15在书信中,关于基督的身体是召会,以及召会是神的家这启示,得着完全的发展。提前三章十五节揭示召会是活神的家。因此,父的家必是指活神在地上的居所,而不是指天上。林前三章十六节告诉我们,全体信徒是神的殿。彼前二章五节说,我们这些活石被建造成为属灵的殿。……此外,希伯来三章六节说,我们就是神的家。以弗所二章二十一至二十二节说,信徒同被建造成为神的居所,不是在诸天之上,乃是在灵里。因此全本新约支持这个解释,就是:父的家至终乃是约翰福音本身可看到的基督的身体。在约翰福音和全本新约里,父的家不是指天上,乃是指基督的身体,就是作神在地上居所的召会(约翰福音生命读经,三九七至三九九页)。
15In the Epistles the revelation that the Body of Christ is the church and that the church is the house of God is fully developed. First Timothy 3:15 discloses that the church is the house of the living God. Hence, the Father’s house must mean the house of the living God on earth and not in heaven. First Corinthians 3:16 tells us that the believers, as a whole entity, are the temple of God. First Peter 2:5 says that we, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house…Furthermore, Hebrews 3:6 says that we are the house of God, and Ephesians 2:21-22 says that the believers are being built together as God’s dwelling place, not in the heavens but in spirit. Thus, the whole New Testament supports the interpretation, as found in the Gospel of John itself, that the Father’s house is eventually the Body of Christ. The Father’s house in the Gospel of John and in the whole New Testament is not heaven but the Body of Christ, which is the church as the dwelling place, the habitation of God on earth. (Life-study of John, 2nd ed., pp. 338-339)