林后一8~9　……我们被压太重，力不能胜，甚至连活命的指望都绝了，自己里面也断定是必死的，叫我们不信靠自己，只信靠那叫死人复活的神。”

　　四16　……我们外面的人虽然在毁坏，我们里面的人却日日在更新。

　　活神虽然可以为人作许多事，活神的性情却无法与人的性情调和。另一面，当复活的神作工时，祂的性情就作到人的性情里。……即使活神为你作了一些事，在这之后，祂还是祂，你还是你，和先前一样。祂为你作事，一点不叫祂将自己的性情分授给你。活神可以为人作事，但活神的性情无法与人的性情联结。……当复活的神作工时，祂就借着为人所作的事，把自己传输给人。

　　保罗受到极大的试炼，甚至连活命的指望都绝了，他却因此学会信靠那叫死人复活的神。当复活的神为他作事，叫他从死亡的情形里复活，那神圣的作为不仅为保罗有所成就，同时也将神自己的性情传输给保罗（活神与复活的神，二七至二八页）。

　　2 Cor. 1:8-9 ...We were excessively burdened, beyond our power, so that we despaired even of living. Indeed we ourselves had the response of death in ourselves, that we should not base our confidence on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

　　4:16 ...Though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

　　While the living God can perform many acts on man's behalf, the nature of the living God cannot blend with the nature of man. When, on the other hand, the God of resurrection works, His very nature is wrought into the nature of man.... When the living God has performed some act on your behalf, after that act as before it, He is still He and you are still you. His working on your behalf does not impart anything of His nature to you. The living God can work on behalf of man, but the nature of the living God cannot unite with the nature of man.... When the God of resurrection works, He communicates Himself to man by that which He does for him.

　　Paul was so sorely tried that he despaired even of living, but it was thus that he learned to trust in the God who raises the dead. When the God of resurrection acted on his behalf to raise him from the dead, that divine act not only accomplished something for Paul; it also communicated God's own nature to Paul. (The God of Resurrection, pp. 6-7)

　　复活生命是能胜过一切患难，吞灭死亡的生命。〔有一位弟兄病了，〕感觉非常软弱，仍在极大的试炼中。然而他又更深领悟到，神不是以外面的作为叫他认识神的权能，乃是要作工分授祂自己。他里面的光渐渐清楚，健康情形也逐渐好转。这位弟兄不仅经历神医，对神也有新的经历。

　　苦难的意义是……旧造的毁坏，给复活的神机会，把祂自己分授到祂的造物里，使其从死的过程里出来时，在其构成上有了神圣的元素。宇宙中苦难的主要目的，特别对神的儿女来说，乃是要借此使神的性情得以作到人的性情里。……借着外面毁坏的过程，里面的过程得以发生，将新的构成成分加到我们的生命里〔林后四16〕（活神与复活的神，二九、三三页）。

　　我们身上是否有一些更新在发生，还是日日、年年维持原样？我们若受了许多苦，而仍旧维持原样，那是可悲的。神为要完成祂在我们里面并在我们身上更新的工作，就成为在我们里面的生命与性情。除此之外，神也是主宰万有的主，管治全宇宙，为要更新我们。神使用四围的环境，好将祂的生命与性情作到我们里面。没有四围的环境，我们永远不能得更新；我们会维持原样。

　　神要我们成为新造。当主所有的儿女都经过更新的过程，成为新耶路撒冷的时候，他们就会在完全更新的情形里。圣城叫作新耶路撒冷，因为那里没有神旧造的旧元素。我们经过患难的时候，在我们里面需要日日不断地有更新，使神能完成祂的心意（日日在更新，一八至一九、二六页）。

　　我们这些神人，过人的生活彰显神，但不是凭我们自己天然的生命，乃是在复活里凭基督神圣的生命（西三4）。……在复活里凭基督的神圣生命活基督，就是让基督在我们里面长大，使我们里面形成甚至模成基督，就是在许多弟兄中神长子的形像（加四19，罗八29下）（过照着圣经中神圣启示高峰之生活实行的路，四七至四八页）。

　　参读：活神与复活的神，第三篇。

　　Resurrection life is a life that can overcome all affliction and can even swallow up death. [A brother who is ill may be] conscious of much weakness and [be] sorely tested; nevertheless, the realization deepens that God is not working to make His might known in external acts but is working to impart Himself. Light breaks upon him gradually, and gradually health returns. This brother does not just experience a healing; he comes into a new experience of God.

　　The significance of suffering...is this, that the devastation it brings to the old creation provides an opportunity for the God of resurrection to impart Himself into His creatures so that they emerge from the death process with a divine element in their constitution. The primary purpose of suffering in this universe, particularly as it relates to the children of God, is that through it the very nature of God may be wrought into the nature of man....Through a process of outward decay, an inward process is taking place that is adding a new constituent to our lives [2 Cor. 4:16]. (The God of Resurrection, pp. 8-9, 15)

　　Is there some renewing going on with us, or are we remaining the same day by day and year after year? It would be tragic if we would pass through many sufferings and still remain the same. In order to consummate His renewing work in us and with us, God becomes our life and nature within. In addition to this, God as the sovereign Lord controls the entire universe in order to renew us. God uses the environment in order to work His life and nature into us. Without the environment, we could never be renewed.

　　God desires us to be the new creation. When all of the Lord's children pass through the process of renewing to become the New Jerusalem, they will be in a state of being fully renewed. The holy city is called the New Jerusalem because it has no old element of God's old creation. As we pass through afflictions, there needs to be a continual renewing taking place in us day by day so that God can accomplish His heart's desire. (CWWL, 1989, vol. 2, "Being Renewed Day by Day," pp. 358, 363)

　　We, the God-men, live a human life to express God, not by our own life, our natural life, but by the divine life of Christ in resurrection (Col. 3:4)....To live Christ by the divine life of Christ in resurrection is to have Christ grow in us that we may be formed inwardly and even conformed to the image of Christ as the Firstborn of God among many brothers (Gal. 4:19; Rom. 8:29b). (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, "The Practical Way to Live a Life according to the High Peak of the Divine Revelation in the Holy Scriptures," p. 70)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, "The Spirit," ch. 12; The Living God and the God of Resurrection, ch. 3; The God of Resurrection