Matthew 28:19 refers to a marvelous fact in the universe: we believers have been baptized into the Triune God. This verse says that we have been baptized into the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Spirit. The name of the Triune God denotes the person of the Triune God. To be baptized into the Triune God is to be baptized into the divine person of the Divine Trinity. Our baptism brought us into a mystical and organic union with the processed Triune God so that all of us, the believers in the Son, may be one in this organic union. The proper oneness among us Christians is a oneness in the organic union among one another and a oneness between us and the Triune God. The Lord prayed in John 17 based upon the fact that we all have to be one in the Triune God.
The oneness in the Divine Trinity can be seen in Ephesians 4:4-6: “One Body and one Spirit, as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” The Body is the expression (the fullness) of the Lord (Eph. 1:23), and the Spirit is the essence of the Body. The one Lord is the Head (Eph. 1:22) to be the authority over the Body (Acts 2:36). The one God and Father of all is over all and through all and in all. God is the Originator of all things, and the Father is the source of life for the Body. On the one hand, we were created by God, the Originator of all things. On the other hand, we are also believers in Christ, so in this sense God is our Father. As the Father, He is the source of life for the Body. “Over all” refers to the Father as the source; “through all” refers to the Son as the means; and “in all” refers to the Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God, who reaches us by entering into us. God is the Father, the Father is in the Son, the Son is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God, the consummated Spirit. As the consummated Spirit, He is the consummation of the Triune God reaching us by entering into us, so the Triune God is in us. In this reaching Spirit of the Divine Trinity, we all, the believers in the Lord, are one. The oneness is in the Triune God. As long as we are in the Triune God, we are in the oneness. The Christian oneness is God in His Trinity mingled with us as one.
According to Ephesians 4:3, the organic oneness of the Body of Christ is also the oneness of the Spirit. The Spirit is the essence of the organic Body of Christ. Hence, the Spirit is the reality of the oneness of the Body of Christ. In other words, the oneness of Christians is the Spirit Himself. If you have the Spirit, you have the oneness. If you are in the Spirit, you are in the oneness. The oneness is just the Spirit.
We need to go on to see the oneness in practicality, which is the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God (Eph. 4:13). The oneness of the unique (objective) faith is our belief concerning the redemptive work of Christ. Although we are believers, there may be different concepts, ideas, and opinions among us. These different concepts, ideas, and opinions cause division. On the one hand, we are one in the divine life in reality, but are we one in our living in practicality?
Recently among us there has been a different opinion concerning the apostles’ relationship with the churches that they have established. Some have said that once the apostles establish churches and appoint elders, they should keep their hands off the churches. To their feeling, the churches should be absolutely independent from the apostles. But according to the Bible, after the apostles established churches and appointed elders in them, they still took care of the churches.
The Apostle Paul’s relationship with the church in Ephesus is a strong evidence of this. According to Acts 20, Paul established the church in Ephesus and appointed elders in that church, but after this he did not leave the church and the elders alone. Instead, he once stayed with the church in Ephesus for three years (v. 31). While Paul was on his way to Jerusalem, he sent some from Miletus to call the elders in Ephesus to come to him (v. 17). When they came to him, Paul reminded them of how he behaved, worked, and labored among them for three years, admonishing the saints with tears (v. 31) and teaching them publicly and from house to house (v. 20). He charged them to take heed to themselves and to the flock committed to them (v. 28). He warned them that after he would leave, wolves would come in among them, not sparing the flock (v. 29). He told them that some would rise up from among them, speaking perverted things to draw away disciples after themselves (v. 30). This portion of the Word in Acts 20 shows that Paul did not leave the church in Ephesus alone. On the contrary, he was always caring for them.
Besides his visits to the church in Ephesus, he also wrote her the Epistle, teaching, admonishing, and giving her a lot of instructions for her edification and for the building up of the Body of Christ. In 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12, Paul told the saints that he was a nursing mother and a teaching, exhorting father to them. How could a nursing mother leave her children alone? How could a father leave his children who are under his care, his teaching, and his raising up, to themselves? To say that the apostles stayed away from the churches after they established them and appointed the elders is not scriptural. This concept has caused trouble in some places. What shall we do about this? We have to exercise our patience. We have to love one another and keep the oneness of the Spirit. By keeping the oneness of the Spirit, we will grow. We hope that some of the brothers who have picked up this wrong concept will grow and advance. They will see more light and eventually see that the thought they hold today concerning the churches being absolutely independent is wrong. We all need to arrive at the oneness of the faith. This indicates that a process is required for us to attain to or arrive at the practical oneness.
We also need to arrive at the oneness of the full knowledge of the Son of God concerning the all-inclusive person of Christ. The oneness of the faith refers to Christ’s work, and the oneness of the full knowledge of the Son of God refers to Christ’s person. We may agree with the truth concerning Christ’s person and work, but because we may still be young and childish, we hold on to different kinds of concepts. These different kinds of concepts cause divisions. Children enjoy playing with toys. All the different teachings are toys. The more that we advance and grow in life, the more we drop these toys. When we become a full-grown man, we will not have any toys.
We all need to be perfected to arrive at the practical oneness (Eph. 4:12-13). We need a practical oneness, not just a oneness in doctrine or a oneness as a fact in the Spirit. The oneness needs to become our practical experience. We are perfected to arrive at the practical oneness by growing in life to be a full-grown man (4:13b, 15) that we may be no longer babes, tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching (4:14).
As we have pointed out, a wind of teaching has come in among us. In the past when I was in mainland China with Brother Nee, I saw this. In 1949, we came to Taiwan from mainland China, and we began the work there with a strong understanding of the unique ground of the church. This truth had been established among us. The work on the island of Taiwan was prevailing at the beginning. Within five years we increased a hundredfold, from about four hundred to forty thousand. Because some of the brothers felt that we needed some spiritual help, we invited T. Austin-Sparks from England to visit us. He came to visit us twice, but he brought in the thought that the unique ground of oneness is wrong. He even taught this to some of the young co-workers. That became a wind of teaching among us, causing division and frustrating the increase of the work in Taiwan. To say that the apostles should not touch the churches or the elders once they have been established is also a wind of teaching. We should be encouraged, however, that no wind can last for a long time. The winds come and they go. We should be at peace because any storm that comes into the Lord’s recovery will not last long.
We need to keep the oneness of the Spirit to arrive at the oneness in practicality (Eph. 4:3, 13a). Ephesians 4:2-3 says, “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.” As long as there is a storm with winds and waves, we have to be longsuffering. We also need to be diligent. We should not be discouraged. To be diligent is to be aggressive. On the one hand, we need to be lowly, meek, and longsuffering, bearing with one another in love. On the other hand, while the winds and the waves are here, we have to be aggressive and diligent. We should not be disappointed to the extent that we would forget about the church life. During the storm, we can go out to visit people for the preaching of the gospel. While the waves are making trouble, we can make some profit for the Lord’s interest. We can set up home meetings to nourish the newly born babes. We should not be disappointed or frustrated. Although we might experience the winds and the waves, the Lord is in our “boat,” which means that He is in the church life. We have to go on aggressively to do a positive work to save sinners, to take care of the young ones in their homes, to have small group meetings, and to perfect the seeking ones. Eventually, all the winds and the waves will be rebuked by the Lord. Regardless of how strong the storm is, eventually the church comes out with a profit and is built up in resurrection.
We need to keep the oneness of the Spirit with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love by being diligent. Eventually, we will arrive at the oneness in practicality—at a full-grown man and at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13b).