晨興聖言-經歷、享受並彰顯基督(W18-5)
第十八週.週五
晨興餧養
林後三3 『你們顯明是基督的信,由我們供職所寫的,不是用墨,乃是用活神的靈寫的,不是寫在石版上,乃是寫在肉版,就是心上。』
6 『祂使我們彀資格作新約的執事,這些執事不是屬於字句,乃是屬於靈,因為那字句殺死人,那靈卻叫人活。』
那靈乃是書寫的靈,我們是基督的信。〔林後三3。〕那靈是墨,為將基督寫到我們裏面。那靈作神聖的墨,乃是活神的靈。我們應當一直有一些活的東西在我們裏面,以證明基督正寫在我們裏面之人的每一部分裏。我們若在那靈的書寫之下,就會深覺裏面是活的。基督正以屬靈的墨,就是活神的靈,寫在我們裏面。這使我們成為基督的信。我們都應當是基督這樣的活信,使別人在我們裏面能讀到並認識基督。我們是在活神之靈的書寫之下,祂正把基督寫在我們裏面。(李常受文集一九六九年第一冊,五一七頁。)
信息選讀
保羅在林後三章六節說,那字句殺死人,那靈卻叫人活(或,賜人生命)。這意思是那靈一天又一天在內裏將生命分賜到我們裏面。我們需要一直轉向我們的靈,因為乃是在我們的靈裏,我們感覺並經歷到生命的分賜。這使我們復甦,並叫我們活。如果我們注意聖經的字句,我們就被殺死。我們不需要字句的規律,因為我們有那靈在我們裏面的規律。
那些在猶太教裏的人按照字句,黏附於舊約的成文律法。但保羅來對他們所說的,與這成文的律法不同。他們的眼睛被這成文的律法所遮蔽,所以他們反對保羅。他們不能看見耶穌、那靈、或任何屬靈的事,因為他們是被蒙蔽的。所以使徒保羅告訴他們,那字句殺死人,那靈賜人生命,而主就是那靈。(林後三17。)他們需要挪開一切的帕子,這意思是說,他們必須除去他們成文律法的老舊知識。
原則上今天也是一樣。就一面說,今天的基督教也像猶太教一樣:那些人黏附於聖經那殺死人的成文律法,而不黏附於賜生命的那靈。留在死的字句之下,就是外在規條的成文律法之下的人是可憐的。一切按照死字句之舊道理、舊知識的帕子,都必須除去。我們必須以沒有帕子遮蔽、敞開的臉,直接的觀看主。我們只在意那靈,不在意任何道理的教訓。
你越用禱告的方式讀聖經,越深深覺得有東西在你裏面湧流、點活、復甦、光照、加強。新約聖經彙編直譯本(The Concordant Literal New Testament)在林後三章六節說,那靈『使人有生氣』。你越用禱告的方式讀聖經,你越有生氣。當你用頭腦讀聖經,你就發死,但當你用禱告的方式讀聖經,你就有生氣。你有生氣或是發死,全在於你讀聖經的方式。
如果我們不到基督自己這裏來接受生命,甚至聖經也可能對我們是死的、成文的律法。我們需要更多的生命,不是更多的知識。我們需要更有生氣。我們能藉禱讀主的話而有生氣。生命乃是我們所需的。那靈不是道理的靈,乃是實際的靈,祂就是基督自己作生命。我們越接觸那靈,就越有生氣。(李常受文集一九六九年第一冊,五一八至五一九、五二四頁。)
參讀:經歷基督作生命為著召會的建造,第九章。
WEEK 18 — DAY 5
Morning Nourishment
2 Cor. 3:3 Since you are being manifested that you are a letter of Christ ministered by us, inscribed not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone but in tablets of hearts of flesh.
6 Who has also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The Spirit is the writing Spirit, and we are the letters of Christ [2 Cor. 3:3]. The Spirit is the ink for writing Christ into us. As the divine ink, the Spirit is the Spirit of the living God. There should be something living within us all the time as evidence that Christ is being written into every part of our inner being. If we are under the Spirit’s writing, we have the deep sensation of being living within. Christ is being written into us with the spiritual ink, the Spirit of the living God. This makes us a letter of Christ. All of us should be such a living letter of Christ, that others may read and know Christ in our being. We are under the writing of the Spirit of the living God, and He is engraving Christ into us. (CWWL, 1969, vol. 1, “The Experience of Christ as Life for the Building Up of the Church,” p. 387)
Today's Reading
In 2 Corinthians 3:6 Paul said that the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. This means that the Spirit inwardly imparts life into us day by day. We need to always return to our spirit because it is in our spirit that we sense and experience the imparting of life. This revives us and makes us living. If we pay attention to the letter of the Bible, we will be killed. We do not need the regulating of the letter, because we have the regulating of the Spirit within us.
Those in Judaism became stuck to the written code of the Old Testament according to the letter. But Paul came and told them something different from this written code. Their eyes were veiled with this written code, so they opposed Paul. They could not see Jesus, the Spirit, or any of the spiritual things, because they were veiled. So the apostle Paul told them that the letter kills. It is the Spirit who gives life, and the Lord is the Spirit (v. 17). They needed to take away all the veils, which means that they had to get rid of their old knowledge of the written code.
In principle it is the same today. Today’s Christianity is like Judaism in the sense that the ones there stick themselves to the written code of the Bible, which kills, and not to the living Spirit, who gives life. It is pitiful to keep ourselves under the dead letter, the written code of outward regulations. All the veils of our old knowledge of old doctrines according to the dead letter need to be taken away. We need an unveiled, open face to look at the Lord directly. We care just for the Spirit, not for any doctrinal teaching.
The more you read the Bible prayerfully, the more you have the deep sense that something within you is flowing, quickening, reviving, enlightening, and strengthening. The Concordant Literal New Testament translation of 2 Corinthians 3:6 says that the Spirit is “vivifying.” The more you read the Word prayerfully, the more you are vivified. When you read the Word mentally, you are mortified, but when you read the Word prayerfully, you are vivified. Whether you will be vivified or mortified depends upon the way you take to read the Bible.
Even the Bible can be a dead, written code to us if we do not come to Christ Himself to receive life. We need more life, not more knowledge. We need to be more and more vivified. We can be vivified by pray-reading the Lord’s Word. Life is what we need. The Spirit is not the Spirit of doctrine but the Spirit of reality, who is Christ Himself as life. The more we contact the Spirit, the more we are vivified. (CWWL, 1969, vol. 1, “The Experience of Christ as Life for the Building Up of the Church,” pp. 387-388, 391-392)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1969, vol. 1, “The Experience of Christ as Life for the Building Up of the Church,” ch. 9
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