The first factor of our Christian faith is the one Body for the corporate expression of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God.
The second factor is the one Spirit as the essence of the Body of Christ. This Spirit is the consummated, all-inclusive, compound Spirit. Such a Spirit today is the essence of the Body of Christ.
The third factor is the one hope of glory for the redemption of our body. Ephesians 2 tells us that the unbelievers do not have any hope (v. 12), but we believers are equipped with a hope. Our unique hope is the hope of glory. Christ is in us as our life today, and He is full of glory. This glory will be manifested to its fullest extent when Christ returns to glorify His saints (Rom. 8:30).
Today Christ is our life for us to live. In the future He will be manifested through us as glory when our body is redeemed. That means that our entire being will enter into the divine glory. We are going to be glorified. This is our hope. Today in the church life we are in "school," learning the lessons and passing through the process of glory. When we "graduate," this process will be consummated with the glorification of our body. Eventually, we all will be glorified, and this is our hope, the one hope of glory for the redemption of our body.
The fourth factor of our Christian faith is the one Lord as the element of the Body of Christ. The one Spirit is the essence, and the one Lord is the element of the Body of Christ.
The one faith unites us to Christ. Before we believed in the Lord, we had nothing to do with Christ. We were alienated from Him, but through faith we were united to Him. Faith gives us an organic union with Him. When we believe, we believe into Christ. This word into indicates a strong organic union. We were outside of Christ, but through our believing we believed into Christ. This faith united us to Christ.
Faith unites us to Christ and His Body, and baptism separates us from Adam and the Adamic world. In God's eyes there are only two races on this earth. One is the race of Christ, and the other is the race of Adam. We were born into the race of Adam, but through faith we have been transferred. We have moved out of the race of Adam and into the race of Christ. Baptism separates us from the Adamic race and the Adamic world.
We may say that with Christ there is also a "world." The Body of Christ, the church of God, is the world of Christ. What world are we living in today? We need to be living in the world of Christ, the Body of Christ. This is why Paul tells us to put off the old man, our former manner of life (Eph. 4:22). The former manner of life is the Adamic world. Now we put on the new man (v. 24). We have a new community, a new world. That new world is the church. Some people may think we are crazy because our entire life is involved with the meetings and service of the church. Actually, however, we are very sober because the church is our world in which we live. Today we are in Christ and in the church, which is the world of Christ and the kingdom of God.