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Scripture Reading: 1 Tim. 1:10b; 4:6, 12; 6:3, 11; 2 Tim. 1:7, 13; 2:1, 22; 4:3, 22; Titus 1:9; 2:1
Second Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” This verse is unique in defining the Bible as God’s breathing. We would not normally say that what we speak or write is our breath. However, Paul introduces the thought that the Word of God is God’s breath. The word in the Bible is not simply an utterance; the Bible is the breath and even the breathing of God. When we come to the Bible, we come into God’s breathing. When we enter into God’s breathing, we enter into His presence.
Since the Bible is God’s breathing, the best way to take in the word of the Bible is by breathing. The Bible is God’s breathing out, and we need to breathe it in. Breathing as a physical activity never ceases. Even when we are asleep or sick, we are still breathing. Whether or not we are conscious of it, we unceasingly breathe to stay alive. First Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Unceasingly pray.” This indicates that our praying is our spiritual breathing. The way to take in God’s breath is to breathe by praying.
We breathe in God’s breathing by praying the word of God into us. This is pray-reading. We did not use the term pray-reading until about ten years ago, but a number of spiritual persons in past centuries wrote about reading the Word of God prayerfully, which is pray-reading. George Müller said that in his morning time in the Word, he would read a verse and then turn the words into prayer. Afterward, he would go on to the following verse and continue to pray. He did not separate his reading of the Bible from his prayer; rather, he mingled these two things together.
When contacting the Lord through the Word, we should not separate the Word from prayer. When we read the Word, we may have an inward feeling to pray. Whenever we receive some inspiration from the Word, we will instantly desire to pray. We need to practice to pray every time we come to the Word. We do not need to interpret the Word in order to compose a prayer; we can simply use the words of the Bible as the words of our prayer. To pray the words of the Bible is to breathe in God’s breath. This is a mingling breathing — God is breathing, and we are breathing. God breathes out, and we breathe in. This mingled breathing makes us spiritually healthy.
In his Epistles to Timothy and Titus, Paul used the terms healthy teaching and healthy words six times (1 Tim. 1:10b; 6:3; 2 Tim. 1:13; 4:3; Titus 1:9; 2:1). In order to be physically healthy, we need to take care of our breathing. We also need to take care of our spiritual breathing by breathing in the word of God in the Bible. When we come to the Bible, we need to realize that we are coming into God’s breathing. Because the Bible is living breath, rather than merely studying it, we mainly need to pray over it. When we pray over the Word from deep within, we breathe in the divine breathing. We need to exercise to come into God’s breathing every morning in this way. Deep breathing brings a supply of fresh air into our body and also discharges negative elements, thus cleansing our body. If we would practice to breathe in God’s breathing every morning, our whole being will be cleansed. This is a healthy practice.
When we breathe in God’s word, we do not need to study, learn, or memorize. Too much memorizing can frustrate our breathing because we are exercising our mind rather than our spirit. When we take a breath of fresh air, we do not memorize the air — we simply breathe. Likewise, we need to enjoy breathing in God’s word to be spiritually healthy.
In the Epistles to Timothy and Titus there are certain positive terms used to describe the healthy word, such as the words of the faith (1 Tim. 4:6), healthy words...of our Lord Jesus Christ (6:3), the word of the truth (2 Tim. 2:15), and all Scripture (3:16). However, there are also several negative terms describing things that are versus the healthy word. We need to see these things.
First Timothy 1:6 says, “Some, having misaimed, have turned aside to vain talking.” Vain talk is empty talk. Those who speak in this way have turned aside from God’s economy (v. 4), which is to dispense Christ into others. We need to consider how many of our conversations are vain talk. Other speaking that is versus the healthy teaching includes the law (v. 7), myths and unending genealogies (v. 4), profane and old-womanish myths (4:7), and gossip (5:13). We can see a contrast in 6:3-5, which says, “If anyone teaches different things and does not consent to healthy words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the teaching which is according to godliness, he is blinded with pride, understanding nothing, but is diseased with questionings and contentions of words, out of which come envy, strife, slanders, evil suspicions, perpetual wranglings of men corrupted in mind and deprived of the truth, supposing godliness to be a means of gain.” Second Timothy 2:16-17 says, “Avoid profane, vain babblings, for they will advance to more ungodliness, and their word will spread like gangrene.” Verse 23 says, “Foolish questionings and those arising from an untrained mind refuse, knowing that they beget contentions.”
Such unhealthy kinds of speaking existed in the degraded church at the end of the first century. Under such a poor situation the apostle Paul charged Timothy to refuse, avoid, and even flee these things (1 Tim. 4:7; 2 Tim. 2:16; 1 Tim. 6:11) and to care instead for the healthy words and the healthy teaching (1:10b; 6:3; 2 Tim. 1:13; 4:3). Today we need to refuse, avoid, and flee from negative speaking and receive only the healthy word. The healthy word is always the word of the truth, the words of the faith, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the word of the Scriptures. We should not care for any speaking concerning concepts, opinions, or ways. We should care only for the healthy word.
We also need to see the elements of the healthy word. A physical meal may be composed of three basic elements, such as meat, vegetables, and bread. In like manner, the healthy word is composed of three elements — Christ, His death, and His resurrection. The words of the faith, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, the word of the truth, and the words of the Scriptures always contain these three elements. Meat, vegetables, and bread may be prepared in many different ways, but the basic elements are the same. Likewise, the Bible apparently is composed of various stories, histories, parables, exhortations, teachings, doctrines, and forms. However, the basic contents are always the same — Christ, His death, and His resurrection.
Anytime we pray-read a portion of the Bible, we will receive Christ, the killing power of His death, and His resurrection power. If we pray-read John 1:1, 4, and 14, we will receive the riches of Christ as the Word, who was in the beginning with God, who is God, in whom is life, who became flesh to be our Savior and Redeemer, and who is full of grace and reality. Furthermore, when we pray-read concerning the light of life in verse 4, we will receive the killing of Christ’s death, for the light may expose us concerning a recent failure. Enlightening is the beginning of killing. The Lord within will not allow us to continue pray-reading until we confess our failure and ask for His forgiveness.
Every time I come to the Bible, my natural man is killed. The goal of the Bible is not to correct or adjust us but to kill our natural man. If we are only corrected, this implies that we are basically good but make some mistakes. However, the truth is that our natural man is good not for improvement but only to be killed. The Bible does not improve our natural man. Whether we are naturally good or bad, when we come to the Bible, our natural man will be killed. God does not want bad men or good men; rather, He wants reborn, spiritual men.
In the first few years after I was saved, the Bible gradually dealt with my bad natural man. I was very much adjusted, corrected, and improved. My second sister, who was a teacher in another city, was the first one in my family to be saved, and then I was saved through her prayer. Afterward, she shared a testimony with me about a preacher who had visited her school. She described him as a real man of God who walked slowly and always had a Bible in his hand. After walking a few steps, he would pause, look into heaven, and then walk on. He never said anything quickly. He was always careful and gentle. I was deeply inspired by this testimony. Because I was a quick person, I made up my mind and told the Lord that I would do everything slowly. I had some success. However, later I saw from the Bible that not only the bad aspects of our natural man should be killed but the good aspects also. In the first stage of my Christian life I received correction, but since then I have received the killing of Christ’s death through the word.
The healthy word in the Bible kills our natural man. This killing is sweet and precious. The death of Christ is different from the death of Adam. The death of Adam condemned us, but the death of Christ releases us. Christ’s death is the threshold of resurrection; it ushers us into resurrection. After receiving the killing of Christ’s death when pray-reading the Word, we will also receive His resurrection. In our breathing of the healthy word, we take in the riches of Christ, the killing of His death, and His resurrecting power.
The healthy word with its contents is our safeguard, protecting us from taking in spiritual germs. An eloquent sermon that only excites or entertains the listeners is not a healthy word. Such a word may be likened to an unhealthy meal that makes a person happy but does not nourish him. The spiritually nourishing element is Christ. No matter how much eloquence, excitement, or humor a message may contain, it is not healthy if it does not convey Christ.
Mothers know that serving their children too many sweets will ruin their health and even negatively affect their behavior. Likewise, unhealthy speaking in the church life that does not contain the nourishing element of Christ may be exciting but will cause the saints to become unhealthy.
There is no killing of the cross in unhealthy words. There is no denial of the self and no dealing with the natural man. Without death there can be no resurrection. Without the breaking of the outer man there can be no release of the spirit (2 Cor. 4:16). If our natural man has not been broken, we will release not the spirit but the self. In an exciting message there is no killing. Rather, the flesh is promoted, and the natural man is stirred up. However, the healthy word contains a killing element. Any message without Christ, His death, and His resurrection is not healthy. Healthy words and healthy teaching always convey Christ, the killing of His death, and the power of His resurrection. The Christ in the healthy word includes the riches of Christ; His cross includes the denial of the self, the dealing with the flesh, and the killing of the old man; and His resurrection is the resurrection life.
My burden is to minister not only the food, the healthy word, but also the knowledge of what is healthy so that the saints may be able to discern whether a word is healthy or destructive. The principle is that the healthy word always ministers Christ, His death, and His resurrection — not opinions, concepts, questions, strife, or disputing. The oneness, harmony, and joy among the saints and the churches in the Lord’s recovery will be lost if the saints do not discern and reject opinions, concepts, and disputing that may come from the speaking of certain ones. Unhealthy speaking does not minister Christ. Healthy teaching always refers to the healthy words of the Bible and is always full of Christ. In every healthy message there is the killing of the old man, the flesh, and all natural things. Following the killing, there is the nourishing of the resurrection life. The content of the healthy word should become a God-ordained principle to us. We need to keep the house of God healthy by rejecting anything that is not healthy. We should receive only the healthy word — the words of the faith, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, the word of the truth, and all Scripture.
A particular characteristic of the two Epistles to Timothy is that they contain many imperative words. One such word is 2 Timothy 2:1, which says, “You therefore, my child, be empowered in the grace which is in Christ Jesus.” This word was written because the church was in degradation, and Satan was telling the children of God, “You cannot make it.” In the past some among us have said that we should be liberated from any legalities or standards because we cannot change what we are. However, the Bible says, “Be transformed” (Rom. 12:2). We should not remain in a low condition. We need to be empowered in the grace of Christ. His grace is sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9).
Second Timothy 2:22, another imperative word, says, “Flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” First Timothy 6:11 says, “You, O man of God, flee these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, meekness.” The Bible teaches the young people not to fulfill their lusts but to flee them. The young people need to flee youthful lusts and pursue righteousness and godliness. Our standard is godliness. The two Epistles to Timothy establish a high standard of morality and character. Timothy was a young man. First Timothy 4:12 says, “Let no one despise your youth, but be a pattern to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” Paul exhorted Timothy to be an example. Purity is a high standard. The young people should pursue to be pure in everything, including their thinking, their word, what they look at, their attitude, their motive, their heart, their emotion, and their will.
The words flee, refuse, and avoid are imperatives (6:11; 4:7; 16, 2 Tim. 2:23). Because the Lord lives in us, we should be not cowardly but empowered. The standard should be high among us. The church should have the highest morality, character, and ethics in human society. If the church is a group of loose people, there is no testimony. The New Testament says that the churches are golden lampstands (Rev. 1:11-12). A lampstand is full of light, and gold signifies the divine nature. What a high standard!
We need to receive only the healthy word and have our concepts thoroughly washed from the germs of any unhealthy speaking. If we read the two Epistles to Timothy to find all the imperative words, the Holy Spirit will spontaneously lead us to have a high standard. We should not believe that we cannot make it. We can make it by the Lord’s grace.
Second Timothy 1:7 says, “God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power and of love and of sobermindedness.” Power here refers to our will, love refers to our emotion, and sobermindedness refers to our mind. God has given us a spirit that empowers our will, strengthens our love, and sobers our mind. This is a brief yet marvelous picture of the kind of person we should be. We should not be wishy-washy like jellyfish; rather, we should have a strong spirit with a strong will, a loving heart, and a sober mind. If we are such persons, Satan can do nothing to us and will be scared away. We need to be empowered in the grace which is in Christ Jesus and declare, “God has not given me a spirit of cowardice, but of power and of love and of sobermindedness.”
Second Timothy 4:22, the conclusion of these two Epistles, says, “The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.” The Lord with our spirit is grace. It is in this grace that we need to be empowered.
The nature and the content of the Lord’s recovery is life, which is Christ. The ground, the standing, of the Lord’s recovery is oneness. The constitution of the recovery is the truth. Thus, the recovery is built with Christ as life upon the genuine oneness and according to the truth. The nature of the Lord’s recovery should not change from life to a movement. The ground of the recovery should not change from oneness to divisions. The constitution of the recovery should not change from truth to falsehood. The Lord is bringing us back to life, oneness, and truth. The Lord’s recovery is not a work or a movement; rather, it is a testimony of life. Unlike religious Christianity, the Lord’s recovery is not a matter of activities, movements, ways, organizations, or concepts. In the Lord’s recovery we have only Christ as life. Rather than a work or a movement, we should have a spontaneous testimony of life. We simply need to live Christ, grow Christ, and produce Christ. This is our daily living and our testimony. The Lord’s recovery is to express Christ and bring His testimony to maturity.
