One vs. One: Which One Are We?
Corporate. Community. Union. Assembly. Congregation.
Words used in faith-based gatherings to refer to the the Church; the Body of Christ. While distinct in their own ways, all share a common element: the concept of One.
For such One-ness Jesus prayed in the Garden, "that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us" (John 17.21).
You know this. But have you ever noticed - even within this concept of One - there exist variations?
Look up the word in Merriam-Webster and two distinctions emerge: 1) One as a union or gathering together of many parts to make a whole, and 2) One as a singular something with only one part - unique in its singularity.
An analogy would be a bucket of small rocks versus one BIG rock. Lots of parts vs. one part that makes the whole - complete in itself.
Which One Are We?
Asked another way, of which One was Christ speaking in the Garden?
Certainly the union of parts - the Father, Son and Spirit who coexist in the Trinity, along with the many who coexist in it (or, as Christ said, "in Us.") Of such a union the Church also speaks to the Church, invoking Christ's prayer for One-ness among its members buttressed with Pauline exhortations to dwell together in the self-same unity (Col. 3:14).
Practicably applied, what does this union look like? You and I (hopefully) share a common set of beliefs, mindset and purpose, within which we have our individual priorities, challenges and struggles. To each other we contribute our individual strengths and rely upon one another to help in our individual weaknesses. (Eph. 4:16)
But could it be Jesus was also speaking of the other One? Scripture seems to. If this is true, then Christ was also envisioning a collective singular One-ness for God's People - not just the union of parts that flows from a group of individuals who share a common bond and mindset, but the singular One-ness of which Paul spoke where we are quite literally "one body … and individually members one of another" (Rom. 12:5) that collectively has the singular one "mind of Christ." (1 Cor. 2:16) Contrary to union, this is a mode of existence where there are no distinctions, is no separate-ness and no individuality, but all who follow in His footsteps live in literal fact as one singular entity in Christ. (Gal. 3:28)
Practicably applied, what does this singularity look like? Literally (not figuratively), your joy is my joy; my success, your success; and your strength, my strength. There are no divisions. No separations. None. And no opt-outs. As goes one, so go all, just like with our individual body where the hand does not (cannot) exist separate from the wrist or the foot from the ankle. When this "whole body" is firing on all cylinders, it moves as one with the singleness of mind and purpose for which it's designed (Eph. 4:16, 1 Cor. 12:14-26).
So, back to the question: which One is the Church? Is it union - with lots of folks in a room, each with a part to play? Or singular - there's only one person in the room, and it's us? The correct answer, of course, is that we're both. But to ask the question yet another way: on any given day what combination of One as union vs. One as singular do we think (and therefore act, speak and live as if) we are? Ahhh … perhaps there's the rub. One we'll explore in our next post.
What say you?