那搅动池水的使者，象征颁赐律法的经手人，这律法不能赐人生命。（加三19，21。）搅动池水使人痊愈，表征实行守律法，想要使人完全。他看见水动的时候就充满了期望，但他无法及时赶上前去。因为他无能，不能行动，所以他得不到医治。照样，因着我们的软弱，我们不能遵守律法。律法是好的，圣别的，属灵的；律法本身没有问题，问题在于我们。

我们都必须按着内在的实际，不按着外貌认基督。主在地上的时候，没有吸引人的外表。今天，在教会生活也是这样，没有什么吸引人的外表。然而，你若进入教会生活里面，就会在那里看见基督的美丽。祂不是那拿撒勒人，祂乃是大卫的后裔。这就是基督！阿利路亚！

Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin (8:34). A slave is always under a certain bondage. Satan, the devil, has brought all humankind under the bondage of sin by imparting himself into man as the sinful nature that compels man to sin. It is impossible for anyone to free himself from such a slavery.

Lord said that those who believe in Him will do greater works than He did

We are an abode to God, and God is an abode to us. This is the real building. This is the proper and correct meaning of the Lord’s word found in this chapter.

主预先告诉门徒，好叫他们在逼迫来临时不至受挫、绊跌，也不至受迷惑。

主问，『你想要痊愈吗？』意思就是：『你想要得医治吗？』那软弱的人除了池子、水、和搅动水的使者以外，别无所知。他也晓得在自己里面没有希望，没有能力，所以就将他的光景向主耶稣说明。于是主耶稣对他说，『起来，拿你的褥子走吧。』那软弱的人听了那永活、赐生命的主那点活人的话，就痊愈了。

For us to maintain pleasant fellowship with the Lord and with one another we need spiritual foot-washing.

He did not groan over the death of Lazarus, but over the fact that not one of the sorrowful ones knew that He was the present resurrection, and He was troubled by this.  At this juncture, the Lord wept in sympathy with their sorrow over Lazarus’s death.

What is the way for a grain of wheat to multiply? It is not by being welcomed or honored, but by falling into the ground to die. This is absolutely contrary to the human concept. Nevertheless, we must remember that this is the only way to bring the church into being and to increase it in life.

Praise the Lord that there is another father, the heavenly Father, the Father of light and truth. He is the great I Am, who became incarnated as a man. As the Son of Man, He was lifted up on the cross for our sin and died for us.

The Holy Spirit is the reality of all things, and we are to be witnesses of the Spirit of reality.

This warns us that the real foot-washing is only for the people who are genuinely in the fellowship with the Lord.

我们若要认识主作生命的细节，就必须领会约翰福音。

The living testimony of the church always causes people to believe in the Lord and brings people into the church life. The increase of the church must depend upon the church’s living testimony, not only upon the preaching of the gospel. The best preaching of the gospel that makes the church to increase is our living testimony of experiencing the Lord as our life.

At this point, according to the worldly view, Jesus was in His golden time. The raising up of Lazarus from the dead was such a miracle that it shook all the people.

所有的神迹、奇事和恩赐，都不过是我们藉以接触基督的见证。今天的问题是人虽然有了见证，却未接触主自己。人可能见到了神迹奇事，有了恩赐和圣经知识，却没有来接触主自己。只有主自己赐你生命。