徒十六6~7　圣灵既然禁止他们在亚西亚讲道，……他们试着要往庇推尼去，耶稣的灵却不许。

　　 9　在夜间有异象现与保罗：有一个……人站着求他说，请你过到马其顿来帮助我们。

　　〔行传十六章六至十二节指明〕保罗这个人……里面也有难处。圣灵是要他往前扩展召会，他却不懂圣灵的意思。正在进退两难的时候，夜间来了一个异象，要他到欧洲的马其顿（9~10）。这是我们作工的人常有的难处，当我们到一个地方作工，住久了安定之后，就不太肯动。

　　保罗若没有被圣灵征服，召会就不能到欧洲去。……召会要得着扩展，就必须先冲破犹太教这极大的捆绑；也必须冲破人的意见，还必须冲破人的自己和老旧的观念。召会的扩展，常会遇见三层难处。第一是外面的，第二是同工之间的，第三是人的自己和老旧的感觉。召会早该到了欧洲，乃是因着各种难处才迟误了。召会扩展的最后一道难处，或说关卡，就是你我自己。若是你我一直在老旧的情感和关系里，召会的扩展就遥遥无期；这是需要异象的。当这三道关卡全冲破了，召会就能扩展（召会的历程，五一至五二页）。

　　Acts 16:6-7 ...Having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia,...they tried to go into Bithynia, yet the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

　　9 And a vision appeared to Paul during the night: A certain man...was standing and entreating him and saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us.

　　Acts 16:6-12 indicates that even Paul had problems within. The Holy Spirit wanted him to go out to spread the church, but he did not understand the leading of the Holy Spirit. As he vacillated between going forward or going back, a dream came to him in the night telling him to go to Macedonia in Europe (vv. 9-10). This illustrates a common problem among the Lord's workers. Once workers come to a place for a time and settle down, they do not want to move.

　　If Paul had not been subdued by the Holy Spirit, the church could not have spread to Europe....For the church to spread, the bondage of Jewish religion, human opinions, and the self with its old concepts must be broken. The spread of the church often encounters these three problems. The first problem is outward, the second is between the workers, and the third comes from the self and old human feelings. The church should have spread to Europe much sooner, but these problems delayed its spread. The final problem in the spread of the church is the self. If we stay in our old feelings and relationships, the spread of the church will be delayed indefinitely. To break out of the self, we need a vision. When we break through, the church spreads. (Three Aspects of the Church, Book 2: The Course of the Church, pp. 43-44)

　　保罗的老旧观念，不只在他第二次出门时显出，并且在他第三次出门时更显明。当保罗在哥林多写信给罗马召会时，他里面有一个感觉，想到罗马去看看，并且有意到西班牙去（罗一15，十五23、28）。在使徒行传中，他也有这种感觉（十九21）。这实在是圣灵的意思，与召会的扩展非常有关系。圣灵对保罗的启示，乃是要他到西方去扩展召会。

　　保罗〔第三次旅程〕差不多仍是到那些老旧的地方，到小亚细亚、马其顿和希腊等地。……按原则说，保罗第三次出门，召会并没有得着多少的扩展。使徒第三次出门回来，是先到耶路撒冷。他原是想要回安提阿去，但在回去之先，他在耶路撒冷就遭遇了难处，被犹太人捉去（二一27~30）。

　　保罗在罗马十五章告诉我们，他第三次出门时，里面很清楚应该往罗马、西班牙去。在行传十九章，保罗也说要到罗马。保罗这个感觉，非常关系召会的扩展；因为召会到欧洲，头一步就到了马其顿和希腊一带。要从那里再往外开展，第一个大的站口就是义大利，也就是罗马；再一个站口就是西班牙。到了西班牙，使徒们恐怕认为那是到了地极。

　　保罗写罗马书时，他里面的感觉是非常关心罗马，圣灵是要他往前行；但保罗里面有一个牵连，就是和犹太人的骨肉之亲。在九章三节，保罗曾说，“为我弟兄，我肉身的亲人，我宁愿自己被咒诅，与基督分离。”……换句话说，他到那时候，还没有完全脱离对犹太人的观念。

　　若是保罗当时不被捉拿，这样献祭的事，让外邦的弟兄们知道以后，岂不令人更加糊涂。到底什么叫旧约，什么叫新约；什么叫律法，什么叫恩典，就都不清楚了。所以，保罗这次回去，的确是错误的（召会的历程，五二至五三、五六至五七、五九页）。

　　参读：那灵，第十二篇；雅各书结晶读经，第一、三至四、六篇。

　　Paul's old concepts were revealed not only in his second ministry journey but also in his third. When Paul was in Corinth during his third journey, he wrote a letter to the church in Rome and spoke of his feeling to go to Rome to visit the church there and from there to go to Spain (Rom. 1:15; 15:23-24, 28). This feeling is also mentioned in Acts 19:21. This was the will of the Holy Spirit related to the spread of the church. The Holy Spirit revealed to Paul that he should go west for the spread of the church.

　　On his third trip Paul went to many of the same places in Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece....In principle, Paul did not accomplish much for the spread of the church in his third journey. On his return from his third journey, he decided to pass through Macedonia and Achaia on his way to Jerusalem, and from there he would go to Rome. We must know that this was the will of the Holy Spirit. In Jerusalem he encountered some problems and was seized by the Jews (21:27-30).

　　In Romans 15 Paul was clear that he should go to Rome and Spain. In Acts 19 Paul said again that he wanted to go to Rome. His feeling was very much related to the spread of the church, because the next step in spreading to Europe—after reaching Macedonia and Greece—was to go to Italy, and specifically to Rome. Then the following step would be to Spain. If the apostle had arrived in Spain, he would have thought that he was at the uttermost part of the earth.

　　When Paul wrote the book of Romans, he was full of care for Rome, and the Holy Spirit wanted him to go. However, he was held back by the inward entanglement of his fleshly relationship to the Jews. In Romans 9:3 Paul said, "I could wish that I myself were a curse, separated from Christ for my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh."...He had not entirely abandoned his Jewish concepts.

　　If Paul had not been seized at that time, his offering of sacrifices would have confused the Gentile brothers when they heard about it. The line between the Old and New Testament dispensations, between the law and grace, would have been blurred. Therefore, it was certainly wrong for Paul to go back there. (Three Aspects of the Church, Book 2: The Course of the Church, pp. 44-45, 47-49)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, "The Spirit," ch. 12; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, "Crystallization-study of the Epistle of James," chs. 1, 3-4, 6