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Scripture Reading: Psa. 133:1-3; John 17:21-23; Eph. 3:16—4:6; 1 John 2:27; 1 Pet. 3:7
The truth of oneness is great and profound. The full meaning of the genuine oneness revealed in the Bible is far beyond our apprehension. Because it is difficult for us to understand the oneness unfolded in the Scriptures, the Lord Jesus prayed about oneness in John 17 instead of speaking about it as the continuation of His discourse to His disciples. I believe that the Lord Jesus realized that His disciples were not able to understand the matter of oneness. Therefore, He offered a prayer regarding it.
John 17 is a deep, profound, mysterious composition. This chapter is itself definite evidence that the Bible is inspired by God. No human being could compose such a writing as the seventeenth chapter of John. During the past fifty years I have come back to this chapter again and again. However, I must admit that I have touched only a fraction of the truth found here.
Verses 21 through 23 are representative of the profoundness of this chapter. In verse 21 the Lord prayed, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us.’’ What is the oneness spoken of in this verse? What does it mean for us to be one even as the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father? Surely this oneness is beyond our understanding. In verse 22 the Lord went on to say, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one.” What is the glory which the Father has given to the Son and which the Son has given to us? Furthermore, what does it mean for us to be one even as the Father and the Son are one? Some may think that this oneness is simply a matter of the three persons of the Divine Trinity having no dispute, argument, or dissension. According to this concept of oneness, to be one means to be in harmony and to have no disagreements. Those who understand verse 22 in this way would say that if a good number of believers can come together without argument or dissension, they are one just as the Father and the Son are one.
This understanding of oneness is too superficial. Surely the oneness here is not merely that of individual units coming together in harmony and agreement. Here the Lord said that He has given us the very glory the Father has given Him in order that we may be one in the Father and the Son. This points to a oneness that exists in the divine nature and the Divine Being. The three of the Triune God are one in Their nature and being.
The oneness of the believers in Christ should be essentially the same. The use of the word glory here substantiates this. Because we have received from the Son the very glory He has received from the Father, we may be one even as the Father and the Son are one. This points to a oneness that is not the mere addition of individual units but a oneness that is related to nature and being. Otherwise, the word glory would not be used in this verse. Glory is the very factor of the oneness here. The glory has been given to us in order that we may be one even as the Father and the Son are one. Hence, the glory of the Divine Being is the factor of the oneness among those who believe in Christ.
Verse 23 says, “I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one.” Once again we see that this is not a mere oneness of addition. The believers are not simply added together to be one. Verse 23 is even stronger than verses 21 and 22 regarding oneness, for it speaks of our being perfected into one. This indicates that we may be one, but our oneness may be just at the beginning stage. It may not have yet grown or reached perfection.
Although we can point out certain things about these verses, we cannot understand them adequately. Furthermore, it is difficult for us, even after we have read them again and again, to state the main point in each verse. This proves that the oneness about which the Lord prayed in this chapter is profound and far beyond our comprehension.
In the Bible there are four great chapters on the matter of oneness: Deuteronomy 12, Psalm 133, John 17, and Ephesians 4 with the last part of Ephesians 3. It is a great loss and a frustration of understanding to separate Ephesians 4:1-6 from 3:16-21. It is very helpful, however, when all these verses are read together as one unit. The oneness spoken of in 4:1-6 is intimately related to what is covered in 3:16-21. The word therefore in 4:1 indicates this. It shows that these verses in chapter 4 are the result of what immediately precedes them in chapter 3. In 3:16-21 Paul prays that the Father would grant us to be strengthened through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in our hearts, that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are and to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, that we may be filled unto all the fullness of God. The result is that, according to the power which operates in us, there is glory to God in the church and in Christ Jesus. In light of all this, Paul declares in 4:1, “I beseech you therefore, I, the prisoner in the Lord, to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called.” As the context makes clear, to walk worthily of our calling is mainly to keep the oneness of the Spirit. In verses 4 through 6 Paul goes on to point out that the oneness of the Spirit is the very Triune God. Paul speaks of the Body and of the one Spirit, the one Lord, and the one God and Father. The fact that the Body and the Triune God are mentioned together indicates that oneness is actually the mingling of the Triune God with the believers.
In Ephesians 3 Paul refers to the three of the Triune God. Paul prays that the Father would strengthen the saints through His Spirit into the inner man so that Christ may make His home in their hearts. Here we have the Father, the Spirit, and Christ (the Son). Then in chapter 4 Paul speaks of the Spirit, the Lord, and the Father. He refers to the Triune God in relation to the oneness of the Spirit and the Body. This indicates that oneness is not merely a matter of addition but of the mingling of the Triune God with the believers. Oneness is the mingling of the processed God with the believers.
Many references to the Triune God, especially in the Epistles, indicate the process through which God has passed. In the New Testament the Triune God — the Father, the Son, the Spirit — is revealed clearly in relation to the incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ. In Matthew 28:19 the Lord Jesus charged His disciples to disciple the nations and to baptize them “into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Before the resurrection of Christ, people could not be baptized into the name of the Triune God. Only after God had been processed through Christ’s incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection could believers be baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit. To be baptized, immersed, into this name of the processed God is to participate in the processed God. Furthermore, in the Epistles we see that the processed Triune God is for our participation and enjoyment. Therefore, eventually the Triune God becomes mingled with us. This mingling is the oneness.
The mere oneness of addition is very superficial. The oneness revealed in the Bible is the mingling of the processed Triune God with His chosen people. If we see this, then we can more easily understand the Lord’s prayer concerning oneness in John 17. The oneness in John 17 is the mingling of divinity with humanity. However, we do not mean simply divinity in itself but divinity after it has been processed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. Having passed through such a process, the Triune God becomes our portion and enjoyment. As the life-giving Spirit, He mingles Himself with those who believe in Christ.
With this concept of oneness in mind, let us come back to John 17:21. We have seen that here the Lord prayed that “they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us.” Here the Lord said that He is in the Father and that the Father is in Him. This no doubt indicates that the Father and the Son are mingled. This mingling is the oneness between the Father and the Son. The oneness between the Father and the Son is that the Father is in the Son and that the Son is in the Father. The Lord prayed that we would be one in the same way, even that we would be one “in Us,” that is, in the Triune God.
In verse 22 the Lord said that the glory which the Father had given Him He had given to His believers “that they may be one, even as We are one.” Glory is the expression of God. This expression has been given to the Son. The Father has given the Son the glory to express Him in the divine life. Now this glory has been given to us by the Son so that we may be one, even as the Father and the Son are one. This oneness is the oneness in the divine glory for the corporate expression of God.
In verse 23 the Lord continued, “I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one.” Here we see the mingling of the processed God with the believers. The words I, them, and You refer respectively to Christ, the believers, and the Father. The Son is in the believers, and the Father is in the Son. This is the mingling of the Triune God with the believers. As a result of such a mingling, we may be perfected into one.
Perhaps you are wondering what it means to be perfected into one. On the day we believed in Christ, we came into this oneness. However, we still have problems with our natural man, our natural constitution, and our natural disposition. But the more we experience Christ as the life-giving Spirit, the more all these natural elements are reduced. As they are reduced through our experience of the Triune God, we are perfected into one.
We all need to be impressed with the fact that the oneness revealed in the Bible is not a matter of adding the believers together to form a harmonious unit. Such a concept of oneness is natural and superficial. Once again we say that oneness is the mingling of the processed Triune God with the believers. Having seen this oneness as it is unfolded in John 17 and Ephesians 4, let us now consider Psalm 133.
This psalm is so profound that it is difficult to speak about it. Verse 1 says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is / For brothers to dwell in unity!” Notice that the psalmist uses two adjectives to describe brothers dwelling together in oneness. He says that this is good and pleasant. The reason two adjectives are used is that in the following verses the dwelling together in oneness is likened to two things: to the precious ointment on the head of Aaron and to the dew of Hermon on the mountains of Zion. These two adjectives point to two aspects of oneness. The oneness is good and pleasant: good as the precious ointment and pleasant as the descending dew.
Of these aspects, the first — Aaron — is a person, and the second — Zion — is a place. Have you ever seen that the church has these two aspects? On the one hand, the church is a person; on the other hand, the church is a place. As a person, the church includes the Head with the Body. As a place, the church is the dwelling place of God. Elsewhere in the Bible we see that the church is the bride, the new man, and the warrior. These, however, are aspects of the church as a person. Actually, the church has just two main aspects: the aspect of a person and the aspect of a dwelling place. Related to these two aspects of the church are the ointment and the dew.
Although in verse 2 the King James Version speaks of ointment, most other versions use the Hebrew word for oil. This oil refers to the anointing oil described in Exodus 30. That anointing oil was a compound ointment formed by blending four spices with olive oil. Aaron, his sons, the tabernacle, and everything related to the tabernacle were anointed with this ointment. According to Psalm 133, this ointment, this compound anointing oil, was upon a person, Aaron. We have pointed out that, by contrast, the refreshing, watering, and saturating dew was on a place, the mountains of Zion.
Neither the anointing oil nor the saturating dew moved quickly. The dew did not fall down like rain; it descended, came down, in a gradual way. In like manner, the ointment did not actually run down upon Aaron’s beard; it spread upon his beard and then ran down to the hem of his garments. The Hebrew root means “to strew,” as to strew over a surface. It also means “to spread,” like to spread a cover, a bedspread, over a bed. Hence, the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head spread upon his beard; it did not swiftly run down upon the beard. Gently and slowly, the ointment spread.
In the same principle the dew came down upon the mountains of Zion. In our hymnal there is a hymn about “showers of blessing” (Hymns, #260). Such spiritual showers are somewhat Pentecostal in nature. I have a greater appreciation for the spreading of the ointment and the descending of the dew than for the showers of blessing. Showers are not related to oneness. The genuine oneness is constituted of the spreading ointment and the descending dew.
We have pointed out emphatically that real oneness is the mingling of the processed God with the believers. Although this is revealed in the New Testament, we do not see in the New Testament the way to practice this oneness. The way to practice this mingling is in Psalm 133. The ointment in verse 2 is a type of the processed Triune God who today is the all-inclusive compound Spirit. According to Exodus 30, the anointing oil is a compound formed by blending four spices with a hin of olive oil. This compound typifies the all-inclusive Spirit who is the processed God for our enjoyment. In this compound Spirit we have not only divinity but also Christ’s humanity, the effectiveness of His death, and the power of His resurrection. In other words, the compound Spirit is the processed God with the divine attributes, the human virtues, the effectiveness of Christ’s death, and the power of Christ’s resurrection. In the church life this compound Spirit is continually anointing us.
The ointment can be compared to paint, and the anointing to the application of the paint. When you paint a chair, you may put on one coat of paint after another. As the compound Spirit anoints us, He “paints” us, and the “paint” is the very Triune God. In this paint we have the humanity of Christ, the effectiveness of Christ’s death, and the power of Christ’s resurrection. We also have Christ’s divinity and human living. As all these ingredients of the ointment are applied to us, we are painted with the processed Triune God and with all the elements in the compound ointment. The proper church life is a life in the oneness that is the mingling of the processed Triune God with the believers. As we remain in this oneness, we are painted with the ointment. The more we are painted in this way, the more our natural constitution, temperament, and disposition are eliminated. What remains is the mingling of the processed Triune God with our uplifted humanity. This is the oneness.
In such a oneness it is not possible to have division, not even dissension. In this oneness there is no room even for our opinion. Although we need much more experience of the divine painting that brings us into oneness, we have had at least some experience of this in the church life. To a certain degree at least, we have all entered into the oneness.
When we were in the denominations or independent groups, we found it easy to be opinionated or critical. But in the church the dissenting element and divisive factors are subdued. This is the effect of oneness. The more the paint of the processed Triune God is applied to our being, the more difficult it is for us to be divided. Through the application of the heavenly paint, we are brought into the genuine oneness, not the superficial oneness that is according to the natural concept. We are in the oneness that is the processed Triune God painted into our very being.
As we have pointed out, this ointment, this divine paint, does not run down; it spreads. I want my house to be painted with paint that will stick, not with paint that will run down the walls like water. Likewise, when the ointment is applied to us, it sticks to our inner being; it does not run down. The running of the ointment is like the experiences in Pentecostalism or in the charismatic movement. Experiences of that kind pass quickly. In the church life, however, the spiritual blessing comes to us gradually, slowly, and gently. But once it comes, it remains. Once the paint is applied to us, it stays. After we have been coated with the anointing oil, the coat remains forever. Nothing can eradicate it.
The anointing does not cause us to have very much feeling in our emotion. Those experiences that come and go quickly, on the contrary, stir up our feeling. But this is not the normal experience in the church life. In the church life we experience the gradual spreading of the all-inclusive ointment. For example, in the church prayer meeting we may receive one or two coats of paint without having much feeling of it. As we have pointed out, this ointment has many ingredients. How grateful we are to the Lord for His recovery. Day by day in the church life, all the ingredients of the divine ointment are being wrought into us. Through the application of these ingredients to our inward being, we are spontaneously in the oneness. We find it exceedingly difficult to be divisive or even dissenting. How good, lovely, and enjoyable is the oneness in the church! The only way to be divisive is for us to make a strong decision contrary to our inner being. We are one spontaneously because we have been painted with all the elements of the heavenly paint.
The ground of oneness is simply the processed Triune God applied to our being. This is the oneness in which we find ourselves today. We are not in a oneness produced by adding together those who believe in Christ. In that kind of oneness it is just as easy to have subtraction as it is to have addition. However, once we have been brought into the oneness produced by the application of the processed Triune God to our being, it is very difficult to have any subtraction. This oneness is altogether different from the oneness in today’s Christianity. The oneness in Christianity involves addition and subtraction. But the oneness in the churches in the Lord’s recovery involves the application of the Triune God to our inward being.
The ointment is not for individuals; it is for the Body. It cannot be experienced by those who are separate and detached from the Body. According to the picture in Psalm 133, the ointment is upon the head. Then it spreads to the beard and goes down to the hem of the garment. This indicates that if we are individualistic, we cannot experience the ointment. Some may argue that they can contact the Lord alone at home. No doubt they can. The crucial matter, however, is whether or not we are one with the church. If we are one with the church, then we can properly contact the Lord alone at home. But if we separate ourselves from the church, our contact with the Lord will be altogether different. The reason is that the anointing oil is not for individualistic members; it is for the Head and the Body, even for the Head with the Body. Hence, to be painted by the ointment, we must be in the church. Then we spontaneously enjoy the application of the anointing oil with all its elements. How marvelous is the oneness produced by the application of this ointment!
According to Psalm 133:3, the oneness is also like the dew that descends upon the mountains of Zion. The anointing oil is upon the person, Aaron, but the dew is upon the place, Zion. The dew signifies the grace of life (1 Pet. 3:7). The grace of life is the supply of life. In the church life we are not only under the anointing; we also receive the supply, the grace, of life. As we are anointed, we are also graced.
Suppose two brothers who live together in a brothers’ house are having difficulty getting along. However, through their participation in the church life, they are graced and receive the supply of life. Spontaneously they will not only bear one another but truly love one another. This is the experience of the dew, the grace.
The apostle Paul abundantly experienced the Lord’s grace. Three times he prayed that the “thorn” that was afflicting him would be removed. The Lord replied that His grace was sufficient for Paul. By this word the Lord indicated that He would not take away the thorn, but He would supply Paul with His sufficient grace.
In 2 Corinthians 13:14 Paul blesses the church with the words, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” This verse indicates that grace is the Triune God processed to be our life supply. Whereas the ointment signifies the processed Triune God who is painted into our being, the dew signifies the Triune God who is our life supply for our enjoyment. Therefore, in the church life daily we are anointed and graced. We are painted with the processed God, and we are graced with the very same processed God as our life supply. This anointing and this supply make it possible for us to live in oneness. In the words of Psalm 133, this oneness is like the anointing oil and the watering dew. Under the anointing oil and the watering dew, we experience the blessing of life on the ground of oneness.
