Message Eight

The Unique Oneness
and the Unique Fellowship of the Body of Christ

Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:1-6; John 17:6, 11, 14-23;
Acts 2:42; 1 John 1:3; 1 Cor. 10:16-17

1. The Body of Christ is uniquely one universally—Eph. 4:4-6:
   1. The Body of Christ, being organic, is undivided and indivisible, as Christ is—1 Cor. 1:13a.
   2. The oneness of the Body of Christ is of the divine, uncreated life; therefore, this oneness is divinely organic and full of life—John 17:3; 1:4; 1 John 5:11-12.
   3. The unique oneness of the Body of Christ is “the oneness of the Spirit”—Eph. 4:3:
      1. The Spirit is the essence of the Body of Christ; hence, the Spirit is the reality of the oneness of the Body of Christ—1 John 5:6; John 16:13.
      2. This is a oneness of the mingling of the processed Triune God with all the believers in Christ—17:6, 11, 14-23.
      3. This oneness was imparted into the spirit of the believers in Christ, in the regeneration by the Spirit of life with Christ as life—3:5-6; Rom. 8:2.
      4. We need to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace with the transformed human virtues—Eph. 4:1-3.
      5. The ground of a local church is the unique oneness of the Body of Christ, that is, the oneness of the Spirit—v. 3.
      6. All the local churches need to be kept in the unique oneness of the Body of Christ—Rev. 1:11.
   4. The oneness of the Body of Christ is actually the triune, organic, living God Himself—Eph. 4:4-6:
      1. The issue of the one God and Father, the one Lord, and the one Spirit is one organism—the Body of Christ—1:3-23.
      2. The oneness of the Body of Christ is unique because it is a oneness in the uniqueness of the Triune God—John 17:6, 11, 14-23:
         1. God the Father is the source as our nature and life, God the Son is the element of this nature and life, and God the Spirit is the essence of the element—Eph. 4:4-6.
         2. Because we have the Triune God within us as the source, the element, and the essence, we are one.
         3. In this oneness with the Triune God, we have oneness with one another; this is the oneness of the Body of Christ.
   5. Because the Body of Christ is the mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed and transformed people, the Body itself is the oneness—vv. 3-6.
   6. All the believers should be in the divine and mystical realm of the pneumatic Christ and the consummated Spirit to be mingled with the Triune God for the keeping of the oneness—John 17:21-23; Eph. 4:3:
      1. Our oneness must be the same as the oneness among the three of the Triune God; actually, our oneness is the oneness of the Triune God—John 17:21-23.
      2. Our oneness should be in the Triune God, with the pneumatic Christ and the consummated Spirit; to have such a oneness we must be in the Triune God as a divine and mystical realm.
2. Since the Body of Christ is uniquely one universally, the fellowship of the Body of Christ is also uniquely one universally—Acts 2:42; 1 John 1:3, 7; 1 Cor. 10:16-17:
   1. Just as there is the circulation of blood in the human body, so there is a circulation in the Body of Christ—a circulation which the New Testament calls fellowship—1 John 1:3, 7.
   2. The fellowship of the Body of Christ is the stream of the divine life; as the stream of the divine life flows within us, there is the fellowship of the Body of Christ—Acts 2:42; 1 John 1:3, 7.
   3. The divine fellowship is the reality of living in the Body of Christ; by being restricted in this fellowship, the Body of Christ is kept in oneness—1 Cor. 1:9; 12:12-13, 27.
   4. The unique fellowship of the Body of Christ is related to the unique oneness of the Body of Christ—6:17; 10:16-17; 12:20:
      1. The fellowship, the circulation, of the divine life in the Body brings all the members of the Body into oneness—Eph. 4:3-6.
      2. This oneness is the oneness of the Spirit and also the oneness of the Body of Christ—vv. 3-4; 1 Cor. 12:12-13.
      3. The unique fellowship is the genuine oneness of the Body of Christ as the unique ground for the believers to be kept one in Christ—Eph. 4:3-6.
   5. The fellowship among the churches is the fellowship of the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 10:16-17:
      1. Because there is one Spirit, there is only one Body, and there is only one circulation of life in the Body; this circulation is the fellowship of the Body of Christ—Eph. 4:4; 1 John 1:3, 7.
      2. A local church is a part of the unique Body of Christ, and the fellowship of the Body is universally one; in fellowship there is no separation—Rev. 1:11; 2:7a.
      3. No church or region should isolate itself from the fellowship of the Body.
      4. The local churches should fellowship with all the genuine local churches on the whole earth to keep the fellowship of the Body of Christ—Col. 4:16.
      5. Among all the churches that compose the one universal Body of Christ, there is no organization, but there is the fellowship of the Body of Christ—Phil. 1:5.
   6. Whenever we come to the Lord’s table, we come to practice the fellowship of the Body—1 Cor. 10:16-17; 11:24-26:
      1. The Lord’s table is a testimony that we who belong to Christ are one.
      2. If we isolate ourselves from the fellowship of the Body, we are not qualified to partake of the Lord’s body, because the loaf on the table in the Lord’s supper signifies the entire Body of Christ.
      3. As we enjoy Christ in partaking of His blood and body at His table, we express and practice the fellowship of the Body of Christ, the unique fellowship among the churches—Acts 2:42; 1 John 1:3, 7; Phil. 1:5; 2:1.