约一12~13 凡接受祂的，就是信入祂名的人，祂就赐他们权柄，成为神的儿女。这等人……　乃是从神生的。

　　罗十二3 ……不要看自己过于所当看的，乃要照着神所分给各人信心的度量，看得清明适度。

　　“信徒”这名称，标明他们是照着神新约信仰的经纶，〔信入〕基督是神儿子的人。……任何对基督没有信，〔没有信入〕基督的人，必然不是信徒。

　　信徒是那些接受基督作他们生产的生命，使他们成为神儿女的人。〔信入〕基督等于接受祂。我们〔信入〕基督，就是接受祂。我们借着〔信入〕祂而接受祂（新约总论第五册，八三、八八页）。

　　John 1:12-13 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name, who were begotten…of God.

　　Rom. 12:3 …Not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith.

　　The designation believers designates those who have believed in [to] Christ as the Son of God according to God’s New Testament economy… Anyone who does not have faith in Christ, who does not believe in [to] Christ, is certainly not a believer.

　　The believers are those who have received Christ as their generating life for them to become the children of God. Believing into Christ equals receiving Him. When we believe into Christ, we receive Him. We receive Him by believing into Him. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1133, 1137)

　　我们乃是神重生的新造，在基督的神圣生命里与祂联结，与祂联合成为一灵（林后五17，林前六17）。我们不仅是在旧造里出生的人。我们已经生过两次。第一次是从父母所生而成为旧造。我们出生为天然的人，但有一天我们重生了。我们的出生证明是重要的正式文件，记载我们肉身出生的日期。我们的第二张出生证明，就是我们属灵出生的出生证明，乃是在罗马八章十六节，那里说，“那灵自己同我们的灵见证我们是神的儿女。”我们的出生证明乃是一个双重的灵，就是那灵同我们的灵（李文集一九九四至一九九七年第五册，一二一页）。

　　按照罗马十章十七节，信来自听见话。因此，信的源头乃是话，……话有三方面：首先有神写出来的话—圣经（约十35）；然后有神活的话—基督（一1）；最后有神应用的话—那灵（弗六17，约六63）。圣经是写出来的话，基督是活的话。然而，若没有那灵，活的话就不能应用在我们身上。借着那灵，活的话成了应用的话。神只有一种话。首先祂说话，而祂所说的写在一本书上，那就是圣经。

　　我们有这样的话，但真正从这话得着益处的人并不多。这就是为什么我们必须读或听圣经。每一周我们聚集在一起好几次，就是要来读、讲、听圣经的话。当圣经的话讲给我们听的时候，写出来的话立即就成了活的话。那就是基督。当活的话应用在我们身上，被我们得着的时候，就成了那灵的话。然后我们所听见那灵的话，就成了我们信的源头。信是来自听见这出于写成的圣经，借着活的基督，并凭着那灵所应用的话。

　　如果你以为自己在信心的度量上比保罗更大，你就太狂妄了，你的心思不是清明适度的〔罗十二3〕。如果你真是清明适度，你会说，“保罗弟兄是一座大山，我只不过是一块小石头。”……不清明适度，而看自己过于所当看的，就是抹煞身体生活中正确的等次。

　　保罗在罗马十二章说到身体生活的实行。……神不仅分给我们信心，也照着我们的度量分给我们信心。祂给我们的信心，在质上是同样的，在量上却是不同的。量的多少乃在于你如何长大。如果你今天像使徒保罗一样长大，你所接受那一分的信心就要大大地扩充。神先是在质的一面分给我们信心，然后在量的一面分给我们不同的度量。你所得的是何种的信心，乃在于神的分给（李文集一九九四至一九九七年第一册，三五一至三五二、三八五页）。

　　参读：对同工长老们以及爱主寻求主者爱心的话，第二章；加拉太书生命读经，第十四篇。

　　We are God’s regenerated new creation, united with Christ in His divine life, joined to Christ as one spirit (2 Cor. 5:17; 1 Cor. 6:17). We are not merely generated persons in the old creation. We have been generated twice. The first time was by our parents to be the old creation. We were generated to be the natural man, but one day we were regenerated. Our birth certificate is an important and official document that records the date of our physical birth. Our second birth certificate of our spiritual birth is seen in Romans 8:16, which says that the Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. Our birth certificate is a double spirit, the Spirit with our spirit. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” p. 88)

　　According to Romans 10:17, faith comes out of the hearing of the word. Thus, the source of faith is the word…There are three aspects of the word.

　　First, there is the written word of God—the Bible (John 10:35). Then there is the living word of God—Christ (1:1). Finally, there is the applied word of God—the Spirit (Eph. 6:17; John 6:63).

　　The Bible is the written word, and Christ is the living word. Without the Spirit, however, the living word cannot be applied to us. The living word becomes the applied word through the Spirit. God has only one kind of word. First, He spoke, and what He spoke was written in a book. That is the Bible.

　　We have such a word, but not many have really been benefited by this word. This is why we have to either read or hear the Bible. Every week we gather together a number of times just to read, speak, and hear the word. When the word of the Bible is spoken to us and heard by us, right away the written word becomes the living word. That is Christ. When the living word is applied to us and received by us, it becomes the word of the Spirit. Then this word of the Spirit heard by us is the source of our faith. Faith comes from the hearing of this applied word by the Spirit through the living Christ out of the written Bible.

　　If you think you are bigger than Paul in the quantity of faith, you are crazy. You are not sober-minded [Rom. 12:3]. If you are really sober-minded, you will say, “Brother Paul was a big mountain. I am just a small stone.”…To think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think without a sober mind is to annul the proper order of the Body life.

　　In Romans 12 Paul deals with the practice of the Body life…God has not only allotted but also apportioned faith to us. He gave us the same faith in quality but not in quantity. The matter of quantity depends upon how you grow. If you grow today as the apostle Paul grew, the portion of faith you receive will be greatly enlarged. God first allotted faith to us in quality, and then He apportioned it in quantity. What kind of faith you have depends upon God’s allotment. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 286-287, 311-312)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “A Word of Love to the Co-workers, Elders, Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord,” ch. 2; Life-study of Galatians, msg. 14