Now we will look at the third kind of unity, that is, the unity in the Scriptures.
The Scriptures show us that the church is the Body of Christ and that there is only one Body. The Scriptures also show us that God through the Holy Spirit dwells in the church and that the Holy Spirit is one Spirit. Thus, the Scriptures give special attention to the “one Spirit” and the “one Body” (1 Cor. 12:12-13; Eph. 4:4). We also must give our special attention to this.
The church of Christ is the Body of Christ. If we only consider it as the church, we may not feel that it matters whether or not there is some division, thinking that little harm is done even though there is a little division here and a little division there. If we only consider it as God’s people, again it may not matter whether or not there is some division here and there. If we only consider it as God’s army, it may not matter whether or not there is some division. Finally, if we only consider it as the house of God, it may be all right if it is divided into several houses. But the Word of God also tells us that the church of Christ is the Body of Christ. With a body, division is absolutely impossible. We cannot separate three members here and five members there and another two over there. It is impossible. Everything else in the world can be divided, but not the body. Once the body is divided, it becomes a corpse. Once the church is divided, the world only has the corpse of Christ, not the Body of Christ. It is a serious matter to God when the church is divided. The children of God cannot be divided, just as the body cannot be divided. The church cannot be divided. Yet today, God’s children have become insensitive to divisions; they do not consider them as a serious matter. Please remember, a body cannot be divided! The church is the Body of Christ. In nature it is the Body, and one Spirit dwells in it. Therefore, the unity of the church in the Scriptures is the unity of the nature of the Body, which is indivisible.
Today we want to ask one question: Since the Bible shows us that the unity of the church is the unity of the one Holy Spirit dwelling in the one Body, how can it be expressed?
The Roman Catholic Church tells us that since the Body of Christ is one, we should only organize one church on the earth. We have already seen that this is not the teaching of the Scriptures. The Scriptures do say that the Body of Christ is one, but they never require the church on the earth to become one like the Roman Catholic Church. Otherwise, the word churches would be a great mistake and the Scriptures should not contain such a term. We cannot say churches and also say one church. Since the Scriptures speak of “churches,” we know that God has no intention of uniting all the churches on the earth into one church. Furthermore, the apostles in the Bible never organized one church. They established churches in many places, and they established one church in each city. The Holy Spirit did not lead them to establish just one church. One worldwide church is only the opinion of the Roman Catholic Church; the unity of Roman Catholicism is manmade, not scriptural.
Let us look at the Scriptures again. We see the outward appearance of the church on this earth, which might be wrong. By the outward appearance alone, it may not be easy to understand whether the church on the earth should be many churches or one church. The best way is to go before the Lord and see how the Lord looks at the churches on the earth. This cannot be wrong. Thank God! According to the Scriptures, the church in each locality has a representative before the Lord. This is the preciousness of Revelation 1-3, which shows us the “seven churches in Asia.” This does not mean that only seven churches existed on this earth but that these seven were representative examples. Revelation 1-3 shows us how the seven churches in Asia were before the Lord in heaven. There were seven golden lampstands placed before Him. Do you see? The churches on earth may be wrong, entirely wrong, but the churches in heaven, the churches before the throne, the churches before the Lord, cannot be wrong. Saying these churches are wrong is blasphemous and terrible!
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