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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 3:9-17; 6:17-20; 12:3-7, 13; 14:12; 15:45; 2 Cor. 1:22; 3:6, 17-18; 4:7, 16
We have seen that Christ as the Spirit in Romans is the Spirit of life and the Spirit of the Son for the divine sonship. Following Romans are the Epistles to the Corinthians, which reveal Christ as the Spirit in further aspects.
First Corinthians 3:16 and 17 say, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for the temple of God is holy, and such are you.” To say that this passage speaks merely of the indwelling Spirit is the natural and religious concept. There is no need of much revelation to say this, since the passage clearly says, “The Spirit of God dwells in you.”
Verses 9 through 15 say, “We are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s cultivated land, God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid a foundation, and another builds upon it. But let each man take heed how he builds upon it. For another foundation no one is able to lay besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if anyone builds upon the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble, the work of each will become manifest; for the day will declare it, because it is revealed by fire, and the fire itself will prove each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built upon the foundation remains, he will receive a reward; if anyone’s work is consumed, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
After carefully reading this portion of the Word, the main impression we receive is one of building. We are God’s cultivated land for God’s building. Paul, as a wise master builder, laid a foundation, and others build on it, but we must be careful with what materials we build. We must build with gold, silver, and precious stones, not with wood, grass, and stubble. Finally, we are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in us, so we must be careful not to destroy the temple, the building. If we read this portion properly, we will understand that the Spirit who dwells within us is not merely for indwelling. The indwelling Spirit is the Spirit of building. If we see that the Spirit in 1 Corinthians is the Spirit of building, this book will be a new book to us. The Spirit mentioned throughout the entire book of 1 Corinthians is the Spirit of building.
Verses 17 through 20 of chapter 6 say, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin which a man may do is outside the body, but he who commits fornication sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price. So then glorify God in your body.” Paul’s word that he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit is based on the illustration of a man being joined to a woman, as verses 15 and 16 say: “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Absolutely not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute is one body? For He says, ‘The two shall be one flesh.’” We are joined to the Lord just as a wife is joined to her husband. Genesis 2:21 through 23 and Ephesians 5:25 through 32 show us clearly that the wife signifies the church as the Body of Christ, and the husband signifies Christ the Head. In this portion of the Word, therefore, the Spirit is for the Body.
Although these verses speak not of the Body of Christ directly but of our own bodies, verse 15 says that our bodies are members of Christ. This proves that the Spirit who dwells in our bodies is for the building up of the Body of Christ. Similarly, verse 17 tells us that he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit, just as a wife who is joined to her husband is one body with him. As we have seen, the wife typifies the church, which is the Body. We are the wife who is joined to the Lord as the Husband, and we are the Body of Christ joined to the Head as one spirit. Our being one spirit with the Lord and the Holy Spirit’s dwelling in our bodies are both for the building up of the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit dwells in us to make us the members of the Body of Christ, He builds us up as the Body, and He dwells within us to join us all as one spirit for the purpose of the building up of His Body. Therefore, the Spirit spoken of here is the Spirit of building, the Spirit who works to build up the Body.
Our being joined to the Lord as one spirit is not only for each person individually to be one with the Lord. It is for all of us to be one with the Lord. It is a corporate matter, a Body matter, not an individual matter. Again, therefore, the Spirit mentioned in this part of the Word is the Spirit for the building, the Spirit of building.
As the continuation of Romans, 1 Corinthians is a book of building. Romans brings us to the point that we are the Body, but it is the following books that tell us how the Body is built up. In order to know the Bible in a deeper way, we must drop our preoccupations and old concepts. We should not be frustrated by the old concepts concerning speaking in tongues or other matters in 1 Corinthians. Verse 12 of chapter 14 says, “So also you, since you are zealous of spirits, seek that you may excel for the building up of the church.” We need to seek those things that are good and profitable for the building up of the Body. In no other Epistle does the apostle speak so clearly about the building of the Body. In this book he tells us that he is the wise master builder, that Jesus Christ is the foundation, and that we need to build with certain materials. Therefore, 1 Corinthians is a book of building, continuing from Romans to show us how the Body of Christ is built up.
In this book the Holy Spirit is the Spirit who builds up, the Spirit of building. In chapter 3 the Spirit is clearly related to the building up of the Body of Christ. The word building in verse 9 is a noun in Greek, meaning “house,” while the word dwells in verse 16 is a verb from the same Greek root. Then in chapter 6 the Spirit dwells in us for the purpose of making not only our spirit and soul but even our body the members of Christ. This fits together with Romans 12, which says, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice” (v. 1). We present not only our spirit and our soul but also our body for the building up of the Body of Christ. Both our human spirit and our human body must be completely separated unto the Lord to be holy (1 Cor. 7:34). However, without the work of the Holy Spirit our bodies could not be the members of Christ. It is not merely by presenting our bodies to the Lord that they are fit for the purpose of building up. We also must be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit makes our bodies fit to be the members of Christ. The Holy Spirit who indwells us is for the building up of the Body of Christ. Therefore, He is the Spirit of building.
First Corinthians 12:3 says, “I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed; and no one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.” This demonstrates how closely the Holy Spirit is related to the Lord Jesus. Then verse 13 says, “Also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.” This shows us once again that the Spirit is for the Body; He is the Spirit of building.
Verses 4 through 7 say, “There are distinctions of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are distinctions of ministries, yet the same Lord; and there are distinctions of operations, but the same God, who operates all things in all. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for what is profitable.” Here we see another aspect of the Spirit — the manifestation of the Spirit. Just as the Spirit of life is for the divine sonship, the manifestation of the Spirit is for the building. Romans is a book of sonship, and 1 Corinthians is a book of building. First Corinthians follows Romans to show us how to be built up. In the Spirit of building we were all baptized into one Body, and all the differing gifts given by this Spirit are manifested for building up the Body of Christ.
Someone may point out that in this chapter some of the gifts are the supernatural ones. However, in order to build up the Body, what we need the most is life. In some cases people need gifts in order to apprehend life. However, gifts by themselves can never build the Body. It is life that builds the Body.
Verse 45 of chapter 15 says, “So also it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul’; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” We have said that in the book of 1 Corinthians the Spirit is the Spirit of building. However at the end of this book we are told that Christ is the Spirit who gives life, the Spirit of life, as in Romans. To understand the Bible is not an easy thing. We must never try to understand it lightly. Chapter 15 indicates an abnormal situation in the church in Corinth. If the church there had been normal, there would have been no need for chapter 15. This chapter was written because the Corinthians practiced the gifts very much, but they did not believe in the resurrection. Resurrection is a matter of life. This means that they stressed gifts but neglected and even doubted life. They were short of life and abnormal in the matter of life. For this reason, after Paul spoke about the building, he had to come back to life to recover something that was lost and make up the shortcoming.
Chapter 15, therefore, is a chapter of recovery, speaking once again about life. Paul was saying to the Corinthians, “Christ became the life-giving Spirit. You Corinthians have stressed the gifts so much, but rather you need to know this life-giving Spirit.” This is the right way to understand this portion of the Word. This proves, strengthens, and confirms that building and the manifestation of gifts by the Spirit are based on life. We must first have Romans with the Spirit of life and the Spirit of the divine sonship, and then we can go on to 1 Corinthians for building up by the Spirit of building with the Spirit’s manifestation.
Second Corinthians 1:22 says that God “has also sealed us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.” We must never forget this verse that speaks of the sealing Spirit and the Spirit as the pledge. To be sealed with the Holy Spirit is to be marked with the Holy Spirit as a living seal. The word pledge in Greek has the meaning of foretaste or firstfruits. Whereas the seal marks us out as God’s inheritance, God’s possession, the Spirit as the pledge is an earnest, guaranteeing that God is our inheritance and possession.
Following this, 3:6 says, “Who has also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” Here again we have the life-giving Spirit, the Spirit who gives life.
Verses 17 and 18 continue, “And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” Here we have the liberating Spirit and the transforming Spirit.
Verse 7 of chapter 4 says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.” This corresponds to the concept of transformation in 3:18. There is no need for the treasure to be transformed, but there is a real need that the earthen vessels be transformed to correspond with the treasure. The treasure is something precious, but the earthen vessels need to be transformed. Verse 16 of chapter 4 says, “Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” This also confirms the concept of transformation.
Throughout the entire book of 2 Corinthians, the main thought is transformation. In this book almost every chapter is a record of the process of suffering for the purpose of consuming the outer man and renewing the inner man day by day. This is to be transformed day by day through all the sufferings.
In 2 Corinthians, therefore, we have the Spirit as the sealing Spirit, the Spirit who gives us the foretaste of all that God is to us, the Spirit who gives life, the liberating Spirit, and the transforming Spirit. If we look into all of the Epistles with the point of view that Christ is the Spirit, these books will become so interesting, meaningful, and even new to us.
Why do we need 2 Corinthians to follow 1 Corinthians? As we have seen, the first Epistle is a book of building. All the ministries in 1 Corinthians are for the building, but the building requires not wood, grass, and stubble but gold, silver, and especially precious stones. Originally we are not precious stones; we are clay, earthen vessels that need to be transformed. Therefore, in 2 Corinthians we see the process of transformation. First, the transforming Spirit comes into us as the sealing Spirit to seal us. Second, He becomes a foretaste of our enjoyment of God. We can be transformed only by tasting and enjoying God, and this Spirit is the foretaste of the full enjoyment of God. This Spirit is also the life-giving Spirit, imparting life into us. In this way He liberates us, setting us free from bondage, depression, oppression, and suppression. This Spirit transforms us from glory to glory until we are conformed to the very image of the Son of God. By this we become the materials that are good for the building.
In the previous message and in this one, we have dug a rich mine. May we all keep in mind the foregoing titles and aspects of the Holy Spirit: the Spirit of life, the Spirit of the divine sonship, the Spirit of building, the manifestation of the Spirit, the Spirit of sealing, the Spirit of pledging, the Spirit who gives life, the Spirit who liberates, and the Spirit who transforms. We need to know all these matters, experience them, and minister them to others. This will be a rich ministry, imparting to people not mere doctrine but something real and living. If we have a vision from the Lord concerning these things, the Epistles will be new books to us.
