路得记生命读经 · 第7篇

路得的身分豫表在基督里之信徒的身分

Ruth’s Statuses Typifying the Statuses of the Believers in Christ

1读经：路得记1:16-17;2:2,11-12;4:9-13。路得记告诉我们一个非常著名的故事。这故事的主角是路得，这角色有十个身分。虽然我六十多年前就开始研读这卷书，并且在这卷书上受过别人的教导，但我发现很难找出路得的各种身分。直到最近我才清楚看见了这些身分。所以，在本篇信息中，我有负担就著路得的十个身分，并这些身分如何豫表在基督里之信徒的身分，说一篇非常简短的话。

1Scripture Reading: Ruth 1:16-17; 2:2, 11-12; 4:9-13 The book of Ruth tells us a very famous story. In this story the central role belongs to Ruth, and this role has ten statuses. Although I began to study this book more than sixty years ago and although I was taught by others regarding it, I have found it difficult to find out the various statuses of Ruth. Only recently have I seen a clear view of these statuses. In this message, therefore, I have the burden to speak a very brief word concerning Ruth’st en statuses and concerning how they are a type of the statuses of the believers in Christ today

路得的十个身分

Ruth’st en statuses

2路得的第一个身分是神所创造、甚好的人。（创一27，31。）第二，她是在亚当里堕落的人，被神定罪，并在神面前被构成为罪人。（罗五18上，19上。）第三，她成为旧人，因著离弃神作她的丈夫，成为她自己的旧丈夫，（罗六6上，七2，）就是使她欠债的。第四，她在她旧丈夫的罪上成为欠债者。第五，她是摩押女子，被神放弃的乱伦的外邦人。（申二三。）第六，她有分于神的应许，（弗二12～13，三6，）成为与神的选民以色列联结的人。第七，她被她的亲人波阿斯赎回，作她新丈夫的新妻子。（得四5，13。）第八，她是保守基督成为肉体这条线的人。（太一5下。）第九，她是大卫的曾祖母，生出神所设立地上行政的王家。第十，她成为基督一位重要的先祖，将基督，神的具体化身，带给地上的人。我们可概述路得的身分：她是天然、神所创造的人；堕落、败坏的人；旧丈夫─在旧人里与罪、债务牵连的人─的旧妻子；与神的选民联结的人；被赎回的人；新妻子；带进地上神圣行政之王家的人；以及基督一位重要的先祖，将基督带给人类。简单的说，路得是天然的人，堕落的人，与罪牵连的人，被赎回的人，与新丈夫联结的人，并将基督带到人类中的人。

2Ruth’s first status was that of a God-created person who was very good (Gen. 1:27, 31). Second, she was a fallen person in Adam who was condemned by God and constituted a sinner before God (Rom. 5:18a, 19a). Third, she became an old man to be, by forsaking God as her Husband, an old husband to herself (Rom. 6:6a; 7:2) who brought her into indebtedness. Fourth, she became a debtor in the sin of her old husband. Fifth, she was a Moabitess, an incestuous Gentile abandoned by God (Deut. 23:3). Sixth, she became one who joined God’s elect, Israel, in partaking of God’s promises3 (Eph. 2:12-13; 3:6). Seventh, she was redeemed by her kinsman, Boaz, to be a new wife to him, her new husband (Ruth 4:5, 13). Eighth, she was one who kept the line of Christ’s in carnation (Matt. 1:5b). Ninth, she was the great-grandmother of David who brought forth the royal family of the God-ordained government on the earth. Tenth, she became a crucial ancestor of Christ who brought forth Christ, the embodiment of God, to men on earth. We may summarize Ruth’s statuses by saying that she was a natural, God-created person; a fallen, corrupted person; an old wife to an old husband—a person in the old man involved with sin, with indebtedness; a person who joined God’select; a redeemed person; a new wife; a person who brought in the royal family of the divine government on earth; and one of the crucial ancestors of Christ who brought Christ to the human race. Stated simply, Ruth was a natural person, a fallen person, a person involved in sin, a redeemed person, a person united to a new husband, and a person who brought Christ to humanity.

信徒身分的豫表

A TYPE OF THE BELIEVERS’ STATUSES

3现在我们需要看见，路得的十个身分豫表信徒的身分。第一，路得是神所创造的人，带著她天然人的身分及其生来的权利，豫表信徒是天然的人。第二，路得的身分是堕落之人─是摩押女子、乱伦族类之后裔，豫表信徒是堕落之人，带著他在性情上一切的败坏。第三，路得的身分是那欠债之旧丈夫─就是与罪和因罪欠债牵连的人─的妻子，豫表信徒是由天然之人和堕落之人组成的旧人。第四，路得的身分是被她亲人赎回的人，豫表信徒在他们旧人堕落的部分里已被十字架了结，并在神所创造的部分里已被赎回归神，罪债都已清理，权利也得恢复。第五，路得在婚姻的联结里，她的身分是波阿斯的妻子，豫表在神新造里的信徒，是新人的一部分，在生机的联结里，作基督的配偶。第六，路得作为基督的一位先祖，将基督带给人类，并将基督供应地上所有的人，她的身分豫表信徒是基督的执事，将基督带给并陈明给所有的人，普遍的以基督供应他们。从路得身分的豫表我们能看见，我们是天然的人，却堕落了，而与罪牵连。因此，我们需要基督作我们的亲人，来作我们的救赎者。我们蒙救赎以后，就成为基督（我们在神新造里的新丈夫）的新妻子。这样，我们就成了基督的执事。路得在这些重大的事上，豫表我们在基督里的信徒，愿我们都对这事实有深刻的印象：我们是在神的创造里，在人的堕落里，在旧人的生活里，在基督的救赎里，在神的新造里，并在基督的职事里。今天我们乃是基督的执事：生出基督，并将基督供应各处的人。

3Now we need to see that in her ten statuses Ruth typifies the believers in their statuses. First, as a God- created person with her status of a natural person with its rights by birth, Ruth typifies the believers as a natural man. Second, by her status as a fallen person— as a Moabitess, a descendant of an incestuous race— Ruth typifies the believers as the fallen man with all his corruption in nature. Third, in her status as the wife of her old husband with his indebtedness—that is, as a person involved with sin and indebted because of it— Ruth typifies the believers as the old man composed of the natural man and the fallen man. Fourth, in her status as a person redeemed by her kinsman, Ruth typifies the believers as those who have been terminated by the cross in the fallen part of their old man and redeemed back to God in the God-created part, with all the indebtedness of sin cleared up and with the birthright recovered. Fifth, in her status as the wife of Boaz in the marriage union, Ruth typifies the believers in God’s new creation as parts of the new man to be the counterpart of Christ in the organic union. Sixth, in her status as an ancestor of Christ to bring forth Christ to the human race and to minister Christ to all the people on earth, Ruth typifies the believers as ministers of Christ, who bring and present Christ to all men, supplying them with Christ universally. From the typology of Ruth’s statuses, we can see that as a natural man, we became fallen and involved with sin. Because of this, we needed Christ as our Kinsman to be our Redeemer. After we were redeemed, we became a new wife to Christ, our new Husband in God’s new creation. As such, we have become the ministers of Christ. May we all be impressed with the fact that in these great things Ruth typifies us, the believers in Christ: in God’s creation, in man’s fall, in the old man’s living, in Christ’s redemption, in God’s new creation, and in Christ’s ministry. Today we are ministers of Christ, bringing Christ forth and ministering Christ to people everywhere