1 CORINTHIANS 3 AND 5 (NOTES OF A READING)
1 CORINTHIANS 3 AND [p. 20] 5 (NOTES OF A READING)
1 Corinthians 3: 16, 17; 1 Corinthians 5: 6 - 8
CAC We were reading last Lord’s Day that these persons who are addressed as the assembly of God in Corinth were persons who had believed the testimony of the Christ — that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus is God’s anointed Man. What we had before us was that if Jesus was the Man whom God could accredit and distinguish, this necessarily involved the setting aside of every other man. That was judicially brought about at the cross, so that “Jesus Christ, and him crucified” really implies the testimony of God, and it was declared in Corinth.
Rem This would be foundational and it would be illustrated in the Ethiopian eunuch who wanted to be baptised. That is, it is soul work.
CAC Yes, he believed the testimony and it was testimony of “some other”. His question was, “Concerning whom does the prophet say this? of himself or of some other?” The Ethiopian had some inkling in his soul of some other man. And Philip preached unto him Jesus, He was the other Man! Immediately he wished to be baptised. Every one who really believes that Christ is God’s anointed Man must desire to be in the good of his or her baptism, to be manifestly on the side of that Man whom God distinguishes. Those are the people who compose the assembly of God and form the temple of God.
I thought it would be well to read these verses today to see the greatness of the position the assembly occupies. Unless we do, I do not think we shall be able to enter much into the thought of the assembly.
Rem Last time you referred to the need of the Spirit to support faith.
CAC Well, I think it is important for us to recognise that faith is not sufficient, there must be a divine power to [p. 21] maintain things, and that lies in the Spirit. Many believers begin with faith, but decline because they do not keep company with the Spirit. So in chapter 3 the apostle stresses that fact. In chapter 2 he stresses that his own service has been by the Spirit; here he tells the saints that they are the temple of God and the Spirit dwells in them. The Spirit is needed to support and maintain in our souls the things we have received from God.
Rem These are such great things and we are so feeble that we need divine power to be maintained in them.
CAC Yes. The thought of being the temple of God would suggest that it is a place where the service of God can go on suitably. That is the thought of the temple. There would be light in the temple. There were idolatrous temples in which dark and dreadful mysteries were enshrined. We should be exercised that there should be something in the place where we live which has the character of the temple of God. There is much around that has not.
Ques When the apostle touches one of these vital points, he says, “Do ye not know?” Why does he say that?
CAC I think it intimates that there may be great realities that we have never recognised. There are Christians around us who have no thought of the temple. Have we recognised the temple of God as a place where there is divine light, and where God can be served and which is marked by holiness? It is a very important matter if we are going to serve God in His temple that we should take our shoes off as Moses did before serving. And Joshua too, before he commenced his service was told to take off his shoes in recognition of the holiness of the place where God was.
Rem That would not hinder liberty.
CAC No, it would create liberty! There is no liberty apart from holiness. We do not want liberty apart from holiness!
Rem It says, “The temple of God is holy, and such are ye”.
CAC If there is a wrong state it can only be put right by the truth. If the testimony of Jesus being God’s Anointed is accepted, and the truth of the cross as setting aside every other man, then we come to it that we are the temple of God where He dwells. We have to accept that as a great divine reality.
Ques Will you please say what you mean by taking off our shoes?
CAC I suppose it intimates to us that we set ourselves aside and any dignity or greatness that might have attached to us and we take the lowest place. The ground is holy. God said to Moses, “The place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Exodus 3: 5). That is, there is no suitability in anything being found here that is not of God.
Rem It says in Ecclesiastes, “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and draw near to hear, rather than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they know not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in the heavens, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few” (chapter 5: 1, 2).
CAC Yes, I think that is very helpful in this connection. There is a danger of saying too much; we had better say a little that the Spirit of God can sanction rather than a great deal otherwise. In the assembly you would not look for an excessive amount of utterance but for things to be said which the Spirit could sanction. I think that taking off the shoes would intimate putting off what is not suitable for God. The shoes are loosened as not suitable to holy ground.
Ques In what way is the temple looked at here?
CAC I think that it is the place where God is suitably served, but the prominent thought here is holiness, the definite exclusion of what is not holy. We have to [p. 23] recognise that we are connected with what is intrinsically and essentially holy — that is the character of the things to which we belong.
Ques Would taking off the shoes mean there is no standing for man, but the place is a place of service?
CAC That is very important, so that we serve God in relation to what has come entirely from God. “All is of thee, and of that which is from thy hand have we given thee”, David said (1 Chronicles 29: 14). It is what comes from God into the hearts of His saints and gladdens them, and they can bring it back to Him, and it bears the stamp of holiness.
Then the thought of the temple suggests intelligence — that God is intelligently served. In heathendom every idol temple would be marked by certain persons who understood, or pretended to understand, how that particular god should be served. There was nothing casual or haphazard about the service in the temple at Jerusalem. The courses of the Levites or the priests were all ordered. There were songs, they sang psalms that were inspired, that were indited by the Spirit of God and therefore acceptable to God.
Rem Ezekiel was to show the form of the temple to the house of Israel to make them ashamed. “Make known to them the form of the house, and its fashion, and its going out, and its comings in, and all its forms, and all its statutes, yea, all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof; and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the statutes thereof, and do them. This is the law of the house: Upon the top of the mountain all its border round about is most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house” (Ezekiel 43: 11, 12).
CAC That is very helpful. We have to bear in mind that we are in the midst of the christian profession, and we have to learn the true character of the temple and service. There are things which God has ordered and appointed, the [p. 24] service in the temple is all in accord with what God has appointed.
The temple of God is a place of light, light is continually shining there. The candlesticks in the temple were bearing light, so light is maintained in the ministry by the Spirit; so that we are instructed priests who know what to do and how to do it. It is a great matter to accept these things as the truth of God. They may humble us, but at the same time they lift us up to the holy thoughts of God.
This subject is further developed in chapter 5 where the saints are spoken of as being unleavened: “according as ye are unleavened”. That is what the assembly is in its true character. It is the holy temple of God, and it is an unleavened lump, therefore if anything comes in that belongs to the former state of things it is to be purged out — it is a little bit of the old lump of what we were according to the flesh brought over. Satan would like to bring it over to what is really unleavened.
Then there is a holy watchfulness to be maintained, for the old leaven is not far from any of us — it is myself — and the danger is that it may leaven the whole lump; so we must deal with it promptly and cast it out. This does not refer to the evil committed but to the puffing up of the company who had not mourned over it. That was old leaven and that had to be purged out. To meet that, the apostle brought in a new apprehension of Christ that they had not had before. God generally does that when we have been wrong: He brings in a new impression of Christ. There is a difference between Christ crucified and Christ sacrificed. The Corinthians got away from the former, and God recovered them by presenting Christ sacrificed — a deeper lesson. If I am going on rightly, God helps me by continual presentations of Christ; if I am going on wrongly, He helps me by a presentation of Christ. That is God! It is wonderful!
Crucifixion is a public matter. Every one can take account of a crucified man as put in the place of curse and [p. 25] dishonour. But Christ sacrificed is a more inward thing and refers to all He went through in His holy soul as typically roast with fire. As we move on in the epistles we are more able to take account of Christ’s death as an intimate matter. The attention of the household was concentrated on the lamb for four days before it was sacrificed, intimating that God would have us consider Christ in His spotless character and perfect suitability, and then sacrificed and eaten in this character. This is a private matter. I believe it is an intense, personal exercise before God. It is to be eaten. It is not Christ crucified, that was a spectacle, something to be looked at. “Jesus Christ has been portrayed, crucified among you”, Paul wrote to the Galatians (chapter 3: 1). It is a far deeper thing to eat the lamb roast with fire, and it is intended to give the power to get rid of the leaven. If it is an assembly that is affected by leaven, it is only done by this intimate personal eating of the passover. He has been exposed to the public judgment of God and now He has been sacrificed. If we want to get to 1 Corinthians 11 we shall have to reach it by way of chapter 5.
It is possible to see Christ crucified and yet to become bewitched as the Galatians were. But feeding on Him would prevent that; it would give us a constitution that would preserve us from being bewitched. The passover was eaten at home; it is the intimate consideration of Christ as coming under the action of the judgment of God. He is our Passover. Thus we become attached to Him. The four days give the opportunity for the firstborn sons to become attached to Him. So God secures “firstborn ones”. The passover is very important and wide in its range.
The Lord would help us so that we should eat the passover in company with Him, and consequent on that is the keeping of the feast. All leaven was to be discarded for seven days, typifying the whole christian period. There is power brought in to refuse the leaven. This is how the assembly assumes its true character. Someone might say,
[p. 26] We cannot set ourselves up as being unleavened. Well, let us acknowledge the fact that God says, “Ye are unleavened”. He would say, ‘I am going to bring Christ into your affections in such a way that you will get rid of it without any trouble’. This is brought about by private and personal consideration of Christ as the passover. I think we have much too small a thought of the passover, as if it were only very initial and elementary, but it is the greatest of all sacrifices, and of which God says, “My sacrifice” (Exodus 23: 18). It is the only sacrifice by which He gets His own firstborn sons out of the world for His pleasure. I think it is correct to say we have to eat our way out.