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Additional Quotes about the Local Church by Witness Lee and Watchman Nee
"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” (Eph. 4:4-6). A
person is constituted a member of the Church on the ground that he possesses
the oneness of the Spirit, and that will result in his being one with all
believers on the above seven points. They are the seven elements in the
oneness of the Spirit, which is the common heritage of all the children of
God. In drawing a line of demarcation between those who belong to the Church
and those who do not, we must require nothing beyond these seven lest we
exclude any who belong to the family of God; and we dare not require anything
less, lest we include any who do not belong to the divine family. All in whom
these seven are found belong to the Church; all who lack any of them do not
belong to the Church.
(1) ONE BODY. The question of oneness begins with the
question of membership of the Body of Christ. The sphere of our fellowship is
the sphere of the Body. Those who are outside that sphere have no spiritual
relationship with us, but those who are inside that sphere are all in
fellowship with us. We cannot make any choice of fellowship in the Body,
accepting some members and rejecting others. We are all part of the one Body,
and nothing can possibly separate us from it, or from one another. Anyone who
has received Christ belongs to the Body, and he and we are one. If we do not
wish to extend fellowship to anyone, we must first make sure that he does not
belong to the Body; if he does, we have no reason to reject him (unless for
such disciplinary reasons as are clearly laid down in the Word of
God).
(2) ONE SPIRIT. If anyone seeks fellowship with us,
however he may differ from us in experience or outlook, provided he has the
same Spirit as we have, he is entitled to be received as a brother. If he has
received the Spirit of Christ, and we have received the Spirit of Christ, then
we are one in the Lord, and nothing must divide us.
(3) ONE HOPE. This hope, which is common to all the
children of God, is not a general hope, but the hope of our calling, that is,
the hope of our calling as Christians. What is our hope as Christians? We hope
to be with the Lord forever in glory. There is not a single soul who is truly
the Lord’s in whose heart there is not this hope, for to have Christ in us is
to have “the hope of glory” in us (Col. 1:27). If anyone claims to be the
Lord’s, but has no hope of heaven or glory, his is a mere empty profession.
All who share this one hope are one, and since we have the hope of being
together in glory for all eternity, how can we be divided in time? If we are
going to share the same future, shall we not gladly share the same
present?
(4) ONE LORD. There is only one Lord, the Lord Jesus,
and all who recognize that God has made Jesus of Nazareth to be both Lord and
Christ are one in Him. If anyone confesses Jesus to be Lord, then his Lord is
our Lord, and since we serve the same Lord, nothing whatever can separate
us.
(5) ONE FAITH. The faith here spoken of is the
faith—not our beliefs in regard to the interpretation of Scripture, but the
faith through which we have been saved, which is the common possession of all
believers; that is, the faith that Jesus is the Son of God (who died for the
salvation of sinners and lives again to give life to the dead). Anyone who
lacks this vital faith does not belong to the Lord, but all who possess it are
the Lord’s. The children of God may follow many different lines of scriptural
interpretation, but in regard to this fundamental faith they are one. Those
who lack this faith have no part in the family of God, but all who possess it
we recognize as our brothers in the Lord.
(6) ONE BAPTISM. Is it by immersion or by sprinkling?
Is it single or triune? There are various forms of baptism accepted by the
children of God, so if we make the form of baptism the dividing line between
those who belong to the church and those who do not, we shall exclude many
true believers from our fellowship. There are children of God who even believe
that a material baptism is not necessary, but since they are the children of
God, we dare not on that account exclude them from our fellowship. What then
is the significance of the one baptism mentioned in this passage? Paul throws
light on the subject in his first letter to the Corinthians. “Is Christ
divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of
Paul?” (1:13). The emphasis is not on the form of baptism, but on the name
into which we are baptized. The first question is not whether you are
sprinkled or immersed, dipped once or three times, baptized literally or
spiritually; the important point is this: Into whose name have you been
baptized? If you are baptized into the name of the Lord, that is your
qualification for church membership. If anyone is baptized into the name of
the Lord, I welcome him as my brother, whatever the manner of his baptism. By
this we do not imply that it is of no consequence whether we are sprinkled or
immersed, or whether our baptism is spiritual or literal. The Word of God
teaches that baptism is literal, and is by immersion, but the point here is
that the manner of baptism is not the ground of our fellowship, but the name
into which we are baptized. All who are baptized into the name of the Lord are
one in Him.
(7) ONE GOD. Do we believe in the same personal,
supernatural God as our Father? If so, then we belong to one family, and there
is no adequate reason for our being divided.
The above seven points are the seven factors in that
divine oneness which is the possession of all the members of the divine
family, and they constitute the only test of Christian profession. They are
the possession of every true Christian, no matter to what place or period he
belongs. Like a sevenfold cord the oneness of the Spirit binds all the
believers throughout the world; and however diverse their character or
circumstances, provided they have these seven expressions of an inner oneness,
then nothing can possibly separate them.
(Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 2, Vol.
30, 78-80)
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