In this message we shall consider four crucial matters covered in the first ten chapters of 1 Corinthians. In 1:2 Paul says, “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.” I do not believe that most readers of this Epistle pay adequate attention to all the points mentioned in this verse. A crucial matter in 1:2 is Paul’s expression “theirs and ours.” In verse 9 Paul goes on to say, “God is faithful, through Whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” In this verse the crucial matter is the fellowship of the Son of God. In the sequence of experience, this follows the vital point in verse 2. A third important matter is found in 6:17. Here Paul says, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” In our experience, the matter of being one spirit with the Lord follows being called by God into the fellowship of His Son. The fourth crucial matter is related to the fellowship of the blood of Christ and of the body of Christ. In 10:16 Paul speaks of this: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a fellowship of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a fellowship of the body of Christ?” This verse refers to the Lord’s table. Thus, in these verses the four crucial matters are Christ being theirs and ours, the fellowship of the Son of God, being one spirit with the Lord, and the Lord’s table.
As a help to understanding these matters, we need to consider the way Paul deals with the problems among the believers at Corinth. The way a person handles a problem invariably depends on what kind of person he is. The same problem will be dealt with in different ways by different persons. For example, one who holds a high office in the government will handle a problem differently from one who is a thief or a robber. Likewise, a learned professor will deal with a problem differently from a person with very limited education. To be sure, a government official, a thief, a professor, and an uneducated person will each deal with the same problem in a different way. In each case, the way the problem is handled will depend entirely on the person taking care of the problem. In keeping with this principle, the way Paul deals with the problems among the Corinthians is based on the kind of person he is. Therefore, to understand how Paul deals with the problems we must first know what kind of person he was and what was within him.
In reading 1 Corinthians we need to get into Paul’s spirit and touch the burden in his spirit. To touch Paul’s spirit in this way is to touch the reality of his being. A person’s spirit is the reality of his being. This means that your spirit is the real you, the true person. The reality of our being is not our mind or emotion, much less any aspect of our physical body. The reality of our being as persons is our spirit. For this reason, a person is often the most genuine when he loses his temper, because at such a time his spirit comes forth. However, when we behave ourselves carefully and act in a certain way, we may cover up our real being and not express our real person. Only when our spirit comes forth do we manifest the reality of our being. Many times this occurs when we are angry and lose our temper. The point here is that only when we touch a person’s spirit do we contact the reality of his being.
In reading the Bible it is very important that we touch the spirit of the writer. Otherwise, we shall not understand the meaning of what he says. We shall know his writings only on the surface and according to letters in black and white. But when we get into a writer’s spirit, we touch the depth of his writings.
When Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, he was a person infused with the Triune God. He had been filled, permeated, and saturated with the Father, Son, and Spirit. Moreover, in a full way Paul had seen the vision concerning God’s economy. He realized that the intention of the Triune God is to dispense Himself into His chosen and redeemed people. As one of God’s redeemed people, Paul had experienced this dispensation. Paul certainly knew that God the Father is the source, that God the Son is the course, and that God the Spirit is the flow. He also had a clear realization that the Triune God had been dispensed into him for a goal and that this goal is the corporate expression of God. All these things were not only clear to Paul, but they were also in him and part of his very being. Thus, Paul was a person infused with the Triune God and His economy. This should help us see what kind of person Paul was, what were the basic elements in his being.
Since Paul was a person saturated with the Triune God and His economy, he dealt with the problems among the believers at Corinth according to the kind of person he was. If we understand this, we shall be able to understand why Paul dealt with the church in Corinth the way he did.