Scripture Reading: John 18:37b; Eph. 2:2; Rom. 12:2; 1 John 5:19b-20
Ⅰ
The Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the divine truths as revealed in the Word of God—2 Tim. 3:16:
A
Truth is the Triune God with His word—John 1:1, 14-17; 14:6, 16-17; 15:26; 16:13; 17:17; 18:37b.
B
Many truths in the Word have been lost, misunderstood, and wrongly applied; thus, there is the need of the Lord’s recovery—2 Tim. 2:15.
C
The recovery has the highest truth—the truth that is the consummation of the truths recovered during the past centuries—vv. 2, 15.
Ⅱ
In John’s writings the Greek word for truth (aletheia) denotes all the realities of the divine economy as the content of the divine revelation, conveyed and disclosed by the holy Word—John 17:17; 18:37b:
A
Truth is God, who is light and love, incarnated to be the reality of the divine things for our possession—1:1, 4, 14-17.
B
Truth is Christ, who is God incarnated and in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, as the reality of God and man, of all the types, figures, and shadows of the Old Testament, and of all the divine and spiritual things—Col. 2:9, 16-17; John 4:23-24.
C
Truth is the Spirit, who is Christ transfigured, as the reality of Christ and of the divine revelation—14:16-17; 15:26; 16:13-15.
D
Truth is the Word of God as the divine revelation, which reveals and conveys the reality of God and Christ and of all the divine and spiritual things—17:17.
E
Truth is the contents of the faith (belief), which are the substantial elements of what we believe, as the reality of the full gospel—Eph. 1:13.
F
Truth is the reality concerning God, the universe, man, man’s relationship with God and with his fellow man, and man’s obligation to God, as revealed through creation and the Scriptures—Rom. 1:18-20; 2:2, 8, 20.
G
Truth is the genuineness, truthfulness, sincerity, honesty, trustworthiness, and faithfulness of God as a divine virtue and of man as a human virtue, and as an issue of the divine reality—3:7; 15:8; 2 Cor. 11:10; 1 John 3:18.
H
Truth denotes things that are true or real, the true or real state of affairs (facts), reality, veracity, as the opposite of falsehood, deception, dissimulation, hypocrisy, and error—Mark 12:32; John 16:7; Rom. 1:25.
Ⅲ
The divine truth is absolute, and we must be absolute for the truth and for upholding the absoluteness of the divine truth—3 John 3-4, 8:
A
To be absolute to the truth means to set aside feelings, to ignore personal relationships, and to not stand for the self—Matt. 16:24-25; 1 Pet. 1:22:
１
The truth is the unique standard, and we must stand on the side of the truth to oppose ourselves; upholding the absoluteness of the truth is possible only when we are delivered from ourselves—John 8:32; 2 John 2; 3 John 3-4.
２
If the truth is not something absolute for us, we do not know God, and we do not know God’s word—2 Thes. 2:10; 1 John 5:20.
３
If we are not absolute for the truth, we will sacrifice God’s truth for ourselves or our own desires—Prov. 23:23.
４
We should honor God’s truth, take the way of the truth, and not compromise the truth in any way—2 Pet. 2:2.
B
We should be absolute for both the objective truths and subjective truths— John 8:32; 14:6:
１
The truths in the Bible have both an objective aspect and a subjective aspect; the objective aspect is for the subjective aspect—Rom. 8:34, 10; Col. 3:1; 1:27.
２
The objective doctrines are for the subjective truths, and the subjective truths are for the producing of the church—2 John 1-2, 4; 3 John 3-4, 7-9a.
３
The Lord desires to recover the subjective truths in the Holy Scriptures, especially the subjective aspect of the truth concerning the Triune God and the church—John 1:14; 14:16-20; 1 Tim. 6:15-16; 2 Tim. 4:22; 3:15-16.
４
Many crucial subjective truths have been buried, but in the Lord’s recovery these truths have been resurrected to become recovered, resurrected truths— John 17:17; 18:37b.
Ⅳ
When we testify to the truth in “the age of this world,” we are one with the victorious Christ in fighting against Satan, the devil, the father of lies, “the ruler of this world,” “the god of this age” who “has blinded the thoughts of the unbelievers”—Eph. 2:2; John 8:44; 12:31; 2 Cor. 4:4:
A
The devil’s nature is a lie and brings in death and darkness; with darkness is falsehood, the opposite of truth—John 8:44:
１
The devil “does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him”— v. 44.
２
The satanic darkness is versus the divine light, and the satanic lie is versus the divine truth—1 John 1:6.
３
As the divine truth is the expression of the divine light, so the satanic lie is the expression of the satanic darkness—John 8:12, 44.
B
“The god of this age” is Satan, the deceiver, the ruler of this present age; he dominates today’s world and hunts for man’s worship by blinding the thoughts, the minds, of the unbelievers—2 Cor. 4:4:
１
Blinded in 2 Corinthians 4:4 means to veil a person’s understanding.
２
Thoughts in this verse denotes the understanding of the mind.
C
“The whole world lies in the evil one”—1 John 5:19b:
１
The entire satanic world system and the people of the world, the fallen human race, are lying passively under the usurping and manipulating hand of Satan, the evil one.
２
In Greek the evil one refers to one who is pernicious, harmfully evil, one who influences others to be evil; this evil one is Satan, the devil, in whom the whole world lies—v. 19b.
３
This evil system, the kingdom of darkness, was judged when its ruler, Satan, was cast out by the Lord’s crucifixion in the flesh—John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11.
D
This world in Ephesians 2:2 refers to the satanic system, which is composed of many ages:
１
An age is a part of the world, the satanic system.
２
The age in Ephesians 2:2 refers to the present and modern appearance of the system of Satan, which is used by him to usurp and occupy people and keep them away from God and His purpose.
３
The present evil age in Galatians 1:4 refers to the religious world, the religious course of the world.
E
If we want to testify to the truth in the present age, we must obey Paul’s command in Romans 12:2: “Do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind”:
１
To be fashioned, conformed, is to assume an outward expression that does not come from within us nor is representative of our inner being as a regenerated child of God—John 1:12-13.
２
We should not be assimilated by the world to the extent that we who have been separated from the world unto God have the same image as this age.
３
We need to be renewed in the spirit of our mind, allowing the mingled spirit to spread into our mind, thus becoming the spirit of the mind and causing our mind, emotion, and will to be renewed by a new element being wrought into our inner being—Eph. 4:23; 1 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 12:2.
F
“Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth”; being girded with the truth is for the strengthening of our entire being—Eph. 6:14a.
G
We can testify to the divine truth because we know the truth by being in the true One—1 John 5:20:
１
The Lord Jesus, the Son of God, has come and has given us an understanding that we might know the genuine and real God—John 1:14, 18; 1 John 5:20.
２
First John 5:20 twice speaks of “Him who is true,” the true One, the True:
ａ
The term the true One refers to God becoming subjective to us, to the God who is objective becoming the true One in our life and experience.
ｂ
The true One is the divine reality; to know the true One means to know the divine reality by experiencing, enjoying, and possessing this reality.
ｃ
Verse 20 indicates that the divine reality, which is God Himself, has become our reality in our experience; the God who was once objective to us has become our subjective reality—v. 6.
H
Because we know the true One and the Spirit of truth (v. 20; 4:6) and because Christ, the truth, is living in us and the Triune God is operating in us to make us God-men—the reproduction of Christ, the first God-man—we can testify to the truth as the Lord Himself did when He said, “For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, that I would testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37b).
Morning Nourishment
John 18:37 …Jesus answered,…For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, that I would testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.2 Tim. 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman, cutting straight the word of the truth.
The Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the light of the truth. In the past sixty years the Lord has been opening up the Bible to us day by day, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse.
The most urgent need on this earth today is the truth of this age. The Lord has placed the responsibility of spreading the truth upon our shoulders. Although we do not have a large number of serving ones, we should each pick up this burden to learn the truth, to preach it everywhere, and to bring ten others into the knowledge of the truth and perfect them to do what we are doing. If we do this, then in three to five years there will be a tremendous multiplication and increase among us. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 5, “Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel—the Four Great Pillars in the Lord’s Recovery,” pp. 383-384)
Today’s Reading
Today the whole earth needs the truth of the Lord that is in His Word. Regrettably, however, the Bible, the divine Word, has not been fully opened to the world…. At the most, Christians are able to boast that the holy Word of God has been published into many languages and propagated over the whole earth. Yet they are not able to say that after reading the Bible, regardless of which language, they have been able to truly understand the deep mysteries within it….The mysteries of the truths in the Bible are very deep and profound. We need the enlightening of the Spirit of God to understand them, and we also need to spend time to dig them out (cf. 1 Cor. 2:10-14).The Lord’s recovery is the recovery of all the truths in the Bible that were lost….The Lord’s recovery depends upon the recovery of the knowledge of the truth.
The New Testament says repeatedly that we should know the truth. Moreover, when referring to this matter, Paul repeatedly says that we should come to the full knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Tim. 2:25; 3:7; Titus 1:1). This means that we must know not just a small part or one aspect of the truth but rather the truth in its entirety and in all its aspects. Paul also said that the church is the pillar and base of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15). This implies that the truth in the Bible is like a large building that is not one-sided but complete on all sides with a foundation and a roof. If we are going to spread the Lord’s recovery today, we must know the truth and be able to expound the truth. For this reason we must know every side of the truth without any biases or particular leanings.
The truth not only has many sides but also includes many crucial items. For example, the Bible speaks about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the believers, the church, the kingdom, and the New Jerusalem. The Bible begins with God, then continues with God’s creation, man’s fall, God’s redemption, and God’s entering into man to be man’s life for man to be regenerated, sanctified, renewed, transformed, conformed to His own image, and ultimately brought fully into glory. In the midst of all these matters, the Bible also shows us the believers and the corporate church. This corporate church brings in the kingdom, consummating in the ultimate expression, which is the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. All these aspects are included in the truths of the Bible.
We must diligently learn all these things, obtain the knowledge of them, and be able to speak them clearly to others. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 5, “Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel—the Four Great Pillars in the Lord’s Recovery,” pp. 393-394)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1984, vol. 5, “Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel—the Four Great Pillars in the Lord’s Recovery,” chs. 3-4; CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “The Healthy Word,” ch. 2
Morning Nourishment
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us,…full of grace and reality.16:13 But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality; for He will not speak from Himself, but what He hears He will speak; and He will declare to you the things that are coming.
17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
If we would understand the meaning of truth in the Bible, we need to go beyond the traditional and common understanding of what truth is. The traditional view concerning the truth in the Bible as correct doctrine is not accurate, and the common denotation of the word should not be applied to the word truth as found in the Bible.
The Greek word aletheia means truth or reality (versus vanity), verity, veracity, genuineness, sincerity. It is John’s highly individual terminology, and it is one of the profound words in the New Testament. This word denotes all the realities of the divine economy as the content of the divine revelation, contained, conveyed, and disclosed by the holy Word. (Life-study of 1 John, pp. 78-79)
Today’s Reading
According to the New Testament, truth is first God, who is light and love, incarnated to be the reality of the divine things—including the divine life, the divine nature, the divine power, the divine glory—for our possession, so that we may enjoy Him as grace, as revealed in John’s Gospel (John 1:1, 4, 14-17).Second, truth… denotes Christ, who is God incarnated and in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Col. 2:9), to be the reality of: a) God and man (John 1:18, 51; 1 Tim. 2:5); b) all the types, figures, and shadows of the Old Testament (Col. 2:16-17; John 4:23-24); and c) all the divine and spiritual things, such as the divine life and resurrection (John 11:25; 14:6), the divine light (John 8:12; 9:5), the divine way (John 14:6), wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). Hence, Christ is the reality (John 14:6; Eph. 4:21).
Third, truth is the Spirit, who is Christ transfigured (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17), the reality of Christ (John 14:16-17; 15:26) and of the divine revelation (John 16:13-15). Hence, the Spirit is the reality (1 John 5:6).
God is the truth, the reality, of the divine things for our possession. Therefore, we need to possess God as the reality and then enjoy Him as grace. Hence, the divine reality is actually God Himself. He is the reality of all the divine things. Reality is Christ as God incarnate…. In the Old Testament we have many types, figures, and shadows. Christ is the reality of them. In the Bible we also read of many divine and spiritual things, such as life, light, wisdom, and righteousness. Christ Himself is the reality of all these things. Therefore, when we read the word truth or reality in the New Testament, we need to realize that it refers first to God and also to Christ.
We have pointed out that truth is God, Christ, and the Spirit. Therefore, truth is the Divine Trinity. Actually the three of the Trinity are all one reality. Having seen that truth is the Triune God, we may go on to point out that truth is also the Word of God as the divine revelation, which not only reveals but also conveys the reality of God and Christ and of all the divine and spiritual things. Hence, the Word of God also is reality (John 17:17). The Word is the explanation of the Triune God. This means that the fourth aspect of what the truth is, the Word, is actually the explanation of the first three aspects of the truth, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Therefore, reality is God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, and also the divine Word. (Life-study of 1 John, pp. 79-81)
Further Reading: Life-study of 1 John, msgs. 5, 7, 9-11,17-18, 28,32,39-40; CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision,” chs. 1, 3, 6, 8-10, 12-13
Morning Nourishment
Eph. 1:13 In whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation…2 Cor. 11:10 The truthfulness of Christ is in me…
1 Pet. 1:22 Since you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned brotherly love, love one another from a pure heart fervently.
First Timothy speaks of the pillar of the truth (3:15)…. A pillar is something immovable. It cannot go up or down…. If we are not sober, the truth will not have any effect on us. The truth cannot be entrusted to a person who walks according to his feelings. This is a great test. A man must stand on the side of the truth to oppose himself. Only by this can he maintain the truth instead of himself. Those who have never been dealt with do not know what the truth is. Some people lower the truth a little when they are wrong, and lift up the truth a little when they are right. This means that they are like elevators. The truth goes up and down with them. Only those who have dealt with themselves are able to maintain the truth. The reason for so much darkness today is that man sacrifices the truth and forces the truth to yield to him. If you can take the truth as the unique standard and if you have the courage to say that since the Lord has done such and such a thing, you admit that you are wrong, new light will come, and a new way will be opened to you. (CWWN, vol. 57, pp. 136-137)
Today’s Reading
According to the New Testament, truth is also the contents of the faith (belief), which are the substantial elements of what we believe, as the reality of the full gospel (Eph. 1:13; Col. 1:5). This is the objective faith, our belief. The Word is the revelation and explanation of the Trinity, and this Word has contents. In brief, these contents are the contents of the New Testament and also the contents of our Christian faith. Therefore, the contents of the New Testament and of our Christian faith are also the truth, the reality.In the Bible truth is also the reality concerning God, the universe, man, man’s relationship with God and with one another, and man’s obligation to God, as revealed through creation and the Scripture (Rom. 1:18-20; 2:2, 8, 20). We simply need to come to the Scriptures, for in the New Testament we have the truth concerning God, the universe, and man. We also have the truth regarding man’s obligation to God and his relationship with God and others. This truth is revealed partially in God’s creation, and it is revealed fully in the Scriptures.
In the New Testament the Greek word for truth, aletheia, also denotes the genuineness, truthfulness, sincerity, honesty, trustworthiness, and faithfulness of God as a divine virtue (Rom. 3:7; 15:8), and of man as a human virtue (…2 Cor. 11:10…) and as an issue of the divine reality (John 4:23-24…). John 4:23 and 24 say, “But an hour is coming, and it is now, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truthfulness, for the Father also seeks such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness”…. In John 4:23 and 24 truthfulness refers to the result, the issue, of God being reality to us. When we enjoy God as our reality, this enjoyment will have a certain outcome, and this outcome is truthfulness, reality. Actually, this outcome of enjoying God as our reality is Christ coming forth from us. When we enjoy the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—as our reality, that is, when the Divine Trinity becomes a reality to us for our enjoyment, this enjoyment issues in a certain kind of virtue. This virtue is the Christ experienced by us, the Christ who is the fulfillment of all the offerings. (Life-study of 1 John, pp. 81-83)
Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 40, “What Shall This Man Do?” ch. 10; Life-study of 2 John, msgs. 1-2; Life-study of 3 John, msgs. 1-2
Morning Nourishment
3 John 3 For I rejoiced greatly at the brothers’ coming and testifying to your steadfastness in the truth, even as you walk in truth.Col. 3:1 If therefore you were raised together with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
1:27 …God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery,…Christ in you…
The truths in the Holy Scriptures are always of two aspects: the objective aspect and the subjective aspect. We have to be clear that all the objective doctrines are for the subjective experience. If we pay attention only to the objective doctrines and neglect the subjective aspect, we will not be able to fulfill God’s eternal purpose, which is that He be expressed through the church. The objective doctrines are for the subjective truths, and the subjective truths are for the producing of the church…. The practical church life is an issue of our experience of the subjective truths. When we have the experience of the subjective truths, the church is spontaneously produced. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The Subjective Truths in the Holy Scriptures,” p. 109)
Today’s Reading
Furthermore, all the subjective truths are linked to the Spirit and life. The Spirit and life are the substance of the subjective truths. If you take away the Spirit and life, there will be no subjective truths. Objective doctrines are composed of letters, whereas subjective truths are constituted with the Spirit and life, not with letters. Without the Spirit and life you do not have subjective truths. Therefore, it is by the Spirit and life that the church is produced. Because we live by the Spirit and in life, we have the experience of the subjective truths and therefore have the church life.Concerning God, there are two sides in the revelation of the Scriptures….Objectively speaking, first, God is God. He is the God who is high above in the heavens with glory and majesty….Second, He is our Creator….Third, He is the sovereign Master…. Fourth, He has become our Redeemer…. Fifth, He is our good Shepherd, and we are His flock….The shepherd loves the sheep, and the sheep also love the shepherd. Nevertheless, to the sheep, the shepherd is objective. Sixth, He is our Master. He owns us, and we serve Him.
However, in the Scriptures there is also the subjective aspect concerning God. First, God is our Father. This is subjective because He has given us His life and nature. Second, He is the life-giving Spirit. As the Spirit, He enters into us just like air. This is also subjective. Third, He is our life….It is only by coming into us to live in us subjectively and to be mingled with us that He can be our life. Fourth, He is light. In the Scriptures this light is called the light of life….This is not an objective light outside but a subjective light inside. Fifth, He is our breath. Sixth, He is our living water and food to be taken into us. All these are subjective.
Yes, on the objective side, He is the Lord in heaven, who is above all and who is dignified and great with majesty and glory. However, on the other side, this Lord is actually in me, speaking to me, fellowshipping with me, walking with me, as well as supplying, supporting, and comforting me all the time. When I am empty within, He fills me. He is truly my life within, and He is my inward supply.
This subjective viewpoint tells us over and over again that God is not only the God who is high above. Rather, He is in us today to be our breath of life, our living water, and our nutritious food. He does not want to be merely high and great. Rather, He desires to come into us to be our enjoyment. The more we enjoy Him, the more joyful He is. He is in us; He is one spirit with us; we have His life, nature, and essence. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The Subjective Truths in the Holy Scriptures,” pp. 109, 99-100, 103, 106)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1977, vol. 3, “The Subjective Truths in the Holy Scriptures,” chs. 1-2
Morning Nourishment
1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth.5:19 …The whole world lies in the evil one.
Rom. 12:2 And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect.
To lie is of Satan. He is the father of liars (John 8:44). His nature is a lie, and it brings in death and darkness. With darkness is falsehood, the opposite of the truth. The satanic darkness is versus the divine light, and the satanic lie is versus the divine truth. As the divine truth is the expression of the divine light, so the satanic lie is the expression of the satanic darkness. If we say that we have fellowship with God, who is light, and walk in the darkness, we lie, we are in the expression of the satanic darkness, and we do not practice the truth in the expression of the divine light. (Life-study of 1 John, pp. 64-65)
Today’s Reading
Paul tells us not to be “fashioned according to this age” [Rom. 12:2]….The age is the present, practical world life, which is the opposition to and substitute of the church life. The entire world is a Satanic system, a system constituted by Satan. The Greek word for world, cosmos, denotes an organization, a system. Satan has systematized every person and every item of human life. This world system is composed of many ages. Just as the universal church is composed of many local churches, so the world is composed of many ages. Every local church is a part of the universal church, and every age is a part of the world. Each age has its modern fashion. The English word modern is an equivalent of the Greek word rendered “age.” The Greek words translated as “Do not be conformed to this age” may be translated as, “Do not be modernized.” Hence, to be modernized means to be fashioned, conformed according to the present age. Since an age, being the present, practical world life, is a part of the world system, you cannot be in the world without being in one of the ages. You cannot touch the world unless you touch one of the ages. Therefore, in order to forsake the world you must also forsake the age. The changes in the age of the world system can be illustrated by the changes in ladies’ hairdos. [Many] years ago…it was common for women to arrange their hair into a high tower, the higher the better….Each age has its fashion and style.The world opposes the church, and the ages oppose the churches. If we mean business to have the church life, we must give up the age. Since the present age opposes the church life, we cannot follow the age and be fashioned according to it and still truly experience the Body life. A person who is possessed by the modern age may attend the Sunday meetings, but he cannot practice the church life. If we want the Body life, the practice of the church life, we must not follow this age nor be conformed to it. This is the reason that Paul told us not to be conformed to this age.
We should not be conformed to the age, but transformed by the renewing of our mind (Eph. 4:23; Titus 3:5). To be conformed to the age means to adopt the modern fashions outwardly; to be transformed is to have an organic element wrought into our being to produce a metabolic change inwardly. We need to be transformed by the renewing of our mind….The mind is renewed not only by outward teachings, but by the element of Christ being added to it. When the Lord Jesus spreads Himself from our spirit into our mind, our mind will be renewed. By the renewing of our mind our soul is metabolically changed. In this way we experience transformation in our soul, a necessity for the church life. If we intend to practice the church life, we need to experience such a transformation in our soul by the renewing of our mind. (Life-study of Romans, pp. 299-301)
Further Reading: Life-study of Romans, msg. 25; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 7-8, 10
Morning Nourishment
Eph. 6:14 Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we might know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
For us to gird our loins is to strengthen our entire being. Our whole being needs to be strengthened with truth. This strengthening is not for sitting, but for standing.
According to the way the word truth is used in Ephesians 4 (vv. 15, 21, 24, 25), truth in 6:14 refers to God in Christ as reality in our living, that is, God realized and experienced by us as our living. This is actually Christ Himself lived out by us (John 14:6). Such truth, such reality, is the girdle that strengthens our whole being for spiritual warfare. Our living must have a principle and a standard. This is nothing less than God Himself expressed in our living in a practical way. When such a truth girds our loins, we are made strong for the purpose of standing. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 537-538)
Today’s Reading
Suppose, however, that your daily living is far below the standard of the truth as it is in Jesus. Instead of being able to stand and to withstand in the evil day, you will flee. Because in your daily walk there is no testimony and no expression of God, you do not have the strength to stand against the stratagems of the devil. If our daily living is loose, we are not able to stand against the powers of darkness. In order for us to stand, our daily living must be according to the principle of the truth and up to the standard of the truth….This truth is God Himself expressed as the principle of our daily walk, as the standard of our daily living, and as the pattern of our life.The truth with which we are girded for spiritual warfare [in Ephesians 6:14] is actually the very Christ we experience. In Philippians 1:21 Paul says, “To me, to live is Christ.” This Christ whom Paul lived was his girdle of truth. This Christ was God expressed and revealed in Paul’s daily walk. Because Paul’s daily living was conformed to the pattern of Christ, he had the strength to face all opposition and adverse circumstances. Because Paul had been girded about with truth, he had the strength to stand. (Life-study of Ephesians, p. 538)
[In 1 John 5:20] the Greek word translated “true” is alethinos, genuine, real (an adjective akin to aletheia, truth, verity, reality—John 1:14; 14:6,17), opposite of false and counterfeit. Actually, the true One is the reality. The Son of God has given us an understanding so that we may know—that is, experience, enjoy, and possess—this divine reality. Therefore, to know the true One means to know the reality by experiencing, enjoying, and possessing this reality. First John 5:20 indicates that God has become our reality in our experience. The Son of God has come through incarnation and through death and resurrection and has given us an understanding so that we may experience, enjoy, and possess the reality, which is God Himself. Now the God who once was objective to us has become our subjective reality.
When John says that we are in the true One, he is making a crucial point. Not only do we know the true One, and not only do we experience, enjoy, and possess Him as the reality, but we are in this reality. We are in the true One. If we are not in God, we cannot say from experience that to us He is true. Of course, He would still be true in Himself, but we could not testify that in us He is true. But since we are in the true One, to us He is the true God. Furthermore, Christ is eternal life to us. If we were not in Him, Christ would still be eternal life in Himself, but He would not be eternal life to us. Because we are now in Him, to us Jesus Christ is eternal life. (Life-study of 1 John, pp. 351-352, 355)
Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 20, 47, 64