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箴言生命读经 · 第4篇

凭著我们的新人来摸著神的话

Touching the Word of God by Our New Man
1读经：以弗所书4:22-24;6:17-18。以弗所四章二十二至二十四节清楚告诉我们，在基督里的信徒有两个人－旧人和新人。旧人藉著我们天然的出生，是属亚当的，新人藉著
1Scripture Reading: Eph. 4:22-24; 6:17-18 Ephesians 4:22-24 tells us clearly that a believer in Christ has two men—the old man and the new man. The old man is of Adam through our natural birth, and the new man is of Christ by a new birth, regeneration
2新生、重生，是属基督的。
2LIVING A LIFE OF PUTTING OFF THE OLD MAN
过脱去旧人，
穿上新人的生活
AND PUTTING ON THE NEW MAN
3照著我的观察，在基督里的信徒以及爱基督的人，极少有人过著不断脱去旧人，穿上新人的生活。在我们的日常生活中，我们主要是过伦理的生活，自然而然顾到对错。那些过这样一种伦理生活的人，尽所能要作对的事，避免作错的事。你天天过怎样的生活？你的日常生活是新人的生活么？在你的日常生活中，你脱去旧人，穿上新人么？在你的婚姻生活中，你的实行是凭著新人或凭著旧人爱你的妻子或丈夫？我们不该以为在旧人里爱人能得神称义。那样的爱是照著律法，照著旧的经纶，不是照著神新约的经纶，也不是照著新造。一位弟兄非常爱他的妻子，但他的爱也许属旧造，不属新造。今天在主的恢复中，我们中间有谁过日常生活不是按著伦理，不是照著对错，乃是照著新人，藉著脱去旧人，穿上新人？我们说某位弟兄是好弟兄，通常的意思是他是个有伦理的弟兄，他一点不亏负他的妻子和家人、召会里的弟兄姊妹和长老。我们说他是好弟兄，是基于他似乎对别人是对的。这种评估是照著旧造。另一面，我们也许因著某位弟兄的脾气缺少忍耐而批评他。这种批评也是根据旧造。这样评估或批评别人，指明我们是照著旧人过伦理的生活，我们的日常生活不是基于新造。我们在那里能找著照著新造而活的人？传道书告诉我们，日光之下凡事都是虚空。惟有新造在日光之上，因此不虚空。某样事物无论多美好，多绝佳，多美妙，多奇妙，只要是属旧造，就是日光之下虚空之虚空的一部分。
3According to my observation, very few believers in Christ and lovers of Christ live a life of continually putting off the old man and putting on the new man. In our daily life we mainly live an ethical life, spontaneously caring for matters of right and wrong. Those who live such an ethical life try their best to do what is right and to avoid doing what is wrong. What kind of life do you live day by day? Is your daily life a life of the new man? In your daily living do you put off the old man and put on the new man? In your married life is it your practice to love your wife or husband by the new man or by the old man? We should not think that loving in the old man is justified by God. That kind of love is according to the law, according to the old dispensation, not according to God ' sNew Testament economy and not according to the new creation. A brother may love his wife very much, but his love may be of the old creation, not of the new creation. Among us in the Lord's recovery today, who is living a daily life not ethically according to right and wrong but according to the new man through putting off the old man and putting on the new man? When we say that a particular brother is a good brother, we usually mean that he is an ethical brother, that he is not wrong in any way with his wife and family, with the brothers and sisters in the church, and with the elders. Our basis for saying that he is a good brother is that he seems to be right with others. This evaluation is according to the old creation. On the other hand, we may criticize a certain brother because of his temper or his lack of patience. This criticism is based on the old creation. To evaluate and criticize others in this way indicates that we are living an ethical life according to the old man and that our daily life is not based on the new creation. Where can we find a person who is living according to the new creation? The book of Ecclesiastes tells us that everything under the sun is vanity. Only the new creation is above the sun and thus is not vanity. No matter how good, how excellent, how marvelous, and how wonderful something may be, as long as it is of the old creation, it is part of the vanity of vanities under the sun.
凭著旧人或凭著新人
STUDYING THE BIBLE
来研读圣经
BY THE OLD MAN AND BY THE NEW MAN
4我们来到圣经跟前，需要有这种领悟。我们读圣经，不是凭著旧人，就是凭著新人。许多基督徒是天然的，照著旧人研读神的话。你读神的话时，是凭著旧人读，或是凭著新人读？我们若仅仅运用心思从神的话得知识，就是凭著旧人读。凭著新人读圣经则大不相同。在新人里的人甚至在读圣经以前，就运用他的灵接触主。他也许认罪说，『主，很亏欠，我这么活在我的旧人里，没有运用我的灵接触你，凭著我的新人而活，作属你新造的人。主，赦免这罪。』我们这样就近圣经，运用我们的灵，就有极深的感觉和感受，我们是在就近、摸著并接触神。我不是说，圣经是神；但我们来到圣经跟前，该是来接触神。
4We need to have this realization when we come to the Bible. We may study the Bible either by the old man or by the new man. Many Christians study the Word in a natural way, according to their old man. When you read the Word of God, do you read it by the old man or by the new man? If we merely exercise our mind to get knowledge from the Word, we are reading it by the old man. To read the Bible by the new man is very different. Even before coming to the Bible, a person in the new man exercises his spirit to contact the Lord. He may confess, saying, "Lord, I am sorry that I live so much in my old man, not exercising my spirit to contact You, to live by my new man, as one of Your new creation. Lord, forgive this sin." When we approach the Bible in this way, exercising our spirit, we have the deep feeling and sense that we are approaching, touching, and contacting God. By this I do not mean that the Bible is God but that in coming to the Bible we are coming to contact God
祷读神的话
PRAY-READING THE WORD OF GOD
5我们来到圣经跟前接触神，不该只是读，乃该祷读神的话。无论我们是谁，只要我们读圣经而没有祷告，我们就是凭著旧人读。读圣经而没有祷告，就是凭著旧人接触神的话。真正凭著新人读圣经，是绝不能与祷告分开的。
5When we come to the Bible to contact God, we should not only read but pray-read the Word. No matter who we are, as long as we read the Bible without praying, we are reading by the old man. To read the Bible without praying is to contact the Word by the old man. The genuine reading of the Bible by the new man can never be separated from praying
用祷告读圣经
Reading the Bible Prayerfully
6『祷读』这辞使用不到三十年。然而，这不是说，在我们发明这辞以前，没有祷读这样的事。许多圣徒实行祷读主话，而没有用这辞描述他们所作的。好些寻求的基督徒曾指出，读经上好的路就是用祷告来读。我读过某些书说，我们该以祷告的方式读圣经。用祷告读主的话，事实上就是祷读主的话。我能见证，早在我们说到祷读以前，我就实行用祷告读主的话。我记得当我读约翰三章十六节时，我祷告说，『神阿，感谢你。你这么爱世人。我的父神阿，你这么爱我，甚至将你的儿子，就是你的独生子赐给我。』我感觉我摸著了神，祂也摸著了我。藉著我的祷告，约翰三章十六节对我就成了灵和生命。
6The term pray - reading has been in use for less than thirty years. This does not mean, however, that before we invented this term, there was no such thing as pray- reading. Many saints have practiced the pray-reading of the Word without using this expression to describe what they were doing. A number of seeking Christians have pointed out that the best way to read the Bible is to read it prayerfully. I have read certain books which said that we should read the Bible in a prayerful way. To read the Word prayerfully actually is to pray-read the Word. I can testify that long before we began to speak of pray - reading, it was my practice to read the Word with prayer. For example, I remember reading John 3:16 and praying, "O God, thank You. You loved the world so much. O God my Father, You loved me so much that You gave Your Son, the Only Begotten, to me." I had the feeling that I had touched God and that He had touched me. Through my prayer John 3:16 became Spirit and life to me.
凭著运用我们的灵来祷读
Pray-reading by Exercising Our Spirit
7我在关于箴言这些信息中的负担，是要帮助你们凭著你们的新人，凭著你们的灵祷读，来摸著神的话。祷读使圣经从字句变为灵和生命。若没有祷读，箴言就仅仅是格言的汇集。但我们祷读箴言，我们的祷读就使所有的箴言对我们成为灵和生命。-以弗所六章十七至十八节揭示祷读这事，我们发明祷读这辞的根据，就是这二节经文。以弗所六章十七至十八节告诉我们：﹃要藉著各样的祷告和祈求，接受救恩的头盔，并那灵的剑，那灵就是神的话；时时在灵里祷告。﹄这里我们看见，我们接受神的话，不仅仅该凭著运用我们的心思来领会，也该藉著各样的祷告和祈求，凭著运用我们的灵来祷告。祷告是一般的；祈求是专一的。
7My burden in these messages on Proverbs is to help you touch the Word of God by your new man, by exercising your spirit to pray-read. Pray-reading changes the Bible from letters to Spirit and life. Apart from pray-reading, the book of Proverbs is merely a collection of proverbs. But when we pray-read Proverbs, our pray-reading causes all the proverbs to become words of Spirit and life to us. Ephesians 6:17-18 unveils the matter of pray- reading, and our invention of the term pray-reading was based on these verses. Ephesians 6:17-18 tells us to "receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit." Here we see that we should receive the word of God not merely by exercising our mind to understand but by means of all prayer and petition, praying by exercising our spirit. Prayer is general; petition particular
8我们是藉著读来接受话。然而，只接受（读）而没有祷告，全然是在心思里。随著我们的读，我们必须祷告。我们凭著运用我们的灵来祷读主话，字句的话立刻成为灵。这样，灵与话就是一。当我们读的时候，那是话。当我们运用我们的灵祷告，话就成为灵和生命。每当我们来到主的话跟前，我们必须祷告，而我们的祷告不仅仅要用心思，也该用灵。
8We receive the word by reading. However, to receive (read) without praying is altogether a matter in the mind. Along with our reading we must pray. When we pray-read the Word by exercising our spirit, the word in black and white immediately becomes the Spirit. In this way the Spirit and the word are one. When we read, it is a word. When we pray with the exercise of our spirit, the word becomes Spirit and life. Whenever we come to the Word we must pray, and we should pray not merely with the mind but with the spirit
圣经是神的呼出
THE BIBLE BEING GOD'S BREATHING
9圣经乃是神的呼出。神将祂自己当作话呼出来。（提后三16上。）这就是说，圣经是神的呼出。神在圣经里呼出来，等著我们吸入。我们读任何经文而祷告的时候，这祷告就成为我们的吸入。藉此在我们的经历中，话对我们就成了灵和生命。我们的情形若不是这样，那么甚至在读圣经时，我们也不在新人里，乃在旧人里。
9The Bible is God's breathing. God is breathing out Himself as the word (2 Tim. 3:16a). This means that the Bible is God's exhaling. The exhaling of God in the Bible is waiting for us to inhale. When we read any verse and pray, this praying becomes our inhaling of God's breath. By this the Word becomes Spirit and life to us in our experience. If this is not our situation, then even in our reading of the Bible we are not in the new man but are still in the old man.
来到神的话跟前，
COMING TO THE WORD OF GOD
不是要修养自己而成为完全，
NOT TO BECOME PERFECT BY CULTIVATING THE SELF
乃是要在灵里祷告
BUT TO RECEIVE NOURISHMENT AND ENLIGHTENMENT BY PRAYING IN SPIRIT
接受滋养和光照
10我们已指出，箴言里有许多叫人过正确人生的详细教训，每个教训都是珠宝。即使人接受这一切珠宝，并且成功的持守这些珠宝，他也不过是凭著修养自己而建立自己成为完全人。但主耶稣说，无论谁要跟从祂，就必须否认己。（太十六24。）许多基督徒读箴言，甚至读全本圣经时，只接受教训、警戒、劝勉、格言和训辞，以修养自己，并建立完全被神定罪的天然人。我们来到神的话跟前，必须学习作就近神的人，不是要接受格言和教训，乃是要接受滋养和光照，使我们认识，我们该照著神，一直凭著基督复活的大能，就是终极完成的灵，也就是基督复活的实际，模成祂的死。（腓三10。）圣经里的某种教训也许非常好，但我们不该接受作为修养我们自己，并建立我们天然人的东西。我们必须弃绝修养自己，并且定罪建立天然的人。我们需要将圣经从教导我们修养自己并建立天然人的书，转为满了生命、灵、属灵滋养、和属灵光照的书。这要拆毁我们的己，破碎我们天然的人，并以三一神终极完成的灵供应我们。这样，我们过生活，就不是凭著我们天然的人、我们的旧人、和我们的己，乃是凭著主耶稣，就是活在我们灵里的生命和人位。
10We have pointed out that in Proverbs there are many detailed precepts for man to live a proper human life and that every precept is a gem. Even if a person accepts all these gems and is successful in keeping them, he will only build up himself to be a perfect man by cultivating the self. But the Lord Jesus said that whoever would follow Him must deny himself (Matt. 16:24). In their reading of the Proverbs and even of the entire Bible, many Christians receive only teachings, admonitions, exhortations, proverbs, and precepts to cultivate their self and to build up the natural man, who has been fully condemned by God. We must learn to come to the Word of God as those who are approaching God, not to receive proverbs and teachings but to receive nourishment and enlightenment, so that we may know that, according to God, we should always be conformed to the death of Christ by the power of His resurrection (Phil. 3:10), which is the consummated Spirit, who is the reality of the resurrection of Christ. A certain teaching in the Bible may be very good, but we should not take it as something to cultivate our self and build up our natural man. We must reject self-cultivation and condemn the building up of the natural man. We need to turn the Bible from a book that teaches us to cultivate the self and to build up the natural man to a book that is full of life, spirit, spiritual nourishment, and spiritual enlightenment. This will tear down our self, break our natural man, and supply us with the consummated Spirit of the Triune God. Then we will live a life not by our natural man, by our old man, and by our self but by the Lord Jesus, who is our life and person living in our spirit
11我们需要学习每天在日常生活中运用我们的灵，尤其是在我们研读圣经时。我们需要凭著在我们的灵里祷告，将自己从心思转向灵。我们若这样来到圣经跟前，就会凭著新人来摸主的话，圣经对我们就成了一本生命和灵的书。
11We need to learn to exercise our spirit every day in our daily life, especially in our Bible study. We need to turn ourselves from the mind to the spirit by praying in our spirit. If we come to the Bible in this way, we will be touching the Word by the new man and it will become to us a book of Spirit and life