keeping the oneness of the Body and being made Christ to be the Body of Christ

All the genuine believers of Christ who have received Christ in their spirit are members of the Body of Christ, joined together with Christ in an organic union.

The Body of Christ is not an organization nor is it a society; it is the organism of the Triune God produced by the mingling of God with man. As members of the Body of Christ, we need to keep the oneness of the Body – if there’s no oneness, there’s no Body of Christ.

Also, since the Body is OF Christ and the Body IS Christ, we need to become Christ so that we may be the Body of Christ in reality. We need to have Christ wrought into our being and mingled with us so that we may be the Body of Christ.

Keeping the Oneness of the Body

The main characteristic of the Body of Christ is ONENESS. We are one with the Triune God in our organic union with Him in our spirit!

The oneness of the Body of Christ is nothing man-made or conjured up by man who intends to be one for God, but it is the enlargement of the oneness of the Triune God. As we can see in John 17:21-23 the oneness of the Body is the oneness of the Divine Trinity.

We already have this oneness, but as Paul encourages us in Eph. 4:13, we need to keep the oneness of the Spirit. We need to walk worthily of our calling (Eph. 4:1) by walking according to the oneness of the Body.

The highest virtue of our Christian walk is to keep the oneness… The keeping of the oneness is the primary virtue of our Christian walk. (Witness Lee, Messages to Trainees in Fall 1990, p. 124)

The Body of Christ can exist and survive only in oneness (Eph. 4:3-4). If there’s no oneness, there’s no Body. In the church life and in our living in the Body, we need to take care of the oneness. Forget about your opinions, ideas, and suggestions – just drop them and care for the oneness of the Body.

Our primary virtue in our Christian walk should be oneness – one with the Lord in our spirit and one with the saints for the Body of Christ. God called us into the Body of Christ, and now we have to live in the Body and keep the oneness of the Body.

The first principle of the Body is oneness – the main characteristic of the Body of Christ is oneness, which is the enlarged oneness of the Triune God.

Being Made Christ to be the Body of Christ

The second main principle of the Body is that the Body of Christ IS CHRIST – just as my body IS ME, so the Body of Christ is Christ Himself. For us to be the Body of Christ, we need to be made Christ by having Christ being wrought into every fibre of our being (1 Cor. 12:12; Col. 3:10-11).

Just as Eve was made out of a rib taken out of Adam’s body and was unto Adam to be his counterpart, so the church is made out of Christ in His resurrection life to be His counterpart and match Him. The church comes out of Christ, the church is Christ, and the church is the increase of Christ to be the corporate Christ on the earth.

All the saved ones in all times and in all space added together become the Body of this mysterious Christ. Individually speaking, we, the saved ones, are particular members of the Body (1 Cor. 12:27). Corporately speaking, we are the mystical Body of Christ. Every saved one is a part of the Body of Christ. (Witness Lee, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 2267)

In 1 Cor. 12:12 we see that as the Body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is THE CHRIST. The Christ here is not just the individual Christ but it is the Body-Christ, Christ as the Head and the church as the Body of Christ.

All the saved ones in the history of the world at any time and in any place are part of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ transcends time and space. We as the many members of the Body are organically one with the Head and one with the other members.

But we are NOT the Body of Christ in ourselves, in our natural constitution. We are daily being reconstituted with Christ to be the Christ-men, God-men, who are Christ in life and nature!

This is the highest peak of the divine revelation in the Bible, that is, that God Himself became a man so that He may make man God in life and nature but not in the Godhead. This is what is happening today – we as men of flesh have God being wrought into us and mingled with us so that we may become Christ-men, God-men, who are the same as He is!

As we spend time daily with the Lord and as we live in the Body, Christ is adding more of Himself to our being and He is discharging the old element, reconstituting us with God Himself to make us the Body of Christ! Hallelujah, the Body of Christ is just Christ, and we are being made Christ to be the Body-Christ, THE CHRIST, the corporate Christ on the earth!

Lord, make us those who walk worthily of our calling. We want to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. Thank You, Lord, there’s only ONE BODY in this universe, and we are members of Christ to be the Body of Christ. Lord, mingle Yourself with us more and work Yourself into us every day that we may become THE CHRIST, the corporate Christ on the earth to express You and represent You!

References and Further Reading

• Sharing inspired from, The Conclusion of the New Testament (msgs. 210-212), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Taking the Lead as Elders and Responsible Ones, week 6.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # This oneness is the Church’s ground, / The ground of common standing, / The only ground of unity / The Spirit is demanding.
  # I beseech you brothers as a pris’ner in the Lord, / To walk worthily of your calling,
  # Oh, the church of Christ is glorious, and we are part of it— / We’re so happy that the Lord has made us one!
• Picture source: keeping the oneness.