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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 12:1, 3-11, 13, 18, 24, 28; 14:4-5, 12, 25; 15:3-4, 17, 20, 23, 45, 54-57
In 1 Corinthians 12:28 Paul says, “God has placed some in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then works of power, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.” The church here refers both to its universal and local aspects. From verse 12 through verse 27 the church is considered the Body of Christ. The Body is an organism for Christ as the believers’ life to grow and express Himself. The church is an assembly for God to operate His administration.
The apostles are those who are called and sent by God (1:1; Rom. 1:1) to preach the gospel so that sinners may be saved to be the materials for the building of the church, to establish the churches (Acts 14:21-23), and to teach the divine truth. Their ministry is universal for all the churches.
The prophets are those who speak for God and speak forth God by God’s revelation. Sometimes they may speak with inspired predictions (11:27-28).
The teachers are those who teach the truths according to the apostles’ teaching (2:42) and the prophets’ revelation. Both prophets and teachers are universal as well as local (Eph. 4:11; Acts 13:1).
Works of power denote miracles, works of miraculous power other than healing. An example of the works of power was the case of Peter raising Dorcas from death (9:36-42). Gifts of healing refer to miraculous power for healing different diseases.
The Greek word rendered “helps” also means “helpers” or “helpings.” These must refer to the services of the deacons and deaconesses (1 Tim. 3:8-13).
The Greek word translated “administrations” also means “administrators” or “governings.” This should refer to the eldership in the church.
As the last of the items in 1 Corinthians 12:28, Paul lists various kinds of tongues. This is the second time that speaking in tongues is listed as the last of the aspects of God’s operation in the church.
From 12:28 we clearly see that God has placed different gifts in the church. Actually, every member of the Body is a gift to the Body. Therefore, you should not think that others may be a gift but that you are not a gift. Even the small members of our physical body, such as our little fingers, are gifts to the body. If we did not have our little fingers, we certainly would sense a lack. All the members of the Body are gifts to the Body, and all are needed by the Body.
In 14:4, 5, and 12 we see that the functions of the members are for the building up of the church. First Corinthians 14:4 and 5 say, “He who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but he who prophesies builds up the church. I desire that you all speak in tongues, but especially that you would prophesy; and greater is he who prophesies than he who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, that the church may receive building up.” To prophesy, to speak for the Lord and speak forth the Lord, builds up not only the individual saints but also the church.
In 14:12 Paul goes on to say, “So also you, since you are zealous of spirits, seek that you may excel for the building up of the church.” The apostle was fully occupied with the consideration of building up the church. He was fully church-conscious and church-centered, altogether different from the self-centered Corinthians. Their problem with spiritual gifts was due to their self-seeking, to their not caring for the building up of the church.
In dealing with the problems in the realm of human life, Paul emphasizes Christ as God’s unique portion to us. In dealing with problems in the realm of the divine administration, he emphasizes the church as God’s unique goal for us. The Corinthians not only were devoid of Christ but were also ignorant of the church. The apostle’s completing ministry (Col. 1:25) comprises Christ as the mystery of God (2:2) and the church as the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4). However, the Corinthians missed both, even though they were under the apostle’s ministry.
In 1 Corinthians 14:25 Paul says, “The secrets of his heart become manifest; and so falling on his face, he will worship God, declaring that indeed God is among you.” This implies that prophecy, speaking for God and speaking forth God with God as its content, ministers God to the hearers and brings them to God. This also indicates that the church meeting should be filled with God and that all its activity should convey God and transmit Him to people so that they may be infused with God.
First Corinthians 12:11 and 12 say, “The one and the same Spirit operates all these things, distributing to each one respectively even as He purposes. For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.” For indicates that verse 12 is an explanation of verse 11. Verse 11 says that one Spirit operates all the various aspects of His manifestation, distributing them to many believers individually. This is just like our physical body being one and having many members.
In verse 12 the Christ refers to the corporate Christ, composed of Christ Himself as the Head and the church as His Body with all the believers as its members. All the believers of Christ are organically united with Him and constituted of His life and element to become His Body, an organism, to express Him. Hence, He is not only the Head but also the Body. As our physical body has many members yet is one, so is this Christ.
In 12:13 Paul goes on to say, “For 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.” As the Spirit is the sphere and element of our spiritual baptism and in such a Spirit we were all baptized into one organic entity, the Body of Christ, so we should all, regardless of our races, nationalities, and social ranks, be this one Body. Christ is the life and constituent of this Body, and the Spirit is the reality of Christ. It is in this one Spirit that we were all baptized into this one living Body to express Christ.
The believers of Christ are baptized through water and in the Spirit into Christ, the death of Christ (Rom. 6:3), the name — the person — of the Triune God (Matt. 28:19), and the Body of Christ. Baptism ushers the believers into an organic union with Christ and the Triune God, making them living members of the Body of Christ. All the gifts, as the manifestation of the Spirit distributed to the individual believers by the Spirit, are for the profit, the building up, of this Body. Paul was very conscious of this. He was very Body-conscious, Body-centered, unlike the Corinthians and so many other believers through the centuries who have been very much self-centered concerning spiritual gifts. Hence, following this verse, he gave the Corinthians a long discourse concerning the Body. His intention was to rescue them from their self-seeking back to a concern for the Body so that they would no longer be for their individual profit but for the building of the Body.
In 1 Corinthians 12:13 Jews or Greeks refers to races and nationalities. Slaves or free refers to social ranks.
To be baptized in the Spirit is to get into the Spirit and be lost in Him. To drink the Spirit is to take the Spirit in and have our being saturated with Him. By these two procedures we are mingled with the Spirit. To be baptized in the Spirit is the initiation of the mingling and is once for all. To drink the Spirit is the continuation and accomplishment of the mingling and is perpetual, forever.
In verses 14 through 22 we see the indispensability of each member of the Body. In verse 18 Paul says, “Now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, even as He willed.”
First Corinthians 12:24 says, “God has blended the body together, giving more abundant honor to the member that lacked.” Literally, the Greek word rendered “blended” means “tempered”; hence, “mixed, compounded, adjusted.” God has blended all the different members of Christ together into one Body. We need much transformation (Rom. 12:2), from the natural life to the spiritual, by the same Spirit, for the practical Body life.
To be blended together in the Body is to be tempered, mingled. By this blending we have coordination, balance, and adjustment.
In the church life we have those of all colors, races, nationalities, and social rank. Nevertheless, we are one Body. How is this possible? It is possible through God’s blending of the members of the Body. Do you know how God blends us together? He blends us by the inner life and through His indwelling.
The placing of the gifts in the church and the blending of the Body are matters of the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. The more God blends us, the more He adjusts us and balances us, and the more He dispenses Himself into us. Balancing, adjusting, coordinating, blending — all are related to the divine dispensing.
Whatever the Lord does in the Body is a matter of His dispensing. As we have strongly emphasized, this dispensing involves the Trinity, and it takes place through our cooperation. In particular, we cooperate with the Triune God by our speaking in the meetings of the church. The more we speak, the more the divine dispensing takes place.
In chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians we have all the functions of the members of the Body, and in chapter 14 we see that the functions are for the building up of the church. Then in chapter 15 we have what we may call the basic factor. This chapter does not speak of gifts or functions; however, it does reveal the basic factor of the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.
In 15:3 Paul says, “I delivered to you, first of all, that which also I received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” Christ’s death for our sins, His burial for our termination, and His resurrection for our germination with life, according to the prophecies of the Old Testament (Isa. 53:5-8, 10-12; Psa. 22:14-18; Dan. 9:26; Isa. 53:9; Psa. 16:9-10; Hosea 6:2), are the basic items among the first things of the gospel.
In 1 Corinthians 15:4 Paul continues, “And that He was buried, and that He has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” The Scriptures in verses 3 and 4 denotes the Old Testament, that is, the law and the prophets. Of the three matters mentioned here — Christ’s death, His burial, and His resurrection — the last is the most vital, for it imparts life so that we may live Christ.
In verse 20 Paul says, “Now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” In verse 23 Paul again speaks of Christ as the firstfruits. Christ was the first One raised from the dead as the firstfruits of resurrection. This is typified by the firstfruits (a sheaf of the firstfruits, including Christ with some of the dead Old Testament saints, was raised at the Lord’s resurrection — Matt. 27:52-53) in Leviticus 23:10-11, offered to God on the day after the Sabbath, the day of resurrection (Matt. 28:1). Christ as the firstfruits of resurrection is the Firstborn from the dead to be the Head of the Body (Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:20-23). Since He, the Head of the Body, has been resurrected, we, the Body, will also be resurrected.
First Corinthians 15 reveals not only that Christ died for our sins, that He was buried, and that He was resurrected to become the firstfruits. This chapter also reveals that Christ as the last Adam has become in resurrection a life-giving Spirit: “So also it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul’; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit” (v. 45). Adam became a living soul through creation with a soulish body. Christ became a life-giving Spirit through resurrection with a spiritual body. Adam as a living soul is natural; Christ as a life-giving Spirit is resurrected. First, in incarnation Christ became flesh for redemption (John 1:14, 29). Then in resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit for imparting life (10:10). He had a soulish body like Adam through incarnation; He has a spiritual body through resurrection. His soulish body has become a spiritual one through resurrection. Now He is a life-giving Spirit in resurrection, with a spiritual body, ready to be received by His believers. When we believe into Him, He enters our spirit, and we are joined to Him as the life-giving Spirit. Hence, we become one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). Our spirit is made alive and resurrected with Him. Eventually, our present soulish body will also become a spiritual body in resurrection, just as His body is (15:52-54; Phil. 3:21).
In 1 Corinthians 15:57 Paul declares, “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This victory is the victory over sin and death. Such a victory by Christ’s death and resurrection should not be merely an accomplished fact for our acceptance; it must also become our daily experience in life by the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit, who is one with our spirit. Hence, we should live by this mingled spirit and walk according to it. Thus, many thanks will be continuously given to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Because we believe in Christ and participate in Him, we have an organic union with Him. As a result, we enjoy His victory over sin and death. We all have Christ as the firstfruits and as the life-giving Spirit. Therefore, we may enjoy His victory. This makes it possible for us to function in the church meetings.
When we enjoy Christ’s victory, we can speak for Christ and we can speak forth Christ in the meetings. This speaking opens the way for the Spirit to function, for the Lord to minister, and for God to work. Then the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity will take place continually, and the church will receive the benefit. This is the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity issuing in the functions of the members in a local church.
