18虽然现今召会乃是神的国,但我们只有在灵里生活行动的时候,才是在神国的实际里。每当我们照着旧人行事为人,或是在肉体或己里生活,我们实际上是在神国之外。这就是说,当我们在肉体里,我们就是在堕落之人的性情这个旧范围里,这堕落之人性的范围,完全被撒但篡窃以形成他的国。因此,一位真基督徒若活在肉体里,而不活在灵里,实际上,他可能就是活在撒但的国里,而不是活在神的国里。只有当我们在灵里生活、行动、行事,并全人都在灵里,而不在天然的人里,我们才是在神的国里,我们也实际地是神的国(新约总论第七册,二二四、二二○至二二二页)。
18Although the church today is God’s kingdom, we are in the kingdom in reality only when we live and walk in spirit. Whenever we behave according to the old man or live in the flesh or the self, we, in a practical way, are out of God’s kingdom. This means that when we are in the flesh, we are in the old realm of the fallen human nature, which has been fully usurped by Satan to form his kingdom. Therefore, a genuine Christian, if he lives in the flesh instead of in the spirit, may live in a practical way not in the kingdom of God but in the kingdom of Satan. Only when we live, walk, behave, and have our being altogether in our spirit, not in our natural man, are we in the kingdom of God and, in reality, are the kingdom of God. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 2238, 2235-2236)