7. The Form for Jesus
Covering 1 Corinthians Chapters 12-13:
Earlier in 1 Corinthians, I stated that Gospel Word overflows always any “categories” we might describe for it, yet we do create such categories so that we can grasp, with our finite and limited minds, the wondrous complexity of God. I must underline this significant point in my explanation of Gospel Word. In “the classroom,” we place each of the various Gospel Verses into a specific category for our own need to understand, but as we look at the verse inside that category, we see so clearly how it overflows the “category” as it rushes with Joy into all the others.
Every verse contains in some way every “category” of Gospel Word. And this is what we will see when we get to the Gospel Comments for the Ruling Verses of the Bible.
Comments under the Ruling Verses. I am now thinking of a separate page for each of the Ruling Verses, including 11 and 12. Three of the Ruling Verses contain parts from different places. I will duplicate the whole explanation for each. I will do the same for the Covenant and the Ekenosis, which is the means of Kingdom. What I hope to do for each is to include every category we have under each Ruling Verse. Ruling Verse 1 will have a Comment for each of the others. I will likely do the same for all the others.
Then, in “Notes on Translation,” I will include an explanation of the major Greek words in each Ruling Verse. I hope to show how the Flow of Gospel Word is one mighty Revelation of God, God as Himself now known by all creation.
How the Kingdom Operates. This lesson will cover 1 Corinthians 12 & 13 only. I hope then to expand on the Ruling Verse of the Form for Jesus.
(Chapter 12) • 4 There are many varieties of the expressions of graces, but the same Spirit, 5 and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord. 6 There are varieties of operations, that is, effects of Energeia, but the same God who energeoes all inside of all. • 7 To each one is given the appearance or disclosure of the Spirit for shared profit. – • 11 In all these things the same Spirit energeoes, distributing personally to each as [God] intends.
Where do I even begin? I see three things, the Form for God through Jesus, yes, but also how the Kingdom operates out from the Spirit. We also need a definition for Energeia.
The Pillar of Fire. Each of the bullet points speaks to all three categories. Let’s start with Kingdom. We already stated the first point – the Kingdom operates out from the Spirit. Just as Jesus as Word is the essence of Covenant, so the Spirit as Energeia is the essence of Kingdom.
Suddenly, we understand Kingdom for the first time as well as having a clearer picture of Covenant. The Spirit as Energeia is the Pillar of Fire, touching upon the Mercy Seat, God through us into our world. What we have in these verses, then, is a practical explanation of these MIGHTY things. Notice – to each one is given – distributing personally to each, yet the profit is shared. Profit is increase (of a House for God). God dwells in our increase.
The Energeia of Kingdom. Kingdom: The Kingdom comes out from the Spirit; the Kingdom begins as the operations of the Spirit among believers in Jesus gathering as each local Church. The Spirit gives personally to each one that the profit or increase might be shared by all. There are so many things given, unique to each one, yet the same Spirit and the same Lord Jesus. That shared increase is where Father God dwells, the Kingdom.
We also have a most unbelievable absolute – God energeoes all inside of all. Yet we must believe it.
Definition: Spirit is the essence of God that touches creation. The Spirit is the Energeia of God energeoing inside each believer and among us together. Energeia is that life force working in and giving life to each individual. God, by His Spirit, energeoes everything inside of each believer in Jesus.
Jesus Seen and Known. Understand that these verses are describing only the normal doings of a regular gathering of believers in Jesus. Yet I am overwhelmed by the extent of what is found in these three verses we have read right over so many times. We must find only the essence, but we cannot do it justice in this space.
The Form for God through Jesus: The form for Jesus is the Body of Christ, yet God comes always inside of Jesus, and thus the gathering of believers then becomes the Temple, that is, the Form for God inside of creation. The Lord Jesus, then, expresses Himself through His Body, His Form to all heaven-earth, through the innumerable expressions, graces, and services of the Spirit given personally to each member of His Body to give, in turn, to others. As we give the gifts of the Spirit to one another in the gathering together, so Jesus is seen and known as He is.
The Form for Jesus. • 12 For just as the body is one, but has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. • 13 Indeed, we also, inside of one Spirit, were immersed into one body, whether Judeans or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have all been given one Spirit to drink. 14 For the body is not one member, but many.
I think I will just write the Comments and let them be their own explanation. I can figure this out only by doing it.
Defining the Rule: Christ is a many-membered Body, with the human body, spirit and physic together, as a picture of the Form that Jesus inhabits as a Life-Giving Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 15:45). The Spirit has already immersed us together as one body, regardless of our origins. Jesus has become the expression of our togetherness.
Life and Covenant. Life: It is the Spirit that gives life to our gathering together as the Form for Jesus. Just as Jesus is planted as the Seed of God in each one, so He is planted as the same Seed in the gathering together. It is a many-membered Church out from which the Knowledge of God is birthed into all creation.
Covenant: What joins believers together as the very Form of the Lord Jesus Christ? That’s easy. We share the same Jesus, even as we drink of His same Spirit. This Jesus is the Word we eat together, the Blood by which we value one another. The Bond of our Togetherness is the greatest thing in the universe.
Speak Christ: Lord Jesus, You fill our gathering together with all that You are, for our gathering together has become Your expression and Form inside of creation.
Symmorphosed and Filled! Ruling Verse 1: We share the same form with the Lord Jesus as the revelation of the Father as members in particular, yes, but even more so as the gathering together of the many, of His same kind, born of the same womb. Our being fitted together as the Body of Jesus is perfect, right from the start, but the end result is that our movement together in the giving of the Spirit becomes Jesus seen and known, bringing all into goodness.
Ruling Verse 2: Christ dwells in each of our hearts, yet also in our gathering together inside the same sharing of Hheart with Him. It is as we together search out the mighty extent of the God who inhabits our gathering inside of Jesus, that we come to know a Love beyond all knowing. It is His completed House, then, with Grace as the Capstone, that God fills full with all of Himself.
From Rivers to Intimacy. Ruling Verse 3: Our thirst is personal, yet we drink of the same Jesus and of the same out-poured Spirit. Rivers of Spirit flow out from each of us as members, but Floods of Life out from our togetherness. Jesus does all through His Body.
Ruling Verse 4: We are looking at the very setting wherein our shared victory over the one who accuses our precious brothers and sisters is found. Some are more gifted in the operations of such Victory, yet we all share the increase in protecting one another from all accusation of evil.
Ruling Verse 5: As we relate together in one Body, we refuse to consider the old man of sin, for it is entirely GONE. Instead, we embrace the intimacy of the Lord Jesus shared personally with each one. We see Him revealed through each.
From Boldness to Love. Ruling Verse 6: We have entered through Jesus into all that is God, arm in arm. We leave no one out who belongs to Jesus. Here, as a people inside of God, the Spirit which we drink together brings God to us, and we possess our Father together.
Ruling Verse 7: From within God, we have turned around as the Mercy Seat. As one Body, we go forth with God, sharing each step in the celebration of all Victory, the aroma of Christ flowing from us into every place we go. We give thanks, and goodness happens; we speak Christ, and people live!
Ruling Verse 8: We are members of one another. We are members of one another. We are committed to each other in daily life together. We love one another with pure hearts fervently. We set forth our souls, we give our very lives, for one another’s sake. God dwells as Love among us.
The Rock and the Fire. Ruling Verse 9: From this Rock wherein we dwell together, rooted and grounded inside of Love, we look out upon all creation. We see the travail, the desire to be free. We know the path; we know together the way out of vanity into Glorious Liberty. We set creation free.
Ruling Verse 10: As members of His Body, each one of us dwells inside of Jesus and Jesus dwells inside of us, Person inside of person. Yet our fellowship together is also found inside of Jesus, and in our life together, Jesus dwells, for we are His Form. Together, we have searched out the depths of God, and we KNOW our Father, for we know Jesus Sent into us, that we are just like Him. We place the Lord Jesus upon every moment and interaction of our life together; we place Jesus as bright shining Fire upon His entire Church.
The Kingdom as Father Made Known. Kingdom: The Kingdom is the Father made known to all, the Father being Himself inside of creation through that Form He has chosen, the Church of Jesus Christ. The Father always comes through Christ Jesus; therefore, we are the Body of Christ before we are known as the Temple and dwelling place of God. All that the Father does comes through the Church.
The Form for God through Jesus: From the moment we asked Jesus into our heart, the Spirit of God immersed us into one another as members together of one Body. We belong together, inside that perfect balance of honoring each individual and rejoicing in the fellowship of the gathering. We walk in committed daily life together as Communities of Christ. God dwells as Love among us; our every interaction together is the Father’s Love made known.
Expanded and Personal. This is not a category, but something I have done for each of the other ruling verses.
The Eleventh Ruling Verse: For just as the human body is one, but has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. Christ is a many-membered body. Indeed, we also, inside of one Spirit, were immersed into one body, whoever we might be and whatever our background, and have all been given one Spirit to drink. For the body is not one member, but many, making us part of one another.
Christ Made Personal: We are one body together, drinking of one Spirit and members of each other. Our togetherness is the form for Christ Jesus in creation, Jesus seen and known.
The Essence of the Lord Jesus. We continue, now, inside this way of thinking.
• 20 Now, indeed, there are many members, yet one body. – But God has composed and brought together the body, giving more abundant honor and value to the deficient parts, 25 so that there might not be division in the body, • but that the members would have the same anxious care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it [sharing the same suffering]; if one member is esteemed glorious, all the members rejoice with it [sharing the same joy].
I want to bring in three categories for these verses, Covenant, our bond together, Ruling Verse 8, our love for one another, and the Form for Jesus. This is truly the essence of the Lord Jesus Christ, His only visible expression.
Bound Together. I’m sorry, but I am so overwhelmed, I can hardly look upon the Devotion and the Glory of Gospel Word, the Lord Jesus. Every Word is alive and filled with immense POWER. The Word itself can easily fulfill itself inside those who would simply gaze upon its Glory – through ALL confidence of faith.
How can I continue? How have we not believed? Every Gospel Word MUST BECOME in our lives.
Covenant: We are bound together as members of each other with the mighty Bonds of Love. We must get to know one another, heart with heart, for we are part of each other forever. By its very nature, the Body of Jesus draws us together into Christ Community, into life shared together in daily commitment, brethren, dwelling together in unity.
The Sharing of Fellowship. Ruling Verse 8: Having “the same anxious care for one another” is the essence of our love together as the Body of Christ. It is this care that draws us into life together as Communities of Christ, for we love one another in exactly the same way that Jesus loves us. Walking together and walking with Jesus are the same thing. We share the same suffering together; we share the same JOY.
The Form for God through Jesus: Our gathering together in committed Christ Community is Jesus made visible, Jesus walking this earth. The Lord Jesus has no other form inside of creation, for Christ is a many-membered Body. Every aspect of our fellowship in daily life together is inside the Fellowship of Father and Son. And every aspect of that divine Fellowship is known by all creation through our love for one another.
Each Vital Member. • 27 You are indeed the body of Christ and members of Him as a part. 28 And God has placed and set forth in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets…
I include this point in order to show God’s order for His Church, which is Kingdom.
Kingdom: Just as the metaphor of the human body operates in perfect harmony, so God has an order for His Church. This is not a “hierarchy of rule,” for the same Lord Jesus is head inside of each and over all. Rather, it is a giving of honor to one another as Jesus to us. The apostolic are those who carry Father’s Heart and Purpose as their all-concern, that God will possess His Desire. The prophetic are those who speak Christ into others, calling them forth into the revelation of Jesus. Yet each one finds their own critical place, for each is VITAL.
A Wonderful Liberty. We go next to Chapter 13, definitely the central meaning of the Form for God through Jesus. Paul begins his explanation with a negative, referencing again the two great assumptions, that we must acknowledge the presence with us of a Personal God, and that God alone saves us, God alone fulfills Himself through us.
• 3 And if I give away all my possessions and all my being and even deliver up my body boastfully, and have not love [Father], I profit nothing.
The negative is that humans cannot love God-Love. No matter how much we do “love,” it’s not Love except it be God Himself doing with us. This is a wonderful LIBERTY, for it removes all obligation from us, yet it leaves us free to call God’s Love to be our own.
God Is Love. In looking ahead, I see that 1 Corinthians 15:10 is Paul speaking Christ as the opposite of this negative. Thus everything in-between must fit into this drawn-out thought.
Covenant: God is Love – Agape. Humans are capable of phileo, brotherly love, but Agape is God only. God alone is Love. God did not give to humans the ability to Love. Rather, He designed us with the capacity to be filled with all the fulness of God. If we are to Love, then it is God Himself inside of us who is that Love. God is Salvation.
Ruling Verse 2: God fills our togetherness with ALL of Himself! God Loves through our acknowledgment of His presence with us, sharing our lives. The anxious care we share for one another is the All-Sustaining One made visible.
A Description of God. • 4 Love [Father] is long suffering and kind; love is not envious; love is not boastful, is not puffed up, 5 does not act improperly, seeks not its own, is not easily provoked, keeps no account of wrongs, that is, knows no evil, 6 does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices together with the truth. 7 Love covers all [for all], believes all [for all], hopes all [for all], carries all [for all]. 8 Love [Father] never fails.
We can see in these verses a definition of God as well as a definition of us, for God fulfills what He is in, as, and through us. This is the great Riddle, that God and man can be known only together. This is also God through us into our world (back to 12:4-11). Then, I think it is Ruling Verse 2 inside of which this incredible wonder finds its full meaning.
Describing the Father. We do not want to view this description of Love as a “different topic” from Chapter 12, the anxious care we have for one another as members of the same Body. We must place our definition of God into that context.
Definition: The “Love” passage is a description of the Father Himself, for God alone is Love. Yet we cannot know God-Love except we acknowledge His Presence as our love for one another inside the Body of Christ. God among us is longsuffering and kind. God among us does not seek His own, and knows nothing of evil. God among us covers and carries, believes and hopes for one another with tender concern. God among us never fails.
Then, the “great riddle” of who we are as the likeness of God is a direct inversion of these same things.
Describing Us. Definition: To be just like God is to Love one another with the Father’s Love; to Love one another with the Father’s Love is what it means to be just like God. This Love among us is the completion of Jesus. Our anxious care for one another, longsuffering and kind, is God among us. Our placing of one another’s concerns above our own, knowing no evil, is God among us. Our covering and carrying one another is God among us. We never fail each other – God among us.
Ruling Verse 2: We have this Treasure in earthen vessels, inside our human life together right here upon earth inside of heaven, that the Love we know together might be God among us, rooted and grounded inside of Love, filled with all the fulness of God.
The Principle of Completion. • 10 But when that which is complete has come, then that which is only partial will be rendered obsolete. This is a major principle of Kingdom. To understand it, however, we must first define “partial,” for we have had a “partial” definition of “partial.” The Ruling Verse establishes that God’s Word is complete from the start; thus partial means ignorance, not knowing what is already God and True.
Kingdom: The Kingdom is the completion of every Word God speaks. As Jesus said, every Gospel Word must be fulfilled in our lives, here on this earth, now in this age. Yet Gospel Word is Complete right from the start, thus it is our ignorance that is “partial” and must be rendered obsolete. For that reason we receive through FAITH every Word fulfilled, every Word Complete.
Still Overwhelmed. It is such a glorious thing that in the flow of the writing of the books of the New Testament, as we apply all the categories and the Ruling Verses together for the first time, that first time is the Form for Jesus, the Body of Christ. It is my hope that each time we do this, there will be a distinct difference in expression in spite of the common thread and layout. And that is what God is about.
Yet the Glory of bringing together all the Ruling Verses, placing them inside of each other, is so great, I can hardly look upon it. Yet I know this about God. As the Glory of His Word fulfilled increases to us, so it also increases us inside that same Glory. Yet I am still completely overwhelmed.
The Faith of the Son of God. I am now satisfied that I have the right set of categories for this task. Indeed, I have been considering for some years how I might do what you see in this lesson, the weaving together of all the Ruling Verses inside of one another.
Part of the Glory I have been seeing is the shocking realization that every Gospel Verse is filled with Life and Power beyond all measure. The Word does what it is, and fulfilling itself inside of us with POWER is what it does, the easiest thing in the world. We don’t have the faith for such a thing, but Jesus does. His Faith inside of us, the Faith of the Son of God, is more than enough to allow every Glorious Word to become us
Jesus has found faith in the earth.
Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is titled “For He Must Reign,” and covers 1 Corinthians 14-16. I am well on my way to finishing that lesson. Paul made things very complicated, however, by piling a ton of big stuff together with no explanation. Yet the Spirit helps, putting things together for me in unexpected ways. I am writing these lessons at the same time as writing “Being a Witness of Christ.” The answer the Spirit gave me is Jesus saying to us, “Join with Me now, inside the Air!”
Then, I hope to write the first lesson for 2 Corinthians this next week as well, titled “From Triumph to Glory,” Chapters 1-3. That second lesson should be ready for the next Zoom meeting. I will not write the page for the Seventh Ruling Verse until Hebrews 4. Chapter 3, however, is filled with Covenant.
Let’s Pray Together. Jesus says to us, “Meet Me now in the Air.” We possess the authority God needs to insert the Kingdom of God into that level of the heavens that permeates and influences everything of this world of human relationships. Yet our attention, in this lesson, is captured entirely by the Church as the Form for Jesus inside of creation. Thus our authority, given freely to our Father, is for her sake.
“God, our Father, You have placed the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ into us because we are humans, just like Him. We offer to You that same authority, that You might have a free-flowing access in Power into our world. Father, we share the same form with Jesus for this very purpose, that we might synergeo with You to make all GOOD.
“As the Lord Jesus, oh God, we call You to come upon Your Church, all who believe into Jesus all across this earth, inside the Power of our Devoted Spirit, to clothe her with the Lord Jesus as Fire. Spirit out from God, CONVICT. Convict each one of the essence of Word out from which they come, of the entrance of Thanksgiving, of the absolute Resolution that is Jesus, the Bond of the Covenant.
“Oh God, let their be a full return to You from all who belong to Jesus as the Reciprocity of Devotion, that each might receive all that Jesus is Sent into them, and one another as the Lord Jesus Himself. Clothe Your Church with Glory, Oh God. And Father, that all might KNOW You, for this we pray together. Let it be so; it is so.”