands of Jesus (Matt 28:19).
7. There can be no true unity in the church through APEPT without sharing in the fullness of God present in the person of Christ as the one sent by the Father.