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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 6:13-20
In 6:15, 17, and 19 there are three crucial matters: first, that our bodies are members of Christ; second, that we are one spirit with the Lord; and third, that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. In the context of dealing with the abuse of freedom in foods and in the body, Paul opens up these matters in a marvelous way.
Verse 15 says, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?” Because we are organically united with Christ (v. 17), and because Christ dwells in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22) and makes His home in our heart (Eph. 3:17), our entire being, including our purified body, becomes a member of Him. Hence, to practice such membership we need to offer our body to Him (Rom. 12:1, 4-5).
In verse 17 Paul says, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” The word joined in this verse refers to the believers’ organic union with the Lord through believing into Him (John 3:15-16). This union is illustrated by that of the branches with the vine (John 15:4-5). It is a matter not only of life, but also in life, the divine life. Such a union with the resurrected Lord can only be in our spirit.
The expression “one spirit” indicates the mingling of the Lord as the Spirit with our spirit. Our spirit has been regenerated by the Spirit of God (John 3:6), who is now in us (1 Cor. 6:19) and is one with our spirit (Rom. 8:16). This is the realization of the Lord who became the life-giving Spirit through resurrection (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17), and who is now with our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22). This mingled spirit is often referred to in Paul’s Epistles, as in Romans 8:4-6.
In verse 19 Paul says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, Whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” The Holy Spirit is in our spirit (Rom. 8:16), and our spirit is within our body. Hence, our body becomes a temple, a dwelling place, of the Holy Spirit.
In verse 20 Paul concludes, “For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” The price mentioned here is the precious blood of Christ (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Rev. 5:9). To glorify God in our body means to let God who dwells in us (1 John 4:13) occupy and saturate our body and express Himself through our body as His temple, especially in the two matters of eating and marriage, according to the context of this section from 6:13 through 11:1. For this, we need to exercise a severe and strict control over our body, bringing it into subjection (1 Cor. 9:27) and presenting it to God as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1).
These verses in 1 Corinthians 6 are the only verses in the New Testament which tell us that our bodies are members of Christ, that we are one spirit with the Lord, and that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. When we read these verses, however, we may take them for granted and may not spend adequate time to study them and the important matters revealed in them. How much time have you spent on verse 15, which says that our bodies are members of Christ? Very few believers have paid the proper attention to this verse. Yes, messages have been given on verse 19, messages on the believers’ body as a temple of the Holy Spirit. But before you came into the Lord’s recovery, did you ever hear a message on being one spirit with the Lord? Did you ever hear a message on being joined to the Lord as one spirit? These three matters deserve thorough study. I do not mean merely the study of the black and white letters of the Word, but a study in the light of experience.
Rarely do Christians today practice being one spirit with the Lord. Do you know of a book, or even a message, entitled “One Spirit with the Lord”? Due to the influence of traditional theology and practice, most Christians are not able to digest a verse like 6:17. There seems to be no room in them for the vital matter of being one spirit with the Lord. However, they may have a great deal of room in them for such matters as holiness, victory, power, miracles, and speaking in tongues. Certain Christians in Pentecostalism place great emphasis on speaking in tongues. In some cases they do not care whether or not the tongues-speaking is genuine. Because they are so fond of speaking in tongues, they do not care much for proper prayers and do not care at all for the central vision of Paul’s completing ministry. If someone speaks in tongues, these believers easily become excited. But if someone prays, “Lord, thank You for Your mercy and grace,” they quickly become disinterested. They have no heart for this kind of prayer. Furthermore, should you speak to them of the vision of God’s economy, they would not be able to understand what you are saying. Do you think it is possible for such persons to know the Word of God? No, they cannot know the Word, for there is no room in them for the crucial matters of God’s revelation.
The situation of many Christians today is similar to that of the disciples of the Lord Jesus who did not have the capacity to take in the Lord’s word regarding the bread of life. The Lord said that He was the bread of life, that He came down from heaven to give life, that His flesh was edible and His blood drinkable, and that whoever ate Him would live by Him (John 6:33, 35, 55, 57). Those who could not receive the Lord’s word said, “This is a hard word; who can hear it?” (John 6:60).
We also may be very limited in our capacity to receive God’s revelation. Due to the drugging influence of religion and tradition, we may not be able to take in Paul’s word about being one spirit with the Lord, or his word about our bodies being the members of Christ. We may be like a person who eats garlic or who stays in a room filled with the smell of garlic, and thus becomes insensitive to the taste and smell of garlic. Such a person’s sense of smell may become so accustomed to garlic that he regards this smell as normal. In the same principle, our spiritual senses of smell and taste, in fact, our whole inner being, may be so much under the influence of traditional Christianity that we do not have the ability to perceive certain crucial matters of God’s economy. If this is our situation, we may read 1 Corinthians 6 again and again without being impressed by verses 15 and 17.
For many years I also read 1 Corinthians 6 without seeing the crucial significance of verse 17. But one day this verse began to be opened up to me. It was as if I had never read this verse before. I asked myself if such a verse was actually in the Bible. In verse 17 Paul clearly says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” From that time onward, I began to give a great deal of attention to this verse and to exercise myself to experience it.
In 1947 and 1948 Brother Nee often stressed the need to exercise the spirit and release the spirit. He often said that in all we do, preaching the gospel, contacting the saints, and ministering the Word, we must exercise our spirit and release our spirit. He also pointed out that the part of our being which we use the most is the part that we emphasize. For example, if a person lives in the mind, his mind will be prominent whenever he speaks. Likewise, a person who lives in the emotion will express his emotion. I was greatly helped by this fellowship, and from that time onward, I endeavored to exercise the spirit and to release the spirit. However, I had not yet been impressed with 6:17.
In 1958 the Lord began to open the matters of eating the Lord, drinking the Lord, and enjoying the Lord. At that time I began to see John 6:57, where the Lord Jesus says, “He who eats Me shall also live because of Me.” I also realized that if we would eat the Lord, drink the Lord, and enjoy the Lord, we must know our spirit. Apart from knowing the spirit, we cannot contact the Lord. In one message I pointed out that only when we know the nature of a particular food do we know how to eat that kind of food. In like manner, if we want to eat the Lord, we must know the nature of the Lord. Today the Lord is the life-giving Spirit. This means that the nature of spiritual food is spirit. We can contact the Spirit only by means of our spirit. John 4:24 says, “God is Spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and reality.” According to this verse, only spirit can touch the Spirit, and only spirit can worship Spirit.
In 1960 the burden, the light, and the utterance concerning the spirit became intensified. As a result, message upon message was given on the spirit. When I began the ministry in this country, I also emphasized the spirit. If you read the early issues of The Stream magazine, you will see many of the messages are centered on the spirit. I can testify that seeing 1 Corinthians 6:17 has greatly affected the ministry given to me by the Lord.
We the believers are joined to the Lord as one spirit. This is a great mystery, perhaps the most mysterious matter revealed in the Bible. Who can explain such a mystery? Can you explain how it is possible for us to be one spirit with the Lord? Although we cannot explain it, we can surely experience it. Often I pray in the morning, “Lord, thank You for another day in which to practice being one spirit with You.” What a wonder that sinners such as we can be one spirit with the Lord! The more we consider this matter, the more we realize how wonderful it is.
In 6:17 Paul plainly declares the fact that we are one spirit with the Lord. But few of us have paid adequate attention to this. We need much time to study this verse and explore it in an experiential way. We need to experiment and learn how to be one spirit with the Lord in our speaking and in all that we do. As we do various things, we need to consider whether or not we are one spirit with the Lord.
Because I have seen the vision of being one spirit with the Lord according to 6:17, I have come to realize that what Brother Lawrence practiced was altogether an Old Testament matter. He exercised to be in the presence of God, but he did not practice being one spirit with the Lord. There is a great difference between being in the presence of God and being one spirit with the Lord.
We have seen that in chapter six Paul covers three vital matters. These matters are so great that it takes much exercise of the spirit for us to assimilate them adequately. How marvelous that our bodies are members of Christ, that we are one spirit with the Lord, and that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit! The vision concerning this is becoming so clear that sometimes I can hardly contain myself. The burden of this vision is so heavy that I can hardly bear it. I cannot bear to think that some churches and some saints may go on in an old way, carrying on a Christian work but neglecting the central vision of Paul’s completing ministry. We urgently need to see the vision that our bodies are members of Christ, that we are one spirit with the Lord, and that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
I am troubled by the situation among Christians today and also by the situation among us. Everywhere Christians are listening to sugar-coated sermons, sermons that distract and even drug them. Even some among us have been distracted by scriptural messages. Certain brothers may use parts of the Life-study Messages as materials for speaking, but still not see the central vision. As a result, both the speakers and the listeners may miss the mark. The meetings may seem very good and even helpful, but are the saints being helped by the central vision of Paul’s completing ministry or by John’s mending ministry? In some cases this is doubtful. It is possible that we are missing the mark in our ministry, work, and effort to help the churches. If we pay attention to things other than God’s economy, there is the danger that we would actually help the saints to be distracted. What the Lord desires today is a remnant who see the vision He has shown to his faithful steward, the apostle Paul, and who carry out the completing ministry concerning Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ. However, these matters should not be presented to the saints as mere doctrines; they must be ministered as a reality. If we would minister the reality of these things to others, we must first touch the reality ourselves.
Because of the vision and the burden, I have no heart for messages that contain nothing but doctrine. The three crucial matters covered in this message should not remain doctrines to us. I am deeply concerned that some among us have not yet touched the reality of these things and thus do not have an experiential realization concerning our bodies being members of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit and of being one spirit with the Lord. If the brothers who minister in the churches see this vision, their speaking will be radically changed. They would never again speak in a way of giving mere doctrines to others. Spontaneously they would determine not to know anything other than Christ and His Body.
It is not my burden in these messages to teach doctrines. Forty years ago I would have given many messages on subjects such as the reward, the suffering of loss, being saved through fire, and the various categories of people who should be excommunicated from the church. But I have no burden to give messages on these things. Instead, I am burdened that the saints enjoy Christ as their feast of unleavened bread. I am especially burdened for those who have been in the recovery for years and still do not see the central vision. Instead of grain, these ones only have husks, and they minister these husks to others. Those under their training do not receive any nourishment, any life supply, and as a result do not grow. If we would all see the vision, our situation will be altogether different. We shall testify that we are one spirit with the Lord and that our bodies are members of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit. However, we are still short of experience, still very limited in our capacity to receive these things and understand them. Thus, we all need to humble ourselves before the Lord and say, “Lord, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to repent, I don’t know how to confess, and I don’t know how to pray. Lord, I am simply here before You. Have mercy on me. I need to see a clear vision of Your economy. Have mercy on me, Lord, that I may touch the reality of this vision and help others to do the same.” Let us all look to the Lord for His mercy that we may see the vision shown to Paul. Only when we see such a vision can we be kept from the abuse of freedom in foods and in the body.
