Message Two The Light, the Truth, and the Reality

THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

The Ministry of John

Message Two
The Light, the Truth, and the Reality

Scripture Reading: 1 John 1:5-7; 4:2-3, 15; 5:6; 2 John 1-2, 4, 7-9; 3 John 1, 3-4, 8; John 17:17

I. The divine light is the nature of God’s expression, it shines in the divine life, and it is the source of the divine truth—1 John 1:5-6; John 1:4; 8:12:

A. Light is God’s shining, God’s expression; when God is expressed, the nature of that expression is light—1 John 1:5:

1. To walk in the divine light is to live, move, act, and have our being in the divine light, which is God Himself—1 John 1:7.

2. The shining of the divine light makes old things new—2:7-8.

3. If we are under God’s dispensing, we participate in God’s nature as light and are constituted with this element of His nature—1:5.

B. The divine light shines in the divine life—John 1:4; 8:12:

1. A great principle in the Bible is that light and life go together—Psa. 36:9.

2. Where light is, there is life, and where life is, there is Light—John 1:4.

C. The divine light is the source of the divine truth—vv. 5, 9; 18:37:

1. When the divine light shines upon us, it becomes the truth, which is the divine reality—8:12, 32.

2. When the divine light shines, the divine things become real to us.

3. Because light is the source of truth, and truth is the issue of light, when we walk in the light, we practice the truth—1 John 1:6-7.

D. The divine light, which shines in the divine life and issues in the divine truth, is embodied in the Lord Jesus, God incarnate—John 1:1, 4, 14; 8:12; 9:5; 14:6.

II. In John’s writings the Greek word for truth (aletheia) denotes all the realities of the divine economy as the content of the divine revelation, conveyed and disclosed by the holy Word—John 17:17; 18:37:

A. Truth is God, who is light and love, incarnated to be the reality of the divine things for our possession—1:1, 4, 14-17.

B. Truth is Christ, who is God incarnated and in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, as the reality of God and man, of all the types, figures, and shadows of the Old Testament, and of all the divine and spiritual things—Col. 2:9, 16-17; John 4:23-24.

C. Truth is the Spirit, who is Christ transfigured, as the reality of Christ and of the divine revelation—14:16-17; 15:26; 16:13-15.

D. Truth is the Word of God as the divine revelation, which reveals and conveys the reality of God and Christ and of all the divine and spiritual things—17:17.

E. Truth is the contents of the faith (belief), which are the substantial elements of what we believe, as the reality of the full gospel—Eph. 1:13; Col. 1:5.

F. Truth is the reality concerning God, the universe, man, man’s relationship with God and with his fellow man, and man’s obligation to God, as revealed through creation and the Scriptures—Rom. 1:18-20; 2:2, 8, 20.

G. Truth is the genuineness, truthfulness, sincerity, honesty, trustworthiness, and faithfulness of God as a divine virtue and of man as a human virtue, and as an issue of the divine reality—3:7; 15:8; 2 Cor. 11:10; 1 John 3:18.

H. Truth denotes things that are true or real, the true or real state of affairs (facts), reality, veracity, as the opposite of falsehood, deception, dissimulation, hypocrisy, and error—Mark 12:32; John 16:7; Acts 26:25; Rom. 1:25.

III. It is crucial that we see the picture of the divine reality presented by John in his Epistles—1 John 5:6; 3 John 12:

A. The central factor in 1 John is the divine reality—the Triune God dispensed into us for our experience and enjoyment-4:13-14; 5:6.

B. The divine reality is the divine person—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit— becoming our experience, enjoyment, and constituent through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension—John 1:14, 29; 20:22.

C. The divine reality is the Father in the Son and the Son as the Spirit dispensed into God’s chosen, redeemed, and regenerated people so that they may enjoy Him as life, the life supply, and everything—14:6, 12-13, 16-20.

IV. Your truth (3 John 3, lit.) is the truth concerning Christ, especially His deity, by the revelation of which the recipient’s way of life is determined and to which the recipient holds as his fundamental belief:

A. The truth concerning the person of Christ is the basic and central element of John’s mending ministry—1 John 4:2-3, 15; 2 John 7-9.

B. The objective truth becomes ours; thus, the truth becomes subjective to us in our daily walk—v. 2; 1 John 2:24.

C. Our life is determined, shaped; and molded by the revelation of this truth; this means that we live, walk, and behave in the divine reality, the Triune God, who is our enjoyment—2 John 3-4.

D. To walk in the truth is to live in the truth; the truth concerning the person of Christ should be not only our belief but also our living, a living that testifies to our belief—v. 4; 3 John 3.

E. To be fellow workers in the truth is to join ourselves to those who, as faithful workers of the truth, work for God in the divine truth, and it is to do whatever we can to support these traveling brothers and promote this work—vv. 5-8.

V. Truthfulness is the revealed divine reality—the Triune God dispensed into man in the Son, Jesus Christ—becoming man’s genuineness and sincerity, that man may live a life that corresponds with the divine light and worship God, as God seeks, according to what He is—2 John 1; 3 John 1; John 3:19-21; 4:23-24:

A. This is the virtue of God becoming our virtue, by which we love the believers— Rom. 3:7; 15:8; 1 John 3:18.

B. In such genuineness the apostle John, who lived in the divine reality of the Trinity, loved the one to whom he wrote—2 John 1 with footnote 3; 3 John 1.

C. To worship the Father in truthfulness is to worship Him with the Christ who has saturated our being to become our personal reality through our experience and enjoyment of the Triune God as the divine reality—John 4:23-24.

Ministry Excerpts:

THE DIVINE LIGHT BEING THE NATURE OF GOD’S EXPRESSION AND THE SOURCE OF THE DIVINE TRUTH

The divine light is the essence of God’s expression. When God is expressed, the essence of that expression is light. What is the divine truth? The divine truth is the issue of the divine light. When the divine light shines in us, it becomes the divine truth, which is the divine reality. This means that when the divine light shines in us, we receive the divine reality. We may also say that the divine light brings us the divine reality.

The Divine Light Shining in the Divine Life

In 1:5 John says, “And this is the message which we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” In verse 7 he speaks a further word concerning light: “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” As we have indicated, the divine light is the nature, the essence, of God’s expression and the source of the divine truth. This divine light shines in the divine life. Hence, if we do not have the divine life, we cannot have the divine light.

John 1:4 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” In Christ there is the divine life, and this life is the divine light. Therefore, life is light. When we have the divine life, we also have the divine light.

By this we can see that three matters are related: light, truth, and life. First, we need to learn to experience these matters and then learn how to present the truth regarding them to others. (Life-study of 1 John, msg. 9)

Truth Being the Shining of Light

It is significant that in 1 and 2 Timothy life is not mentioned nearly as often as truth. Truth is spoken of again and again (1 Tim. 2:4; 3:15; 4:3; 6:5; 2 Tim. 2:15, 18; 3:8; 4:4). The reason for this is that these Epistles were written during a time of degradation. When the church is degraded, there is darkness; and when there is darkness, there is the need for the truth. Truth is the expression of light, just as grace is the expression of love. Whenever light shines, we receive truth. Light shines in darkness. In 1 and 2 Timothy, two books dealing with degradation, truth is mentioned often because during a period of darkness there is the need for the shining of the light, the expression of the light.

Truth is the shining of light. Wherever there is light, there is God, for God is light (1 John 1:5). When the light shines upon us, it becomes the truth. In Romans 8 Paul encourages us to walk according to the spirit, but in John’s second and third Epistles, also written in a time of degradation, John speaks of walking in the truth. Although in his other writings John emphasizes life, in these two Epistles he speaks much about the truth. For example, in 3 John 4 he says, “I have no greater joy than these things, that I hear that my children are walking in the truth.” Whenever we are in a time of degradation and darkness, we need the shining of the light so that we may know how to walk in the proper way. (CWWL, 1978, vol. 3, “Truth Messages”, ch. 1)

To walk in the divine light is not merely to dwell in this light; it is to live, move, act, do things, and have our being in the divine light, the light which is actually God Himself. When we dwell, live, and have our being in God, we walk in the divine light, which is the expression of God.

Seeing All the Different Truths, Which Are Realities, When the Divine Light Shines

When the divine light shines, we see all the different truths, and these truths are realities. But when we do not have the divine light but are rather in darkness, we have the sense that everything is vanity and emptiness. I would ask you to consider your experience. When you are in the divine light, you can see the truth, the reality. For example, when you are in the light, God is a reality to you, and the divine life is also a reality. Furthermore, God’s holiness, love, and grace are all realities to you. When we walk in the light, we see one reality after another. However, when we are in darkness, nothing is real to us. On the contrary, everything is empty, vain. When we are in darkness, we do not have any reality because we do not see anything. Instead of the sense of reality, we have the sense of emptiness and vanity.

When we dwell in God, we are in the fellowship. When we are in this fellowship, we are in light. Then as we walk in the light, Christ, the Spirit, the church, the Body, and the members of the Body are all real to us. We may testify and say, “Praise the Lord that I see Christ, the Spirit, the church, the Body, and the ground of the church! How wonderful! All this is real to me.” (Life-study of 1 John, msg. 7)

The Lord Jesus Being the Embodiment of the Divine Light

We have seen that the divine light is the nature of God’s expression, that it is the source of the divine truth, and that it shines in the divine life. Now we must go on to see that the divine light is embodied in Jesus as God incarnate. Because He is the embodiment of the divine light, the Lord Jesus said, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall by no means walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). He spoke a similar word in John 9:5: “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” The divine light that issues in truth and shines in life is embodied in the Person of the Lord Jesus, who is God incarnate. This matter is deep and profound. I would encourage you to pray-read these verses in order to touch the reality of these matters concerning the divine light.

TRUTH DENOTING ALL THE REALITIES OF THE DIVINE ECONOMY AS THE CONTENT OF THE DIVINE REVELATION, BEING CONTAINED, CONVEYED, AND DISCLOSED BY THE HOLY WORD

In 1:6 John speaks concerning the divine truth: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in the darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth.” What is truth? It is difficult to define truth. We may think that truth in such a verse as 1:6 refers to sound or correct doctrine. The word for truth in the Chinese language means genuine doctrine. Many have a similar understanding of the English word “truth” and consider that, at least insofar as it is found in the Bible, it means correct doctrine.

In our daily conversation we may have a somewhat different understanding of truth and regard truth as meaning something that is true as opposed to something false. For example, we speak of telling a true story. If we would understand the meaning of truth in the Bible, we need to go beyond the traditional and common understanding of what truth is. The traditional view concerning the truth in the Bible as correct doctrine is not accurate, and the common denotation of the word should not be applied to the word truth as found in the Bible.

The Greek word for truth is aletheia. The Greek word aletheia means truth or reality (versus vanity), verity, veracity, genuineness, sincerity. It is John’s highly individual terminology, and it is one of the profound words in the New Testament. This word denotes all the realities of the divine economy as the content of the divine revelation, contained, conveyed, and disclosed by the holy Word.

Truth Being God

According to the New Testament, truth is first God, who is light and love, incarnated to he the reality of the divine things — including the divine life, the divine nature, the divine power, the divine glory — for our possession, so that we may enjoy Him as grace, as revealed in John’s Gospel (John 1:1, 4, 14-17).

Truth Denoting Christ

Second, truth in the New Testament denotes Christ, who is God incarnated and in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Col. 2:9), to be the reality of: a) God and man (John 1:18, 51; 1 Tim. 2:5); b) all the types, figures, and shadows of the Old Testament (Col. 2:16-17; John 4:23-24); and c) all the divine and spiritual things, such as the divine life and resurrection (John 11:25; 14:6), the divine light (John 8:12; 9:5), the divine way (John 14:6), wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). Hence, Christ is the reality (John 14:6; Eph. 4:21).

Truth Being the Spirit

Third, truth is the Spirit, who is Christ transfigured (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17), the reality of Christ (John 14:16-17; 15:26) and of the divine revelation (John 16:13-15). Hence, the Spirit is the reality (1 John 5:6).

Now we can see that truth, aletheia, in the New Testament refers to God. Truth is God as the divine light and love incarnated to be the reality of all the divine things for our possession so that we may enjoy God as grace. This means that the very God is the truth, the reality, of the divine things for our possession. Therefore, we need to possess God as the reality and then enjoy Him as grace. Hence, the divine reality is actually God Himself. He is the reality of all the divine things.

Truth in the New Testament also denotes Christ as God incarnate. Christ is the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. As the embodiment of the fullness of the Godhead, Christ, who is God incarnate, is the reality of God and man, the reality of all the types, figures, and shadows of the Old Testament, and the reality of all the divine and spiritual things.

What is truth? What is reality? Reality is Christ as God incarnate. Reality is Christ as the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily to be the reality of God, man, the types, figures, and shadows, and all divine and spiritual things. In the Old Testament we have many types, figures, and shadows. Christ is the reality of them. In the Bible we also read of many divine and spiritual things, such as life, light, wisdom, and righteousness. Christ Himself is the reality of all these things. Therefore, when we read the word “truth” or “reality” in the New Testament, we need to realize that it refers first to God and also to Christ.

We have indicated that in the New Testament truth denotes the Spirit, who is Christ transfigured and also the reality of Christ and of the divine revelation. For this reason, in 5:6, John says, “The Spirit is He who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.”

It is surely worthwhile for us to study thoroughly the meaning of truth in the New Testament. In this message we have pointed out in a very brief way that truth, reality, is God, Christ, and the Spirit. In the following message we shall go on to consider other aspects of truth according to the Word of God. (Life-study of 1 John, msg. 9)

THE TRUTH CONCERNING THE PERSON OF CHRIST BEING THE BASIC AND CENTRAL ELEMENT OF JOHN’S MENDING MINISTRY

In verse 3 John goes on to say, “For I rejoiced greatly at the brothers coming and testifying to your truth, even as you walk in truth.” The truth concerning the Person of Christ is the basic and central element of John’s mending ministry. When he found that his children were walking in truth (v. 4), he rejoiced greatly. To walk in truth means that the Triune God becomes our enjoyment in reality. Therefore, our daily walk is the walk in truth, which is the reality of the Triune God enjoyed by us.

YOUR TRUTH BEING THE TRUTH CONCERNING CHRIST, ESPECIALLY HIS DEITY, BY THE REVELATION OF WHICH THE RECIPIENT’S WAY OF LIFE IS DETERMINED AND TO WHICH THE RECIPIENT HOLDS AS HIS FUNDAMENTAL BELIEF

In verse 3 John speaks of “your truth.” “Your truth” is the truth concerning Christ, especially His deity, by the revelation of which the recipient’s way of life is determined and to which the recipient holds as his fundamental belief. The thought here is deep. John’s thought is that the objective truth becomes ours. Hence, the truth becomes subjective to us in our daily walk. This truth is the reality of Christ’s deity. Our life is determined and shaped by the revelation of this truth. This means that we live, walk, and behave in the divine reality of the Triune God, who is our enjoyment. This enjoyment shapes our walk, our way of life. This indicates that our way of life is determined, shaped, molded by what we believe concerning the Person of Christ and by what we have seen and enjoyed of this reality. This truth is actually the Triune God becoming our enjoyment.

THE TRUTH CONCERNING THE PERSON OF CHRIST NOT ONLY BEING OUR BELIEF, BUT ALSO BEING OUR LIVING THAT TESTIFIES TO OUR BELIEF

We believe that the Triune God became a man and lived on earth, died on the cross for our redemption, and in resurrection became a life-giving Spirit. Now this life-giving Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God. This Spirit is the consummation of all that the Father is and of all that the Son is as a person possessing divinity and humanity. Christ the Son is the very God and also a real man, who has accomplished redemption and is now the Life-giver, the life-imparting Spirit. We believe this, and this belief now shapes, determines, molds, our way of life. This is what it means to walk in truth.

The philosophy a person holds will determine his way of life. What a person believes will always shape his living. We Christians walk in the divine truth. This means that our way of life is determined, shaped, molded, by the divine reality — the Triune God Himself — which we enjoy.

In verse 3 John says to Gaius, “Even as you walk in truth.” The one who receives this word not only holds to the truth, but also walks and lives in the truth. The truth concerning the Person of Christ should not only be our belief, but should also be our living, a living that testifies to our belief. The truth in which we walk, therefore, becomes our truth in our daily life.

In verse 4 John continues, “I have no greater joy than these things, that I hear that my children are walking in the truth.” As in 2 John 1:4, “truth” here is the divine reality, especially concerning the Person of Christ as revealed in John’s Gospel and first Epistle, that is, that Christ is both God and man, having both deity and humanity, possessing both the divine nature and the human nature, to express God in human life and to accomplish redemption with divine power in human flesh for fallen human beings so that He may impart the divine life into them and bring them into an organic union with God. The second and third Epistles of John emphasize this truth. The second warns the faithful believers against receiving those who do not abide in this truth, and the third encourages the believers to receive and help those who work for it.

JOINING OURSELVES TO ANYONE WHO WORKS FOR THE DIVINE REALITY OF THE TRIUNE GOD THAT WE ARE ENJOYING, AND DOING WHATEVER WE CAN TO PROMOTE THIS WORK

Both 2 John and 3 John are based on 1 John. Both 2 and 3 John indicate that we need to live in truth and walk in truth. The difference is that in 2 John there is the prohibition of participating in heresy, of participating in any teaching that is against this truth. We must stay away from any teaching or any person who is against the reality of the Triune God. But in 3 John there is the encouragement to help the fellow workers in the truth. We need to join ourselves to anyone who works for the divine reality of the Triune God that we are enjoying, and we need to do whatever we can to promote this work. Hence, in 2 John there is a negative attitude toward heresy and in 3 John, a positive attitude toward the work for the truth. Whether our attitude should be negative or positive depends on whether the particular situation is for the divine reality or against it.

HOSPITALITY TO THE TRAVELING WORKERS

In verses 5 and 6 John goes on to say, “Beloved, you do faithfully in whatever you may have wrought for the brothers, and this for strangers, who testified to your love before the church, whom you will do well to send forward worthily of God.” Here John speaks concerning hospitality to traveling workers. In verse 5 “whatever” refers to the hospitality afforded (as taught by Paul in Rom. 12:13 and Heb. 13:2), the receiving of the brothers (3 John 10) who traveled for the gospel and the ministry of the Word. The word “this” also indicates hospitality rendered to those brothers who went out for the sake of the truth. Because those brothers were not acquainted with Gaius, the one who received this Epistle, they were strangers to him.

In verse 6 John says that these traveling brothers, who were mostly strangers to Gaius, unacquainted with him, testified to his love before the church. This was in the past and was in the church where the apostle was. Then John continues by saying that Gaius will do well to send them forward worthily of God. This indicates something to be done in the future. The apostle on the one hand praises Gaius for what he has done in receiving the traveling brothers in the past; on the other hand, he encourages him to send them forward in the future. In particular, John encourages Gaius to send them forward worthily of God, that is, in a manner worthy of God.

Here “worthily” modifies “send forward.” The sending forward should be in a manner that matches God, who is generous. This indicates that the sending forward must be with generosity.

BECOMING FELLOW WORKERS IN THE TRUTH

In verses 7 and 8 John indicates that by rendering hospitality to the traveling brothers, we may become fellow workers with those who go out for the sake of the truth. Verse 7 says, “For on behalf of the Name they went out, taking nothing from the Gentiles.” The Name here is the exalted and glorious Name of the wonderful Christ (Phil. 2:9; Acts 5:41; James 2:7). Since the time of the Lord’s ascension, there has never been a name on earth above that of Jesus.

In verse 7 John says that the traveling workers for the truth take nothing from the Gentiles. The Gentiles, pagans, have nothing to do with God’s move on earth to carry out His economy. It is a shame and even an insult to God for anyone who works for God’s New Testament economy to receive help for God’s work, especially financial support, from unbelievers. In the apostle’s time, the brothers who worked for God took nothing from the pagans. Therefore, the apostle encourages the believers to support this work for God’s economy.

In verse 8 John concludes, “We therefore ought to support such, that we may become fellow workers in the truth.” The Greek word translated “support” is hupo-lambano, made up of two words: hupo, under, and lambano, to take; hence, to take up from underneath, that is, to undertake, to sustain, to support. We, the believers including the apostle, ought to support and undertake for the need of the brothers who work for God in His divine truth and who take nothing from the Gentiles. If we support the traveling workers, we participate in the work and thereby become fellow workers in the truth.

In verse 8 “truth” denotes the revealed divine reality as the contents of the New Testament according to the apostles’ teaching concerning the Divine Trinity, especially the Person of the Lord Jesus, for God’s economy. All the apostles and faithful brothers worked for this. (Life-study of 3 John, msg. 1)

SEEING THE PICTURE OF THE DIVINE REALITY PRESENTED BY JOHN IN HIS EPISTLES

We all must see the picture of the divine reality presented by John in his Epistles. This is a picture of the Triune God becoming our enjoyment through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Whoever is against this enjoyment is a false prophet, a deceiver, an antichrist. But whoever is for the enjoyment of the Triune God is an honest and faithful worker for the truth, and we should be joined to that one and participate in his work. Anything that replaces this divine reality, is a substitute for it, is an idol, and we should garrison ourselves against it. We need to guard ourselves, keep ourselves, from all idols, from all substitutes for the divine reality. If we see this vision, we shall be clear concerning the situation of today’s religion, and we shall also be clear concerning our burden in the Lord’s recovery. (Life-study of 3 John, msg. 2)

TRUTH DENOTING THE REVEALED DIVINE REALITY

In verse 1 John speaks of loving in truth. According to John’s usage of the word truth, especially in his Gospel, the first instance of “truth” in this verse denotes the revealed divine reality — the Triune God dispensed into man in the Son Jesus Christ — becoming man’s genuineness and sincerity, to live a life that corresponds to the divine light (John 3:19-21) and to worship God, as God seeks, according to what He is (John 4:23-24).

This is the virtue of God (Rom. 3:7; 15:8) becoming our virtue, by which we love the believers. This is the genuineness, truthfulness, sincerity, honesty, trustworthiness, and faithfulness of God as a divine virtue and of man as a human virtue (Mark 12:14; 2 Cor. 11:10; Phil. 1:18; 1 John 3:18), and as an issue of the divine reality (3 John 1:1). In such truth, the apostle John, who lived in the divine reality of the Trinity, loved the one to whom he wrote. This is the denotation of the first usage of “truth” in this verse.

The Human Virtue in Which the Apostle John Loved the One Who Received This Epistle Being the Issue of the Divine Reality That He Enjoyed

Simply speaking, the first usage of truth in verse 1 denotes sincerity, and John is speaking of loving in sincerity. However, the meaning of sincerity here is not simple. Usually, when we speak of sincerity, we understand sincerity to be merely a human virtue. But here sincerity is more than a human virtue. The human virtue in which the apostle John loved the one who received this Epistle was the issue of the divine reality that he enjoyed.

God’s Divine Virtue Becoming Our Human Virtue When We Enjoy Him
as Our Reality

What is the divine reality enjoyed by John? This reality is the Triune God. The writer of this Epistle enjoyed the Triune God in the Son as his divine reality. Out of the enjoyment of this reality, which is the Triune God in Christ, issued sincerity. This sincerity, or faithfulness, actually is a virtue of God. When we enjoy God as our reality, His divine virtue becomes our human virtue, and this human virtue is sincerity, faithfulness.

This understanding of loving in truth is based upon what is revealed in John’s first Epistle. In that Epistle John indicates that we should love one another by God Himself as love. God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). As we enjoy God as love, out of this love issues a love with which we love others. When we love others with the love that issues from our enjoyment of God as love, our love will be in sincerity. This sincerity is not our human virtue; rather, it is the issue of our enjoyment of the divine reality. (Life-study of 2 John, msg. 1)