11月14日 神的不可见性
11月14日，周五
神的不可见性
从来没有人见过神，我们若彼此相爱，神就住在我们里面，祂的爱也在我们里面得到成全了。（约翰壹书4:12）
为什么神会说：“从来没有人见过神”？为什么约翰在这里突然提出了“神是不可见的”这个概念？
约翰并不是在说：我们除了藉着爱弟兄之外就不能爱神；这不是他的结论。他也不是说：我们只能藉着爱弟兄来爱神。相反，他在强调：我们应该爱神——我们是可以爱神的、也必须爱神的。
在我看来，约翰在这里引入了一个新主题、一个新观念到他对爱弟兄这个问题的宏大讨论中。我把这个新主题描述为得救的确据；这关系到我们对神的认识以及我们如何能认识神的全部。换句话说，我认为约翰在此承接了他在第8节末尾处的未竟论述。让我这样为你重新梳理：“亲爱的，我们要彼此相爱，因为爱是从神来的；凡有爱心的，都是由神生的，并且认识神。没有爱心的，就不认识神，因为神就是爱……从来没有人见过神，我们若彼此相爱，神就住在我们里面，祂的爱也在我们里面得到成全了。”（7-8、12节）。
所以约翰的重点是：“爱弟兄这件事，对你自身的得救确据、以及你是否与神有真实的相交这两个方面，都具有极其关键的重要性。”约翰不像一个严格的逻辑学家，而是更像诗人。虽然他常常不是以直线式的逻辑来推进，而是循环着推进他的论点，甚至带着一些神秘特质，然而在这一切背后，却仍有稳固、清楚、严密的推理与逻辑。
默想主题：
从你得救确据的角度来看，爱弟兄非常重要。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：代上3-4章，来9章
个人灵修：摩3章，诗146-147篇
November 14, Friday
THE INVISIBILITY OF GOD
No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. (1 JOHN 4:12)
Why does God say, “No man hath seen God at any time”? Why does John suddenly introduce this idea of the invisibility of God?
John does not say that we cannot love God except through loving our brethren; that is not his argument. Nor does he say that we can only love God by means of loving our brethren. Rather, he tells us that we are to love God—that we can love God and that we should love Him.
It seems to me that John is here introducing a new theme, a new idea, into his great discussion of the question of loving the brethren. And this new theme I would describe as the theme of assurance of salvation; it is the whole question of our knowledge of God and of the way in which we can know God. In other words, I am suggesting that John here is linking up with that with which he left off at the end of verse 8. Let me reconstruct it to you in this way: “Beloved,” he says, “let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. . . . No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us” (verses 7-8, 12).
“So,” says John in effect, “it is important that you love the brethren from the standpoint of your own assurance of salvation and from the standpoint of your fellowship with God.” John is more like a poet than a logician. Although he tends to arrive at his position in circles instead of straight lines, though there is something of the mystic in his thinking, nevertheless there is firm logic at the back of it; there is a definite line of reason.
A Thought to Ponder: It is important that you love the brethren from the standpoint of your own assurance of salvation.