The Body of Christ is One

By Brother Gene

"For those of us who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, there is no more important Scripture than the prayer of Jesus, as it is recorded in the Gospel of John, chapter 17. In this prayer, Jesus prayed for those first disciples, and He also prayed for "all who believe in Me through their word. "And the heart of that prayer is "...that they may be one" (Verses 22 and 23).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662469091

Book preview

The Body of Christ is One!

Since there is One Bread, we who are many Are one Body (I Corinthians 10:17; John 17).

There is a tremendous burden in the heart of God today. That burden is directly related to the prayer that the Lord Jesus prayed in those hours just before His crucifixion. In that prayer He prayed for all of His people throughout all of the ages. That prayer expressed the concern and the burden that the Lord has for His Church, even today. The Church that is the Body of Christ has, in many ways, forgotten who it is and to Whom it belongs and why it is here. The Church is to be the channel through which God expresses Himself to the world. But the channel is clogged. And there is no other avenue of expression. One of the major clogs in the channel has to do with the unScriptural arrangement of the Church into literally dozens of oftentimes competing groups.

The purpose of Christ for His Church has not changed. "…we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and HELD TOGETHER BY THAT WHICH EVERY JOINT SUPPLIES, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love" (Eph. 4:14-16).

Today the Body is not together.

In those last hours of His pre-crucifixion walk with His first followers, Our Lord prayed the prayer that expresses His Will for His church for all time.

God has convicted me deeply that I must look more seriously at this incredible prayer, for in it He prayed for you and for me.

It is clear that the Lord Jesus intends for His Body to be One. But what kind of Oneness? Notice carefully that Jesus did not pray for UNITY. In John 17:23 Jesus prayed …that they may be perfected in one… not …perfected in unity. He prayed for ONENESS. A difference of opinion can dissolve unity; Oneness cannot be ended in that manner.

There are many kinds of unity. There is the unity that is created among people who have the same economic interests. There is the unity that is created by racial identity. There is the unity that politicians have regarding certain specific issues, and there is an incredible unity that prevails at sporting events among those supporting the same teams.

However, that unity is not ONENESS. That is not what our Lord prayed for; Those same people may actually hate each other after the game is over. The Oneness that Christ prayed for is altogether different! It is not based on issues or practices or opinions, nor is it based on agreement on various creedal statements ABOUT Jesus Christ.

(Note: in the New Testament where the Greek word henotes is used it is translated by the word unity. Unity in those cases is exactly the oneness that Jesus prayed for. It is not the