In his Epistles, Peter emphasizes God’s government. Whereas Paul’s ministry speaks mainly of the Body of Christ and John’s ministry speaks mainly of the house of God, Peter’s ministry speaks mainly of the kingdom of God, that is, of all matters related to God’s governmental administration. His Epistles substantially and comprehensively speak of how God’s hand in His governmental administration accomplishes His desire in us, and they speak deeply and with much application to our actual condition. If we want to know God in our practical living and walk and know God’s hand and His work upon us, we must know the content of the Epistles of Peter.

The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1955, volume 2, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee in March through September 1955. Historical information concerning Brother Lee's travels and the content of his ministry in 1955 can be found in the general preface that appears at the beginning of volume 1 in this set. The contents of this volume are divided into six sections, as follows: 1. Diary entries and notes written in the Philippines in March through September. The first three might have been written in Taiwan, before Brother Lee's visit to the Philippines. These diary entries and notes are included in this volume under the title Witness Lee's Personal Notes. 2. Fourteen talks given in Manila, Philippines, on March 27 through April 8. These talks, based on 1 and 2 Peter, are included in this volume under the title The Living under God's Governmental Administration in His Salvation and the Provisions of the Divine Life. 3. Four messages given in Baguio, Philippines, in April and May. These messages were previously published in a six-chapter book entitled How to Be Useful to the Lord. During the compilation of the messages for The Collected Works of Witness Lee, chapters 4 and 5 from the previously published book were moved to the section in volume 3 entitled The Way for a Christian to Mature in Life. The remaining four chapters are included in this volume under the title Concerning How to Be Useful to the Lord. 4. Three messages given in Manila, Philippines, on April 5 through 12. These messages are included in this volume under the title Concerning How to Do Things in the Service of the Church. 5. Thirty-seven messages given in Manila, Philippines, on April 13 through September 13. These messages are included in this volume under the title Seeing Christ as Life in Matthew through Acts. 6. Ten messages given in Baguio, Philippines, on May 1 through 8. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Future of the Church.

This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the twelve messages given during the 2007 winter training on the Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Peter and Jude, held December 24-29 in Anaheim, California. The crucial truth and burden embodied in these twelve messages may be summarized in four statements: (1) In Christ's death we have been separated from sins, and in His resurrection we have been enlivened so that we might live to righteousness under the government of God. (2) We must redeem the time to enjoy Christ as the supreme preciousness of God so that He can build Himself into us to make us His spiritual house and His holy and royal priesthood for the accomplishment of His heart's desire. (3) We should be diligent to pursue the growth and development of the divine life and divine nature for a rich entrance into the eternal kingdom. (4) As we are contending for the faith, enjoying the Blessed Trinity, and taking the way of rapture by giving heed to the prophetic word, our trust is in our precious Lord and God as the One who is able to guard us from stumbling and to set us before His glory without blemish in exultation. These messages are being published immediately following the training in order that they might benefit the saints participating in the many video trainings that are held throughout the earth. The Reports and Announcements section includes two reports related to the Lord's move to Europe and an announcement related to upcoming conferences and trainings.

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains the final nine messages given during the spring 2019 term of the full-time training in Anaheim, California. The general subject of this series of messages is "The Wonderful Christ in the Canon of the New Testament." In these nine messages we continue to consider aspects of the wonderful Christ in the New Testament. In Message 9 we see that Christ is our new Husband. Our old man has been crucified to the law through the body of Christ so that we might marry another husband, Christ, who has been raised from the dead. This joining indicates that in our new status as a wife, we have an organic union in person, name, life, and existence with Christ in His resurrection; now we are married to Christ, our new Husband. Since Christ is our Husband, we must depend on Him and take Him as our Head, our person, and our life. In Message 10 we see that the Man-Savior's ascension was His inauguration into His heavenly office. In His heavenly ministry in ascension, Christ is serving us by dispensing Himself as the reality of the New Testament jubilee into us for our enjoyment. In Message 11 we see that because Christ is the reality of God with the divine attributes, the reality of humanity with all the human virtues, and the reality of every positive thing in the universe, God's intention in His economy is that this Christ would become everything to us. The will of God is one person--Christ; one way--the cross; and one goal--the church as the Body of Christ and the one new man. The way we should take is the way of opening our being to the all-inclusive, extensive Christ and allowing Him to make His home in us, saturate us, permeate us, reproduce Himself in us, and fill us to overflowing until we put off our culture and every natural element so that Christ is all and in all. In Message 12 we see that we need to know and experience Christ as our kingly and divine High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek. As the King, He has the scepter to rule over the earth and to manage our affairs, and as the High Priest, He is interceding for us and taking care of our case before God. As the kingly High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, Christ ministers to us the Triune God, who was processed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection, signified by the bread and the wine, as our life supply so that we may be saved to the uttermost in order to fulfill God's eternal purpose. In Message 13 we see that we should live a Christian life under the government of God. It is Christ who enables us to take God's governmental dealings administered through sufferings. As we live the Christian life under the government of God, we experience the pneumatic Christ as the Shepherd of our souls, who oversees our inward condition, caring for the situation of our inner being--our mind, emotion, and will and our problems, needs, and wounds; restoring our soul; and giving rest to our soul so that we may have the full enjoyment of Him. In Message 14 we see that Christ as the faithful Witness of God, the testimony and expression of God, is for the testimony of Jesus, the church as the corporate expression of the Triune God. As such, the church is the reproduction of the testimony and expression of God in Christ. The testimony of Jesus is the seven golden lampstands. The golden lampstand symbolizes the Triune God--the Father as the substance is embodied in the Son, the Son as the embodiment is expressed through the Spirit, the Spirit is fully realized and expressed as the churches, and the churches are the testimony of Jesus. Hence, the seven golden lampstands are the enlarged, corporate expression of the Triune God. In Message 15 we see that Christ is the Lamb whom the firstfruits, the living overcomers, follow. The firstfruits are the earliest among God's crop to reach maturity and will be raptured to the house of God in Zion for God's satisfaction and enjoyment. In order for us to follow the Lamb and go on to maturity to become the firstfruits, we must walk with God by faith to escape death and obtain the testimony of being well pleasing to God. In Message 16 we see the Lamb-God on the throne within the holy city. The throne of God and of the Lamb is the center of the New Jerusalem. Out of the throne of the Lamb-God flows the river of water of life. When we are under Christ's kingship, headship, lordship, and authority, we enjoy the river of water of life and the tree of life. The highest point in our spiritual experience is having a clear sky with God's throne above it; to reach this point means that we allow God to have the preeminence in everything and are completely submissive to His authority and administration. In Message 17 we see the ultimate revelation of Jesus Christ and the vision of the enthroned Christ as the Administrator in God's universal government. As those who seek to know Christ and experience Him, we have not only Christ but also the revelation of Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation unveils a vision of the enthroned Christ as the Administrator in God's universal government. Christ is the center of God's administration according to God's eternal economy. In His economy God administrates the universe to fulfill His purpose. The unveiling of God's universal administration shows that the will, the purpose, of God in His creation is to have an eternal habitation--the New Jerusalem--for His satisfaction and expression. The Lord Jesus has been enthroned to execute God's governmental administration in the universe. The Announcements section at the end of this issue contains a list of upcoming conferences and trainings hosted by Living Stream Ministry and a website link for information related to similar events in Europe.

Fifteen years after its original publication comes a thoroughly revised edition of the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Every article from the original edition has been revisited. With some articles being removed, others revised, and many new articles added, the result is a completely new dictionary covering systematic, historical, and philosophical theology as well as theological ethics.

The Gospel of Mark portrays Jesus making impossible demands on his disciples. They must follow him even if it costs them their lives. And, unsurprisingly, this proves to be impossible for them to do. They fail drastically in Mark’s narrative and run from the scene as Jesus is arrested. Peter had been determined to stay by him unto death, but even he was not able to admit to knowing Jesus at that crucial moment. The strange thing is that Jesus made it clear that it is impossible to enter the Kingdom of God without this sort of radical discipleship. In this narrative study of salvation in the Gospel of Mark, this conundrum is studied closely with surprising results. An investigation of various socio-historical aspects of Mark’s background elucidate the connection that Mark makes between the death of Jesus and the following of the disciples. And a study of Mark’s narrative as a whole shows that Mark provides hope for those without courage to follow. If they continue to look and listen carefully, the mystery will be unveiled to them.

In response to readers' comments, this revised edition provides helpful clarifications, charts, and expanded notes and references. Kraus, in a theological description of Jesus Christ, offers answers to questions of Jesus' identity and the nature of the revelation-salvation which came through him. This anticipates his volume, 'God Our Savior', dealing with implications of Christ's revelation for other data of theology, such as God, humankind, the Holy Spirit, church, and eschatology. For many years the idea of vicarious suffering to atone for the sins of humanity has not been self-evident in Western culture, to say nothing of the cultures of Asia. Western theologians have presupposed Roman categories of guilt and legal penalty as the framework for their explanations. However, this has been unsatisfactory in cultures where social tradition and shame are primary moral sanctions. Observing that the biblical cultural context was more oriented to shame than to a legal concept of guilt, Kraus has reinterpreted the meaning and efficacy of the cross as the means of God's salvation. Such a reinterpretation requires that one also reevaluate the theological definition of Jesus' person. How one understands what he did for us is closely related to how one understands who he was. His identity and role mutually impact each other. Thus one must ask, Who was this one who reconciled us to God by suffering the shame of our sin? In answer, Kraus finds concepts of self-identity and self-revelation most helpful. Jesus, the self-revelation of God to us, is God-giving-himself-to-us. That self-revelation comes as a self-giving, and only in the form of a genuinely personal, historical, and human relationship. In all of this the author intends to present an authentically biblical picture of Jesus, but in the context of modern language and thought forms.

Documents the primary mechanism abused by the government to destroy the constitutional rights and sovereignty of the people.