Toward The Unity Of The Faith

The church, because it is made up of the entire community of believers, contains a great diversity of cultures, races, social levels and, of course, theological knowledge. In spite of all these differences that could tend more toward division than toward unity, the inspired counsel states that believers reach two kinds of unity: “the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace,” and, “unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God” (Ephesians 4:3, 13). To reach the latter, each believer must subject his or her private judgment and personal interpretations about doctrine to the consideration of the believers in general. This is why the church revises its beliefs or its interpretation only when believers from all regions, cultures, and levels of theological knowledge are represented. This usually happens in a meeting where delegates from the entire world church represent the believers.VOTS 101.2

This was the way the apostolic church resolved its conflicts about the interpretation of its beliefs. When deep differences of opinion regarding some rites carried over from Judaism threatened to break up the unity of the faith and, as a consequence, the unity of the believers, the apostles called a meeting in Jerusalem. It seems that the Holy Spirit accepted this system of solving differences, since the same Spirit participated in the final decision: “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us,” the apostles declared at the end (Acts 15:28).VOTS 101.3