6. Run to Win

Covering 1 Corinthians Chapters 4-11:

Much of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians Chapters 4-11 can fit into this one title, “Run to Win!” And “Run to Win!” is most definitely a part of Ruling Verse 7, our confidence in God through which we go into every next place. Ruling Verse 7 is also the law of faith.

I am beginning to see a significant factor in how we are to “rightly divide” the Word of Truth. We will get to it in the last part of Romans, again, part of the law of faith. – Anything not coming out from faith fails to connect with God (Romans 14:23.) Paul’s argument is that it does not matter what you decide God wants you to do, just do it in full confidence that you are doing it together with Jesus.

To Tithe or Not to Tithe. Meat sacrificed to idols has no meaning in our world, so I use the example of – to tithe or not to tithe. The law of faith says that if you believe that God means tithing for you, then tithe in full confidence of faith that Jesus lives as you and that you and Jesus are tithing together. And if you believe that God means that tithing is not for you, then do not tithe in full confidence of faith that Jesus lives as you and that you and Jesus are not-tithing together.

But the thing that is iniquity, that is wicked hostility against God, is to look at your brother who is doing something different from you, and to accuse him of falseness. Inside of faith, you can tithe with Jesus, and you can not-tithe with Jesus, but accusing your brother cuts you off from God.

Receiving and Liberty. There are many Bible verses regarding Christian practice that fall into this category. We do not live under any law of obligation, except to love one another. And this is where we place a number of things Paul says throughout 1 Corinthians.

Yet in this back and forth Paul always places himself into liberty. Although he does not allow us to hurt our brethren, he does try to draw people out from “letter of the word” obligations and into liberty. I can rejoice in and receive women as ministers of Christ, fully free to preach to all. But I can also go hear Beth Moore preach to a women-only crowd, sneaking in with lots of other men – WITHOUT condemning my Baptist brethren. Yet always desiring to draw them into the Liberty that is Christ.

Distinguishing between Customs and Life. All Bible instructions regarding outward things, or customs for practice, are not laws to us as believers in Jesus. Some are irrelevant and others are guidelines only. The Gospel commandments that are Life, however, things such as “Give thanks,” are different, for they are things God has given us that we can do without being concerned when we fail, for in the doing of those things, we come to know Jesus as our only life.

This is exactly what Paul and Jesus do with the Old Testament Scriptures, they draw out what is Life, underline those things that break our fellowship with God, and otherwise ignore all the rest. And this is also the meaning Paul expresses in how we are to take some of the things he says.

Jesus Examines Me. (Chapter 4) In fact, I never investigate or examine myself. 4 For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet this fact does not justify me. • Rather, the One who examines me is the Lord. 5 For that reason, do not judge anything before the proper time, until the Lord comes, who will make evident the hidden things of darkness as well as make visible and clear the motives of the hearts. Then the praise and approval will be from God to each.

We can draw all of this into Ruling Verse 7, the confidence we have in Christ, out from which we are led of God inside of Triumph, the celebration of Victory already won. Notice that Paul says, “this fact does not justify me,” meaning the next fact does. I am made justly innocent as Jesus examines me.

It Was Fire. The direct examination of Jesus CAUSES me to be justly innocent. This framework of thinking is how we live our lives. Every time David did something really stupid, he ran with it straight into God. “God, You do whatever You have to do, but don’t put me into anyone else’s examination, including my own.” This same David said, “Blessed is the one whom God declares to be justly innocent.”

My primary purpose in writing my autobiography was to place every moment of my life, through present faith, into Jesus, that He shares all with me. It was FIRE. It was painful examination. And it made my entire life to be one seamless story of Christ. This is giving thanks inside of and for the sake of all things.

Our Passover. • Ruling Verse 7: As Jesus examines every part of our lives, so He causes us to be justly innocent inside of God. We bring every part of our present selves to Jesus and every moment of our past, into the Fire. We are part of Christ as we are confident that we are part of Christ (see Hebrews 3:14).

(Chapter 5) Are you not aware that a little bit of leaven is enough to leaven the whole lump of dough? 7 Thoroughly cleanse out the old leaven, so that you may be a new lump of dough, as you already are unleavened. • For so also Christ our Passover Lamb was offered as the sacrifice 8 so that we might be part of the feast, not as old leaven and not with the leaven of inherent evil and pain-ridden toil, but inside of the unleavened bread of honesty and truth.

Honesty. I actually want two definitions from this passage. One will be a definition of leaven versus unleavened, pretending versus honesty. Remember that the first pretenders in Christian practice fell dead. That’s what God thinks about dishonesty. Honesty is also a pathway of power and thus part of Kingdom as well. We will include that thought. The other definition is of God’s use of Old Testament metaphors to make sense of New Testament Truth.

• Definition: One of the Bible meanings of “leaven” or yeast, is dishonesty. Thus unleavened bread means honesty and Truth in the inward parts, whereas leaven can mean pretending to be concerned about God, even while putting on a show for others. Honesty is also a pathway of power and thus part of Kingdom.

The Feasts of Israel. • Definition: The Feasts of Israel, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, inside the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, are metaphors for us that God uses to convey to us our Way of Salvation. Passover itself, the sacrifice of Christ as our Lamb, was only a moment of time, immediately followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread, our full and perfect union with Christ, right from the start, with no need for pretending.

(Chapter 6) 11 That is what some of you once were; • but you were washed, but you were made devoted, but you were made justly innocent inside of the name of our Lord and inside of the Spirit of our God. – I am seeing how the redemption verses all fit into one or other of the three Ruling Verses that are the HOW of God, HOW the WHAT of God is to be fulfilled in our lives.

Already All. This is brief, but it ties in the Sixth Ruling Verse. All three of these things are past tense, already all. “Washed clean” is regarding our humanity in this world, for our flesh is the flesh of Christ. “Made devoted” is towards God, that we might reciprocate with Him. And “justly innocent” is what we are in ourselves, capable of living with God.

• Ruling Verse 6: The moment we received Christ, God placed us into all perfection, that is, into Christ Jesus. These things are past tense, already all. We are clean in our humanity in this world. We are devoted to God, that we might reciprocate His Love. And we are justly innocent inside ourselves, that we might share life together with our Father.

An Example of the Negative. (Chapter 6) • 15 Are you not aware that your bodies are members and part of Christ? Shall I take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? It cannot happen! 16 Or are you not aware that one who is joined to a prostitute is as one body? For it says, “The two will become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). • 17 Yet one who is joined to the Lord is one Spirit with Him.

These verses are a companion verse for Galatians 2:20, Ruling Verse 5, as well as Hebrews 3:14, part of Christ. This is a good example of the negative as part of a “gospel verse.” Fornication is violence, and it rips apart the lives of all three, but mostly the life of the child to be born. And so this is part of “flee from idolatry,” coming up. Yet Paul uses this picture to show us its opposite, that is, the REAL.

Joined. Paul uses the picture found in verses 15-16 in order to give us the full meaning of the word “joined” in verse 17. Verse 17 is huge, and we must get it right. Yet it will also factor significantly in our page on Galatians 2:20.

“Joined” means organically knitted together, as a piece of skin that is grafted onto the body and then becomes a living part of that new place. It also means the implanting and the receiving of Seed to bring forth Life. Our human spirit and the Spirit of the Lord Jesus are one spirit, the same Spirit, now shared together. Genesis 2:24 is inside the negative here, and so we bring it in from Ephesians 5 so that there is no question that it means the same. Our flesh IS the flesh of Jesus and vice versa.

Union with Jesus. • Ruling Verse 5: We are joined to the Lord as a living and organic attachment. by receiving His Word into our hearts. We share the same Spirit with Jesus, the Spirit out from God. The Spirit of the Lord Jesus is now our spirit as well. Then, even the members of our physical body are part of Christ, for we share one flesh with Him (See Ephesians 5:30-31). This joining together with Jesus in Spirit and in flesh is complete (See Colossians 2:10). And as James said, we are free to remember what we are.

We can see ever more clearly the actual literal and organic meaning of our union with the Lord Jesus. And we can see the powerful foundation Paul is constructing upon which our union with Christ is built. When we are free of all thought of the arrogant “Christ,” we can rest inside of these beyond-all facts of what we are.

Becomes Union with God. (Chapter 6) • 19 Or are you not aware that your body is a temple of the Devoted Spirit inside of you, whom you possess from God? And you are not your own, you do not belong to yourself, 20 for you were purchased as in the marketplace for a high price. Therefore, glorify God who is inside of your body and inside of your spirit, which are God’s [body and God’s Spirit].

Union with the Lord Jesus always becomes union with God our Father. Everything that is True to the joining of Jesus and each one of us is also True of our joining with the Father. I have taught you to say, “Look at me, God; I belong to You.” And to “glorify God” means to acknowledge God in all, that when He speaks, He always speaks the Truth.

Applying the Rule. Now, 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 is the Ruling Verse of the entirety of 1 Corinthians. Everything coming before prepares the place for “Christ is a many-membered body,” and everything coming after shows its scope and meaning. This Rule is essential to know the meaning and place of every other Gospel Verse in the letter. I need to include that thought in the Gospel Comment, which is now “The Form for God through Jesus.”

Nonetheless, though our togetherness as the House of God will come later, everything in Chapter 6 is about the full joining of Christ Jesus, and the Father through Him, with each individual one of us. Thus we have not left the personal intimacy of Galatians 2:20.

To Glorify God. There is a strong sense that 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 is our True submission to God, set against Paul’s coming description of Adam’s rebellion in Romans 1:21. – For having known God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were they thankful, but they became pointless, even psychotic in their thinking… misunderstanding everything.

• The Form for God through Jesus: Paul is building towards the ruling verse of 1 Corinthians, which is 12:12-14, that we together are the body of Christ and that we drink of the same Spirit. Yet being made the body of Christ together is for the larger purpose of being made the Form for God through Jesus. We KNOW that God dwells personally inside each one of us and that we are His temple; therefore we glorify Him by acknowledging that He always speaks the Truth.

The Whole Point. I am now fully satisfied that Romans 14:23 is the rule that allows us to set aside some of the things Paul includes through 1 Corinthians, inside the full liberty of the Spirit and through faith. – Anything not coming out from faith fails to connect with God. Because I am joined together with my wife inside of Jesus, inside of the Spirit, and through our faith in God, we are FREE, even to repudiate, things found in Chapter 7. And that really is Paul’s whole point.

Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for increasing the scope of “the law” far beyond anything God had intended. Nicene Christianity does the same, turning everything written in the New Testament into outward law binding to our salvation.

Out from God. • (Chapter 8) 6 Yet to us there is one God, the Father, out from whom are all things and we into Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and we through Him.

I cannot convey the importance of ceasing all mindless yakking about “The Trinity,” etc., for by those non-Biblical words, we prevent ourselves from ever knowing the Father. We speak of God only what God Himself speaks. The distinction here is very clear and very important. We come OUT FROM God and we come THROUGH Jesus Christ, that is, Spirit and Word always together. Jesus Himself is the Son OUT FROM God and the Spirit is the Spirit OUT FROM God. God shares form with Christ Jesus that He might enter His creation through us.

God As He Is. Augustine’s definition of “the Trinity” as three equal and distinct beings fits the view of an aloof, distant, and even mechanical “God.” But God is as a River flowing and a Fire burning. He is immediate and intimate towards every tiny particle of creation. God is Symmorphic; He comes always through other Persons, the Spirit and the Son out from God.

• Definition: We never speak of God except with the words God Himself uses to speak of Himself. There is one God, the Father. The Spirit and the Son are out from this God. God is Symmorphic; His knowledge comes to us inside of and through another Person, Christ Jesus, Spirit and Word always together. Thus Jesus is Mediator and Lord.
 
What Is the Prize? (Chapter 9) • 24 Are you not aware of those running in a race, that, though all run, only one receives the prize? Run so that you might seize hold of the prize. 25 Now, everyone who competes exercises self-control in all. But they compete so that they might win a decaying crown; we, however, compete to win a crown that cannot decay.

We run to win! Yet this is NOT a human competition. There is no such thing as the first one to arrive winning everything and everyone else losing. You see, what is the prize? Paul already told us in 1 Thessalonians 2. – Who, then, is our hope, or joy, or crown of boasting and exultation? Is it not even you, in the face of our Lord Jesus, inside of His presence? For you are our glory and our joy.

Run to Win. I run to win you, even as you run to win me. And so this is the same word God taught me through the brethren at Graham River when I was twenty. Let me put it into present word. We cannot enter into God except we carry our brethren with us. We cannot know God except together. – Here am I, I and the children whom You have given me. More than that, this cannot be a run into a future connection with God, something to which we “attain.” It is a run into the knowledge of God, into living by what is already True.

• Ruling Verse 7: In the celebration of a Victory already won, we run to win. Our prize is the great weight of value that is our brethren inside of Christ. Therefore, we carry our brethren, all whom God has given us, all the way into God. We run to win their fellowship, even as they run to win ours.

Flee into God. (Chapter 10) 12 Therefore, let the one thinking to stand take heed lest he fall. 13 Temptation or testing has not seized hold of you except what relates to humans. • God is now faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted or tried beyond what you are able, but will do Himself with you also the way out of the temptation, the ability by which it is carried away. • 14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

There is no such thing as “fleeing from idolatry,” except we are fleeing INTO God. God was always faithful to me in that every time I boasted in myself, He ensured an immediate fall into public humiliation. This is Fire; it is also GOOD-ness. My translation of verse 13 seems awkward, yet I believe it is accurate to the meaning of the Greek.

Two Mighty Assumptions. I have shared with you the experience I had with God about two years ago, when I saw an open door and I heard, “Enter.” Yet I could not. And when the same thing happened again, I said, “Oh Jesus, You must carry me in.” When I opened my eyes inside that room, I could see nothing. It seemed pitch black. Yet I now know that room to be filled with all LIFE and LIGHT and Joy. The room is called “Flow of Gospel Word.”

And we have seen already two mighty assumptions undergirding all Gospel Word. (1) God is always present with us; we live only inside His presence, and (2) God alone saves us, but only as we FLEE into Him. Thus I have also come to know how it is that “fixing ourselves” is INIQUITY, for it is refusal.

Belonging to God. This relationship of God with us is a central part of Covenant. Covenant requires us to give all of ourselves to God, especially our sin and our shame, for God alone is our way out.

• Covenant: We live always and only inside of God and inside of His Presence made known to us. Essential to the Covenant by which Jesus joins us with the Father is that God alone saves us from all that opposes. God Himself is our way. When we are hit with temptation, we place ourselves, even with all our sin and shame, only into God, in full Trust that He saves us right now. – “Look at me, God, I BELONG to you.”

In the end, those who choose to be “responsible for themselves,” do so because they want to keep their sin, for it is more important to them than any life shared with God.

Flee from Idols. Paul and John both say “Flee from idols.” We must know clearly what that means. An idol is anything that we might turn to in order to escape from a life shared with God, anything at all. Yet this is why Paul said, “Misunderstanding everything.” For everything we are as humans, everything real, even to the agony of our souls, God would share with us. To share life with God is to lose nothing.

• Definition: An “idol” is anything we might turn to in order to escape from a life shared with God. Some place their sin between themselves and God, because they prefer “sin.” Others place attachments to things in this world. We flee from all into our Father, for sharing Life with a God who KEEPS what we are is the greatest Treasure there could be.

The Eucharist. By Chapters 10 & 11, Paul is moving more swiftly towards his ruling thought. (Chapter 11) 16 The cup of good-speaking and blessing, which we speak well of and bless, is it not a participation and fellowship of the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation and fellowship of the body of Christ? • 17 Though we are many, yet we are one loaf, one body; for we all partake of the one loaf.

In the ruling verse, Paul says, “Drinking of the same Spirit.” Here he says, “Eating of the same Bread, that is, Word.” Thus this verse is an essential companion verse. In verse 16, Paul uses the word “koinonia” twice. This means shared, participation in, fellowship of, partakers of, two and many as one together. And this is the Cup of the Eucharist!

Sharing Hheart with God. We have not yet seen the depths of the Eucharist at the heart of being together the Form for the Lord Jesus Christ to all heaven-earth. The Eucharist, drinking of His same Cup, eating of His same flesh, is to share with Jesus in His redemptive action of joining others with the Father inside His own soul. This is “And we also,” the core of the Body, sharing Hheart with God.  

• The Form for God through Jesus: As the Body of Christ, we are many, yet members of one another, eating of the same Bread, that is, Word. As we partake of the Eucharist, by which we bring Jesus into our minds together, we participate fully with Jesus and with one another in His redemptive Love for one another and for all creation.

We RUN into God. Inside of all that could be called “Gospel Verses,” there is nothing that is not overwhelming, Truth and reality beyond human conception. Yet this is what we are, and what God is now doing through us into our world. More than that, the definitions we now have of iniquity and idolatry, etc., are so sharp and clear. The refusal to believe God, for which Nicene theology was forged, is truly evil.

We RUN. Oh my God, we FLEE – into God our Father with all that is within us, that we might be found only and always inside of Him. And we RUN into God with our hearts and arms filled, carrying our brethren with us, leaving no one out, knowing that we are carrying our King, the Lord Jesus, now living as them.