Once more, O Lord, we ask for the miracle at the opening of the year: the opening of the inner eye. By the Spirit of the living God, may we hear and see what is happening. Grant us to hear and feed upon that for which Thy people have need. O do that, we pray, for Thy glory, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
We are occupied, not with the Apostle Paul in particular, but with the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ as it is set forth throughout the New Testament. We have seen that the Cross is either definitely and positively mentioned, or is to be found by implication, in every part of the New Testament. The Cross has to do with it all.
We went on to consider the Letter to the Hebrews. Last night we were saying that, in that letter, every dispensation, every realm, every feature, and every part of the Old Testament is gathered into the Lord Jesus and brought under the significance of the Cross.
Now, to begin to break this up by looking at some of these letters—as far as we are able to get this week, and that will not be very far—this evening we come to the First Letter to the Corinthians: the Cross in the First Letter to the Corinthians.
It is here in what I am going to call “The Cross and the True Humanity.” Do not be worried by the title for a moment. I think you will understand it before we are through.
Let us remind ourselves how definitely the Cross is present in this letter. Paul writes:
“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void.
For the word of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness; but unto us who are being saved it is the power of God.”—1 Corinthians 1:17-18
Again, he says:
“But we preach Christ crucified.”
—1 Corinthians 1:23
And again:
“For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”
—1 Corinthians 2:2
You see, the Apostle is on the basic matter of the whole Christian life.
For a later purpose, I want to add those familiar words from Hebrews 4:12-13. They begin with a conjunction which is very significant and to which we shall return later:
“For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.
And there is no creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”—Hebrews 4:12-13
Just note that phrase: “the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Have you ever thought with your heart? We are coming into deep things here, but leave that for the time being.
In order really to understand and appreciate the place of the Cross in this first letter to the Corinthians, it is important that we know the situation to which the letter was addressed.
Paul was in Corinth for two whole years. What we know about his visit and ministry leads us to the certain conclusion that he wasted no time during those two years. He had a habit of preaching all night, as one young man at least discovered. For two whole years he was there in Corinth, ministering hour after hour and day after day.
Then he went away, and he was away from Corinth for four or five years. During that time there was a terrible deterioration in the spiritual situation. Rumours of it reached the ears of the Apostle, brought by members of Chloe’s household. Apollos was apparently sent to Corinth to investigate, and he returned with the news that it was all true.
The situation was indeed very bad. Paul probably wrote three letters—possibly more—but two have been preserved for us. In the first letter, which we are now considering, the situation is uncovered and the tragedy is exposed.
It is perhaps the most terrible exposure in the New Testament of a spiritual situation. It is a warning that the amount of teaching you have does not guarantee your spiritual growth.
You and I would agree that the Apostle Paul was no small teacher. For two whole years, every day, he had been pouring himself out, making sure that they received the whole counsel of God. Yet that was no guarantee that the whole matter of spiritual growth and progress was settled.
We are very little people compared with Paul, and yet we may have ministry day after day—three times a day, if you like. It is no guarantee of anything unless we learn the lesson which the Apostle teaches in this letter.
The results at Corinth were almost inexcusable in the light of all that ministry. There were lawsuits between Christians; they were going to law before the world and before the ungodly against one another. There was immorality of an almost unthinkable kind. There were divisions among them. They had sent Paul a number of questions, largely on practical matters.
But let the point come home to us. After all that ministry of tremendous glory, perhaps night and day, Paul had to deal with a situation in which these believers were still asking elementary questions. You would have thought that surely they had got beyond that point.
It was a bad situation, revealed in almost every aspect of Christian life. When first reading this letter, one might almost ask, “Are these people Christians?” Yet Paul addresses them as those who are “in Christ Jesus.”
Right at the outset of his address, Paul says:
“For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”
—1 Corinthians 2:2
You have got onto the line there. These people were not on the line of the Cross, apparently, and that explains everything. They were on another line—the line of this world.
That is always the most dangerous thing, and it produces terrible results. You may say that this has no application to you, but wait a moment. I am not saying that the particular immoralities of Corinth are found in this congregation. I do not know about divisions—though I do know something about division, depending on what you mean by it.
After all, divisions are in the spirit before they are on the outside. But whether or not these particular things are present, they represent a situation that is a denial of the Cross.
Paul says:
“And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ.”
—1 Corinthians 3:1
After two years of ministry such as Paul’s, and another four or five years of opportunity, they were still babes. The old man was still in the ascendant. That was terrible.
The Cross is God’s deliverance from every type of such situation. That is why Paul speaks of “us who are being saved.” Those who are being saved—do you get it?
This whole letter turns upon two different humanities. I am not talking now about the saved and the unsaved. I am talking about those of us who are in the course of being saved, who belong to the Lord Jesus, but who may still live on a merely natural basis.
Even after we have come to the Lord, this is a serious matter. The Apostle makes it clear from the beginning that there are two kinds of humanity present within the Christian community.
A mother took her little girl into a church building with stained-glass windows. There were figures in those windows, and the little girl asked, “Who are those people?” Her mother said, “They are the saints.”
Later, the mother took the little girl to the home of a dear old child of God. They had a wonderful time with this aged believer. When they came away, the little girl said, “She is a real saint.” The mother asked, “How can you tell?” The child replied, “I know now. A saint is one who lets the light through.”
That is very good. I do not know how much the Corinthians let the light through, but Paul said they were saints. The point is that they were inside the Christian community, and yet within that community there could be these two humanities.
I am not giving you doctrine, theory, or mere ideas. I want to get right down into Christian life—that is what we all want, is it not? We want reality.
These two words constitute the key to this whole letter, and they are foundational to everything that follows in the New Testament. Until this is settled, you cannot proceed into the advance represented by 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and the other letters.
Here I see the sovereign providence of the Holy Spirit in putting this as the first practical application of the Cross in Christian life. Everything that follows depends upon this.
This distinction explains the incarnation, the baptism of the Lord Jesus, the anointing of the Lord Jesus with the Holy Spirit, the temptations and battles into which the Lord Jesus was precipitated with Satan and his kingdom, the Cross itself, the resurrection, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the training under the government of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian.
I would add one further matter: the building of the church. That comes here in 1 Corinthians 3:
“For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
But if any man buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble; each man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire.”—1 Corinthians 3:11-13
It is the building of the church, and it is the building of the Christian life. There are two possible issues connected with that building. It depends upon what you put upon the foundation. Wood, hay, and stubble may all go up in smoke, and a lifetime’s work may be lost. Or there may be that which abides.
You may be saved, yet so as through fire—just getting in, as we say in England, “by the skin of your teeth.” Or you may have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom. These are the issues bound up with this basic distinction.
Are you ready now for the two words? If you were reading the Greek New Testament, you would be more impressed than by the English translation. The words are psychikos and pneumatikos.
In our translations, psychikos is rendered “natural.” But we have lost something in that translation. The natural man is not merely a man who is natural in the ordinary sense. This is a kind of humanity, a kind of person—soulical humanity.
The other word is pneumatikos: spiritual humanity. It is only the change of a letter in Greek, but it denotes an altogether different species and order of humanity.
The whole message turns upon that contrast and distinction. It throws light upon the situation at Corinth. Why the spiritual decline? Why the strife, the jealousies, the contentions, the divisions, and that constant expression of the ego: “I am of Paul,” “I am of Apollos,” and so on?
It was the humanity of the ego. They were craving worldly wisdom. The Apostle has so much to say at the beginning of the letter about “the wisdom of this world” because they were intensely interested in the wisdom of this world.
That wisdom may be called philosophy, though that is perhaps too technical a term. It is soulical wisdom, the wisdom of the natural mind—an intellectual Christianity.
One can cover much ground in the Bible, raise a thousand questions, have immense curiosity, and play with Scripture in a merely mental way. One can move in the natural mind in relation to the things of God. The Apostle has something very definite to say about the intellectual side of Christianity.
Not only is there the intellectual element, but there is immediately another aspect: the desire for power.
Look at the world today and you will see what that means—the desire for power, power, power, power in one’s own hands; power over others; the desire to assert oneself and secure one’s own position.
Do not tell me that none of us is infected by that. Someone may come and, in a very humble and lowly voice, tell me what a poor creature he is. All the while, as I listen inwardly, I may be hearing the language of an inferiority complex.
The superiority complex is one of the most evident signs of the desire for power. It is indeed an advanced Christian who is delivered from this desire to be somebody, to be recognised, and not to be ignored.
“You know, they passed by and did not even look at me.” Ah, there is the desire for power—subtle and deep, and of the devil himself. There is a false humility which is the essence of pride.
“I am not as other men are.” That was the prayer of the Pharisee. This desire for power is dealt with by the Apostle throughout this letter. The power of God and the power of men are two altogether different things.
The power of God is seen supremely in the weakness of the Cross. The Cross, which is the symbol of human weakness, is also the symbol of Heaven’s mightiest power. But how can natural humanity see it like that?
Another aspect of soulical humanity is found in the realm of emotion. The Corinthians, perhaps more than any others, were blessed with gifts. But the possession of gifts is not in itself proof of spiritual character or spiritual maturity.
You may have them all and still be an immature child. The gifts are not the test of spiritual maturity at all. The Apostles had gifts—healing the sick, casting out demons, and other mighty works—before the tragedy of their breakdown at the Cross, when they all forsook Him and fled.
They had had the gifts, but those gifts were no guarantee against failure. There may be great emotional interest, fascination, and excitement in relation to spiritual things, but that is not necessarily spiritual maturity.
All this may be intellectual, traditional, and emotional, and yet leave one in a very poor spiritual condition. This is not something I would dare to say merely on my own authority. It is what the Word of God says.
On the other side is the spiritual person. Paul says:
“Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged.
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things.”—1 Corinthians 2:14-15
The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. He cannot know them. It is the spiritual person who knows. Do you understand? Two humanities.
I do not think I shall be altogether wrong in saying that there is a great deal of this kind of thing among Christians in the world today: inconsistency, contradiction, and limitation in spiritual life and understanding.
You can be evangelical—in America they call it fundamentalist—you can be a staunch defender of the deity of Christ and the inspiration of the Scriptures, and yet not be a spiritual person. I have known people who would lay down their lives for the fundamentals of the faith, but with whom it was impossible to have living fellowship in the things of the Lord.
The difference between an evangelical Christian and a spiritual person may be as great as the difference between an unspiritual person and one with whom you can talk freely and enjoy the blessed fellowship of the things of the Lord.
In an evangelical system, so often, if you begin to speak of the deeper things of the Lord, people raise their eyebrows and open their mouths as though you were talking another language. That is not unkindness; that is fact. There are many leaders of God’s people with whom you cannot have living spiritual fellowship in the things of the Lord.
The explanation of the incarnation is that God brought into this world a different humanity from ours—another humanity, of Heaven, in the person of His Son.
The Lord Jesus was a Man, but He was not of the humanity of this world. The world could not understand Him, follow Him, appreciate Him, or know Him:
“The world knew Him not.”
—John 1:10
The incarnation was the introduction of a different humanity. That is a matter upon which we could dwell for many hours.
The baptism of the Lord Jesus signifies the setting aside of one kind of humanity and the bringing in of another. It declares that the old humanity is rejected by God—unacceptable—and that God is bringing in another humanity.
The anointing signifies God committing Himself to that humanity. What is the anointing, in a word? It is God committing Himself.
Then came the battle. Immediately after the baptism and anointing, Satan sought to get this Man, who had taken heavenly ground, to go back onto natural ground. The temptation was always to come down.
“Come down from the cross.” “Come down and we will believe.” “Come down; compromise; take the easier ground; escape the offence of the Cross.” The battle is always over this question: What kind of humanity are you going to be—the humanity of Heaven, or the humanity of the natural man?
The Holy Spirit is not given merely to make us do certain things or to produce certain manifestations. The Holy Spirit is given to make a different humanity of us—to make us spiritual people.
As soon as we really get into the hands of the Spirit, we are in for it. Do not be discouraged by that. If you are a true Christian, you are in for real difficulties and real training. You are going into a hard school for your natural life.
The Lord is going to bring your natural life to an end. Your natural mind will be baffled. You will say, “I cannot understand. I cannot explain. My whole mental ability has failed me.” Yes, that is a deep lesson.
The Lord is bringing us onto the ground of spiritual life. That is what He is after: that we should cease living merely on things and learn to live on Himself.
There may be times in the life of a child of God when we cry, as Job cried:
“Oh that I knew where I might find Him!”
—Job 23:3
“I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him.” Where is the Lord? These experiences are part of the process of bringing in the new man, the different humanity.
There may be times when the emotions are stripped away—when all the lovely feelings have gone. You may find yourself asking, “Where is the blessedness I knew when first I saw the Lord? Where is the soul-refreshing view of Jesus and His Word?”
That is not abnormal. There is nothing abnormal about it. It is part of the Lord’s training. There are times when the whole soul is in distress, and the only way through is to prove what you have of the Lord in your spirit—how much spiritual life and spiritual measure you have.
He is working in us by setting aside this natural, soulical life and building up the spiritual.
Let me safeguard what I have been saying. I do not want anyone to go away saying that it is wrong to have a soul, wrong to have a mind, wrong to have feelings, or wrong to have a will. That would be utter nonsense.
The Buddhist ideal is the final annihilation of desire. God save us from that. No, I am not saying that it is wrong to have a soul. I am saying that the soul is not to be governmental. The spirit is to be governmental, controlling even the soul.
We must say to our reasoning, “Now look here: you may be thinking altogether differently from the way in which the Lord thinks. Let us take this to the Lord and get His mind about it.”
Our mind and reason may say, “Yes, this is right; this is good.” Wait a minute. Let that be subjected to the Holy Spirit. We may discover that our thinking has been altogether wrong.
The same is true of our feelings, emotions, and desires. They must not run away with us and control us. Let us bring them to the Lord. The whole emotional life must be governed by the Spirit—the Holy Spirit in our spirit.
No, it is right to have a soul. There is such a thing in the Word of God as the salvation of the soul:
“Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”
—1 Peter 1:9
That is the work of the Cross: building up the spiritual man and establishing spiritual government.
The Cross in the First Letter to the Corinthians has a very practical application. If you do not understand all that has been said, do not be discouraged. If you are a true child of God, you are going to learn this. It will be worked out in your life, and it will become a very significant reality.
The great thing is the manifestation of the Son—the manifestation of Christ, the new humanity. This is not my philosophy or my instruction. It is simply what is here in this letter.
The letter is built and constructed upon these two words and these two different humanities: the soulical humanity and the spiritual humanity; the natural man and the Christ-man.
The first thing is to become spiritual—to be born anew from above, to have the Holy Spirit take charge of us and make us spiritual people. Then, right through life, we grow in spiritual capacity and understanding.
There is an inner man. The outward man may decay, but the inward man is renewed day by day. We are waiting for a body of another order—a spiritual body. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, but God gives a body as it pleases Him.
We shall know one another as human beings, not as angels. We are not going to become angels. This is something far greater: the true humanity in Christ, with a body suited to the heavenly order.
In our day, men go into space. To live there, they require special and artificial equipment. But when we are called into that heavenly realm, we shall need no artificial equipment. In that rarefied atmosphere of Heaven, it will be entirely natural. It requires a different kind of person—a different humanity.
The Cross stands at the heart of these two humanities to bring one progressively down, less and less, and to bring the other into fullness. The Cross brings one kind of man to an end, and on the other side brings in a new kind of man.
It is quite right to come to the end of ourselves—to grovel in the dust in the consciousness of our own worthlessness—provided there is a corresponding recognition of another humanity, another species, another law, another kind: Christ in us.
The Cross is working on the one side as it was meant to do, to bring one kind of man to an end; and on the other side, to bring in the new man.
Lord, deliver us from all worldly ideas and natural thoughts concerning the Cross. Give us capacity to understand. Deliver us from the limitation of the natural man, and reveal to us the spiritual man.
Lord, take up Thy work in us and perfect it, that we may become of a different order from that to which we naturally belong. We ask in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.