约七37~39　　……耶稣……高声说，人若渴了，可以到我这里来喝。信入我的人，就如经上所说，从他腹中要流出活水的江河来。耶稣这话是指着……那灵说的……。

　　林前十五45　……末后的亚当成了赐生命的灵。

　　亚当为蛇所咬时，我们都成了蛇。基督已经来顶替了我们，我们也信入了祂。在这里，我们需要问一个有趣的问题：我们这些相信基督的人还是蛇么？这问题的答案乃在于：在我们的经历里，我们现在是在说到铜蛇的约翰三章呢，还是在说到来主这里喝水的七章？（37~39）我们若饮于活水，就不再是蛇。但我们若缺少活水，我们就是争闹的蛇。

　　你是否干渴，缺少赐生命的灵，还是你一直饮于那灵？离了赐生命的灵，我们就是争闹的蛇。在召会生活中，我们可能是争闹的蛇，也可能是饮于赐生命之灵的人。愿我们都是饮于包罗万有、赐生命之灵的人！（民数记生命读经，二六○页）

　　John 7:37-39 …Jesus…cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this He said concerning the Spirit…

　　1 Cor. 15:45 …The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

　　When Adam was bitten by the serpent, we all became serpents. Christ has come to be our replacement, and we have believed into Him. At this point we need to ask an interesting question: Are we who believe in Christ still serpents? The answer to this question depends on whether, in our experience, we are in John 3, which speaks of the bronze serpent, or in John 7, which speaks of coming to the Lord and drinking (vv. 37-39). If we are drinking of the living water, then we are no longer serpents. But if we are short of the living water, then we are contending serpents.

　　Are [you] dry, lacking the life-giving Spirit, or are [you] drinking of the Spirit? Apart from the life-giving Spirit, we are contending serpents. In the church life we may be either contending serpents or life-giving-Spirit drinkers. May we all be those who drink of the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit! (Life-study of Numbers, pp. 232-233)

　　在我们实际的日常生活中，我们也许不是一个新生的人。我们也许还是一个旧人，甚至是个良善、道德、伦理、宗教、敬畏神的尼哥底母。我这么说，是因为我们没有在灵里生活、行动、举止、为人。我们不凭那灵而活，反倒凭伦理或宗教而活。……照着我们天然的出生，我们都习惯凭我们蛇性的人而活，这就是照着善恶而活。伊甸园里的知识树，不但有恶的知识，也有善的知识。但生命树没有别的，只有生命。我们不该以为道德是生命的东西；道德是良善的，但不是生命。

　　在加拉太二章二十节保罗说，“我已经与基督同钉十字架；现在活着的，不再是我，乃是基督在我里面活着。”这里保罗说，他已经被了结，现今基督在他里面活着。如果基督不是活的灵，祂怎能活在我们里面？这是不可能的。……要紧的是我们要看见，作为在基督里的信徒，我们不光有两种性情—旧性情和新性情，我们也有两个人、两个人位。虽然我们都重生了，因而有新的人位，但我们多半一直凭旧人而活，甚至凭旧人作所谓属灵的事。我们甚至可能凭旧人来努力过召会生活，这是一个严肃的问题。

　　我常常说，“主，赦免我今天没有好好活你。在我的家庭生活和与弟兄们的交通中，我没有活出你所要的。”我看见也许我合乎宗教、伦理、道德、圣经，但我没有基督。……我们必须都能与保罗一同说，我们已经与基督同钉十字架，现今基督在我们里面活着。我们应当能有把握宣告这件事，不是当作道理，而是我们天天的经历。我们有这样的生活，实际上就是经历蛇性的人变化成为基督新妇的过程。这就是新约里所启示的变化。我们由蛇性的人变化成为属基督的人，就成为祂的扩增、祂的新妇。这新妇的终极完成乃是作为神的帐幕和羔羊之妻的新耶路撒冷。

　　我劝你们要认真地把本篇信息带到主面前，祷告说，“主，给我看见我是凭什么人位而活，我是凭旧人位还是凭新人位而活？我是凭旧性情还是凭新性情而活？主，我是活你么？我是实行与你成为一灵么？”我们都需要这样向主祷告。愿主怜悯我们，使我们学习凭重生的人而活（CWWL一九八二年第二册，一七九至一八五页）。

　　参读：约翰著作中帐幕和祭物的应验，第七、十、十一篇。

　　In our actual daily living we may not be a newborn person. We may still be an old person, even perhaps a good, moral, ethical, religious, God-fearing”Nicodemus.” I say this because we may not live, walk, behave, and have our being in the Spirit. Instead of living by the Spirit, we may live by ethics or religion. According to our natural birth, all of us automatically live by our serpentine being. This is to live according to good and evil. With the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden there was not only the knowledge of evil but also the knowledge of good. But with the tree of life there is nothing but life. We should not think that morality is a matter of life. Morality is good, but it is not life.

　　In Galatians 2:20 Paul says,”I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” Here Paul is saying that he has been terminated and that now Christ lives in him. If Christ were not the living Spirit, how could He live in us? This would be impossible. It is important for us to realize that as believers in Christ not only do we have two natures—the old nature and the new nature—but we also have two beings, two persons. Although we have been regenerated and thereby have a new person, most of us continue to live by the old person, even in doing so-called spiritual things. We may even endeavor to live the church life by the old man. This is a serious problem.

　　Often I have said,”Lord, forgive me for not living You adequately today. In my family life and in my fellowship with the brothers, I am short of what You require.” I have seen that I may be religious, ethical, moral, and scriptural—all without Christ….But we all need to be able to say with Paul that we have been crucified and that Christ now lives in us. We should be able to declare this with assurance, not as a doctrine but as our experience day by day. When we have this kind of living, then in reality we are serpentine beings in the process of transformation into the bride of Christ. This is the transformation revealed in the New Testament. As we are transformed from serpentine beings into Christ's being, we become His increase, His bride. The consummation of this bride will be the New Jerusalem as the tabernacle of God and the wife of the Lamb.

　　I urge you to bring this matter to the Lord in a serious way and pray,”Lord, show me by what person I am living. Am I living by my old person or by my new person? Am I living by the old nature or by the new nature? Lord, am I living You? Am I practicing being one spirit with You?” We all need to pray to the Lord like this. May the Lord have mercy on us that we may learn to live by our regenerated being. (CWWL, 1982, vol. 2,”The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John,” pp. 140-144)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1982, vol. 2,”The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John,” chs. 7,10-11