We Take Christ as our Person in our Speaking to Speak the Same Thing with One Mouth

For the church as the one new man we all need to take Christ as our person in our speaking so that we may think the same thing and speak the same thing with one mouth.

This doesn’t mean that we are becoming like robots speaking the same words, same intonation, at the same time, etc; rather, this is an organic oneness, just as our human body has only one speaking because there’s only one person.

The Lord wants to recover us back to Christ so that this all-inclusive One would be our all and in all; we need to take Him as our life and as our person for the church as the universal one new man.

The church is the Body of Christ; for us to be the Body of Christ, we need to take Christ as our life and live because of Him, allowing Him to fill us with His life and to be expressed through us.

Furthermore, the church is the one one man; for us to be the one new man, we need to take Christ as our person especially in our decisions and in our speaking.

The apostle Paul was a pattern to us of a person living a life in the consciousness of the one new man; he didn’t just write epistles to this or that church according to his preference, but through his epistles he blended the churches together.

He didn’t only consider the church in the place where he was in but rather he considered all the churches with all the saints, even saying that there’s a crowd of cares for the churches that pressed upon him daily.

What about us in our Christian life and church life, do we live having this consciousness of the one new man? In our decision making or in our speaking, do we just take ourselves as our person and do or say what is good in our own eyes, or do we consider all the churches as the universal one new man?

When we make a decision in our local church, we can’t just think of ourselves or our area, but think of the whole earth, how will our decision affect all the churches on the earth.

Today everything is moving around in little time, and something that happens in one place can be known within seconds all around the world; this is true both of world events and of the church life.

Such communication cannot be contained or limited. We need to consider all the churches around the earth, and we need to take Christ as our person for the one new man in the matter of making decisions and in the matter of our speaking.

We need to take Christ as our Person in our Speaking to Speak the Same Thing with one Mouth

For the church as the universal one new man, we all as constituents of the new man need to take Christ as our person in the matter of speaking.

The one new man in Eph. 2:15 needs to be considered together with the matter of the “one mouth” in Rom. 15:6 and “speak the same thing” in 1 Cor. 1:10.

How can tens of thousands or even millions of believers speak the same thing all around the world? It is not by being conformed to some outward rule or obeying some sort of a regulation or law but by taking Christ as our person.

If we take Christ as our life and person, we will spontaneously speak the same thing; this one thing will be Christ and the church. Then in practicality we will be the one new man, and wherever we go on earth to any local church, we will speak the same thing, which is Christ and the church.

Regardless of what kind of people or what kind of language the saints speak, when we take Christ as our person for the one new man we will speak the same thing and even hear the same thing.

We may be in London, UK, and meet with the saints there; they speak the same one thing, Christ and the church. We may be in Taipei, Taiwan, or in Montreal, Canada, and when we meet with the saints, we will hear and say one thing, which is Christ and the church.

When we take Christ as our person, we will all be attuned in the same opinion and have only one concept, which is Christ and the church. We all need to take Christ as our person in the matter of speaking, for our speaking is of great importance.

The expression of the one new man in the church life is in the speaking; the way we speak to the saints is part of the expression of the one new man.

First, we need to seek to have the mind of Christ; we should be attuned in the same mind and have the mind which was also in Christ Jesus. Then, our thinking should be the same; when our thinking is the same as Christ’s thinking, when we all think the same thing, we will also speak the same thing.

Our thinking directs our speaking, for what we think, we speak. The concepts that we have come out of our mouth, and the opinions we harbor will be elaborated by us.

So first we need to think the one thing (which is Christ), then we need to speak the one thing. Our walk will result out of our thinking and our speaking; when we take Christ as our person, we will live Christ and speak the one thing.

When we take Christ as our person in the matter of speaking, we will be affected in the way we live, serve, and worship, for we will do all things by taking Christ as our person.

What we speak will not be something that divides the Body or causes others to wander; we will speak the one thing, Christ and the church, and this builds up the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, we take You as our person in the matter of our speaking. We seek to have the mind of Christ, even the same mind that was in Christ Jesus; may this mind saturate our mind and become our mind. Amen, Lord, may we be saved from speaking different things but rather, may we all take Christ as our person in the matter of our speaking, and may we all speak the same thing, Christ and the church! Hallelujah, we all can speak the same thing and we all can be attuned in the same opinion, having this only one concept, Christ and the church!

In the One New Man there’s One Person with One Mouth Speaking the Same Thing, Christ and the Church

In the one one man there’s only one person that has one mouth and speaks only one thing, even the same thing, Christ and the church (Rom. 15:6; 1 Cor. 1:10).

The question is, how many persons are there in the church life and in all the churches around the world? How many minds are there, one (the mind of Christ) or many (our own minds)? Does the one new man have one mind or more than one?

When a person has more than one mind, we have split personality disorder, like schizophrenia.

In some places the church life is like a schizophrenia church life, for not all the saints take Christ as their person in the matter of speaking; rather, some are their own persons, and some speak their own things.

If some take Christ as their person while others take themselves as their person, there will be more than one mouth that speaks, and there will be more than one thing that is spoken. This is a multiple personality disorder, a mental and spiritual disorder. Oh Lord Jesus!

On the other hand, we are not all like robots, doing things robotically and speaking things robotically; rather, this sameness we speak of comes from the one person, Christ, who has one mind and speaks the same thing with one mouth.

Think about it, in our human body, we have only one person, and that person speaks the same thing with one mouth; there’s no two persons with two mouths speaking more than one thing.

Similarly, there’s only one new man, and the one new man has only one person; so the one new man speaks with one mouth and says the same thing, Christ and the church.

In the past (and in some places even this happens also in the present) there were too many mouths because there were too many persons. If this is the case in our local church, we need to learn to die to our opinions, which are the top damaging factor in the church life.

The church is not only the Body of Christ but also the one new man; as the Body, the church needs Christ as its life, and as the new man, it needs Christ as its person.

When we want to speak, we need to resolve this basic question: who is the person speaking here?

You may want to say something and I may want to say something – who is the one speaking, is it you or me, or is it Christ? If it is me speaking, then I have my own mouth, which is different than the mouth of Christ which speaks the one thing.

When each one of us is a person individually, and when each one speaks his own things, we have many mouths, and there’s no one new man.

But when we take Christ as our person in the matter of our speaking, it will not be me who speaks but Christ, and it will not be you who speaks but Christ.

This is why Paul said in 1 Cor. 1:10 that we all speak the same thing; the church is the one new man with only one person, and this person controls our speaking.

Whatever Christ as our person speaks, that’s what we speak, and He will surely speak the same thing.

If we look around in today’s Christianity we see that many preachers and pastors are their own persons; they have their own mouths, they speak their own thing, and what they speak is not what the mouth of the one new man speaks.

But we in the church life need to take Christ as our person to speak the same thing as He speaks!

A very good example of speaking the same thing is the Bible we hold in our hands; the Old and New Testaments contain sixty-six books written by more than forty different authors in many different places over a period of fifteen-sixteen hundred years.

Genesis was written around 1500 BC while Revelation was written after AD90. Yet the whole Bible speaks the same thing, and all these authors speak the one thing, all speaking concerning Christ and the church.

In the church life we also need to take Christ as our person, realizing that, even though we are many and come from many places, we all have one mouth and we all speak the same thing, for the one new man has only one person.

Lord Jesus, we praise You that in the one new man there’s only one person with one mouth to speak the same thing, Christ and the church! Save us from being our own person and speaking our own thing. We take You, Lord, as our person, and we want to let You be the person in us who speaks and does everything. May You gain all over the earth the one new man with one person with one mouth speaking the same thing for the glory of God! May all the saints practical taking Christ as their person the matter of speaking so that You would be one person speaking in all of us with one mouth!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1977, vol. 3, “One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man,” chs. 7-8, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The One New Man Fulfilling God’s Purpose in Creating Man (2019 fall ITERO), week 9, Practicing the Church Life, Speaking the Same Thing, and Doing the One Work in the Consciousness of the One New Man.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Oh, sanctify us, Lord; now add Thyself to us, / In our experience, Thy Person spread in us, / That in reality the church be glorious, / O Lord, do add Thyself, we pray. / Oh, sanctify us, Lord, today; / Lord Jesus, You’re the only way. / We take Your Person, Lord; / Oh, spread Yourself abroad. / Oh, sanctify us, Lord, today. (Hymns #1135)
  – Person, Person, Jesus is our Person, / Living now in us. / He’s our tastes, our attitudes and actions; / Oh, how glorious! / Our Person, Lord, Thou art / Make home in all our heart. / As life in every way / Be our Person, Lord, each day. (Hymns #1240)
  – When all are sweetly joined / (True followers of the Lamb), / They’re one in heart and mind, / They think and speak the same; / When all in love together dwell; / The comfort is unspeakable! (Hymns #1244)