Finding the One Church: An Orthodox Response to Protestant Struggles with Unity and Authority

How Orthodoxy addresses the search for truth, unity, and the ancient faith in a fractured Christian world

[NOTE: The following was written to a friend of mine from the Presbyterian and Reformed world. We’ve known each other more than two decades, and we began corresponding after I wrote an article on Orthodoxy and Scripture for the Logos Bible Study platform. Key to his argument to me is that every individual makes a decision on what to believe, and therefore those who “choose” Sola Scriptura are no different than those who choose Rome or Orthodoxy. Here is my response to a detailed message I received from him.]

Dear Ken,
Thank you for sharing your journey and reflections so openly and honestly. It's clear you've wrestled deeply with these questions over the years, and I really respect the way you've sought truth with such passion and careful consideration. I can see God's hand in your story, just as I trust he is guiding each of us toward the fullness of his truth.

I appreciate so much of what you've written, especially the humility in your recognition of the divisions and struggles within all Christian communions. You’re absolutely right—we are all human, and the effects of sin, as well as historical complexities, have impacted the visible witness of Christianity in profound ways. However, while I agree that no particular community (Orthodox, Catholic, or Protestant) is immune to human imperfection, I think the question at the heart of our dialogue is: How does the one true Church visibly exist in history, and how do we come to know and participate in it as Christ intended?

It sounds like you've encountered some of the key differences between Orthodoxy and other perspectives—particularly around questions like Sola Scriptura, private interpretation, and ecclesiology—and you've raised some important points that deserve a thoughtful response. Let me try to address them concisely but firmly.

1. Private Interpretation vs. Apostolic Continuity

I agree with you that everyone must, to some degree, "wrestle" with the sources of truth they encounter—Scripture, Tradition, and so forth—and make decisions about what is true. However, Orthodox Christianity would respond gently but firmly that there’s a significant difference between engaging these questions personally and falling into the errors of individualism. Orthodoxy was founded on the belief that God revealed himself in Christ and entrusted the fullness of that revelation to his Church—a tangible, communal, and Apostolic Body, which he promised the Holy Spirit would "guide into all truth" (John 16:13).

When someone converts to Orthodoxy, for instance, they’re not exercising a "private" judgment but submitting their personal reasoning to the larger, historic consensus of the Apostolic Church—its worship, its dogma, and its living faith. This is why Orthodoxy emphasizes communion over individual interpretation. Sola Scriptura, admirable as it may be in its trust of the Scriptures, still leaves each Christian isolated in their conclusions, appealing to subjective interpretations of the Bible without the stabilizing anchor of lived, Apostolic Tradition. The Church doesn’t sidestep the noetic effects of sin but instead presents the means by which Christ works to overcome it within sacred Tradition.

2. The Unity of the Church

You brought up the challenging reality of visible divisions in Christendom, and you’re right—this is a scandal we must all mourn and labor to heal. Yet, from an Orthodox perspective, unity isn’t something ecclesial bodies work toward; it's something that Christ himself established and entrusted to his (very visible!) Church. As you noted, Christ has only one Body, one Church, and he prayed that all his disciples might be one as he and the Father are one (John 17:21). Orthodoxy understands this prayer to have real, concrete implications that transcend vague "spiritual" unity.

Orthodoxy also acknowledges that church divisions are evidence not of many "branches" within the one Church, but rather of those who have tragically broken away over doctrinal or historical disputes. For example, the divisions with the Coptic and other non-Chalcedonian communions are real and painful but rooted in historical dogmatic disputes, not ecclesiological issues.

Orthodoxy maintains its claim to be the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, continuously preserving the faith of the Apostles as handed down through council and consensus.

3. Protestantism, Rome, and Orthodoxy

Your exploration of Reformed theology and its serious engagement with history is commendable. The Reformers certainly sought to “return to the sources,” and many of us in the Orthodox Church appreciate their zeal for fidelity to Scripture. However, the Reformers also broke from a living ecclesial tradition that predated the papacy’s later claims. The early Church functioned not through private interpretation or Sola Scriptura, but by guarding the true interpretation of Scripture through the collegial life of its bishops and people—the Church as a conciliar, Spirit-filled organism.

The Protestant Reformers were justifiably reacting to abuses in Rome, but in doing so, they often threw out much of the shared ancient tradition (the "baby with the bathwater," as you said). Sola Scriptura, which arose from this reaction, cannot trace itself to the worship or thought of early Christians.

Rome, on the other hand, has added to the Apostolic faith with dogmas like the Immaculate Conception, papal infallibility, and others which neither the East nor the West held universally in the first millennium. Orthodoxy, by contrast, has sought continuity and faithfulness to what it received—the faith entrusted "once for all" to the saints (Jude 3).

4. The Spirit and the Church’s Mission

I resonate deeply with what you wrote about the Holy Spirit continuing to guide his Church despite our failings. Orthodoxy recognizes this, too, encouraging humility and dialogue while remaining steadfast in her understanding of herself as the living Body of Christ. The promise of the Holy Spirit—who guides, preserves, and sanctifies the Church—is fulfilled in the life of Orthodoxy through her sacraments, her councils, and her communal worship in Spirit and Truth. The Holy Spirit is not the "spirit of fragmentation," leading people into scattered denominations, but the Spirit of unity and oneness in Christ.

Closing Thoughts

At the end of the day, Ken, I deeply appreciate your heart for dialogue and your love for our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ. Orthodoxy doesn’t claim to have perfect people—but to have preserved the fullness of God’s revealed truth as handed down in and by the Apostolic Church. This is why, for Orthodoxy, Christ’s Church is not merely a "spiritual" reality interwoven invisibly across denominations, but a concrete, historical communion of faith that Christ established and continues to shepherd.

Thank you for sharing your journey! My hope is that we can continue having this kind of heartfelt dialogue, always in a spirit of love, in hopes that we grow into the "unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God" (Eph. 4:13). Let’s keep seeking him together!

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For further reading on issues of interest to Reformed and Orthodox Christians, please visit Orthodox-Reformed Bridge.