In 1 Corinthians 3 Paul covers the matters of feeding, drinking, eating, planting, watering, and growing. These are all related to life. In 3:9 Paul goes on to refer to the church as God’s farm and God’s building. The farm certainly is a matter of life, and the building is the issue of life. No material building involves anything of life. But the spiritual building mentioned in this chapter has much to do with life. Paul talks about this building not only in 1 Corinthians, but also in Ephesians, Colossians, and Romans. However, the basic points regarding the building are covered in 1 Corinthians. God’s building is altogether a building in life and of life, for it is the building up of the Body of Christ.
Apparently, there is no connection between the farm and the building. According to our natural concept, a farm is a matter of life, but a building is a composition of lifeless materials. Thus, there does not seem to be a proper continuation between the expressions God’s farm and God’s building. However, if we realize that the building here is a life building, a building in life, we shall see that there is a direct connection, an excellent continuation, between the farm and the building. Whatever is produced on the farm is not for the farm itself; it is for the building. The produce grown on the farm is for the building.
Although the produce grown on the farm is for the building, it does not go into the building directly. Rather, we may say that it goes to the church restaurant to be eaten, digested, and assimilated by the saints. Through this process, what is grown on the farm is consumed by the saints and eventually even becomes them.
The farm produces not only vegetables, the plant life, but also livestock, the animal life. Both the plant life and the animal life must be eaten by us in the church restaurant. In 3:2 Paul says, “I gave you milk to drink.” Milk is a product of both the plant life and the animal life. It is produced by cows, which feed on grass. Milk is a product of the mingling of the animal life with the plant life. This mingling of two lives also produces meat. Without the animal life, we cannot have meat. Likewise, without the plant life, we also cannot have meat, for cattle are dependent on the grass for their food. First they eat the vegetable life and then produce milk and meat for us.
I mention this because both milk and meat are figures of Christ as our life supply. In John 6:48 the Lord Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.” Bread is made primarily of flour, which comes from the plant life. However, the Lord goes on to speak of the bread as His flesh: “And the bread which I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). This indicates that the composition of this bread is not only of the vegetable life, but also of the animal life; it is flesh-bread. Therefore, it is difficult to say whether Christ as our life supply is of the vegetable life or the animal life. This bread is a product, a mingling, of both lives.
The more we eat of Christ as our life supply, the more we shall be transferred into God’s building. First we are the farm to produce something to eat. By eating what is produced on the farm we are brought into the building.
In order for the food we eat to become our constitution, there must be the process of metabolism. In the Bible this process is called transformation. Transformation involves a metabolic change. Hence, transformation is altogether a metabolic process. First we eat a meal. After a period of time, the food is digested and assimilated. Eventually, the digested and assimilated food becomes the fibers of our being. This is metabolism, transformation.
In order for an infant of seven pounds to grow into a mature man weighing one hundred seventy pounds, there must be a regular eating and a normal process of metabolism. Gradually, the food taken in by an infant will cause him to grow. Eventually, as a result of a metabolic process over a long period of time, he will become a full-grown man. As a mature man, he is a product, a composition, of all the food he has eaten, digested, and assimilated. This illustrates the process of spiritual metabolism. The produce grown on the farm is eaten and digested by us. Eventually, through the process of metabolism, this food supply becomes us and transforms us into material for the building up of the Body of Christ.
The church is a farm to grow Christ. Every item of the produce grown on the farm is Christ. The farm produce includes many different aspects of Christ. Christ is the milk, the vegetables, and the meat. The church grows Christ, and all the saints eat Christ. Eventually, through digestion, assimilation, and metabolism, Christ becomes us, and we become Him. Then we are the proper materials for the building.
Paul’s writing in 1 Corinthians 3 has a direct connection from item to item. First he refers to feeding, drinking, and eating. Then he goes on to mention planting and watering, after which he tells us that it is God alone who gives the growth. Following this, he says in verse 9 that we are the farm and the building. Therefore, there is a direct connection between all these matters. As we have seen, the farm becomes the building.