I.　The church is the church of God—"the church of God which is in Corinth"—1 Cor. 1:2; 10:32; 11:16:

A.　The expression the church of God indicates not only that the church is possessed by God but also that the church has the nature of God, that it is constituted with the element of God:

1.　The church is of God because it is produced of God as the source and has God as it nature and essence, which are divine, universal, and eternal.

2.　God is the nature and essence of the church; therefore, the church is divine.

3.　The content of the church essentially is God Himself.

B.　First Corinthians 1:2a speaks of "the church of God which is in Corinth":

1.　The church in Corinth could be called the church of God because the divine essence which makes the assembled believers the church of God was actually there.

2.　The locality of Corinth was for the existence, expression, and practice of the church; such a locality becomes the local ground of the local churches on which they are built respectively—Acts 8:1; 13:1; Rev. 1:11.

3.　The church is constituted of the universal God, but it exists on earth in many localities:

a.　In nature the church is universal in God, but in practice the church is local in a definite place.

b.　The church has two aspects—the universal and the local—Matt. 16:18; 18:17; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; Eph. 2:21-22: (1) Without the universal aspect, the church is void of content. (2) Without the local aspect, it is impossible for the church to have any expression and practice.

C.　A genuine church is of God, on its local ground, and with the saints as the constituents—1 Cor. 1:2:

1.　Those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints, are the constituents of the framework of the church.

2.　To the church of God equals to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus; this indicates that the church is a composition of the saints and that the saints are the constituents of the church.

D.　A genuine church is related with all the saints who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in every place around the globe—v. 2:

1.　We are related by God to every kind of Christian, and no matter where we are, we cannot be isolated from them.

2.　Being related with all the saints keeps us from being sectarian, isolated, or divided.

E.　The genuine church has been called by God the Father into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ—v. 9:

1.　In this fellowship we partake of and enjoy the Son of God as the embodiment of the Triune God—Col. 2:9.

2.　In order to call us into the fellowship of the Son, the Triune God passed through a process—the Father's selecting, the Son's redeeming, and the Spirit's sealing—Eph. 1:3-14.

II.　The church is in the Triune God—"the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ"—1 Thes. 1:1:

A.　In 1 Thessalonians 1:1 we have the revelation of the tremendous fact that the church is in the unique God and that this God is our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

1.　The church is not only of God and of Christ; the church is in God and in Christ.

2.　It is important for us to see that the church in our locality is of God and in God, of Christ and in Christ.

B.　For the church to be in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ means that the church is in the Triune God—Matt. 28:19.

C.　The church is composed of human beings, but they, the believers, are in the Triune God—1 Thes. 1:1; 2 Thes. 1:1.

D.　The church is a group of human beings who have been born of God the Father with His life and nature and who have been brought into the organic union with Christ:

1.　For the church to be in God, God must become our Father, and we must have a life-relationship with Him—1 John 3:1a:

a.　In 1 Thessalonians 1:1 the word Father indicates a relationship in life; in God the Father, we have been born again, regenerated, and now, as His children, we have a life-relationship with Him—John 1:12-13.

b.　The church being in God the Father implies that the church is in God's purpose, plan, selection, and predestination—Eph. 1:4-5.

c.　The church in God the Father is the church in the One who is the unique initiator and originator—Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 8:6; Matt. 15:13.

2.　To be in the Lord Jesus Christ is to be united with Christ organically in all that He is and has done—1 Thes. 1:1; 1 Cor. 1:30:

a.　In the Lord Jesus Christ we have the termination of everything of the old creation, for to be in Christ is to be in His death, the death which terminates all negative things—Rom. 6:4.

b.　The title Christ in 1 Thessalonians 1:1 denotes all the riches of resurrection; thus, to be in Christ is to be in resurrection—Rom. 8:10-11.

E.　The church is in the processed Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—the One who has become the life-giving Spirit with the Father and the Son—1 Cor. 15:45b; John 14:17, 23.

F.　If we see that the church is in the Triune God, we will be different both in our concept and in our activity—Isa. 55:8-9; Eph. 1:17-18a; Col. 1:9, 29.