Oneness

In speaking of the unique oneness of the Body of Christ and of the local churches, Witness Lee further says:

The local ground of the church is basically the unique oneness of the Body of Christ practiced in the local churches. Both the universal Body of Christ and the local churches are uniquely one. There is one unique Body of Christ in the whole universe, and there is one unique local church in each locality, respectively. This unique oneness is the basic element of the church life. Since the oneness of the Body of Christ is the oneness of the Spirit (Eph. 4:3), the oneness practiced in a local church must be in the move of the Spirit and under the government of the Spirit.

(Witness Lee, Crucial Points, 22)

Elsewhere Witness Lee also observes:

The church as the Body of Christ is uniquely one both universally and locally (Eph. 4:3-6). The church is one universally as the Body of Christ and one locally as the local testimony, the expression of Christ. As the local testimonies, the churches are many, but in each city there should only be one local church as Christ’s unique expression in that locality. The church, both universally and locally, has only one Head. The church also has one Spirit (Eph. 4:4), that is, one life, one Lord (4:5), and one God, the Father of all (4:6).

Christ is unique and is not divided (1 Cor. 1:13a). This unique and undivided Christ, taken as the unique center among all the believers, should be the termination of all divisions.

(Witness Lee, Eldership (3), 10-11)

Thus, the universal Church and the local church, as the Body and expression of the unique, indivisible Christ, are uniquely one. Witness Lee has identified the key aspects of this unique oneness in Ephesians 4: Both the universal and local church share only one Head, one Spirit, one life, one Lord, and one God.

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