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In this chapter I would like to consider some verses from 1 Timothy. Verse 4 of chapter 2 says that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.” Then 1 Timothy 3:2 says that an overseer must be apt to teach. Verse 9 of the same chapter says that a deacon must be holding the mystery of the faith, that is, of what we believe, in a pure conscience. In verses 15 and 16 of chapter 3 are four main things: the church as the house of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth, the great mystery of godliness, and the manifestation of God in the flesh. These four things are wrapped up with the truth. Actually, the truth is the very element of this portion of the Word. First Timothy 5:17 says, “Let the elders who take the lead well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and teaching.” To labor is to toil. An elder should be such a one who labors in word and teaching. In 1 Timothy 6:3 Paul tells us that we have to restrict ourselves to the healthy words, especially the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which is according to godliness, that is, God expressed through us.
I hope that you would study all the crucial verses in the New Testament concerning the divine Word. A number of these crucial verses concerning the Word are listed on this page. In these verses, first, the Word of God is actually God Himself. “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1). In John 1:14 this Word became flesh. God’s incarnation is the embodiment of the divine Word. God as the Word needs an embodiment, and this embodiment is a living person, Jesus Christ our Lord. He is not only the embodiment of God but also the embodiment of God as the divine Word.
In John 6 the Lord told us that the words spoken by Him are spirit (v. 63). The Word was God, the Word became embodied, and the words spoken out of the mouth of this embodiment are spirit. Then this word is life. “The words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). The divine Word is God as the Spirit and as life. The Word is also the seed of life sown into a certain kind of soil (Mark 4:14; Matt. 13:19). Peter says that we were regenerated through this word (1 Pet. 1:23). The word is the seed of life, and this life regenerated us. In Matthew 4:4 the Lord said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.” This was spoken by the Lord as a quotation of the Old Testament (Deut. 8:3), telling us that man’s real food is the word of God. The New Testament tells us further that this word is the implanted word (James 1:21). This also denotes something of life. Second Thessalonians 3:1 says that the word of God may run and be glorified. The Word is a living person. Paul also asks the Colossians to pray for him “that God would open to us a door for the word” (4:3). The word needs a door, and much prayer is needed to have the door opened for the word. Eventually, the word is a sword, a weapon, for fighting (Eph. 6:17). Last, the book of Revelation mentions several times the word of God and the testimony of Jesus (1:2, 9; 6:9; 20:4). John was exiled on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Even the martyrs were martyred because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
In Acts we are told three times that the word grew and that the word multiplied (Acts 6:7; 12:24; 19:20). A lifeless thing can never grow, but the word grows. Actually, the multiplication of the disciples depends upon the growth of the word. However, many who read Acts would mostly pay their attention to the Spirit. No doubt, the Spirit is stressed in Acts. But those who received the Spirit did not go out and preach the Spirit. Rather, they preached the word. Many verses in Acts tell us that what was preached and taught by the first group of believers was the word. The scattered ones in Acts 8 went out to bring the good news of the word (v. 1). People believed in the word, received the word, and the word became so prevailing in that it grew and multiplied. In Acts 12 there is a very meaningful contrast. King Herod was persecuting the church and especially Peter, but eventually Herod died (v. 23). Right after his death Acts 12:24 says, “But the word of God grew and multiplied.” The persecutor died, but the word grew.
I want to impress you that the divine Word is what we really need, and we should be one with the Word, full of the Word, saturated with the Word, and constituted with the Word. Then when we minister, we minister the Word by the Spirit. We do not minister the Spirit by the Word, but we minister the Word by the Spirit. In chapter 4 of Acts, while the disciples and the apostles were praying, they were filled with the Spirit and began to speak the word with boldness (v. 31). They did not teach or preach the Spirit; the Spirit was only the power for them to preach the word.
Hebrews 6:4 tells us that the believers are partakers of the Holy Spirit. Then the next verse says they taste two things, the good word of God and the powers of the age to come. Here are two kinds of tasting. The first class of tasting is of the good word of God. What is the good word of God? Hebrews 6:1 speaks of “the word of the beginning of Christ.” In Hebrews 5:13-14 there is the word of righteousness, which is not milk but solid food. This indicates that the good word of God in chapter 6 is the milk that is for the infants in chapter 5. This corresponds with Peter’s word in 1 Peter 2:2: “As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word.” The good word of God is milk, liquid food. But there is still another higher category of the word of God, the word of righteousness.
In the Life-study of Hebrews we have covered this thoroughly. The good word of God refers mainly to the gospel concerning the Lord’s earthly ministry from His incarnation up to His resurrection. This first part of the gospel concerning Christ’s earthly ministry is considered as the good word of God. The Hebrews, the receivers of this book, had the good word of God, but they were short of a further taste, the taste of the word of righteousness, referring to the heavenly ministry of Christ. The book of Hebrews conveys to us the heavenly ministry of Christ. It talks about Christ passing through the heavens (4:14) and entering into the heavenly tabernacle to be the heavenly minister and the heavenly High Priest (8:1-2) to minister heaven into us that we might be a heavenly people answering the heavenly call (3:1). The ministry of Christ has two parts. From His incarnation to His resurrection is His earthly ministry. After He ascended to the heavens, He began His heavenly ministry. Today’s preaching in Christianity very rarely touches this heavenly ministry. What is preached is at most just the good word of God but not the word of righteousness. The word of righteousness is the solid food, referring not to the Christ on this earth but to the Christ in the heavens. The taste of the powers of the age to come does not go with the word of righteousness but with the good word of God, referring to the beginning of the gospel. Try to study all these verses in the New Testament concerning the word.
My burden is to share with you concerning the biggest shortage among us today. The biggest shortage is that the elders are short of the full knowledge of the truth. I appreciate 1 Timothy in that it deals with the matter of the truth. In John 17:17 the Lord prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” The truth, the word, not only regenerates, feeds, and enlightens, but it sanctifies. God desires all men, after being saved, to come to the full knowledge of the truth. No need to say all men; I even doubt that all the elders in the recovery have come to the full knowledge of the truth. We should not have merely the knowledge of the truth but the full knowledge, the complete knowledge, the perfect knowledge, of the truth. In the 1984 elders’ training thirty-six messages were given. I really doubt that you have entered into the full knowledge of those truths that were delivered to you then. If we have never been constituted with this knowledge, then how could we speak? How could we preach? How could we teach?
Paul charges the elders in the church in this way: if you are going to be an elder, you must build up a habit to teach, to be apt to teach. Being apt to teach is a kind of habit. How about the elders today? Are you apt to teach? This really concerns me. Please give me mercy to say that I do not care for how much Spirit you have; I care for how much you can teach. I do not care for how much gift you have gained or how much you can speak in tongues; I care for how much you can teach the solid truth. Do you not realize that without the Word the Spirit is just in vain? You can never separate the Word from the Spirit. First, in John 6:63 we are told that the Lord’s words are spirit. Then in Ephesians 6:17 we are told that the Spirit is the word. According to the Greek text, the antecedent of the relative pronoun which in this verse is the Spirit, not the sword; “the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God.”
Generally speaking, those in the Pentecostal movement do not pay attention to the Word. Their attention is fully occupied by their thought of the Spirit. They do not see that without the Word, the Spirit is in vain. We all have to realize the Spirit comes after the Word. The Gospel of John begins with the Word. In the beginning was the Word, not the Spirit, and the Word was God. This Word that was God became flesh, the very embodiment of the Word. Then when He speaks, His words are spirit.
We have been in the Lord’s recovery for over sixty years. We were not raised up in a nonsensical way without any knowledge of the truth. The Lord raised us up altogether in the way of the truth. The missionaries who were there in China testified that among all the Christians in China we were on the top in knowing the truth. They were even surprised and marveled that we, the young Chinese natives, could expound the Bible in such a wonderful way.
In 1934 when I was staying in Shanghai, the church there decided one day to have a special gospel preaching meeting. I was happy, waiting to hear Brother Nee preach the gospel. Just a short time before the meeting I got a note from him, delivered by another brother. The note said, “Witness, please preach the gospel tonight.” I was staying above the meeting hall. When I received the note, we were getting ready to eat, and after eating we would go to the meeting. By that time no one knew where Brother Nee had gone, so I had no choice but to give the message.
Shortly before the meeting started, the burden came to me to preach the gospel from John 16, using the verses concerning the coming of the Spirit of reality to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment (vv. 8-11). The light came, and I went to the meeting. I spoke on this portion of the Word, telling them, “You can see three things in this portion of the Word: sin, righteousness, and judgment. You all have to realize sin refers to one person, righteousness refers to another person, and judgment refers to a third person. Each of the three things refer to one person, respectively. Sin refers to Adam. You were born in Adam, and you were born in sin. That is your status. Righteousness refers to Christ who died for your sins and who resurrected and went to the Father for your justification. You were born in Adam to have sin. Now you need to have a transfer. Get out of Adam, and get into Christ. Then you will have righteousness instead of sin. If you do not do this, you are just waiting for another person, Satan. Judgment refers to Satan, and Satan will be cast into the lake of fire. That will be his destiny. If you do not have the transfer out of Adam into Christ, you will share the judgment of Satan for eternity.”
While I was speaking, I looked around, but I could not see Brother Nee. Much later as we were taking a walk one day, he turned to me and said, “Witness, that night when you gave the message on John 16, I was standing outside the door behind where you stood to give the message. Probably very few, if any, Christian teachers in our country can teach people the Bible in your way. I encourage you to teach people the Bible in this way.” I say this to show you that we were raised up by the Lord by the way of the Word, not by the way of the Spirit “in the air.” We were raised up by the Lord in the solid Word. If I, as a preacher, have some power, then that power must be in the Word. Most of you were attracted by the ministry of the Word, not by the Spirit.
But thank the Lord, where the Word is, there is the Spirit. The Word is the embodiment of the invisible, abstract, and mysterious Spirit. The Spirit is too mysterious, too abstract, too invisible. Without the Word as the embodiment of the Spirit, no one can touch the Spirit. Therefore, as elders, I encourage you all, I even beg you all to get yourselves saturated, constituted with the Word. Your entire being must be a constitution of the holy Word. For more than sixty years I have been in the Word. This is why the ministry is here, the ministry of riches, of life, of power, and of light.
I believe this is why the apostle Paul, after writing Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Hebrews, wrote 1 Timothy in such a way. He was so experienced. He knew the secret of how to take care of the church under degradation. For this reason, in this book he stresses the truth, the word. He says that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth” (2:4). Paul also says that the church, which is the house of the living God, is the pillar and base of the truth (3:15). The truth is the mystery of godliness, and this mystery of godliness is the manifestation of the Triune God. This means that, as a church, surely all the members have to know the manifestation of the Triune God, to know the mystery of godliness, to know the truth. The truth in 1 Timothy 2:4 is not the truth mainly concerning baptism nor the truth mainly concerning the gifts but the truth concerning the Triune God manifested in the flesh.
Can the elders teach such a truth concerning the embodiment of the Triune God and the realization of this embodiment, the ultimate consummation of the Triune God? You may think that it is wonderful to teach a little about justification by faith, about holiness, and concerning the gifts. That is not the central lane of God’s New Testament economy. The church is the pillar and base of the truth. It is not mainly the truth of items such as the presbytery, baptism, or even the smaller item of the miraculous gifts. The truth, of which the church is the pillar and base, is a great truth — the manifestation of the Triune God in the flesh through the church. A proper church is the manifestation of the Triune God in the flesh.
We should take care of such a truth. The Lord’s recovery has brought us thus far to this point. Items like baptism and the gifts are more than elementary, something in the stage of kindergarten. Where are we now? We are in the embodiment of the Triune God realized by the all-inclusive Spirit who is the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God. You may say that you are in the recovery, that you are one with the ministry, and that you are for the Lord’s testimony today, but where are you actually? I propose that we have a time for desperate prayer. It is worthwhile to fast and pray. Fast and pray that the Lord would open your eyes to see such a vision of the manifestation of the Triune God in the flesh through the church. Then you will have a vision, and this vision will govern, direct, control, preserve, and protect you from being led astray. Then you will have the solid word to minister to the churches.
This is what we all need. We are no longer in kindergarten. The new believers among us, no doubt, are still in kindergarten, but as a whole, the recovery today is not in kindergarten. We have carried out the standard education passing through kindergarten, elementary, junior high, and even high school. Today we are at least in college. To stress anything low is to bring the recovery back to kindergarten. The standard of education in the Lord’s recovery is not that low today. Fifty-two years ago it was, but not today. I say this based on the messages I delivered to you in the 1984 elders’ training. I encourage you to get a copy of these messages and at least to read through them once, but I also hope that you would study them, especially the first two books on the ministry of the New Testament and on the vision of the Lord’s recovery. If possible you should study all four books. I believe that anyone who reads these messages fairly would say that this is the Lord’s up-to-date present word to us.
I would ask the elders, who should be apt to teach and who should labor in word and in teaching, what they would teach. To answer this question you have to go back to some of the verses in 1 Timothy. The truth in 1 Timothy 2:4 refers to the mystery of godliness, which is the manifestation of the Triune God in the flesh. Paul also charged the deacons to hold the mystery of the faith (3:9). If I were to ask some deacons to tell us what the mystery of the faith is, they might not be able. Is faith in this verse the believing ability, the believing act, the so-called subjective faith, or is this objective faith, referring to the things that we believe in? Even some elders may not know this.
This is why I have a deep and heavy concern for all the brothers in the leadership. Do we all really labor? To labor is not just to work but to toil. If the elders would be laboring in the Word and in teaching, I believe that all the local churches would be wonderful. To labor in the Spirit and forget about the Word results only in confusion and vanity. The Southern Baptists would not allow their pastors to emphasize the Spirit. They labor on the Word and forget about the Spirit. In the Pentecostal movement they labor on the Spirit and forget about the Word. Which result is higher? The Southern Baptists are the largest denomination in the United States. This is the result of taking the Word first.
We would not take the way of the Southern Baptists or the way of the Pentecostals. The way we would take is to focus on the Word by the Spirit. This is the right way. In the Bible the Word is first and not the Spirit. The entire New Testament points to the Word first; then you come to the Spirit. “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1). Do not forget this. Then out of this Word comes the Spirit. The Spirit is the consummation of the Word. The Spirit is not the foundation or the source. We have to see this. I like the Spirit because the Spirit is my enjoyment; the Spirit does every work for me. With the Word, however, I have to labor. I have to labor on book after book, chapter after chapter, and item after item. To pick up all the verses on the divine Word from the twenty-seven books of the New Testament requires a lot of labor. This is what you should do. Do not expect that you could build up the church “in the air.” The church could only be built up on the truth. Otherwise, it could never be the pillar and base of the truth. We all have to labor in the Word and in teaching, and we all have to hold the mystery of the faith, the mystery of what we believe in.
The cause of all the problems among us has been the shortage of the full knowledge of the truth. A shortage of the knowledge of the truth means ignorance, blindness, and darkness. Without electricity in the room enabling the lights to shine, we would make a lot of blunders in the darkness; we would do a lot of nonsensical things. This is why I have a real burden that we would all reconsider our situation. It is altogether a pitiful thing to remain in darkness. This is why we began this training with Acts 26:19 and Proverbs 29:18. We need the heavenly vision because without this vision we will run wild. We need the full knowledge of the truth.
Let us now consider the practicality of being constituted with the truth. The highest truth in the Lord’s recovery is the truth concerning the Trinity. This is the highest truth of the Bible. The first noun used as a subject in the Bible is God. “In the beginning God created” (Gen. 1:1). God in this verse indicates the Trinity since the Hebrew word for God (Elohim) is plural in number. In that same chapter God said to Himself, “Let Us [plural] make man in Our image” (v. 26). The Trinity is also here. Also, the structure of the entire New Testament is the Triune God. This is the highest truth. Because this truth is mysterious, however, it is hard for people to apprehend. For this reason, clever people try their best to avoid it. However, years ago in the recovery the Lord began to show us that the Trinity is not just a doctrinal matter. The Trinity is for us to enjoy our very God. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14). This is not a doctrine but the very Trinity for you to enjoy — Christ, God, and the Spirit. This one verse involves these three divine persons. Many Christians only have an objective Triune God far away from them. They do not care for the experience of the Triune God, yet they use 2 Corinthians 13:14 as a benediction given on Sunday mornings.
The Lord has shown us that the Divine Trinity is not for doctrine. He is for our enjoyment, and He has begun to bring us into the enjoyment of Himself. Since the recovery came to this country and I began to minister, many messages have been given on this one thing. Some even consider that the Divine Trinity is my hobby. Though I have spoken much and have printed many messages, I am a little concerned for you brothers. I doubt that many of you have entered into the complete truth of the Divine Trinity.
As a young boy, the first time I ever went to any kind of Christian chapel was on Christmas Eve. The first things I saw were Santa Claus and some big socks, Christmas stockings. My mother told me that this was the celebration of Christmas concerning the Lord’s birth. She had already told me how Jesus was born of a virgin and how He was put into a manger. In all of Christianity they celebrate the Lord’s birth, and they teach the Lord’s birth, but nearly no one has ever studied what the conception is. In our training on Luke we defined how the conception was initiated by the divine element entering into the womb of the human virgin to be mingled with the human element. Eventually, what was born was a God-man, born of two elements, the divine and the human. Things like this we have studied and have put in writing. Suppose you would be asked what the conception of Jesus Christ is. You may say, “Well, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit in a virgin.” Then some thoughtful person would ask, “What does this mean?” You might answer, “Well, it’s hard to say.” This is not the adequate answer. We are talking about the incarnation of the Triune God. We have to know how He was incarnated, and we have to teach people. This has very much to do with the laying of a good foundation for the saints to enjoy the processed Triune God.
Even as a young boy, I was told by my mother that Jesus was so good, that He did a lot of miracles, and that He was so humble and meek. But nearly no one, according to my knowledge, ever studied the human living of Jesus. Was that a man’s living or was that God’s living? If you say that was God’s living, then I would ask, “What kind of God? Was that just the Son or the Father or the Spirit?” By His mercy we have studied to such an extent that we can say that His living was the living of a God-man who is the Son of God with the Father by the Spirit. Just these two prepositional phrases, with the Father and by the Spirit, require at least one week of study. You have to find the verses that prove that when Jesus was living on the earth, even as a carpenter in a poor house, He lived as the Son with the Father (John 8:16, 29; 16:32). You also have to be able to prove that He lived by the Spirit (Matt. 4:1; 12:28; Luke 4:18a). There is the need of such a thorough study of the holy Word.
Then when He reached the age of thirty and before He began to minister, He was baptized. After being baptized in water, He stood up, the Holy Spirit as a dove descended upon Him, and the Father spoke from the heavens (Matt. 3:16-17). Was Jesus not conceived of the Holy Spirit? Was He not born of the Holy Spirit? Then why at His baptism did the Holy Spirit descend upon Him and the Father speak from the heavens? It is not so easy to answer this question. But thank the Lord, in His mercy He showed us. In His light we have picked up two terms, the essential Trinity and the economical Trinity. The Lord Jesus was born of the Spirit essentially, but the Spirit’s descending upon Him and the Father’s speaking from above was something economical.
Then following this, He worked in the same way as He lived — with the Father by the Spirit. Then He went to the cross. Who went to the cross? Who died there? Who was crucified? Who was nailed on the cross? Could God be nailed there? On what basis could you have the boldness to tell people God was crucified there? Acts 20:28 says that God obtained the church through His own blood. If God never died on the cross, how could He shed His blood? You may say that you cannot understand this. Actually, there are many things that we cannot understand. Even you cannot understand yourself. You cannot understand the food you eat every day. Do not take the excuse that you cannot understand. That God has shed His blood is a fact recorded in the Bible.
First John 1:7 speaks of “the blood of Jesus His Son.” The blood is of a person with two elements. As Jesus, He is a person who is constituted with the human element. As the Son of God, He is constituted with the divine element. Without the divine element His redemption could never be eternal, and the efficacy of the power of His redemption would not be ensured. As a man, He could die only for one person, but as the eternal God with the eternal element, His death is for millions of people. His death is an eternal death, His redemption an eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12). He was dying with the eternal, divine element. Hebrews 9:14 tells us that He offered Himself through the eternal Spirit. What does this mean? Is this the eternal essential Spirit or the eternal economical Spirit?
We need to jump out of the shallow way of understanding the truth. We should not be those “skating on the ice” of the truth. We need to break the ice and get into the depths of the truth. This requires much labor. You need to study the Bible, to study the proper reference books, and to study thousands of pages in the Life-study messages. You need to study the messages, not just to read through them as if you were reading a newspaper. You have a good heart to put the Life-studies on your shelves, but what has entered into you? What has been constituted into your being?
In the last chapter of Revelation the Lord told us He would come quickly (22:12). Two thousand years have passed, and He has not come yet. Who delayed Him? We delayed Him. The believers delayed Him by ignorance, by not having a full knowledge of the truth. Under the ignorance of all the believers, the Lord just could not find a way to go on. This ignorance is still prevailing today. Darkness is everywhere. Where is the sky clear, and where is the real enlightenment? There may be a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of excitement, but no light. This kind of excitement is under darkness, and anything that is under darkness is nonsense.
According to this present situation, the Lord has nearly no way to go on. The first thing He has to do is to shine. In His old creation the first item that He brought in was light. “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3). We need the enlightenment. His word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psa. 119:105), and the opening of His words gives light (v. 130). We need much proper apprehension of the word of the truth, which is the real light to us. We need the enlightenment; then we could see the real significance of His incarnation, of His human living, and of His death. On the cross He died an all-inclusive death with seven aspects (see Message 53 of the Life-study of Luke). Could you speak this without any preparation? To do this you need a constitution of all these points of the truth. Then it is so easy for you to present the seven aspects of the all-inclusive death of Christ.
Instead of caring for this, we may care for the shallow things, the superficial things. Who cares for the deep things today? Saints, are we really in the Lord’s recovery? Do we really mean business? If so, then why do we not have any interest in these deeper things of the divine economy? It is not a small matter to know the death of Christ in an all-inclusive way, but who would labor to study these things? Actually, someone has labored already. All these matters have been put into print. It only requires you to have a heart to spend about twenty minutes, then you would get every aspect of this all-inclusive death constituted into your being. You read about the aspects of the Lord’s death in the Life-studies, but nothing is left within you. These things come and go. This is the tragedy in the Lord’s recovery.
Anyone who teaches without the proper knowledge of the truth will make a lot of trouble. After having cataracts and cataract surgery twice, I am now unqualified to drive a car. If you ask me to drive, I will drive in a nonsensical way. For you to travel to various places to minister the Word without the proper knowledge of the truth is like a blind man driving a car. You are traveling and doing the work, but you do not know how much damage you have caused. You are enthusiastic to do the work of the Lord, but how do you do the work? With what do you do the work? What do you preach? What do you teach? These are big questions.
In the same principle, what do the responsible ones teach the saints in their locality? I would propose that we all take care of and study three items. The first is that the Triune God is embodied in Christ and that the Spirit is His realization and also the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God. The second is the seven major steps taken by our Triune God: incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, breathing the Spirit, ascension, and pouring out the Spirit. Then let us study as the third item, the finalization of the intensification of the Triune God as the sevenfold intensified Spirit. I hope that all the elders would be constituted with these truths. Then we could be apt to teach these things. This does not mean that we no longer need the lessons for the new beginners. We are still bringing forth a number of new ones, so we need lessons for them. Brothers, will you take this proposal? I assure you that it will cost you at least two or three months to get into these major and basic truths.
The brothers who are going out as the gospel team in these days have set up a good example. These brothers are going out, not to preach a shallow gospel but rather to preach the higher gospel, even to preach the Triune God to people. The entire situation of Christians has remained in shallowness for centuries. To continue in that is easy, but for us to go out to preach the gospel with the deeper truths is somewhat of an uphill battle. The shallow things could never stir up people’s attention. Especially in such a leading country as this, people are tired of listening to the old shallow things. Due to this, many preachers tried their best to create stories and illustrations to stir up people’s interest. Actually, not much reality of the bequests of the New Testament is preached as the glad tidings. But now, the brothers going out have preached the riches of the bequests of the New Testament. It is no wonder that so many love to hear this. Thank the Lord for this.
What I desire to see is not just some brothers going out as a team to preach these deeper things but that all the elders would rise up to learn the deeper things and to teach the deeper things. I assure you, you will see the result. You will labor less and reap more. When you sow the rich seed, your harvest surely will be rich. If you sow the poor seed, regardless of how much you labor, the harvest eventually will not be that rich because what you sow is poor. Do not take the easy way or go the shortcut way. It is wise to take the proper way. Today in the Lord’s recovery the proper way is to care for these deeper truths.
The deeper truths in 1 Corinthians do not include Christ as our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption. These items are all mentioned in chapter 1 of 1 Corinthians (v. 30). In chapter 2 Paul speaks of “the depths of God” (v. 10). Surely in the following chapters there are things deeper than righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. For instance, 6:17 tells us that we can be joined to the Lord as one spirit. How deep this is! Years ago I read quite a few books on Christ being our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption. Probably even in the first year after being born again, I read books of this kind, but I never read a book telling people that they could be one spirit with the Lord. Then in chapter 7 Paul says, “I give my opinion” (v. 25). It seems that this is very shallow, yet in this chapter a deeper truth is conveyed. Even in giving his opinion, eventually in the last verse of the chapter, he says, “I think that I also have the Spirit of God” (v. 40). Could you explain the truth that is here? How could giving one’s opinion be having the Spirit of God? This is a deeper truth. Even the headship taught in chapter 11 is much deeper than righteousness. Could you explain how God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman (v. 3)? This is also a deeper truth.
This book of deeper truths also contains a lot of shallow things, such as lawsuits, fornication, and idol worship. I read books concerning these things, but very few books have come out that tell us all these deeper things. In chapter 10 is the table of the Lord, and in chapter 11 is the Lord’s supper. There is a difference between these two things. How could you have the fellowship of the blood of Christ by taking the cup of wine? How could you have the very fellowship with all the saints by partaking of the bread? This is much deeper than Christ being our righteousness. Then, going on further, you have the deeper truth concerning Christ becoming a life-giving Spirit (15:45). Who understands this? Who today is teaching that we can live in resurrection?
Furthermore, because the Christians lack a view of the deeper truths, they interpreted chapters 12 and 14 in a very shallow way. If you have the view of the deeper truths, you can see that what Paul is talking about in these two chapters is not that shallow. Could you tell me what the difference is between the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge (12:8)? These are the first two aspects of the manifestation of the Spirit. The two highest aspects of the manifestation of the Spirit are the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. The third one is faith, the fourth is healing, the fifth is miracles or works of power, the next is the discernment of spirits, and the last are tongues and their interpretation. The first two are the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge, and the last two are tongues and interpretation of tongues (vv. 8-10). Could you explain why Paul puts tongues and interpretation of tongues as the last two items and why he exalts the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge to be on the top? To speak in tongues is a shallow thing, but to give a word of wisdom or a word of knowledge is much deeper. Of course, this knowledge is not the knowledge of science or of politics but the knowledge of God’s New Testament economy. To speak the word of wisdom, you need a lot of experience of the all-inclusive Christ. This is why we may be able to speak in tongues and practice so-called healings, but we cannot speak the word of wisdom or the word of knowledge, because this is much higher and much deeper. It is easy to be an elementary student in kindergarten, but to be one in graduate school is not that easy. To speak the word of wisdom and to speak the word of knowledge is like being in graduate school.
The word of wisdom is the word concerning Christ as the deeper things of God predestined by God for our portion (1:24, 30; 2:6-10). The word of knowledge is the word that imparts a general knowledge of things concerning God and the Lord (8:1-7). The word of wisdom is mainly of our spirit through revelation; the word of knowledge is mainly of our understanding through teaching. The former is deeper than the latter. However, both of them, not the speaking in tongues nor any other miraculous gift, are listed as the first and topmost aspects of the manifestation of the Spirit, because both are the most profitable ministries or services for the edification of the saints and the building up of the church to carry out God’s operation.
In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul says, “Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation” (v. 26). In chapters 12 and 14 Paul was trying his best to uplift the Corinthians from their low estate to a higher one. The Corinthians were too low and too shallow (3:2-3). In these days, in the Lord’s recovery, we should try to leave our kindergarten state. Why would we not go further and higher? We surely need to advance.
The problem with the Corinthians was the same as that with the Hebrews. In Hebrews, as I mentioned already, Paul says clearly that we need to advance, to leave the word of the beginning of Christ (6:1). According to the entire book of Hebrews, the word of the beginning of Christ concerns Christ’s earthly ministry. Although we may consider His conception or His incarnation so deep, Paul says that is something at the beginning. You have to go higher from the earth to the heavens, from the good word of God to the word of righteousness, from the word as milk to the word as solid food. Paul says clearly that milk is for infants and that solid food is for the mature ones (5:13-14). Whether we are the infants or the mature ones depends upon what kind of food we take. If you still take milk, you are just an infant. Are we still in that stage, not able to take any solid food? We should have left that stage already.
Therefore, we must advance. Learn of the brothers on the gospel team to forsake the shallow gospel, and learn to preach the high gospel. When I was giving messages on the river crossers in the Hebrews training, I said that today there is a need for a group of people to go out to preach these things recorded in Hebrews as the high gospel (Life-study of Hebrews, msg. 14). Paul says that he was commissioned to announce the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel to the Gentiles (Eph. 3:8). He did not preach the shallow things concerning heaven and hell. He preached the unsearchable riches of Christ not only as truths to the believers but as the gospel to the Gentiles.
Brothers, this is my burden — let us go on. W. H. Griffith Thomas published a book on Hebrews with the title Let Us Go On, and Andrew Murray published a book on Hebrews entitled The Holy of Holies. My burden is just to fellowship with you and beg you to go on, not just from the outer court to the Holy Place but even from the Holy Place to the Holy of Holies. Let us go on. We need to advance. In our ordinary, regular meetings all these deeper things should be taught, not the shallow things.
Since 1962 some have mostly been remaining for twenty-three years in the same things. Merely to be teaching people the things around the altar, the cross of Christ, is still too shallow. We need to go on to the deeper truths of our very God who is triune, to get into His foremost and highest attribute, that is, His Divine Trinity. His Divine Trinity is much higher than His power, His love, or even His life. We need to learn of His trinity, the Godhead, how the Father is embodied in the Son, how the Son is realized as the Spirit, and how such a Spirit is the realization of the Son and also the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God. We need to learn these things, not only for our knowledge but also for our enjoyment. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14). If you would enjoy this benediction, surely you must know the Divine Trinity, the Godhead.
Christians today are shallow because they would not pay the price to labor adequately. These riches are all here in the Bible, just like gold in a mine, but nearly no one would labor to dig them out. Just to buy a few pieces of gold is not our job. Our job is to dig the gold mine. We are to do the mining work. This is the Lord’s recovery. I hope, brothers, that in your localities you would not repeat the old things. We should learn to go on, to learn the things in the heavenlies, and to learn to speak these higher and deeper things. The book of Revelation, for example, has never been opened up to the Lord’s children as it is today. This is now an absolutely transparent book to us. All the points have been covered in the Life-study messages and the footnotes of the Recovery Version. If you want to know them, you can go to the printed pages, and you will get them. This will require your time. To dig out the gold is not that easy. I would encourage all of us to go on in this way. Otherwise, the Lord would not have much of a way to go on; we will delay Him, retain Him, hold Him back. Some of us even repeat the things we taught twenty-three years ago. What we are teaching holds people back. In education if you hold even a problem student in the same grade for a couple of years, he will be spoiled. You even have to encourage the problem student to go to the next grade. We should go further. Let us go on. There is real hope for us to go on in His recovery.
