THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The All-inclusive Christ
Message Two
The Centrality and Universality of Christ
Scriptures Reading: Ezek. 1:15; Col. 1:15-19; 2:19; 3:10-11; Eph. 1:10, 22-23; 4:13-16; 1 Cor. 2:2
I. The whole universe—including the old creation and the new creation, including everything in the heavens and everything on the earth, in the present and in the future—is like a great wheel; Christ is the hub, the center; Christ is the rim, the circumference; and Christ is the spokes of this wheel; Christ is everything—Ezek. 1:15:
A. In the Godhead, the Father is the source, the Spirit is the communion, the fellowship, the transmission, and the Son, Christ is the center; furthermore, all the fullness of the Godhead is pleased to dwell in Christ bodily—Col. 1:19; 2:9; John 10:38; 14:10-11; Col. 2:9-15; 2 Cor. 4:4b; Heb. 1:3a; John 1:1; 20:28-29; Rom. 9:5.
B. In God’s economy Christ is the very center; in God’s plan Christ is the Head to head up all things; the whole universe is for Christ; whatever God has planned, whatever God has done, and whatever God is doing is to make Christ the Head, the center,, and everything—Eph. 1:10.
C. In God’s creation Christ is the first, the One who has preeminence among all creatures; all things were created in Christ, through Christ and unto Christ; furthermore, all things cohere, subsist together, and are compacted as one in Christ—Col. 1:15b-16, 17b.
II. In God’s new creation, that is, in the church, the Body of Christ, Christ is everything—Col. 1:18:
A. Christ is the Firstborn from the dead; He is the first in resurrection; as such, He has the first place in the church as God’s new creation—Col. 18.
B. Christ is not only the Firstborn of the new creation but also the Head of the church, the Body; moreover, He is the constituent of the Body; He is all the members of the Body and in all the members—2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; Col. 3:11.
C. Everything of the Body, the church, in a positive way and in the proper condition, must be Christ Himself; Christ is the Head, Christ is the life, and Christ is the constituent of the church—1 Cor. 12:12.
III. In the Christian living, Christ must be everything in our Christian life; the Christian life must be a life that is Christ Himself expressed through us—Gal. 2:20:
A. What we had originally was absolutely out of Adam, but now we have been born of Christ; Christ is our life—1 Cor. 2:1-2:
1. Our humility and loveliness must not be something of the old life but something of Christ—Gal. 2:20.
2. Christ has to be lived out in our lives; our victory is based on our yielding to Christ the first place in all things and allowing Him to be the Lord in all of our living; how can we enter into this victorious life? We must do the following things:
a. We must see that the self deserves only to die; any hope in the self must come to an end—2 Cor. 1:8.
b. We must consecrate wholeheartedly; if we do not see our utter weakness, we cannot accept the cross and fully consecrate ourselves—2 Cor. 12:9.
c. After consecration we have to believe that Christ is being lived out in us and that He has taken over our rights—Gal. 2:20.
B. Whatever God gives to us, whether it be a sweet life or a suffering life, is for the purpose of making Christ the One who occupies the first place in us; God deprives us of our possessions, relatives, health, and goodness in order that we would take Christ as our satisfaction, be filled with Christ, and allow Him to have the first place in all things—1 Cor. 1:9; 1 John 5:21; cf. Jer. 2:13; Lam. 3:22-24.
IV. Christ should have the first place in our work; our work should also be for Christ—John 5:17; Eph. 2:10:
A. The goal of God’s work is Christ; God’s work from eternity to eternity has always been with the view that His Son would have the first place in all things—Eph. 1:15b-16; Rom. 8:29.
B. How successful our work is depends on how much Christ is in it—2 Thes. 1:2; Col. 2:19.
C. The work from beginning to end, is all for Christ, not for us; we should be satisfied with the work allotted to us by the Lord and with the position the Lord arranged for us; we should not be “in another man’s rule”—2 Cor. 10:16; 1 Cor. 14:34-35; 1 Tim. 2:12.
D. Our central message should not be the dispensations, the prophecies, the types, the kingdom, baptism, forsaking denominations, speaking in tongues, keeping the Sabbath, or holiness, etc.; our central message should be Christ; we should allow Christ to have the first place in the small things in our daily life before we can preach the message of the centrality of Christ—2 Cor. 4:5; 1 Cor. 2:2.
E. God works through the cross, which in turn works through the environment to dig into us deeply, causing us to know Christ and be filled with Him, so that Christ may have the first place in us—Rom. 8:28; 2 Cor. 12:9.
V. I look to the Lord that our eyes may be opened to see these things in a thorough way until they become transparent to us; we need to see that Christ is the center, Christ is the circumference, and Christ is everything—Col. 3:11; 1:18; 2:2; 2 Cor. 4:5.
Ministry Excerpts:
THE WHOLE UNIVERSE—CHRIST BEING THE HUB, THE CENTER
AND THE RIM, THE CIRCUMFERENCE
In this short book, we want to fellowship about the centrality and universality of Christ—Christ as the center and Christ as everything. Christ is the center, and Christ is the circumference. The whole universe—including the old and new creations, including everything in the heavens and on the earth, in the present and in the future—is like a great wheel (cf. Ezek. 1:15). Christ is the hub, the center; Christ is the rim, the circumference; and Christ is the spokes of this wheel. Christ is everything.
Verse 19 says, “Holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and sinews, grows with the growth of God.” The nourishment, the supply, comes from the joints, and the knitting together comes from the sinews. In the Body there are the supplying joints and the uniting sinews. But all of this comes from the Head through the members of the Body. The supply and the knitting together issue in the growth of the Body, which depends on the growth of God, the increase of God’s element, in the Body.
Colossians 3:4 speaks of “Christ our life.” Then 1:27 says, “To whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Christ is our life within us today, and Christ is our hope within us for the future. He is everything. Colossians 3:11b says, “Christ is all and in all.” I do not think that anyone can fully comprehend this phrase. But we all need to announce, to declare, and to proclaim that Christ is all and in all.
Now let us consider five items concerning Christ as everything in God’s intention. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 1, “The Centrality and Universality of Christ”, msg .1)
CHRIST IN THE GODHEAD
The first item we will consider is Christ in the Godhead. Even in the Godhead, Christ is the center. In the Godhead there are three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Father is the source, the Spirit is the communion, the fellowship, the transmission, and the Son, Christ, is the center. All that the Father has planned and purposed is in the Son, for the Son, and through the Son, and all that the Spirit is doing also is for the Son. The Spirit comes to witness for the Son, to glorify the Son, and to make the Son real to us (John 16:13-15). Thus, we see that even in the Godhead, Christ is the center.
All the Fullness of the Godhead Being Pleased to Dwell in Christ Bodily
Furthermore, all the fullness of the Godhead is pleased to dwell in Christ bodily (Col. 1:19; 2:9). If we do not hve the Son, we do not have the Father. If we have the Son, we have the Father also, because the Father is in the Son (John 10:38; 14:10-11) and the Son is the very embodiment of the Father (Col. 2:9). Christ is the image of God (Col. 1:15; 2 Cor. 4:4b) and the impress of God’s substance, the expression of what God is (Heb. 1:3a). Apart from Christ we cannot meet God or have God. Christ is God (John 1:1; 20:28-29; Rom. 9:5). Hence, Christ is the center of the Godhead.
[Colossians chapter 1] verse 19 says, “For in Him all the fullness was pleased to dwell.” The fullness here refers to the fullness of the Godhead. Colossians 2:9 says, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” This fullness was pleased to dwell in Christ.
All the Treasures of Spiritual Wisdom and Divine Knowledge Being Hidden in Christ, who is the Mystery of God
Now let us read Colossians 2:2-3: “That their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love and unto all the riches of the full assurance of understanding, unto the full knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.” In Christ, who is the mystery of God, are hidden all the treasures of spiritual wisdom and divine knowledge.
Verses 8 through 10 say, “Beware that no one carries you off as spoil through his philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ; for in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you have been made full in Him, who is the Head of all rule and authority.” For someone to carry you off as spoil is to take you away as his prey. To be made full in Him is to be filled up with all the divine riches. The Living Bible, a paraphrased edition, says in verse 10, “You have everything when you have Christ.” If we have Christ, we have everything.
CHRIST IN GOD’S PLAN
The second thing we will consider is Christ in God’s plan. We have seen clearly from Ephesians that in God’s economy Christ is the very center. In God’s plan Christ is the Head to head up all things (Eph. 1:10). The whole universe is for Christ. Whatever God has planned, whatever God has done, and whatever God is doing is to make Christ the Head, the center, and everything. This is God’s eternal purpose. The phrase to head up all things in Christ in Ephesians 1:10 indicates the divine economy. Hence, in God’s plan, in God’s economy Christ is the Head and the center. Christ is everything.
Now I would like us to read one more verse—Ephesians 1:10: “Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him.” The Greek word for economy means “household government or administration,” and derivatively, “administrative dispensation, arrangement, plan, or economy.” The economy that God, according to His desire, planned and purposed in Himself is to head up all things in Christ at the fullness of the times.
I would like to ask, “Is our body upholding our head, or is our head upholding our body?” When I was young, I had the thought that the body upholds the head. But one day I realized that it is the head which upholds the body. If our head were cut off, our body would collapse. This proves that the head upholds the body. This is an illustration to show us that Christ as the Head upholds His Body. God has been working through all the generations and is working today that Christ might head up all things, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth. Christ is the Head. Eventually, He will head up the whole universe. This shows us again that Christ is everything.
CHRIST IN GOD’S CREATION
The next item we will consider is Christ in God’s creation, that is, the old creation. In God’s creation Christ is the first, the One who has preeminence among all creatures. In the old creation all things were created in Christ, through Christ, and unto Christ (Col. 1:15b-16). Furthermore, all things cohere, subsist together, and are compacted as one in Christ (v. 17b). We can see the beauty of the unierse and the oneness of all things in this universe. If the moon went out of its orbit even to a small degree, there would be a terrible result on this earth. However, today everything in the universe is going on in a good order. This is due to the power of Christ. Christ is the power by which and in which all things cohere. Christ is the center of God’s creation, and He has the first place in all creation.
Christ Being Not Only the First One of All Creation,
But Everything in the Creation
Colossians 1:15a says that Christ, the Son of God, is “the image of the invisible God.” This tells us the position that Christ occupies in the Godhead. In the Godhead Christ is the image of the invisible God. Verse 15b says that He is “the Firstborn of all creation.” This tells us His position in the old creation. In the old creation He is the first; He is the beginning; He takes the preeminence, the first place, in God’s creation.
Verse 16 says, “Because in Him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or lordships or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and unto Him.” Christ is not only the first One of all creation, but He is everything in the creation. All things were created in Him, in the power of His person, through Him as the active instrument, and unto Him for His possession.
Christ Being the Very One in Whom the Whole Universe, Including All Things, Is Compacted and Subsists Together
Verse 17 says, “And He is before all things, and all things cohere in Him.” To cohere in Him means to subsist together in Him. All things are united and compacted together in Christ because Christ is the center and Christ is the circumference. Christ is the hub and Christ is the rim. If you take the rim and hub away from a wheel, the entire wheel will collapse. Christ is the center and the circumference of the universe. The scientists do not know this. But the best scientists tell us that there is a wonderful power holding the universe together. This wonderful power is Christ Himself as the center and the circumference. Christ is the very One in whom the whole universe, including all things, is compacted and subsists together.
Verse 18 says, “And He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things.” Verse 17 tells us the position of Christ in creation. Verse 18 tells us the position of Christ in the new creation, in the Body, in the church. It says that He is the Head of the Body, the church. In the old creation, in the universe, He is the first. In the new creation, in the church, He is also the first. He is the Head and the Firstborn from the dead that He might have the preeminence, the first place, in all things. He must be the first.
CHRIST IN THE NEW CREATION
Christ Having the First Place in the Church as God’s New Creation
The fourth item is concerning Christ in the new creation, that is, the church. Whereas the old creation was created by God in Christ, through Christ, and unto Christ, the new creation is something of the old creation that has died and resurrected into life to have a fresh beginning in newness. Christ is the Firstborn from the dead (Col. 1:18); He is the first in resurrection. As such, He has the first place in the church as God’s new creation (2 cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). Christ is not only the Firstborn of the new creation but also the Head of the church, the Body. Moreover, He is the constituent of the Body. He is all the members of the Body and in all the members (Col. 3:11). Even the Body itself is Christ (1 Cor. 12:12). Everything of the Body, the church, in a positive way and in the proper condition, must be Christ Himself. Christ is the Head, Christ is the life, and Christ is the constituent of the church. Hence, in the new creation, the church, Christ is everything.
The Church Being the Body, the Fullness, of Christ, the One Who Fills All in All
Verses 22 and 23 say, “He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” Christ has been made by God the Head over all things, not only for the church but to the church. The church is the Body, the fullness, of Christ, the One who fills all in all.
Now let us read Ephesians 4:13-16: “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we may be no longer little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system of error, but holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.”
Verse 14 speaks of every wind of teaching, not every wind of heresy. Even a teaching can be a wind to blow us away, to carry us away, from Christ and the church. We can be carried away by the winds of teaching because we are childish. We are children who have not yet grown up. Thus, it is easy for us to be deceived, to be carried away by something that looks good and that sounds nice. We are carried away not by some heresy but by some teaching. Instead of being carried away, we need to hold to truth in love. The truth is the reality, Christ Himself. When we hold Christ as the reality in love, we grow up into Christ, who is the Head, in all things. Then out from the Head all the Body causes the growth of the Body by the supplying joints and the operating parts.
If we consider before the Lord the above verses from Ephesians 4, we will have a clear vision that God’s intention is to work Christ into us, to make Christ everything to us, and to cause us to grow in Christ. God does not want us just to learn some teaching. We should not pay our attention to anything other than to holding Christ as the reality, the center, the circumference, and everything. We hold Christ as the reality that we may grow up into Him in everything. Not just in one aspect but in all aspects, in all things, we have to grow up into Christ. Christ is everything.
CHRIST IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
The Christian Life Being a Life That Is Christ Himself Expressed through Us
One day in 1933 the Lord opened my eyes to see that Christ is everything to us. Many times the saints came to me to praise someone by saying that he was humble or lovely. but after 1933 whenever I heard this kind of praise about a person, I always had a question within me. What do you mean by being humble? What do you mean by being lovely? Do you mean that a part of the old Adam is humble, or that a man in Adam is lovely? The real humility and loveliness of a Christian must be Christ Himself. Our love toward others must be Christ. Our patience, our humility, our wisdom, our knowledge, and our insight must be Christ.
However, we were not originally born in Christ, of Christ, or with Christ. What we had originally was absolutely out of Adam. But now we have been born of Christ. Yet still something of the old nature remains with us. We have Christ and the old Adam as well. We can even be humble and nice by the old adamic life. In China I saw some people who were taught, educated, by the teachings of Confucius. They were truly nice and lovely, but with them there was nothing of Christ. The Christian life must be a life that is Christ Himself expressed through us.
All These Things Being Substitutes for Christ That Usurp the Ground
of Christ in the Believers
Religion
Now let us look at the situation of Christianity today. There is very little of Christ in today’s Christianity. Instead, Christianity is full of three categories of things. First, today’s Christianity is full of forms and regulations, and it is organized as a religion. Second, today’s Christianity is full of doctrines, knowledge, teachings, and theology. Once I met a person who spoke with me concerning justification by faith; but I found out that he himself had not been justified, though he was very much for justification by faith. The reason for this is that he had the doctrine of justification by faith, but he did not have the living person of Christ. If we have Christ, we are justified. If we do not have Christ, we are not justified. Someone may have a doctor’s degree in divinity and yet not saved; he may be full of doctrines but void of Christ.
Sometimes people have asked me, “Brother Lee, do you believe in absolute grace?” I said, “I believe in the very Christ who is grace itself. What do you believe? You believe in the doctrine of grace, but do you have grace? Who is grace? Who is all-inclusive grace? Who is the absolute grace?” We need to see that grace is a living person, not a doctrine. Grace is Christ Himself (John 1:17). We can teach grace and even fight for the doctrine of grace, yet we do not have grace if we do not have the living person of Christ. We may not have the word grace in our vocabulary or dictionary, but if we have the reality of Christ, we have the reality of grace. It is not a matter of doctrine but a matter of the living Christ being realized by us.
Third, today’s Christianity is full of gifts, full of the seeking for healings and speaking in tongues. But where is Christ? How much Christ is there? Christianity is full of forms, full of teachings, and full of gifts, but it has very little of Christ. Christ has nearly no place, no ground, even in the formal church, the doctrinal church, the fundamental church. Also, in the Pentecostal church there is not much room for Christ Himself. This is the condition of today’s Christianity.
We surely should mourn over such a situation (Matt. 5:4). The United Sttes is a Christian country, but it has very little of Christ. I am not trying to teach you and give you something new. I am here to tell you that you need Christ. What you ned is not forms, doctrines, gifts, healings, and speaking in tongues; you need Christ, the living One, the Son of the living God. You need to know Him and experience Him. You need to be filled with Him, to be saturated with Him, and to be mingled, blended, with Him.
In the New Testament there is the Epistle to the Hebrews, which deals with religion. The Hebrew Christians had the best religion, the Jewish religion, yet they greatly neglected Christ. They forgot about Christ. They were distracted and even separated from Christ. They were led away from the right track, which is Christ Himself. They paid attention to something other than Christ, something that was used by God to bring people, to conduct people, to Christ. Their religion became a substitute for Christ, something that took the place of Christ. Even though it was good at one time, it eventually replaced Christ.
Law
Galatians shows us that the law became a substitute for Christ. The Galatians were trying to do good, to improve themselves, and to adjust themselves in order to have good behavior. This kind of thing crept in among the Christians to usurp the place of Christ. Some Christians are good and try to do good. But this is a deceiving by the enemy. We are not for good conduct; we are persons who are absolutely for Christ. We were made vessels not to contain good conduct but to contain Christ. We are Christ-containers.
Gifts
First Corinthians shows the contrast between Christ and the gifts. I have said many times that 1 Corinthians shows that it is quite possible for someone to have many gifts yet still be a babe, an infant, in Christ (1:7; 3:1).
The Corinthian believers had all the outward, miraculous gifts, yet they were childish. That is the reason that the apostle was forced to say, “When I came to you…I did not determine to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified” (2:1-2). The Jews are seeking signs, miracles, and supernatural things, and the Greeks are seeking wisdom and knowledge, but we, the saved ones of God, preach only Christ Himself. Besides Christ, we know nothing. Christ is the real power for signs and the real wisdom for knowledge. Today the enemy is still very subtle. If the enemy were to bring in something sinful, all the lovers of Christ, the seeking ones, would reject it. But the enemy in his subtlety brings in something good. What the enemy brings in may be something very good, but it is not Christ Himself.
In the beginning of the New Testament, in Acts, there are the gifts, signs, and miracles. But the latest Epistles, such as 2 Corinthians, the Epistles to Timothy, the Epistle to Titus, and 1, 2, and 3 John, do not mention signs, miracles, or gifts. In Revelation the gifts and miraculous things are not mentioned. All these books deal much with the matters of knowing Christ and of being worked on by God, by the Holy Spirit, through the cross that Christ may be wrought into us, that we may be mingled, blended, filled, and saturated with Christ.
We need to come back to God’s Word, where we do not see any stress on doctrines, forms, gifts, healings, or speaking in tongues. The focus and stress in God’s Word are Christ the living One. The enemy is subtle. Because of this the apostle told us that while they were preaching christ, on the one hand, negatively, they warned and admonished people, and on the other hand, positively, they taught people (Col. 1:28). The apostle’s warning was needed because some subtle things were brought in by the enemy.
Philosophy
In Colossians 2:8 Paul said, “Beware that no one carries you off as spoil through his philosophy and empty deceit.” Philosophy is good, not sinful or worldly. It is not something dressed in black and dark clothing, but something clothed in a white and bright garment that can carry us away from Christ. It is nice and good, but it is deceiving, sidetracking, and distracting. It separates us and carries us away from the right track, which is Christ Himself. Whenever we pay our attention to anything other than Christ, we have been sidetracked already. If we focus on something other than Christ, regardless of how good it is, we have been sidetracked; we are no longer on the right track.
Brothers and sisters, here is the battle. We are not fighting with men; we are fighting against the enemy, the cunning one, who has been damaging the Body of Christ for all the past generations, sometimes by evil things and sometimes by good things. Hebrews, Galatians, Colossians, and 1 Corinthians do not deal with evil things but with good things. The book of Hebrews deals with religion, Galatians deals with doing good according to the law, Colossians deals with the best human invention, philosophy, and 1 Corinthians deals with gifts. But all these things are substitutes for Christ that replace Christ and usurp the ground of Christ in the believers. This is a battle. We need to receive the burden to pray for this. The enemy is fighting to frustrate, to damage, to mix up, to confuse, and to complicate the pure building up of the church.
I look to the Lord that our eyes may be opened to see these things in a thorough way until they become transparent to us. We need to see that Christ is the center, Christ is the circumference, and Christ is everything. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 1, “The Centrality and Universality of Christ”, ch. 1)
Christ Having the First Place in the Christian Life
Christ is our life. This is victory! This is holiness! The victorious life, the holy life, the perfect life, are all Christ. From beginning to end, everything is Christ. Outside of Christ, we have nothing. Christ must have the first place in all things. The victorious life God has given us is not a thing, such as patience or meekness, but the living Christ. Christ never mends our wrongs. What we lack is not patience but a living Christ. God will never tear a piece of cloth from Christ to mend our hole. To be short of patience is to be short of Christ, because God wants Christ to have the first place in all things. Therefore, to put the self to death is not holiness. Holiness is Christ. Christ must have the first place in all things.
Christ Having the First Place in the Christian Experience
The experience of a Christian has two sides: one is sweet, the other, painful. God causes us to experience a sweet and suffering life in order that Christ may have the first place in all things.
Christ Having the First Place in Christian Work
Paul planted, and Apollos watered. It was not accomplished by one person, lest anyone would say, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos.” All the things concerning the work are for Christ, not for the worker. We are the loaves in the Lord’s hand. When people eat the loaves, they thank the one who gives them the loaves; they do not thank the loaves, which are we. The work from its beginning to its end is all for Christ, not for us. We should be satisfied with the work allotted to us by the Lord and with the position the Lord arranged for us. We should not be “in another man’s rule” (2 Cor. 10:16). We like very much to leave our own lot to tread on another’s lot. The question is not whether we can do it or know how to do it, but whether God has commanded it. Sisters should stand in the sisters’ position (1 Cor. 14:34-35). Sisters should not be teachers, making judgments concerning God’s word (1 Tim. 2:12). In all the work, we should let Christ have the first place.
Christ Having the First Place in Christian Messages
Christ should also have the first place in our messages. We “preach…Christ Jesus as Lord” (2 Cor. 4:5). “For I did not determine to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Christ is the center of God’s plan and the center of God’s goal. The cross is the center of God’s work. The work of the cross is to accomplish God’s goal. The cross works to eliminate all that issues from the flesh in order that Christ may have the first place. Our central message should not be the dispensations, the prophecies, the types, the kingdom, baptism, forsaking denominations, speaking in tongues, keeping the Sabbath, or holiness, etc. Our central message should be Christ. The centrality of God is Christ. Therefore, we should take Him as the center. (CWWN, vol. 11, “The Present Testimony (4)”, ch. 10)
Now we need to read 1 Corinthians 1:22-24: “Indeed Jews require signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” The Jews were looking for signs, for miracles. Religion needs signs, and the Jews continually required them. The Greeks sought wisdom. Wisdom pertains to philosophy and was constantly sought by the Greeks. Paul did not minister these things. Instead, he preached Christ crucified. Here we have a contrast, not between Christ and sin and worldliness. We have a contrast between Christ and signs and wisdom. Even miracles, signs, and wisdom can be something in contrast with Christ. Paul preached Christ crucified to the Jews, and this became a stumbling block to them because they were seeking something other than Christ. They were seeking signs, miracles. The Greeks were seeking philosophical wisdom, not Christ. Thus, Paul preached the crucified Christ as the power of God and the wisdom of God.
In 1 Corinthians 2:2 Paul said, “I did not determine to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified.” Paul decided and even determined not to know anything but Christ. He said this emphatically, definitely, and clearly in a book that deals with signs, miracles, and gifts. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 1, “The Centrality and Universality of Christ”, msg .1)