"Homer Nodded"
By Barton A. Dowdy
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One of the phenomena encountered by a student of literature is the fact that great writers who ordinarily are meticulous in their use of words and syntax occasionally are guilty of the grossest of blunders. Several years ago in a class in Greek we encountered one of these. When asked for an explanation, the professor replied, "Homer nodded; anyone gets drowsy now and then." The Biblical interpreter also nods now and then with the result that he misses obvious truth in scripture. This accounts in part for the fact that the Bible is constantly revealing new truth to us.
One of the most noteworthy places where we as a brotherhood have nodded is Acts 2:38. We have used it to undergird our doctrine of baptism as a means to the remission of sins and as a result have missed its witness to the reception of the Holy Spirit by the one obedient to baptism. We have never had a meaningful doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
The problem this poses for unity is that this is precisely the point where consideration of the subject ought to begin. The presence of the Spirit of God in Christians makes them one, the body of Christ. The church can be the body of Christ only as it possesses the Spirit of Christ. We as Christians have precious little to say about whether we will be united with other Christians. If we are
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Had we not nodded at the end of Acts 2:38 and in the dozens of other places where a vital presence of the Holy Spirit is emphasized we might have avoided the problems attendant upon two extreme views. On the one hand we find the Christian who feels that no unity can exist until there is complete agreement on all matters of doctrine. This all too frequently means, "We will have unity when you all come and join us." On the other hand we see the Christian who feels that unity can exist only when ecclesiastical organizations are merged. This takes the form generally, "In all our more than a century and a half we have never united with anyone." The thought behind it is that we have never merged organizations. So much emphasis is placed on organizational unity that there is real danger of a reversal of the aforementioned statement into, "We will have unity because we all intend to join you." Both extremes have lost sight of the fact that if the Spirit of God is within me and also in my fellow Christian in another church there is unity already existing between us.
Further, had we been in possession of a meaningful doctrine of the presence of the Spirit in our lives we would not have been quite so sure that everything that happens in our world is dependent upon us. Do you see a parallel here between old line liberalism and its displacement of God by natural law and our statement that God did His work centuries ago and has kept hands off His world ever since? Are not both expressions of Deism? Is it not more tenable to feel that He is still present and active in His world and that He will lead us if we are leadable? If I bring my conviction and another brings his, is it not possible that the Spirit of God will lead us both into a greater comprehension of what He has revealed unto us? My personal conviction is that "Homer nodded" again in our interpretation of John 17:11, 21. Many times I have heard discussions of "that they may all be one" but I do not recall ever hearing anyone discuss the implications of the following words, "even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee." We have never placed much emphasis on considerations of the Trinity. This may be the source of our nodding here. John 1:1 makes clear by the preposition used that a distinction of persons is intended. Clearly this is intended by John 17--Jesus is speaking a prayer to the Father--there must be some separation of persons or the whole thing becomes play-acting.
The implications of this for unity are apparent. There is a spiritual oneness between Father and Son but an equally clear distinction organizationally. Jesus, on earth, prays to the Father in heaven, "that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee." That the unity envisioned is spiritual rather than structural appears inevitable.
All of this is not to say that organizational unity is bad per se. If both spiritual unity and structural unity can be present, the unity will be greater and the oneness of Christians will be much more apparent to the world. The purpose of unity in Jesus' prayer is the conversion of the world. Anything that we can do to further this, we must do. If organizational unity will help, then organizational unity is desirable. My main point is a desire for us to recognize that organizational unity is a means to an end, not the end itself, and may be either desirable or undesirable depending on the plan for attaining it.
Editor's Note. Barton A. Dowdy is President of Northwest Christian College, Eugene, Oregon, and the foregoing article is taken from the NCC Bulletin, May 1966.