Ephesians 4:5 says, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” The way to get into the one Lord is by faith. We were born in Adam, not in Christ. The way to get into Christ is to believe into Him. In many instances the Greek words translated “believe in” should be rendered “believe into,” according to the meaning of the Greek preposition. For example, in John 6:47 the Lord Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes into Me has eternal life.” Hence, we were in Adam, but we have believed into Christ. Praise the Lord that faith has brought us into Christ! When we have faith, we have the second birth. We had our first birth by being born of our parents, and we have our second birth by the faith through which we believe into the Lord. To have the one faith is to be in the one Lord.
Ephesians 4:5 also speaks of “one baptism.” According to the New Testament, baptism has two aspects. The first aspect is termination and the second aspect is germination. We have been baptized both into the death of Christ and into Christ Himself (Rom. 6:3). Being baptized into Christ’s death is termination, and being baptized into Christ is germination. By the one baptism our history, our biography, in Adam has been terminated. Baptism ended our history in Adam and simultaneously ushered us into a new life. Therefore, by the one faith and the one baptism we are brought out of Adam and transferred into Christ. Now I can proclaim, “Hallelujah, I am no longer in Adam—I am wholly in Christ our Lord.” Where are you? You must answer, “I am in Christ.” Because Christ is not divided, we who are in Christ are one. Because we are one in Him, the church is one. The church is not divided because the church is in Christ, and Christ cannot be divided.
Ephesians 4:6 says, “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all” (Gk.). The Father is not only above us and through us, but also in us. We cannot systematize this. While the Father is above us, He is through us, and while He is above us and through us, He is in us. Simultaneously, He is above us, through us, and in us. Here we have oneness. I lack the adequate utterance to speak of all these mysteries. The oneness we have in the Father is the church. The church is the oneness in the Father, who is above us, through us, and in us. The reality of the church is the divine person being wrought into us until we are wholly saturated and permeated with His divine essence. Here we have the unique oneness. This unity is the church. When you miss this oneness, this unity, you are no longer the church. The church is not a group of Christians meeting in the air. The church is the unity, the oneness, of the divine person wrought into the believers.
In Ephesians 3:8 Paul said, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” Paul preached the unsearchable riches of Christ that the church might come into existence. The church comes out of the riches of Christ. Along with the term, “the unsearchable riches of Christ,” the book of Ephesians mentions, “the fulness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:23). Few Christians know the difference between the riches of Christ and the fullness of Christ. The riches of Christ are all the items of what Christ is—life, light, holiness, righteousness, and many other items. These are the riches of Christ that we are constantly enjoying. The fullness of Christ is the church, the Body, the issue of the enjoyment of the riches of Christ. The riches of Christ are somewhat objective, but we ourselves are the fullness of Christ. In our natural man, we are not the fullness of Christ. But when we enjoy the riches of the transforming Christ, we become the fullness of Christ.
Consider, for example, a husky American man. This man is the fullness of the riches of America, for he is the issue of the enjoyment of American beef, chickens, eggs, corn, milk, apples, and many other foodstuffs. If he had never enjoyed all these riches, he would not be a strong, husky American. This American is not the riches of America, but the fullness of America. Likewise, as the Body of Christ today, the church is the fullness of Christ. This fullness comes out of our enjoyment of the riches of Christ.
After mentioning the riches of Christ in Ephesians 3:8, Paul prayed to the Father, saying, “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power by his Spirit into the inner man; that Christ may make his home in your hearts by faith” (Eph. 3:15-17, Gk.). Christ’s making His home in our heart is His spreading into our being through our enjoyment of Him. Eating Jesus is the way to experience this. As an American man consumes so many chickens, eggs, apples, and grapefruit, he becomes the composition of all these riches. However, there is still the need of digestion. These riches must be assimilated into his being. We need to enjoy the riches of Christ and to assimilate all He is into our very being that we may not only be transformed into the constituent of the church, but also be built into one Body. This is what it means to be the church. The church is uniquely one. If we would see what the church is, we need grace. Once we have seen this vision, we could never be cheated by any wind of teaching (Eph. 4:14).