Search
Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 4:15; 3:6-12, 16; 6:17, 19; 7:40
In this chapter we will consider some verses from 1 Corinthians 3.
Verse 6 says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.” Planted, watered, and caused the growth are all related to the matter of life. This indicates that the believers are God’s farm to grow Christ. The ministers of Christ can only plant and water. God is the only One who can cause the growth. The Corinthian believers overestimated the planter and waterer but neglected the One who causes the growth. Hence, they did not grow in Christ as their life.
The Corinthians were neglecting God as the source of growth. The source of their growth was neither Paul nor Apollos. Yet the Corinthians were paying more attention to them than they were to God Himself, who was the source of their growth in life.
The Corinthian believers, under the prevailing influence of Greek philosophical wisdom, paid too much attention to knowledge, but they neglected life. In this chapter Paul’s intention was to turn their attention from knowledge to life and to point out that to them he was a feeder and a planter, Apollos was a waterer, and God is the Giver of growth. In 4:15 Paul even told them that he was their spiritual father, the one who begot them in Christ through the gospel. From the view of life, the divine view, they were God’s farm to grow Christ. This is totally a matter of life, a matter that is utterly missed by believers who are dominated by their soulish, natural life under the influence of their natural wisdom.
In 3:7 Paul continues, “So then neither is he who plants anything nor he who waters, but God who causes the growth.” As far as the growth in life is concerned, all the ministers of Christ, whether planters or waterers, are nothing, but God is everything. We must turn our eyes from them to God alone. This delivers us from the divisiveness that results from appreciating one minister of Christ above another.
In chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians, Paul was trying to turn the philosophical Greek believers from mental knowledge to life in the spirit. First, he pointed out that he gave them milk to drink (v. 2); hence, he was a feeder. Then he goes on to indicate that he was one who planted, and Apollos was one who watered. Furthermore, Paul says that, with respect to the growth in life, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything. God, the One who gives the growth, is everything. However, Christians often appreciate a certain speaker and elevate him above others. Therefore, we need to realize that no minister of Christ can ever be the source of our growth in life. This source is God Himself.
In verse 8 Paul says, “Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” This reward is an incentive to the ministers of Christ who labor by planting or watering on God’s farm.
In verse 9a Paul testifies, “We are God’s fellow workers.” This indicates that God also is a Worker. While the ministers of Christ, His fellow workers, are working on His farm, He is also working. What a privilege and a glory that men can be God’s fellow workers, working together with God on His farm to grow Christ!
Verse 9b says, “You are God’s cultivated land, God’s building.” The believers who have been regenerated in Christ with God’s life are God’s cultivated land, a farm in God’s new creation to grow Christ so that precious materials may be produced for God’s building. Hence, we are not only God’s farm but also God’s building. Corporately, we as the church of God have Christ planted in us. Christ must also grow in us and out of us to produce, in the sense of this chapter, not the fruit but the precious materials of gold, silver, and precious stones for the building of God’s habitation on earth. Thus, the building of God, the house of God, the church, is the increase of Christ, the enlargement of Christ in His unlimitedness.
According to these verses, the growth in the divine life produces precious materials — gold, silver, and precious stones — for the building up of God’s habitation. This habitation, the church, is the increase, the enlargement, of the unlimited Christ. The growth in life is altogether a matter of the continual dispensing of the divine life into our being.
It is important for us to realize what the practical life of a local church is. The practical church life is actually the continual increase of Christ in our growth in life through the divine dispensing of the divine life into our being. A few years ago a particular church may have had a small measure of the divine life. But now, through the dispensing of the divine life into the saints, the measure of Christ in that church has increased. This is the increase of Christ through the growth in life by the divine dispensing of the divine life.
In 3:10 Paul goes on to say, “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.” In Matthew 16:18 the Lord said that He will build His church, yet here Paul says that he is a builder, even a wise master builder. This indicates that the Lord builds the church not directly but through His ministers, even through every member of His Body, as revealed in Ephesians 4:16. Although in 1 Corinthians 3:6 and 7 the apostle admits that he is nothing, he frankly and faithfully makes it clear in verse 10 that by the grace of God he is a wise master builder who has laid the unique foundation, Christ, for others to build upon.
The church, the house of God, must be built with gold, silver, and precious stones, materials produced from Christ growing in us. However, there is much possibility that we may build with wood, grass, and stubble produced by us in the flesh. Hence, each of us, including every member of the Body, must take heed how he builds, that is, with what material he builds.
In verse 11 Paul says, “Another foundation no one is able to lay besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” As the Christ and the Son of the living God, the Lord Jesus Christ is the unique foundation laid by God for the building of the church (Matt. 16:16-18). No one can lay any other foundation.
First Corinthians 3:12 continues, “If anyone builds upon the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble.” Here we have two groups of materials. The first group includes gold, silver, and precious stones; the second group includes wood, grass, and stubble. Since the unique foundation has been laid, the question now before us concerns what kind of materials we are using to build on this foundation. What materials are we using to build the church? Are we building with gold, silver, and precious stones or with wood, grass, and stubble?
The foundation is unique, but the building may differ due to different builders with different materials. All the Corinthian believers had accepted Christ as the foundation. However, some Jewish believers among them attempted to build the church with their Judaistic attainments, and some Greek believers attempted to use their philosophical wisdom. They were not like the apostles, who built with their excellent knowledge of Christ and rich experiences of Him. The intention of Paul in this Epistle is to warn the believers at Corinth not to build the church with the things of their natural background. They must learn to build with Christ, both in objective knowledge and subjective experience.
Two sources of trouble in the church in Corinth were Greek philosophy and the Jewish religion. To build the church with the things of Greek philosophy or Jewish religion is to build with wood, grass, and stubble, not with gold, silver, and precious stones.
Gold, silver, and precious stones signify the various experiences of Christ in the virtues and attributes of the Triune God. It is with these that the apostles and all spiritual believers build the church on the unique foundation of Christ. Gold may signify the nature of the Father with all its attributes, silver may signify the redeeming Christ with all the virtues and attributes of His person and work, and precious stones may signify the transforming work of the Spirit with all its attributes. All these precious materials are the products of our participation in Christ and enjoyment of Him in our spirit through the Holy Spirit. Only these materials are good for God’s building.
Paul’s thought in 3:12 is profound. Why does he mention three precious materials instead of two or four? The reason must be that the proper materials for God’s building are related to the Triune God, to the trinity of the Godhead — the Father’s nature, the Son’s redemptive work, and the Spirit’s transforming work.
As God’s farm with planting, watering, and growing, the church should produce plants. But the proper materials for the building up of the church are gold, silver, and precious stones, all of which are minerals. Hence, the thought of transformation is implied here. We need not only to grow in life but also to be transformed in life, as revealed in 2 Corinthians 3:18 and Romans 12:2. This corresponds to the thought in the Lord’s parables in Matthew 13 concerning wheat, the mustard seed, and meal, all of which are of the plant life, and the treasure hidden in the field, the gold, and the precious stones, all of which are minerals. (See footnotes 311, 333, and 441 in Matthew 13, Recovery Version.)
We have indicated that in Paul’s word in these verses from 1 Corinthians 3 the thought of transformation is implied. First, Paul tells us that the church is God’s farm. Since a farm produces plants, how can we have the minerals necessary for God’s building? How can the plants produced on the farm become these minerals? Plants can become minerals through the process of transformation. An illustration of this process is the transforming of wood from certain trees into petrified wood. As a result of this process, wood is transformed into stone.
We need both to grow in life and to be transformed in life. Transformation is a profound matter. Transformation is both deeper and higher than growth. What a wonder that wood can be transformed into precious stone! How marvelous!
In 2 Corinthians 3:18 Paul writes concerning the experience of transformation: “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.” When we behold and reflect the glory of the Lord, He infuses us with the elements of what He is and what He has done. In this way we are being transformed metabolically to have His life shape by His life power with His life essence.
This transformation takes place mainly by the renewing of our mind. Concerning this renewing, Paul says in Romans 12:2, “Do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” Today we are still undergoing the process of transformation to become precious stones for God’s building.
In 1 Corinthians 3:12 Paul speaks not only of gold, silver, and precious stones but also of wood, grass, and stubble. Wood, grass, and stubble signify the knowledge, realization, and attainments that come from the believers’ natural background (such as Judaism or other religions, philosophy, and culture) and the natural way of living (which is mostly in the soul and in the natural life). Wood may be in contrast to gold and may signify the nature of the natural man. Grass may be in contrast to silver and may signify the fallen man, the man of the flesh (1 Pet. 1:24), not redeemed by Christ. Stubble may be in contrast to precious stones and may signify the work and living that issue from an earthly source, a work and living without any transformation by the Holy Spirit. All these worthless materials are the product of the believers’ natural man together with what they have collected from their background. In God’s economy these materials are fit only to be burned (1 Cor. 3:13).
In this chapter we have emphasized the need for growth and transformation. How can we grow and be transformed? The only way to grow and be transformed is to have the dispensing of the Divine Trinity into our being.
As believers in Christ, we all are those who have been reborn. We all have experienced the divine birth. This birth is not merely a theological doctrine, and regeneration is more than a term. Regeneration is a spiritual fact, even a divine fact.
The Lord Jesus, the Spirit of God, and the divine life are all real. When we believed in the Lord Jesus, the Spirit of God entered into us to impart God’s life, eternal life, into our being. In reality and in practicality, the divine life has been imparted to our spirit. This is not a doctrinal matter. Something divinely real and practical has been imparted into our being.
If the receiving of the divine life through regeneration were not a reality, then our believing in the Lord Jesus would be vanity. But believing in the Lord Jesus is not vanity; it is a marvelous reality. Through our believing in Him, eternal life, the very life of God, has been imparted to our being.
From the time of our regeneration, the life-imparting Spirit has been with our spirit. Now this Spirit with the divine life abides in our spirit. Whenever we contact our Lord, the Triune God, through the exercise of our spirit, the indwelling Spirit imparts more life into our being.
From experience we have learned that we may contact the Lord by calling on His name and by proper prayer. Many times we have prayed improperly; that is, we have prayed only from our mind, neglecting our spirit. Those who pray only with the mind may sometimes pray from memory and at other times may think about what they should pray before uttering anything in prayer. In order to have a proper prayer, we need to pray by our spirit and from our spirit. When we call on the name of the Lord and exercise to have proper prayer, our spirit is exercised. At such a time the “switch” is turned on, and the “current” of the divine life flows within us. The more this current flows, the more the divine life is added to our being. The more this current flows, the more the divine life increases within us.
The increase of the divine life within us depends on our contacting the Lord by praying and calling upon Him. This is the reason the New Testament tells us to pray without ceasing (1 Thes. 5:17). Praying without ceasing can be compared to breathing. If we want to stay alive, we must breathe all the time. No matter what we are doing, we need to breathe. Whether we are awake or asleep, whether we are working or resting, we need to keep on breathing. A husband continues to breathe even when he is exchanging words with his wife. It would be ridiculous for a husband to say, “I’m busy arguing with my wife. I don’t have time to breathe.” In order to maintain our physical life, we must breathe all the time. The principle is the same with our spiritual life. Whenever we stop breathing, we experience spiritual death. To experience death in the spiritual sense is equal to switching off the current of the divine life. Just as a person dies when his blood stops circulating, so we experience spiritual death when the divine life stops circulating within us.
Many Christians are dead, spiritually speaking. The current of the divine life does not flow within them. Do you know why so many Christians are spiritually dead, why they do not have the divine life flowing in them? The reason is that they do not contact the Lord by praying and calling on Him. For example, when a brother and his wife are exchanging words, they are not contacting the Lord. Furthermore, even when we are doing good things, the inner current of the divine life may stop flowing. In order to maintain the flowing of the divine life, we need to pray without ceasing.
How can we fulfill Paul’s charge in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to pray without ceasing? Years ago, I tried to find a book that answered this question, but I could not find one. Eventually, through experience with the Lord I discovered that to pray unceasingly is to exercise our spirit continually. We may use walking as an illustration. Walking is an exercise of our feet. If we want to walk, we need to exercise our feet. In like manner, seeing is an exercise of the eyes, and hearing is an exercise of the ears. But what does it mean to exercise our spirit? To exercise the spirit is to pray. This means that whenever we exercise our spirit, we pray. As one example, I can testify that whenever I am giving a message, I am exercising my spirit. Through this exercise of my spirit, I look to the Lord for His instant transfusion and utterance. I do not know from one moment to the next what kind of utterance I should use. Therefore, while I am speaking, I am praying by exercising my spirit.
Praying does not necessarily mean that we utter something verbally. No, to pray is to exercise our spirit. If we realize this, then we will see that even at work we can exercise our spirit to pray.
The Bible reveals clearly that the Spirit of God is in our spirit. Because the divine Spirit is with our regenerated spirit, when we exercise our spirit, the Spirit of God flows within us. As this divine current flows, it brings the element, even the essence, of the divine life into our being. In this way we receive more of the divine life. The result of the increase of the divine life within us is growth. Growth, therefore, is a matter of the continual increase of the divine life within us.
Because this growth comes from the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity, Paul told the Corinthians that neither he nor Apollos could cause growth. God is the only One who causes the growth. Only God Himself can flow in our being to bring in His divine essence to produce the growth in life.
The growth in life causes transformation. As the divine life grows within us, it transforms us.
The making of petrified wood is a good illustration of the process of transformation through the flowing of the divine life. I have been told that petrified wood is produced by the flowing of a current of water. As the water flows, it brings in the mineral element and carries away the element of wood. This means that through the flowing of the water, the wooden element is replaced by a mineral element. The flow of the current not only produces the increase of the mineral element but also causes transformation. Eventually, after many years, the wood that has been immersed in the flowing of this current is petrified. This is a picture of the process of transformation in the divine life.
By the way of implication Paul tells us in chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians that through growth plants can become minerals. First, we have the growth on God’s farm. Then the plants grown on this farm become the precious materials for God’s building. We are God’s farm, and this farm produces plants. But as these divine plants grow, their growth will bring in transformation. As a result, the plants grown on God’s farm are transformed to become the materials for God’s building.
In 3:12 Paul speaks of gold, silver, and precious stones. Here the gold, silver, and precious stones signify the Triune God. We believe that the gold signifies the nature of God the Father, that the silver signifies the redeeming Christ with all the virtues and attributes of His person and work, and that the precious stones signify the transforming work of the Spirit. As the current of the divine life flows within our being, a divine essence is added to us, a divine essence of the elements of gold, silver, and precious stones. The more this current flows in us, the more we have the increase, the enlargement, of the divine essence. This enlargement causes transformation. Eventually, not only do we grow, but we are also transformed into precious materials for God’s building.
In 1 Corinthians 3 we see the growth and transformation of the believers. If we take care of this growth and transformation through the flowing of the current of the divine life within us, we will see a great difference in our Christian life.
