The GCx old-timers will no doubt remember Jim McCotter's teaching that unity trumps truth. It appears that McCotter still isn't far from that idea. Recently, he's been posting a series of articles about unity on his substack. In the first of these articles, titled "Unity ~ 1. Jesus's ONE Prayer For YOU!", he writes:
Jesus prayed for you and me the last night before He went to the cross, right before He died for you and me! This was His dying request!
That makes this prayer more important than anything else in the world that Jesus wants for you and me! God had it recorded here in His eternal Word so that there will never be any question about what Jesus wants for you and me!
Think of all of the important biblical doctrines in the New Testament that Jesus could have prayed for you. But Jesus did not pray for even one of these for you. Jesus prayed for only one thing - OUR UNITY!
This is based on McCotter's interpretation of John 17:20-23. The subtlety of the error is not what McCotter includes, but what he leaves out, which allows him to assign the wrong priority to unity.
It's true that John 20 includes a prayer for unity among believers, but that unity hinges on Jesus Christ Himself. Vs. 17 says, "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth." To be sanctified means to be set apart for a purpose, but we cannot be sanctified unless we first receive the truth. How can unity be more important than truth, when truth is the foundation of unity?
So, in context, we see that Jesus's priority wasn't unity
per se. It was unity
resulting from the truth. In fact, most of Jesus's prayer (which takes up all of chapter 20) is a reminder of Who He is, and what He has accomplished on our behalf. He Himself is the Truth Who trumps all other considerations. If we find ourselves in a congregation that no longer prioritizes truth, then it's no sin to abandon whatever idolatrous "unity" they try to impose on us.
