12月5日 胜过世界
12月5日，周五
胜过世界
“因为凡从神生的就胜过世界。使我们胜过世界的，就是我们的信心。”（约翰壹书5:4）
约翰在这里要说的是：凡属基督的人，都是那“胜过世界”的人。圣经原文用的语气非常有力。“凡从神生的”这一句，表达的是：你已经从神而生，而且这新的生命一直在持续，不会失效。接着，“胜过世界”这一句话，用的也是一个表示持续行动的说法，意思是：凡重生的人，不只是“有一天会得胜”，而是已经在胜过世界，而且会不断地继续胜过。
后半句“使我们胜过世界的，就是我们的信心”，作者指出：真正决定性的胜利，其实已经完成了——基督已经一次而永远地胜过了罪、世界和撒但。我们的信心并不是指靠自己多么有能力，而是叫我们与这位得胜的基督联合，把祂已经成就的得胜，应用在我们今天的生命里。所以，基督徒不是靠自己咬牙撑住的人，而是靠着那位已经得胜的、正在带领我们得胜的主而活的人。
在这里，约翰好像说了两件彼此矛盾的话。一方面，他说基督徒是“已经胜过世界”的人；另一方面，他又说基督徒是“正在胜过世界”的人。约翰告诉我们，基督徒在这件事上站在一个全新的位置上，与非基督徒截然不同。为什么会有这个新位置呢？因为他们有“信心”。他们藉着信心，看见了这个世界真正的意义，看见了它的本质，也因此厌恶它。他们知道，这个世界已经被主耶稣基督所征服；他们也知道自己是“在基督里”的人。所以，从这个意义上说，基督徒已经胜过世界：基督已经胜了世界，而我在基督里，因此我也胜过了世界。
然而，从另一个角度说，我仍然在不断“胜过”这个世界：我已经是得胜者，但我仍在争战。这正是新约一贯的说法。保罗说：“你们因着神得以在基督耶稣里，祂使基督成了我们的智慧；就是公义、圣洁和救赎。”（林前1:30）基督已经成了我们的这一切，因此，从某个意义上说，我已经被成圣、已经被荣耀了。你去读罗马书8:29–30节，会发现保罗清楚地告诉我们：在基督耶稣里，我们已经是完全的，这一切在祂那里都已经成就了。
但与此同时，我在今生仍然是在“被成圣”的过程当中，也仍然是在“奔向得荣耀”的路上。换句话说：在基督里，这一切已经成就；在我们今生的经历中，这一切仍在实现与展开。这就是基督徒“已经得胜、仍要争战”的张力。
默想主题：
基督已经胜过世界；我在基督里，因此我也胜过了世界。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：代下5:1-6:11，约壹4章
个人灵修：鸿3章，路19章
December 5, Friday
OVERCOMING THE WORLD
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. (1 JOHN 5:4)
John means by this that the Christian is one who conquers the world, who masters it. He actually says a most extraordinary thing here, and for once I have to grant that the Revised Version is superior to the Authorized! The Authorized reads like this: “And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” But the Revised has, “This is the victory that has overcome . . . “; it has already happened.
Now John is saying two things here that at first sight, as so often with John, appear to be contradictory. He says that the Christian is one who has overcome the world and also that the Christian is one who overcomes the world. Christian people, John tells us, are men and women who are in an entirely new position with regard to this matter. They are not like the non-Christian. Christians are in this new position because of their faith. They have come to see the real meaning of the world; they have come to see what it is, and they hate it. They know that the world has already been conquered by the Lord Jesus Christ, and they know that they themselves are in Christ; therefore there is a sense in which the Christian has overcome the world. Christ has overcome it, and I am in Christ, and therefore I have overcome it.
And yet there is a sense in which I am still overcoming it. I am already victorious, but I still have to fight. The New Testament is fond of saying that. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,” says Paul, “who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31). He is already that to us; so there is a sense in which I am already sanctified, already glorified. Read the eighth chapter of Romans, and you will find that Paul tells us that explicitly (verses 29-30); in Christ Jesus we are already complete, it has all happened. And yet I am also still being sanctified, and I am still on the way to glorification.
A Thought to Ponder: Christ has overcome the world, and I am in Christ, and therefore I have overcome it.