Walking Together?
by Marc Lloyd, Church Society:
There has been much talk in the church of “walking together” despite differences.
Obviously on some issues and in some ways that is good. We don’t want a new church every time we disagree about the colour of the carpet. Churches can endlessly fracture over secondary matters, as the proliferation of denominations and congregations shows. But we must ask: walking together despite what differences? Walking in what direction? In what manner? What is the basis, purpose and mode of our unity, of our walking together?
The Bible
“Walking together” is not a biblical phrase as such. The nearest example comes in the question from the LORD’s oracle against Israel in Amos 3:3, “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” Rather than suggesting an unconditional walking together, this verse points out that a measure of agreement is necessary if two parties are to walk together.
Of course it is not a problem for us to use an expression that is not itself found in the Bible. “The Trinity” is not a biblical phrase, for example, but it is a fully biblical doctrine. But when we think of “walking together”, we would do well to attend first, however, to what the Bible actually says about “walking”. And it says quite a lot. In the ESV, 341 verses use some form of the word “walk”. Some translations obscure the walking language, speaking for example of a way of life.
The STEP Bible software (created by Tyndale House, Cambridge) tells me that הָלַךְ (ha.lakh) ‘to go: walk’ (H1980I) occurs 1585 x. The Greek word περιπατέω (peripateō) ‘to walk’ (G4043) to walk (around); to live, conduct one’s life occurs 123 x. Many of these references are just to ordinary walking. It is easy to look up all the references.
Other texts could have been included here, but it is instructive to think about some of the key verses which speak of how believers ought to live using this metaphor of walking. I’ve sought to include all the main references briefly here, even though that means some repetition. Sometimes looking up the references in context would further enrich our vision of what goes together with the godly walking of the people of God, or not. The ringing emphasis on walking in obedience to God’s commands is hard to miss and couldn’t be more relevant for thinking about what it really means for the church to walk together in a way that is pleasing to him and is consistent with Scripture.
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