救恩次序 Ordo Salutis
駱鴻銘譯自：Robert Reymond ，《系統神學》，712頁。
Robert
L. Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith (Nashville: T.
Nelson, 1998), 712.]
完全憑靠基督的救贖活動所賺得的救恩，其施行是從聖父對那在靈性上已死的被揀選的罪人，發出不可抗拒的宣召開始的。這宣召通常是在福音的宣告裡、也藉著這個宣告而發布的。基督的靈，藉著宣召、並伴隨著宣召，重生那在靈性上已死的被揀選的罪人，使他有能力悔改其罪，並且唯獨在信心中領受基督而得救，並完全靠賴基督，藉此與耶穌基督聯合。他信靠基督的那一刻，上帝就赦免他一切的罪過，並宣告他在祂眼中是義人，會有最終的成聖，領養他進入祂家中，並賜給他嗣子的靈的印記，直到救贖的日子。這個罪人，如今已經是個基督徒了，就開始經歷一生逐漸成聖的過程，在這整個過程中，他也靠著聖靈的能力在聖潔中堅忍到底，這整個系列的行動和過程，其目的和目標是他會得著榮耀，當基督再來時，最終要被帶進到末世的狀態。到那時，他和神的兒子（人最高的善）會有一模一樣的形象，如此，基督也會在最高的意義上，「在許多弟兄中作長子。」（羅八29）
Robert
Reymond’s “brief synopsis” of the ordo salutis, the order of events in God’s
application of Christ’s salvation to the elect sinner:
“The
application of salvation, purchased in its entirety by Christ’s redemptive
activity, commences with God the Father’s irresistible summons to the
spiritually dead elect sinner, normally issued in and by the proclamation of
the gospel, to enter into fellowship with Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Christ,
working by and with that summons, regenerates the spiritually dead elect
sinner, enabling him thereby to repent of his sins and in faith to receive and
to rest upon Christ alone for salvation, in which activity he is united to
Jesus Christ. The moment he believes in Christ, God forgives him of all his
sins and declares him righteous in his sight, definitively sanctifies him,
adopts him into his family and seals him to the day of redemption with the
indwelling Spirit of adoption. The sinner, now a Christian, begins to
experience the lifelong process of progressive sanctification, throughout which
time he also perseveres in holiness by the power of the Holy Spirit, with the
end and goal of this entire series of acts and processes being his
glorification, into which state he is finally brought in the Eschaton at the
return of Christ. At that point he will be fully conformed to the image of the
Son of God, his summum bonum, and Christ will then be in the highest sense
possible ‘the Firstborn among many brethren.’”
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** ** ** ** ** **
“
Ordo Salutis” is Latin for of “ the order of salvation”, which refers to the
sequence of conceptual stepts involved in the salvation of the Chritian. The
sequence is meant to be logical instead of chronological : some steps occur
sequentially while others occur instantaneously . What follows is a classically
Reformed understanding of the way in which God saves his people.
** **
Today
I’ve got an infographic for you, and one that I is going to kick off a series
called “Visual Theology”–an attempt to display theology using a combination of
words and pictures. I have asked one
designer to take a shot at displaying the ordo salutis, which is to say, the
order of salvation, which refers to the sequence of conceptual steps involved
in the salvation of the Christian. I will let the graphic explain it from here.
-----Tim
Challies
You
can also download this infographic in a high-quality PDF (10 MB).
