Only in Jesus Christ can We Truly Become One

 

One in Christ

By Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

We are too diverse and at times too discordant to be able to come together as one on any other basis or under any other name. Only in Jesus Christ can we truly become one.

Becoming one in Christ happens one by one—we each begin with ourselves. We are dual beings of flesh and spirit and are sometimes at war within ourselves....

If individually we each “put on Christ,” then together we can hope to become one, as Paul said, “the body of Christ.”¹⁴ To “put on Christ” certainly includes making His “first and great commandment”¹⁵ our first and greatest commitment, and if we love God, we will keep His commandments.¹⁶

Unity with our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ grows as we heed the second commandment—inextricably connected to the first—to love others as ourselves.¹⁷ And I suppose an even more perfect unity would obtain among us if we followed the Savior’s higher and holier expression of this second commandment—to love one another not only as we love ourselves but as He loved us.¹⁸ In sum, it is “every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God.”...

When we “put on Christ,” it becomes possible either to resolve or to lay aside differences, disagreements, and disputes. A rather dramatic example of overcoming division is found in our Church history...

Unity does not require sameness, but it does require harmony. We can have our hearts knit together in love, be one in faith and doctrine, and still cheer for different teams, disagree on various political issues, debate about goals and the right way to achieve them, and many other such things. But we can never disagree or contend with anger or contempt for one another.