The church life is Christ being experienced by and expressed through the many believers in Christ who daily enjoy Him and experience Him. For the church life as a living in the Body of Christ, the one new man, we need to arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God.
In Eph. 4:3 Paul exhorts us to keep the oneness of the Spirit – we already have this oneness, it is in the Spirit whom we have received at the time of our regeneration, and we only need to keep it.
In Eph. 4:13 Paul exhorts us further to grow in life until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
This means that there is a journey we have to take from the oneness of the Spirit to the oneness of the faith, and we need to grow in life unto maturity until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God.
The oneness of the Spirit which all the believers have and keep is the oneness of the divine reality; the oneness of the faith to which we need to arrive is the oneness in our living in practicality.
All believers in Christ are one in Christ as the Spirit; as long as we exercise our spirit, enjoy the Lord, and keep the oneness of the Spirit, we are one in reality.
However, if we don’t grow in life, this oneness becomes vain since, as seen throughout the ages in the many denominations, there are many divisions in the Body of Christ based on doctrines and practices. Because the believers in Christ don’t grow in life until they arrive at the oneness of the faith, there are so many divisions in the Body.
We need to grow in life day by day by knowing and experiencing the all-inclusive Christ and His work, which are the main contents of the faith.
When others come among us or when we meet with other believers, the only criteria for acceptance should be their belief into Christ and His redemptive work. Anything else besides this, no matter how good or scriptural they are, do not save us – they are not the items of the faith which we need to keep, and we should not emphasize.
May the Lord save us from any division and from causing any division in the Body of Christ, and may we grow in life unto maturity so that we all may arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God.
The Oneness of the Spirit and the Oneness of the Faith
The oneness of the Spirit in Eph. 4:3 is the oneness of the divine life in reality, the oneness which is of the Spirit and which all the believers have through regeneration. This oneness is God Himself in Christ as the Spirit; God Himself is our oneness, and all the genuine believers in Christ have this oneness in their possession.
We all as believers in Christ are one in Christ, and whenever we meet a believer, though we may have never met him before, we are one in Christ because of the oneness of the Spirit.
We need to be diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit; this oneness is ours, but we need to keep it. This means that if certain conditions are not met, we may lose the oneness of the Spirit; if we don’t keep it diligently, there’s a chance we can lose the oneness. We never lose the Triune God as our oneness, but we need to be diligent to keep the oneness until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith.
The oneness of the Spirit is the oneness in reality, the oneness of the divine life; the oneness of the faith (Eph. 4:13) is the oneness in practicality, the oneness of our living in practicality.
We are now in the process of arriving to the oneness of the faith; we are diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith. The oneness of reality (the oneness of the Spirit) needs to be practiced so that it may become the oneness in practicality (the oneness of the faith).
The word “arrive” indicates that a process is required for us to arrive at the oneness of our living in practicality. The oneness of reality – the oneness of the Spirit – is the beginning, and the oneness in practicality – the oneness of the faith – is the destination.
Today we are on a journey having the end point of the oneness of the faith. We should not stay settled in the oneness of the Spirit and doing nothing else; we should keep journeying by growing in life until we arrive at the oneness of the faith.
If we merely remain in the oneness of the Spirit and don’t grow in life, we may end up like the many denominations: we may hold on to a particular doctrine or practice and, instead of arriving at the oneness of the faith, we cause division.
As we remain under the dispensing of the Divine Trinity we need to keep moving forward, advance, and pursue until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith. We need to arrive at the oneness of the faith by our growth in the divine life!
Lord Jesus, thank You for the oneness of the Spirit: we have it, we enjoy it, and we keep it! Thank You, Lord, You made us one in spirit with You and with all the believers in Christ all over the earth! Praise the Lord for the oneness of the Spirit! Lord, keep us growing in life unto maturity until we all arrive to the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God. We want to arrive to the oneness in practicality, the oneness of the faith!
Arriving at the Oneness of the Faith and of the Full Knowledge of the Son of God
What is the oneness of the faith? All believers in Christ have faith: they believe into the Lord, and they are saved. So then what is this oneness of the faith, and how can we arrive to this oneness?
The faith in Eph. 4:13 refers not to the act of our believing but to the faith, the contents of the faith in which we believe and we are saved. We believe in the Lord Jesus, in His person and redemptive work, and we are saved.
In this sense, faith is used in Jude 3, 2 Tim. 4:7, and 1 Tim. 6:21. This is the faith we are charged to keep and to even contend for, referring to the object in which we believe, which is mainly the person of Christ and His redemptive work.
Unfortunately, most Christians today still prefer doctrines and practices, and they divide themselves from others based on these.
Some prefer baptism by immersion, and so they form a whole division or denomination based on this. Others prefer the “toy” of the doctrine of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and they make yet another denomination based on this.
If all Christians would come back from all the different doctrinal issues and from their preferences – back to THE FAITH (of which the main items are the person and the work of Christ), then we all can be practically one.
We need to grow in life unto maturity until we all arrive to the oneness of the faith, paying attention to and emphasizing only the faith which saves us, and not dividing ourselves based on doctrines and preferences.
Also, we need to arrive to the full knowledge of the Son of God, that is, the realization of the revelation concerning the Son of God in our experience. The more we grow in the divine life, the more we shall cleave to the faith and to the realization and experience of Christ, and we will drop the “toys” of doctrine which separate us.
As we grow in life, we are on the journey to the oneness of the faith, practising the oneness until we all arrive at oneness in practicality.
May we realize the difference between the oneness of the Spirit (which all the believers have and simply need to keep) and the oneness of the faith (to which we need to arrive).
May we grow in life day by day so that we may drop our preferences and any affinity for a particular aspect of the truth, emphasizing not the peripheral truths in the Bible but THE FAITH, the wonderful Person and the all-inclusive work of Christ.
May we come back to the faith and be special and particular only about the faith, emphasizing nothing else but receiving all believers in Christ based on the faith which saves us all.
Even in the church life, may we emphasize not mainly the helpful practices of calling on the name of the Lord, pray-reading the word, and the God-ordained way, but the faith, and may we receive all believers in Christ based on the Lord’s receiving: our belief in Jesus Christ and His redemptive work.
Lord Jesus, keep us going on the journey to the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God. Keep us growing in life day by day unto maturity until we no longer emphasize doctrines or practices but the faith, receiving all the believers as Christ receives them. Lord Jesus, we want to experience You, enjoy You, and know You in full in Your all-inclusiveness and all-extensiveness so that we all may arrive to the oneness of the full knowledge of the Son of God!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. James Lee’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 43, 90, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Vision, Practice, and Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, week 5 / msg 5, Crucial Experiences in the Practice of the Church Life (2) – Aspects of the Church Life as a Living in the Body of Christ, the One New Man.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Being diligent to keep the oneness / Of the Spirit / In the uniting bond of peace: / One Body and one Spirit, / Even as also you were called / In one hope, in one hope of your calling. (Song on Eph. 4:3)
# The unity of Church is but / The saints in oneness living; / The Spirit which indwelleth them / This oneness ever giving. / Thus it is realized and called / The unity of Spirit; / ’Tis based upon the common faith / Which all the saints inherit. (Hymns #831)
# Rise up! Grow in life! / Minister Christ to the nations, / Arrive at oneness— / Lord, have mercy, / We would see Your eternal purpose. / Keep us faithful / To recover and build up Your church. (Song on Arriving at Oneness)
Many Christians do not know the difference between the oneness of the Spirit and the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God. The first is the oneness of reality, and the second is the oneness of practicality. Because the Spirit is the reality of our oneness, the oneness of the Spirit is the oneness of reality. Oneness is nothing less than the Spirit Himself. If there were no Spirit, then there would be no oneness. Although we have the oneness in reality, there is still the need for the oneness of practicality. This means that the oneness of reality must be practiced; that is, it must become the oneness in practice. Hence, in Ephesians 4:13 Paul speaks of the oneness of practicality.
Between the oneness of reality and the oneness of practicality there is a distance. For this reason, there is the need to “arrive at” the oneness of practicality. The oneness of the Spirit is the beginning, whereas the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God is the destination. This indicates that we must journey from the oneness of the Spirit to the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God. In other words, we must travel from the oneness of reality until we arrive at the oneness of practicality.
As believers, we already have the oneness of reality. But we need to keep it. The best way to keep the oneness of reality is to go on, to proceed, toward the oneness of practicality. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 366-367)