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First Corinthians is a book full of the riches of Christ. The essential and underlying thought of this book is that we should enjoy Christ (10:3-4).
In 1 Corinthians 1:2 Paul says, “To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints, with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, who is theirs and ours.” This verse presents Christ as the Sanctifier and the portion of all the saints. First, Christ came to sanctify us; then He, the Sanctifier, became our eternal portion for our enjoyment.
In 1 Corinthians 1:2 Paul speaks of those who have been “sanctified in Christ Jesus.” To be sanctified in Christ Jesus is to be sanctified in the element and sphere of Christ. Christ is the element and sphere that separated us, made us holy, unto God when we believed into Him, that is, when we were brought into an organic union with Him through our faith in Him.
To be sanctified in Christ means that first we are put into Christ. Christ is a holy sphere, a sphere of holiness. Not only is Christ holy — Christ Himself is holiness. Holiness is actually God Himself, and God is embodied in Christ. Therefore, Christ is our holiness. Because God has put us into Christ (v. 30), we have been put into the sphere of holiness. Now that we are in Christ as the sphere of holiness, we are sanctified. Furthermore, since to be sanctified is to be made holy, to be sanctified in Christ Jesus is to be made holy in Him.
As the Sanctifier, Christ sanctifies us in two aspects, positionally and dispositionally. The former is objective, whereas the latter is subjective. Christ has sanctified us positionally through His own blood (Heb. 13:12). We were once fallen sinners who belonged to the world and to many things other than God. Then Christ redeemed us with His blood; simultaneously, His redeeming blood sanctified us, separated us, and set us apart unto God, making us holy positionally. Consequently, we now belong to God. In other words, our original position was worldly and not at all for God, but when we were separated unto God through Christ’s redeeming blood, our position was changed, and as a result, we became holy. Through His redeeming blood, Christ has sanctified us, setting us apart unto God for the fulfillment of His purpose. This is the objective aspect of Christ’s sanctification.
While sanctification is a positional matter and thereby involves separation from a worldly position to a position for God, sanctification is also a dispositional matter (1 Cor. 6:11). This means that sanctification is not only a change of position but also a change of disposition. It is through dispositional sanctification that the believers are being transformed from a natural disposition to a spiritual one. Although the blood of Christ separates us unto God positionally, it cannot accomplish anything in us with respect to the inner life. Hence, it can sanctify us only positionally but not dispositionally. The dispositional sanctification comes out of Christ as the eternal life within us. Christ has the divine life, and He is the divine life imparted to us. Within the divine life, there is the element, the essence, of holiness. This essence of holiness sanctifies us subjectively, that is, dispositionally; it transforms us, changing our disposition and our nature. This process is not sanctification of our position, but that of our disposition — sanctification that transforms our inner being. If we see this, we will realize that we must experience Christ as the Sanctifier both positionally and dispositionally.
In 1 Corinthians 1:2 Paul equates, by the use of an appositive, “those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus” with “called saints.” In this verse the Greek words hagiazo (translated “sanctified”) and hagios (translated “saints”) are of the same root, which fundamentally means “separated, set apart.” To be holy is to be separated, set apart to God. The saints are the separated ones, the ones set apart to God, and sanctification to God is the practical effect, the character in activity, and the consummate state produced by being sanctified. We, the believers, have been sanctified; hence, we are called saints. The saints are simply sanctified ones, holy ones, those who have been set apart to God. Moreover, we need to note that the believers in Christ are called saints, not called to be saints. This is a positional matter, a sanctification in position with a view to sanctification in disposition. Verse 2 reveals the matter of our being in Christ positionally. We should never despise our position in Christ.
We should have the boldness to say that we are holy, and we should praise the Lord for the fact that we are saints. Concerning this we should not look at ourselves. Paul does not say that the Corinthians were sanctified in themselves; he declares that they had been sanctified in Christ Jesus. We need to forget ourselves and see that it is in Christ that we are sanctified.
God does not look at us as we are in ourselves; rather, He looks at us in Christ. Paul knew about the evil things in the church in Corinth. Nevertheless, in his opening word of 1 Corinthians he addressed them as those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and he called them saints. In themselves they were Corinthians, but in Christ they were saints. If we turn away from ourselves and look at Christ, we will be able to declare that we are saints. We will realize that a saint is simply a called one.
To be called by God is to be separated unto Him. Just as those who have been called into military service have been separated from civilian life and drafted into the service, when we were called by God, we were “drafted,” separated, by Him. As a result, we have been sanctified; that is, we have been separated unto His purpose. Therefore, we are the called saints.
In verse 2 immediately after revealing Christ as the Sanctifier, Paul unveils that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Sanctifier, is our portion: “Those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints, with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, who is theirs and ours.” The phrase theirs and ours indicates that He is the portion of both the saints in Corinth and the saints who “call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place.” No matter where we may be when we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, Christ is both our portion and also the portion of all the saints. In every place, Christ is theirs and ours. If we say that a certain thing is ours, we indicate that it is our possession. In the same way, the phrase theirs and ours means that Christ is the portion possessed by all the saints. In other words, all the saints have Him as their unique portion. Therefore, verse 2 reveals that Christ as the all-inclusive One belongs to all believers and that all the believers jointly participate in Him.
Christ is our allotted portion given to us by God. Colossians 1:12 says, “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light.” This verse shows that Christ, the Son of God, is our portion. All Christians know that God has redeemed us, but not many realize that He has also qualified us to partake of Christ as the portion of the saints. The word portion in Colossians 1:12 indicates enjoyment. Christ is the unique enjoyment for all the saints. Nothing should be allowed to replace Him as our portion. Only the living person of Christ, not any doctrine or practice, is our portion.
The apostle added the special phrase theirs and ours at the end of 1 Corinthians 1:2 to stress the crucial fact that Christ is the unique center of all believers in any place or situation. In this Epistle the apostle’s intention was to solve the problems among the saints in Corinth. For all the problems, especially the matter of division, the only solution is the all-inclusive Christ. We have all been called into the fellowship of this Christ (1 Cor. 1:9). All believers should be focused on Him, not being distracted by any gifted person, any overstressed doctrine, or any particular practice.
Based on His economy, God has given Christ to us to be our portion. We may enjoy Christ our unique portion simply by calling on His name. When we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we get His person, and then this person becomes our portion.
Verse 9 says, “God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” To be called into the fellowship of God’s Son is to partake of the fellowship of the union with God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and to participate in Him. God has called us into such a fellowship that we may enjoy Christ as our God-given portion. The phrase into the fellowship of His Son, like the word in verse 2 concerning Christ’s being theirs and ours, stresses again the crucial fact that Christ is the unique center of the believers for the solving of the problems among them, especially the problem of division.
The faithful God has called us into the fellowship of, and the participation in, His Son, Jesus Christ. That is, God has given His Son to us as our portion that we would always enjoy Him. The entire book of 1 Corinthians presents the details of our enjoyment of Christ. This book unveils to us that the Christ, into whom we have all been called, is all-inclusive. He is the portion given to us by God (1:2). He is God’s power and God’s wisdom as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption to us (vv. 24, 30). He is the Lord of glory (2:8) for our glorification (v. 7; Rom. 8:30). He is the depths (deep things) of God (1 Cor. 2:10). He is the unique foundation of God’s building (3:11). He is our Passover (5:7), the unleavened bread (v. 8), the spiritual food, the spiritual drink, and the spiritual rock (10:3-4). He is the Head (11:3) and the Body (12:12). He is the firstfruits (15:20, 23), the second man (v. 47), and the last Adam (v. 45); as such, He became the life-giving Spirit (v. 45) that we may receive Him into us as our everything. This all-inclusive One, with the riches of at least twenty items, God has given to us as our portion for our enjoyment. We should concentrate on Him, not on any persons, things, or matters other than Him. We should focus on Him as our unique center appointed by God so that all the problems among the believers may be solved. It is into the fellowship of such a One that we have been called by God. This fellowship of God’s Son became the fellowship that the apostles shared with the believers (Acts 2:42; 1 John 1:3) in His Body, the church, and should be the fellowship that we enjoy in partaking of His blood and His body at His table (1 Cor. 10:16, 21). Such a fellowship, which is carried out by the Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14), must be unique because He is unique; it forbids any division among the members of His unique Body.
This word fellowship is profound and exceedingly deep. It means that we and Christ have become one, that we enjoy Christ and all He is and that He enjoys us and all we are (Phil. 1:18; 2:17-18, 28; 3:1; 4:4, 10). As a result, there is not only a mutual communication but a mutuality in every way: all that Christ is becomes ours, and all that we are becomes His. We have all been called by God into such a mutuality between us and the Son of God, a mutuality in which we enjoy what the Son of God is, and He enjoys what we are, and in which we are one with Him, and He is one with us. We have been called into such a oneness, in which we enjoy what Christ is, and He enjoys what we are.
In keeping with this, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:17, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” The word joined in this verse is a synonym for fellowship in 1:9; the joining is actually the fellowship. The fellowship into which we have been called is Christ as the life-giving Spirit. To experience this fellowship we must be one spirit with Him. In our spirit we are one with the life-giving Spirit.
The fellowship of Christ is actually carried out by the Spirit; thus, in our experience, the fellowship of the Son is the fellowship of the Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14; cf. Phil. 2:1). The way to enjoy the Lord experientially is through Him as the Spirit in our spirit. Today Christ is the life-giving Spirit, and we have a regenerated human spirit. When we are joined to Him, we become one spirit with Him. Whenever we are one spirit with the Lord, we are in the fellowship of Christ, and we experience Him as the all-inclusive One.
This fellowship involves not only the oneness between us and the Triune God but also the oneness among all the believers (John 17:21-23; Eph. 4:3). Fellowship implies a mutual flowing among the believers (1 John 1:3). In the New Testament, fellowship describes the flowing both between us and the Lord and between us and one another (Phil. 2:1). The flow, the current, that we have in our spiritual fellowship involves both oneness and life. Our fellowship is a flow in oneness; it is an intercommunication of life among us as believers in Christ. This fellowship is the reality of the church life (2, 1 Cor. 1:9).
Because we have been called into such a fellowship, we should not say that we are of Paul, of Cephas, of Apollos, or of any other person (v. 12). Neither should we say that we are of a certain doctrine or of a particular practice. God has not called us into the fellowship of any person, doctrine, denomination, or practice. We have not been called into our preference, either in persons or denominations. Rather, we have been called uniquely into the fellowship of God’s Son. We have all been called into Christ, called into the fellowship, enjoyment, and participation in Him. This means that Christ alone must be our fellowship. God is pleased only with Christ; in God’s economy there is room only for Christ. God has only one center — Jesus Christ — and He has called us not into the denomination of our choice but into the fellowship of His Son. No individual or group must be our preference. Our only preference must be Christ as the unique center, the Christ who is theirs and ours, the Christ into whose fellowship we have been called by God. The all-inclusive Christ must be our unique choice, preference, portion, taste, and enjoyment (vv. 24, 30; 2:2). We should all be able to say that our only preference is the all-inclusive and all-extensive Christ.
In summary, Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 impresses us with the fact that in God’s economy, Christ is the unique center. God’s intention is to make Christ His Son the center of His economy and also to make Him everything to all the believers. For this reason Paul tells us that Christ is both theirs and ours and that we have been called into the fellowship of the Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. In His economy God’s intention is to make Christ everything, to give Christ to us as our portion, and to work Christ into us.
