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Scripture Reading: 1 Tim. 2:4; 3:15; 4:3; Titus 1:1; 2 John 1-2, 4; 3 John 1, 3-4, 8
First and 2 Timothy, Titus, and 2 and 3 John, which were written during the degradation of the church, do not stress life as 1 John does but instead emphasize the truth. The following verses from these Epistles all mention the truth. First Timothy 2:4 says, “[God] desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.” First Timothy 3:15 says, “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.” First Timothy 4:3 says, “Who forbid marriage and command abstaining from foods, which God has created to be partaken of with thanksgiving by those who believe and have full knowledge of the truth.” Titus 1:1 says, “Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God’s chosen ones and the full knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness.” Second John 1 and 2 say, “The elder to the chosen lady and to her children, whom I love in truthfulness, and not only I but also all those who know the truth, for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever.” Verse 4 says, “I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, even as we received commandment from the Father.” Third John 1 says, “The elder to Gaius the beloved, whom I love in truthfulness.” Verses 3 through 4 say, “I rejoiced greatly at the brothers’ coming and testifying to your steadfastness in the truth, even as you walk in truth. I have no greater joy than these things, that I hear that my children are walking in the truth.” Verse 8 says, “We therefore ought to support such ones that we may become fellow workers in the truth.”
In previous chapters we have seen what it is to know the Lord’s recovery in life. We also need to know the Lord’s recovery in truth. Like life, the truth is not altogether clear to the saints. According to the natural concept, the word truth is taken to mean “doctrines” or “principles,” such as the popular proverb, “Honesty is the best policy.” However, in the Bible truth means something else. The Greek word for truth in the New Testament is sometimes translated as “reality” or “truthfulness.” It is used in John 1:17, which says, “Grace and reality came through Jesus Christ.” The same word appears in John 4:24, which says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.” Paul writes in 1 Timothy 3:15 that the church is “the pillar and base of the truth.” These cases show that we cannot understand truth according to the natural concept.
According to the New Testament usage, truth means that which is real. In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way and the reality and the life.” Christ is not the doctrine or the principle but the reality. Every positive thing in the universe is a type of Christ. The sun, the air, the water, and food are types and shadows of Christ, who is the real sun, air, water, and food. Likewise, all human virtues, such as love, holiness, kindness, patience, and humility, are shadows, the reality of which is Christ. He is the real love, holiness, kindness, patience, and humility. The Old Testament offerings are also shadows; Christ is the reality of every offering — the sin offering, the trespass offering, the peace offering, the meal offering, the drink offering, the burnt offering, the wave offering, and the heave offering. Even the words we speak are a shadow. Christ must be our word — our expression, speech, eloquence, and utterance. In the entire universe, only Christ is real; He is the reality. Thus, in the New Testament the word truth denotes Christ as the reality. Accordingly, in John 8 the truth and the Son are used synonymously: John 8:32 says, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” Verse 36 says, “If therefore the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed.” Christ, the Son, is the truth. When we read the New Testament, we should not understand the word truth according to the natural concept; instead, we must realize that it indicates Christ as the reality.
In previous chapters we have seen that the truth is in between doctrine and light. We have also seen that the truth is the content of the Bible. When people read the Bible, they first receive doctrines. When the Holy Spirit enlightens the words of the Bible, the doctrines become reality, truth. Without the enlightening of the Spirit, we have only empty doctrines. The truth is conveyed in doctrines, yet the truth in the doctrines can be realized only by the enlightening of the Spirit. When the doctrines become the truth, it brings light, for the truth is the shining of the light. When we see the truth, light shines within us. The purpose of our having truth is so that life would be imparted to us. When the Spirit enlightens us, the doctrines we know become truth, which brings light, and light brings life.
It is difficult to say whether light or life comes first. John 1:4 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” This verse implies that life comes before light. The same order is also implied in the phrase the light of life in 8:12. However, in creation light came first. God created light on the first day, and life did not appear until the third day. The reason it is hard to say whether light or life comes first is that the two are one. When one is present, the other is also present. Nevertheless, we must see that life is the goal. God’s intention is that we would have life. The way to have life is by means of light. It is because God is light that we are able to receive Him as life. In order for Him to be our life, He must first be light to us. In order for us to know and possess Him as life, we must see light. God’s goal is to impart Himself to us as life, but this requires His being light as the procedure.
We need to see why the truth is the necessary step to our receiving God as light. In other words, we need to see why, in addition to God, we need the Bible. Without God, the Bible is not light or life to us. The Bible itself is not the reality. The Bible is God’s speaking, His utterance, and God Himself is the content, the reality, of the Bible. However, without the Bible man could not know God. Without God’s word recorded in the Bible, we could not know God as light or life.
We need to see the importance of God’s word in the Bible. A basic principle in the New Testament is that the word is necessary for believing. Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes out of hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” In other words, believing comes from hearing the word. Moreover, without God’s word in the Bible, there would be nothing to believe in. Thus, John 5:24 says, “He who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life.” In order to understand and believe into God and receive Him as life, we need His word in the Bible. Like electrical wires, which transmit electricity, the Bible transmits God as life.
In order to know the Lord’s recovery in truth, we need to know the Bible not only in the way of doctrine but also in the way of truth. When we know the Bible in truth, we have the shining of light, which causes us to have life. Therefore, how much life we have depends on how much truth we know. An ignorant believer, even if he loves the Lord to the uttermost, cannot have the abundance of life, because he is lacking in truth.
We must spend time in the Word, which will first be doctrine to us. Then the doctrine must become truth to us by the enlightening of the Spirit. There is no need to pray to get doctrine; whoever reads the Bible can get doctrine. However, in order for doctrine to become truth to us, we need to pray much and in the proper way. For this we need to deal with the Lord and be dealt with by Him, and we need to have a clear conscience and a purified mind, will, and emotion. Then we need to open our entire being from our spirit and pray. The more we pray in this way, the more the Spirit will enlighten us to cause doctrines to become truth. Unbelievers and believers alike can read the Bible and learn doctrines. However, in order for doctrines to become truth to us, we need to pray, be dealt with, open to the Lord, and be willing to give up our desires, choices, and preferences, which can be veils to us. Then there will be no shadows, veils, or coverings to frustrate the Spirit’s enlightening, which causes the doctrines we know to become truth to us. The truth is the shining of light, which brings life to us. This is why we need to know the Lord’s recovery in truth.
Paul stresses the matter of truth in his later Epistles, when the church was in degradation. When the church is abnormal and in a time of degradation, there is an urgent need of the truth. This need is met when the doctrines in the Bible become truth to us, for then we are in the light and freed from the darkness of degradation. Because of the situation of Christianity today, there is the urgent need of truth as the shining of light, which will bring in life.
As elders in the local churches, we need to know the truth of the Bible. We must not be content with doctrines, which in themselves are empty and vain. Instead, we must daily pray, open, and spend time to touch the Lord. We must be willing to allow Him to touch us and deal with us, especially with our conscience so that we can hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience (1 Tim. 3:9). Then the doctrines of the Bible will become truth to us. We may come to the meetings, listen to messages, and read the Bible, but if we are indifferent and do not spend time opening to the Lord in prayer, the doctrines will not become truth to us. As a result, we may accumulate much doctrinal knowledge but lack the truth. Doctrines become truth to us only when we mean business with the Lord by touching Him, being willing to be touched and dealt with by Him, and having a purged conscience and an open spirit with a sincere heart that seeks after God’s heart’s desire. If we are this kind of person, the doctrines in the Bible will become truth to us one by one, which will bring us light and life.
Life and truth have one goal — the abundance of life. “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly” (John 10:10). In order to have the abundance of life, we first must read the Bible to learn the doctrines in the Bible. Someone who does not read the Bible cannot be rich in life. Believers who read the Bible only when they feel inspired are spiritually starving; such ones cannot have the abundance of life. However, to read the Bible does not automatically cause us to have the abundance of life. We still need the doctrines to become truth to us. For this reason, the New Testament encourages us not mainly to know doctrines but to fully know and walk in the truth. The apostle John loved the saints in truthfulness (2 John 1; 3 John 1). Because the Christian life is a matter of truth, Christian love must also be a matter of truth. If we do not possess the truth and walk in the truth, we cannot love others in truthfulness. It is possible to love others in darkness, but when we know the truth and walk in the truth, we love in the truth and in light.
The main point we need to see is the way to turn doctrines into life, or put in other words, the way to have the abundance of life. John 7:38 says, “He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” The rivers of living water are different aspects of life, including love, patience, humility, and all the riches of Christ, but we need to see how to practice this, how to cause these aspects of life to flow out of us. These rivers of life flow out through the truth. Actually, every river is a truth. If we do not speak, nothing can flow out. In order to speak, we must know the doctrines and possess the truth. We cannot speak concerning Christ as love or patience if we have no knowledge of the truth concerning the riches of Christ. In order for the riches of Christ to flow out of us as rivers of living water, we must have and speak the truth.
The way to have the abundance of life and to flow out the riches of life is the way of the truth. We first need to know the doctrines. Then as we are open to the Lord and pray much, the Spirit will come to enlighten the doctrines, and they will become truth, which brings light and life. The more truth we have, the more riches of Christ as life we enjoy. Eventually, we will have the abundance of life. The abundance of life is altogether in the truth. When we release the truth by speaking, that is the flowing out of the riches of life. In order to minister life to others, we must speak, and in order to speak, we must read the Bible and study the truth to learn the doctrines. Without the doctrines we cannot have the truth, and without the truth there is no light or life.
The truth is altogether a matter of speaking. Our God is a speaking God. Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “God, having spoken of old in many portions and in many ways to the fathers in the prophets, has at the last of these days spoken to us in the Son.” God’s speaking is first conveyed to us in the form of doctrines, which become the truth to us through the Spirit’s enlightening. The truth is the shining of light, which brings us life. This means that in order to have the abundance of life, we must know the truth.
In order for an elder to be apt to teach, as 1 Timothy 3:2 requires, he must know the truth. An elder does not need to be a gifted teacher but should be apt to teach the saints, as parents should be apt to teach their children at home. Yet even for this kind of home teaching, one must have a certain amount of knowledge. In the local churches the principle is the same — every elder must have adequate knowledge of the truth. The elders also must have an abundance of light and life. Then they will be apt to teach. Not every elder needs to give messages, but every elder must learn to speak in order to teach in small groups and larger meetings.
The Lord’s recovery is absolutely a recovery of life — a recovery to bring us back to the Triune God in order to possess, experience, and enjoy Him as life. The Lord’s recovery is not a matter of miracles, healing, or any kind of activity, movement, or practice, because these things are not the Triune God as life. In order to know the Lord’s recovery, we need to spend time in the Word so that we will know the doctrines, but the doctrines alone are not adequate. We must deal with the Lord, be dealt with by Him, and open ourselves to Him in prayer. In this way there will be no veils, shadows, or frustrations to the Spirit’s enlightening the doctrines we know so that they become truths to us. Because the truths are the riches of the Triune God as life to us, we will have the abundance of life and be part of the Lord’s recovery. If the elders practice this, they will be able to teach not by theological training but by experiencing the Triune God through the word in the Bible. This is what it means to know the Lord’s recovery in life and truth. If the Lord gains the proper eldership among the local churches, He will have a way to go on. If we are faithful to Him, this will be worked out. This is absolutely different from a so-called revival; it is altogether a matter in life and truth.
