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In this chapter we will consider the faith of the church, which involves some practical matters concerning the testimony and ground of the church. Hence, we need to see the basis of the truth.
Although we have paid much attention to the matter of the testimony and the ground of the church, it is not easy to speak concisely and accurately about the testimony and the ground of the church. What we have said has not been wrong, but we may not have been as wise as we could have been in how we expressed it. Hence, this may have caused misunderstandings and problems. Even many of the saints among us are not clear. Therefore, I have spent much time before the Lord to consider the testimony of the church. Although we speak of the testimony of the church and of the church testifying of the Lord, we are not clear about this testimony. Now, in the light of the Lord’s words, we see clearly that the testimony of the church is to express Christ, who is the expression of God. Any testimony that is less than Christ is not the testimony of the church.
In order to explain the testimony of the church, we need to speak of the Son of God — Christ, who is God’s Anointed as the One commissioned by God to work for God. The work of the Son of God, the work for which He was anointed and appointed by God, is simply to express God. God is in the Son, and the Son, as the Christ, the Anointed, has been appointed to do the sole work of expressing God. God anointed His Son to work for Him and to accomplish His will, but His central goal in doing this is so that the Son would completely and fully express God.
In Matthew 16:16 Peter said to the Lord, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This means that the Lord was commissioned by God as His Anointed, and that the commissioned One was the Son of the living God. God commissioned His Son to express Him, just as a son expresses his father. Instead of angels or archangels, God commissioned His Son to express Him. If God’s commission was related only to accomplishing something of God’s will or doing a mighty work, it would have been sufficient for God to commission an archangel, either Michael or Gabriel or even any other angel to do this.
During the reign of Hezekiah, God sent an angel to go and strike the Assyrians’ camp, killing a hundred and eighty-five thousand men (2 Kings 19:35; 2 Chron. 32:21). This shows the power of an angel. However, for His expression God did not commission a mighty angel but His own Son, showing that God’s central work is not only a matter of accomplishing something related to His will or expressing His might but a matter of manifesting, expressing, and declaring God Himself. John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” This tells us that only the Son can declare God. Apart from God’s Son, no one can declare God. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Christ (Col. 2:9) so that God can be expressed through the Son. By anointing His Son as the Christ, God commissioned His Son to do only one thing — express God Himself.
The Son of God expresses God because He has taken two steps. His first step was the thirty-three and a half years of His human living, during which He lived out God among men on the earth. The Gospels show that Jesus the Nazarene expressed God in reality in His human living. He was a “prototype,” who would be enlarged in a way of “mass production.” During His time on earth, only Jesus expressed God. He was like an image on a piece of film that could be reprinted onto thousands of pictures. He was the “center,” but He had not yet spread to the “circumference.”
How could Christ be enlarged from center to circumference, from prototype to mass production? How could thousands of reprints be made from this film? For this, there was the need for His second step of death and resurrection. Before He died, He was the center, the prototype, but after He passed through death and resurrection, there was a spreading to the circumference; that is, there was a mass production, a reprinting of the image on the film onto many reprints. In the Gospels, Christ, as a Galilean, was the Son of God as the expression of God; in Acts thousands of Galileans became sons of God as His corporate expression.
There is no difference in nature or in standard between the condition portrayed in Acts and in the Gospels. The only difference is that the Gospels speak of an individual man as the center, whereas Acts speaks of the center spreading to the circumference and becoming a corporate matter. In the Gospels there is only one person who is the expression of God, but in Acts a group of people become a corporate entity to be the expression of God. In the Gospels only the Head expresses God, but in Acts the Head and the Body express God. In the Gospels there is only one image on the film, but in Acts there are thousands of reprints. This is the one grain becoming many grains (John 12:24). As the Son of God, the Lord Jesus expressed God as one grain, but He has been multiplied to become many grains. As the Head, His life and nature are in the many grains, the many members of His Body. We are His corporate Body; thus, He and we are one entity to be God’s expression. This is the testimony of the church.
Some may ask, “How did Christ, through death and resurrection, reprint Himself into the many people who have believed in Him?” He did this by becoming the Spirit in resurrection. The Father is in the Son, and the Son as the Spirit is in the Body; this is the church. John 14:20 says, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” After the Lord died and was resurrected, He came as the Spirit to enter into the disciples (20:22); thus, the disciples knew these three ins — in My Father, you in Me, and I in you — at the same time. In chapter 17 the Lord prayed to the Father, saying, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us” (v. 21). The Lord prayed to the Father that the disciples would be joined as one just as He and the Father were joined as one. The Father is in the Son, the Son has become the Spirit, and the Spirit has entered into the disciples; therefore, not only are the Father, Son, and Spirit, as the Triune God, one, but this triune One has entered into us to make us the same as He is, being completely joined with us as one. The Father is in the Son; hence, the Son is the testimony of the Father. The Son became the Spirit; hence, the Spirit testifies of the Son. Now the Spirit as the Son has entered into us as the church; thus, the church testifies of the Son. This is the testimony of the church.
The testimony of the church is not about a doctrine, a truth, or some ceremonial matters. The testimony of the church is the Triune God — the Father in the Son, the Son as the Spirit, and the Spirit in the church, fully expressing the Father and the Son. This is the testimony of the church. It is not sufficient for the church to merely show people the truth. First Timothy 3:15 speaks of the church as “the pillar and base of the truth,” but verse 16 continues, saying, “Great is the mystery of godliness: He who was manifested in the flesh.” Flesh refers to an enlarged flesh, that is, Christ’s corporate Body. God was manifested in the flesh of Jesus the Nazarene; now He is being manifested corporately in the flesh of thousands of believers. The church is not only the pillar and base of the truth but also the great mystery of godliness, that is, God manifested in the flesh. It is not sufficient for the church to uphold just a truth; much more, the church should uphold the living Triune God. Whenever the church meets together, it is not sufficient for people to hear only a message or see some light of the truth. Rather, a meeting must cause people to bow their heads and say, “Indeed God is among you” (1 Cor. 14:25). The testimony of the church is the living out of God in Christ as the Spirit.
Some may ask, “Why do we have to emphasize the testimony of the church when we speak concerning the ground of the church?” If we do not see that the testimony of the church is an all-inclusive testimony, that is, the testimony of the Lord as the Spirit being lived out by the church, we will not understand the ground of the church, and we will not be able to know the ground of the church. Some people speak of a posttribulation rapture as if that was their testimony; thus, the posttribulation rapture becomes their ground. Because they uphold their interpretation of a posttribulation rapture, it becomes their ground. What are we here to uphold? Some misunderstand and think that we are upholding the local ground of the church as a testimony. This concept is wrong. We are not here to uphold the ground of a local church, because our testimony is not of the local church. I am not saying that the local church is not scriptural or that the ground of locality is wrong. Instead, I am saying that the testimony of the church is not the local church or the ground of locality. The testimony of the church is the all-inclusive Christ, and the church is the living out of God in Christ as the Spirit. If we see this testimony, we will understand the ground of the church.
If the testimony of the church is related merely to one item of the truth, there will be many problems because there are many truths in the Bible. One group of people will maintain a certain truth as their testimony, another group of people will maintain another truth as their testimony, and another group of people will maintain yet another truth as their testimony. Once a truth becomes a testimony that is upheld by men, it becomes their ground. For example, when a group of people upheld the truth of baptism by immersion as their testimony, it became their ground, and the Baptist Church was brought forth. Likewise, when another group of people upheld the truth of the presbytery system as their testimony, testifying that the church should be administrated by elders, it became their ground, and the Presbyterian Church was brought forth. When yet another group of people upheld holiness as their testimony, it became their ground, and the Holiness Church was brought forth. Justification by faith also is a truth, and when some people upheld this truth as their testimony, it became their ground, and the Lutheran Church was brought forth. These sectarian and denominational grounds are not the true ground of the church, because these grounds have brought divisions into the church, damaging the oneness of the church.
The oneness of the church is God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. In other words, the oneness of the church is the Triune God. How can thousands of Christians become one? How can Oriental and Western people become one? How can Greeks and Jews — two groups having nothing to do with each other — become one Body? How can free men and slaves — two absolutely different classes — become one? Is it because they all have the same doctrines and same opinions? Is it because they all have been baptized by immersion or are focused on holiness? Is it because they all believe in justification by faith? None of these is the basis of oneness. Even if we all believed in these truths, we would not be one simply because we believe in these truths. We are one Body in Christ, whether we are Jews or Greeks, slaves or free men, because in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body and were all given to drink one Spirit (12:13). Because there is one Spirit, one Lord, and one God, we are one Body. Hence, Ephesians 4:4-6 says, “One Body and one Spirit, even as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” There are seven “ones”: one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, one God, one hope, one faith, and one baptism. Many, who previously could not be one, have become one because of these seven ones. Since the testimony of the church is one, the ground of the church is one.
We need to fellowship concerning the faith. How many items are there in the Christian faith? Today every denomination has its creeds, its items of faith. For example, the Episcopal Church has an article of faith that says, “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.” Should such an article be included in the Christian faith? No! This article is not a matter of Christian faith. At the most, the Christian faith should include the seven ones spoken of in Ephesians 4:4-6. Only these seven ones are the Christian faith. Everything else is an opinion or an interpretation that should not be counted as the faith. When someone asks, “Do you believe in pretribulation rapture or posttribulation rapture?” even using the word believe is not right, because the rapture is a matter related to doctrinal interpretation; rapture is not a matter of the faith. When someone asks the sisters if they believe in head covering, this question is not about the faith; it is about a doctrinal matter. Hence, using the word believe is not right.
The faith saves when it is believed; that is, it is something that causes a person to become a child of God when he believes in it. Without believing in the true content of the faith, a person will not become a child of God. Only this is the faith. The sisters are not saved because they believe in head covering. As long as people believe in the Lord, they are saved, whether or not they cover their head and whether or not they “believe” in head covering. Furthermore, believing in the things of the Episcopal Church is not the basis of a person’s salvation. Believing in these things is entirely a matter of opinion, not a matter of the faith. Of course, some opinions are correct, whereas others are not. However, even a correct opinion should not be considered as the faith. The faith involves a condition that is needed in order for people to become children of God. Whatever is not needed for this condition is not the faith but merely an opinion or an interpretation. Baptism by immersion and baptism by sprinkling are opinions; they are not the faith. It is certainly possible for someone who regards baptism by sprinkling to be saved. Hence, baptism by immersion is not the faith even though it is a correct opinion.
Whatever concerns the basic testimony can be called the faith. The necessary condition of our testimony is the necessary condition of the faith. Our testimony is not immersion, because immersion is not our faith. Our testimony is a living God who enters into man in His Son through the Holy Spirit to live out God; only this is the faith. Bread breaking is not the faith, because Christians may or may not break the bread. This does not mean that it is right for Christians to not break the bread, but breaking or not breaking the bread does not involve the Christian faith. The faith is not a consideration related to the size or number of cups that are used for the Lord’s table; such considerations are merely opinions.
Opinions come in many varieties. For example, the matter of baptism is not simple. In addition to the different views concerning baptism by sprinkling or by immersion, there are many different views concerning the way to immerse. Some think that it is sufficient to be immersed once, whereas others think that a person should be immersed three times — in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Spirit. Some say that one must be immersed facing down, whereas others say that one must be immersed facing up. Those who think that immersions should be done facing down often say, “When the Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross, He bowed down His face when He expired. Since we are entering into the Lord’s death when we are baptized, we need to bow our face down as well.” Some say that baptism does not count if artificially stored water is used because the Lord Jesus was baptized in natural water (Matt. 3:13). Others go even further, saying, “Natural water is not sufficient. A believer must be baptized in fresh water, not salt water, because the Lord Jesus was baptized in a river.” Some even claim that baptism counts only when a person is baptized in the Jordan River. These are just some of the many variations of man’s opinions.
Groups like the Quakers, who care only for spiritual things, also have many opinions. Whether a person is baptized in sea water, fresh water, or any kind of water is not even in their consideration because they see no need for a physical baptism. Instead, they only want people to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which they count as baptism. People from the Salvation Army wave a flag over a person’s head and count this as a baptism. Should any of these be called the faith? These have nothing to do with the faith; they are merely different opinions because no one is saved because of them. The faith is what saves us when we believe in it, and it is what keeps us from being saved if we do not believe in it.
The faith is our testimony; hence, the faith is our ground. Our ground is not baptism by immersion, head covering, or the local church but the oneness of the church. The ground of the church is the oneness of the church. The church has only one ground, not two grounds. We can call it the ground of the church, or the ground of the local church, or the ground of oneness, or the ground of fellowship — whatever we want to call it is fine. In any case, the ground of the church is the ground of oneness, and there is not another ground. This ground comes out of the faith of the church and the testimony of the church; every saved one has this ground: believing that God is in His Son, that the Son of God has become the Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit has entered into us to make us one Body.
Every genuine Christian, whether he is with the Quakers, the Salvation Army, the Methodist Church, or the Anglican Church, believes in this ground because this is the faith. Our testimony is to uphold what we believe and to express what we believe. We believe that the Father is in the Son, that the Son is in the Spirit, and that the Spirit is in the church. Therefore, our testimony must be the Triune God being expressed through us; this must be our testimony and our unique ground. We have only this ground, not any other ground. If we uphold baptism by immersion, baptism by immersion will become our ground. If we uphold the presbytery system, this system will become our ground. If we believe in holiness, holiness will become our ground. Whatever we uphold will become our testimony. Because all these grounds damage the unique ground of the church, they cannot be regarded as the ground of the church. The ground of the church is only one because the faith of the church is one and the testimony of the church is one.
Today people may have many different opinions, but the faith is still one. Romans speaks of some regarding a certain day, but of others not regarding it. It also speaks of some eating only vegetables and of some eating meat (14:2-6). All these matters are related to man’s opinions and interpretations, and they should not be considered as the ground of the church.
The condition of the church does not need to be completely uniform. The church does not need to be like neatly cut tofu. In the church there is a certain beauty in not being so neat and orderly: some may cover their heads, whereas others may not; some may use bonnets to cover their heads, whereas others may use a piece of cloth. Some may think that this does not look nice, but from a certain perspective, this is the beauty of the church. God has no intention to make everything in the church neat and uniform. Some brothers may break the bread on Saturday, whereas another group of brothers may break the bread on the Lord’s Day evening. As long as they are not divided into sects or parties, this is truly beautiful.
Our flesh likes neatness and uniformity, but God is not like this. Romans 14:1-6 says, “Now him who is weak in faith receive, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his considerations. One believes that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables. He who eats, let him not despise him who does not eat; and he who does not eat, let him not judge him who eats, for God has received him. Who are you who judge another’s household servant?...One judges one day above another; another judges every day alike. Let each be fully persuaded in his own mind. He who regards that day, regards it to the Lord; and he who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who does not eat, does not eat to the Lord, and he gives thanks to God.” Paul says that he who is strong in faith should receive him who is weak in faith. The condition of a normal family is not always neat or orderly. The more prosperous a family is, the less neat and orderly it is.
A certain believer in Corinth had committed fornication, and the apostle says very clearly that the church should remove him, that is, to not mingle with him and not even to eat with him (1 Cor. 5:11-13). However, among the other saved ones in the church in Corinth, some did not believe in the resurrection of the dead (15:12), others went to court against other brothers (6:1, 6), and still others ate food sacrificed to idols (10:19-21), but the apostle Paul did not say to remove these ones. Paul’s Epistles do not show that he wanted the churches to be neat and uniform. On the contrary, he says, “We who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those who are weak” (Rom. 15:1).
If a home meeting uses unleavened bread for their bread-breaking meeting and another home meeting uses sliced leavened bread, should the saints who are using the unleavened bread be divided from the saints who are using the leavened bread? If they are troubled and cannot agree with the others’ practice, should they divide from each other because they regard different things? If those who are in favor of unleavened bread take this as their ground, they will become a sect, because unleavened bread is not a matter of the faith but an opinion. Even though some opinions are completely according to the Bible, these opinions should never be considered as matters of the faith.
If we take an opinion as our faith, we will become divided because there are too many opinions. The faith is not a matter of believing opinions but a matter of believing in the Triune God in Christ, who died and resurrected in order to dwell in us as the Spirit so that we could become His Body. We are saved; that is, we are regenerated with the Lord’s life, and as such, we are members, coordinating with one another as His Body to express Him as our testimony. This is sufficient, and nothing more needs to be added. We do not need to argue about baptism by immersion or sprinkling, about head covering, or about partial rapture, pretribulation rapture, or posttribulation rapture. When we talk about the ground of the church, we should not speak of these things.
The testimony of the church is the Triune God being mingled with us, who have believed in Him, so that we can become one Body to uphold His testimony and be His expression. This is the testimony of the church, which is also the faith of the church and the ground of the church. If we, as saved ones, see this testimony and never leave this testimony, our ground will be very clear, and there will be no arguments. Genuine believers who practice sprinkling or immersion, who are immersed once or three times, or who are immersed facing up or facing down have the same faith, the same life, the same Lord, the same Spirit, and the same Father and are in the same Body. Some may favor using leavened bread, whereas others may favor using unleavened bread, but we can still break the bread together. If we can receive and bear one another to this extent, it would be so wonderful.
There is no reason for Christians to be divided. Even if there are differences based on spiritual or outward practices, Christians should not be divided. Even if one breaks leavened bread and another one breaks unleavened bread, there should be no division. However, if these differences lead to the formation of an “Unleavened Bread Church” while the other becomes a “Leavened Bread Church,” there will be divisions. In the church in Corinth some said, “I am of Paul,” and others said, “I of Apollos” (1 Cor. 1:12). On the one hand, they seemed to be divided, but on the other hand, they were not divided. They were not divided into different denominations. If the church does not have some uniformity, it may not be good, but if we can tolerate such a situation, it will be beautiful. I am not encouraging or justifying different things, but I am asking whether we really see the testimony of the church when we encounter this kind of test. The testimony of the church is not unleavened bread or leavened bread; it is the Triune God living in us to make us His Body for His expression. On this point we should not be divided or different; we must see to this extent.
I hope that you all can understand that I am using contrary examples to illustrate that the church should never be divided. During the time of the apostles, things were not neat and completely uniform. The Brethren’s failure was related to trying to cut things neatly to the point that they divided continuously into more and more sects. We should never do this kind of cutting. Paul instructed the church to remove the one who had committed an obvious sin (5:11-13), and John wrote that the believers should not fellowship with those who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh (2 John 7, 9-11). However, Paul did not touch many matters related to the believers. Instead, he taught the believers to let those who regarded a day to regard that day and to let those who did not regard that day to not regard it. He taught the believers to not say anything to those who ate food sacrificed to an idol as long as their conscience was at peace, because an idol is nothing (1 Cor. 8:4). The apostle never brought in anything that could be a factor for division. However, if someone does something to shame God or has some obvious filthy sins, then he should be removed from the church. Furthermore, we should not have fellowship with anyone who disobeys the basic Christian faith or who is an antichrist.
The basic faith is the Father in the Son, the Son as the Spirit, and the Triune God indwelling us as the Spirit to make us one Body to express God and uphold His testimony on the earth. Only this is our faith; everything else is related to opinions. Even if our opinions are very scriptural, they cannot be counted as the faith. They should be considered only as a certain truth. Anything that is irrelevant to the testimony of the church should not be the ground of the church. Finally, we must see that being neat and uniform is not necessarily spiritual. It is hard for our flesh to tolerate a lack of neatness and uniformity in the church. Anything that is not in uniformity with us, that is, not the same as we are, is the greatest test to our flesh. We need to ask the Lord for His mercy so that we may be able to pass through such tests and be diligent to keep the oneness of the church.
