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Scripture Reading: John 1:17; 8:32; 14:6a, 17; 17:17; 1 Tim. 2:4; 3:15; 4:3; 2 Tim. 2:15, 18; 3:8; 4:3-4
The two Epistles to Timothy were written during a time of the church’s degradation. These two books are full of light; several extraordinary, new, and fresh terms are used. For instance, 1 Timothy 3:15 mentions “the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.” Here we can see that the church is a house and also a pillar and base. In ancient times buildings were supported by pillars, which were held by bases. Paul says that the church is such a pillar and base to bear the truth. The church being the house of the living God indicates that it is related to life, and the church being the pillar and base of the truth indicates that it is related to reality. In a time of the church’s degradation, what is needed is life and truth.
What we need today is not forms, activities, movements, organization, vain doctrines, or empty knowledge but only life and truth. In the church life we need to pay our full attention to life and truth, or reality, which are both Christ Himself. To withstand the shaking of storms, the churches in the Lord’s recovery need the solid foundation of life, but they also need the pillar of the truth. We must not only be living but also properly equipped to speak the truths.
We first need to know the meaning of the word truth in the Bible. The same Greek word in the New Testament is translated as “truth” or “reality” in various places. John 1:17 says, “The law was given through Moses; grace and reality came through Jesus Christ.” The law was given; reality, or truth, came. John 8:32 says, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” The Lord said in 14:6, “I am the way and the reality and the life.” Verse 17 mentions the Spirit of reality. Finally, 17:17 says, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” It is clear from these cases that truth in New Testament usage means not doctrines or principles but reality, actual fact.
John 1:17 contrasts the law and reality. The Old Testament age was a time of law; the New Testament age is a time of reality. What is in the law is not reality but only a shadow. The term the law and the prophets is used in the New Testament to refer to the Old Testament—Genesis through Song of Songs being the law, and Isaiah through Malachi being the prophets. The law refers especially to the five books from Genesis to Deuteronomy. What is mentioned in these books is shadows and types. For instance, Genesis 2 mentions the tree of life, but John 15:1; 11:25 and 14:6 reveal that Christ is the real tree of life. Genesis 3:15 prophesies of the seed of the woman, who would bruise the head of the serpent. These words, spoken by God after man’s fall, are the first preaching of the gospel. Eve probably thought that this prophecy was fulfilled with the birth of Cain. However, the real seed of the woman, Christ, was born of the virgin Mary. The shadow is in Genesis 3; the reality is in the New Testament.
The passover lamb is first mentioned in Exodus 12:3. In John 1:29, when John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” The lamb in Exodus 12 is only a shadow; the real Lamb of God is Christ. In Exodus 25 through 30 God commanded the children of Israel to build a tabernacle for Him. The fulfillment of the type of the tabernacle is revealed in John 1:14, which says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” Christ is the reality of the tabernacle. Furthermore, the burnt offering, meal offering, sin offering, trespass offering, peace offering, and freewill offering described in Leviticus are types of Christ, who is the reality of all the offerings.
Furthermore, the real life, light, love, holiness, and righteousness are Christ. Apart from Christ, these are mere empty terms. A person’s name is empty and meaningless until the person himself appears. Likewise, the law was empty until Christ, who is the reality, came (John 1:17). The Jews dealt with the empty law for fifteen hundred years. When Christ came, the reality of all that their forefathers had studied appeared. The person of Christ is the reality of many otherwise empty terms in the Old Testament. This illustrates what is meant by truth in the New Testament—that which is real. Christ is the one reality in the universe.
In John 14:16-17 Jesus said, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, even the Spirit of reality.” The word another indicates that there was already one Comforter. Christ, who is the reality, was the first Comforter. However, when He lived among His disciples on the earth, He could not enter into them. Therefore, another Comforter needed to come—the Spirit of reality. Because Christ is reality (v. 6), the title the Spirit of reality refers to the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit is the second Comforter. However, the second is actually another form of the first—the Spirit is another form of Christ. In His incarnation Christ took one step to become a man, and in His resurrection He took another step to become the Spirit. First, God became the flesh (1:14); then the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Thus, the life-giving Spirit is the reality of Christ.
Without the Spirit, Jesus would be only a name. The Spirit is the person of Christ, the reality of Christ. For this reason, 1 Corinthians 12:3 says, “No one can say, Jesus is Lord! except in the Holy Spirit.” When we call a person’s name, the person comes, for the person is the reality of the name. Similarly, when we call on the Lord’s name, we receive the Spirit, because the Spirit is the person of Christ. Jesus is the name, and the Spirit is the person, the reality.
As the house of the living God, the church should be full of life, and as the pillar and base of the truth, the church should be full of reality. Doctrines are easily understood. However, conveyed in the doctrines is the truth, the reality. What is needed to apprehend the truth is not mere knowledge or mental comprehension but revelation. We learn doctrines by reading or listening, but we see the truth, the reality, by revelation.
It is not sufficient to understand doctrine; we also need to see the truth. For instance, many Christians study the Bible to try to discern various matters related to baptism, such as who can be baptized, who can baptize others, what kind of water to use, and other aspects of the outward form of baptism. These are all doctrinal matters. Among Christians, different practices related to baptism come from different understandings of the doctrine of baptism. However, the doctrine is not the reality.
The truth, the reality, of baptism is the death and resurrection of Christ (Rom. 6:3-4). When we baptize people, we should exercise our faith in the power of the Spirit and help the ones being baptized to realize that they are being baptized not only into the water but also into the Spirit and into the death and resurrection of Christ. Being put into death and resurrection through baptism changes a person. Someone who has been baptized has died and resurrected. The reality of the death and resurrection of Christ is applied in the Spirit to a person who is baptized. This is the truth of baptism. Doctrines lead to differences in opinion and endless arguments. When we care for reality instead of doctrines, there is no argument. Regardless of the outward forms of baptism, the reality of baptism is being put into the death and resurrection of Christ.
The Lord’s table is another matter concerning which Christians hold different doctrines. Christian scholars have studied many doctrines concerning the Lord’s table, such as how many cups to use, whether to use wine or grape juice, what kind of bread to use, and when and how often to have the table. Even after much biblical and historical study, it is impossible to reach a definite conclusion on some of these issues. However, we should not care for the study of the empty doctrines. Instead, we need to see the truth, the reality, of the Lord’s table.
The truth of the Lord’s table is that the loaf signifies Christ’s physical body, which He gave on the cross for our sins, and also His mystical Body, which includes all His believers. When we partake of the Lord’s table, we are participating in the Lord’s Body. This requires not knowledge but the exercise of our spirit by faith. When we see the Body, signified by the bread, we are reminded of the Head. Where the Body is, the Head is also. The separation of the body and the blood, signified by the separation of the bread and the cup, displays the death of Christ. Furthermore, resurrection is seen in the loaf, for a loaf is not one grain of wheat but many grains produced in resurrection and blended together into one. In Christ’s resurrection we were begotten as the many grains and formed into His one Body.
When we come to the Lord’s table, we should not merely keep a doctrinal form. Instead, we need to see the truth, the reality, of the Body, the Head, Christ’s death, and His resurrection. At the Lord’s table we are participating in the Body under Christ as the Head, and we are realizing His death and resurrection. The Lord’s table displays Christ’s death and resurrection to the universe and declares that we are one with Him by eating Him and living by Him. This is the truth of the Lord’s table.
In addition to reading the Bible to learn the doctrines, we need to open to the Lord to see the truth, praying, “Lord, I need Your enlightenment, revelation, and vision so that I may see the reality in every doctrine.” As the pillar and base of the truth, the church should stand firmly, bearing all the reality—the reality of life, light, power, holiness, salvation, redemption, and many other items. The Word does not say that the elders or the apostles are the pillar and base of the truth; rather, it says that the church is the pillar and base of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15). This means that everyone in the church, including the sisters, the young ones, and the new ones, should know and bear the truth.
We all need to know the truth of matters such as reconciliation, justification, sanctification, renewing, transformation, and conformation. The young saints may sing and release their spirit in the meetings, but if no truth is taught in the meetings, the release is vain. After being in the meetings for a few years, the saints should know the truth. The meetings should be full of reality, full of truth.
The top universities do not give students a good time; rather, they give them a hard time for four years. For students to have a hard time means that they will receive a valuable degree after four years. If a student has a good time every day, his or her education will mean nothing. Having a good time and being entertained are vanity. The church life is not for vanity but for reality. In every meeting we should receive some reality. We should care not for having a good time but for learning the truth. We first need to read and study the Bible. We then need to open to the Lord and pray, looking to Him for His enlightening. Eventually, we will receive a vision and see the truth.
I was born into a Christian family in China. From my youth I heard speaking concerning redemption and salvation. However, these matters were taught only as empty terms. Many Western missionaries whom I heard in China preached doctrine; few preached reality. Many Christians I knew as a youth were not truly saved. They learned doctrines but lacked reality.
In the province of Hunan there were several Lutheran congregations, and all the Lutheran pastors knew and preached the doctrine of justification by faith. One such pastor was also an opium smuggler. A Norwegian missionary named Marie Monsen came to his city preaching not doctrine but the reality of regeneration. After giving a message, she asked this pastor in front of several members of his congregation if he had been regenerated. He said that he had been regenerated, but Miss Monsen said that the appearance of his face and the tone of his voice showed that he had not been regenerated. He was filled with shame and anger. That night he even began planning to kill Miss Monsen. However, while he was plotting, the Holy Spirit spoke to him, saying, “Look how evil you are! It is true that you have not been regenerated.” As soon as he began to open, the gift of repentance was bestowed on him. He repented with tears and was truly regenerated. When he returned the next day and gave his testimony, a genuine revival began and hundreds more experienced regeneration. This case illustrates the difference between doctrine and reality.
The reality of regeneration is Christ, who today is the life-giving Spirit. A person must repent and open to receive the Spirit of reality, who is Christ Himself. When we receive the Spirit, we have the reality of regeneration. Christ is also the reality of holiness. If Christ as the life-giving Spirit in our spirit is daily wrought into our being, we will have not only the objective doctrine of holiness but also the subjective experience of sanctification. Thus, sanctification is Christ as holiness wrought into our being. The experience of Christ in sanctification is the reality of holiness.
Today in the Lord’s recovery we need both the proper doctrines and the truth, the reality. We should know the doctrines and also experience the reality by the enjoyment of Christ as the life-giving Spirit. Christ to us is not only the objective Christ in the third heaven but also the subjective Christ as the life-giving Spirit indwelling our spirit to be wrought into every corner and avenue of our inward being. Christ experienced as the Spirit in our spirit is the reality of every human virtue, including patience, humility, holiness, righteousness, and kindness. True patience and humility are Christ wrought into our being.
We need to spend much time reading the Word, first to receive nourishment, and second to gain knowledge of the doctrines. Then we need to pray that the Lord would grant us light to see the reality conveyed in the doctrines. The light needed to see the truth may come to us days, months, or even years after we read a portion of the Word. As a young believer, I studied the Bible intensely for seven and a half years, from 1925 through 1932, and learned many doctrines. Even today, forty-eight years later, those doctrines become truth under the Lord’s enlightening.
When we read the Bible, we may find several key verses concerning a certain matter, such as holiness and sanctification. Then we will have a general sketch of the doctrinal knowledge of this matter. If we seek the Lord in prayer and are open to Him, the light will eventually come to enable us to see that holiness and sanctification are Christ Himself, who today is the life-giving Spirit. We will not only know the doctrine of holiness and sanctification, but we will also see the reality of these matters. Once we receive the Lord’s enlightening to see the reality, we have much of the reality. The next step is for the reality to become our experience. If we are open, the life-giving Spirit will have the opportunity to work something of what the Lord has shown us into our being. Then the revelation will become our experience, and we will have the full reality.
Reality comes from knowledge of the Bible plus heavenly enlightenment and personal experience. We all need to gain reality in this way. To see the reality, we first need to spend time in the Word to be nourished and to become familiar with the doctrines of the Bible. The basis for enlightening is our knowledge of the doctrines. Then we need to daily walk in Christ, looking to Him for enlightenment. We do not know when, where, or how the light will come. Once we see the reality by the Lord’s light, the reality will become our experience. Then we will have life and truth.
Each saint should be full of life and truth. When every brother and sister is full of life and truth, the church will be strong as the house of the living God and the pillar and base of the truth. This is what is needed in the Lord’s recovery today. May the Lord have mercy upon us all and grant us the sufficient grace to have the proper practice to be filled with life and truth.
