We may read the Epistle of 1 Corinthians many times without understanding it. It is difficult to touch the essence of this Epistle.
To help our understanding, we may compare the essence of 1 Corinthians to the essence of a tree. A tree has a trunk, branches, and leaves. These, however, are not the essence, or the extract, of the tree. Furthermore, we may know the element and substance of a tree and still not yet know its essence. The essence of a tree is its extract. Just as we may see the trunk, branches, and leaves without knowing the essence of a tree, so we may see the “trunk,” “branches,” and “leaves” of 1 Corinthians, but not be able to see the essence, the extract, of this book.
More than fifty years ago I made an outline of 1 Corinthians. When I reviewed that outline years later, I realized that I had touched only the branches and leaves of 1 Corinthians. I had not yet touched the element or substance, much less the essence, of this Epistle.
Some may think that there is no difference between the substance of a thing and its essence. But from the study of the Bible and the writings of certain great teachers, we have learned that there is a very important difference between substance and essence. You may touch the substance of a particular matter without touching its essence. Only when you touch the essence of a thing can you have the extract of that thing. First we have the element, then the substance, and finally the essence, the extract. In these messages we are endeavoring to touch the essence of Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians. Let us now consider the extract of this book.
In 1:9 Paul says, “God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” God has called us into the partaking of, the participation in, His Son. God has called us to partake of the all-inclusive Christ as our portion. To say that God has called us into the fellowship of His Son means that He has called us into the enjoyment of His Son. God has called us into the enjoyment of the living Christ. This enjoyment is not merely an individual matter; it is also a corporate matter. God has called us into the co-participation of the enjoyment of Christ.
In order that we may enjoy Christ, God has put us into Christ. “Of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1:30). It is of God that we are in Christ. Christ is not only a sphere; He is also an element, substance, and essence. God has put us into this element, substance, and essence. Just as something may be put into water and then soak in the water, we have been put into Christ so that we may “soak” in Christ.
After putting us into Christ, God has made Christ His power and wisdom to us. According to 1:24, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom. For Christ to become wisdom and power to us actually means that He is dispensed into us. This dispensing can be compared to the flow of electricity from the power plant into the appliances in our homes. This flowing of the electricity is the dispensing of the electricity into the appliances. We have seen that God has called us into the participation of the enjoyment of Christ, the divine electricity. For this purpose, He has put us into this “electricity” and now is making this electricity our wisdom and power. This is a matter of the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity.