晨興聖言-基督徒的生活(W2-4)
第二週 • 週四
晨興餧養
加二20 我已經與基督同釘十字架;現在活着的,不再是我,乃是基督在我裏面活着;並且我如今在肉身裏所活的生命,是我在神兒子的信裏,與祂聯結所活的,祂是愛我,為我捨了自己。
羅八4 使律法義的要求,成就在我們這不照着肉體,只照着靈而行的人身上。
與基督生機的聯結,乃是我們相信基督時自然而然發生的。…〔加拉太二章十九節指明,〕我們向律法已經死了,叫我們可以向神活着。…我們若不是與基督真有生機的聯結,反而在自己裏面,我們向律法就不是死的,向神也不是活着的。我們若不是與基督有生機的聯結,就無法向神活着(加拉太書生命讀經,九三頁)。
〔加拉太二章二十節〕解釋我如何藉着律法,向律法死了。照着神的經綸,基督被釘十字架時,我也包括在祂裏面。這是已經成就的事實(聖經恢復本,加二20註1)。
信息選讀
『不再是我』,不是指一種替換的生命—基督進來,我出去;因為保羅在加拉太二章二十節後面仍說『我…活』。我們重生的人,有已經釘死的舊我(羅六6),也有重生的新我。對舊我,保羅說不再是我;對新我,他說『我…活』。釘死的舊我,沒有神性;重生的新我,卻有神加到裏面作生命。舊我復活加上神,就成了新我。一面保羅已經了結,另一面復活的保羅,重生以神作生命的保羅,仍然活着。不僅如此,保羅雖然說不再是我,但他也說基督在我裏面活着。雖是基督活着,卻是活在保羅裏面。基督和保羅,二者同有一個生命,同過一個生活(聖經恢復本,加二20註2)。
藉着基督的死,我已在祂裏面死了;現今藉着祂的復活,祂在我裏面活着。祂活在我裏面,完全憑着祂是賜生命的靈(林前十五45下);這點在〔加拉太書〕以下各章有充分的發展,向我們陳明並強調,那靈乃是我們已經接受作生命的那一位,也是我們應該活在祂裏面的那一位〔參羅一17〕。
我,天然的人,傾向守律法以得完全(腓三6),但神要我活基督,使神藉着基督能從我得着彰顯(一20~21)。因此,神的經綸乃是,『我』在基督的死裏被釘死,基督在祂的復活裏活在我裏面。守律法,是在我的生活中高舉律法在一切之上;活基督,是在我的生活中使基督作中心和一切。律法是神為着基督,用以看守祂選民的,只是一段時期(加三23),至終要帶他們歸於基督(24),使他們接受祂作生命,並活祂作神的彰顯。現今基督既已來了,律法的功用就了結了;基督必須在我的生活裏頂替律法,以成就神永遠的定旨(加二20註3)。
基督徒的生命〔不〕是替換的生命。…基督徒的生命是接枝的生命,是雙方聯合而生機生長的生命(羅馬書生命讀經,七八二頁)。
我們與基督接在一起之後,就不能再憑我們自己活着,乃要讓那是靈的基督活在我們裏面。我們也不能再憑着我們的肉體、天然活着,乃要憑我們裏面調和的靈,也就是與基督接枝的靈活着。這樣,我們先與祂聯結,這是一種聯合;而後與祂相調,這是一種調和。我們乃是與祂聯合在一起,又調和在一起。最終,我們更是與祂合併,成了一個合併。這個合併就是新耶路撒冷,也就是神人聯調的宇宙大合併,使我們能在永世中作王(李常受文集一九九四至一九九七年第五冊,六二六頁)。
參讀:加拉太書生命讀經,第十、十六篇。
WEEK 2—DAY 4
Morning Nourishment
Gal.
2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it
is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I
live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave
Himself up for me.
Rom. 8:4 That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.
The
organic union with Christ…takes place spontaneously when we believe in
Christ…[Galatians 2:19 indicates] that we have died to law so that we
might live to God…If we are not actually organically united with Christ
but are in ourselves, then we are neither dead to law nor are we living
to God. Apart from the organic union with Christ, we cannot live to God.
(Life-study of Galatians, 2nd ed., p. 73)
[Galatians
2:20] explains how it is that through law we have died to law. When
Christ was crucified, according to God’s economy we were included in Him. (Gal. 2:20, footnote 1)
Today’s Reading
No
longer I does not indicate an exchanged life, a life in which Christ
comes in and we go out, for later in Galatians 2:20 Paul said, “I live.”
As regenerated people, we have both the old “I,” which has been
crucified (Rom. 6:6), concerning which Paul said, “No longer I,” and a
new “I,” concerning which Paul said, “I live.” The old, terminated “I”
was without divinity; the new “I” has God as life added to it. The new
“I” came into being when the old “I” was resurrected and God was added
to it. On the one hand, Paul had been terminated, but on the other hand,
a resurrected Paul, one who was regenerated with God as his life, still
lived. Furthermore, although Paul said, “No longer I,” he also said,
“It is Christ who lives in me,” for it was Christ who lived, but it was
in Paul that He lived. The two, Christ and Paul, had one life and one living. (Gal. 2:20, footnote 2)
We
have died in Christ through His death, but now He lives in us through
His resurrection. His living in us is entirely by His being the
life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). This point is fully developed in all
the following chapters [of Galatians], where the Spirit is presented
and emphasized as the very One whom we have received as life and in whom
we should live [cf. Rom. 1:17].
The
“I,” the natural person, inclines to keep the law that it might be
perfect (Phil. 3:6), but God wants us to live Christ that God might be
expressed in us through Him (Phil. 1:20-21). Hence, God’s economy is
that the “I” be crucified in Christ’s death and that Christ live in us
in His resurrection. To keep the law is to exalt it above all things in
our life; to live Christ is to make Him the center and everything in our
life. The law was used by God for a period of time to keep His chosen
people in custody for Christ (Gal. 3:23) and eventually to conduct them
to Christ (v. 24) that they might receive Him as life and live Him to be
God’s expression. Because Christ has come, the function of the law has
been terminated, and Christ must replace the law in our lives for the
fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose. (Gal. 2:20, footnote 3)
The
Christian life is [not] an exchanged life…It is a grafted life, a life
in which two parties are joined to grow organically. (Life-study of
Romans, 2nd ed., pp. 638-639)
After
we have been grafted together with Christ, we should no longer live by
ourselves; rather, we should allow the pneumatic Christ to live in us.
Furthermore, we should no longer live by our flesh or our natural being;
rather, we should live by our mingled spirit, a spirit grafted with
Christ. Thus, first, we are united with Him; this is a union. Then we
are mingled with Him; this is a mingling. Eventually, we are
incorporated with Him into an incorporation. This incorporation is the
New Jerusalem, the great universal
incorporation of the mingling of
God and man for us to reign in eternity. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The
Experience of God’s Organic Salvation Equaling Reigning in Christ’s
Life,” p. 497)
Further Reading: Life-study of Galatians, msgs. 10, 16
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