第九週■週三

w09d03-ch

晨興餧養

林前十四24 ～ 25『但若眾人都申言，有不信的，或是不通方言的人進來，他就被眾人勸服，被眾人審明了；他心裏的隱情顯露出來，就必面伏於地敬拜神，宣告說，神真是在你們中間了。』

提前三章十六節開始於這話：『並且，大哉！敬虔的奧祕！這是眾所公認的。』十六節的連接詞『並且』指明，保羅在十五節還沒有說完召會。…召會是活神的家，是真理的柱石和根基。保羅在十六節開頭用連接詞，指明召會不只是活神的家，是真理的柱石和根基；召會也是敬虔的奧祕。（提摩太前書生命讀經，六九頁。）

信息選讀

敬虔指神彰顯出來。我們在召會生活中作甚麼？我們在彰顯神。人也許沒有充分領悟這點，但天使承認並珍賞這事。…主耶穌出生時，有一隊天使讚美神。（路二10 ～ 14。）天使若因主耶穌生在大衞的城伯利恆而歡樂，他們看見神顯現於那是基督擴增並擴大的召會，豈不也會歡樂？不僅如此，在地上活出神並彰顯神的主耶穌面對鬼的時候，鬼就喊叫。至少在一個事例中，牠們央求主耶穌不要吩咐牠們到無底坑裏去。（八31。）…毫無疑問，召會活出神並彰顯神時，鬼和邪惡的天使就會懼怕。每個地方召會必須是基督再生在聖徒裏面的地方。不僅如此，每個地方召會必須這樣活出神，使魔鬼的年日縮短。一面，眾召會搆上神的標準，天使就會歌唱並歡樂；另一面，鬼和邪惡的天使就會戰兢。

〔提前三章十六節的〕『祂』是指基督，是神顯現於肉體，作爲敬虔的奧祕。從『敬虔的奧祕』轉到『祂』，含示神在肉體的顯現，基督，就是敬虔的奧祕。（西一27，加二20。）這敬虔的奧祕就是正當召會的生活，這樣的生活也就是神顯現於肉體。

提前三章十六節上半說到一件事—敬虔的奧祕。…保羅…用代名詞『祂』的事實含示敬虔的奧祕是一個人，不僅僅是一件事。…這人就是作頭的基督同祂的身體。

神顯現於肉體，是藉着成爲肉體和爲人生活。（約一1，14。）『於肉體』，意卽在人的樣式和樣子裏。（羅八3，腓二7 ～ 8。）基督是以人的形狀顯在人前，（林後五16，）然而，祂乃是神顯現於人。

基督也『被稱義於靈裏』。…成爲肉體的基督在爲人生活裏，不僅被那靈表白爲神的兒子，（太三16 ～ 17，羅一3 ～ 4，）也被那靈稱義、證實並稱許爲對的、義的。（太三15 ～ 16，四1。）祂顯現於肉體，卻被表白並稱義於靈裏。祂在肉體顯出，卻在靈裏生活，（路四1，14，太十二28，）並且藉着那靈將自己獻給神。（來九14。）祂的變化形像（太十七2）和復活，都是那靈的稱義。不僅如此，祂在復活裏更成了賜生命的靈，（林前十五45，林後三17，）居住並活在我們裏面，（羅八9 ～ 10，）好叫神顯現於肉體，這就是敬虔的奧祕。因此，現今我們不再按着肉體，乃按着靈（林後五16）認祂和祂的肢體。神顯現於肉體旣是被稱義於靈裏，而那靈又與我們的靈是一，（羅八16，）我們就必須在我們的靈裏生活爲人，使這稱義得以完成。（提摩太前書生命讀經，七○至七二頁。）

參讀：提摩太前書生命讀經，第六篇。

WEEK 9 — DAY 3

Morning Nourishment

1 Cor. 14:24-25 But if all prophesy and some unbeliever or unlearned person enters, he is convicted by all, he is examined by all; the secrets of his heart become manifest; and so falling on his face, he will worship God, declaring that indeed God is among you.

First Timothy 3:16 begins with, “And confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness.” The conjunction and in verse 16 indicates that Paul has not finished speaking about the church in verse 15...[The church] is the house of the living God and the pillar and base of the truth. Paul’s use of the conjunction at the beginning of verse 16 indicates that the church is something even more than the house of the living God and the pillar and base of the truth. The church is also the mystery of godliness. (Life-study of 1 Timothy, second edition, p. 56)

Today’s Reading

Godliness refers to God expressed. What are we doing in the church life? We are expressing God. Human beings may not realize this adequately, but the angels recognize it and appreciate it. When the Lord Jesus was born, a host of angels praised God (Luke 2:10-14). If the angels rejoiced at the birth of the Lord Jesus in Bethlehem, the city of David, will they not also rejoice to see God manifested in the church, which is Christ’s increase and enlargement? Furthermore, when the Lord Jesus, living out God and manifesting Him on earth, confronted the demons, the demons cried out. In at least one case they begged the Lord Jesus not to send them into the abyss (8:31)...No doubt when the church is living out God and manifesting Him, the demons and the evil angels will be terrified. Every local church must be a place where Christ is born anew in the saints. Furthermore, every local church must live out God in such a way that the devil’s time is shortened. On the one hand, when the churches come up to God’s standard, the angels will sing and rejoice; on the other hand, the demons and the evil angels will tremble.

He [in 1 Timothy 3:16] refers to Christ, who was God manifested in the flesh as the mystery of godliness. The transition from the mystery of godliness to He implies that Christ as the manifestation of God in the flesh is the mystery of godliness (Col. 1:27; Gal. 2:20). This mystery of godliness is the living of a proper church, and such a living is also the manifestation of God in the flesh.

The first part of 1 Timothy 3:16 speaks of a matter—the mystery of godliness...The fact that Paul says “He who” implies that the mystery of godliness is a person and not merely a matter...This person is Christ as the Head with His Body.

Through incarnation and human living (John 1:1, 14), God was manifested in the flesh. In the flesh means in the likeness, in the fashion, of man (Rom. 8:3; Phil. 2:7-8). Christ appeared to people in the form of man (2 Cor. 5:16), yet He was God manifested in man.

Christ was also “justified in the Spirit.”...The incarnated Christ in His human living was not only vindicated as the Son of God by the Spirit (Matt. 3:16-17; Rom. 1:3-4) but also justified, proved, and approved as right and righteous by the Spirit (Matt. 3:15-16; 4:1). He was manifested in the flesh but was vindicated and justified in the Spirit. He appeared in the flesh, but He lived in the Spirit (Luke 4:1, 14; Matt. 12:28) and offered Himself to God through the Spirit (Heb. 9:14). His transfiguration (Matt. 17:2) and His resurrection are both justifications in the Spirit. Furthermore, in
resurrection He even became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17) to dwell and live in us (Rom. 8:9-10) for the manifestation of God in the flesh as the mystery of godliness. Hence, now we know Him and His members no longer according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (2 Cor. 5:16). Since the manifestation of God in the flesh is justified in the Spirit, and the Spirit is one with our spirit (Rom. 8:16), we must live and behave in our spirit that this justification may be accomplished. (Life-study of 1 Timothy, 2nd edition, pp. 57-58)

Further Reading: Life-study of 1 Timothy, msg. 6