Since we have looked at the essence and the reality of the oneness of the church, we need to look at the indivisibility of the oneness of the church. In the New Testament there are many portions which emphatically speak of the church being one, which cannot and should not be divided. Since the nature of the church is one, the church cannot be divided. Any reason for division is improper. No reason can be used as a basis for dividing the church. We have clearly seen in the previous sections that the church is one; her nature, that is, the Triune God, is one—the Father is in the Son, the Son is in the Spirit, and the Spirit is in the Body. Therefore, the Body is one and cannot be divided. Just as God is one, the church also is one. Just as God cannot be divided, the church cannot be divided. We must hold fast to this firm principle.
For two thousand years no one has been able to give a good justification for the division of the church. There is no such reason in the Bible. The church is one; the nature of the church is one. The content of the church is the unique God Himself. Therefore, no matter what reason a person uses to divide the church, it is an offense to God, and it is condemned by God. No matter how good, how lofty, and how logical the reason, division is not permitted by God. It is God who says that the church cannot be divided, because it is one.
However, for two thousand years, Satan has continually used man’s flesh in relation to the church to oppose God and to act contrary to God. God says that the church is one, but men insist on making the church many. God says that the church cannot be divided, yet Satan is determined to divide the church through the flesh of men. We can look at the situation on the earth today and see the extent to which the church has been divided. Not only is there an Eastern Orthodox Greek Church and a Western Roman Catholic Church, there are also Protestant churches. We have already indicated that according to statistics in 1914 there were more than fifteen hundred sects among Protestant churches. We may not accept this figure, but what is the present situation in Taipei? We have no idea how many “churches” there are in the East Gate district alone. In this district there is a Baptist Church, there is a Presbyterian Church, and not far away there is a Lutheran Church and a Methodist Church. There are a great variety of “churches,” which is actually like a “church” marketplace.
A church in a given locality is the expression of the universal church in that locality. Therefore, there should be only one church in a given locality just as there is only one church in the whole universe. The church in the universe is one, so the church in a locality should also be one. Today, however, the church has been divided by men. This is man’s greatest offense to God. We know that the church is the Body of Christ and the dwelling place of God; it has a particular function before God. However, if a body is cut up, it is finished; if a dwelling place or a house is taken apart, it is also completely useless. The church today has been cut up, and no one knows into how many pieces it has been cut. This is a divided situation altogether. Can anyone justify this? Everyone must condemn it! Everyone must, according to God’s Word, say, “This is from Satan!” Satan is damaging the dwelling place of God. Satan is damaging the Body of Christ. If a body is a little sick, it may not be important, but if it is cut up and dismembered, it is finished. The reason the church has lost its power and its authority on the earth is because the church is divided. Wherever there is division, there is no blessing of God; wherever there is division, there is no presence of God. Conversely, wherever there is oneness, there is the blessing of God; wherever there is oneness, there is the presence of God.
I must repeat that the gospel preaching in today’s Christianity is so pitiful because the church is divided. If the church was in oneness, without division, if it was a testimony of oneness, the dwelling place of God and the Body of Christ, in which there is one Spirit, in whom is the one Son, in whom is the one Father, that is, in which the entire Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—dwells, then the gospel preaching of the church would be altogether different. It would be full of power and authority and the presence of God, and there would be absolutely no need to use any worldly means to entice people. The apostle Peter said to the lame man, “Silver and gold I do not possess, but what I have, this I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene rise up and walk.” Then the man instantly arose and began to walk and leap, praising God (Acts 3:6-8). This is the gospel, this is the power of the gospel, and this is the authority of the gospel. However, today the church has lost this authority because the church is divided. Without the Lord’s presence, power, and authority, the church has to resort to pitiful methods and use material benefits to bring in false believers when it preaches the gospel. What a pitiful situation! The church has fallen into such a state because it is divided. Once the church is divided, it is no longer the church.
People frequently ask us, “Why do you say that others are not the church?” Actually, we never say this. We absolutely admit that everyone who is saved belongs to the church. We acknowledge that they are children of God, our brothers in the Lord, members of the Body of Christ, and constituents of the church. However, I must ask, “Do you think the place where they are standing is the ground of the church? Do you think their ground is the ground of the church? No doubt they belong to the church, but they do not stand on the ground of the church. They belong to the church, but they are not on the ground of the church. This is similar to someone who is a member of a household but who no longer lives in the house. Look at the various denominations and groups in today’s Christianity. Is their situation the situation of the church? Do they have the ground of the church? Do they have the nature of the church? Do they have the content of the church? Anyone who is fair and reasonable would shake his head and say, “No, they do not have the ground of the church, the nature of the church, or the content of the church.” We acknowledge that many of those who are in the denominations and organizations belong to the church. The persons are right, but their ground is wrong. They are right persons in wrong places. They have lost the nature of the church, the content of the church, the testimony of the church, and the ground of the church because of their place. These things were lost because of division. Once the church is divided, it is no longer the church. Once there is division, there is no church. The church must not be divided.
How did people divide the church? The Bible anticipated and spoke of this long ago; it predicted different ways that people would divide the church. Even though the church has been divided into nearly two thousand groups throughout the past two thousand years, the Bible describes eight sources of division.