Message Five

Being One Spirit with the Lord
to Have the Highest Spirituality

Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 6:17-20; 7:17-25, 40

1. The essence of the New Testament is the two spirits— the divine Spirit and the human spirit—mingled together as one spirit—6:17; Rom. 8:4:
   1. The word joined in 1 Corinthians 6:17 refers to the believers’ organic union with the Lord through believing into Him—John 3:15-16; 15:4-5.
   2. The expression one spirit indicates the mingling of the Lord as the Spirit with our spirit:
      1. The spirit, which is the mingling of our spirit and the Lord’s Spirit into one spirit, is both the Spirit of the Lord and our spirit—Rom. 8:4; 2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17.
      2. All of our spiritual experiences, such as our fellowship with the Lord, our prayer to Him, and our living with Him, are in this mingled spirit.
   3. The union of God and man is a union of the two spirits, the Spirit of God and the spirit of man (2:11-14); the union of these two spirits is the deepest mystery in the Bible.
   4. The focus of God’s economy is the mingled spirit, the divine Spirit mingled with the human spirit; whatever God intends to do or accomplish is related to this focus—Eph. 3:9, 5; 1:17; 2:22; 4:23; 5:18; 6:18.
   5. By being one spirit with the Lord, we can experience Him as the all-inclusive One—1 Cor. 1:2, 24, 30; 2:8, 10; 3:11; 5:7-8; 10:3-4; 11:3; 12:12; 15:20, 47, 45:
      1. We enjoy Christ by being joined to Him as one spirit.
      2. We can experience Christ and take Christ as everything because we have become one spirit with Him.
      3. When we are one spirit with the Lord, we enjoy the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord—1:9.
      4. For everyone who is one spirit with the Lord, the supply is inexhaustible.
   6. The spirit of faith (2 Cor. 4:13) is the Holy Spirit mingled with our human spirit; we should exercise such a spirit to believe and to speak the things that we have experienced of the Lord.
   7. The Holy Spirit is in our spirit (Rom. 8:16), and our spirit is within our body; hence, our body becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit—1 Cor. 6:19-20:
      1. Our organic union with the Lord makes it possible for our bodies to be members of Christ—v. 15.
      2. 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 Christ.
      3. 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—1 Cor. 6:15, 17, 19.
   8. The mingled spirit is a spirit that is one spirit with God and that is the same as God in His life and nature but not in His Godhead—1 John 5:11; 2 Pet. 1:4:
      1. The divine Spirit and the human spirit are mingled as one within us so that we can live the life of a God-man, a life that is God yet man and man yet God—Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:19-21a.
      2. The God-man living is the living of the two spirits, the Spirit of God and the spirit of man joined and mingled together as one.
2. First Corinthians 7 conveys the spirit of a person who loves the Lord, who cares for the Lord’s interests on earth, who is absolutely for the Lord and one with the Lord, and who in every respect is obedient, submissive, and satisfied with God and the circumstances arranged by Him:
   1. Paul was absolutely one with God, and he wanted the Corinthian believers to be one with Him and not to initiate anything—vv. 17-24.
   2. Because Paul was utterly one with the Lord, in his instructions and answers he spontaneously and unconsciously expressed an absolute spirit:
      1. Paul had an excellent spirit, a spirit that was submissive, content, and satisfied:
         1. In his spirit he was very submissive and content with his situation.
         2. To him, every situation was of the Lord, and he would not initiate anything to change it.
      2. Because Paul had such a spirit, he could answer the Corinthians in a way that would help them also to become one with God in their situation—v. 24.
3. Because Paul was one with the Lord, when he spoke, the Lord spoke with him; thus, in 1 Corinthians 7 we have an example of the New Testament principle of incarnation—vv. 10, 12, 25, 40:
   1. The principle of incarnation is that God enters into man and mingles Himself with man to make man one with Himself; thus, God is in man and man is in God—John 15:4-5:
      1. In the New Testament the Lord becomes one with His apostles, and they become one with Him and speak together with Him; thus, His word becomes their word, and whatever they utter is His word.
      2. The Old Testament principle of speaking for God was “Thus saith the Lord” (Isa. 10:24; Jer. 2:2); the New Testament principle of incarnation is “I [the speaker] charge,” for the speaker and the Lord are one.
   2. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 7 in the principle of incarnation:
      1. The principle in verse 10 is the same as that in Galatians 2:20: the principle of incarnation—two persons living as one person.
      2. Because Paul was one with the Lord, he knew the Lord’s heart and mind.
      3. Paul was one with the Lord to such a degree that when he gave his own opinion, he thought that he also had the Spirit of God—1 Cor. 7:40.
      4. In verses 25 and 40 we see the highest spirituality—the spirituality of a person who is so one with the Lord and permeated with Him that even his opinion expresses the Lord’s mind.
      5. If we are saturated with the Spirit, what we express will be our thought, but it will also be something of the Lord because we are one with Him— 6:17.