Someone once said to me, “Love and unity are most important in a church. I don’t care about beliefs”. This really set me thinking. This statement presupposes that having love alone will lead to unity. However, love doesn’t automatically lead to unity, and vice versa. A marriage can be loving, yet have no godly unity because of a difference in belief (2 Cor 6:14). Conversely, the church in Ephesus had (a semblance of) unity but was loveless towards one another (Rev 2:1-7). In short, you can have a form of unity without love, or love without unity.

Love is unconditional. We must love everyone – even our enemies (Mt 5:44). Love is strengthened by unity in beliefs. When we can genuinely agree on our spiritual convictions, our love for one another will greatly increase. On the other hand, 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗕𝗢𝗧𝗛 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗲. Just because we love one another, that does not guarantee biblical, Christian unity. If there is serious disagreement in doctrine, the unity among us is superficial and tenuous at best. It is in the place of agreement that there is power (Mt 18:19). This is evident in the Early Church when believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ doctrine, among other things (Acts 2:42). They were of 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁 (𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿) and 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱 (𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗲), resulting in members adopting similar attitudes and engaging in similar actions. Our aim, therefore, must be to grow in love for one another (1 Thess 3:12) and hold fast to sound, common doctrine (Tit 2:1). So, yes, love and unity are most important in a church, but for them to truly exist, 𝘄𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 our 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗳𝘀!