晨興聖言-話語的職事...(W8-2)
第八週 • 週二
晨興餧養
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。
10 但基督若在你們裏面,身體固然因罪是死的,靈卻因義是生命。
在羅馬書裏,保羅首先說到定罪這個主題,然後往前說到稱義、聖別和得榮。神對付我們時,總是顧到祂的三個神聖屬性—祂的公義、聖別和榮耀。…公義與神的行動、作法、行為和活動有關;…聖別是神的性情;…榮耀是神自己得着彰顯。……所以,在公義裏我們看見神的作法,在聖別裏我們看見神的性情,在榮耀裏我們看見神得着彰顯。羅馬書的三段—稱義、聖別和得榮—是照着神的這三個屬性構成的:稱義是照着神的公義,聖別(sanctification)是照着神的聖別(holiness),得榮是照着神的榮耀(羅馬書生命讀經,二四一頁)。
信息選讀
在神救恩的第一階段,我們有分於神的公義。這是稱義。…在第二階段,我們在聖別的過程中,神在這過程中將祂神聖的性情作到我們裏面。…雖然我們外面已得着並有分於神的公義,但神的聖別需要作到我們裏面。神救恩的第二階段,是祂將祂聖別的性情作到我們這人裏面。
為了完成這事,神經過了過程,成了便利的生命之靈(羅八2)。…在祂經過過程以前,祂能創造世界,但祂不能進入祂的造物裏面。雖然祂能在我們以外作許多事,但祂不能進入我們裏面,直到祂經過了成為肉體、釘十字架和復活的完整過程。祂既經過過程,就成了便利的生命之靈,如今仍然是。現今祂像供人呼吸的空氣一樣(約二十22),很容易進到我們裏面。…基督這賜生命的靈在我們裏面,我們的靈就因義是生命(羅八10)。主藉着重生,已使我們的靈成為生命。現今,祂是在我們靈裏的生命之靈,正將祂自己從我們的靈擴展到我們的魂—我們的心思、情感和意志裏。至終,祂甚至要擴展到我們必死的身體裏。這樣,神就以祂自己浸透我們;這浸透稱為聖別。藉着這浸透,神就將祂自己同祂聖別的性情作到我們全人裏面,作到我們的靈、魂和體裏面(帖前五23)。因此,我們全人將完全被祂聖別的性情彌漫、聖別。現今我們正經過這聖別的過程,這是神救恩的第二階段。
在下一階段,我們要被提並得榮。那將是我們的身體得贖。得榮的意思是,我們卑賤的身體改變形狀,成為榮耀的身體(腓三21)。那時我們要完全並絕對被帶進作我們榮耀的神自己裏面。然後我們要完全得榮耀。
神救恩的第一階段,稱義,顧到我們的靈;第二階段,聖別,主要是對付我們的魂,也有一點浸透我們的身體;第三階段,得榮,與我們物質的身體有關。在羅馬八章十節保羅說,基督若在我們裏面,我們的靈就因義是生命,這意思是在神的稱義裏,我們得着了義。藉着這義,我們的靈已活過來,並實際成為生命。然而,我們的魂裏還沒有神聖的生命。所以,我們需要藉着將心思置於靈,與內住的基督合作,使生命之靈能以祂自己浸透我們的心思。這樣,我們的心思就會成為生命。我們若繼續合作,這浸透並擴展的一位,甚至要將祂自己從我們的靈擴展到我們必死的身體裏。然後我們只需要等候我們的身體被帶進祂榮耀裏的時候,那將是我們的得榮(羅馬書生命讀經,二四二至二四三頁)。
參讀:羅馬書生命讀經,第十七、三十二、六十篇。
WEEK 8 — DAY 2
Morning Nourishment
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.
10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.
In the book of Romans Paul first covers the subject of condemnation and then proceeds to cover justification, sanctification, and glorification. As God deals with us, He always cares for three of His divine attributes— His righteousness, holiness, and glory…Righteousness is related to God’s acts, to His ways, actions, and activities…Holiness is God’s nature…Glory is God Himself expressed…Therefore, in righteousness we see God’s ways, in holiness we see God’s nature, and in glory we see God expressed. Three of the sections in Romans—justification, sanctification, and glorification—were composed according to these three attributes of God: justification according to God’s righteousness, sanctification according to God’s holiness, and glorification according to God’s glory. (Life-study of Romans, p. 197)
Todays Reading
In the first stage of God’s salvation [justification], we participate in the righteousness of God…In the second stage we are in the process of sanctification, a process in which God works His divine nature into us… Although we have obtained and participated in God’s righteousness outwardly, God’s holiness needs to be wrought into us inwardly. The second stage of God’s salvation is that He works His holy nature into our being.
In order to accomplish this, God has been processed into the available Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2)…Before He was processed, He was able to create the world, but He was unable to enter into His creature. Although He could do many
things outside of us, He could not come into us until He had passed
through the complete process of incarnation, crucifixion, and
resurrection. Since being processed, He has become and still is the
available Spirit of life. Now, like the air for breathing (John 20:22),
it is so easy for Him to enter into us…Since Christ, the life-giving
Spirit, is in us, our spirit is life because of righteousness (Rom.
8:10). The Lord has made our spirit life by regeneration. Now, as the
Spirit of life in our spirit, He is spreading Himself from our spirit
into our soul—into our mind, emotion, and will. Eventually, He will even
expand into our mortal body. In such a way God saturates us with
Himself. This saturation is called sanctification. Through this
saturation God works Himself with His holy nature into our entire
being—into our spirit, soul, and body (1 Thes. 5:23). Thus, our whole
being will be fully permeated, sanctified, with His holy nature. We are
presently undergoing this process of sanctification, the second stage of
God’s salvation.
In
the next stage we will be raptured and glorified. That will be the
redemption of our body. Glorification means to transfigure our vile body
into a glorious body (Phil. 3:21). At that time we will be completely
and absolutely brought into God Himself as our glory. Then we will be
fully glorified.
The
first stage of God’s salvation, justification, takes care of our
spirit; the second stage, sanctification, mainly deals with our soul,
with a slight amount of saturation in our body; and the third stage,
glorification, concerns our physical body. In Romans 8:10 Paul says that
if Christ is in us, our spirit is life because of righteousness,
meaning that in God’s justification we have gained righteousness.
Through this righteousness our spirit has been made alive and actually
becomes life. However, there is not yet the divine life in our soul.
Therefore, we need to cooperate with the indwelling Christ by setting
our mind upon the spirit, enabling the Spirit of life to saturate our
mind with Himself. Then our mind will be life. If we continue to
cooperate, this saturating and spreading One will spread Himself from
our spirit even into our mortal body. Then we only need to wait for the
time when our body will be brought into His glory. That will be our
glorification. (Life-study of Romans, pp. 197-199)
Further Reading: Life-study of Romans, msgs. 17, 32, 60
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