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Christ as the content of the apostle’s ministry is an aspect of the enjoyment of Christ as our portion. First Corinthians 2:1-5 reveals that Christ who is our portion for our enjoyment is the content of the apostle’s ministry. The apostle’s ministry consists of not only Christ as the mystery of God but also the crucified Jesus Christ. In the apostle’s ministry, Christ is the mystery of God ministered to us, and Jesus Christ is the crucified One. Such a Christ is ministered not in persuasive words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that is, the power of God. In contrast to many so-called ministries today that scarcely know the mystery of God, the apostle’s ministry was the New Testament ministry, a ministry that ministers the mystery of God concerning Christ and the crucified Jesus Christ. In the eyes of human beings, the crucifixion of Christ is foolishness, but in God’s eternal economy, it is something powerful, carried out in order to fulfill God’s mystery, His eternal purpose (Eph 3:9-11). Moreover, Paul’s proclamation was in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Whenever we properly minister the mystery of God concerning Christ, we will have impact. The New Testament ministry that ministers the mystery of God concerning Christ is a powerful ministry, a ministry that is demonstrated by the living Spirit and the divine power.
In 1 Corinthians 2:1 Paul says, “I, when I came to you, brothers, came not according to excellence of speech or of wisdom, announcing to you the mystery of God.” What the apostle testified was the mystery of God, which is Christ as the embodiment of God and the church as the expression of Christ (Rom. 16:25-26; Col. 1:26-27; 2:2; 4:3; Eph. 3:4-6, 9).
Today many preach about Christ and testify of Him, but most of those who preach Christ do not care for the church. However, in the New Testament, the full mystery of God includes Christ and the church. Christ is the Head, and the church is the Body. Christ is the mystery of God, and the church is the mystery of Christ.
In Colossians 2:2 Paul speaks of “the full knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ.” Christ is God’s mystery. In Himself God is a mystery. He is real, living, and almighty; however, He is invisible. Because no one has ever seen God, He is a mystery. This mysterious God is embodied in Christ. Christ is not only God; He is also God embodied, God defined, God explained, and God expressed. Therefore, Christ is God made visible (John 14:9); Christ, God expressed, is the mystery of God.
As believers, we have Christ dwelling in us, but this Christ whom we have is a mystery (Col. 1:27). In Ephesians 3:4 Paul thus uses the expression themystery of Christ. Although Christ lives in us, worldly people do not realize that He is in us; to them, this is a mystery. But though Christ is mysterious, the church is the manifestation of Christ. As the Body of Christ, the church is the expression of Christ. When we see the church, we see Christ. When we come into the church, we come into Christ. When we contact the church, we contact Christ. The church is truly the mystery of Christ. When Paul came to Corinth, he preached concerning Christ and the church. That is, Paul presented the complete mystery of God: Christ, the Head, and the church, the Body.
In 1 Corinthians 2:2 Paul continues, “I did not determine to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified.” The crucified Christ is the unique subject, the center, the content, and the substance of the apostle’s ministry. For this he did not determine to know anything but the all-inclusive Christ, and this One crucified, when he was going to minister the word of the testimony of God to the excellent-speech-exalting and wisdom-worshipping Greeks. What a determination! It should be a pattern to us all.
The expression this One crucified speaks of the example of the Lord’s living, action, work, and way, indicating His humiliation and abasement. In order to overturn the pride of the Greeks in their elevated wisdom, Paul did not refer here to the Lord’s resurrection in glory (Luke 24:26) and His ascension in exaltation (Acts 2:33, 36).
In order to belittle their highly esteemed knowledge and point them to the crucified Christ, Paul reminded the Corinthians that the Christ he preached was One who had been crucified. He proclaimed not an honored, exalted, and glorified Christ, but a Christ who had been despised, rejected, and even crucified. This indicates that after receiving Christ, we should no longer live in a way to exalt ourselves. Rather, we should live a crucified life, even live the crucified Christ. We should be willing to give the impression that we do not know anything other than the crucified Christ. We should learn to determine not to know anything among the saints except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified. If we determine not to know anything except Christ, there will not be any problems or divisions among us.
In 1 Corinthians 2:4 Paul says, “My speech and my proclamation were not in persuasive words of wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” Persuasive words of wisdom issue from the human mind; demonstration of the Spirit comes from our spirit. The apostle’s speech and preaching were not from his mind with words of speculation, but from his spirit with the release and exhibition of the Spirit, hence of power.
In verse 5 Paul goes on to say, “In order that your faith would not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” Men’s wisdom is the elementary philosophy; God’s power is the all-inclusive Christ (1:24).
First Corinthians 2:4 and 5 indicate that Paul did not exercise words of wisdom but the demonstration of the Spirit and of power. The power demonstrated by Paul was the crucified Christ. The issue of such a demonstration was that the believers’ faith would not be the result of Paul’s wisdom overcoming their wisdom but would be in God’s power, the crucified Christ (v. 5).
In 1 Corinthians 2:7-12 Paul reveals Christ as the depths of God. Christ being the depths of God means that He is the deep things of God, the things that are not superficial. To know the depths of God is to know Christ in many aspects as our eternal portion. Christ, the all-inclusive and extensive One, is truly the depths of God.
As we enjoy Christ continually, we eventually enter into Christ as the depths of God’s being. Then we realize that we are in the heart, the depths, of the almighty God and that He becomes our inner element. When we enjoy Christ, we touch the depths of God, and God becomes the element within us. As we advance in our experience of Christ, one day we will truly know Him as God’s depths.
Moreover, we need to remember that Paul spoke God’s wisdom in a mystery to the Jews and the Greeks, both of whom were wisdom-seeking people. The Jews were highly intelligent, and the Greeks were very philosophical. To these people who regarded themselves as wise, Paul did not preach superficial matters but the depths of God. Likewise, we also must preach the depths of God, the deep things of God.
In 1 Corinthians 2:7 Paul says, “We speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom which has been hidden, which God predestined before the ages for our glory,” God’s wisdom in a hidden mystery, which God predestined before the ages for our glory, is actually the all-inclusive Christ as the deep things of God. God’s wisdom is Christ (1:24), who is the hidden mystery (Col. 1:26-27), predestined, predesignated, and foreordained before the ages for our glory.
According to 1 Corinthians 2:7, God’s wisdom, Christ, is in a mystery; it is a mysterious wisdom. Furthermore, God’s wisdom is the wisdom which has been hidden and which God predestined before the ages for our glory. God’s wisdom is our destiny, and this destiny was determined by God, decided by Him, in eternity past. He predestined Christ, His wisdom, to be for our glory. This means that in eternity past He decided that His mysterious wisdom would be our destiny and glory. God has predestined His mysterious wisdom to be our glory.
A destiny is a person’s final, ultimate portion. As Christians we have a destiny, and this destiny is the ultimate and consummate portion of our enjoyment. God’s wisdom in a mystery has not only been hidden but also predestined by God to become our destiny for our glory. Glory is our destiny, our destination. In eternity we will all be in glory.
Glory in verse 7 refers to Christ who is the Lord of glory (v. 8). Christ is our life today (Col. 3:4) and our glory in the future (1:27). To this glory God has called us (1 Pet. 5:10), and into it He will bring us (Heb. 2:10). This is the goal of God’s salvation.
Since glory is God expressed, to say that glory is Christ actually means that Christ is God expressed. The expression of God, Christ, is our destiny. This destiny will bring us into glory, a glory which is the expression of God.
In eternity past God predestined Christ, God’s wisdom in a mystery, for our glory. Within God there is a mystery, Christ, and this mystery was predestined by God before the ages so that we may have glory. In eternity past God predestined Christ, God’s wisdom, for our glory, and in eternity future, we will have glory.
We then need to consider how we can have the divine glory. God has a mystery, an economy, planned according to His wisdom. This plan is to put God’s chosen people into Christ, the Son of God, in order that in Christ they may be saturated with the divine glory and be brought into the divine glory to enjoy the Triune God in His glorious expression. There is such a mystery, an economy, planned according to God’s wisdom to put us, His chosen people, into Christ that we may be glorified (1 Cor. 2:9). This plan had been completely hidden, kept secret, within God’s heart until it was revealed to the apostles (Eph. 3:5, 9-10). According to this plan, our entire being will ultimately be saturated with the divine glory and will be brought into the reality of the divine glory to enjoy the Triune God in His divine glory. One day we will all be in the divine glory; only then will we fully know what is God’s wisdom in a mystery. This is our enjoyment of Christ as God’s wisdom in a mystery, Christ as the deep things of God.
Again, deep within God is a plan, a plan made according to His wisdom to put His chosen people into Christ, His embodiment, in order that they may be saturated, and even soaked, with the divine glory and may enjoy the Triune God in His glory for eternity. This plan had been kept in God’s heart as a secret; it had never been known by any creature including Satan and man. This plan is the goal of God’s salvation.
Although today we have not yet thoroughly entered into the “soaking” glory of God, day by day we are in the process of being saturated with the divine glory. In fact, both sanctification and transformation are the process of saturating us with God’s glory. Just as a cotton ball is put into ink and becomes soaked with ink, we believers have all been put into the Triune God to be soaked with Him in His glory.
Today we enjoy the foretaste of our destiny to enjoy God in His divine glory. Day by day we are being saturated with the divine glory. What matters to God is not our doing deeds that are right or wrong, good or evil. Rather, the central thought of God is that He intends to saturate us with Himself as the divine glory. This economy is altogether a procedure that takes place in the all-inclusive Christ, who as the Lord of glory is our life today and our glory in the future in order to bring us into glory. What will bring the Lord back is a group of His believers thoroughly saturated with God in His divine glory. The Lord will not come back until He has gained a group of His believers fully matured in the divine soaking. We must prepare ourselves for His coming by being daily saturated with God as the divine glory.
Christ as the depths of God is also the “things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not come up in man’s heart; things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). The sphere of what the eye can see is narrow; the sphere of what the ear can hear is broader; and the sphere of what the heart can realize is without limitation. God in His wisdom (that is, in Christ) has ordained and prepared for us many deep and hidden things, such as justification, sanctification, and glorification. All these the human eye has never seen, the human ear has never heard, and the human heart has never realized. This means that the things God has prepared for those who love Him are far beyond human understanding; human beings simply cannot dream or imagine them.
God has prepared the deep and hidden things — which the eye has not seen, the ear has not heard, nor has the heart considered — for those who love Him. Our love toward God is a strong proof that we have been chosen and predestinated to enjoy the Triune God by soaking in His divine glory, which is our destiny and God’s mysterious wisdom.
To realize and participate in the deep and hidden things God has ordained and prepared for us requires us not only to believe in Him but also to love Him. To fear God, to worship God, and to believe in God (that is, to receive God) are all inadequate; to love Him is the indispensable requirement. To love God means to set our entire being — spirit, soul, and body, with the heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30) — absolutely on Him, that is, to let our entire being be occupied by Him and lost in Him, so that He becomes everything to us and we are one with Him practically in our daily life. In this way we have the closest and most intimate fellowship with God, and we are able to enter into His heart and apprehend all its secrets (Psa. 73:25; 25:14). Thus, we not only realize but also experience, enjoy, and fully participate in these deep and hidden things of God.
In 1 Corinthians 2:6 Paul says that the wisdom he spoke was a wisdom not of this age nor of the rulers of this age. In themselves, human beings are not capable of knowing this wisdom. It must be revealed through the Spirit. Therefore, Paul says in verse 10, “But to us God has revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.” God reveals the deep and hidden things to us through the Spirit, for these things have not been seen by man’s eyes, heard by man’s ears, nor have they come up in man’s heart. This means that man has no idea concerning them, no thought of them. They are altogether mysterious, hidden in God, and beyond human understanding, but God has revealed them to us through the Spirit, who searches all things, even the depths of God.
To have something revealed to us is different from being taught about that thing. To be taught is related to our mind; to have something revealed to us is related to our spirit. To realize the deep and hidden things God has prepared for us, our spirit is more necessary than our mind. When our entire being becomes one with God through loving Him in intimate fellowship, He shows us, in our spirit through His Spirit, all the secrets of Christ as our portion. This is to reveal the hidden things planned by His wisdom concerning Christ, which have never come up in man’s heart.
In verse 10 Paul tells us that the Spirit searches all things. The Greek word rendered “searches” is used in reference to active research, implying accurate knowledge gained not by discovering but by exploring. The Spirit of God explores the depths of God concerning Christ and shows them to us in our spirit for our realization and participation.
The depths of God refer to the deep things of God, which are Christ in many aspects as our eternal portion, foreordained, prepared, and given to us freely by God. These have never arisen in man’s heart but are revealed to us in our spirit by God’s Spirit. Hence, in order to partake of them, we must be spiritual. We must move, act, and live in our spirit that we may enjoy Christ as everything to us.
In verse 11 Paul continues, “Who among men knows the things of man, except the spirit of man which is in him? In the same way, the things of God also no one has known except the Spirit of God.” The spirit of man is the deepest part of man’s being. It has the faculty to penetrate the innermost region of the things of man, whereas the mind of man is capable of knowing only superficial things. In like manner, only the Spirit of God can know the deep things of God.
Christ as the depths of God is revealed to us through the Spirit who knows the things of God and searches all things, even the deep things of God concerning Christ. In order to partake of the deep things of God, we must exercise not merely our mind but our spirit. This is because the revealing Spirit of God is not in our mind but in our spirit. We must exercise our spirit by pray-reading the Word of God. In fact, the best way to exercise our spirit is to pray-read the Word. The more we pray-read with an exercised spirit, the more clearly we see a spiritual vision of the deep things of God. When we have seen these things, we should not teach them to other believers merely by exercising our mind; rather, we must teach by exercising our spirit. We must exercise our spirit to transfer what we have seen in our spirit into other believers. When we teach in this way, the Spirit of God, who is a revealing Spirit, will stir up their spirit. Here we have three spirits: the Spirit of God, our spirit, and their spirit. The Spirit of God who is in our spirit is at the same time in their spirit; this unveiling Spirit joins our spirit with their spirit. In this joining of our spirit with their spirit through the Spirit of God, they too see the spiritual things, the deep things of God that we see.
In order to know the depths of God, we must know that through incarnation God one day became a man named Jesus. Through His crucifixion the Lord Jesus terminated the old creation and released the divine life that it may be imparted into all who believe in Him. Now, in resurrection, He is the life-giving Spirit who indwells our spirit and who has become one spirit with us. Thus, we have a mingled spirit, our regenerated spirit mingled with the divine Spirit.
In keeping with this, 1 Corinthians tells us that Christ, the last Adam in the flesh, has become the life-giving Spirit (15:45b) and that “he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit” (6:17). In the context of the whole book of 1 Corinthians, the depths of God in 2:10 refers to the all-inclusive Christ who, as the life-giving Spirit, indwells our spirit. After accomplishing redemption, this Christ has become a life-giving Spirit. As such, He is so available to us that we can be joined to Him as one spirit. Nothing can be deeper than the last Adam becoming the life-giving Spirit and our being joined to the Lord as one spirit.
In 1 Corinthians 2:12 Paul continues, “We have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is from God, that we may know the things which have been graciously given to us by God.” We should praise the Lord that we, those who have been born of God by His Spirit, have received the Spirit of God. Hence, we are well able to know the deep things of God, which He has graciously given to us for our enjoyment.
God has predestined Christ for us, He has prepared Him for us, He has revealed Him to us, and He has given Him to us as the deep things of God, the depths of God. These depths can be realized and discerned, not by our philosophical mind but only by our regenerated spirit indwelt by the Spirit of God. By means of the mingled spirit alone can we discern the depths of God, the different aspects of Christ as our portion for our enjoyment. If we exercise the mingled spirit, we will enjoy Christ, not in a superficial way but as the depths of God and even in the depths of God. We will enjoy Him in a way that eye has not seen, ear has not heard, mind has not thought, and heart has never imagined. We will enjoy Christ in a way beyond all we have ever dreamed. We should praise the Lord that He is our portion through the mingled spirit.
