In this message we need to see something further concerning the Body. Ephesians 4:4 says, "There is one body, and one Spirit." Although this word is short and simple, it includes the whole Body life. The Body is one, and the Spirit also is one. The Body and Spirit cannot be separated. The Body can be likened to our physical body, and the Spirit is like the life in our physical body. If there were no life in our body, it would not be a body, but a corpse. The Body, which is the church, cannot be separated from the Spirit. Where the Body is, there the Spirit must be also; and the Spirit must be one with the Body. If you have the Body, then you also have the Spirit. But if you do not have the Spirit, the Body is dead. The Body, the church, is not a matter of religion, teaching, theology, practice, serving God, or working for Christ. On the contrary, the Body is a matter of the Spirit. Because the Spirit is one, the Body cannot be more than one.
In Ephesians 4:4-6 Paul lists seven ones: one Body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father. The Apostle Paul listed the Body as the first item of the seven. If I were to compose such a list, however, I would put these items in a good theological order. I would begin with the one God and then mention one Lord, one Spirit, one faith, one baptism, one Body, and one hope. When I read this chapter of Ephesians many years ago, I was troubled by the fact that Paul put the Body first and God last. I wondered why Paul mentioned one hope before one Lord. To me, Paul's order was backwards. However, I have become accustomed to Paul's order. As related to the Body, Paul spoke separately concerning the three of the Godhead. After the one Spirit, he does not mention the one Lord, but the one hope. Then after the one Lord he does not speak of the one God, but of the one faith and the one baptism. In this message we can cover only the matter of the one Body and the one Spirit. Paul put the Body first because Paul's word here is altogether concerned with the Body.
The subject of this section is the keeping of the oneness of the Spirit. Ephesians 4:3 says, "Endeavoring to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Gk.). The word endeavor indicates that we should be desperate to keep the oneness. This oneness is not the oneness of doctrine or the oneness of theology; it is the oneness of the Spirit. The oneness of the Spirit is just the Spirit Himself. Thus, to keep the oneness of the Spirit is to keep the Spirit. If you are not in the Spirit, you are not in the oneness. If you are in anything other than the Spirit, you are in a division. The Spirit is the oneness. For this reason, the oneness is called the oneness of the Spirit. If you are in the Spirit, you are in the oneness. But if you are outside the Spirit, you are not in oneness, but in division. You may not realize how serious this is. To be in a division, all that is necessary is to get out of the Spirit. When you are out of the Spirit, you are no longer in oneness. And as long as you are not in oneness, you are in division, for whatever is not oneness is division. Although there are many divisions, there is the unique oneness, and the unique oneness is the Spirit.
As long as you are not in the Body with the Spirit, you are in a division; and as long as you are outside the Spirit, you are outside the oneness. Whatever we think, say, and do in the Lord's recovery must be in the Spirit. If you are not in the Spirit, you cannot say that you are in the Body. The Body is one with the Spirit, and the Spirit is the reality of the Body. If you are not in the Spirit, you are not in the oneness, but in division. Everyone in the Lord's recovery needs a clear vision that the recovery is basically and fundamentally the recovery of the oneness of the Body.