Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 1:2, 23-24, 30; 2:1-5, 7-12; 3:21b-23
Ⅰ
Christ is the center of God and all things—1 Cor. 3:21b-23:
A
All things are ours for the church, the church is for Christ to be His Body, and Christ is for God to be His expression—Rom. 8:28; 1 Cor. 3:21b-23.
B
The all-inclusive Christ is God's center, God's centrality and universality, in the church as Christ's fullness for His expression—Eph. 1:22-23:
１
Christ is the centrality and universality of God and of His move in the divine economy.
２
Christ is the center and circumference of God's economy for the producing of His fullness for His expression—3:8, 17, 19b.
３
Our heart must be touched by God's center, the centrality and universality of Christ, regarding God's economy—Col. 1:15-19; 2:2, 9; 3:4, 10-11.
Ⅱ
Christ is the portion of all the saints—1 Cor. 1:2:
A
Based on His economy, God has given Christ to us to be our portion—Col. 1:12.
B
The phrase theirs and ours in 1 Corinthians 1:2 indicates that Christ is the portion of all the saints; nothing should be allowed to replace Him as our portion.
C
Christ as the all-inclusive One belongs to all believers, and all believers jointly participate in Him—vv. 2, 9.
Ⅲ
Christ is God's power and God's wisdom—vv. 23-24, 30:
A
The Christ who is the power of God and the wisdom of God for the carrying out of God's economy is the crucified Christ, a Christ who did nothing to save Himself—v. 23; 2:2:
１
When we experience the crucified Christ, He becomes to us the power of God and the wisdom of God—1:23-24.
２
The crucified Christ as God's wisdom is related to God's deep and profound plan according to His good pleasure and also according to God's way to fulfill His will—Eph. 1:9, 11; 3:11.
３
Christ is the power of God to carry out His economy, and He is also the wisdom of God, the way of God, to carry out God's economy—1 Cor. 1:23-24.
B
Christ has become wisdom to us from God—righteousness, sanctification, and redemption—v. 30:
１
The expression to us from God in verse 30 indicates something present, practical, experiential, and ongoing in the way of transmission.
２
Every day Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, is being transmitted from God the Giver to us the enjoyers—Eph. 1:19-22.
Ⅳ
Christ is the content of the apostle's ministry—1 Cor. 2:1-5:
A
The apostle's ministry was the New Testament ministry, a ministry that ministers the mystery of God concerning Christ and the crucified Jesus Christ— vv. 1-2.
B
The apostle announced the mystery of God, which is Christ as the embodiment of God and the church as the expression of Christ—Rom. 16:25-26; Col. 1:26-27; 2:2; 4:3; Eph. 3:4-6, 9.
C
The New Testament ministry that ministers the mystery of God is a powerful ministry, a ministry that is demonstrated by the living Spirit and the divine power—1 Cor. 2:4-5.
Ⅴ
Christ is the depths of God—vv. 7-12:
A
To know the depths of God is to know Christ in many aspects as our eternal portion—3:11; 5:7-8; 10:3-4; 11:3; 12:12; 15:20, 23, 45b, 47b.
B
As we enjoy Christ continually, we eventually enter into Christ as the depths of God's being, and then we realize that we are in the heart, the depths, of the almighty God and that He becomes our inner element—2:10; 1 Pet. 1:16.
C
God's wisdom in a mystery, which God predestined before the ages for our glory, is actually the all-inclusive Christ as the deep things of God—1 Cor. 2:7:
１
God's wisdom is Christ, who is the hidden mystery, predestined and foreordained before the ages for our glory—1:24; 2:7; Col. 1:26-27.
２
God's plan is to put His chosen people into Christ in order that in Him they may be saturated with the divine glory and be brought into the divine glory to enjoy the Triune God in His glorious expression—2 Cor. 3:18; Heb. 2:10.
３
Our entire being will ultimately be saturated with the divine glory to enjoy the Triune God in His divine glory—1 Pet. 5:10; Rev. 21:10-11.
４
What will bring the Lord back is a group of His believers who are thoroughly saturated with God in His divine glory; the Lord will not come back until He has gained such a group of believers—2 Cor. 3:18.
D
In order to realize and participate in the deep and hidden things that God has ordained and prepared for us, we must love Him—1 Cor. 2:9; Mark 12:30.
E
If we exercise the mingled spirit, we will experience Christ as the depths of God and even in the depths of God; we will enjoy Christ in a way beyond all that we have ever dreamed—1 Cor. 6:17; 2:9-10.