作者：Michael J. Glodo 译者：赵刚
下面两句话，你更同意哪一句？
With which of the
following statements are you in greater agreement?
1、“每天都有人离开教会，回到神那里。”
1.
“Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God.”
2、“离开[教会]我们就没有任何罪得赦免或得救的盼望。”
2.
“Away from [the church] one cannot hope for any forgiveness of sins or any
salvation.”
对普通福音派基督徒来说，第一句话虽然未免有失偏颇，但第二句话则根本就是罗马天主教的说法。如果这就是你的想法的话，那么你的教会论更接近于第一句话的作者，列尼·布鲁斯（Lenny Bruce），而非第二句话的作者，约翰·加尔文（《要义》4.1.1）的观点。布鲁斯长于讽刺建制的宗教，挖苦假冒伪善者，是一位以粗俗和不敬虔而臭名远扬的喜剧演员，却在这里表达了当代社会对建制宗教的共识，而加尔文的说法似乎却背叛了他作为新教改革主要推动者的角色。For the average
evangelical Christian the first statement may lack some balance, but the second
sounds downright Romish. If this describes your reaction, then your
ecclesiology is closer to the author of the first, Lenny Bruce, than to the author
of the second, John Calvin (Institutes 4.1.1). Bruce, satirist of organized
religion and nemesis to hypocrisy, a comedian notorious for his vulgarity and
impiety, nevertheless expressed a common contemporary assessment of organized
religion, while Calvin’s statement seemed to betray his role as one of the
primary catalysts of the Protestant Reformation
虽然我们绝大多数人都会承认，教会在培养我们的信心上很有助益，但很少有人会走到加尔文那么远。我们在很多有形教会里见过僵化和背道的事。我们也见过吹毛求疵——教会中的懒散和明争暗斗也成为世界的绊脚石。我们也接纳和支持在教会之外运作的福音事工。我们深深相信宗教改革的那条核心教义，即得救是唯独恩典，唯独透过信心，而不在于教会的会员资格。但现在的问题不是关于教会的过时、等级森严、和殖民主义式的看法。问题的核心在于福音的本质。我邀请你来重新思考对福音的理解，渠道是通过更好理解教会是什么，以及圣经关于教会和福音之间关系的看法是什么。While most of us
will admit that the church is a vital aid in nurturing people in the faith, few
of us might go as far as Calvin’s statement. We’ve seen deadness and apostasy in many parts of
the visible Church. We’ve watched
navel-gazing — lethargy and
infighting in the Church become a stumbling block to the world. We’ve accepted
and endorsed evangelistic ministries that operate outside the Church. We
believe deeply in that central Reformation doctrine of salvation by grace alone
through faith alone, not by church membership. But at issue is not an archaic,
hierarchical, colonial view of the Church. At the heart of the matter is the
very nature of the Gospel. I invite you to reconsider your understanding of the
Gospel through a better understanding of the Church and the biblical connection
between the two.
“福音”意味着好消息。但关于什么的好消息呢？从语法上说，“福音”一词要求一个所有格。如果我对你说，“我有一条好消息，”你会问我说，是关于什么事情的。通常来说，人们相信好消息是些不同的事情——耶稣为罪死，恩典，称义，成为后嗣，复合，以及与神和好。对这条消息的回应就是“接受耶稣到心里”或者“接受耶稣为个人的救主。”[1]从圣经上说，好消息是关于神的国或天国的好消息。上面提的这些事情是国度来临时的后果。从圣经上说，回应应该是悔改，并且相信国度在基督里已经来了。“Gospel”
means good news. But good news of what? Grammatically, “gospel” requires a
genitive. If I said to you, “I have good news,” you would ask me about what.
Popularly, people believe the good news is different things — Jesus dying for
sin, grace, justification, adoption, reconciliation, and peace with God. One
responds to this news by “receiving Jesus in his heart” or “accepting Christ as
his personal savior.”1 Biblically, the good news is the good news of the
Kingdom of God/heaven. The things mentioned above are implications of the
coming of the Kingdom. Biblically, the response is to repent and believe the
good news that the Kingdom has come in Christ.
路加写到，“律法和先知到约翰为止，从此神国的福音传开了……”（路16:16）。使徒行传常常被引用为传福音和教会生活更纯洁的模式，但在那里，神的国是使徒们的布道内容（徒8:12，14:22，19:8，20:25，28:23，31）。在新约里任何其他关于福音的描述，都是神的国在耶稣事工中降临的后果。[2] Luke wrote, “The Law and the prophets were in effect until
John came; since then the good news of the Kingdom of God is proclaimed ...”
(Luke 16:16). In Acts, often cited as a more pure model for evangelism and
church life, the Kingdom of God was the content of the apostolic preaching
(Acts 8:12, 14:22, 19:8, 20:25, 28:23, 31). Every other description of the
Gospel in the New Testament is a consequence of the Kingdom of God being
inaugurated in the ministry of Jesus.2
一旦我们理解到福音是关于国度的，我们就必须自问，“什么是神的国？”[3]从最基本的层面来说，国度就是神透过耶稣基督统管和掌权。好消息就是这个国度透过基督已经开始实现了。看到国度和福音不可分割的联系以后，我们也就看到基督作为救主和主的角色如何不可分割。悔改和信福音就是承认基督是王，把自己的意志降伏在他的意志之下，并在他恩典、公义、和爱的治理下接受他的掌管。Once we understand
that the Gospel is about the Kingdom, we must ask ourselves “What is the
Kingdom of God?”3 At its most basic level, the Kingdom is the reign and rule of
God administered through Jesus Christ. The good news is that this Kingdom has
been brought to bear through Christ. Seeing the unbreakable connection between
Gospel and Kingdom, we also see how Christ’s roles as Savior and Lord are
inseparable. To repent and believe the Gospel is to acknowledge that Christ is
king, to submit one’s will to his, to be ruled over by him in his dispensation
of mercy, justice, and love.
但基督如何统管他的国度呢？他如何实施他的王权呢？他透过他的教会，他赐给教会他国度的钥匙（太16:19）、职分的恩赐（弗4:8ff.）、在话语宣讲中他亲自的声音（罗10:14，17）、他作为大牧人的关怀（彼前5:1-5）、以及恩典的管道（徒2:42）。没有教会也就没有基督的掌管——没有他的保护、供应、和温柔的管教。But how does Christ rule over
his Kingdom? How does he administer his kingship? He does so through the
Church, to which he has given the Kingdom’s keys (Matthew 16:19), the gifts of
office (Ephesians 4:8ff.), his own shepherd voice in the preaching of the Word
(Romans 10:14, 17), his faithful shepherd’s care (1 Peter 5:1-5) and the means
of grace (Acts 2:42). To be without the Church is to be at odds with Christ’s
rule — his protection, provision, and tender discipline.
所以，加尔文的看法不是罗马天主教的、臆测的、或受文化影响的。它是合乎圣经的。所以这样的宣信也是完全合乎圣经的：“有形的教会……是主耶稣基督的国度，神的家族，在此以外是没有得救常例的可能性。”（威斯敏斯特信条25.2）Therefore,
Calvin’s view
of the Church is not Romish, speculative or cultural. It is biblical. And so
the confession is thoroughly biblical that “The visible Church . . . is the Kingdom of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary
possibility of salvation” (Westminster Confession of Faith, 25.2).
当然，我们必须根据圣经在有形和无形教会之间作一区分。但无形的就看不见。没有无形的洗礼、圣餐、讲道、管教或安息。我们也必须注意到威斯敏斯特信条里“常例”这个限制词。但这个限制词所允许的是神在他给我们所立定例之外所乐意做的，而不是我们可以突破神的定例。We must, of course,
make a biblical distinction between the visible and invisible Church. But the
invisible cannot be seen. There is no invisible baptism, Lord’s table, preached
Word, discipline, or Sabbath. We must also note with care Westminster’s
qualification of “ordinarily.” But this term qualifies the doctrine in terms of
what God may be pleased to do apart from his prescriptions to us, not what we
may choose to do to vary from them.
说“我是国度的一员，却不是任何建制宗教的一员”的人有内在的矛盾。我们怎么知道这人是真的信了？事实上，他或她怎么知道自己真的信了？他们拒绝了基督给他国度所定的管理，因此也就在他的王权之外。由于这个原因，一个人在教会之外，就如同一直硬心地拒绝基督的王权的人一样，不可能含混地拥有得救的确据。他可能有得救的信心，但没有任何基督赐下的方法来得到确据。保罗写到，“但那在上的耶路撒冷是自主的，他是我们的母”（加4:25）。所以居普良也写到，“不能称教会为母亲的，也不能称神为父亲。”[4] The person who says, “I’m a member of the
Kingdom of God, not organized religion” is inherently contradictory. How do we
know that such a person is truly converted? For that matter, how does he or she
know? They have refused Christ’s appointed administration of his Kingdom and,
thus, stand apart from his kingship. For this reason, one cannot possess
assurance of salvation indefinitely if he remains outside of the Church any
more than if he persists in hardened resistance to Christ’s kingship. He may
have saving faith, but have none of Christ’s means of assuring him of it. Paul
wrote, “But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother” (Galatians 4:26,
NASV). Hence, Cyprian wrote, “No one has God as his father without the Church
as his mother.”4
从我们受福音派贬低教会的影响来看，我们必须放弃列尼·布鲁斯的教会论。我们很多人不由自主地采纳了非常类似20世纪古典自由派的观点。按瑞德鲍斯（Ridderbos）的描述，“自由派神学宣称，教会作为信徒可见的聚集，并有相当程度的组织性，这完全在耶稣的想法之外。”[5]唯一的区别是，自由派看出新约对有形教会的高举，就指责说教会在耶稣的教导上外加了这一条，而福音派根本就看不见有形教会被高举。To the extent we’ve been influenced by evangelicalism’s low view of the Church, we must give up our
Lenny Bruce ecclesiology. Many of us unknowingly have adopted a viewpoint
similar to classic twentieth-century liberalism. As Ridderbos described that
view, “liberal theology asserted that, as a visible gathering of believers with
a certain amount of organization, the Church lay entirely outside Jesus’
vision.”5 The only difference is that liberalism saw the visible Church exalted
in the New Testament and accused the Church of adding it to Jesus’ teaching,
whereas evangelicals simply don’t see it exalted at all.
重申教会论可以改变我们建造和发展教会的方式。就像7-up推销自己为非可乐一样，很多教会也以标榜自己为“非教会”来进行推销，称自己教会与信徒们以前所了解的教会都不一样。一个保守、正统宗派的一间著名教会曾经在当地高速公路上的广告牌上说，“耶稣也讨厌教会”。但事实正相反，耶稣爱她，甚至为她舍命（弗5:25-27）。就像我十几岁时很讨厌和我那五十多岁的父母在一起一样，这些福音派基督徒也讨厌和那不时髦的信徒之母和基督之妻连在一起。[6]但回到圣经对教会的看法，并了解她在与神同行的生活中的重要性，可以在如下几方面帮助我们。Recovering the
doctrine of the Church will change how we plant and promote our churches. As an
ecclesial version of the Uncola 7-Up®, many market their churches as the “unchurch,” church not like any church the seeker has known. A
prominent congregation in a conservative, orthodox denomination once placed
billboards by the interstate in their community stating, “Jesus hated church,
too.” On the contrary, he loved her and gave himself up for her (Ephesians
5:25-27). Just as, when a teenager, I was ashamed to be seen with my
fifty-something parents, these evangelists are ashamed to be associated with
the unhip mother of believers and wife of Christ.6 But returning to a biblical
view of the Church and its primacy for life with God will help us in several
specific ways.
首先，它会归正我们对福音的传讲。我们会带给人们耶稣所带给他们的福音。大使命不单单是传福音，而且是基督的永恒国度藉着教会的教导和施洗得到扩展。First, it will
reform the Gospel we preach. We will offer people the same good news Jesus
offered them. The Great Commission is not just evangelism, it is the extension
of Christ’s eternal Kingdom
through the teaching and baptizing of the Church.
其次，我们会劝勉宣信的人加入教会，得到印记和喂养，以使他们可以安息在神的应许里，而不是在个人主观、易变、并且与圣经不符的感觉上。我们都知道那个用来描述没有父亲的孩子的词。这是个难听的词，所表达的不是关于孩子，而是关于父母的情况。我们必须停止鼓励人们进入只以神为父的单亲家庭，没有教会为母，结果信徒就成为私生子。Second, we will
urge professing people to unite with the Church to be sealed and nurtured so
that they can rest upon God’s assurance, not upon a merely subjective,
changeable, and unbiblical affection. We all know the word that describes a
child born without a father. It’s a cruel word, reflecting not upon the child,
but upon the parents. We must stop commending to people the one parent family
of God as Father, without the church as mother and its consequent
bastardization of believers.
第三，我们就会被吸引回到传福音的荣耀方式，按这种方式，神的子民公开地展示他们对其救赎主的热烈情感，以至于把万民都吸引入那座有根基的城（来11:10；比较，诗67；赛2:2-3；林前14:24-25）。我们不再会把神分裂为好像他的荣耀和他的福音互相冲突的样子。Third, we will be drawn back
to doxological evangelism, where the people of God publicly demonstrate their
rapt affections for their Redeemer in a way that draws the nations to the city
which has foundations (Hebrews 11:10; cf. Psalm 67, Isaiah 2:2-3, 1 Corinthians
14:24-25). We will stop rending God by putting his glory and evangelism at
odds.
第四，在教导和施行公正的意义上，我们都会复兴教会的管教。这个最少被实行到的真教会的记号是使教会会员有意义的关键。这会使我们对教会的名册和会员数有诚实的纪录，而不再任由它成为基督教最不可靠的统计数据。Fourth, we will
revive church discipline, both in its instructional and judicial senses. This
least-practiced mark of the true Church is essential to giving meaning to
church membership. This will include maintaining honest church rolls and
redeeming membership numbers from its place as the most dubious statistic in
Christendom
第五，我们会恢复基督为使我们过与神同行的生活而提供的恩典的管道——话语、圣礼和祷告（威斯敏斯特小要理问答，88-98问）。我们的会友会按它们固有的价值——赐生命的定例——来重视它们，并因基督把它们赐给教会而更爱他。这包括忠心、经常和公开地呈现有形的话语——圣礼——，并且带着信与不信的分别，这种分别让我们时常记得这世代与要来的世代之间的巨大鸿沟，并鼓励信徒在洗礼上长进。就像一位传道人有一次问另一位只在周间在“信徒团契”时举行圣餐的传道人一样，“你觉得把主的身体和血藏起来，会让我们的主喜悦吗？” Fifth, we will recover the means of grace — the
Word, sacraments and prayer — as Christ’s provision for our life with God
(Westminster Shorter Catechism, 88-98). Our people will prize them for what
they are — life-giving ordinances — and love Christ for giving them to the
Church. This includes the faithful, frequent and public presentation of the
visible Word — the sacraments — with table-fencing, which reminds one of the
great gulf between the kingdom of this world and the next, and with
exhortations to believers to improve their baptism. As a fellow minister once
asked another who only had communion at a mid-week “believer’s service,” “Do
you think it pleases our Lord that you hide his body and blood?”
第六，我们不会放弃给我们的会员传福音。我们知道在麦子中间有稗子。尽管每位信徒都需要福音得以成圣，我们却不能忘记，在会员中还有一些人是尚未得到福音以称义的。Sixth, we will not
give up evangelizing our members. We know there are tares among the wheat.
While every believer needs the Gospel for sanctification, we will not forget
that there are those members who have not yet received it for justification.
最后，我们会经历到基督徒应该展现出来的改变世界的能力。正如艾德蒙·克劳尼（Edmund Clowney）所说：Finally, we will evidence the world-changing power
that Christians are supposed to have. As Edmund Clowney has said:
不过，教会作为基督国度的群体，可以向世界展示一种它必须尊敬的伦理正直。当彼得描述到（在彼前2:12）基督徒公义的行为对异教世界的影响时，他所想到的不是个别的圣徒，而是神的子民这个群体，这个蒙召出黑暗进入神的光明的群体。仅仅局限在个人宗教经验的见证并不能挑战世俗化。[7] The Church,
however, as the community of Christ’s
Kingdom, can show the world an ethical integrity it must respect. When Peter
describes (in I Peter 2:12) the impact of Christian righteous deeds in a pagan
world, he is not thinking of isolated saints, but of the people of God, called
out of darkness into God’s light. Christian witness that is limited to private
religious experience cannot challenge secularism.”7
因为真正的复兴不是个人的经验，而是基督教会的复兴。不仅福音需要把教会包括进来才能成为福音，而且只要在教会里，神才彰显出福音向万邦所宣扬的那种永恒荣耀（弗3:20-21）。一个真正传福音的人也必须是一个真正爱教会的人。我们对国度的扩展程度，不会超过对教会的扩展程度。For true revival is
not an individual experience, it is the revival of the Church of Christ. Not
only does the Gospel need to include the Church to be the Gospel, but it is
only in the Church where God will have the eternal glory for which the Gospel
is proclaimed to the nations (Ephesians 3:20-21). A true evangelist must also
be a true churchman. We spread the Kingdom only to the degree we extend the
Church.
国度的来临以耶稣的公开事工开始。他在地上的工作，包括他的死，都是国度实现的一部分。门徒们在里面，而教会随后的整个历史就是国度逐渐扩展的历史。我们自己可以在其向前的发展中扮演我们的角色，而如果我们在她现阶段的组织机构里，就是她里面的成员。[8] [T]he kingdom
began its coming when Jesus entered upon his public ministry. His work upon
earth, including his death, was part of its realization. The disciples were in
it, and the whole subsequent history of the Church is the history of its
gradual extension. We ourselves can act our part in its onward movement and are
members of it as a present organization.8
如果我们真的爱罪人，我们就会爱基督；反过来也一样。但要两者都做到，我们需要第三件必须的事——爱他的教会，就是基督在地上的国度。If we really love
sinners, we will love Christ and vice versa. But to do both involves a third
necessity — loving his Church,
the Kingdom of Christ on earth.
注：
[1] 虽然我以前也用过这些表达法，诚实地说，我在圣经里找不到它们的根据。
[2] 与古典时代论的说法相反，新约教导说，基督以他的死/埋葬/复活而带来国度——国度并没有因他被拒绝而延迟到来（参看，比如，路11:20）。
[3] 对该问题的经典研究，参看，Ridderbos，《国度的来临》（The Coming of the Kingdom, Phillipsburg, New Jersy:
Presbyterian & Reformed, 1982）。
[4] 对这种崇高教会观的历史悠久和可靠性的证据，参看约翰·米赛尔（John R. Muether）《第六条唯独？》（“A SixthSola? ” Modern Reformation, July/August 1998:24-28）。
[5]《国度的来临》，第335页。
[6] 对这个问题的更详细阐述，参看我的文章《在会众中代沟的终结》（ “An End to the GenerationalSegregation in the Congregation”, ModernReformation,
Jan./Feb. 2000: 28-33）。
[7]《教会》（The Church, Downer’s Grove, Illinois:InterVarsity, 1995），第16页。
[8] 霍志恒（Geerhardus Vos），《神的国和教会》（TheKingdom of God and the Church,Phillipsburg, New
Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1972），第27页。