3. What Are We? 我们是什么?

1) Q. I have never heard of the Lord’s recovery. Is it a new denomination?
A. First, we must clarify that we are not a new denomination. Neither are we a new sect, a new movement, or a new organization.
问:我从来没听说过主的恢复,它是一个新的公会吗?
答:首先要声明的是:我们并不是一个新的公会,也非一个新的宗派,或者一个新的运动、新的组织。


2) Q. Since the Lord’s recovery is not a new denomination, are they just another religious sect?
A. We are not here to join a certain sect or form our own sect. Other than having a special calling and commission from God, there would be no need for us to exist independently.
问:既然主的恢复不是一个新的公会,那么它们只是另一个宗教派别吗?
答:我们在这里不是加入某一派别,也不是创立一新派别。若非神给我们一个特别的呼召、特别的托付,我们就没有存在的必要了。


3) Q. When did the Lord begin His work of recovery?
A. From the sixteenth century on, God has been recovering different truths. The sixteenth century was the age of the Reformation. It was a time of monumental change in religion.
问:主什么时候开始祂恢复的工作呢?
答:从第十六世纪开始,神一直在恢复不同的真理。第十六世纪乃是改教的时代,是宗教的一个大转机。


4) Q. There are already too many Christian groups. Why does the Lord’s recovery exist?
A. The reason we are here is that God has given us a special calling. According to Second Peter 1:12, we need to be “established in the present truth.”
问:基督徒团体太多了。主的恢复为什么要存在?
答:我们现在能在这里,是因为神给了我们特别的呼召。根据彼得后书一章十二节,我们需要“在现有的真理上得了坚固。”


5) Q. Since we need to be established in the present truth, what should we do?
A. The “present truth” can also be rendered the “up-to-date truth.” We need to ask: “God, what is the present truth?”
问:既然我们需要在现有的真理上得坚固,那我们该作什么呢?
答:“现在的真理”也可以说是“今天的真理”。我们需要问说,“神阿,什么是现在的真理呢?”


6) Q. Please tell me, what is the basis of being established in God’s present truth?
A. The basis of everything is the death, the resurrection, and the ascension of Christ. Other than Christ, there is no spiritual reality. This is God’s “present truth.”
问:请告诉我,在神现有的真理上得坚固的根基是什么?
答:一切的根基乃是基督的死、复活与升天,除了基督以外,再没有别的属灵实际。这就是神“今日的真理。”


7) Q. As a person who is in the Lord’s recovery, what is your main work?
A. Our work is to sound out the call to God’s children to return to God’s central purpose, to take Christ as the center of all things, and to take His death, resurrection, and ascension as the basis of everything.
问:作为主恢复中的一员,你主要的工作是什么?
答:我们的工作乃是呼召神的儿女,回到神中心的旨意里,以基督为万有的中心,以祂的死、复活、升天为一切的根基。


8) Q. When you say that the Lord’s recovery is the recovery of the truth, what does this mean?
A. We know that God’s truths are cumulative; later truths do not negate earlier ones. All the past truths of God form the foundation of the truths today. What we see today are the cumulative revelations of God.
问:当你说到主的恢复乃是真理的恢复时,这是什么意思呢?
答:我们知道神的真理乃是积蓄的,而不是推翻已往的。所有已往神的真理,都是今天的根基,我们今天所看见的,都是神累积的启示。


9) Q. What is the starting point of the truths that you preach?
A. All of the truths that we preach today have the church as the starting point. This is our work and this is our testimony. We have four responsibilities today concerning the sinners, Satan, the church and Christ.
问:你们所传真理的出发点是什么?
答:我们今天所传的真理,都是以召会为出发点。这是我们的工作、我们的见证。今天我们有四方面的责任:罪人、撒但、召会和基督。


10) Q. If we want to be part of what the Lord is recovering, what should we do?
A. We have to preach the gospel. We have to realize there is a spiritual warfare. We have to hold fast what we see today and concerning Christ we should testify of the fact of His preeminence in all things.
问:如果我们想要成为主今日恢复的一部分,我们该怎么作?
答:我们需要传福音,我们需要认识属灵的争战。我们应持定今天所看见的;对基督,我们应见证祂在凡事上居首位的事实。


Reference: The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 11: (New Believers Series, Church Life, VII-11 What Are We)
参考书目:倪柝声文集,第十一册:(有声云—初信,召会生活,VII-11我们是什么)