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In this chapter we will cover the subject of oneness among Christians. We have seen that the Body of Christ is something that can be seen on earth. Paul told the Corinthians, "For even 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" (1 Cor. 12:12). Paul did not say, "So also are Christ and His church." Neither did he say, "So also are Christ and His people." Paul said, "So also is the Christ." In other words, the Head is Christ, the Body is Christ, and all the members are Christ. This is why he said that even 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. This word shows us clearly that the Head, the Body, and all the members are Christ.
At the time Paul saw the light on his way to Damascus, the Lord said to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" Saul asked, "Who are You?" The Lord answered, "I am Jesus, whom you persecute" (Acts 9:4-5). The "I" was in heaven. How could Paul, who had letters from the high priest on earth, be persecuting Jesus of Nazareth, who was sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven? Here we see the oneness of the Body of Christ. The Head, the Body, and all the members are Christ. When Saul persecuted the church on earth, the Lord did not ask, "Why are you persecuting My church?" or "Why are you persecuting My people?" Instead the Lord asked, "Why are you persecuting Me?" By persecuting the church, Paul was persecuting Him. This means that Christ and the church are one.
Because this Christ can be persecuted, it is clear that this Christ is on earth. Therefore, the Body of Christ is something which appears on earth. This Body, which 1 Corinthians 12:12 refers to in the phrase so also is the Christ, is on earth. The Body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the Body, being many, are one Body. This Body is on earth, because it can be persecuted. Saul was persecuting the Body on earth, but the Lord said that he was persecuting Him. This means that this Body is on earth.
This has a crucial bearing on many things. If the Body of Christ is one and Christ has only one Body, the oneness of the Body cannot be something expressed only in heaven or in the future. It has to be something expressed on earth. The Body is one on earth. First Corinthians 12 shows us the Body of Christ. It says, "Whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member is glorified, all the members rejoice with it" (v. 26). This shows us clearly that the Body of Christ is something on earth. If the Body were in heaven, it would be reasonable to say that it rejoices, but it would be unreasonable to say that it suffers. It is impossible to say that a member suffers in heaven. If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. This is clearly something that occurs on earth. Only by being on earth can there be the possibility of a member suffering, and only on earth can there be the possibility of the whole Body suffering and being persecuted. Therefore, the oneness of the Body of Christ is not something in heaven in the future but something on earth today.
The Lord Jesus' prayer in John 17:21 is for the church to be one on earth. He said, "That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me." If we put this phrase even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us within parentheses, it is clear that the Lord is praying for the church to be one so that the world may believe. If the world may believe because of this oneness, then clearly this oneness has to be before the world. The Lord prayed that the world may believe. This shows us that oneness is something to be manifested in the world today.
First, we must be clear that Christian oneness is something which is manifested on earth and which is in the world today. Christian oneness is not something manifested in heaven in the future. Of course, Christians will be one in heaven in the future. But Christian oneness is expressed and practiced on earth today rather than only in heaven in the future. Everyone must be clear concerning this matter. Some may tell others, "Do not worry whether or not the church is one today, and do not be concerned whether Christians are one. When we reach heaven, we will all be one." These ones are talking about something that will happen when the Lord appears. But what the Lord is after today is a oneness on earth. This responsibility lies with us. We should not wait until we get to heaven to be one. The oneness of Christians should be expressed on earth today. This is the first thing we must be clear about.
Many people have a certain concept about oneness. They think that as long as a man is a Christian in name, they can be one with him, whether or not he belongs to God, has life, and is a member of the Body. But the oneness which the Bible speaks of is a oneness of the Body. The oneness which many people suggest today has gone beyond the boundary of the Body; it includes corpses and things which are foreign to the Body. God's Word does not approve this kind of oneness.
Let me say emphatically that only the oneness of the Body can constitute the oneness of the church. The oneness of the church has the Body as its boundary; it cannot extend beyond the Body. Oneness does not mean that we have to be one with whoever bears the resemblance of Christianity or the name of a Christian. God's Word does not sanction this or say anything about it.
Many people like to quote Matthew 13. They say that the Lord likens His departure from the world to a man sleeping in the second parable. His enemy came and sowed tares in the midst of the wheat and went away. When the blade sprouted and produced fruit, the tares also appeared. The slaves of the master of the house then came and said to the master, "Do you want us then to go and collect them?" (v. 28). The master replied, "Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Collect first the tares and bind them into bundles to burn them up, but the wheat gather into my barn" (v. 30). Many people have taken oneness to mean a oneness of wheat and tares. They think that oneness is not merely a oneness of the wheat but of the tares as well. But note that the Lord is not speaking about oneness here. He never said that believers and unbelievers should be mixed together. He said that believers should not kill unbelievers. The Roman Catholic Church has done just that; they are ready to uproot all tares, that is, all those whom they consider to be heretics. We know that they are wrong not only in principle but also in practice. They have uprooted not only the tares but also the wheat. They are wrong both in principle and in practice because they consider Protestants to be heretics.
The Lord did not tell us to uproot the tares from this world. He said that there should be a proper separation in the church. When the Word speaks of letting both grow together until the harvest, it does not mean to let both grow together in the church. It means to let both grow together in the field — the world. (In the interpretation of the first parable, the field is the world.) In other words, it is not necessary to remove all nominal Christians from the world. There is no need to kill them as the Roman Catholic Church has tried to do. We should leave them alone in this world. But this does not mean that oneness among Christians should include tares.
Within so-called Christian organizations, sects, and denominations, there are many unbelievers. They tolerate unbelievers, that is, they allow the tares to remain in the church. The Lord did not speak of allowing tares to remain in the church. He only said to allow them to remain in the world. The Lord charges us to keep our Christian oneness in the church, not in the world.
Today there are many people who, like the Roman Catholic Church, will not tolerate the tares in the world. They try to uproot all the tares from the earth. This is one extreme. Another extreme is to include unbelievers in the church. This is what some groups practice. In the state churches, as long as one is a citizen of that country or born of that country, he can be baptized and be a member of the church. Whoever is born in that country can be a Christian in that country. These churches have opened their doors to unbelievers. This is wrong.
When John Wesley drafted the constitution of the Methodist Church, he wrote, "Whoever wishes to escape the coming wrath can be a member of the Methodist Church." Please bear in mind that this is too broad. We admit that we are behind John Wesley in many things; he was a great vessel used by the Lord. There are many things which we have not yet learned; we are behind him in many things. But there is one thing we can tell him: "Brother, do you not think that this statement includes too many people?" In reality the church cannot include all those who wish to escape the coming wrath. Even Buddhists can be counted among those who wish to escape the coming wrath.
I would like all of us to consider what the church is. The church is a group of people who possess the life of Christ. What is the church? The church is the Body of Christ. Therefore, Christian oneness can only be applied to God's children. It cannot include those who are nominal. They are of the world and are not yet regenerated. They are still sinners in the eyes of God and cannot be included in the church. Therefore, they cannot be part of our oneness.
A servant of the Lord serving in a denomination once said to me, "We receive all saved ones!" I said, "Of course you do! Any church should be expected to receive a saved one. But may I ask whether you reject unsaved ones?" He told me, "You are smart. You can tell who is saved and who is not, but I cannot tell." I mutely agreed but said again, "I am not asking if you know whether a person is saved; I am asking if you would receive someone whom you know is not saved? We are not arguing about facts but about principle. My question is whether you would receive a person whom you know is not saved." He said, "Even if we know that he is not saved, I am afraid that we would still receive him." If a church receives an unsaved person as a matter of principle, it is not the church. We are not talking about facts. For instance, we are not concerned with whether or not Simon in Acts 8 was saved. There are many people who seem to be saved when you talk with them, but who in fact are not saved. In this case there is no violation of principle. But there are some who receive everyone no matter whether or not he is saved. This involves a matter of principle.
Today we are not quibbling about the procedure of receiving. We are talking about the principle behind our receiving. We may decide to say that all descendants of Hwang-ti are Chinese; this is a matter of principle. If someone makes a mistake by including someone who is Japanese, that is an error in procedure. But if you also decide that a Japanese person should be counted as being Chinese, you are broadening the principle. Throughout the ages there have always been mistakes. We ourselves often make mistakes. We ask God for much mercy, for we have nothing to boast of in ourselves. But we know the Lord's preordained principle that the church cannot open its door to receive unbelievers.
Therefore, brothers, any group which openly practices the principle of receiving both the saved and the unsaved is not the church; it is the world. If wheat and tares are both present, what we have is not the church of God. In the church everyone should be called ones. If some are called while others are not, what we have is not the church.
If a group opens its door widely to both believers and unbelievers, then this is not a Christian group. Their oneness is not Christian oneness. One day the Lord may open one's eyes to see the need to leave this group. If this happens, please bear in mind that he is not forsaking genuine Christian oneness by leaving the group, because there is no Christian oneness with his group; there is only confusion and mixture. When one leaves this kind of group, he does not leave Christian oneness. If there is a group which receives and mixes both believers and unbelievers, both saved and unsaved, God commands us to come out of it!
Second Corinthians 6:14-16 says, "Do not become dissimilarly yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? And what concord does Christ have with Belial? Or what part does a believer have with an unbeliever? And what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God." You need to know who you are. You are the temple of the living God. Therefore, you cannot have anything to do with idols.
Verse 16 continues, "Even as God said, `I will dwell among them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people.'" You are the temple of the living God. God wants to dwell with you and walk in your midst. God is your God and you are His people.
What is the result of this? God's commandment is, "Therefore `come out from their midst and be separated, says the Lord, and do not touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you'" (v. 17). Here we see that we must come out of any Christian group which receives both believers and unbelievers. If there is a mixture of believers and unbelievers in a group, even though it may have the name of the church of Christ, we must still come out of it.
In principle it is right to stop unbelievers from coming into our midst. Once a brother asked me, "Have you ever received any person by mistake?" My feeling at that time was that we had not received any wrong person. I answered, "Perhaps we have, but the number is quite small." He said, "How then are you different from us?" I said, "If any unbeliever has come into our midst, he came in by climbing over the wall at night. But if there is an unbeliever in your midst, you let him in through an open door at twelve o'clock noon." We must never be proud. We can often be wrong. We can baptize the wrong person and receive the wrong person. However, they will have sneaked in by themselves. We are not wrong in our principle. In so-called Christianity today, as long as a person bears the name of a Christian, he can walk in openly at high noon. It does not mean that we never make any mistakes in procedure. We must be very careful before God not to make any mistakes, but being wrong intentionally or being wrong in principle is another matter. In such a case, we are no longer the church.
If a group knows that a certain person is an unbeliever yet capriciously admits him, this group surely is not the church. It is not necessary for God's children to maintain oneness with this group. Since this oneness is not Christian oneness, we need not keep it. We are required only to keep the oneness of the wheat; we do not have to keep the oneness between wheat and tares. Today there are many groups on earth which call themselves the church but include both believers and unbelievers. They want to maintain an outward façade of oneness. Please bear in mind that we are not required to keep this kind of oneness. This kind of oneness instead will overturn genuine oneness. The oneness they want to keep is a oneness we want to escape from. Once we get into that kind of oneness, we spoil the genuine oneness.
There is another very important matter in the boundary of Christian oneness. It is true that Christian oneness includes all of God's children; it is as large as the Body of Christ. Christian fellowship is as broad as the Body of Christ, and the church of Christ is as large as the Body of Christ. This is clearly revealed in the Word of God. As pointed out in the previous section, there is a danger of enlarging the Body of Christ to include false ones. However, another problem arises when God's children maintain a oneness which is smaller than Christian oneness.
I would like you to take note of something: God's intention is not just for His children to be one but for them to be one in the Holy Spirit. This is what Christian oneness means. God did not say that we could have any kind or style of oneness. He said that we have to be one in the Spirit. This is why we call this Christian oneness. This oneness is oneness in Christ. In order to keep Christian oneness, we must be kept in Christ, in the Body, and in the oneness of the Spirit. This oneness has a boundary; it is as large as the Body. Please bear in mind that the boundary of Christian oneness is the Body of Christ.
Many people wrongly assume that all God wants is for us to be one. However, if the boundary of their oneness is not the Body of Christ, then this oneness should be condemned. If we maintain any oneness that has a boundary smaller than that of the Body of Christ, we are involved in what the Bible calls a division. God wants us to maintain the oneness in the Spirit. In this oneness the boundary is as large as the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is the boundary of that oneness.
Suppose a group of believers feels that everyone should be baptized by immersion. This is a biblical truth; nothing is wrong with it. But suppose these believers establish a principle of excluding anyone who is not immersed in water, even if such a one is a child of God. If they do this, they are taking a doctrine as the base of their oneness. This is not oneness in the Spirit. Such a group has a boundary that is smaller than the Body.
Suppose a brother decides to join this kind of group. He has good fellowship with them and receives much spiritual help from them. But one day God opens his eyes to see that though these are genuine children of God, the group as a whole is not the church: It only accepts and meets with those baptized by immersion, and anyone who is not baptized by immersion is not accepted, even though he may be a child of God. When this brother realizes that they have rejected other children of God, he should leave them. He leaves because the Lord has enlightened him.
Suppose after a while, another brother comes and pleads with him, saying, "We are all Christians, and we are all children of God. We are brothers. God says in the Bible that brothers should love one another. You should not leave us. If you leave, you offend the Christian oneness. If you leave, you are being divisive, and you become a sect and a denomination." After the brother hears this, he may go to his Bible and study it and come to the conclusion that God's children should be one and that he should not have left the group. Do you see the error here? The error here is very obvious.
If anyone thinks that he should not be divisive, he should first bear in mind what it means to be divisive. Being divisive means being divided from the Body. The division in 1 Corinthians 12 refers to a division from the Body (v. 25), not a separation from a group which is not according to the Body. The Christian oneness which God refers to is a oneness that is as large as the Body. This is the oneness that we should keep and should not come out of. If anyone who is concerned about keeping the oneness is in a group that is smaller and narrower than the Body of Christ, he should realize that this oneness is not Christian oneness or the oneness of the Spirit, even though the group may speak of oneness. It is not Christian oneness because this kind of oneness is not as large as the Body. If he leaves any realm, group, or organization that is not as large as the Body, he is not offending Christian oneness; neither is he breaking it.
We cannot uphold any boundary or group that comes short of the Body of Christ. We must come out of that "oneness." A child of God who keeps a oneness smaller than the Body of Christ is actually breaking Christian oneness.
There was striving in the church in Corinth. Some were saying, "I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ" (1 Cor. 1:12). Paul was absolutely against this contention. He said, "Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?" (v. 13). He told the Corinthians that they were factious and that this was a work of the flesh (3:3-4). By speaking in this way, the Corinthians were being divisive.
Suppose one of these Corinthians was called Mark, another Stephen, and a third Philemon. Suppose all of them were for Paul. Suppose one day one of these brothers, whether Stephen or Philemon, stood up and said, "We have been meeting together and having good fellowship. We feel that God's servant Paul is particularly used by God and that we should pay more attention to his teachings. We have had good fellowship and have received much help from his speaking and his Epistles. All of us are in the Lord and our fellowship is intimate. But recently I have felt that this is wrong. Today in Corinth there are hundreds of believers, but there are not that many of us. We should go to them and fellowship with them in a proper way."
Suppose the other brothers stood up and said, "You have sinned! When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He prayed and asked the Father to make us one. The Lord Jesus wants us to be one, but you are trying to leave us for another way. You are not being one with us. You are not glorifying the Lord! If you do not want to be one with us, the world will not believe in the Lord through our oneness. You have sinned, and you must depart from our midst because you are being divisive."
Brothers, do you see this? This is what many people say to our brothers. They themselves are being divisive when they say, "I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ." They have already created many divisions. But as soon as someone wants to leave, they say, "You should keep the Christian oneness." But their oneness is not as large as the Body of Christ. Their oneness is only as large as Paul. It is divisive to keep a oneness that is smaller than the Body of Christ. Even to say that I am of Paul is to be divisive. Please bear in mind that they have already been separated from the Body. They do not see their own divisiveness, but if someone goes out from among them, they say that he is being divisive.
Brothers and sisters, this is the problem of many Christian groups today. Many so-called people of God, many so-called Christian groups, have already separated themselves from the Body. (I hope I will not offend these ones by saying this. Our spirit must be right. Before God we must know that this is something sad, not joyful. But we must be clear of our position before God.) When some brothers or sisters want to return to the Body of Christ, these groups say that those who want to come out of them are being divisive. They do not realize that all those who are in the divisive groups and who refuse to depart from them are being divisive themselves.
We ask God to open their eyes to see that the Body of Christ is one and that the sects are divided. In 1934 there were one thousand five hundred major denominations in the world. There are so many groups who call themselves the church. They have reduced the boundary of the Body of Christ. One is a leg, and the other is a hand. They have divided the Body of Christ. Today some brothers and sisters desire to return to the boundary of the Body and have fellowship in the Body. Others rise up immediately and say that they are destroying the oneness. If someone tells you that you have broken the oneness, you should answer by saying that you have broken the oneness of the divisions but you have not broken the oneness of the Body. It is right to say that we have broken the oneness of the divisions. You cannot join the larger oneness unless you first destroy the smaller oneness.
The Christian oneness is as narrow as the Body. Anything foreign to the Body must not be brought in. Christian oneness is also as large as the Body. Any so-called oneness that is smaller than the Body cannot be considered Christian oneness. The more you maintain this so-called oneness, the more you are in division. The more intimacy you have built up with your brothers, the more you are sectarian and divisive. You need to come out of the smaller oneness into the larger oneness. If you want to be part of the larger oneness, you must forsake the smaller oneness. Do not think that oneness is good enough by itself; you must ask what kind of oneness it is. Do not say that any oneness is good enough. The only oneness that is good enough is the oneness of the Body. Whatever oneness is smaller than the oneness of the Body should not be endorsed by Christians. No oneness should be smaller than the Body. Anything that is smaller than the Body of Christ is not acceptable to God.
The word division or sect is hairesis in Greek. It is used nine times in the Bible. It is used six times in Acts, and it is translated "sect," such as the sect of the Sadducees, the sect of the Pharisees, and the Nazarene sect. It is used three times in the Epistles. Let us consider the passages in the Epistles where this word is used.
First Corinthians 11:18 says, "First of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and some part of it I believe." Here it says that the Corinthians were divided among themselves in their meeting. What does it mean to be divided? Division can only be possible in the church. Corinth was a church, and these believers were in the church in Corinth. One day someone said, "I am of Paul." Another person said, "I am of Cephas." A third one said, "I am of Apollos," and a fourth one said, "I am of Christ." The words were wrong, the tone was wrong, and the attitude in spirit was wrong. There were strife and jealousy, and the love of Christ was clearly missing. Whenever they met, those who said that they were of Paul met in one place and those who said that they were of Apollos met in another place. This was division.
Anyone who wants to accuse another person of being divisive can only raise such an accusation in the church. This accusation is not possible outside the church. A man can only commit the sin of division in the church; he cannot commit such a sin outside the church. A man can revolt only against a legitimate government; he cannot revolt against a government which is itself not legitimate. It is rebellion to separate oneself from a legitimate government, but it is not rebellion to separate oneself from a government that is not legitimate. Therefore, division is something that can only happen in the church. Such division is not well pleasing to God.
Galatians 5:19-20 says, "The works of the flesh are manifest, which are such things as...outbursts of anger, factions, divisions, sects [hairesis]." One item of the works of the flesh is sects. The Chinese Bible translates it "heresy." In Greek this word is the same word as "division" or "sect." Here we see what division is. Division is a work of the flesh. Paul was telling not only the Galatians and the Corinthians, but also you and me, that division is not a spiritual thing but a work of the flesh. Paul gave an itemized description of all the works of the flesh. He spoke of fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, etc., and he also spoke of division.
When you ask certain ones, "May a Christian commit fornication?" They will answer with a definitive no. If you ask them, "May a Christian worship idols?" They will give you a definitive no as well. But if you ask them, "May Christians be divided?" They may say, "Though they are divided outwardly, they are not divided in their heart." This is like idol worshippers saying, "We are only worshipping idols outwardly. We are not worshipping them in our hearts." There is no excuse for this. Both idolatry and division are condemned in the eyes of God.
It is strange for some who consider themselves servants of God to write books encouraging others to remain in the sects. If a servant of God wrote a book encouraging Christians to worship idols, what would be your response? If a servant of God wrote a book encouraging Christians to commit fornication, to be lascivious, to lose their temper, and to be jealous, what would you think of this? You would feel that this person is surely not a servant of God. But there are people who say that Christians can remain in sects, and many people print their books. The only thing I can say is that men today are blind to what is abominable in the eyes of the Lord! Please bear in mind that we cannot have our own choice according to the flesh. Sectarianism, like idolatry, fornication, anger, and sorcery, is a work of the flesh; these are all on the same condemned list. We must act in a responsible way before God and not be tempted to go back to sectarianism.
The meaning of the word sect is very clear in Greek. It is translated as "divisions" in 1 Corinthians 11:18 and as "sects" in Galatians 5:20. Actually, they are the same word. Why was this word translated as "heresy" in the King James Version? In Greek the word is hairesis. The translators of the Bible probably chose not to translate the meaning of the word but instead used the word heresy. The King James Version was produced by the Anglican Church, and it had trouble with this verse because it was a state church. This reservation resulted in the use of an ambiguous word. The translators probably knew that this was not the right word, but they used it nevertheless. This same practice can be seen in the Chinese Bibles that use both Shangdi and Shen for the word God. Publishers know quite well that Shangdi is wrong. But because many denominations are familiar with this term, they continue to use it. They publish versions that use both words to cater to the needs of both sides. Another example can be found in the translation of the word baptism. This word should be translated "immersed," but since sprinkling was a prevalent practice, the publishers were not definite in its translation. If immersed had been used, it would have aroused controversy. Those who know Greek know that the word baptism means "to immerse something into water." Yet the translators dared not translate it this way. Instead, they invented a new English word, baptism, which does not mean anything in itself; it keeps a person in the dark as to its true meaning. It is a transliteration of a foreign word. The same principle applies to the translation of the word hairesis. Translating it as "sect" or "division" and calling sectarianism or division a work of the flesh would have aroused controversy. This was the reason the word heresy was used instead. It diverted the reader from understanding its true meaning. Actually, the word heresy is not an English word. No English-speaking person knows what it really means. I know of two brothers who worked at the Gospel Bookstore who were involved with the translation of the Bible. They simply made a transliteration of the word baptizo and put the characters ba-di-zo in its place. I am afraid that not a single soul in China knows what ba-di-zo means, whether it means immersion or sprinkling. No one knows what the word ba-di-zo means, and so both the immersion group and the sprinkling group are happy. This only goes to show man's unfaithfulness. A casual reading of a few other translations will tell you that the word hairesis is actually sect in English. But because of reservations, the word heresy was used instead, and everyone has been kept in the dark as to the true meaning of the word. The Greek word hairesis was anglicized to become heresy in 1611, and the word heresy has been with us for the last three hundred years. By the time the Chinese translated this word, it became i-duan — heresy, a rather ambiguous word. I can give you other examples of such transliteration of English words.
Heresy is a sect and is considered by God to be a work of the flesh. Therefore, we cannot keep the oneness of the sects. We must keep Christian oneness but not the oneness of the sects. We break our Christian oneness when we maintain the oneness of the sects.
Second Peter 2:1 says, "But there arose also false prophets among the people, as also among you there will be false teachers, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies [sects], even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction." Sects bring in destruction. They are brought in by the false teachers. We who are of God must learn to uphold Christian oneness before God. We should not maintain any oneness that is smaller than Christian oneness.
After a man realizes that sects lead to destruction and that they are condemned by God, he begins to see the need for oneness among Christians. Many people feel that sectarianism and division are wrong, that they should fellowship with all of God's children, and that this fellowship should be as broad as the Body.
I think this awareness has become quite common in China during the past ten years. Last year someone wrote to me, saying, "Although we cannot agree with your teachings against sectarianism, we feel that it is true and right for Christians to be one." This was written by a leader in Christianity. Today many leaders in Christianity feel that they should pay attention to Christian oneness rather than oneness of the sects.
I realize that many people have been emphasizing oneness during the past years. But what they have produced is a kind of ecumenical movement. This is not a return to the oneness of the Body. This oneness is man made. It is nothing more than an ecumenical or interdenominational work. This ecumenism accomplishes little more than to de-emphasize denominational distinctions. Personally, I feel that this kind of oneness is just a halfway house; neither side will make it all the way home.
Let me say a frank word: If sectarianism is right, we should uphold it. If it is wrong, we should destroy it. What do men do today? They say that there is nothing wrong with the sects, yet they oppose them. Or they agree that sectarianism is wrong, yet they try to keep it. On the one hand, they are reluctant to give up sectarianism. On the other hand, they oppose it. They want to keep both sides happy, and they want to maintain fellowship with both groups. This is not a Christian attitude. If the Lord's desire is for His children to have the fellowship of the Body, we should cast aside all other fellowship and only have the fellowship of the Body. I say to them: If you feel that sects are necessary, then you should do your best to uphold them. You may be wrong in conduct, but at least your intention will be right. Christians must not vacillate in their stand. A Christian must be absolute and faithful in whatever he does. If sectarianism is right, we should maintain it at any cost. If it is wrong, we should oppose it at any cost.
The worst thing to have is a halfway house. On the one hand, they admit that sectarianism is wrong. On the other hand, they are reluctant to give it up, and they try hard to improve it. They admit that denominationalism is wrong, but they try to organize ecumenical affiliations. They are not clear what position they are taking. This is not the Christian way of doing things. A Christian must not change his mind all the time. If something is right, there should be a proper way to handle it. If something is wrong, there should be a proper way to handle it as well. Any compromise or reconciliation is wrong. A Christian should be one who does things in an absolute way. If sectarianism is right, it should be justified. If it is wrong, it should be condemned. There cannot be any compromise or reconciliation.
We have already referred to different types of oneness. One type has a boundary greater than that of the Body; it receives even the tares. Another type has a boundary that is smaller than the Body; it is an organization, a sect. Still another type has a boundary that is as large as the Body of Christ, but within this boundary there are segregated squares. It is like a checkerboard. The boundary is as large as the Body of Christ, yet there are sects in it. Each minds his own business within his sphere. This is organized unity, not unity itself; it is an affiliation of oneness, not oneness itself. Although the boundary of this kind of fellowship is as large as the Body, there are still many sects within this fellowship. According to statistics in the 1930s, there were at least fifteen hundred of these little squares.
If the church should be divided into sects, God would surely have spoken of it clearly in the Bible. But God tells us in the Bible that the church is the Body. There is only one Body, and every member is joined to this Body. This is the only possible way to go. Even a machine or a car cannot be divided. If it is divided, it cannot function. Today many sects are striving to unite themselves. I feel compelled to point out the ground upon which such ecumenical boundaries are based.
The Bible says that the Body is made up of members. Therefore, the members are the basic units of the Body. Today ecumenical workers see the Body of Christ, but they are not willing to pay the price to take the fellowship of the Body. They emphasize the Body of Christ, yet the Body which they speak of does not have the members as its unit but organizations as its unit. The basic unit of Christian fellowship should be Christians. It is Christians who are joined together to form the Body. But the ecumenical affiliations of today take certain organizations as their basic unit. In other words, if there are five thousand denominations throughout the world, they say that there are five thousand basic units in the Body. This can only be called a fellowship of organizations.
The fellowship in the Bible takes individual Christians as its basic unit. I am a believer, and you are a believer. The two of us spontaneously have fellowship. Another person is a believer, and as a believer, you will have fellowship with him as well. The fellowship is always carried out on an individual basis. Today ecumenical workers lump believers together into organizations and then unite the many organizations. Something more has been added to the fellowship of the Body.
The Bible puts all of God's children together in the Body of Christ. Together they express His Body on earth. But today men have united those with the same opinions, beliefs, and views. They have united men who respect the same persons and have formed them into organizations. As a further step, they try to form associations of different organizations. They are, in reality, first dividing to go along with man's will and then uniting to go along with God's intention. In this way they think that they have satisfied both sides! Fleshly sectarianism is allowed to remain, while Christian oneness is seemingly achieved. This is what ecumenical affiliations are all about. I say again emphatically that the only purpose for doing this is to give ground to the flesh. The Lord has shown us that division is a work of the flesh.
Brothers and sisters, you do not have to go to the denominations to find out that sectarianism is a work of the flesh. You can find this within yourself. If you have to go to other places to find this out, I question your spiritual condition before God. Human beings are prone to division. Everyone likes to separate himself from other brothers and sisters according to his own will. Today many people like to keep denominations on the one hand and try to arrive at some form of unity on the other. This is self-contradictory! They think that denominationalism can remain, and they try to preserve it. But then they join themselves to ecumenical affiliations because their conscience is bothered. This is to divide the Body first and then to try to unite it later.
If you try to divide the Body into denominations and then unite them again, you no longer have the Body! To unite something after cutting it apart results merely in an association, not the Body. You should not think that you will have the same person after cutting him into pieces and then putting the pieces together again. There is no such thing. The life is gone! It is foolish to cut the Body of Christ into hundreds of denominations and then to unite them again! That is not the Body. That is just a union of organizations. I hope you will see before God the error of dividing the Body of Christ into many denominations. When the members are together, it is the Body, and when they are apart, they are the members. This is all we know. Other than these two things — the Body and the members — there is no intermediate organization. There is no such thing as grouping members into many organizations and then uniting all these organizations into a Body. This kind of ecumenical union is not the Body of Christ, but human organization. It is the product of a condemned conscience.
How then should this oneness be maintained? If unbelievers were accepted into the church in Foochow, it would no longer be the church. We would have to call it a sect and leave it. Suppose some churches are composed entirely of believers, yet there is the element of sectarianism in them. We must also leave such groups. Then there are those who unite various organizations together to become larger ecumenical affiliations. This is also the work of the flesh, and we must leave them as well.
If we are to have the church in Foochow today, it must have a boundary that is as large as the Body of Christ. Whether or not others like it is their own concern. Whether or not others would take this way is up to them. But those who want to take this way must be faithful to take a stand; they must not be sectarian. They must not willfully allow any unbelievers in their midst, and they must not replace the Body with ecumenical organizations. This is the basic principle. We must stand on the ground of the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ dictates the boundary for the church. This is our way today. This is the only way for God's children to take in every locality.
We must be clear about the position we should take. We cannot be sectarian or divisive. We must not have unbelievers among us, and we cannot replace the Body of Christ with ecumenical organizations. Ecumenical organizations speak of the operation of light but the absence of the strength to obey this light. It tells us that there is the knowledge of God's will but the reluctance to keep this will. There is God's revelation but a failure to carry it out. It is nothing more than a halfway house.
God has placed us in another position, the position for all the children of God to meet. But others will not come to us. We are not saying that others must acknowledge what we say we are. We are merely saying that we are taking a stand for the Body of Christ.
We admit that there are brothers and sisters in the sects, the state churches, and the ecumenical organizations. If they are faithful, they should come home; they should take the same stand as we have taken — a stand for the Body. Today our door is open to them. However, we have no other choice but to keep our own standing. What is the situation today? It is like a family with two young brothers who have been kidnapped by robbers. You cannot disband the family just because two brothers have been kidnapped. There are still the father, the mother, and the other brothers and sisters in the family. The family cannot be disbanded. However, we have to say that there is no peace in the family now because two brothers have been kidnapped.
Those who have been kidnapped are temporarily away from the family. However, the other brothers at home should have a broad heart. They should not shut their brothers out just because they have been kidnapped. They should learn to open their door and their heart to them. Whenever the kidnapped ones come home, they should be welcomed with open arms. Thank God, they may come back for a short time, or they may come back forever. They may have lived a wandering life for a long time, but we have to say that this is still their home. We cannot shut the door to them just because they have left us.
Some have said that too many people are wandering in the denominations today and therefore God's church has disbanded and is no longer in existence. But God's children on earth can never be disbanded; they can never cease to exist. Today we must do our best to uphold our testimony. Our Father is here, our Lord is here, and the Holy Spirit is here. As long as we have these, that is enough! As long as we have three or five brothers, that is enough. Two or three brothers is enough for a testimony. In some places, we have even more than this!
Never boast and say, "I have a home already. I do not care whether other brothers are wandering outside." Something is wrong with our family if we do not feel this loss in our family. As long as a brother or a sister is still wandering in the denominations, our heart should ache and we should be sad. We should always have two attitudes. On the one hand, we have to uphold and maintain our stand. On the other hand, we must not be proud. We must stand on the proper ground and persevere in it. But while we maintain that stand, our heart must not become uplifted. We must not say, "We are the family. We are satisfied." We must remember that there are still other members of the family who are wandering outside. We must humble ourselves and learn to petition on their behalf. We pray that they will all come home. The door is always open to them. Whether they will come home for good or for a short time, we must always maintain our stand as a family. We must never be so wrong as to think that the church does not exist today. There is no such thing!
Finally, I would like you to remember something. The oneness of the Body is a oneness not only among Christians, but a oneness with God and with His presence.
In the Old Testament, whenever God's presence was manifested, His judgment was executed as well. The presence of God means the presence of judgment. God is holy. There is no question of judgment where His presence is not felt. But as soon as there is His presence, there is judgment. If we want to maintain Christian oneness, we must uphold His presence. His presence means judgment and the law. He executes judgment on everything that is wrong. Where His presence is lacking, the requirement is not stringent. But where His presence is manifested, no sin can be tolerated. If the church tolerates sin and covers things up, there cannot be the possibility of maintaining any oneness.
I would like to draw your attention to the basis of our oneness. This is fundamental. The basis of our oneness is the forsaking of sins. Please bear in mind that God's children are divided today because of the problem of sins. The matter of sins is always implicated. Because of many sins, there are many divisions. Many of God's children have a basic misunderstanding; they think that patience and forbearance are the basis of oneness. There is no such thing as this. The Bible never takes patience or forbearance as the basis of our oneness. The Bible always takes the forsaking of sins as the basis of our oneness.
If anyone wants to have fellowship with God today, he must walk in the light. We will have fellowship with one another when we are in the light. We may say that fellowship is the basis of our oneness, but the basis of fellowship is our dealing with sin and our removal of sin. When all of us are in God's light, we have fellowship one with another. Other than this, there is no fellowship.
Second Corinthians 6 shows us that when we separate ourselves, God becomes our Father and we become His children (vv. 17-18). God's fellowship with us is based on our separation. Do not keep men's natural ties at the expense of God's fellowship. This is where many people have failed!
Who are the vessels of honor in the eyes of God? They are those who have cleansed themselves from dishonor. If a man cleanses himself from dishonor, he becomes a vessel unto honor. Those who call upon the name of the Lord must depart from unrighteousness. Only those who depart from unrighteousness can call upon the name of the Lord. If a man cleanses himself, he becomes a vessel unto honor. If a man is a vessel unto honor, he can pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart (2 Tim. 2:22). Only those who draw their swords and take a stand on God's side to kill their own brothers are qualified to be Levites (Exo. 32:26-28).
The boundary of oneness can only be maintained with a price. Do not think that you can be one by having more love and forbearance. There is no such thing. The basis of oneness is the removal of sin. Anything that offends Christian oneness must be removed. Today Christians are not one not because there is a lack of love but because sin has not been removed. It is true that many people have considerable human patience and affection. But such things are useless in achieving oneness.
Today when God opens a person's eyes to see the Body, the boundary of the church, and the oneness among Christians, and when this person disentangles himself from all human affection and tolerance, he will spontaneously take a step forward in his pursuit of the Lord. If you cannot go on, you can only blame your eyes for the lack of light and your heart for not being single enough. Do not blame those who have gone on. You must realize that only those who have a desire to depart from sins, unrighteousness, and dishonor, and who will give up the affection of the brothers and take a stand for the Body, will have eyes to see. Today it does not matter how much others embrace you with human affection or talk to you about oneness. You have to pay the price; you must depart from unrighteousness. You must see the Body of Christ. You must sacrifice human affection and love. Once you sacrifice them, spontaneously you will be one with others who take the same stand. The basis of oneness is the forsaking of unrighteousness, not the forbearance or endurance of unrighteousness.
Everywhere we find unrighteousnesses, offenses, and trespasses against the Body of Christ. If a person is faithful and obedient, you can join yourself to him. But if you want to maintain any other type of oneness, you must be prepared to be defiled with sins and unrighteousnesses. If you do that, you can, of course, be one with those who practice such things.
Many people condemn those who have separated themselves for not having enough forbearance, love, or patience. But no, the ones who have separated themselves are not lacking in patience; rather, those who have not separated themselves are lacking in obedience. Those who have left are not short of love, but those who remain are short of light before God. Those who leave are not hardened in heart, but those who remain are wavering before God.
If God's children will all rise up to condemn sin, there will be oneness in our Christian fellowship. If they will all judge sin, there will be Christian oneness. If all of God's people will submit to God, we will see the oneness of the Body. Spontaneously the flesh, the sects, and the divisions will disappear, and God's children will become one.
The basis of oneness is not the forbearance of sin. The basis of oneness is the judgment of sin. There is no possibility of oneness between those who judge and those who do not. If you want to be one with all the children of God, you must take a stand together with all the children of God in judging sin. If they judge sin and you do not, how can you be one with them? Those who walk out are not wrong; those who remain are wrong. Those who judge sin are right; they are one with all those who judge sin throughout the world. We ask God to have mercy on those who will not judge sin, so that they also will rise up to judge sin. We ask God to show them that oneness and light are possible only outside of organizations, methods, associations, and sects. The Body of Christ is the unique sphere of the oneness among God's children.
