We need to be absolute for both the objective truths and the subjective truths; the objective doctrines are for the subjective truth to produce and build up the church.
The truth in the divine revelation is not something relative, as the worldly people today seem to make it.
In the world today truth is becoming something that people personally believe to be truth, not what God says is truth. In the church life in the recovered church, we have the truth as our unique standard, and we stand on the side of the truth no matter what.
Even more, we want to be absolute for the truth, for truth is absolute; the divine truth in the word of God is absolute, but we are not, so we need to allow the truth to uplift our experience of Christ to the level of the truth.
The only way we can uphold the truth and be absolute for the truth is if we oppose ourselves and are delivered from ourselves.
In ourselves, we are fluctuating and not absolute, but Christ Himself as the living truth of God is in us, and we can be one spirit with Him to allow Him to be the absolute One in us.
For us to know God and His Word, we need to be absolute for the truth, and the truth has to be something absolute for us.
If we read the Bible and shake our head in disagreement if we read the Word of God and do not say Amen to His word even when we don’t understand or can’t believe this is possible in us, we have a heart of unbelief, and truth is not absolute in us. Oh, Lord Jesus!
May we learn to never sacrifice the truth and reality for our feelings, our situation, the people around us, our natural relationships, or our opinions!
May we come to the One who is absolute for the truth all the time and contact Him, be filled with Him, and abide in Him by abiding in His word so that truth may be absolute in us and we may be absolute for the truth.
It is such a tragedy that many young adults today sacrifice so much the truth and reality because they love the present age; they love to be like the present age, and it is such a pain to uphold the truth when trying to please those around them. Oh, Lord.
May we fight for the truth, may we stand for the truth, and may we fight for one another so that the enemy who does a blinding work behind the scenes would be bound, put to shame, and the saints would be released. Amen!
May we be those who honour the truth of God, take the way of the truth, walk in the truth, and not compromise the truth in any way, shape, or form.
Our reading and praying of God’s word will infuse the element of God into us, for God Himself is the essence of the Bible; He as Spirit and life are contained in the Word, and we can take Him in to live because of Him.
The Objective Doctrines are to be our Subjective Truths for the Producing and Building up of the Church
The truths in the Bible have both an objective and a subjective aspect; on one hand there are the objective truths, the objective doctrines, and on the other, there are the subjective truths, the truth becoming our experience.
The truths in the Holy Scriptures are always of these two aspects – the objective aspect and the subjective aspect.
We should be absolute for both the objective truths and the subjective truths (John 8:32; 14:6).
If we pay attention only to the objective doctrines but neglect the subjective experience of the truth, we will not be able to fulfill God’s purpose.
The eternal purpose of God is that He would be expressed through the church on earth; when the objective doctrines become our subjective truths through our experience of Christ for the producing and building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
We should not pay more attention to the objective doctrines in the word of God than to the subjective truths, for the objective doctrines are for the subjective truths.
Rather, we need to read the Bible, pray over the word of God, and convert the objective truths into subjective truths in our experience by opening to the Lord concerning these matters; this is for the producing of the church.
The practical church life is an issue of our experience of the subjective truths. The truth in the word of God needs to become subjective in our experience for the building up of the church.
We need to be absolute both for the objective truths and the subjective truths; the objective doctrines are for the subjective truths, and the subjective truths are for the producing of the church (see 2 John 1-2, 4; 3 John 3-4, 7-9).
On one hand, we need to know the truth and be constituted with the truth so that no winds of teaching would take us away; on the other hand, truth needs to become subjective to us in our experience.
The Lord desires to recover the subjective truths in the Holy Scriptures in our experience so that the church may be built up.
Everything that we read in the Bible needs to be brought to the Lord, the source of it all so that He would make it real to us.
On one hand, yes, we need to know the truth, but on the other hand, the truth needs to become subjective to us in our experience.
May the Lord save us from merely having a lot of knowledge of the doctrines in the word of God without the Spirit and life contained and conveyed by His word!
May we be not merely filled with the objective doctrines in the word but even more, may we experience Christ and enjoy God according to the truth in His word, having the subjective truth!
Truth is something that we need both to be steadfast in, holding it firm, and grasping it with our understanding, and we also need to walk in truth, having the love of the truth and walking in truth in our daily life.
Lord Jesus, we want to be absolute for both the objective truths and the subjective truths. We give ourselves to You to dive into Your word, abide in the Word, be constituted with the Word, and hold fast to truth. Amen, Lord, may the objective doctrines we see and understand in Your word become our subjective experience in our daily life. May we read and pray, muse over, consider, and experience the truth in Your word for this truth to become our subjective truth. Amen, may we be steadfast in the truth and also walk in the truth for the producing and building up of the church!
Having the Subjective Truths in our Experience to Enjoy Spirit and Life for the Church
The Lord desires to recover the subjective truths in the Holy Scriptures; in particular, he wants to recover the subjective aspect of the truth concerning the Triune God and the church (see John 1:14; 14:16-20; 1 Tim. 6:15-16; 2 Tim. 4:22; 3:15-16).
Many of the crucial subjective truths have been buried and misunderstood throughout the centuries, but in the Lord’s recovery, these truths have been resurrected to become recovered, resurrected truths (John 17:17; 18:37).
All the subjective truths are linked to the Spirit and life; the words that the Lord speaks to us are Spirit and are life (John 6:63).
If we take away the spirit and life, there are no subjective truths; the truth in the word of God becomes subjective to us as Spirit and life, and without Spirit and life we don’t have subjective truths.
It is by the Spirit and life that the church is produced. We need to have the subjective truths in our experience to enjoy Spirit and life for the producing and building up of the church.
If we live by Spirit and in life, we have the experience of the subjective truths and therefore have the church life.
The church life is a reality to us and builds up the Body of Christ when we have not only the objective doctrines but when truth becomes subjective to us, when we enjoy and experience Spirit and life for the church.
For example, the truth concerning God in the Bible has the objective and subjective aspects.
The objective aspects of God in the Bible are: He is God who is high above in the heavens with glory and majesty, He is our Creator, He is the Sovereign Master, He has become our Redeemer, and He is our Good Shepherd and we’re His flock.
We love our God as our Creator, our Master, our Redeemer, and our Shepherd. However, our God is much more to us than this; there is the subjective aspect of our God, and He is so much more to us in our experience.
In a very subjective way, our God is our Father; He is not only our Creator but also our Father, and He has given us His life and nature, and we are His children (John 1:12-13).
Secondly, our God is not just the Sovereign Master but also the Spirit; He has gone through a process to become a life-giving Spirit and enter into us just like air (1 Cor. 15:45).
He has become subjective to us even as air is subjective: we can breathe Him in and partake of Him, even live because of Him. When we call on His name, we breathe Him in.
Third, God has become our very life; in Christ and as the Spirit, He has become our very life (Col. 1:27).
God is not merely majestic and glorious up in heavens; He has become our very life to be mingled with us in a subjective way. Hallelujah!
Fourth, God is light; this light is called the light of life, for it brings in the divine life. He shines on us through His word, and He infuses the divine life into us to cause us to grow in life and arrive unto maturity.
Fifth, God is our very breath; we can breathe ourselves us and we can breathe Him in.
He is our breath by breathing Himself out in His word (2 Tim. 3:16), and we can breathe Him in as we call on His name and pray-read His word.
Sixth, God is our living water and our food for us to partake of. He has become available for us to partake of, enjoy, and be constituted with; He is our food and our drink.
On one hand, God is the Lord in heaven, high above all, the most dignified One, the One with majesty and glory; this is an objective truth which we need to grasp and understand.
On the other hand, however, He is our Lord in our experience, and He has become our very life, speaking to us, fellowshipping with us, walking with us, and constantly supplying us, supporting us, and comforting us all the time.
We need to know God not only objectively as the Lord of all, the Sovereign One, the Majestic One, and the Creator; we also need to know Him in our experience as our very life, our life supply, our breath, and our everything.
Such a subjective experience of the objective truths is for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
God in Christ as the Spirit is in us – He is one spirit with us; we have His life, His nature, and His essence, and we can enjoy Him and experience Him for the building up of the church, thus fulfilling God’s eternal purpose.
We worship You, God, for being our God, our Creator, our Sovereign Master, our Redeemer, and our Good Shepherd. We worship You as such a One who is full of glory, wisdom, majesty, and sovereignty. Thank You for becoming a life-giving Spirit to come into us to be our life and our everything. Hallelujah, God is now our Father and we are His children having His life and nature. We can breathe You in, for You have become a life-giving Spirit, real to us and so available. Amen, Lord, we take You as our life and we breathe You in as our living air. You are the real food and drink to us to supply us inwardly. Be so real and subjective to us, Lord, in our daily experience, for the building up of the church.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1977, vol. 3, “The Subjective Truths in the Holy Scriptures,” chs. 1-2, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing the Truth, being Absolute for the Truth, and Proclaiming the Truth in this Present Evil Age (2021 Memorial Day Weekend Conference), week 1, Knowing the Truth, Being Absolute for the Truth and for Upholding the Absoluteness of the Truth, and Testifying to the Truth in the Present Age of the World.
- Further reading on this topic: the Subjective God (by Affirmation and Critique, article here), and this PDF outline on The Recovery of the Subjective Truths in the Gospel of John.
- Hymns on this topic:
– With God’s own essence it anoints me, / God to know subjectively, / That I may have His very element / Fully saturating me. / ’Tis by this inner life-anointing / I in fellowship may move; / In God, the light of truth, I’m walking, / And the love of grace I prove. (Hymns #266)
– Christ to me is so subjective, / In my spirit dwelleth He; / Christ to me is all-inclusive, / As the Spirit one with me. / So subjective is my Christ to me! / Real in me, and rich and sweet! / All-inclusive is my Christ to me! / All my needs He fully meets. (Hymns #537)
– Objective and subjective Christ is to us, / In heaven He’s pleading objectively thus; / Subjectively now in His members He lives / And inwardly to them His being He gives. (Hymns #536)
About aGodMan
