Ephesians 4:13 says, “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God,...at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Here it speaks of the work of the gifts on the saints; they perfect the saints until they all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God. Faith here is not a verb but a noun, denoting an object as an aim. The purpose of perfecting the saints is that they may arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God; this is a great word. There is no oneness in today’s Christianity. There are Presbyterian denominations, Baptist denominations, Seventh-day Adventists denominations, Lutheran denominations, Evangelical Lutheran denominations, and so forth, but there is no oneness. Although many say that their denominations are based upon the faith, the differences among the denominations in Christianity today are due to differences in their beliefs.
The Word, however, speaks of the saints being perfected until they all arrive at the oneness of the faith. Are the various denominations in Christianity today one in the faith? Some believe in baptism by immersion, and others believe in baptism by sprinkling; some believe in meeting on the Lord’s Day, and others believe in meeting on Saturday. There are many such distinctions. How can they all arrive at the oneness of the faith? A brother may read from the Bible that it is more reasonable to meet on Saturday, the Sabbath, than on the Lord’s Day, so he stresses this matter in his fellowship. Another brother may say that since the Bible refers to the Lord’s Day, the believers in the New Testament should meet on the Lord’s Day. If these two brothers quarrel, they will eventually split up into two parties, one holding a view concerning meeting on the Lord’s Day and the other holding a view concerning meeting on Saturday. How can we arrive at the oneness of the faith? It all depends on the way we define the faith.
In Ephesians 4:13 Paul speaks of the need for all to arrive at the oneness of the faith, not only in relation to the saints but also in relation to the gifts in verse 11. The gifts also all need to arrive at the oneness of the full knowledge of the Son of God; then we will arrive at a full-grown man. If the light we receive stays merely on the surface of the truth, we will have no way to arrive at the oneness of the faith. It is only in the Son of God that we can arrive at the oneness of the faith. If we truly know the Son of God inwardly, whether we keep the Lord’s Day or the Sabbath Day will not matter to us. Romans 14:5 says, “One judges one day above another; another judges every day alike. Let each be fully persuaded in his own mind.” The Jews asked the Lord Jesus about the matter of profaning the Sabbath, and the Lord replied, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (Matt. 12:8). Actually, it is not a matter of the Sabbath but a matter of the Lord.
In order to administrate the church, the brothers must see Christ. Only when we take Christ as the center and focus on Him can we arrive at the oneness of the faith. Only in the Son of God can our faith be one. Once we deviate from this center, the oneness is gone. The more we firmly hold to the center—Christ, the Son of God—the fewer problems we will have; however, if we lose the center, we will have problems. Consider a wheel, for example. If we look at the hub, we see only one point, but if we look from the rim, we see many points. If we truly know the Son of God, there will be no arguments. This knowing does not depend on mental comprehension but on growth in life; this knowing is not in the mind but in experience. Hence, Ephesians 4:13 continues, saying, “At a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” From this verse we can see that knowing is the result of arriving at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
In 1935 when I was in Chefoo, I met a brother who was meeting in a place in the eastern part of Shantung province. The meeting was very good, but that year some problems arose. One brother thought that all the believers had to pass through the great tribulation before they could be raptured; however, another said that the rapture would occur before the great tribulation. This caused an argument. Some supported the thought of being raptured before the tribulation, and others supported the thought of being raptured after the tribulation. Originally there were about fifty to sixty people in their meeting, but toward the end of their time of arguing, less than ten were meeting. Consequently, some of them came to me for fellowship. I told them that if our argument did not enable others to know Christ, we should put this argument off to the future. Even though we may win an argument regarding the rapture, what is the profit if people do not know Christ? If we know and experience the Son of God, the matter of the prophecy regarding the rapture will not matter to us. The oneness of the faith among the saints does not depend on the rapture; rather, it depends on the Son of God, Christ.
In the matter of the administration and management of the church, the brothers must firmly grasp this point: Any practice that is not in contradiction to the Son of God, Christ, is acceptable. If we have seen this great principle, we will not have any arguments. The reason we argue is that we have not adequately seen this great principle. For instance, when the brothers speak of a certain problem, some insist that there is the need to deal with it, and others assert that seeing it is enough. If we take Christ—the Son of God—as the criterion and broaden our view, there will be no problem. All of our problems are due to our inadequate knowledge and vision of the Son of God. For example, as I am standing here, the front view of my face shows that I have a mouth, a nose, two eyes, and two ears, but the rear view shows nothing. If one person looks at me only from the front and another looks at me only from the back, they will have endless arguments regarding what I look like. This is because they have an incomplete seeing of me. All of our arguments are due to our inadequate seeing of the Son of God. The Sabbath is not simply a matter of the Sabbath but a matter based on what we have seen of the Son of God. If we know who the Son of God is and what His life is, this matter will be solved. It is the same with arguments over baptism by immersion. The more we see the Son of God, the more we will be clear as to whether or not we need to be baptized by immersion. Everyone who has truly seen the Son of God will not hold on to his opinion or insist on anything.
It is the same with the matter of head covering for the sisters. If the sisters truly know the Son of God, they will spontaneously cover their heads when they pray, without anyone giving a message on head covering. From our experience we know that exhorting the sisters to cover their head does not work, even if the brothers quote from 1 Corinthians to show that a sister needs to cover her head in order to be submissive. Even if this resulted in the sisters wearing a head covering, the head covering would be meaningless. But if a sister truly sees the Son of God and truly touches the Lord of glory, she will cover her head without the brothers’ speaking concerning head covering. The oneness of the faith altogether depends on our full knowledge of the Son of God.
Suppose we are very clear that the church is the church and that there should not be any designation for the church, such as the Lutheran Church, Wesleyan Church, Presbyterian Church, Baptist Church, Seventh-day Adventist Church, and so forth, because no church can be greater than Christ. If we meet someone who is a Wesleyan and tell him, “The church cannot denominate herself by any name,” will our exhortation cause him to be one with us? No. Even if he tried to be one because of our exhortation, this oneness would be of no value. Sometimes speaking like this may even lead to a worse result; that is, we may argue with him and cause him to have a negative feeling toward us. This will produce nothing of value.
How can we arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God? If we know the Lord of glory adequately and give Him enough ground in us, we will be full of Christ, the Son of God, when we come together with the brother who is a Wesleyan. Then we will not speak concerning the Wesleyan denomination, and we will also not spend time to speak concerning other denominations; rather, we will fellowship about the precious Christ whom we have seen and who is in us as the hope of glory. When we share in this way with him, the Wesleyan denomination will not be an issue with him. There will be no need for us to exhort him to forsake the Wesleyan denomination; he will forsake it himself. We can spontaneously bring people to know the Son of God because of our knowledge of the Son of God
We must see the center and must focus on the center. When we are at the center, there is no need to talk about oneness; we are spontaneously one with others. Baptism by immersion is not our opinion, head covering is not our doctrine, and being delivered from denominations is not our creed; our unique center is the Son of God—Christ. To arrive at the oneness of the faith is to arrive at the oneness of the full knowledge of the Son of God. In this way, we will arrive at a full-grown man experientially, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.