Let us now put these four matters together and see what kind of picture they present. In 1:2 we see that, based on His economy, God has given Christ to us to be our portion. As our portion, Christ is both theirs and ours. We may enjoy Christ as our unique portion simply by calling on His name. When we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we get His Person, and then this Person becomes our portion.
According to 1:9, God has called us into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ. This means that He has called us into the enjoyment and participation of the very Person of Christ as our portion. Because God has called us into the enjoyment of such a Person, we now should be those who call on His name. The word called in verse 9 is a repetition of the same word in verse 2, where Paul speaks of called saints. Through the faithful God we, the called saints, have been called into the fellowship, the participation, the enjoyment, of His Son. By calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, we enjoy Him as the One who is both theirs and ours. This is the connection and continuation between verses 2 and 9.
Knowing that we have been called into the fellowship of Christ and that we should now call on Him to enjoy Him as our portion, we may wonder how we can have this experience of Christ in a practical way. We may experience Christ through the Spirit as the heavenly electricity. We have pointed out again and again that in 6:17 Paul says that he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. The word joined in this verse is a synonym for fellowship in 1:9. Fellowship and being joined refer to the same matter. For example, if you are joined to a saint, you have fellowship with him. The joining is actually the fellowship. This enables us to see the connection between 1:2 and 9 and 6:17. The word called in 1:9 connects that verse with 1:2, and the word joined in 6:17 connects that verse with 1:9.
The way to enjoy the Lord experientially is through Him as the Spirit in our spirit. Today Christ is the life-giving Spirit, and we have a regenerated human spirit. When we are joined to Him, we become one spirit with Him. Whenever we are one spirit with the Lord, we are in the fellowship of Christ. Furthermore, when we exercise our spirit to call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we apply this fellowship and enjoy Christ. What a rich enjoyment this is!
This enjoyment is signified by the Lord’s table in chapter ten. The table is a symbol of enjoyment, for the table is a feast. Of course, the word fellowship is used twice in 10:16 with reference to the fellowship of the body and blood of the Lord. In 1:9 the fellowship is that in the Son of God, but in 10:16 this fellowship becomes the fellowship of the Lord’s body and blood. This indicates that Christ has been processed through death and resurrection to become the food on the table for our enjoyment.
The process Christ has gone through can be illustrated by the process of preparing a chicken to become our food. Before a living chicken can become food for us, the chicken must be slain, prepared, and cooked. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, has also been slain, prepared, processed, “cooked,” to be the body and blood on the table, ready for us to eat. In this way He is available for our enjoyment.
When we put these four matters together, we have the full enjoyment of the processed, “cooked,” Son of God. He has become the Spirit, we have a regenerated spirit, and now these two spirits have become one. When we exercise our spirit to call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we enjoy Him as our portion and experience the fellowship of Christ in a practical way.
The four matters covered by Paul in these verses are tools used to deal with the problems among the Corinthians. Because these matters were deep in Paul’s spirit, they came out of his being as he faced the problems. However, Christians who read this Epistle superficially do not have any understanding of these matters. But if we consider these matters and understand them, we shall have a deep and more comprehensive view of the Lord’s table. Furthermore, if we have this view when we come to the table, it will make a difference as far as the enjoyment of Christ is concerned. Also, if we are those who enjoy the Son of God in this way, all problems will be solved. Praise the Lord for Paul’s way of dealing with the problems among Christians! We need to consider the connection between these four verses until our view becomes very clear. Then we shall touch the depths of the first ten chapters of 1 Corinthians. It is crucial that we all touch the depths of this book.