In 2 Corinthians, Paul shows us that if we are going to have a ministry of Christ, we have to experience Christ by the working of the cross (1:9; 4:10-12), and the working of the cross is for us to experience the anointing, the sealing, and the pledge of the Holy Spirit (1:21-22). The ministry comes out of this experience. Second Corinthians gives us a pattern, an example, of how the killing of the cross works, how Christ is wrought into our being, and how we become the expression of Christ. These constitute the ministers of Christ and produce the ministry for God’s new covenant. While Ephesians and Colossians may be the highest books in the Bible, 2 Corinthians is probably the deepest.
The central thought of the Scriptures is that God intends to work Himself in Christ through the Spirit into us, that God and we, we and God, might be really one in life, in nature, and in the Spirit. To show this, God uses several figures or symbols in the Bible. First, He uses the figure of the good land (Exo. 3:8; Col. 1:12; 2:6-7). God saved and delivered Israel out of Egypt and brought them through the wilderness into the land of Canaan, which was the very enjoyment to the children of Israel (Deut. 8:7-10). The good land is a type of Christ for our enjoyment. God has delivered us out of the world, has brought us into Christ (1 Cor. 1:30), and has made Christ the good land to us that we may enjoy Him all the time. Whatever He is will be wrought into us (Gal. 1:16; 2:20; 4:19), and all His riches (Eph. 3:8) will be our enjoyment (Rom. 10:12). Then, in experience, we will be one with Christ.
Another major symbol in the Bible is the tabernacle or temple (John 1:14; 2:19-21; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; Eph. 2:21-22; Rev. 21:3, 22). In both the tabernacle and the temple there are the outer court, the holy place, and the Holy of Holies. If you are a priest of God up to the standard of His desire, you will be one in the Holy of Holies. To enjoy God by being mingled with Him is to be one with God in the Holy of Holies. To enjoy God in the Holy of Holies, in spirit (John 4:24), is to be mingled with Him (1 Cor. 6:17) as one in life and in nature (1 John 5:12; 2 Pet. 1:4).
Besides the good land of Canaan and the tabernacle or temple, there is another figure in the Bible concerning our enjoyment of Christ. This is the figure of the bride (John 3:29), the wife (Rev. 19:7), the virgin (2 Cor. 11:2). All the redeemed people of Christ are a bride, a virgin to Christ. We all have to be a bride and a virgin to Christ experientially that we may enjoy Him and that He may enjoy us, that we may be one with Him. Thus, in the Bible are these three types-the good land, the temple, and the bride, the wife, the virgin to Christ. These types may also be found, in particular, in 2 Corinthians.
In 1 Corinthians the believers were still in the wilderness, but not in the land of Canaan. They were still either in the flesh (the outer court) or in the soul (the holy place), but they were not yet in the spirit (the Holy of Holies). In 1 Corinthians 5:7 the Passover is mentioned. The people enjoyed the passover in Egypt. Then in chapter ten there are the manna and the living water out of the cleft rock (vv. 3-4). These items were also enjoyed by the people in the wilderness. In 1 Corinthians we cannot see anything of the children of Israel’s entering into and enjoying the good land. Thus, the Apostle Paul encouraged them to press on (1 Cor. 9:24). The Corinthians may have had the spiritual gifts and knowledge, yet Paul told them that they were still fleshly (1 Cor. 3:1, 3) and soulish (2:14). They were not spiritual (3:1) because they were still acting and walking in the soul and flesh. Paul was encouraging them to press on to get themselves out of the realm of the soulish life that they might live in their spirit under the leading of the Spirit to enjoy Christ as their good land.
In 2 Corinthians Paul went on to tell them that he feared that they were distracted from Christ. They had been betrothed to Christ, but they were aiming at something other than Christ (11:2-3). Paul exhorted them to forget all the other aims to take Christ as their only aim. He is the Bridegroom and they were the bride. Second Corinthians shows us some persons who have really gotten into the good land and have enjoyed its riches. They have experienced Christ in the spirit to become part of the bride to Christ.
The experiences mentioned in this book are experiences in the Holy of Holies. This book gives a portrait of a person who is in the Holy of Holies. Paul and his co-workers were such persons. They had entered into the good land and were living in the spirit, experiencing Christ all the time. They were deep, even the deepest, in the experience of Christ.
It is rather hard for one to get any doctrine from this book. If one is trying to get doctrines out of this book, he is getting into the wrong field. In this field there are hardly any doctrines, but mostly experiences. These experiences are not in Egypt nor even in the wilderness but in the good land of Canaan. The experiences are not in the flesh nor in the soul but in the spirit. Paul did not exercise his fleshly wisdom but the spiritual wisdom which is God Himself. The experiences in this book are the deepest; they are experiences in the spirit, in the Holy of Holies. Brother Watchman Nee once told us that 2 Corinthians may be considered as the autobiography of the Apostle Paul. If you are going to know what kind of person the Apostle Paul was, you have to look into 2 Corinthians.
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