According to Ephesians 4:3, this oneness is the unity of the Spirit. The Spirit is the reality of the person of the Triune God. The name denotes the person, and the reality of the person of the divine Being is the Spirit. Hence, the unity of the Spirit denotes the oneness of this divine person wrought into us.
This oneness is called the unity of the Spirit, and this Spirit is the Spirit in the Body. Thus, Ephesians 4:4 says, “There is one body, and one Spirit.” This means that the Spirit is not only for the Body, but in the Body. In one Spirit we all have been baptized into one Body (1 Cor. 12:13). The Spirit is in the Body, not just in individual members. The seven “ones” in Ephesians 4 are not mere doctrine. “One Body, one Spirit” means that this one Spirit is wrought into our being and constituted into our being that we may be constituted into one Body. The Body is the constitution of the one Spirit. When we say, “One Body, one Spirit,” we mean that the Body is the constitution of the one Spirit, that the one Spirit has been wrought into the being of the one Body. Eventually, because the Body is the constitution of the one Spirit, we can say that the one Body is one with the Spirit.
To build the Body is to have the Spirit wrought into us and constituted into our being to saturate and permeate every fiber of our being to make us one with the Spirit. The church is the very constitution of the divine Spirit. The one Body and the one Spirit are not two separate entities. No, the one Body is one with the Spirit, and the one Spirit is one with the Body. This is the reason that there must not be any division in the church. Is the Spirit two or one? The Spirit certainly is one. Therefore, we can have only one Body.
But look at how many so-called “bodies” there are in today’s Christianity. In the city of Anaheim alone there are more than fifty “bodies.” Many Christians refuse to eliminate these divisions or to forsake their denominational names. The name Presbyterian must be eliminated, and the name Baptist needs to be forsaken. Many treasure names like Baptist and Presbyterian. Some Southern Baptists would say, “Firstly the Lord Jesus, and secondly the Baptist Church.” They care, not for the Body, but for their denomination. They are unwilling to renounce their denominational names. Rather, they would bear these names to be many divided denominations. Nevertheless, there will be no denominational designations, such as Baptist and Presbyterian, in the New Jerusalem. If not today, then at least in eternity, all the denominational names, which denote divisions, will be eliminated.
Ephesians 4:4 also says, “Even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.” This one hope of our calling is for the one Body. Only those who truly live in the Body with the one Spirit have this genuine hope. Those in denominations, being on the wrong ground, do not hold this one hope in a genuine way. The Body, the church, has this genuine hope, but the denominations have some other hopes. I am certain that one day the denominational friends will see the names they treasure being cast away. But what is our hope in the one Body and in the one Spirit? The hope of our calling is to be in glory, to be in the divine inheritance in the New Jerusalem. This is the ultimate consummation of the church. Today’s church life is the Body, and tomorrow’s glory with the divine inheritance in the New Jerusalem is the hope of this Body. The coming New Jerusalem, where every denominational name will be renounced, is the hope of the Body. We are hoping for the New Jerusalem. But those who love the denominations may be disappointed to see the termination of their denominations. All their denominational names will be abolished then.