«　WEEK 10　DAY 4　»

　　Eph. 4:3 Being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.

　　Rev. 3:8 I know your works; behold, I have put before you an opened door which no one can shut, because you have a little power and have kept My word and have not denied My name.

　　

　　The ground of a local church is the genuine oneness of the Body of Christ, that is, the oneness of the Spirit. Ephesians 4:3 charges us to be diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit. The oneness of the Spirit is the oneness of the Body of Christ, which is the basic element of the unique ground of a local church.

　　The genuine oneness of the Body of Christ must be practiced with the unique ground of locality within the limit of the boundary and jurisdiction of the locality in which a church exists, that is, on the ground of locality, as with the church in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1), the church in Antioch (Acts 13:1), the church in Cenchrea (Rom. 16:1), the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:2), and the seven churches in the seven cities in Asia (Rev. 1:11). All these churches were on the local ground, the ground of locality.

　　The condition of a local church may fluctuate and may differ from that of all the other local churches, just as the conditions of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 differed from one another… (Therefore,) A local church is preserved from being divided by its ground, not by its condition. The unique ground—the unique oneness of the Body of Christ, plus the unique ground of locality—preserves a church from being divided. The condition of a certain church may be good, but that does not assure that the ground of that church is right. A local church may be low in its condition, yet it is still a genuine local church as long as it keeps the genuine ground of the oneness of the Body. On the other hand, a local church may be high in its condition, but it is a division, a local sect, as long as it does not care for the genuine ground of the oneness of the Body of Christ expressed in its locality. We may use marriage as an illustration of this principle. The ground of a marriage is the chastity of the wife. As long as a wife is chaste, even though she may not be loving or kind—this is her condition—but this does not annul the ground of her marriage. However, if her husband's name is Smith, and she begins to call herself Mrs. Jones, even if she is loving, kind, humble, and submissive toward her husband, her calling herself Mrs. Jones annuls the ground of her marriage… (Therefore,) In Revelation 3:8 the Lord praised the church in Philadelphia for not denying His name. It is a terrible thing for a wife to deny her husband's name. That annuls the base of their marriage… The ground of a local church is the very base upon which we recognize that church. We recognize a church not because its condition is according to our preference. Our recognizing of a church depends upon its ground, and this ground is composed of two things: the oneness of the Body and the locality in which the church exists. (Elders' Training, Book 10, The Eldership and the God-Ordained Way (2))