I.　First Corinthians unveils tousagenuine church in the focus ofthe Lord's recovery, which is the focus ofGod'seconomy; Paul, in the opening ofhis Epistle tothe Corinthians, presents a beautiful, marvelous, and excellent portrait of the church of God-1:2-9:

A.　"Thechurch of God"-this is a church that is notonlybeingpossessed by Godbut alsohasGodasitsnature andessence, whicharedivine, general, universal, and eternal-v. 2a.

B.　"The church…in Corinth"-this is a church in a city that remains in a definite locality andtakes it asitsstanding, ground, andjurisdiction for itsadministration in business affairs, andthat is physical, particular, local, andtemporal in time-v. 2b.

C.　"Thechurch…sanctified in Christ Jesus"-this is a church that hasbeensanctified, made holy,in Christ, having Christ, who is the embodiment of theprocessed Triune God in His fullness, as its element andsphere-v. 2c.

D.　Thechurch beingcomposed of the "calledsaints"-this is theassembly of thesaints, thesanctified ones,who have beencalled out of thesatanic world-v. 2d.

E.　"Withallthose whocalluponthename of ourLordJesus Christ ineveryplace"- this longphrase indicates that thechurch that isgenuine isrelated with allthe saints whocalluponthe name of theLordJesus Christ ineveryplacearound the globe-v.2e.

F.　TheLordJesus Christ being"theirs andours"-this indicates that thechurch that is genuine hastheLordJesus Christ as "their" portion, "their"possession of thedivine inheritance, for "their"enjoyment-v. 2f.

G.　"GracetoyouandpeacefromGodourFather andtheLordJesus Christ"-this indicates that thechurch that isgenuine isunder thedispensing of "grace"(the embodiment of theprocessed Triune God for theenjoyment of Himasgrace by His called ones),fromGod theFather asthesource of theDivine Trinity, fromtheLord Jesus Christ as thecourse of theflow of the Divine Trinity, andfromtheHoly Spirit asthereaching of theflow of theDivine Trinity (notmentioned in wordbutimplied in denotation-2 Cor. 13:14)-1Cor. 1:3.

H.　"Baseduponthegrace of God whichwasgivento you in Christ Jesus"-this indicates that thechurch that isgenuine hasthegrace of Godgivento it inChrist, notthe condition in itself, as its base-v. 4.

I.　"In everything you wereenriched in Him…sothat you do notlackin anygift"-this indicates that thechurch that is genuine is enriched in everything in Christ, so that it isnotlacking inanygift,theinward initial giftissuing fromgrace, suchasthe eternal lifeandtheHolySpirit (Rom.6:23;Acts2:38;Heb.6:4),nottheoutward miraculous gifts-1Cor. 1:5-7a.

J.　"Eagerly awaiting therevelation of ourLordJesus Christ"-this indicates that the church that is genuine should have a normal sign,that is, eagerly awaiting therev- elation (theappearing) of our LordJesus Christ-v. 7b.

K.　"Who [referring to God in verse 4] willalsoconfirm you until theendunreprovable inthedayof ourLordJesus Christ"-this indicates that thechurch that is genuineneeds to growin life (asmentioned in 3:6) after itsinitial receiving of grace, so that it will be unreprovable in theday of Christ's coming-1:8.

L.　"God is faithful, through whomyou werecalled intothefellowship of HisSon,Jesus Christ ourLord"-this indicates thatthechurch that is genuine hasbeencalled by God theFather, whois faithful, intothefellowship of, theparticipation in,HisSon Jesus Christ, who is theconsummated, all-inclusive, indwelling, life-giving, anddispensing Spirit (15:45b;2 Cor.3:17-18),asitsdivine portion for itsenjoyment of the consummated Triune God-1 Cor. 1:9.

II.　First Corinthians unveils tousagenuine church in the focus ofthe Lord's recovery-a meal-offering church life:

A.　Themeal offering first typifies Christ in HisGod-man livingandourChristianlife asaduplication of HisGod-man living-Lev. 2:1-16;Psa. 92:10;1 Pet.2:21;Rom.8:2-3, 11, 13:

1.　Fine flour,themain element of the meal offering, signifies Christ's humanity, whichis fine,perfect, tender, balanced, andright ineveryway,with no excess andno deficiency; this signifies the beauty andexcellence of Christ's human living anddailywalk-Lev. 2:1; John 18:38; 19:4, 6b; Luke 2:40; 23:14; Isa.53:3.

2.　Theoil of themeal offering signifies theSpirit of Godasthedivine element ofChrist-Lev. 2:1; Luke 1:35; 3:22; 4:18; Heb.1:9.

3.　Themingling of fineflourwith theoil in themeal offering signifies that Christ's humanity is mingled with theHoly Spirit andthat Hishuman nature is mingled with God's divine nature, making Hima God-man, possessing thedivine nature andthehuman nature distinctly, without athird nature beingproduced-Lev.2:4-5; Matt. 1:18, 20.

4.　Thefrankincense in themeal offering signifies thefragrance of Christ in His resurrection; that thefrankincense wasputon thefinefloursignifies that Christ's humanity bears the aroma of Hisresurrection-Lev. 2:1-2; cf. Matt. 2:11; 11:20-30; Luke 10:21:

a.　As portrayed in thefourGospels, Christ liveda life in Hishumanity mingled with Hisdivinity andexpressing resurrection outfromHissufferings-cf. John18:4-8; 19:26-27a.

b.　Christ's Spirit-filled andresurrection-saturatedlivingwasasatisfying fragrance to God, givingGod rest, peace, joy, enjoyment, andfullsatisfaction- Lev. 2:2; Luke 4:1; John 11:25; Matt. 3:17; 17:5.

5.　Salt, with whichthemeal offering wasseasoned, signifies thedeath, or thecross, of Christ; salt functions to season, kill germs, andpreserve-Lev. 2:13:

a.　TheLordJesus always livedalifeof beingsalted, alifeunder thecross- Mark 10:38; John 12:24; Luke 12:49-50.

b.　Even beforeHewasactually crucified, Christdailylivedacrucified life, denying Himself andHisnatural lifeandlivingtheFather's lifeinresurrection-John 6:38; 7:6, 16-18; cf. Gal. 2:20.

c.　Thebasicfactor of God's covenant is thecross,thecrucifixion of Christ, signifiedbysalt;it isbythe cross thatGod'scovenant ispreserved to bean everlasting covenant-cf. Heb.13:20.

6.　That themeal offering waswithout leaven signifies that in Christ there is no sin or anynegative thing-Lev. 2:4-5,11a;2 Cor.5:21; Heb.4:15; 1 Pet.2:22; Luke23:14; cf. 1 Cor. 5:6-8.

7.　That themeal offering waswithout honeysignifies that inChrist there isno naturalaffection ornaturalgoodness-Lev. 2:11b;Matt.10:34-39; 12:46-50; Mark 10:18.

8.　If weeatChrist asthemeal offering, wewillbecomewhat weeatandliveby what we eat-John 6:57, 63; 1 Cor. 10:17; Phil. 1:19-21a.

9.　By exercising ourspirit to touch theSpirit consolidated in theWord,we eatthe human lifeandlivingof Jesus, weareconstituted with Jesus, andthehuman livingof Jesus becomes our human living-Eph. 6:17-18;Jer. 15:16; Gal. 6:17.

B.　Christ's life andourindividual Christian life issue in a totality-the church life as a corporate meal offering; themeal-offering church life is seenin 1 Corinthians-Lev.2:1-2, 4; 1 Cor. 12:12,24; 10:17:

1.　Christ is the man givento us by God-1:2,9, 30.

2.　Paul'scharge to theCorinthians-"be a man"(16:13,lit.)-means that we should have thehigh, uplifted humanity of Jesus (9:26-27;13:4-7).

3.　The church life is a life of humanity oiled by andwith theSpirit andjoinedto theSpirit-2:4, 12; 3:16; 6:17.

4.　Thegrace of God, whichwe areenjoying today, is theresurrected Christ asthe life-giving Spirit-15:10, 45b:

a.　We must die with Christ to self dailyso that we maylive with Christ to God daily-vv. 31, 36; John 12:24-26.

b.　We must demonstrate thereality of resurrection by beingonewith God and having God with us in thestate in whichwe werecalled-1 Cor. 7:24, 21-22a,10-13.

c.　We must labor notby ournatural life andnatural ability butby theLordas our resurrection life andpower-15:10, 58.

5.　Wemust enjoythecrucified Christasthesolution toalltheproblems inthe church-1:9, 18, 22-23a; cf. Mark 15:31-32a.

6.　We must enjoy Christ as our unleavened banquet-1 Cor. 5:6b-8.

7.　Inthechurch life,thenatural lifemust bekilled bythesalt, bythecrossofChrist-15:10; 12:31; 13:8a;2 Cor. 5:16.

8.　Goddesires that everylocalchurch be a meal offering to satisfy Himandfully supply thesaints dayby day;this means that we will eatourchurch life, for the church life will be our dailysupply.