Unity of Faith

“We stand in a fellowship which holds fast the entire Word of God, the entire revelation, a fellowship in which souls are properly cared for and in which God is given the honor which is due Him. What a blessing we share! We cannot sufficiently praise it!…lt is God who has given us understanding so that we do not swim with the unionistic stream of the day but rather hold the entire Word of God in high esteem and accept it by faith. It is God who has given us understanding so that we are not caused to vacillate by the unionistic talk about love and peace, but rather that we know that the first article of love to God and men is this that we firmly hold to and confess the total Word of God…What value would there be in an outward establishment of geographic boundaries and in all other external co-operation in church work if the boundaries of our faith were not correctly established according to God s Word and we did not remain in all articles of doctrine established for us in God s Word? If we, in a unionistic fashion, wanted to surrender this or that doctrine of the Word of God, if, under the pretext of allowing love to hold sway, we were to allow false doctrines to have citizenship rights among us, then all of our outward standing together and working together would be a caricature of the God-desired unity. The unity of faith is most seriously threatened when indifference to false doctrine moves in. The unity of faith is immediately destroyed when one part adopts and holds fast false doctrine.” (Franz Pieper, Unity of Faith, 1888)