何十一4 我用慈绳爱索牵引他们……。

　　罗八37~39 ……借着那爱我们的，在这一切的事上，我们已经得胜有余了。……无论是死，是生，……是现今的事，是要来的事，是有能的，是高，是深，或是别的受造之物，都不能叫我们与神的爱隔绝，这爱是在我们的主基督耶稣里的。

　　“慈绳〔直译，人的绳〕爱索”这辞指明神用祂神圣的爱爱我们，不是在神性的水平上，乃是在人性的水平上。神的爱是神圣的，却是在人的绳里，也就是借着基督的人性，临到我们。神所借以牵引我们的绳子，包括基督的成为肉体、人性生活、钉死、复活和升天。借着基督在祂人性里的这一切步骤，神在祂救恩里的爱才临到我们（罗五8，约壹四9~10）。在基督之外，神永远长存的爱，就是祂不变、征服人的爱，在我们身上就无法得胜。神不变的爱是得胜的，因为这爱是在基督里、同着基督、借着基督并为着基督的（圣经恢复本，何十一4注1）。

　　因着神对我们不变的爱，以及基督为我们成就的一切，患难逼迫不能压制或胜过我们；反而借着那爱我们的，我们胜过且征服这一切而有余（罗八37注1）。

　　Hosea 11:4 I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love…

　　Rom. 8:37-39 …In all these things we more than conquer through Him who loved us….Neither death nor life…nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

　　The phrase with cords of a man, with bands of love indicates that God loves us with His divine love not on the level of divinity but on the level of humanity. God’s love is divine, but it reaches us in the cords of a man, that is, through Christ’s humanity. The cords through which God draws us include Christ’s incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. It is by all these steps of Christ in His humanity that God’s love in His salvation reaches us (Rom. 5:8; 1 John 4:9-10). Apart from Christ, God’s everlasting love, His unchanging, subduing love, could not be prevailing in relation to us. God’s unchanging love is prevailing because it is a love in Christ, with Christ, by Christ, and for Christ. (Hosea 11:4, footnote 1)

　　Because of God’s unchanging love for us and the fact that Christ has accomplished everything on our behalf, neither tribulation nor persecution can suppress or defeat us; rather, in all these things we more than overcome and conquer through Him who loved us. (Rom. 8:37, footnote 1)

　　神的爱是祂永远救恩的源头。这爱乃是在基督里，由圣灵浇灌在我们心里的（罗五5），什么都不能叫我们与神这爱隔绝（38~39）。这爱在神的救恩里，成了基督对我们的爱（35），经过基督的恩，为我们作了许多奇妙的事，直到在我们身上完成神完整的救恩。这许多奇妙的事，惹起神的仇敌，用种种苦难灾害（35~36）攻击我们。但这些攻击，因着我们对神在基督里之爱的响应，都成了我们的益处（28）。因此，我们在这一切苦难灾害上，都是得胜有余的（37）。

　　罗马书到八章末，已将神在基督里救恩的前半讲完。这救恩已经把我们救到一个地步，一面在神的悦纳中，享受这救恩的源头，就是神在基督里，那任何人事物都不能隔绝的爱；一面在神的生命中，经过主灵的模成，而达到这救恩的终极目标，就是进入那神圣无比的荣耀里，与神同荣耀（18、30）（圣经恢复本，罗八39注1）。

　　在〔基督〕超越一切的升天里，祂成为万有的元首，作基督身体的头（弗一22~23，西一18）。祂被立为万有的元首，使祂可以作身体的头。祂也成为主和基督（徒二36）（一切君王的）元首和救主（五31）、我们在神新约经纶里的大祭司（来四14，七26，九11）、新约的中保（九15）、更美之约的保证（七22）、新约信徒的辩护者（保惠师）（约壹二1，约十四16、26，十五26，十六7）、新约信徒的代求者，在神右边也在信徒里面代求（罗八34、26）和天上的执事（来八2）。在已过的永远里，祂不是这一切项目；乃是在祂超越一切的升天里，祂才成了这一切项目。

　　永远、三一之神成为人，所经过种种的变化，乃是为着完成神永远的经纶。这样的异象应当支配、指引并成为我们一生的目标，直到我们见祂的时候（罗马书的结晶，二二五至二二六页）。

　　参读：罗马书的结晶，第十七篇。

　　The love of God is the source of His eternal salvation. This love is in Christ and has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). Nothing can separate us from this love of God (8:38-39). In God’s salvation this love to us has become the love of Christ (v. 35), which does many marvelous things for us through the grace of Christ until God’s complete salvation is accomplished in us. These marvelous things provoke God’s enemy to attack us with all kinds of sufferings and calamities (vv. 35-36). However, because of our response to the love of God in Christ, these attacks have become benefits to us (v. 28). Hence, we more than conquer in all our afflictions and calamities (v. 37).

　　By the end of chapter 8 Romans has covered the first half of God’s salvation in Christ. This salvation has saved us to the extent that, on the one hand, we are in God’s acceptance enjoying the source of this salvation, which is God’s love in Christ, from which we cannot be separated by any person, matter, or thing; and, on the other hand, we are in God’s life being conformed by the Lord Spirit to reach the ultimate goal of this salvation, that is, to enter into the incomparable divine glory and be glorified together with God (vv. 18, 30). (Rom. 8:39, footnote 1)

　　In His all-transcending ascension He became the Head of all things to be the Head of the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18). He was made the Head of all things that He might be the Head of the Body. He also became the Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36), the Leader (of all the kings) and Savior (5:31), our High Priest in God’s New Testament economy (Heb. 4:14; 7:26; 9:11), the Mediator of the new covenant (v. 15), the surety of the better covenant (7:22), the Paraclete (Advocate, Comforter) of the New Testament believers (1 John 2:1; John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7), the New Testament believers’ Intercessor at the right hand of God and within them as well (Rom. 8:34, 26), and the heavenly Minister (Heb. 8:2). In eternity past He was not all these items. He became all these items in His all-transcending ascension.

　　The transformations of the eternal and Triune God in His becoming a man are for the accomplishment of God’s eternal economy. Such a vision should control, direct, and be our goal for our whole life until we see Him. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 380-381)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” msg. 17