Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 15:45b; 1 Cor. 12:13; 2 Cor. 3:6, 17-18; 1 Cor. 11:3, 20, 23-25; 12:1; 15:12; 16:1-2
In this message we shall present an overview, a bird’s-eye view, of 1 Corinthians. Before we do so, however, let us first consider four verses, two from 1 Corinthians and two from 2 Corinthians. First Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” In 12:13 Paul declares, “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.” Second Corinthians 3:6 says that we are “ministers of a new covenant, not of letter, but of the Spirit.” Finally, 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” Have you ever thought about the connection between these four verses? Two verses represent 1 Corinthians, and two, 2 Corinthians. Actually, these two books are books of the Spirit. Each of the four verses quoted above speaks of the Spirit. I believe that many Christians have not been adequately impressed with these verses.
According to 15:45b, Christ, the last Adam, became a life-giving Spirit. Before you came into the Lord’s recovery, did you know that there was a verse in the New Testament telling us that the last Adam, Christ, became a life-giving Spirit? This verse does not say that the last Adam became the Redeemer, the Savior, or the almighty Lord; it tells us that He became a life-giving Spirit.
To some extent, believers today are familiar with Paul’s word in 12:13. Some make mention of this verse quite often. However, their emphasis is usually on the word baptized: in one Spirit we have all been baptized. Have you ever heard a message emphasizing the word drink, a message telling you that you have been baptized in the Spirit to drink of the Spirit? We have been baptized to drink. Therefore, we should not stop with the word baptize, but go on to realize that we have been baptized to drink. To be baptized is a matter once for all, but to drink is a continual matter. Even in eternity we shall still drink of the one Spirit.
The Lord Jesus as the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit so that we could be baptized into this Spirit. In what Spirit have we been baptized? We have not been baptized merely in the Spirit of God. Rather, we have been baptized in the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19). This Spirit of Jesus Christ is the life-giving Spirit.
If we were not baptized into the life-giving Spirit, how could we be baptized into one Body? The Body is not a matter of power or organization; it is an organism of life. We have been baptized organically into one Body in the life-giving Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, not just the Spirit of God. If we did not have life and an organic element, how could we be living members of the Body? It would be impossible. To baptize a believer only in water does not involve life. After a person has been immersed in water, he is still a separate individual. But we have been baptized not only in water, but also in the life-giving Spirit. The water is a sign of the Spirit in which we are baptized. After a person has been baptized in the life-giving Spirit, he becomes part of the Body in an organic way.
Because we have all been baptized in one Spirit, we are organically one Body. The reason we love all the saints, regardless of race, culture, or nationality, is that we are organically united in life. We have an organic element within us, and we are one in the life of the life-giving Spirit.
After passing through a process, the Triune God has become such a life-giving Spirit. In such a Spirit we all have been baptized into one Body. How is it possible for us to be one Body? We can be one Body because we have been baptized in the wonderful life-giving Spirit, who is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God.
We have been baptized in this wonderful Spirit in order to drink of the Triune God. This means that baptism is not the end; rather, it is just the beginning. We who have been baptized once will drink of the life-giving Spirit for eternity.
There is a marvelous connection between 12:13 and Revelation 22:1, where we are told that the river of water of life proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. This river will flow throughout the entire New Jerusalem so that everyone may drink of the water of life. In eternity the water of life will be our drink. We have been baptized to drink the Spirit, the water of life, for eternity.
The book of 1 Corinthians teaches that the last Adam, God incarnate, has become a life-giving Spirit, and that in this Spirit we have all been baptized into one Body. Now, as those baptized in the life-giving Spirit, we need to drink the Spirit. Day by day, we should drink. Whenever we pray, pray-read, or call, “O Lord Jesus,” we may drink. As we fellowship with the saints, we should also drink of the Spirit. Sometimes when I drink of the Spirit, I am beside myself with joy. Hallelujah, we have been baptized into the one Body to drink of the life-giving Spirit! What a marvelous revelation!
Eventually, by drinking the Spirit we are saturated with the Spirit. Then we become ministers of a new covenant, “not of letter, but of the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:6). The new covenant is not of law, but of Christ who has become the life-giving Spirit.
Christ’s becoming the life-giving Spirit implies all the steps of His process: incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. It also includes redemption. The goal of this process is not incarnation, crucifixion, or even resurrection; the goal is the life-giving Spirit. This is the new covenant. Therefore, the new covenant implies incarnation; that is, it implies God becoming a man and living as a man on earth. The new covenant also implies that this incarnated One went to the cross and died for our sins, and even for ourselves, in order to terminate the old creation. After shedding His blood on the cross and dying for us, this One was buried and then entered into resurrection. When He came into resurrection, He reached the destination — the life-giving Spirit.
In this wonderful Spirit we all have been baptized into one Body. Now as we drink this Spirit and are saturated with Him, we spontaneously become ministers of the new covenant, a covenant of the Spirit. Therefore, we should not minister mere doctrines and letters. On the contrary, we must minister the Spirit. We must serve others the heavenly drink with which we have been saturated. Let us all be ministers not of doctrines or letters, but of life and of the Spirit.
According to 2 Corinthians 3, not only should we be ministers of the Spirit, but we should also be “transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit” (v. 18). In all that we do in the church life — in meetings, in fellowship, in serving, in giving and receiving hospitality — we should be undergoing the process of transformation. We all are being transformed into the Lord’s image from glory to glory, from one degree of glory to another. This is from the Lord Spirit.
I deeply appreciate these four verses. The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. We have been baptized in this Spirit and are now drinking the Spirit. Furthermore, as we are saturated with the Spirit, we become ministers of the Spirit. Moreover, we are in the process of being transformed from glory to glory even as from the Lord Spirit. First and 2 Corinthians certainly are books of the Spirit.
At this point it will be helpful to see the Epistle of 1 Corinthians as a whole, to have an overview, a bird’s-eye view, of the entire book. When Paul wrote this Epistle, he was deeply burdened in his spirit. This book deals with the problems among the saints in a very disturbed and disorderly church. The saints at Corinth had been misled, and there was disorder among them. Hence, Paul, the apostle, burdened for that church, wrote this Epistle to clarify the situation by dealing with the problems one by one.
After much reading and studying, I have discovered that in 1 Corinthians eleven problems are dealt with by the apostle. (Some teachers only recognize ten.) These eleven problems are in two categories. The first group is composed of the six problems covered in chapters one through ten. The first of these problems is division, caused by living in the soul. There was division among the Corinthians because they were natural and lived according to their philosophical wisdom. They lived a soulish life, and as a result they were divided.
The second problem was the gross sin of incest dealt with in chapter five. This sin involves the indulgence of the flesh. The indulgence of the flesh comes from living by the soulish life. Those who are soulish will sooner or later indulge their flesh.
The third problem, covered in chapter six, is that of lawsuits. This involves the claiming of personal rights.
Fourth, also in chapter six, we have the problem of the abuse of human rights. God in His creation ordained that man should eat in order to exist and also that he should marry in order to propagate. Thus, eating and marriage, both of which are ordained by God, are human rights. But the soulish and even fleshly saints in Corinth abused these rights. The abuse of the right of eating is excessive eating, and the abuse of the right of marriage is fornication.
Fifth, in chapter seven Paul deals with the problem of marriage. This problem is related both to the soulish life and to the flesh. The more wise and philosophical a person is, the more problems he will have in married life. Less educated people, on the contrary, seem to have fewer problems with married life.
The sixth problem, covered in chapters eight through ten, is that of the eating of idol sacrifices. Those who engaged in this practice among the Corinthians had no restriction; they did not care for others, for the Body of Christ, or for God’s testimony. They cared only for their eating. This problem of the eating of idol sacrifices is also related to the Lord’s table. One cannot have such unrestricted eating related to idols and at the same time come to the Lord’s table. This is the reason that in dealing with the eating of sacrifices to idols Paul touches the matter of the Lord’s table.
These six problems all belong to the realm of human life. Any believer who can solve these problems will truly be holy; he will certainly be sanctified. He will have no problems of division, the lusts of the flesh, the claiming of personal rights, the abuse of his rights in eating and marriage, and in married life itself. Furthermore, in his daily living, especially in the matter of eating, he will be restricted and care for others, the church, and God’s testimony.
The factor needed for solving these problems concerning the proper daily Christian life is Christ. Christ is God’s center and the One given to us as our unique portion. If we enjoy Christ according to the way He is revealed in the first ten chapters of this book, we shall have the necessary factor to solve these six problems. We shall solve the problems of division, the indulgence of the flesh, the claiming of personal rights, and the abuse of our rights. We shall also have the solution to the problems in our married life. If you have problems in your married life, that is an indication that you are short of Christ, that you are not adequately nourished with Christ. But if you enjoy Christ in a full way, you will not have any problems in married life, or the other five problems covered in 1 Corinthians 1 through 10. Because Christ is the factor to solve these problems, these ten chapters place great emphasis on Christ. Christ is the all-inclusive One. He is the power of God, the wisdom of God, and even the depths of God. He is the unique factor to solve the problems in the realm of human life.
The problems among the Corinthians, however, were related not only to human living, but even the more to God’s administration. Among them there was no order, no authority. Therefore, they not only abused their rights in eating and marriage; they even abused the spiritual gifts. They excessively misused these God-given gifts in order to fulfill their self-seeking. This caused God’s administration among them to be frustrated and, to some extent at least, to be damaged.
Some were even so mistaken with respect to God’s administration that they went so far as to say that there was no resurrection (15:12). If there is no resurrection in this universe, then God becomes nothing. God Himself is resurrection. When God came in the flesh, He said, “I am the resurrection” (John 11:25). Hence, if there were no resurrection there would be no God, for there would be no God to be the source of life, the power of life, the shape of life, and the function of life. Without resurrection, the whole universe would be empty. Therefore, it is a very serious matter to say that there is no resurrection. This is to deny God and to annul the divine power for His administration in the universe. We must recognize that there is resurrection and that God is administrating the universe to fulfill His eternal purpose by resurrection and in resurrection.
If we are truly under God’s administration in resurrection, we shall overcome money and material possessions. They will have no power over us, and they will not occupy us or possess us. Instead, we shall overcome them and reign over them.
In chapter fifteen Paul deals with the matter of resurrection. Then he opens chapter sixteen with a word about collecting material gifts on the first day of the week. The first day of the week signifies resurrection, for it is the day of resurrection.
The fact that material things are offered on the first day of the week indicates that they should be presented in resurrection, not in our natural life. Certain wealthy worldly people are able to write checks for large sums of money. But if they make a large donation, they usually make a name for themselves and advertise what they have done. This is not giving in resurrection. Our giving of money and material things must be in resurrection. This way of giving is a strong indication that we are under God’s administration in resurrection and have overcome the possession of material things. As a result, God’s administration will have a way to be carried on among us.
The first of the five problems related to God’s administration is that of headship. Paul covers this in 11:2-16 when he deals with head covering. Head covering is related to the headship in God’s universal, governmental administration.
The second problem in this group is that of the Lord’s supper. The Lord’s supper is not a thing in itself, for it concerns the Body. For God to administrate the universe He needs the Body. He needs a group of people formed organically into a Body. This Body is the means by which God carries out His administration.
The third problem in this category is the problem of the misuse of spiritual gifts. In chapter eleven Paul speaks of the headship and of the Body, and in chapters twelve through fourteen, of the gifts. The Body functions by means of the gifts. If the Body is to carry out God’s administration, every member of the Body must have a gift for function according to God’s operation. God administrates by operating, and God’s operation can be carried out only by our function. Furthermore, our function is possible only by our gifts. When we have a gift, we have our function. Then the service comes out of this function. This service is for God’s operation, and this operation carries out God’s administration. Therefore, first we have the headship, then the Body, and then the gifts for the services that God’s administration may be carried out.
Resurrection is the fourth problem in the realm of God’s administration. The headship, the Body, and the functioning of the members by the gifts should all be in resurrection. We should never deny the fact of resurrection. If there were no resurrection, there could be no gifts and no power for the divine administration.
Finally, Paul deals with material possessions. If we are under the headship, if we are in the Body, and if we have the gifts to function in resurrection, we shall certainly overcome the bondage to material things. The material things will be under our feet. Money or material possessions will not hinder or frustrate our function in the Body. Rather, what we have will be used for God’s administration through the churches. If this is our situation, the Lord God will have a way to carry out His administration.
Now we have before us a bird’s-eye view of the whole book of 1 Corinthians. Having this view enables us to remember what the sixteen chapters of this Epistle talk about. Chapters one through four deal with division; chapter five, with incest; chapter six, with the claiming of rights and the abuse of freedom in eating and in marriage; chapter seven, with married life; chapters eight through ten, with the eating of sacrifices offered to idols; chapter eleven, with the headship and with the Lord’s supper related to the Body; chapters twelve through fourteen, with the spiritual gifts; chapter fifteen, with resurrection; and chapter sixteen, with the overcoming of material things.
We have pointed out that the eleven problems covered in 1 Corinthians are of two categories, two groups. To solve the six problems in the first category we need Christ as the unique factor. To solve the five problems in the second category we need the church as the element to settle the matters. Therefore, this book first emphasizes Christ in chapters one through ten, and then it emphasizes the church as the Body of Christ in chapters eleven through sixteen. Therefore, what we see in 1 Corinthians is Christ and the church. Christ is the factor for solving all the problems in the realm of human life, and the church is the element for settling all the problems in the realm of the divine administration. We all need to see Christ in the realm of human life and the church in the realm of the divine administration.
The saints at Corinth had problems in both realms. The same is true of many Christians today. They have problems in the realm of human life, and they have problems in the realm of the divine administration. Therefore, all believers, including us, need 1 Corinthians. We all need to be under the headship in God’s governmental administration. We need to be right with the Body of Christ so that God may have the means to work out His administration. We need to know how to use our gifts to function properly and to serve the Lord with ministry to carry out God’s operation so that the divine administration may be effective on earth. We also need to know resurrection life, the resurrection power, and the resurrection principles so that we may function under the headship and in the Body rightly, properly, and adequately. Then we shall overcome money and material things. This means that we shall overcome all earthly ties. Then we shall truly live Christ. By living Christ we shall have a proper human life and we shall carry out God’s administration. This is what the Lord desires and expects today. This was exactly the burden in the spirit and heart of Paul when he wrote this book. First Corinthians is not merely a book of teachings. This Epistle was written according to the burden in Paul’s spirit concerning Christ in the realm of human life and the church in the realm of God’s administration.
