The apostles’ teaching is the entire speaking of God in the New Testament. The entire New Testament is the apostles’ teaching. It is true that matters such as foot-washing and baptism by immersion are included in this book, but they are not the basic, intrinsic, central, and elementary thing. In the universe there is a marvelous matter—God’s speaking. The first marvelous thing in the universe is God Himself. What a tragedy if there were no God in the universe! However, if there is a God, yet He would not speak, we would be in misery. Without God, the universe is a tragedy, and without the speaking of God, we would be in misery. But, hallelujah, we have God, and we have God’s speaking. God has spoken, and today God still speaks. There are many matters in God’s speaking. For instance, Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “In many portions and in many ways, God, having spoken of old to the fathers in the prophets, has at the last of these days spoken to us in the Son, whom He appointed Heir of all things, through whom also He made the universe.” Today God speaks to us in the Son. He does not speak to us in many portions or in many ways, or through the prophets, but in the Son. He speaks to us in one person, the Son. Darby has pointed out that in the Greek, the article in the English phrase in the Son is not present. A literal rendering of the Greek would read, “God...has...spoken to us in Son.” Darby had a marvelous realization. He said that since there is no article, it must mean that God speaks in the person of the Son. There is only one God (Isa. 45:5; 1 Cor. 8:4), and the name of our God is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (Matt. 28:19). This is similar to the practice in many societies of naming one person with three names, first, middle, and last. This is quite meaningful. M. R. Vincent indicated in his writing that a name always denotes a person. Thus, God’s speaking “in Son” means that God speaks in the person of the Son. The New Testament is very particular. From such a passage we can realize that God’s speaking in the New Testament is in the way of incarnation. The incarnation is recorded in the four Gospels. The Jesus who spoke in the four Gospels was the very Son of God, and the Son of God is God Himself. Thus we can say that the Lord Jesus’ speaking was God’s speaking in the Son as the man in the four Gospels (John 14:10; 5:24; Matt. 28:19-20). John 14:10 says, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words which I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself; but the Father who abides in Me, He does His works.” The Father and the Son are one (John 10:30). When the Son spoke, the Father was speaking. The Father spoke in the person of the Son. God’s speaking did not stop in the four Gospels. He also spoke in the Son as the Spirit through the apostles, from Acts to Revelation (John 16:12-15; Rev. 2:1, 7; 1 Cor. 4:17b; 7:17b; 2 Pet. 3:15-16; Rev. 1:1-2). While God was speaking in the Son, one day the Son told His disciples, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality; for He will not speak from Himself, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and shall disclose it to you. All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that He receives of Mine and shall disclose it to you” (John 16:12-15). It is as though the Lord Jesus was saying, “When the Spirit of reality comes, He will bring you into all the reality. Yet even He Himself will not speak anything of Himself. He will receive from Me, and then He will disclose to you whatever He receives of Me.” This means that after the four Gospels, there would be God’s further speaking. God spoke further in the Acts, in the fourteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul, in James, in Peter’s two Epistles, in John’s three Epistles, in Jude, and in Revelation. All these are God’s speaking in the Son. First, God’s speaking is in the person of the Son. Second, God’s speaking is in the person of the Spirit. God spoke first in the Son as the man in the four Gospels. In the Acts, in the Epistles, and in Revelation, God spoke further, in the Son as the Spirit through the apostles. In the four Gospels God did not speak “through” someone. But in the Acts, in the Epistles, and in Revelation, God spoke in the Son as the Spirit through the apostles. The apostles through whom God spoke in the Son as the Spirit were only a few. They were Peter, John, Paul, James, and Jude. Nearly the entire New Testament was uttered by these five persons. The four Gospels were spoken by the Lord Jesus. Then in Matthew 28:20 He told His disciples that whatever He had commanded them, they were to teach to those whom they would baptize into the Triune God. Matthew 5, 6, and 7 record the so-called Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 13 records the seven parables concerning the mystery of the kingdom. Matthew 24 and 25 record the prophecies given by the Lord on the Mount of Olives. These three portions of the Gospel of Matthew are marvelous. No philosopher or great teacher can speak words of depth and wisdom like those recorded in these portions. No doubt these six chapters were taught by the apostles to the believers who came to the Lord after them. John 14, 15, 16, and 17 are profound and far beyond our understanding, yet they were spoken by the man Jesus. Jesus charged His believers to teach these portions to the ones who would follow after them. All the contents of the four Gospels must have been repeated again and again by the apostles. After the Gospels we have the Acts, where Peter and Paul spoke. Then we have the fourteen Epistles spoken by Paul, the one Epistle spoken by James, the two Epistles spoken by Peter, the three Epistles spoken by John, and the one Epistle spoken by Jude. Finally, we have Revelation, which the Lord Jesus spoke as the Spirit and which was given through John. In reading Revelation carefully we can realize that this was the word spoken by the Lord as the Spirit through John, because John wrote that book. This is marvelous! In chapters two and three of Revelation there are seven epistles. At the beginning of each epistle it is the Lord Jesus who “says.” But at the end of each epistle we are told to “hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” This indicates that the Lord’s speaking was the Spirit’s speaking, because He is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). This speaking was written through John. All the epistles written to individual churches were also for all the churches (1 Cor. 4:17b; 7:17b; Col. 4:16). This is God’s speaking. Paul was used by the Lord in his speaking to complete the word of God, especially concerning the mystery of the Triune God (Col. 1:24-25). Paul completed the part of God’s speaking that concerns the mystery of the Triune God, but John completed the entire speaking of God. Therefore, at the end of Revelation there is a concluding word which says that no one has the right to add anything to this book or to subtract anything from this book (Rev. 22:18-19). In the book of Revelation God’s speaking is fully completed, fully perfected. No one can add anything to it. Joseph Smith of the Mormons claimed that he received something in addition to the Bible. Such a claim is devilish. No one can say that there is any speaking of God in addition to what is in the Bible. God’s speaking is complete. Thus, when God speaks today, He simply repeats what He has already spoken. The teaching of the apostles is the entire speaking of God in the New Testament, first in the Son as a man, then in the Son as the Spirit through the apostles. In the New Testament God cannot depart from the principle of incarnation. He must speak through man. In the four Gospels the man was Jesus. In the succeeding twenty-three books, the men were the apostles. Today we are the men. God speaks in the principle of incarnation.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 21:16:39 +0000
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