第二十二週．週二

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晨興餧養

弗二１５～１６　『在祂的肉體裏，廢掉了那規條中誡命的律法，好把兩下在祂自己裏面，創造成一個新人，成就了和平；既用十字架除滅了仇恨，便藉這十字架，使兩下在一個身體裏與神和好了。』

基督在祂的肉體裏廢掉了規條中誡命的律法，但是祂沒有在祂的肉體裏創造新人。…消極的事物在基督的肉體裏被了結，而新人（那當然是積極的）乃是在基督自己裏面有了新生的起頭。我們需要謹慎注意以弗所二章十五節的兩個辭：『在祂的肉體裏』，和『在祂自己裏面』。倘若我問你，你今天在那裏；你應該說，『我先前是在基督的肉體裏，現今我是在基督自己裏面。在祂的肉體裏，我在十字架上被了結；但在基督自己裏面，我被創造成為一個新人的一部分。』（以弗所書生命讀經，二五四至二五五頁。）

信息選讀

基督了結消極的事物之後，並沒有停在那裏。…雖然基督在肉體裏被釘在十字架上，但是這個死把祂帶進復活。在復活裏，祂不再是在肉體裏，反而是奇妙的靈。在祂的肉體裏，我們這舊人被了結；而在奇妙的靈裏，我們被創造成一個新人。我們的舊人和舊性情被釘時，那與我們墮落性情有關的規條也被除滅了。然後在基督的復活和祂奇妙的靈裏，我們被創造成一個新人。說我們在出生之前就被釘，似乎不合理；但無論如何，在十字架上，在基督的肉體裏，我們被了結了，這是一個奇妙的事實。不僅如此，在我們出生前，我們也在奇妙的靈裏被創造成一個新人。

『在祂自己裏面』這句話非常有意義，指明基督不僅是一個新人（召會）的創造者，並且是這一個新人得以創造的範圍和憑藉。祂更是這新人的元素。我們被了結之後，就在祂裏面領受了新的素質。基督自己成為我們的這個新元素。我們的舊人沒有一樣適合於新人的創造，因為我們從前的素質是有罪的。但是在祂裏面有奇妙的素質，一個新人就在其中被創造。

基督將神的性情作到人性裏，創造了一個新人，就是召會。這神聖的工作是新的。在舊造裏，神並沒有將祂的性情作到祂的造物裏，甚至也沒有作到人裏面。然而，在創造一個新人時，神的性情卻作到人裏面，使神性與人性成為一個實體。…污鬼和邪惡的天使知道一個新人已在神聖的素質裏創造成了，這事實使他們害怕。為此，鬼魔的權勢盡力不讓基督徒看見這一個新人之創造的事實。因此，我們必須打這個真理的仗。我們需要禱告，好得著清明的心思，看見我們不僅在十字架上被了結，也藉著這個了結遷到基督裏。在基督裏，祂用神聖的素質，把我們創造成一個新人。

我們和一切受造之物（由幔子上的基路伯所表徵），都在基督的肉體裏被釘在十字架上了。死既引我們進入復活，基督就在祂的復活裏，把我們擺在祂自己裏面，然後用祂神聖的素質，在祂自己裏面把我們創造成一個新人。…不要忽略〔以弗所二章十五節〕『在祂自己裏面』這個辭。我們若不在祂裏面，就不可能被創造成一個新人，因為在我們自己裏面，我們沒有作新人成分的神聖素質。只有在神聖的素質裏，並憑著神聖的素質，我們纔得以被創造成一個新人。惟有在基督裏，纔可能有這素質。事實上，基督自己就是這個素質，這個元素。因此，基督是在祂自己裏面，把兩下創造成一個新人。（以弗所書生命讀經，二五五至二五七頁。）

參讀：以弗所書生命讀經，第二十四篇。

WEEK 22 — DAY 2

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Morning Nourishment

Eph. 2:15-16 Abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace, and might reconcile both in one Body to God through the cross, having slain the enmity by it.

Christ abolished in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, but He did not create the new man in His flesh…The negative things were terminated in Christ’s flesh, whereas the new man, which, of course, is positive, was germinated in Christ Himself. We need to pay careful attention to two phrases in Ephesians 2:15: in His flesh and in Himself. If I were to ask you where you are today, you should say, “First, I was in Christ’s flesh; now I am in Christ Himself. In His flesh I was terminated on the cross, but in Christ Himself I was created as part of the one new man.” (Life-study of Ephesians, p. 201)

Todays Reading

Christ did not stop with the termination of the negative things…Although Christ in the flesh was crucified on the cross, this death brought Him into resurrection. In resurrection He is no longer in the flesh; rather, He is the wonderful Spirit. It was in His flesh that we, the old man, were terminated, but it is in the wonderful Spirit that we have been created into the one new man. When our old man and our old nature were crucified, the ordinances related to our fallen nature were slain. Then in Christ’s resurrection and in His wonderful Spirit, we were created into one new man…It is a marvelous fact that we were terminated in the flesh of Christ on the cross. Moreover,
before we were born, we were also created in the wonderful Spirit to be the one new man.

The phrase in Himself is very significant. It indicates that Christ was not only the Creator of the one new man, the church, but also the sphere in which and the essence with which the one new man was created. He is the very element of the new man. After we were terminated, in Him we received the new essence. Christ Himself became this new element to us. Nothing of our old man was good for the creation of the new man, for our former essence was sinful. But in Him there is a wonderful essence, in which the one new man has been created.

Christ created the one new man, the church, by working God’s divine nature into humanity. The working of the divine nature into humanity was something new. Hence, it was a creating. In the old creation God did not work His nature into any of His creatures, not even into man. In the creating of the one new man, however, God’s nature was wrought into man to make His divine nature one entity with humanity. The demons and evil angels know that the one new man has been created in the divine essence. This fact terrifies them. For this reason the demonic powers would try to keep Christians from seeing the fact of the creation of the one new man. Hence, we must fight the battle for this truth. We need to pray for a clear and sober mind to perceive that not only have we been terminated on the cross but that by means of this termination we have been transferred into Christ. In Christ, with His divine essence, we have been created into the one new man.

We and all the creatures, signified by the cherubim on the veil, were crucified in the flesh of Christ on the cross. Since death ushers us into resurrection, in His resurrection Christ put us into Himself. Then with His divine essence He created us in Himself into the one new man. Do not ignore the phrase in Himself [in Ephesians 2:15]. Apart from being in Him, we could not have been created into the new man, because in ourselves we do not have the divine essence, which is the element of the new man. Only in the divine essence and with the divine essence were we created into the new man. It is possible to have this essence only in Christ. In fact, Christ Himself is this essence, this element. Hence, in Himself Christ created the two into one new man. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 201-203)

Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 24