第三週 • 週一

W03-d1-ch

晨興餧養

弗四20~21 但你們並不是這樣學了基督；如果你們真是聽過祂，並在祂裏面，照着那在耶穌身上是實際者，受過教導。

彼前二21 …基督也為你們受過苦，給你們留下榜樣，叫你們跟隨祂的腳蹤行。

羅八29　  …祂也豫定他們模成神兒子的形像，使祂兒子在許多弟兄中作長子。

新約很重的指明，我們應當活基督。保羅…宣告說，『在我，活着就是基督。』〔腓一21〕但以弗所四章二十節這裏告訴我們，我們學了基督。

基督對我們不僅是生命，也是榜樣（約十三15，彼前二21）。我們照着祂的榜樣跟祂學（太十一29），不是憑我們天然的生命，乃是憑祂在復活裏作我們的生命。…主耶穌並沒有直接進到我們裏面作生命。祂乃是在地上活了三十年之後，又盡職了三年半。祂在地上三十三年半的一生當中，設立了模型，模子，榜樣…。寫四福音書的一個原因，就是要給我們看見，神所要之生命的模型是甚麼，能滿足神並完成祂定旨之生命的模子是甚麼。因這緣故，新約從四方面給我們一部獨特的傳記—主耶穌的傳記。主耶穌設立了啟示在福音書裏的模型之後，就被釘在十字架上，然後進入復活。祂乃是在復活裏，進到我們裏面作我們的生命（以弗所書生命讀經，四七四至四七五頁）。

信息選讀

得救乃是被神放在基督裏。林前一章三十節說，『但你們得在基督耶穌裏，是出於神。』當神把我們放在基督裏，祂是把我們放在一個模子裏。…羅馬八章二十九節指明，我們要模成基督的形像，使基督在許多弟兄中作長子。長子是模型，…學基督就是被模成基督的模型，也就是模成基督的形像。

藉着浸，神把我們放在作為模型的基督裏。受浸就是被放在作為模子的基督裏。…浸入基督〔羅六3，加三27〕就是埋葬在基督裏。這個受浸的墳墓就是模型、模子。在神眼中，我們受浸時，就被放在這模子裏。藉着被放在模子裏，我們脫去了舊人並穿上了新人。藉着被埋葬在基督裏，我們從亞當和舊造裏被帶出來。藉着浸，我們已被放在基督裏，祂是我們的生命和模型。這說明為甚麼保羅在說到學了基督時，是用過去式。我們學了基督，是在我們受浸，埋葬在祂裏面的時候。這意思是說，學基督就是被放在作為模子的基督裏，就是模成主在地上年日中所設立的模型。

基督設立了模型後，就被釘死，然後進入復活，在復活裏成了賜生命的靈（林前十五45）。祂乃是作為那靈進到我們裏面，作我們的生命。…當我們相信主耶穌並受浸歸入祂時，神就把我們放在祂裏面，以祂作我們的模型和模子。所以保羅能對以弗所人說，他們『學了基督』。照着新約的亮光，並按着我們的經歷，學基督就是被神放在基督裏。在神那一面，祂已把我們放在基督裏；在我們這一面，我們乃是藉着被放在祂裏面，而學了基督。

一個人得救之後，他裏面深處就渴望，照着主耶穌所設立的模型過生活。然而，許多人不是忽視這渴望，就是錯誤的培養這渴望，以為憑着自己的努力可以成功的效法祂。我們以為靠着運用天然的生命可以效法基督，這是錯誤的。基督的信徒應當效法祂，但他們不該照着天然的生命效法祂（以弗所書生命讀經，四七五至四七六頁）。

參讀：以弗所書生命讀經，第四十六、四十九篇；長老訓練第二冊，第四章。

WEEK 3 — DAY 1

W03-d1-en

Morning Nourishment

Eph. 4:20-21 But you did not so learn Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him as the reality is in Jesus.

1 Pet. 2:21 …Christ also suffered on your behalf, leaving you a model so that you may follow in His steps.

Rom. 8:29 …He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.

The New Testament strongly indicates that we should live Christ…Paul declares, “To me, to live is Christ” [Phil. 1:21]…In Ephesians 4:20 we are told that we have learned Christ.

Christ is not only life to us but also an example (John 13:15; 1 Pet. 2:21). We learn from Him (Matt. 11:29) according to His example, not by our natural life but by Him as our life…The Lord Jesus did not come into us as life directly. Rather, after living on earth for thirty years, He ministered for another three and a half years. During the thirty-three and a half years of His life on earth, He set up a pattern, a mold, a model…One reason the four Gospels were written was to show the pattern of the life that God desires, the mold of the life that can satisfy God and fulfill His purpose. For this reason the New Testament gives us a unique biography, the biography of the Lord
Jesus, written from four directions. After the Lord Jesus set up the pattern revealed in the Gospels, He was crucified on the cross, and then He entered into resurrection. It is in resurrection that He comes into us to be our life. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 380-381)

Today’s Reading

To be saved is to be put by God into Christ. First Corinthians 1:30 says, “Of Him you are in Christ Jesus.” When God put us into Christ, He put us into the mold…Romans 8:29 indicates that we are to be conformed to the image of Christ, the Firstborn among many brothers. To be conformed is to be molded…To learn Christ is simply to be molded into the pattern of Christ, that is, to be conformed to the image of Christ.

By means of baptism God has put us into Christ, who is the pattern. To be baptized is to be placed into Christ as the mold…To be baptized into Christ [Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27] is to be buried into Him. The tomb of this baptism is the pattern, the mold. In God’s eyes, we were put into this mold when we were baptized. Through being placed into the mold, we have put off the old man and have put on the new man. By being buried into Christ, we have been brought out of Adam and the old creation. By baptism we have been put into Christ, who is both our life and our pattern. This explains why Paul uses the past tense in speaking about learning Christ. We learned Christ when we were buried into Him in baptism. This means that to learn Christ is to be put into Christ as the mold. It is to be molded into the pattern set up by Him during His years on earth.

After Christ established the pattern, He was crucified, and then He entered into resurrection, becoming in resurrection the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). It is as the Spirit that He comes into us to be our life…At the time we believed in Christ and were baptized in Him, God put us into Him as the pattern, the mold. Therefore, Paul could tell the Ephesians that they “did… learn Christ.” According to the light of the New Testament and according to our experience, to learn Christ is to be placed into Christ by God. On God’s side, He has put us into Christ. On our side, we have learned Christ by being put into Him.

After a person is saved, deep within him he desires to live a life in the pattern established by the Lord Jesus. However, many either ignore this desire or cultivate it in a mistaken way, thinking that by self-effort they can succeed in imitating Him. It is a mistake to think that we can imitate Christby the exercise of our natural life. The believers in Christ should imitate Him, but they should not do so according to their natural life. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 381-382)

Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 46, 49; CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 2: The Vision of the Lord’s Recovery,” ch. 4