Blending
“But God has blended the body together, giving more abundant honor to the member that lacked,” — 1 Corinthians 12:24
Biblical Testimony
One Word, One Declaration
The Greek of 1 Corinthians 12:24 is συγκεράννυμι (synkerannymi, G4786) — compounded from σύν (“together with”) and κεράννυμι (“to blend, to mix”) — literally meaning “to thoroughly combine different elements into a unified whole.” (Blue Letter Bible: G4786) This word appears only twice in the New Testament: 1 Corinthians 12:24 and Hebrews 4:2. The first speaks of the Body; the second of faith — and the shared meaning in both is that elements existing in isolation need to be thoroughly integrated to function as they should.
Paul writes here that God has blended the Body together. This is not organizational coordination achieved by the believers’ own effort, but God’s active initiative — He has joined the members together within one another, giving “more abundant honor” especially to the members that seem less significant. This declaration rests on a living reality: every member of the Body has been placed by God not merely beside the others, but within them.
The Biblical Pattern of Cross-Local Fellowship
Several parallel witnesses in the New Testament reveal a pattern of fellowship that crosses local boundaries:
- Philippians 2:1 — “if there is any fellowship of the Spirit”: the fellowship (κοινωνία, koinōnia) of the Spirit is not bound by geography; it is the common ground on which all believers enjoy the Triune God together.
- Romans 15:26–27 — the churches of Macedonia and Achaia contributing to the poor saints in Jerusalem: Paul describes this cross-regional material flow as spiritual fellowship — the churches have a share in one another, mutually supplying spiritual and material support.
- Acts 15 — the Jerusalem Council: apostles and elders gathered from Antioch, Syria, and elsewhere, jointly deliberating and declaring a decision binding on the universal church. This is the historical prototype of cross-local fellowship in practice.
How the Church Has Understood It
Throughout history, Christians have recognized that a local church cannot exist in isolation. In the patristic era, letters of commendation, apostolic visits, and correspondence between bishops maintained communion between congregations; the very concept of the “catholic church” points toward a wholeness that transcends any single locality.
Ignatius of Antioch (c. 35–108) was the first to use “catholic church” as a systematic term. In his letters to the churches he insisted: where Christ Jesus is, there is the catholic church — this wholeness is not the property of any one place but the common belonging of all believers.
The Ecumenical Councils themselves were a historical practice of cross-territorial blending: bishops gathered from across the Roman Empire to discern the faith together, announce shared convictions, and blend with one another in truth. (Wikipedia: Ecumenical council) This practice embodies a biblical principle: local understanding needs to be corrected and enriched in the fellowship of the whole.
Yet the historical form of “blending” was achieved primarily through administrative structures — the episcopate, synods, creeds — with the focus on guarding doctrinal consistency rather than the organic interpenetration of believers’ lives and spirits.
The Lord’s Recovery’s Emphasis
Brother Witness Lee’s Development
Brother Witness Lee takes συγκεράννυμι in 1 Corinthians 12:24 as his starting point and develops “blending” into a concrete spiritual practice: believers — especially believers from different localities — gather together and, through prayer, fellowship, praise, and openness in spirit, mutually interpenetrate and blend with one another, so that the life of the Body flows evenly across localities rather than forming isolated, self-enclosed local groups.
He points out that a local church lacking blending with other localities tends toward isolation and rigidity, even developing local errors with no corrective mechanism. Blending allows each locality to receive the riches of the whole Body — and to supply its own riches to the whole Body. (Ministry Samples: The Unique Relationship, Fellowship, and Blending of All the Local Churches)
The Content and Practice of Blending
Brother Witness Lee distinguishes two dimensions of blending:
Blending in life — through prayer, the word, testimony, and openness in spirit, the experience of Christ in one member is shared with another, moving everyone from individual experience of Christ to corporate experience of the Body. This is the substance of blending — not an exchange of information but an interpenetration of life.
Blending in gathering — through conferences, trainings, and co-worker gatherings, believers from different localities come together in one place and, through opening their mouths together, praying together, and sharing together, practically experience the mingling of the Body.
The 1993 Blending Conference systematized this practice. Brother Witness Lee stressed there that genuine blending requires thorough confession, complete consecration, unceasing prayer, and intimate fellowship — and must operate in the resurrection life of Christ, not out of natural zeal. (bibleread.online: 1993 Blending Conference Messages)
Comparison
| Historical Orthodox | Lord’s Recovery | |
|---|---|---|
| Core emphasis | Local churches maintain unity through administrative structures and shared faith | Believers mutually interpenetrate in spirit; the Body’s life flows organically across local boundaries |
| Biblical basis | The catholicity of the universal church; inter-church correspondence in the apostolic letters | συγκεράννυμι in 1 Cor. 12:24; the fellowship of the Spirit (Phil. 2:1); cross-local fellowship (Rom. 15:26–27; Acts 15) |
| Form of practice | Episcopal visits, ecumenical councils, letters of commendation, creedal consensus | Blending conferences, trainings, co-worker gatherings; mutual life-interpenetration through prayer and sharing |
| Point of emphasis | Doctrinal consistency; guarding against heresy | Even circulation of life; preventing local isolation and partiality |
| Where they agree | A single local church cannot represent the fullness of the Body; cross-local fellowship is a biblical principle | Fully consistent with historical orthodoxy; local churches must maintain fellowship with the whole Body |
| Where they differ | Focuses on creedal and structural consensus mechanisms; less emphasis on organic spiritual interpenetration | Positions blending as a daily spiritual practice rather than only a crisis-management mechanism; explicitly targets “interpenetration in spirit” |
Discernment
The biblical basis for blending is clear: the Body is an organic whole, and believers in any single locality cannot fully embody the Body’s riches on their own. This is a principle all Christians should affirm.
What requires discernment is the manner of blending and its power structures. If in practice one locality or team becomes the center of all blending, with other localities only receiving and unable to contribute on equal footing, such “blending” is no longer organic Body life but another form of centralization. Biblical blending is bidirectional — a mutual flow among the Body’s members: “the members should have the same care for one another” (1 Cor. 12:25), not a one-way stream of influence and oversight.
Genuine blending always keeps Christ Himself at the center, not any system or conference format. Its fruit is believers knowing Christ more and enjoying the fellowship of the Spirit more — not greater dependence on organizational structures.