《The Ministry of God’s Word》

CONTENTS：

THE MINISTRY OF GOD'S WORD

  1. Preface

SECTION ONE: THE MINISTER

  1. Three Kinds of Ministers (Chapter One)
  2. The Content of the Word and the Transmitting of the Word (Chapter Two)
  3. Paul's Course and His Ministry (Chapter Three)
  4. The Highest Point in the Ministry of the Word (Chapter Four)

SECTION TWO: THE WORD OF GOD

  1. The Basis of the Word (Chapter Five)
  2. Interpretation by the Holy Spirit (Chapter Six)
  3. The Revelation of the Holy Spirit (Chapter Seven)
  4. Christ as God's Word (Chapter Eight)
  5. Knowing God's Word Through Christ (Chapter Nine)

SECTION THREE: THE MINISTRY

  1. The Basis of Ministry (Chapter Ten)
  2. Revelation and Thoughts (Chapter Eleven)
  3. Burden and Word (Chapter Twelve)
  4. The Spirits Discipline and the Word (Chapter Thirteen)
  5. The Word and Our Memory (Chapter Fourteen)
  6. The Word and Our Feelings (Chapter Fifteen)
  7. The Word and the Release of the Spirit (Chapter Sixteen)
  8. A Few Things to Pay Attention to in Our Speaking (Chapter Seventeen)

SECTION FOUR: THE AUDIENCE

  1. The Audience of the Word (Chapter Eighteen)

PREFACE

Volume 53 of The Collected Works, The Ministry of God's Word, contains eighteen lessons given by Watchman Nee to his co-workers in a training at Kuling between 1948 and 1949. The chapters are divided into four sections. The main subject is the ministers of God's word and their ministry. The structure and divisions of the book are well organized, and the content is rich and unique. May the Lord bless the reader with the light and revelation contained in these pages.

SECTION ONETHE MINISTER

CHAPTER ONE

THREE KINDS OF MINISTERS

Acts 6:4 says, "But we will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word." The phrase ministry of the word can be translated as "service of the word." The work of serving men with God's word is known as the ministry of the word, and the persons who are involved in this service are called ministers of the word. Ministry refers to the work, while minister refers to the person. The ministry of the word occupies a very important place in God's work. The announcing of God's word and the ministry of this word to men follow specific principles, and God's servants should learn these principles well.

Throughout the Old and New Testaments, God spoke. He spoke in the Old Testament. He also spoke in the New Testament at the time of the Lord Jesus and through the church. The Bible shows us that the most important work of God on earth is the speaking out of His word. If we remove His word from His work, there is practically nothing left of His work. The main item of His work in this world is His speaking. Without the word, there would be no work. As soon as His word is removed, His work becomes a void. We must realize the place that God's word occupies in His work. As soon as we remove His word from His work, the latter ceases. God's work is carried out through His word. In fact, His word is His work. His work is occupied with nothing but His word.

How did God release His word? It is amazing and unusual to realize that God's word is released through man's mouth. This is why the Bible speaks not only of God's word but also of the ministers of the word. If God did all of His speaking directly, there would be no need of any ministers of the word. However, He chose to speak through man. This brings in the matter of the ministers. We must be clear before the Lord that God's work is conveyed through His word and His word is released through man. This immediately brings us to the crucial place of man in God's work. God does not release His word through any means other than man's mouth. He needs ministers of the word, and He needs men to convey His word.

Throughout the Old and New Testaments, we find three kinds of people. Simply put, three kinds of ministers of the word are involved in spreading God's word. In the Old Testament God's word was released through the prophets, that is, through the ministry of the prophets. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, God's word became flesh, and there was the ministry of the Lord Jesus. In the remainder of the New Testament, God's word was released through the apostles, that is, through the ministry of the apostles.

THE OLD TESTAMENT MINISTERS OF THE WORD—THE PROPHETS

In the Old Testament God selected many prophets to speak His word. These prophets received visions and spoke. Even men like Balaam spoke for God. Balaam was a prophet. His prophecy was one of the greatest prophecies in the Old Testament (Num. 23—24). The prophets in the Old Testament, who were the ministers of God's word, spoke when God's word came upon them. Balaam prophesied when the Spirit of God came upon him; that is, he involuntarily spoke what the Spirit told him to speak. His own feelings and thoughts were temporarily suspended by God. The revelation and utterance that he received from God were totally unrelated to his own condition; they were simply spoken out from his mouth. He had no share in God's word. His opinions, feelings, and thoughts were not involved at all. In other words, God used his mouth as if it were His own. Balaam is a typical example of an Old Testament minister of the word. The Holy Spirit would give words, and God would give the utterance. Under the constraining and restraining power of the Holy Spirit, God's word was released through the Old Testament minister's mouth. There was no possibility of a mistake. God used men, but these men were merely conveyers of the word. The human element was kept to a minimum in these revelations. Nothing of man was added to the divine utterance. Man's role was merely that of being a mouthpiece.

In the Old Testament we also see men like Moses, David, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, who were used by God to speak for Him in their work. However, they were more than just mouthpieces for God; they were slightly more advanced than Balaam or some of the other prophets. Most of Moses' writings were words given by God. He spoke according to the instructions of God, but in a sense his speaking was in the same principle as Balaam's speaking. When Isaiah saw vision after vision, he recorded these visions in his writings. In a sense his writings also were in the same principle as Balaam's speaking. God put words in Balaam's mouth, and God also put words in the mouths of Moses and Isaiah. In principle they all experienced the same thing, but there was also a difference between Moses and Isaiah on one side and Balaam on the other side. When Balaam spoke on his own behalf, he uttered something according to his own sentiments. This kind of speaking was wrong, and it was condemned by God. When he spoke under divine inspiration, he spoke God's word. When he spoke out of himself, the result was sin, error, and darkness. Moses was different. Even though most of his speaking was ordered by God, when he nevertheless spoke according to his own feeling in the presence of the Lord, his speaking was acknowledged by God and recognized as part of the divine speaking. This means that Moses was more of an instrument of God than Balaam. The same can be said of Isaiah. Most of Isaiah's prophecies came from visions he received directly from the Lord. However, there are instances in the book of Isaiah which indicate that he was speaking out of himself. David and Jeremiah spoke according to their own feelings even more than Moses and Isaiah. They were more akin to the ministers of the New Testament. In principle, however, they were the same as the Old Testament prophets who spoke only when God's word came upon them.

THE MINISTER OF THE WORD IN THE GOSPELS—THE LORD JESUS

The Lord Jesus was the Word becoming flesh on earth. He is God's Word. He put on the flesh and became a man of flesh. Everything He did and said formed part of God's word. The service of the Lord Jesus was the service of God's word. In Him, God's word was released in an entirely different way than it was released through the Old Testament prophets. In the Old Testament God merely used man's voice to deliver His word. Even John the Baptist, the last of the prophets, was merely a voice in the wilderness. God's word was merely conveyed through his voice. But the Lord Jesus was the word itself becoming flesh on earth. In other words, He was the word embodied in the flesh; He was the word becoming a man. We could say that here was a man, and we could also say that here was God's word. When God's word came upon man in the Old Testament, the word was the word and man was man. The word was merely being conveyed through man's voice. Although there is a slight variance in the cases of Moses and David, in principle, man's voice was merely a carrier during the Old Testament age. But when the Lord Jesus came, the word no longer came upon a man, with the word remaining the word and the man remaining man. God's word put on human flesh; the word became a man. No longer was God's word released through man's voice as a carrier, but the word put on a man. The word had human feelings, thoughts, and opinions, yet it remained God's word.

When man's opinion was added to God's word in the Old Testament, the word ceased to be God's word. As soon as human feelings, thoughts, and opinions were added to God's word, it was no longer God's perfect, pure, and unadulterated word. God's word was damaged. The purity of God's word could only be maintained when it was not contaminated with any human feelings, thoughts, or opinions. When God's word was released through Balaam's voice alone, it was a prophecy. But when Balaam put in his own feelings and opinions, the word was no longer just God's word; God's word was altered. This was the Old Testament. In the case of the Lord Jesus, however, God's word was conveyed not only through a man's voice but through his thoughts, feelings, and opinions as well. Man's thought became God's thought, man's feeling became God's feeling, and man's opinion became God's opinion. This was the ministry of the word which God secured in the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus served as a minister of the word under an entirely different principle from the Old Testament ministers. The Old Testament ministers of God's word were principally serving God with their voice. With some people God used more than just their voice; they acted more in the principle of the New Testament. Yet, in reality, they were still standing on Old Testament ground. But in the case of the Lord Jesus, He was the very Word of God. God's Word became flesh. Hence, we can say that the feeling of the Lord Jesus was the feeling of God's word, His thoughts were the thoughts of God's word, and His opinions were the opinions of God's word. The Lord Jesus was God's very word becoming flesh. God does not want His word to remain the word alone; He wants His word to take on human resemblance. He is not satisfied with just the word alone; He wants His word to become flesh. This is the greatest mystery in the New Testament. God is not satisfied with the word alone; He wants His word to be a personified word that carries human feelings, thoughts, and opinions. The Lord Jesus was such a minister of the word.

In the person of the Lord Jesus, God's word was no longer something objective; it became something subjective. In such a word we find human feelings, thoughts, and opinions. Yet the word remains God's word. Here we discover a great scriptural principle: It is possible for God's word to not be influenced by man's feeling. Even with the presence of human feeling, God's word is not necessarily contaminated. The question is whether or not such human feeling is up to the standard. This does not mean that every time human feeling is present, God's word is damaged. There is no such thing. This is a very profound subject! Here we discover a tremendous principle: The human element does not have to obstruct God's word. In the Lord Jesus we find that when the Word became flesh, the thought of that flesh became the thought of God. Originally, we could only say that the thought of the flesh was the thought of man. But in the New Testament age, the word has became flesh. In other words, the word became a man; the thought of this man was the thought of God's word. In the Lord Jesus, we find human thought that is up to the standard. There is one kind of human thought which, when added to God's word, does not contaminate it but instead completes it. God's word was not hindered by the human element of the Lord Jesus. On the contrary, it was fulfilled through the thoughts of the Lord Jesus. In the Lord Jesus we find God's word reaching a higher level than that which is found in the Old Testament. Matthew 5:21 says, "You have heard that it was said to the ancients..." This was Jehovah's word to Moses. It was Moses' direct inspiration from God. But the Lord Jesus continued in verse 22, "But I say to you..." Here we see the Lord speaking from Himself; He was saying things according to His own thought and opinion. But this speaking did not overturn God's sovereignty; it complemented His sovereignty. It did not overturn God's word; it attained a height that was unreachable in the Old Testament.

Here we see the very characteristic of the Lord Jesus as the minister of God's word. In Him God's word was made full. In this sinless man, there was not only a voice but feeling and thought as well. In the Lord Jesus, God's word was no longer merely a revelation; it became the very Lord Jesus Himself. God's word was no longer conveyed through human voice alone; it became a man. It was personified. God's word has been joined to man's word, and man's speaking has become God's speaking. The meaning of God's word being joined to man is that His word has been joined to man's word. This is a most glorious fact! When Jesus of Nazareth spoke, God spoke! Here was a man whose words were unmatched both before and after His time. No one ever spoke like Jesus of Nazareth. He was absolutely without sin. He was God's holy One, and He was completely of God. God's word was in Him, and He was the human embodiment of God's word. God's word was Him, and He was God's word. When He spoke, God was speaking. Here was a minister of the word, in whom God's word was altogether subjective. God's word was a very subjective entity in Him. It was so subjective that He Himself was the very word of God.

In the Old Testament we find prophets who spoke for God. In the Gospels we find the Lord Jesus whose very person was God's word. At the time of the prophets in the Old Testament, we could only point to the prophets when they opened their mouths and say, "Here is God's word." But with the Lord Jesus, we could point to His very person and say, "This man is God's word." His feeling was the feeling of God's word, and His thought was the thought of God's word. When He opened His mouth, there was God's word, and there was still God's word when He did not open His mouth. His very person was God's word. The minister of God's word has advanced from revelation to personification. With the Old Testament prophets, God's word was a matter of revelation. But in the Lord Jesus, God's word is a matter of personification. In the Old Testament the word and the person were two different things. The word was the word, and the person was the person. The word was channeled through man, yet the man remained just a man. But in the Lord Jesus, God's word became flesh. A man became God's word. When this man spoke, God was speaking. He did not need any revelation, because He was God's word. He did not need God's word to come to Him externally before He spoke the divine word, because His very speaking was God's speaking. He did not need more of God's word, because He Himself was God's word. When He spoke, God spoke. When He felt something, the feeling was the feeling of God's word. His opinion was God's opinion. In this man, God's word was not affected or limited by human factors. When this man opened His mouth, the pure word of God came out. Although He was a man, God's word did not suffer any loss in passing through Him. In fact, God's word was fully expressed through Him. This was the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.