In 1:9 Paul says, “God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” This fellowship is the partaking of God’s Son, the participation in Him. To be in this fellowship is to partake of the all-inclusive Christ, to participate in Him. God has called us into such a fellowship so that we may partake of Christ and enjoy Him as our God-given portion.
To be called into the fellowship of God’s Son actually means to be called into the participation and enjoyment of Christ. Fellowship means participation. We have seen that God has predestinated us unto glory. But how can we reach the glory to which we have been predestinated? We reach this glory by enjoying Christ. The One who predestinated us unto glory is also the One who has called us into the enjoyment of Christ. Now we need to enjoy Christ every day.
Every part of our enjoyment of Christ is also a part of the glory to which God has predestinated us. Do you know what the coming glory is? The coming glory is the totality of all our enjoyment of Christ. Today we may have some enjoyment of Christ, and tomorrow we shall also have some enjoyment of Christ. Eventually, our enjoyment of Christ will be put together, and the aggregate of all that we have enjoyed of Him will be glory. Hence, we reach glory through our daily enjoyment of Christ.
We shall not come into glory suddenly. Apparently, the Bible indicates that we shall be raptured into glory. Actually, we are growing into the coming glory. How do we grow into this glory? We grow into glory by enjoying Christ.
As we enjoy Christ, He dispenses Himself into us. We may use the eating of food as an illustration. As we enjoy the food we eat, the food is dispensed into us. Actually, our enjoyment of the food is the dispensing of the food into our being. In a similar way, our enjoyment of Christ is the dispensing of Himself into us. We need to learn how to remain in the fellowship of God’s Son, that is, how to remain in the enjoyment of Christ, in the participation of Him.
First Corinthians 1:30 tells us, “Of Him you are in Christ Jesus.” What we believers, as the new creation, are and have in Christ is of God, not of ourselves. It is God who has put us in Christ, who has transferred us from Adam into Christ.
Although God has totally transferred us out of Adam and into Christ, according to our actual experience we have been transferred into Christ only in part. From the standpoint of our position as the result of God’s working, we have been transferred into Christ, and now we are in Christ. But experientially we are not yet wholly in Christ. Therefore, God is continually seeking to dispense something of Christ into our being so that we may be transferred into Christ more and more.
Paul’s word in 1:30 concerning our being in Christ is related to the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. After years of experience, we have come to see this. God is dispensing Himself into our being. The extent to which He has dispensed Himself into us is the degree to which He has transferred us into Christ experientially.
First Corinthians 1:24 says, “But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, God’s power and God’s wisdom.” This verse indicates that the crucified Christ preached by the apostles is God’s power and God’s wisdom. Wisdom is for planning, purposing; power is for carrying out, for accomplishing what is planned and purposed. In God’s economy Christ is both.
According to 1:24, Christ has become power to us from God. It is only in the book of 1 Corinthians that Paul tells us that Christ is God’s power and wisdom to us. In doing anything we need both wisdom and power. If we do not have wisdom, matters will be in confusion. But if we have wisdom without power, we shall not have the ability to carry out anything. We need wisdom and power, and Christ is both wisdom and power from God to us.
We need to realize that every day the living Christ is transfusing us with Himself as power to us from God. In ourselves we cannot be holy, victorious, or even patient. Therefore, we need Christ as our power. A married sister, for example, is not able in herself to be submissive to her husband. In order to be submissive, she needs the living Christ as her power.
In order to experience Christ as power to us from God, we need to know Christ as the life-giving Spirit. However, some Christians believe only in an objective Christ sitting in the heavens. They do not know that Christ is also the life-giving Spirit. If Christ were only in the heavens and were not the life-giving Spirit, He could not be power to us from God. Christ can be such power to us only because He is the life-giving Spirit. He is now the pneumatic Christ, the Christ who is identical with the Spirit. As the pneumatic Christ, the Lord is within us as the pneuma, dispensing Himself into us continually.
In our daily living we need to turn inwardly to our spirit. We may use switching on electrical power as an illustration of turning to the spirit. When we need power to operate an electrical appliance, we simply need to turn on the switch. There is no need to go elsewhere to receive electrical power. In the spiritual life we also have a “switch,” and this switch is in our spirit, where Christ is. If someone is giving us a difficult time, we should not try in ourselves to be good. If we behave ourselves in a certain way, we are merely doing something outward. Instead of trying to be good in ourselves, we should come back to our spirit. Rather than dealing with the situation in an outward way, we need to come to our spirit. Concerning this, it is helpful to call on the name of the Lord Jesus. If we turn to our spirit, calling on the Lord’s name, immediately Christ will be transmitted as power from God to us. Then in a practical way this power will become our strength.
The “current” of the divine transmission of Christ as power is interrupted whenever we try to behave in an outward way without turning to our spirit. We need to be reminded to turn from the outward situation, the difficulty or problem in our environment, and come back to our spirit. For instance, a brother should not try to deal with his wife’s temper, and a sister should not consider that her husband is too strong or that he does not show her enough love. Both the brother and the sister need to come back to the spirit and call on the name of the Lord Jesus.
Whenever we turn inwardly to the spirit and call on the Lord, the power reaches us and becomes our strength. As a result, we are well able to face our particular situation. When we receive the divine dispensing in this way, we shall have the ability to be patient in a happy way instead of gnashing our teeth in an effort to be patient.
Only Christ as the power to us from God can enable us to bear our problems or be carried through a difficult situation. The situation of the church in Corinth was certainly full of problems and confusion. The only power that could bear such a situation was Christ as the power from God to the Corinthians.
Paul’s word in 1:24 regarding Christ as power from God to us is certainly related to the divine dispensing. The Lord is dispensing Himself into our being as the power to us from God. This power is able to bring us through every kind of difficulty.