Now we will begin to consider the matter of the ground of the church. The testimony of the church is the content of the church, and the ground of the church is the outward appearance of the church. Everything created by God has two aspects: an inward aspect and an outward aspect. Everything has content and appearance. We cannot find anything that has only one aspect. It is impossible for something to exist with only one of these aspects. This is a great law, an important principle, in the universe.
Similarly, the church has two aspects, both content and appearance. We often lean toward one aspect, however, when we speak concerning the church. Either we pay too much attention to its inward aspect, its content, or we pay too much attention to its outward aspect, its appearance. But the truth in the Scriptures is balanced. Just as the Bible shows us the content of the church, it also shows us the appearance of the church. The content of the church is the testimony of the church. We have already seen that the content, the testimony, of the church is to express Christ. The appearance of the church includes many points that are related to the matter of the ground.
We must admit that those who love and pursue the Lord do not have much problem with the content of the church, but they have many problems related to the ground of the church. Throughout the ages among those who love the Lord, the problems that have arisen concerning the church were seldom related to the content or the testimony of the church; rather, almost all of them have been related to the outward appearance or the ground of the church. If the children of God could properly deal with the ground of the church, there would be almost no problems related to the church. We want to look at the matter of the ground of the church during this conference in the hope that we can help God’s children on this point.
From the outset we need to affirm one thing: God is uniquely one, and therefore almost all things in the universe are also single, pure, and one in substance. The universe is not two but one because its source—the God who created it—is one. This is the case with the universe and even more so with the church. Essentially, the church is not dual and surely not plural but one. The production of the church is one, the nature of the church is one, the existence of the church is one, and all other aspects of the church are one. In brief, we can say that everything related to the church is intrinsically one. Since this is a principle, we can infer that the ground of the church is also one, not many. We must hold fast to this principle. There is no justification for the church having many grounds. Since the source of the church is one and the nature of the church is one, the ground of the church must be one. Whoever thinks that there can be more than one ground for the church is wrong in principle. Since the church is uniquely one, there cannot be more than one ground of the church. We must affirm this from the very beginning.
When we open our eyes and look around, however, we see that the church has numerous grounds. According to the statistics, there were more than fifteen hundred different grounds by 1914. This is according to the statistics of over forty years or nearly half a century. Half a century ago the church which is uniquely one already had more than fifteen hundred grounds; today we believe that there are even more. There is no need to look at another time or another place; simply look at where we are at the present time and the present place. Do we see many different grounds of the church? Surprisingly, the one ground of the church has been divided into many different grounds. According to proper reasoning, no one who is fair and just could come to the conclusion that this is right. It is logical to conclude that since the church is one, the ground of the church also must be one. But today’s situation is not in agreement with this principle. Incredibly, the church has multiple grounds; the one church has many grounds. This is not reasonable.
What is the proper ground of the church? The church should have only one ground; this is a definite principle. An intelligent person does not need to find the biblical revelation. By simply inferring from the principle, he definitely should say that the church has only one ground. God does not do things contrary to His principles. Therefore, if we look into the Bible, the matter becomes even clearer. The church is a matter of being one, not two. If we carefully read the Bible, we will see that the church is described as being one whenever it is mentioned. The church is simply one. Therefore, the ground of the church also should be one.
Of the many grounds that exist today, is any one of them right? What is the right ground; what is the proper ground of the church? This is what we hope to make clear as we consider the matter of the ground of the church. As we consider the ground of the church, the first thing we need to see is the oneness of the church, which is what we ordinarily refer to as the unity of the church. Strictly speaking, the oneness of the church does not depend upon the church being united but on the church being one. Since the church is one, it has an inherent oneness. The church does not need uniting; the church is simply one. The church has an inherent quality called oneness.