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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 6:13-20
As Paul was writing this Epistle, he must have been exercised to consider in what sequence he should deal with the different problems among the believers at Corinth. The order in which Paul deals with the problems is not careless or insignificant. On the contrary, the sequence is full of significance. First, Paul deals with the soulish desires and aspirations; second, with the fleshly lusts; third, with the claiming of rights; and fourth, with the abuse of human freedom in the God-ordained matters of eating and marriage. As we shall see, Paul goes on in chapter seven to deal with married life and in chapters eight, nine, and ten, to deal with the eating of meat sacrificed to idols. These six dealings form a group. Every matter in this group is a matter of life. The soul, the flesh, rights, freedom, marriage, and eating are all related to human living.
In chapters eleven through sixteen Paul deals with five other problems. In chapter eleven he deals with head covering and the Lord’s table. Head covering is related to Christ as the Head, and the Lord’s table is related to the church as Christ’s Body. In chapters twelve, thirteen, and fourteen Paul deals with spiritual gifts; in chapter fifteen he covers the doctrine of resurrection; and in chapter sixteen he comes to the last matter, the giving of material things. These five matters form a second group and are all related to spiritual things concerning God’s administration. The more we consider the sequence in which Paul deals with problems in this Epistle, the more we realize the significance of this sequence. We shall see that the first six problems are a group related to human life and that the last five are a group related to spiritual things, in particular related to God’s interests on earth.
One way to study 1 Corinthians is to trace the sequence of the eleven problems dealt with in this book. This is not merely to study the Bible according to the black and white letters; it is to see the light which brings in life. When we see light in the Word and receive life, we shall grow.
In chapters five and six Paul deals with the matters of gross sin, the claiming of rights, and the abuse of human freedom. But when he deals with these things, he uses certain excellent expressions and utterances to present matters that are not covered elsewhere in the New Testament. For example, in 5:8 Paul says, “Let us therefore keep the feast.” We have seen that this feast refers to the feast of unleavened bread as a continuation of the Passover (Exo. 12:15-20). It lasted seven days, a period of completion, signifying the entire period of our Christian life, from the day of our conversion to the day of rapture. This indicates that the entire Christian life should be a feast, an enjoyment of Christ as our banquet.
Although keeping the feast of unleavened bread is a matter of great importance, most Christians pay little attention to Paul’s word concerning it. Instead, they concentrate on Paul’s commands for wives to submit themselves to their husbands and for husbands to love their wives. These concepts are already part of the natural understanding both of believers and of unbelievers. The Chinese began to practice these things thousands of years ago. If from the Bible you teach certain ethical Chinese that wives should submit to their husbands and that husbands should love their wives, they may tell you that they already know these things and practice them.
Although Christians pay attention to verses about submission and love, who pays adequate attention to Paul’s word about keeping the feast? Do the professors in Bible schools and seminaries teach their students what it means to keep the feast and how to keep the feast? It is doubtful that any professor instructs his students concerning these things. Furthermore, I doubt that anyone has ever told you what it means for your body to be a member of Christ, to be joined to the Lord as one spirit, or for your body to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. How sad that today’s believers have been distracted from these crucial matters! We also have been hindered by the influence of our religious background. Thus, there is the need for us to get into verses 15, 17, and 19. We can no longer afford to neglect such verses; these are some of the deepest verses in the Bible.
In 6:13 and 14 Paul says, “Foods are for the belly, and the belly for foods; but God will bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God has raised up the Lord and will raise up us through His power.” Our body was created for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. God has raised up the Lord bodily, and our body will participate in the Lord’s glorious body in resurrection (Phil. 3:21) and be raised incorruptible. This will be the redemption of our body.
Speaking of the resurrected Christ, Acts 2:24 says, “Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.” According to Romans 6:9, “Christ having been raised from among the dead dies no more; death lords it over Him no more.” In 2 Corinthians 4:14 Paul says clearly that the One who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up: “Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.” Furthermore, in John 6:39 and 40 the Lord Jesus promises that He will raise us up in the last day. But even today the Spirit of the resurrected Christ gives life to our body, thereby making it a member of Christ and a temple of God indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
If we would understand how the Lord today is for our body and how in the future God will resurrect our body, we need to understand Romans 8:11. This verse says, “But if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from among the dead dwells in you, He Who raised Christ Jesus from among the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit Who indwells you.” In this verse, one of the greatest verses in the Bible, we see that through the indwelling Spirit of the very God who raised up Jesus from among the dead, life is imparted into our mortal body. This may be the present experience of all who seek the Lord. If you truly seek the Lord, something marvelous is taking place within you: the Spirit of the resurrecting God is imparting life into your body.
This imparting of life may be illustrated by the transmission of electricity. The current of electricity is actually electricity in motion. If you look at the electric meter in the meeting hall, you will realize that electricity is being transmitted into the building. As we meet in the hall to pray and fellowship, electricity is flowing into the building. In the same principle, the heavenly electricity of Christ’s resurrection life is flowing into our mortal bodies. As we seek the Lord day by day, we can have the full assurance that the divine current is flowing within us. This current is the resurrection life imparted into us through the indwelling Spirit.
I often experience this transmission when I am physically tired. Many times I must speak even when my body is very tired. But while I am speaking, the Spirit is infused into me, and the resurrected Christ becomes my life supply. As a result, my spirit is strengthened and my weak, tired body is enlivened.
In verse 15 Paul says, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?” Notice that here Paul does not say merely that we are members of Christ; he declares that our bodies are members of Christ. The subject of these verses is the abuse of freedom in foods and in the body. Thus, Paul’s concern is the believers’ body.
Because we are organically united with Christ 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. Verse 17 indicates that we are organically united with Christ. To be one spirit with the Lord is to enter into an organic union with Him, to be united with Him organically. This organic union makes it possible for our bodies to be the members of Christ. Christ indwells our spirit, and from our spirit spreads throughout our inner being, thereby making His home in our hearts. Furthermore, according to Romans 8:11, from our inner being He seeks to impart Himself as life into our physical body. Therefore, Christ spreads from the spirit to the soul and from the soul to the body. In this way our bodies become His members.
This matter is deep, mysterious, and abstract. But praise the Lord for the solid word in 1 Corinthians 6 revealing such a mysterious matter! It is crucial that we dig into this word.
In 6:17 Paul says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” I wish to emphasize once again that this refers to the believers’ organic union with the Lord through believing into Him (John 3:15-16). Such a union with the resurrected Christ can only be in our spirit, for Christ today is the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) and is now with our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22).
We have seen that in verses 15, 17, and 19 Paul covers three crucial matters: that our bodies are the members of Christ; that we are joined to the Lord as one spirit; and that our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. In actuality and practicality these three are one. The key to all three is in verse 17. Apart from being joined to the Lord in our spirit, it is impossible for our bodies, which are sinful and lustful, to become the members of Christ. Another crucial matter related to this is Paul’s word in 6:14 that the Lord “will raise up us through His power.” We have pointed out that even now the Spirit of the resurrected Christ who dwells in our spirit gives life to our body. This impartation of life makes our bodies the members of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit. Have you ever wondered how our bodies can become the members of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit? The key is that the indwelling Spirit of the resurrected Christ imparts life into our mortal bodies.
Since this is the key, we must exercise and practice to experience the Lord as the life-giving Spirit dwelling in our spirit. This is to practice being one spirit with the Lord. If we exercise ourselves to experience this and enjoy it, we shall open the door for the Lord to impart life to our physical bodies. Then our bodies will be full of the resurrection life of Christ and will become the members of Christ. When our body becomes a member of the indwelling Christ, it automatically becomes the temple, the dwelling place, of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, in our experience the three matters of our bodies being members of Christ, of being one spirit with the Lord, and of our body being the temple of the Holy Spirit are three aspects of one reality.
The way Paul deals with the problems among the Corinthian believers is not shallow or superficial. On the contrary, it is deep and profound. As Paul deals with the different problems, he brings us back to the central vision of God’s economy — to the Triune God as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit dwelling in our spirit. The Spirit today is the processed Triune God indwelling our whole being. All the problems among the believers are caused by the shortage of the experience of this indwelling Spirit. To repeat, Christians have problems because they lack the experience of the all-inclusive, life-giving indwelling Spirit. For this reason, Paul eventually brings us back to this Spirit in our spirit.
In 6:20 Paul says, “For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” The way to glorify God in our body is to have our body occupied by God and thoroughly saturated with Him. Then we shall express Him in our body. As the Lord spreads from our spirit, through our soul, and into our body, we glorify God in our body. Thus, to glorify God in our body is to have our body one with the Triune God. This is to understand Paul’s word in verse 20 according to the central vision of God’s economy.
We should not think that 1 Corinthians is a shallow book dealing with problems in the church. Yes, in this book Paul does deal with many problems. But at the same time he brings us into the central vision of God’s economy, for he brings us back to the Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God.
If you get into the depths of these verses, your life, ministry, and service in the church will be affected in a revolutionary way. Your inner being and your entire church life will be radically changed. May we all pray about these verses until such a change takes place within us.
