Message Seven

The Intrinsic Constitution and
the Genuine Oneness of the Body of Christ

Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:1-6

1. Ephesians 4:4-6 reveals the intrinsic constitution of the Body of Christ:
   1. The intrinsic constitution of the Body of Christ is the union, mingling, and incorporation of the processed and consummated Triune God with a group of tripartite men whom He has redeemed judicially and saved organically—vv. 4-6; Rom. 5:10:
      1. The believers who are redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, renewed, and transformed by God are this divine-human constitution’s outward framework.
      2. The processed and consummated Triune God is this divine-human constitution’s inward source, element, and essence—Eph. 4:4-6:
         1. The Father of the Triune God is the source of the inward element—v. 6.
         2. The Son of the Triune God is the inward element itself—v. 5.
         3. The Spirit of the Triune God is the essence of the inward element—v. 4.
         4. All three are dispensed, transfused, and built into God’s redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, renewed, and transformed believers.
         5. These believers and the redeeming and transforming Triune God are constituted into one entity as the organic Body of Christ, being God yet man and man yet God—vv. 3-4a.
         6. These four—the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and man—blended and built together become the Body of Christ.
   2. The intrinsic constitution of the Body of Christ is a hybrid entity of divinity united, mingled, and incorporated with humanity:
      1. The Triune God, who possesses divinity with humanity, is united, mingled, and incorporated with the tripartite man, who possesses humanity with divinity—Rom. 8:6, 10-11.
      2. Divinity is begotten in humanity, living in humanity, expressed in humanity, and constituted into humanity to be man’s dwelling place; humanity is begotten of divinity, living by divinity, expressing divinity, and built into divinity to be God’s dwelling place—1 Tim. 3:15b-16; John 15:5; Rev. 21:3, 22.
   3. The Spirit as the essence of the Triune God is the essence of the Body of Christ—Eph. 4:4:
      1. The essence of the Body of Christ, containing the divinity of the Triune God, has the capacity to supply the divine life—Phil. 1:19.
      2. The essence of the Body of Christ, containing the excelling humanity of Jesus, has the capacity to supply this excelling humanity—Acts 16:7.
      3. The essence of the Body of Christ, containing the all-inclusive death of Christ, has the capacity to put to death the negative things—Rom. 8:13b.
      4. The essence of the Body of Christ, containing the surpassing resurrection of Christ, has the surpassing capacity of resurrection—Phil. 3:10.
   4. The Spirit as the reality of the Triune God is the reality of the Body of Christ:
      1. The reality of the processed Triune God is the consummated Spirit of reality—John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 John 5:6.
      2. The Spirit of reality makes everything of the processed Triune God a reality in the Body of Christ— John 16:13-15.
      3. Without the Spirit there is no Body of Christ, no church—Eph. 4:4.
2. Ephesians 4:4-6 reveals the genuine oneness of the Body of Christ:
   1. The aspiration of the Lord’s desire for this genuine oneness became His specific prayer before He went to the cross—John 17:2, 6, 11b, 14-23:
      1. This prayer reveals that the Triune God is one, and that oneness of coinherence is a model of the oneness of the Body of Christ—vv. 11, 21.
      2. The oneness of the Body of Christ is the enlarged oneness of the Divine Trinity—vv. 22-23; 14:20; 1 Cor. 12:12.
   2. The processed and consummated Triune God mingles Himself with His chosen people in their humanity, and this mingling is the genuine oneness; because it is such a mingling, the Body itself is the oneness—Eph. 4:4; Rom. 12:5.
   3. This oneness is composed of four factors by two means with one goal:
      1. The three of the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are three divine factors of this oneness, and these three divine factors are mingled with one human factor, consummating in the Body:
         1. The oneness is composed of one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one God as its four factors—Eph. 4:4-6.
         2. The mingling of these four factors is the oneness of the Spirit—v. 3.
      2. The one faith and one baptism are the two means to accomplish this oneness—v. 5:
         1. Faith is the means for the Body to be joined to Christ the Head.
         2. Baptism is the means for the Body to be separated from Adam, the old head.
      3. The oneness of the Spirit has the one hope of our calling as the goal; this goal is for the Body to be brought into the divine glory of the processed Triune God, who is mingled with the Body—v. 4; Col. 1:27; Phil. 3:21.
3. This oneness, the oneness of the Spirit, must be kept diligently by all the believers in Christ with the transformed human virtues strengthened and enriched by and with the divine attributes—Eph. 4:1-3:
   1. The oneness of the Spirit is the Spirit Himself who is in our spirit—v. 3:
      1. In the uniting Spirit there is the humanity of Jesus, in whom these transformed virtues are found— Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18.
      2. In the church life, what is required is virtue, which is much higher than the morality in human society—cf. Gen. 2:9; Matt. 5:40-42, 48; 6:6.
      3. If we act apart from the Spirit, we are divisive and lose the oneness—cf. 1 Cor. 1:10; 2:14-15; 3:1.
      4. If we stay in the life-giving Spirit, we keep the oneness of the Spirit—cf. John 4:24; 1 Cor. 6:17.
   2. The keeping of the oneness of the Spirit, the oneness in actuality, is the one accord; this is so that we may arrive at the oneness in practicality, the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God— Psa. 133; Eph. 4:13.