The Oneness of the Body of Christ
God is one (1 Cor. 8:4; Isa. 45:5). God is one in His essence, His purpose, His economy and His acts. The Body of Christ as His expression must also be one. This practical oneness of the Body of Christ is one of the most crucial truths that have been recovered through the Brethren and strengthened in the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee.
The principle of oneness can be seen in how God dealt with His people. In the Old Testament, God ordained a unique center of worship for His people. In Deuteronomy, God repeatedly charged the children of Israel not to worship in any place, but only in the place where He would put His name (vv. 12:5-7; 14:22-23; 15:20; 16:2, 5-7, 15-16). This unique ground maintained the oneness of His people.
In the New Testament, oneness was first mentioned by the Lord Himself in John 10:16, where He said, “And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must lead them also, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, one Shepherd.” The one flock signifies the one church, the one Body of Christ (Footnote 1, Recovery Version).
The Lord expressed His aspiration for oneness in John 17, which was His prayer before He went to the cross. In John 17:21, the Lord prayed, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me.” This chapter not only shows the Lord’s desire, it also presents a further revelation: the oneness of the believers is altogether mingled with the Triune God.
After such a prayer, the Lord accomplished this oneness on the cross, where He abolished the law of the commandments in ordinances and created the one new man (Eph. 2:15). In His resurrection, He became the Spirit and breathed the Spirit of oneness into the believers (John 20:22). We began to experience this oneness when we were baptized into the Triune God (Matt. 28:19). However, this fact is applied by our being in the Spirit (Eph. 4:3). This keeps us in the oneness.
The Blessings Brought About by the Oneness and One Accord
Psalm 133 is one of the four main chapters in the Bible on the matter of oneness. The Psalm begins, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is / For brothers to dwell in unity! (v. 1)” In such a condition of oneness, the oil flows from the head (v. 2), signifying the compound, anointing Spirit flowing from the Head to the Body; and there is the presence of the dew (v. 3), signifying the fresh and refreshing grace of God. Finally, in such a oneness, Jehovah has commanded the blessing of life forever. Such a living of oneness causes God to bless with the anointing Spirit, the watering grace, and eternal life (Psalm 133:3, Footnote 1, Recovery Version). How precious is this oneness!
One accord is oneness in practice. In the book of Acts, we see a glimpse of the blessing when believers are in one accord. In chapter 1, one hundred twenty prayed in one accord for ten days in the upper room (v. 14). This led to the outpouring of the Spirit (2:4), and in Acts 2:41, three thousand were saved in one day. Brother Witness Lee called this one accord the landmark that divides the Gospels and the Acts. Indeed, the one accord is the master key to every blessing in the New Testament.
“You have to see what the landmark was of the one hundred twenty in the book of Acts. The landmark that divides the Gospels and the Acts was not the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The landmark was the one accord of the one hundred twenty. If you want to experience the baptism in the Spirit, you must have the one accord. If all the members of a local church have the one accord, the baptism in the Spirit will be there. If you really want to practice the proper way to preach the gospel, you need the one accord. Without this key, no door can be opened. The one accord is the ‘master key to all the rooms,’ the master key to every blessing in the New Testament.”
(Elders’ Training, Book 07: One Accord for the Lord’s Move, Ch. 1, emphasis added)
Oneness and one accord do not only bring in blessings. Oneness is needed for the building up of the Body of Christ. This is signified by the forty-eight boards in the tabernacle. The standing boards had to be overlaid with gold, linked together by the golden rings, and united by the golden bars. Through this linking and uniting, the tabernacle as God’s dwelling place was built. Only in such a condition of oneness can the Body of Christ be built up. Brother Lee said:
“If there is no oneness among the believers in Christ, how can there be any abode, any dwelling place, for God on earth today? The oneness, which is the building, in actuality is the church built up in a practical way. Many Christians talk about the church, but to them the word church is an empty term. For God’s dwelling place to be a reality in a practical way, there must be the builded oneness. The oneness among the believers is the building up of the believers into one abode.”
(Truth Messages, Ch. 10)
Keeping the Oneness
John 17 not only presents the Lord’s aspiration for the believers to be one. This chapter also shows that we are made one in the Father’s name by the eternal life (vv. 6-13), through the sanctification of the word (vv. 14-21), and in the divine glory (vv. 22-24). Of these factors, Brother Lee emphasized the sanctification of the truth in taking away the factors of division. He said:
“Sanctification through the word of truth results in oneness. The sanctifying word, the sanctifying Spirit, the sanctifying life, and the sanctifying God are all one. Therefore, if we are being sanctified, we can be nothing else but one. We are one spontaneously because all the factors of division are taken away.”
(Truth Messages, Chapter 5)
The Apostle Paul emphasized the matter of oneness in his epistles. In Ephesians 4:3, Paul tells the believers to be “digilent to keep the oneness of the Spirit.” Verse 2 says, “With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love.” Here, to be lowly is to remain in a low estate, and to be meek is to not fight for oneself, and to be long-suffering is to endure mistreatment (Footnote 1). These virtues are not found in ourselves, but in the humanity of Jesus. Indeed, to keep the oneness is impossible in ourselves, but it is possible when we are in the Spirit, when the Lord’s Person becomes our person.
Brother Watchman Nee was also aware of the difficulty of being one. However, he also presents a solution: the cross. Brother Nee said:
“Unless the cross operates mightily, what endless possibilities of friction there will be if we include in one church all the believers in the locality with all their varying views. How the flesh would like just to include those holding the same views, and to exclude all whose views differ from ours. To have constant and close association with people whose interpretation of Scripture does not tally with ours, is hard for the flesh, but good for the spirit. God does not use division to solve the problem; He uses the cross. He would have us submit to the cross, so that through the very difficulties of the situation, the meekness and patience and love of Christ may be deeply wrought into our lives. Under the circumstances, if we do not know the cross, we shall probably argue, lose our temper, and finally go our own way. We may have right views, but God is giving us an opportunity to display a right attitude; we may believe aright, but God is testing us to see if we love aright. It is easy to have a mind well stored with scriptural teaching, and a heart devoid of true love. Those who differ from us will be a means in God’s hand to test whether we have spiritual experience, or only scriptural knowledge, to test whether the truths we proclaim are a matter of life to us, or mere theory.”
(The Normal Christian Church Life, Chapter 5)
Oneness is a test of whether we will let the Lord and the cross operate in us, so that He will be expressed through us. May the Lord make us willing to take the cross for the oneness and building up of the Body of Christ.
In John 17:23, the Lord Jesus says, “I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.” When we are perfected into one, our oneness becomes a strong testimony to the world. May we all be saved from any division and keep this oneness!