In chapter seven we saw that the first basic factor for the Christian meetings is the mingled spirit. In this chapter we want to fellowship concerning the word as the second basic factor. The word for the Christian meetings is not our word, but the holy word, God’s word, the divine word. The two classifications of the word in the New Testament are logos and rhema. The Greek word logos refers to the constant word (Col. 3:16). What is revealed and written in the Holy Scriptures is the constant word, the written word, the remaining word, the word that stands for eternity. The Greek word rhema refers to the instant word (Eph. 6:17). Anyone who is literate can read the Bible according to its written letter. By reading the Bible, we can receive the constant word of God. The constant word, however, is not so powerful, living, working, energizing, or operating within us until it becomes the instant word. When the constant word becomes the instant word, it becomes living, and it works or operates to accomplish God’s purpose in us and with us. Therefore, we must first learn to acquire the constant word and look to the Lord for Him to change His constant word into the instant word. In other words, we should pray when we come to the Bible that God would change His logos into rhema.
When I was young, I was taught to recite John 3:16. I loved that verse very much, yet that verse was merely a constant word to me for many years. Although I knew and loved that verse, it did not do any work within me, and it had not become a part of my being. One day, however, John 3:16, as the constant word, became the instant word to me. God’s word in that verse was applied to my being in a personal way. I realized that God not only loved the world but that He also loved me so much that He gave His only begotten Son, and because I believed in Him, I would not perish but have eternal life. The constant word in John 3:16 had become the instant word to me. It became living and operating within me, and I began to enjoy God in His giving of His Son to me. If we merely read the Bible as the constant word, we will only get some objective knowledge that will not touch our inward being. We need to learn to turn the written and printed word of the Bible into the instant word. In our direct contact with God, the written word is made so practical and that written word becomes the living word. The logos, the constant word, will become the rhema, the instant word. When the logos becomes the rhema, we receive the benefit of the Triune God infusing Himself through His living word into our being.
For the Christian meetings we also need the word of wisdom. The word of wisdom (1 Cor. 12:8a) is concerning Christ as the deeper things of God predestined by God for our portion (1 Cor. 1:24, 30; 2:6-10). We need God’s wisdom to understand the revelation of Christ as our God-designated portion. In 1984 I gave a series of messages that are now contained in the book entitled God’s New Testament Economy (published by Living Stream Ministry). I consider what is presented in that volume as the consummation of what the Lord has shown us in His recovery. The chart of God’s New Testament economy on pages 12 and 13 of that book contains many new titles, terms, and phrases. These are words of wisdom. These words are not of human thought, human composition, or human terminology. The words of wisdom come through the revelation of God.
First Corinthians 1:30 tells us that Christ “became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” To understand the four terms of wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, we need much wisdom. We also need the wisdom to speak the reality of these terms to others. Chapter two of 1 Corinthians tells us that Christ is the depths of God, the deep things of God (v. 10). Christ as the deep things of God is our wisdom. Christ became wisdom to us from God as three vital things in God’s salvation: He is our righteousness for our past, our sanctification for our present, and our redemption for our future. The deep things of God are Christ as wisdom to us. We need the wisdom from God’s revelation to understand how Christ becomes our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption. After talking about these items in chapter one, Paul tells us in chapter two that to understand the deep things of God and to speak or communicate these things to one another, we need the wisdom by the Spirit’s revelation (vv. 6-10, 13). The word of wisdom is mainly of our spirit through revelation (1 Cor. 14:26). The word of wisdom is not merely related to our mentality, our understanding. This word is mainly of our spirit through revelation, so we need to pray for the Spirit’s enlightening and unveiling.