I do not believe that throughout the centuries many Christians have realized that the existence of the church depends on the divine dispensing. The church does not come into being through organization. The church comes into being through the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. The dispensing of the Triune God, therefore, gives the church its existence.
The church comes into being through the divine dispensing of what the Triune God is. When the Divine Trinity is dispensed into the believers, this dispensing brings the church into existence. We all need to know the church in such a deep way. We need to know that the church does not come into existence through anything other than the dispensing of the Triune God into the believers.
The church is produced of God as the source. This is the reason 1 Corinthians 1:2 speaks of “the church of God which is in Corinth.” Here we see that the church to which this Epistle was addressed was of God and in Corinth. If we had been writing this Epistle, we might have said simply “to the church which is in Corinth.” However, Paul first says that the church is of God and then that it is in Corinth.
Here we see that the church is both divine and local; it is a church that is of God and also a local church, a church of God and a church in Corinth. The church addressed in this Epistle is a local church, a church in a city, not the church in a region or a street. “Of God” indicates the source of the church, and “in Corinth” indicates the location of the church.
The church in Corinth was constituted of the universal God, but it existed in Corinth, a definite locality on earth. In nature the church is universal in God, but in practice the church is local in a definite place. Hence, the church has two aspects: the universal and the local. Without the universal aspect, the church is void of content; without the local aspect, it is impossible for the church to have any expression or practice. Therefore, the New Testament also emphasizes the local aspect of the church (Acts 8:1; 13:1; Rev. 1:11).
Let us read all of 1 Corinthians 1:2: “To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, theirs and ours.” Here we see that “the church of God” equals “those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus.” This strongly indicates that the church is a composition of the saints, and the saints are the constituents of the church. The two should not be considered separate entities. Individually, we are the saints; corporately, we are the church.
We have seen that in 1:2 “of God” indicates the source and “in Corinth” indicates the location. In this verse we also have the phrase “in Christ Jesus.” As we shall see, this means in the element and sphere of Christ. Christ is the element and sphere that separated us unto God, made us holy unto Him, when we believed in Him, that is, when we were brought into an organic union with Him through our faith in Him.
According to verse 2, the members of the church are called saints. We need to lay aside the Roman Catholic concept of a saint and be impressed with the fact that we all are saints, genuine saints sanctified in Christ Jesus. We have been made holy, separated unto God for the fulfillment of His purpose. In verse 2 Paul does not say, as rendered in the King James Version, that the believers are called to be saints; rather, he says that the believers in Christ are the called saints. This is a positional matter, a sanctification in position with a view to sanctification in disposition.
In 1:2 the preposition “with” is significant. Paul does not say “and all those who call,” but says “with all those who call.” This indicates that a local church, such as the church in Corinth, is composed only of those believers in that locality, not of all believers in every place. It also indicates that this Epistle was intended not only for the believers in the church in Corinth, but for all believers in every place. Hence, this Epistle is for all believers of whatever place or time.
In this verse Paul speaks of calling upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. To call upon the name of the Lord implies believing in Him (Rom. 10:14). All believers in the Lord should be those who call on Him (Acts 9:14, 21; 22:16). We have been called to call; we have been called by God to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus.
The words “theirs and ours” used by Paul in 1:2 indicate that Christ, as the all-inclusive One, belongs to all believers. He is our portion given to us by God (Col. 1:12). The apostle added this special phrase at the end of this verse to emphasize the crucial fact of Christ’s being the unique center of all believers in whatever place or situation. For all problems, especially the matter of division, the only solution is the all-inclusive Christ. We have all been called into the fellowship, the participation, in Him (1 Cor. 1:9).
First Corinthians 1:2 is a rich verse. All the riches contained in this verse are related to the church.
We have pointed out that, according to 1:2, the church is of God. This phrase not only denotes the fact that the church belongs to God, but it also indicates that the source of the church is God Himself. The church comes out from God. Since the church comes out from God, the church is of God.
As an illustration of the fact that the church comes out from God, we may say that children are of their parents. This means that children are the issue, the produce, that comes out from their parents. In a similar way, the church is the produce that comes out from God, for all the members of the church have been born of God.
We all have been born of God; that is, we all have experienced the divine birth. It is through the divine birth that the church comes into being. Just as there cannot be a human family without human birth, so there cannot be a church, which is a divine family, without the divine birth. A family is something that issues from human parents through birth. Likewise, the church is of God and issues from God through the divine birth.
The begetting of children is a matter of dispensing. When parents beget children, they dispense their life and nature into the children. Hence, birth is actually a dispensing. We have been born of God, and our divine birth involved the divine dispensing. Actually, the divine dispensing began at the time of our regeneration.
How can the church be produced? How can the church come into existence? The existence of the church depends on the divine birth. Through the divine birth God has dispensed Himself into our being. That part of our being which has received the divine dispensing is part of the church. When we were regenerated, we all received the dispensing of the Triune God into our being. The church is composed of that part in the believers which has received the divine dispensing. When we add all these parts together, the total is the church.
The church is of God because the church is produced with the element that comes out from God. For the Corinthians, the church was also in Corinth. This church was composed of all the sanctified ones with those who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, all those who possess this all-inclusive One. As we consider the points in 1:2, we see that the church is the issue of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity.