耶十七7~8 信靠耶和华，以耶和华为可信靠的，那人有福了。他必像树栽于水旁，沿河边扎根，炎热来到并不惧怕，叶子仍必青翠，在干旱之年毫无挂虑，而且结果不止。

　　耶利米十七章五至八节说到倚靠人的当受咒诅，信靠耶和华的有福了。〔七至八节是〕关于信靠耶和华的有福了。

　　这些经文可用两种不同的方式领会—照着天然的理解，或照着神的经纶。照着天然的理解，这些经文似乎只是指明，我们若信靠神就有福了，主要的是在物质上有福。然而，这里的启示所包括的，比这个多得多。按照神的经纶，信靠神的人像树栽于水旁；这表征神乃是活水的泉源（二13上）。树在河边，借着吸取水的一切丰富到它里面而生长。这是神分赐的一幅图画。我们这些树要接受神圣的分赐，就必须吸取神这水（耶利米书生命读经，一三六页）。

　　Jer. 17:7-8 Blessed is the man who trusts in Jehovah and whose trust Jehovah is. And he will be like a tree transplanted beside water, which sends out its roots by a stream, and will not be afraid when heat comes; for its leaves remain flourishing, and it will not be anxious in the year of drought and will not cease to bear fruit.

　　Jeremiah 17:5-8 is a word about the curse of trusting in man and the blessing of trusting in Jehovah. [Verses 7 and 8 speak] concerning the blessing of trusting in Jehovah.

　　These verses can be understood in two different ways—according to the natural understanding and according to God’s economy. According to the natural understanding, these verses seem to indicate only that if we trust in God, we will be blessed, mainly in a material way. However, the revelation here includes much more than this. According to God’s economy, the one who trusts in God is like a tree planted by water, signifying God as the fountain of living waters (2:13a). The tree grows beside the river by absorbing all the riches of the water into it. This is a picture of God’s dispensing. In order to receive the divine dispensing, we as the trees must absorb God as the water. (Life-study of Jeremiah, p. 111)

　　〔耶利米十七章七至八节〕的思想与林前三章六节的相同，那里保罗说，“我栽种了，亚波罗浇灌了，唯有神叫他生长。”浇灌是为着树的吸取，而吸取就是接受神的分赐。树凭着神作供应者和供应而生长。供应就是这位供应之神的丰富，分赐到我们这些植物里面，使我们长成神的度量。至终，植物与神，神与植物，二者乃是一，有同样的元素、素质、构成和样子。

　　耶利米十七章七至八节不是仅仅说到信靠神以接受物质的祝福这样肤浅的事。事实上，这两节乃是指神借着祂的分赐完成祂的经纶。神是活水，要分赐到我们里面，才成为我们的构成。

　　我们都需要看见，吸取神作活水，使我们由祂的元素和素质所构成，这事意义重大（耶利米书生命读经，一三六至一三七页）。

　　在林前三章一节保罗告诉哥林多的信徒：“弟兄们，我从前对你们说话，不能把你们当作属灵的，只能当作属肉的，当作在基督里的婴孩。”保罗说他们是婴孩，这事实指明，他们接受神圣的生命和圣灵的初期恩赐以后，没有在生命里长大。

　　在某地的圣徒若缺少生命的长大，就无法有正确的召会生活。事实上，召会的实际在他们中间并不存在。不错，他们在名义上是地方召会，但他们没有召会的实际。召会在那里只是得救之人的聚集，但这不能视为生命长大以及经历并享受基督的实际。不但如此，哪里缺少生命的长大，哪里信徒的基督徒生活就会一团糟，召会生活就会受到破坏，身体生活就会被毁坏。这正是在哥林多的情况。哥林多的信徒虽然接受了初期的恩赐，却没有在生命里长大。他们仅仅有神圣的生命和圣灵撒在他们里面作种子。因为他们没有在生命里正常的长大，他们就没有正确的基督徒生活、召会生活和身体生活。

　　保罗……没有以道理的方式，乃以生命的方式，以喂养、浇灌和生长的方式说到召会。唯有哥林多人在生命里长大，他们中间才能借着经历基督而有召会的实际，那时身体生活才能建立起来（哥林多前书生命读经，二六三至二六四页）。

　　参读：耶利米书生命读经，第十二、十六篇；初信课程，第二十二至二十五课。

　　The thought in Jeremiah 17:7-8 is the same as that in 1 Corinthians 3:6, where Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth.” The watering is for the tree’s absorbing, and the absorbing is the receiving of God’s dispensing. The tree grows with God as the Supplier and the supply. The supply is the riches of the supplying God dispensed into us as the plants so that we may grow into God’s measure. Eventually, the plants and God, God and the plants, are one, having the same element, essence, constitution, and appearance.

　　Jeremiah 17:7 and 8 are not concerned merely with such a shallow matter as trusting in God to receive material blessings. Actually these verses refer to God’s economy carried out by His dispensing. God is the living water to be dispensed into our being in order to become our very constituent. We all need to see the crucial significance of absorbing God as the living water that we may be constituted with His element and essence. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 111-112)

　　In 1 Corinthians 3:1 Paul tells the believers at Corinth, “And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to fleshy, as to infants in Christ.” The fact that Paul refers to them as infants indicates that they had not grown in life after receiving the initial gifts of the divine life and the Holy Spirit.

　　If the saints in a particular locality are short of the growth of life, they cannot have the proper church life. Actually, the reality of the church does not exist among them. Yes, they are a local church in name, but they do not have the reality of the church. The church exists as a gathering of saved people, but it cannot be considered a reality in the growth of life and in the experience and enjoyment of Christ. Furthermore, where the growth of life is lacking, the believers’ Christian life will be a mess, the church life will be damaged, and the Body life will be destroyed. This was exactly the situation in Corinth. Although the Corinthian believers had received the initial gifts, they had not grown in life. Instead, they merely had the divine life and the Holy Spirit sown into them as seeds. Because they did not have the normal growth in life, they did not have the proper Christian life, church life, and Body life.

　　Paul does not speak of the church in a doctrinal way, but in the way of life, in the way of feeding, watering, and growing. Only if the Corinthians grew in life could the reality of the church exist among them through the experience of Christ and only then could the Body life be built up. (Life-study of 1 Corinthians, pp. 219-220)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Jeremiah, msgs. 12, 16; CWWL, 1959, vol. 3, “Lessons for New Believers,” lsns. 22-25