16蜜表征天然人的生命,不是表征这生命坏的方面,乃是表征好的方面。我们不该以为人总是坏的,人有时也会很好,但天然的好乃是蜜。憎恨是酵,但天然的爱是蜜。同样的,骄傲是酵,但天然的谦卑乃是蜜。……蜜过一段时间以后会发酵,这发酵就产生了酵。这指明我们不管是善是恶,至终结果都是一样的。这就是创世记二章说到善恶知识树的原因。我们可能是善或是恶的,但二者结果都是酵。……我们可以用离婚作例子说明蜜的发酵。有许多婚姻结束于离婚,就是因为蜜—天然的爱—发酵而产生了酵。……憎恨(酵)和天然的爱(蜜),结果是一样的。消极的事物是酵,天然生命好的方面,就是蜜所表征的,至终也发酵成为酵。
16Honey signifies the natural human life. It signifies our natural life, not in its bad aspect but in its good aspect. We should not think that people are always bad, for sometimes they are very good…Hatred is leaven, but natural love is honey. Likewise, pride is leaven, but natural humility is honey. After a period of time honey can ferment, and this fermentation will issue in leaven. This indicates that whether we are good or bad, the result will eventually be the same. This is the reason Genesis 2 speaks of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We may be either good or bad, but in either case the result will be leaven. With a marriage that ends in divorce, a certain kind of honey— natural love—has fermented and issued in leaven…The issue of both hatred, which is leaven, and natural love, which is honey, is the same. The negative things are leaven, and the good aspects of the natural life signified by honey eventually ferment and become leaven.