One in Christ

Being one is a recurring theme in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Unity with our brothers and sisters in the history of Christ occurs when we do the second commandment, loving out brother as ourselves.

Unity does not require sameness but it does require harmony.

None of us can control nations or the actions of others or even those within our own families, but we can control ourselves.

Becoming one is a recurring theme in the gospel of Jesus Christ and in God’s dealings with His children. With respect to the city of Zion in Enoch’s day, it is said that “they were of one heart and one mind.” Of the early Saints in the primitive Church of Jesus Christ, the New Testament records, “The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.”

In our own dispensation, the Lord admonished, “I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.” Among the reasons the Lord gave as to why the early Saints in Missouri had failed to establish a place of Zion was that they “are not united according to the union required by the law of the celestial kingdom.”

Where God prevails in all hearts and minds, the people are described as “in one, the children of Christ.”

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. …

Jesus was also a being of flesh and spirit. He was tested; He understands; He can help us achieve unity within. Therefore, drawing upon the light and the grace of Christ, we strive to give our spirit—and the Holy Spirit—dominance over the physical. And when we fall short, Christ, by His Atonement, has given us the gift of repentance and the opportunity to try again.

Becoming unified within ourselves yields peace.

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. 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. 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.”

President Marion G. Romney, a former counselor in the First Presidency, in explaining how enduring peace and unity are obtained, said:

“If a single person, yielding to Satan, is filled with the works of the flesh, he wars within himself. If two yield, they each war within themselves and fight with each other. If many people yield, a society [reaps] the harvest of great stress and contention. If the rulers of a country yield, there is world-wide contention.”

President Romney continued: “As the works of the flesh have universal application, so likewise does the gospel of peace. If one man lives it, he has peace within himself. If two men live it, they each have peace within themselves and with each other. If the citizens live it, the nation has domestic peace. When there are enough nations enjoying the fruit of the Spirit to control world affairs, then, and only then, will the war-drums throb no longer, and the battle flags be furl’d. … (See Alfred Lord Tennyson, “Locksley Hall,” The Complete Poetical Works of Tennyson, ed. W. J. Rolfe, Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 1898, p. 93, lines 27–28.)”

Both anger and peace compound as they grow—adding one to another yields a benefit greater than the two individually.

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.

A year ago, President Russell M. Nelson pled with us in these words: “None of us can control nations or the actions of others or even members of our own families. But we can control ourselves. My call today, dear brothers and sisters, is to end conflicts that are raging in your heart, your home, and your life. Bury any and all inclinations to hurt others—whether those inclinations be a temper, a sharp tongue, or a resentment for someone who has hurt you. The Savior commanded us to turn the other cheek, to love our enemies, and to pray for those who despitefully use us.”

I say again that it is only in and through our individual loyalty to and love of Jesus Christ that we can hope to be one—one within, one at home, one in the Church, eventually one in Zion, and above all, one with the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.

• End conflicts in:
  • Your heart
  • Your home
  • Your life
• Be one:
  • Within yourself
  • At home
  • In the church
  • In Zion (eventually)
  • With the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost