第一週 • 週二

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晨興餧養

約壹四19 我們愛，因為神先愛我們。

林後二10 你們饒恕誰甚麼，我也饒恕；我若曾有所饒恕，我所已經饒恕的，是在基督的面前，為你們饒恕的。

神先愛我們〔約壹四19〕，將祂的愛注入我們裏面，並且在我們裏面產生出愛來，使我們能用這愛愛神，並愛眾弟兄（20~21）。…凡習慣恨弟兄的，就證明他不是住在神聖的愛裏，也不是住在神聖的光中（二9~11）。我們住在主裏面，就住在神聖的愛裏，也住在神聖的光中，我們就不恨弟兄，反倒習慣愛他們，在神聖的光與神聖的愛裏活出神聖的生命。

約翰在四章二十一節說，『愛神的，也當愛他的弟兄，這是我們從祂所受的誡命。』這裏的誡命乃是弟兄相愛的誡命（二7~11，約十三34）。約翰在這裏所寫的可以簡單概括如下：神就是愛，我們若住在神裏面，就會用祂作我們的愛來愛弟兄。這是約翰在這些經節裏的基本思想（約翰一書生命讀經，三七六至三七七頁）。

信息選讀

林後二章十節題到『在基督的面前』。保羅說，『你們饒恕誰甚麼，我也饒恕；我若曾有所饒恕，我所已經饒恕的，是在基督的面前，為你們饒恕的。』保羅在基督的面前饒恕一個弟兄。『面』在原文指眼睛周圍的部分，其神色乃是內在思想和感覺的標示，將全人表明並陳明出來。眼睛周圍的部分乃是一切內在思想和感覺的標示，表明一個人所想的是甚麼，裏面的感覺如何。保羅在基督的面前，照着祂眼睛所表露祂全人的標示，饒恕那位弟兄。保羅不僅在主面前，也在基督內在感覺和思想的標示下生活。這是如此的深，如此的柔和，如此的細緻。

我無法充分表達當我發現『面』這字的意義時，我裏面的感覺。我在主面前屈膝說，『主阿，這麼多年來，我從來不知道，我不僅必須活在你的同在裏，還必須這樣柔細的活在你面前。』我們不僅是活在祂的同在裏，更是活在祂面前。…我們也許說，我們是在主的同在裏生活、行事、為人；但有誰是在基督的面前行事為人？…在二章十節這裏，有句話告訴我們，保羅就是這樣的人，他一直在主眼睛的標示下，就是在主內在感覺和思想的標示下，在祂面前生活行動。

保羅注視主眼睛的標示，他知道他必須饒恕那位弟兄。他饒恕弟兄，不是照着自己的感覺，不是照着自己的思想，乃是照着那位內住在他裏面者的感覺和思想。他在基督的面前行事為人。當他饒恕人時，他乃是在基督的面前饒恕人。他要讓哥林多人曉得，他的饒恕，不是照着他自己，或照着他的肉體，乃是在基督的面前。這就是憑基督而活的意思。使徒保羅被消減到這樣的地步，他絕不在自己面前行事為人；他乃是在基督面前，在基督的面光、思想中，在基督感覺和思想的表達下行事為人。活在基督的面前，是如此的柔細，如此的深。保羅是一個被消減到無有，只接受基督作他人位的人。他是在基督的面前行事為人（李常受文集一九六七年第二冊，一九六至一九七頁）。

參讀：約翰一書生命讀經，第三十五篇；路加福音生命讀經，第二十五篇；一個在靈裏之人的自傳，第四章。

WEEK 1—DAY 2

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Morning Nourishment

1 John 4:19 We love because He first loved us.

2 Cor. 2:10 But whom you forgive anything, I also forgive;…What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, it is for your sake in the person of Christ.

God first loved us [1 John 4:19] in that He has infused us with His love and generated within us the love with which we love Him and love the brothers (vv. 20-21)…He who hates a brother habitually proves that he is not abiding in the divine love or in the divine light (2:9-11). When we abide in the Lord, we abide both in the divine love and in the divine light. We do not hate the brothers but love them habitually, living the divine life in the divine light and the divine love.

In 4:21 John says, “And this commandment we have from Him, that he who loves God love his brother also.” The commandment here is the commandment of brotherly love (2:7-11; John 13:34). It is possible to summarize John’s writing here in a simple way: God is love, and if we abide in Him, we will love the brothers with Him as our love. This is John’s basic thought in these verses. (Life-study of 1 John, 2nd ed., p. 310)

Today’s Reading

Second Corinthians 2:10 mentions “the person of Christ.” The American Standard Version translates this phrase as “the presence of Christ.” In the original Greek text the common word for presence is parousia. But the word for person here is prosopon. Paul said, “Whom you forgive anything, I also forgive; for also what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, it is for your sake in the person of Christ.” Paul forgave a brother in the person of Christ. This Greek word means the face, the part around the eyes, which is the index of all the inward thoughts and feelings to signify the presentation of the whole person. The part of the face around the eyes is the index of all the inward thoughts and feelings, signifying what a person is thinking and how he feels within. Paul forgave that brother in the person of Christ, according to the index of His whole person expressed in His eyes. Paul lived not only in the presence of the Lord but also in the index of the inward feelings and thoughts of Christ. This is so deep, so tender, and so delicate.

I cannot fully express the feeling I had within when I discovered the meaning of this
word person. I bowed before the Lord and said, “Lord, for all these years I have never realized that I have to live not merely in Your presence but in Your person in such a tender way.” It is not just to live in His presence but even more to live in His person…We may say that we live, act, and behave in the presence of the Lord, but who behaves himself in the person of Christ…? But here in 2:10 there is a phrase telling us that Paul was such a person, behaving himself all the time in the index of the Lord’s eyes, the index of His inward feelings and thoughts, in His person.

Paul looked at the index of the Lord’s eyes, and he knew that he had to forgive that brother. He forgave him not according to his feeling, not according to his thought, but according to the feeling, the thought, of the Indweller within him. He was behaving himself in the person of Christ. When he forgave, he forgave in the person of Christ. He wanted to let the Corinthians know that he did not forgive according to himself or according to his flesh but in the person of Christ. This is what it means to live by Christ.
The apostle Paul had been reduced to such an extent that he never behaved himself in his person. He behaved himself in the person of Christ, in the face, in the thought, in the expression of the feeling of Christ. To live in the person of Christ is so tender and so deep. Paul was a person reduced to nothing except taking Christ as his person. He behaved himself in the person of Christ. (CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit,” pp. 158-
159)

Further Reading: Life-study of 1 John, msg. 35; Life-study of Luke, msg. 25; CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit,” ch. 4