Oneness

Oneness seems like a strange topic to be writing on, it speaks of the joining or blending of two or more things either objects or people into something unified or connected.  The topic of oneness is all throughout scripture.

Strong's Concordence  defines oneness this way:  henótēs (from heis, "one") – oneness (unity), especially the God-produced unity (oneness) between believers – i.e. the harmony from sharing likeness of nature with the Lord (used only in Ephesians 4:3,13).

More on oneness in a moment.

Putting it another way, each aspect of God’s nature or character is the exact expression of the fullness of God in total. God is always in unity.  For example, the statement “God is Love,” is an expression that may have profound meaning for us in our walk with Christ because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and our relationship with Him.  But the mere words “God is Love” do not fully embody the power of the truth or the depth of the statement alone. That context comes from our relationship with Christ and from what has been revealed in Scripture, and also from His desire to interact with us and reveal Himself to us through this and other expressions.  This is Him becoming one with us.

These attributes or expressions of God’s character are always gateways to a relationship of deeper revelation of God's character.  This is where the English language falls short in definition. There is a much deeper understanding that comes from the definition of the original languages. The Greek word for “love” is ἀγάπη or agapē.  It's definition is a deep benevolent sacrificial love.  Agapē is love which is of and from God, whose very nature is love itself.

Strong's Concordance  defines Agapē like this:
Agapē is the Greek word for unconditional love,  This is the love that God has for His people. (Romans 8:35 "who will separate us from the agapē of Christ?") 

Agapē developed in Christian theology as the love of God or Christ for humankind. 
In the New Testament, it refers to the covenant love of God for humankind, as well as the human reciprocal love for God; the term also extends to the love of one's fellow man.

With the definition of Agapē Love, the statement “God is Love” goes much deeper than the surface understanding of the word. 

Here is the “God is Love” scriptural passage in context:

1 John 4:4-11 (NKJV)

⁴ You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. ⁵ They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. ⁶ We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Agapē love is the “covenant love God has for humans…”.  When we speak of covenant relationships it is usually in the context of marriage. God’s covenant love is where His love is expressed through agreement, a covenant is an agreement. 

We know God as triune, (a trinity - a union of three persons) the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Even though these are three distinct expressions of God, they are expressed as one and each being equaly one (oneness).  The Ancient Israelite's were God’s special people whom He chose out of the Egyptian world of multiple gods, this type of belief system is known as polytheism.  God was very quick to tell the Israelite s that He was the one and only true God over all creation and that He alone was to be acknowledged and worshiped, this belief system is called monotheism.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NKJV)

⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! ⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

⁶ “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

God was training a people to become monotheistic (believing in only one ture God), the Israelites were firmly entrenched in the ways of Egypt to worship numerous gods, this practice had permeated deep into their psyche and needed to excised.  God declared that there were things the Israelites needed to do to develop new habits to help change their thinking processes, so they could grasp the conceptual understanding that the God of their father’s is the one and only true God.  (see verses 6-9 above)

This was a difficult lesson for Israel for it meant that many would have to give up their house idols which they could see, and now follow God whom they could not see, joined together with others in a united community.  

God has always desired that His people be in unity (oneness) with fellow brother’s and sister’s in Faith.

1 Corinthians 1:10 (NKJV)

¹⁰ Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

There are also other practices which are revealed in scripture which also speak of oneness, like the biblical definition of marriage. 

Genesis 2:20-24 (NKJV)

²⁰ So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.

²¹ And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. ²² Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.

²³ And Adam said:

“This is now bone of my bones

And flesh of my flesh;

She shall be called Woman,

Because she was taken out of Man.”

²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

The term “one flesh” in the above text describes the process by which God created Eve from a rib taken from Adam’s side as he slept. Adam recognized that Eve was part of him—they were in fact “one flesh.” The term “one flesh” means that just as our bodies are one whole entity and cannot be divided into pieces and still be a whole, so God intended it to be with the marriage relationship. There are no longer two entities (two individuals), but now there is one entity (a married couple). But even in the Genesis account there was always a third entity in the marriage covenant, and that was God Himself.

Paul takes this point of oneness to a deeper level when he talks about this to the Ephesian church―

Ephesians 5:25-33 (NKJV)

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, ²⁶ that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷ that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. ²⁸ So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. ³⁰ For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. ³¹ “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. ³³ Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Paul declares that oneness is how the union between Christ and the Church is expressed, like a bride coming before her groom in marriage.

 

2 Corinthians 11:2-3 (NKJV)

² For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. ³ But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

There is much more to explore regarding the mystery of oneness, whether it be in marriage, Christ and the Church, or in our triune God we worship as one.  God has kept it simple, and that simplicity is found where we started this journey with the statement “God is Love.”   If it weren't for that fact alone, then this entire pursuit to understand oneness would be meaningless.

I pray that you may know His love for you in ways that demonstrate His desire for oneness with you.  That you may know Him as a Bridegroom who is desiring a pure spotless bride. The work of the Holy Spirit is calling out to us and drawing us into deeper intimacy with our Bridegroom, and is molding and shaping us until we all become more like Christ. That is the beauty of the regeneration process, we tend to begin looking and acting like the object of our affection.

Stephen Barnett

God is good all the time―all the time God is good!

Let Us Be One

Words and Music by Tom Coomes

Lord, don't let me strive against my brothers

I'm so tired of it, don't want to do it no more

Lord, don't let us fight against each other

Let us be one in you

Lord, give us love for one another

In what we say, yes, in what we do

Lord, teach us to build up one another

Let us be one in you

For your sake let us learn to wait on the Spirit's move

We know that the hour is so late and you'll be coming soon

La da da

(Chorus)

Pa pa pa pa pa ra pa pa da da

Pa pa pa pa pa ra pa pa da da da da da da da da pow

Pa pa pa pa pa ra pa pa da da

Let us be one in you (go to Ending Chorus second time through)

Let us be one

Lord, let us rest up in your Spirit

Knowing full well that we're in your hands

Oh, God, open up our hearts so we can hear it

Let us be one in you

Let us be one

(Ending Chorus)

Let us be one in you

Let us be one in you

Let us be one in you

©1972 Maranatha! Music

This Music is copyrighted by the respective artists and is presented here for educational purposes only and not for profit.