第七週■週三

w07d03-ch

晨興餧養

路一28『天使進去，對她說，蒙大恩的女子，願你喜樂！主與你同在了。』

     30『天使對她說，馬利亞，不要怕，你在神面前已經蒙恩了。』

關於恩典的真理是非常重要的。…路加題到主成孕於馬利亞裏面時的恩典〔路一28、30〕。…這裏所說馬利亞所蒙的『恩』，原文就是恩典一辭。

馬利亞懷主耶穌，是一件大事，因爲那是神在她裏面成爲肉體。這不僅是馬利亞蒙神恩待；這乃是恩典的事。在聖經裏，所題的頭一件事例都成了原則；恩典在新約的頭一件事例，乃是神成爲肉體的事例。神曾經是在那不能靠近的光中（提前六16）。在舊約裏，祂曾出來訪問人；但祂從未在訪問時，與祂所訪問的人住在一起。祂到亞伯拉罕那裏，並且與他一同喫喝，然後離開了。祂到基甸那裏，然後離開了。祂臨到舊約中的一些人，但祂的來臨僅是短暫的逗留（李常受文集一九九四至一九九七年第一册，五六四頁）。

信息選讀

〔在新約裏，〕神的成爲肉體與此不同。祂的成爲肉體不只是祂到馬利亞那裏作客。反之，祂來留在馬利亞裏面，留在她肉身的腹中。馬太一章二十節說，那生在馬利亞裏面的，乃是出於聖靈。神眷臨馬利亞，並且進到她裏面，又留在她裏面，作她所懷這位奇妙人位的素質；這一位是神又是人，就是一位神人。成爲肉體是一件大事。神來臨到人，進到人裏面，並且留在人裏面。這就是恩典。馬利亞蒙了神的恩典，她在神面前得着恩典。

恩典就是神的眷臨，爲要留在人裏面，生在人裏面，並且與人成爲一。我們不該忘記，馬利亞在懷人救主的事上蒙神恩，乃是新約裏頭一次題到『恩典』這辭，所以這建立了一個原則。提後四章二十二節說，『願主與你的靈同在。願恩典與你們同在。』主來留在我們裏面，生在我們裏面，與我們是一，甚至成爲我們；這就是恩典。我們必須記住這個關於恩典的定義；然後用這個定義，我們就能解釋新約中每一處題到恩典的經節。

路加二章說，孩童耶穌在恩典上、在智慧上並在身量上都增長（52）。孩童耶穌在恩典上因神增長。…恩典就是神的眷臨，爲要留在人裏面，生在人裏面，並且與人成爲一。毫無疑問的，耶穌是行爲完全的孩童，但還不只這樣，祂也在恩典上因神增長；這意思是說，神在祂裏面長大。

馬利亞所蒙的恩以及神所恩賜她的恩，引進並開始了新約裏神的恩典（路一28、30）。我們必須藉着深入的交通研讀這點。

主耶穌在恩典裏長大（二40）。這意思是說，祂在作恩典的神裏面長大。祂作人的救主，在祂的職事裏，將神作爲恩典供應給人。所以祂自己作爲孩童，乃是在恩典裏，在神裏長大。我們也許不知道在神裏長大是甚麼意思。我們必須看見，神自己乃是一個構成；祂是由許多屬性構成的。神是愛、光、聖、義等等，祂是千千萬萬美妙的項目。神所是的每一項，都是神的一項屬性。我們的神自己是由許多屬性構成的。我們在神裏面長大，就是在神的屬性裏長大（李常受文集一九九四至一九九七年第一册，五六四至五六六頁）。

參讀：羅馬書的結晶，第二十至二十四篇。

WEEK 7 — DAY 3

Morning Nourishment

Luke 1:28 And he came to her and said, Rejoice, you who have been graced! The Lord is with you.

           30 And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found grace with God.

The truth concerning grace is very important…Luke refers to grace at the time of the Lord’s conceiving in Mary [1:28, 30]…Most translations use the word favor instead of grace, but the word in the Greek text is grace.

Mary’s conceiving of the Lord Jesus was great because that was God’s incarnation within her. This was not just Mary’s finding favor or being favored by God. This was a matter of grace. Whatever is mentioned as the first case in the Bible becomes the principle, and the first case in the New Testament of grace is the case of God’s incarnation. At one time God was in an unapproachable place (1 Tim. 6:16). In the Old Testament He came out to visit people, but never in His visitation did He stay with the one who was visited by Him. He came to Abraham and feasted with him, but then He left. He came to Gideon and left. He came to a number of persons in the Old Testament, but His coming was merely a temporary visit. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1,
“Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” p. 446)

Todays Reading

[In the New Testament God’s] incarnation was different…His incarnation was not just His coming to visit Mary. Instead, He came to stay in Mary, to stay in her physical womb. Matthew 1:20 says that what was begotten in Mary was of the Holy Spirit. God came to visit Mary, and He entered into her and stayed in her to be the very essence of her conceiving of a wonderful person, who would be both God and man, a God-man. The incarnation was a great thing. God came to visit people, to enter into people, and to stay in people. This is grace. Mary was graced by God and found grace with God.

Grace is God’s visitation to stay in man, to be born in man, and to be one with man. We should not forget that Mary’s being graced by God in the conception of the Man-Savior is the first mention of the word grace in the New Testament, so this establishes a principle. Second Timothy 4:22 says, “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.” The Lord came to stay in us, to be born in us, to be one with us, and even to become us. This is grace. We must keep this definition of grace in mind. Then with this definition we can interpret every verse where grace is mentioned in the New Testament.

Luke 2 says that the young boy Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature and in the grace manifested in Him before God and men (v. 52). Jesus, as a young boy, advanced in the grace…Grace is God’s visitation to stay in man, to be born in man, and to be one with man. No doubt, Jesus was a boy who behaved perfectly, but that was not all. He also advanced in the grace that was manifested in Him before God and men. This means that God was growing in Him.

The grace that Mary found and with which God graced her was the initiation of God’s grace in the New Testament (1:28, 30). We must study this point by fellowshipping deeply.

The Lord Jesus grew in grace (2:40). That means that He grew in God as grace. As the Savior of man, in His ministry, He ministered God as grace to people, so He Himself as a young man grew in grace, in God. We may wonder what growing in God means. We need to see that God Himself is a constitution. He is constituted with many attributes. God is love, light, holiness, righteousness, etc. He is myriads of wonderful items. Every item of what God is, is an attribute of God. Our God is constituted in Himself with many attributes. When we grow in God, we grow in God’s attributes. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 446-448)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” chs. 20-24