We must now look at the matter of the indwelling Christ in 1 Corinthians. We may think that the books of the Bible cover different things, and apparently this is so. The Gospels give the story of Jesus’ life. The Acts are a record of the Apostles and the early disciples. Romans is a book of doctrines, and 1 Corinthians covers the gifts, as well as many different teachings. It seems that all of these books speak of different matters. Yet, with insight and inner vision, we can see that all these books consistently deal with the matter of the indwelling Christ. This is the basic concept of every book of the New Testament.
We shouldn’t consider Christ as separate from the Father and from the Spirit. We all must realize that Christ is the very embodiment of the Triune God. And Christ is realized in the Spirit. It is by the indwelling of Christ that the Triune God is mingling Himself with us.
We saw clearly in Romans that all the justified ones are now enjoying the indwelling Christ as their life and as their everything, and how this kind of enjoyment eventually issues in the Body. The Body of Christ comes out of such an enjoyment of the indwelling Christ. Now in 1 Corinthians we will see that the basic concept is exactly the same as in Romans. Of course, Romans does not cover the gifts, marriage, or many of the other things that are covered in 1 Corinthians. But underneath, the basic concept is the same. That is, we all have been put into Christ so that by His indwelling in our spirit His Body will be produced. In this way, 1 Corinthians covers the same thing as Romans. The only difference is that Romans is a book of doctrines, whereas 1 Corinthians is a book of dealings. In 1 Corinthians, Paul deals with divisions, different opinions about the gifts, lawsuits, marriage, eating sacrifices offered to idols, and the matter of resurrection. However, the basic concept of these two books is the same. We all have been baptized into the Triune God, and now this Triune God is fully realized in the life-giving Spirit, who indwells us as our life in order that the Body of Christ may come into being.
Hence, we see that both Romans and 1 Corinthians cover the same basic concept. This is what we call a vision. We all need to see this vision. Without it we will not have the insight we need when we come to the book of 1 Corinthians. Instead, we will merely take note of all the problems. Some teachers say that 1 Corinthians deals with ten great problems: the problem of division, dealing with sinful believers, lawsuits, marriage, eating sacrifices offered to idols, the Lord’s Table, headcovering, the gifts, love, and resurrection. Twenty years ago in Hong Kong I had a conference on the solving of these ten big problems. I said then that Christ and the cross were the answer to all the problems. Now, twenty years later, I have seen something more. The book of 1 Corinthians was not written simply to solve problems. Even if you solve the problem of a husband and wife, you only help them to have a good marriage life. That does not necessarily help them to gain Christ. Whether you have a good married life or a bad married life is not of much consequence. But 1 Corinthians does tell us something that really counts. We have all been baptized into the Triune God who is realized in the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13), and now this Triune God lives in us to be our everything! He does not dwell in us simply to solve the problems of our marriage life. He lives in us to be everything to us. This is much higher than mere problem solving. But due to the shallow understanding, shallow interpretation, shallow exposition among the Christians, all the deep things have been veiled from God’s children (1 Cor. 2:10).
For instance, in 1 Corinthians 1:2 we are told that the church people are sanctified in Christ. “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus....” What does it mean to be sanctified in Christ? Some may stress the word “sanctify,” but I would rather stress the phrase “in Christ.” The church people are people in Christ. As long as we are in Christ, we are sanctified. To be sanctified means to be separated, made no more common, made something special. We all are specialities. We are no longer common because we are in Christ. “In Christ” really means to be special, uncommon, and altogether different from other people. We are neither Americans nor Europeans nor Orientals. We are people in Christ! Hallelujah!
It is “in Christ” that we are enjoying the fellowship of Christ. And God has called us into this fellowship. “God is faithful, by whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor. 1:9). This simply means to participate in Christ and to partake of Christ. Christ is our inheritance and our spiritual portion, and we have been called into the participation in this Person. This is to be in Christ. To be in Christ is to enjoy all that Christ is, and this enjoyment is the fellowship. The fellowship of Christ is just the participation in all that Christ is.