In the mystery of the Gospel of Christ there has been revealed a unity, or oneness to which we have been brought by the Holy Spirit that is the highest love and union in One Body that Man has or will ever know.  That union of Spirit in One Body we herein have come to know as the “In Love” Oneness of Christ.  It is a relationship of union and oneness that must be explored and revealed by the Spirit of God to humble hearts open to the mysteries of Christ.

We begin by examining that which we commonly have come to know as being “in love.”   The “in love” relationship is a wonderful, exclusive relationship between two who have become one.  The two are together in thoughts, emotions and affections.  The two are together in mutual submission to a higher bond of love and care; sharing equally in all things to which they are a part.  Ultimately, in the marriage bond the two are united in the physical body that becomes a holy estate of a “one flesh” union.  No other can enter this oneness.  This “in love” oneness is a sanctified, holy, pure and undefiled union.  This “in love” oneness is of God.  Therefore, what God joins together, no man must put asunder.  Others may vie for one’s affection, but the “in love” relationship forsakes and denies them access.

The “in love” relationship is a cleaving in oneness.  This oneness must not be compromised.  It is a fountain of life that must not be defiled or corrupted.  This “in love” oneness was established from the beginning, in the Garden of Eden when God fashioned the Woman from the side of the Man and brought them together in union.  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.  Therefore, shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:23-24).

Jesus spoke of the “in love” relationship in the Gospel of John 15:10, “If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.”  Jesus then further clarifies His commandment in John 15:12, “This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.”

The “My love” of Christ, and the “His love” of the Father, is the most beautiful illustration of the spiritual union of “in love” Oneness.  This Oneness of the Son in the Father and the Father in the Son is an unbroken union in the Spirit.  Christ expresses the glory of the Father, and the Father is glorified in the Son.  In John 17:26 Jesus declares: “And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

The most wonderful earthly illustration of the “in love” relationship is marriage between one man and one woman.  In this “in love” oneness there is a unity that must not be broken.  The woman is the glory of the man, and the man is glorified through the woman (See 1 Corinthians. 11:7, 12).

In the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Church at Ephesus he writes:  “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us and hath given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor” (Ephesians 5:2).  Paul says, walk in the “in love” of Christ—the Oneness of sacrifice which unto God is a sweet smelling savor.  Paul then illustrates this Oneness in the husband/wife relationship found in Ephesians 5:22-32:

²²Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.  ²³For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church: and He is the Savior of the body.  ²⁴Therefore, as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.  ²⁵Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; ²⁶That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word, ²⁷That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish, ²⁸So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.  He that loves his wife loves himself.  ²⁹For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord, the Church:  ³⁰For we are members of His Body, of His flesh, and of His bones. ³¹“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.”  ³²This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.

Paul’s revelation of the “great mystery” of the “one flesh” oneness, or husband/wife oneness, and the illustration thereby of the Christ/Church oneness is revealed in his writings; that which we here call the “in love” oneness of Christ.

The “in love” Oneness contains two essential components:  submission and sacrifice.  Submission from the one and sacrifice from the other to bring the two into One.  This submission/sacrifice motif is the essence of the Son/Father relationship.

Jesus Christ, the Son, was in complete submission to His Head, the Father.  Out of His great love for His Wife, His Bride (the Church), Christ submitted Himself to the will of the Father, even submission unto death (see Philippians 2:8).  In this way of submission to her head, her husband, the wife can know (have intimate fellowship and communion with) Christ as the Scripture says.

Likewise, husbands can know (have intimate fellowship and communion with) the Father and the Son through the means of sacrifice.   The Father so loved the Church (the Woman); the one destined for the Son; the one who needed to be sanctified and cleansed through the washing of water by the Word; that He painfully sacrificed Himself for Her in the Son, when He offered up the life of the Son for Her in the Cross.

In the Cross the Father/Son Oneness was broken, sacrificed, for the purpose of Redemption, the shedding of Blood, for the removal of Sin.  In the Cross the Man (Christ Jesus) left His Father/Mother (the El Shaddai, the Almighty (see Genesis 17:1)), to cleave unto His Wife, His Bride, the Church.  In this leaving the Father, He took upon Himself the flesh of the Church and entered into death, even death on the Cross.  In this cleaving unto the Wife, His Bride (the Church) the “great mystery” of Genesis 2:24 is revealed by the Spirit to our hearts by faith.  We, the Church, have become “bone of His bones, and flesh of His flesh” in death (See Galatians 2:20).  Likewise, we shall be transformed into conformity with His glorious Body by that power whereby He is able to subject all things to Himself (see Philippians 3:21).  Just as the “in love” Oneness was unto death, so the “in love” Oneness is in the Resurrection of Life.

It is now as the Apostle Paul prayed, “that I may know (have intimate fellowship and communion with) Him in the fellowship of His sufferings and the power of His resurrection, being conformed to His death” (Philippians 3:10).  In our “in love” Oneness with Christ we experience Him in death and life, crucifixion and resurrection, abstinence and fulfillment, poverty and prosperity, weakness and strength (see I Peter 2:11-12; II Corinthians 6:10; II Corinthians 12:10).  We have become truly One in all things.

In the newness of Life in the Spirit, the fellowship (koinonia), the “in love” Oneness of the Father/Son relationship; the Christ/Church relationship; the husband/wife relationship are restored and fulfilled.  In the Resurrection of Life the Son is re-united with the Father and the New Man (the New Adam) is restored to God.  The New Creation (male and female) in One Body, the Body of Christ is revealed in an “in love” Oneness that God predestined from the beginning in Christ (see Ephesians 1:4-11).

“Unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen!”  (Ephesians 3:21).