第十一週■週一

w11d01-ch

晨興餧養

約十四1 ～ 2『你們心裏不要受攪擾，你們當信入神，也當信入我。在我父的家裏，有許多住處；若是沒有，我早已告訴你們了；我去是爲你們豫備地方。』

提前三15『倘若我躭延，你也可以知道在神的家中當怎樣行；這家就是活神的召會，真理的柱石和根基。』

約翰十四章一節啓示了兩個非常重要的點。第一是主與神相同。人若信入神，也必信入主，因爲主與神自己是相同的。事實上，主就是神自己。

一節第二個重要的點乃是：信神和信入神不同。你也許說你信神，但你是否信入神？…這章的基本思想乃是：主要幫助或教導門徒在神裏面。我們必須記住，信神是客觀的，信入神是主觀的。乃是這種主觀的信，將我們帶進神裏面。主實在是說，『你們若信入神，也當信入我。』『入』字是很要緊的。…我們不可遺漏這字。這裏不是客觀的相信事實，乃是主觀的相信，將我們帶進神裏面。本章的中心思想就是我們必須信入神。（約翰福音生命讀經，三九五、三九七頁。）

信息選讀

按照天然的觀念，大多數基督徒都認爲，約翰十四章二節所說父的家必是指父神所住的第三層天。但我們不可按照我們天然的觀念解釋聖經。我們必須用聖經解釋聖經。…『我父的家』這辭在約翰福音中用過兩次。第一次在二章十六節，在那裏清楚的指聖殿，指神在地上的居所。這殿是耶穌身體的豫表。（21。）…這殿在復活裏已擴大爲基督的身體。…在十六節，『我父的家』是在地上的殿。這不是指諸天之上的一個地方，乃是指神在地上的殿。殿旣是耶穌身體的豫表，耶穌的身體就是帳幕，（一14，）就是殿，作神在地上的居所。『我父的家』這辭的解釋，在二章中已經清楚表明了。…我們不該以爲十四章二節的這辭，和二章十六節的同一個辭意義不同，因爲那是不合邏輯的。這辭在同一卷福音書中第二次用到時，必須與第一次用到時意義相同。所以，在約翰十四章裏父家的意思，也必定是神在地上的居所，不會是第三層天。在二章，父的家最終就是基督的身體；在十四章，父的家也必定是基督的身體。…現在我們有了『我父的家』這辭正確的解釋，就是基督的身體，也就是召會。

在書信中，關於基督的身體是召會，以及召會是神的家這啓示，得着完全的發展。提前三章十五節揭示召會是活神的家。因此，父的家必是指活神在地上的居所，而不是指天上。林前三章十六節告訴我們，全體信徒是神的殿。彼前二章五節說，我們這些活石被建造成爲屬靈的殿。…此外，希伯來三章六節說，我們就是神的家。以弗所二章二十一至二十二節說，信徒同被建造成爲神的居所，不是在諸天之上，乃是在靈裏。因此全本新約支持這個解釋，就是：父的家至終乃是約翰福音本身可看到的基督的身體。在約翰福音和全本新約裏，父的家不是指天上，乃是指基督的身體，就是作神在地上居所的召會。（約翰福音生命讀經，三九七至三九九頁。）

參讀：約翰福音生命讀經，第二十九至三十篇。

WEEK 11 — DAY 1

Morning Nourishment

John 14:1-2 Do not let your heart be troubled; believe into God, believe also into Me. In My Father’s house are many abodes; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.

1 Tim. 3:15 But if I delay, I write that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.

John 14:1 reveals two very important points. The first is that the Lord is the same as God. If one believes into God, he must also believe into the Lord, for the Lord is the same as God Himself. In fact, the Lord is God Himself.

The second important point in 14:1 is that believing God is different from believing into God. You may say that you believe God, but do you believe into God?… The basic thought of this chapter is that the Lord intended to help or instruct the disciples to be in God. We must remember that to believe God is objective but to believe into God is subjective. It is this kind of subjective believing that brings us into God. In effect, the Lord was saying, “If you believe into God, you must also believe into Me.” The preposition into is very important…We must not miss the preposition. It is not a matter of believing the fact objectively; it is a matter of the subjective believing that brings us into God. The central thought of this chapter is that we must believe into God. (Life-study of John, 2nd ed., pp. 336, 338)

Today’s Reading

According to the natural concept, most Christians think that the Father’s house mentioned in John 14:2 must refer to the third heaven where God the Father dwells. But we must not interpret the Bible according to our natural concepts. Rather, we must interpret the Scripture with the Scripture…The phrase My Father’s house is used twice in the Gospel of John. It is used the first time in 2:16, where it clearly refers to the temple, the dwelling place of God on earth. The temple is a type, a figure, of the body of Jesus (v. 21), which…has in resurrection been enlarged into the Body of Christ…In 2:16 My Father’s house refers to the temple on earth. It does not denote a place in the heavens but God’s temple on earth. Since the temple is the type of the body of Jesus, the body of Jesus is the tabernacle (1:14), the temple, for God’s dwelling place on earth. This interpretation of the phrase My Father’s house is clearly shown in chapter 2…We should not take this phrase in 14:2 to have a different meaning from the same phrase found in 2:16, for that would be illogical. The second time that this phrase is used in the same Gospel, it must have the same definition as the first time it is used. Thus, the Father’s house in chapter 14 must also mean God’s dwelling place on earth. It cannot mean the third heaven. In chapter 2 the Father’s house is eventually the Body of Christ, and in chapter 14 it must also be the Body of Christ…Now we have the proper interpretation of the phrase My Father’s house: it is the Body of Christ, that is, the church.

In the Epistles the revelation that the Body of Christ is the church and that the church is the house of God is fully developed. First Timothy 3:15 discloses that the church is the house of the living God. Hence, the Father’s house must mean the house of the living God on earth and not in heaven. First Corinthians 3:16 tells us that the believers, as a whole entity, are the temple of God. First Peter 2:5 says that we, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house…Furthermore, Hebrews 3:6 says that we are the house of God, and Ephesians 2:21-22 says that the believers are being built together as God’s dwelling place, not in the heavens but in spirit. Thus, the whole New Testament supports the interpretation, as found in the Gospel of John itself, that the Father’s house is eventually the Body of Christ. The Father’s house in the Gospel of John and in the whole New Testament is not heaven but the Body of Christ, which is the church as the dwelling place, the habitation of God on earth. (Life-study of John, 2nd ed., pp. 338-339)

Further Reading: Life-study of John, msgs. 29—30