There is another portion of John which we must see. “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of reality, is come, he will guide you into all reality: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you” (John 16:13-15). The Lord Jesus says that the Spirit will speak nothing of Himself, just as the Son spoke nothing of Himself. The Spirit will make all that the Son is real to us. All that the Father has is in the Son, and all that the Son is, is realized by the Spirit. So here we see the matter of the Triune God again. The Spirit reveals to us all the matters of life and makes all the things of the Son real to us. This is the application. This is the dispensation of the Triune God into us. The Father is in the Son, and the Son is now the speaking Spirit, reaching us, indwelling us, making everything of the Son so real to us, and applying all the Son is to us.
The only thing we must now do is to put aside our person, our way of life, and take Him as our person and His will as our will. Then we will live only by Him. The Lord Jesus said, “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me” (John 6:57). This is living by Christ, taking Him as our person. If we live this kind of life, we are qualified for the church life. There will be no division, no disputations, and no quarrels among us, because there will only be one person living in the new man and expressing the Triune God. This is the church life.
The Lord Jesus also said, “Because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:19-20). This is the Triune God living as one within us, and we all are one, living in the Triune God. The church life is the Triune God living in all the believers, and all the believers living by the Triune God. He is within us, and we are within Him. He and we, we and He, are one corporate entity composed of the mingling of divinity and humanity. We are all one in the Triune God, taking Christ as our unique person. This is absolutely different from religion. This is the reality of a living person taken by us in our daily life. It is in this unique person that we are one and have the church life.
In John, the Lord Jesus was revealed as the very Son of God, the very expression of the Father. He did nothing of Himself and spoke nothing of Himself. He denied His person and took the Father as His person. He took the Father’s will as His will. He did not express Himself, but the Father. This is the church life, a group of Christians forgetting their own person and taking another one as their person. Thus, the whole church becomes a new man with one person. The new man is the church, and the person of the new man is Christ. We all must put aside our person and take Christ as our person. Then we are one.
Christians today talk much about oneness. But as long as we do not take Christ as our person, there is no real oneness. The real oneness among us is the person of Christ being applied by us all. We must not live, walk, or do things by our own person, but rather take Christ as our person. In this way, simultaneously, we are all taking the same person, and we will be one. There are many beings, but only one head. This is the only way to have oneness and unity. It is not a kind of agreement among many individuals. The unity among the church is the one Christ taken by all His members as their one person. They all take Him as their unique person. They are many, yet their person is one. The oneness of this one person is the real unity of the church life.