第三週■週六

w03d06-ch

晨興餧養

提後二15『你當竭力將自己呈獻神前，得蒙稱許，作無愧的工人，正直的分解真理的話。』

詩一一九130『你的言語一解開，就發出亮光，使愚蒙人通達。』

〔在提後二章十五節〕保羅指明豫防者要作工人。這工人是木匠，必須正直的分解真理的話。這就是說，將神話語的各部分，正確、正直、毫不曲解的揭示出來。木匠怎樣有技巧正直的切割木頭，照樣，主的工人需要有技巧正直的分解真理的話。這是需要的，因爲在召會的敗落中，許多真理被曲解，呈現歪曲、偏頗的樣式（提摩太後書生命讀經，三二頁）。

信息選讀

言辭的爭辯（提後二14）、世俗的空談（16）、如同毒瘡腐蝕人的話（17）以及愚拙無學問的辯論（23），在召會墮落的潮流中，常被魔鬼（26）用來產生爭競（23），敗壞聽見的人（14），助長不敬虔（16），並傾覆人的信心（18）。因此，真理的話需要正確的解開，以光照暗昧的人，豫防毒素，吞滅死亡，並將偏離的人帶回正途。

今天在基督徒中間，惟有真理淺顯的方面沒有被曲解。幾乎所有真理較深的事都被曲解了。…所以，我們不但該是教師、精兵、競賽者和農夫，也該是工人、木匠，正直的分解真理的話。這裏的真理不僅僅是指聖經的道理，乃是指神新約經綸的內容和實際。這真理的主要元素，乃是基督作神的奧祕和神的具體化身，以及召會作基督的奧祕和基督的身體。我們都需要學習正直的分解關於基督與召會之真理的話。

有些弟兄會的教師，將保羅說到正直的分解真理的話，解釋爲將聖經分成不同的時代：無罪、良心、人治、應許、律法、恩典和國度七個時代。聖經可以照着這些時代來領會。然而，將主的話排列成幾個時代，不是保羅在提後二章十五節說到正直的分解真理的話的意思。提摩太前後書和提多書這三卷書裏所用的真理這辭有特別的意義：它是指神新約經綸的內容。許多讀聖經的人不領悟這點，以爲在提後二章十五節保羅籠統的說到真理。但我們需要照着真理這辭在提摩太前後書和提多書這三卷書裏的用法，領會本節的真理。提前三章十五節說，召會是『真理的柱石和根基』。這真理是敬虔的奧祕，神顯現於肉體。召會該承擔、托住這真理，這實際。保羅在這三封書信裏多次說到真理。譬如，在提前二章四節他說，神『願意萬人得救，並且完全認識真理』。提後二章十五節的真理這辭，乃是指神新約經綸健康的話。我們是工人，不僅僅該學習將聖經分成幾個時代，這太膚淺了；我們必須學習揭示關於神經綸之真理的話。我們若要這樣作，就需要仔細看保羅在這三封書信裏對這辭的用法。我們若仔細看這三卷書，就會看見這裏的真理乃是指神新約經綸之內容的實際。所以，正直的分解真理的話，就是毫不偏頗或曲解的揭示新約裏所啓示神經綸的實際（提摩太後書生命讀經，三二至三四頁）。

參讀：生命信息，第十章。

WEEK 3 — DAY 6

Morning Nourishment

2 Tim. 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman, cutting straight the word of the truth.

Psa. 119:130 The opening of Your words gives light, imparting understanding to the simple.

[In 2 Timothy 2:15] Paul indicates that the inoculator is to be a workman. As a carpenter, this workman must cut straight the word of the truth. This means to unfold the word of God in its various parts rightly and straightly without distortion. Just as a carpenter has the skill to cut wood in a straight way, so the Lord’s workman needs the skill to cut straight the word of the truth. This is necessary because in the decline of the church so many truths are twisted and presented in a warped, biased form. (Life-study of 2 Timothy, 2nd ed., p. 26)

Todays Reading

“Contentions of words” (2 Tim. 2:14), “profane, vain babblings” (v. 16), the word that eats away like gangrene (v. 17), and “foolish questionings and those arising from an untrained mind” (v. 23) are often used by the devil (v. 26) in the downward current among the churches to beget contentions (v. 23), to ruin the hearers (v. 14), to promote ungodliness (v. 16), and to overthrow people’s faith (v. 18). Hence, there is the need of the word of the truth, rightly unfolded, to enlighten the darkened people, inoculate against the poison, swallow up the death, and bring the distracted back to the proper track.

Among Christians today, only the superficial aspects of the truth are not twisted. Virtually all the deeper things of the truth have been distorted… Therefore, we should be not only teachers, soldiers, contenders, and farmers but also workmen, carpenters, cutting straight the word of the truth. The truth here does not merely denote biblical doctrine; it refers to the contents and the reality of God’s New  Testament economy. The main elements of this truth are Christ as the mystery of God and the embodiment of God and the church as the mystery of Christ and the Body of Christ. We all need to learn to cut straight the word of the truth with respect to Christ and the church.

Certain Brethren teachers interpret Paul’s word about cutting straight the word of the truth to mean dividing the Bible into various dispensations: innocence, conscience, human government, promise, law, grace, and kingdom. The Bible can be understood according to these dispensations. However, arranging the Word into dispensations is not what Paul means in 2:15 about cutting straight the word of the truth. As used in the three books of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, the word truth has a specific significance: it denotes the contents of God’s New Testament economy. Not realizing this, many readers of the Bible think that in 2 Timothy 2:15 Paul is speaking of truth in a general way. But we need to understand the word truth in this verse according to its usage in the three books of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. First Timothy 3:15 says
that the church is “the pillar and base of the truth.” This truth is the mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh. The church should bear, uphold, this truth, this reality. Numerous times in these three Epistles Paul speaks of the truth. For example, in 1 Timothy 2:4 he says that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.” The word of the truth in 2 Timothy 2:15 refers to the healthy words of God’s New Testament economy. As workmen, we should learn not merely to divide the Bible into dispensations. This is too superficial. We must learn to unfold the word of the truth concerning God’s economy. If we would do this, we need to consider carefully Paul’s use of the word truth in these three Epistles. If we consider these books carefully, we will see that truth here denotes the reality of the contents of the New Testament economy of God. Therefore, to cut straight the word of the truth is to unfold without bias or distortion the reality of God’s economy revealed in the New Testament. (Life-study of 2 Timothy, 2nd ed., pp. 26-28)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1978, vol. 2, “Life Messages, Volume 1,” ch. 10