In chapter six we see that Christ is the Spirit and that we are one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). Eventually the Spirit will saturate us and cause even our physical bodies to become the members of Christ. This means that not only is our spirit organically united with Him, but even our bodies become Christ’s members. Even our body is grafted into Christ.
We often think of our physical body as being the flesh, full of lusts. This is true when the body is viewed from the standpoint of the fall. But according to Christ’s full salvation, which includes metabolic transformation, our body is grafted into Christ and becomes a member of Christ. When I saw this, I was very happy and said, “O Lord Jesus, hallelujah! Not only am I a member of You in my spirit, but even my body is Your member. My body is part of You, a member of Christ!” Do you believe that your body is a member of Christ? We all must believe this. The more you believe it, the more the indwelling Spirit will saturate your body and cause it to be organically united with Christ.
Furthermore, our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. We often say that it is our spirit which is the habitation of God. Ordinarily we say that God’s temple is in our spirit. But 1 Corinthians 6:19 definitely indicates that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
How can our body be a member of Christ on the one hand and the temple of the Holy Spirit on the other hand? The answer is found in 1 Corinthians 6:17: “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” Because we are one spirit with the Lord, our body becomes a member of Christ. Furthermore, because we are one spirit with Him, our body even becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit. This is more than redemption or holiness. This means that our entire being is joined to God and made His temple. Our whole being is joined to Christ, and our body becomes a member of Christ.
First Corinthians 6:15-20 involves the Triune God and the tripartite man. In our whole being—spirit, soul, and body—we are united with the Triune God. Now the Triune God is involved with our tripartite being. This is Christ as the factor to heal us of all spiritual diseases. When we experience the Triune God becoming involved with the three parts of our being, we become genuine saints. We become even more holy than the angels.
If we would understand Paul’s writing, we must know Paul’s spirit and touch the burden in his spirit. We must also touch Paul’s deep concept. Paul’s Epistles are always related to his concept, his burden, and his spirit. In 1 Corinthians he had some concepts regarding the church in Corinth. Moreover, in his spirit there was a burden to write to the church there. In chapter six Paul’s concept was that the Corinthian believers must know that they are one spirit with the Lord and that their body should be permeated and saturated by the Spirit and thereby become the members of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit. Paul was burdened that the entire being of the Corinthians would be taken over and possessed by the Triune God. This was Paul’s burden in 1 Corinthians 6.
Chapter ten reveals that the very Christ who is our portion, who is our daily righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, who is so one with us that He is making our bodies His members and the temple of the Holy Spirit, has given Himself to us for our eating and drinking. Christ’s giving of Himself to us for our eating and drinking is for our enjoyment of Him.
The way Christ gave Himself to us was through death. The fact that the blood is separated from the body shows the way of death. Whenever the blood is separated from the body, that indicates death. Christ died on the cross, shedding His blood and sacrificing His body, not only for the purpose of redeeming us, but also for the purpose of giving Himself to us. Now when we come to the Lord’s table, we eat Him and drink Him. Eating and drinking denote receiving. Whenever we drink something or eat something, we receive that thing, we take it into us. Christ has given Himself, and now we are receiving Him. Hallelujah for this enjoyment of Christ!
The rich Christ revealed in 1 Corinthians is the unique factor to solve all the problems in human life. If we enjoy this Christ to a full extent, we shall not have any problems. Every problem will be solved, for we shall have the unique solution to all problems. The second Epistle to the Corinthians indicates that the diseases among the Corinthians were healed by the “medicine” ministered by Paul in his first Epistle. In chapter after chapter, Paul “injected” them with Christ. As a result, the Corinthians began to live a proper human life. Such a human life is a life that lives Christ.
If we do not live Christ, we cannot have a proper human life. We can have such a life only by receiving Christ and living Him. This kind of living is for the church. We need to live Christ for the church.