Campus CrossWalk Magazine: 2006 Spring Issue -- Quotation Library: The Unity of Christians

Our Spring, 2006 theme is, "A Plurality of One” (Christian Unity With Christian Conviction). Enjoy the related quotes below on the unity of Christians.

“Let the unity of Christians be out polar star. To this let our eyes be continually turned; and to this let our united efforts be directed--that the world may believe, and be saved.” Barton W. Stone, The Christian Messenger, 1832.

"I blush for my fellows, who hold up the Bible as the bond of union yet make their opinions of it tests of fellowship; who plead for the union of all Christians; yet refuse fellowship with such as dissent from their notions. . . Such antisectarian-sectarians are doing more mischief to the cause and advancement of truth, the unity of Christians, and the salvation of the world than all the skeptics in the world. In fact, they create skeptics." Barton W. Stone, "Remarks," Christian Messenger, August 1835, p 180.

"Unity without verity [truth] is no better than conspiracy" Puritan John Trapp (cited in The Golden Treasury of Puritan Quotations, p. 304).

“It is quite certain we shall never keep the unity of the Spirit if this church shall declare that it is superior to every other. If there be a church which says, “We are the church, and all others are mere sects,” then it is a troubler in Israel, and must hide its head when the unity of the Spirit is so much as hinted at.” Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), London preacher.

The Church's One Foundation

: The church's one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord:
She is His new creation, By water and the Word:
From heav'n He came & sought her to be His holy bride,
With His own blood He bought her & for her life He died.
Elect from ev'ry nation, Yet one o'er all the earth,
Her charter of salvation, One Lord, one faith, one birth;
One holy name she blesses, Partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses, With ev'ry grace endued.
Samuel J. Stone (1886)

"What shall we unite with and from what shall we separate? The question of coexistence does not enter here, but the question of union and fellowship does. The wheat grows in the same field as the tares, but shall the two cross-pollinate? The sheep graze near the goats, but shall they seek to interbreed? The unjust and the just enjoy the same rain and sunshine, but shall they forget their deep moral differences and intermarry? . . . The Spirit-illuminated church will have none of this" A.W. Tozer, The Best of A.W. Tozer, p. 72.

"Again, men tell us that our preaching should be positive and not negative, that we can preach the truth without attacking error. But if we follow that advice we shall have to close our Bible and desert its teachings. The New Testament is a polemic book almost from beginning to end . . . It is when men have felt compelled to take a stand against error that they have risen to the really great heights in the celebration of the truth" J. Gresham Machen, What Is Christianity, as cited in Biblical Separation, by Ernest Pickering, p. 97.

"Charity by all means: but honesty also. Love of course, but love to God as well as love to men, and love of truth as well as love of union. It is exceedingly difficult in these times to preserve one's fidelity before God and one's fraternity among men. Should not the former be preferred to the latter if both cannot be maintained? We think so." Charles Hadden Spurgeon, The Sword and Trowel, April 1887, p. 196, as cited in C.H. Spurgeon and the Modern Church, by R.J. Sheehan, p. 22.

“The world is not looking at our tracts and rallies and telecasts and study manuals. It is looking at us and how we behave. When it fails to see the unity of Jesus’ followers--the church--it fails to see the validation that Christ is indeed the Son of the Living God.” Charles Colson, The Body.

“Satan always hates Christian fellowship; it is his policy to keep Christians apart. Anything that can divide saints from one another he delights in.” Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892).

"A believer may risk prison for his own religious beliefs, but he may never build prisons for those of other beliefs." Charles Colson.

Blest Be the Tie

: Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.
We share our mutual woes; our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows the sympathizing tear.
When we asunder part, It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart, And hope to meet again.
John Fawcett (1782).