聖經的信心之三個不同方面 3 Distinctive Aspects of Biblical Faith
作者：史鮑爾 (R.C. SPROUL) 譯者/校對者：Maria Marta/誠之http://www.ligonier.org/blog/what-faith/
https://plus.google.com/106695469993489516884/posts/FuwEk7T8b4w
我認為，對「信心」的完整概念是最受到人誤解的概念之一。這個觀念不僅受到世人的誤解，也受到教會自己的誤解。我們救贖的基礎，我們之所以被神稱義，是藉著信心。聖經不斷地向我們論及信心，而如果我們誤解了信心的概念，我們將會深陷困境。
十六世紀新教改革的重大議題是一個人怎樣被稱義？馬丁路徳備受爭議的立場是惟獨藉著信心才能稱義。當馬丁路徳提出這觀點時，羅馬天主教的虔誠領袖非常擔憂。他們說：「這是指一個人可以相信耶穌，然後過他們想過的生活方式嗎？」換句話說羅馬天主教反應激烈，因為他們害怕馬丁路徳的觀點會被理解為一個「淺信主義」（easy-believism），就是人只要相信而不必關注是否會帶來公義的果子。對那些參與新教改革的人來說，謹慎定義「得救的信心」是至關重要的。所以他們回去研究新約，特別對希臘字「pistein」（意思是「相信」）的研究，然後他們分析出，聖經裡的信心有三方面的意思。
第一方面是拉丁詞「notitia」：「相信資料」或信息，這是在理性上的認識。 你不能沒有信仰，而信仰要有內容。你必須相信某些事或信任某些人。當我們說某人因信得救，有人會說：「信什麼無關緊要，只要你是真誠的。」但這不是聖經的教導，你信什麼至關重要。如果我相信魔鬼是神會怎樣呢？我不會得救。我必須相信正確的信息。
相信的第二方面是他們所稱的「assensus」。指理性上的認同。我必須被真理的內容說服。根據雅各所論述，即使我意識到耶穌的工作，理性上相信耶穌是神的兒子，為我的罪死在十字架上，之後從死裡復活----在這點上我夠資格成為魔鬼。因為魔鬼認識耶穌，魔鬼知道基督的真理，但它沒有得救的信心。
聖經的相信最關鍵重要的方面是指個人相信。最後一方面，「fiducia」這詞指信任委身，將我的生命交託給耶穌。相信只有祂能拯救我。這是關鍵因素，包括理智和思想。它超越心靈和意志，全人投入信靠，我們稱之為信心。
What
Does It Mean to Believe?
FROM R.C. Sproul
FROM R.C. Sproul
I think the whole concept of faith is one of the most
misunderstood ideas that we have, misunderstood not only by the world but by
the church itself. The very basis for our redemption, the way in which we are
justified by God, is through faith. The Bible is constantly talking to us about
faith, and if we misunderstand that, we’re in deep trouble.
The great issue of the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth
century was, How is a person justified? Luther’s controversial position was
that we are justified by faith alone. When he said that, many of the godly
leaders in the Roman Catholic Church were very upset. They said, “Does that
mean that a person can just believe in Jesus and then live any way they want to
live?” In other words, the Roman Catholic Church reacted fiercely because they
were afraid that Luther’s view would be understood as an easy-believism in
which a person only had to believe and never had to be concerned about bringing
forth the fruits of righteousness. It was crucial that those who were involved
in the Protestant Reformation carefully define what they meant by saving faith.
So they went back and did their studies in the New Testament, specifically on
the Greek word pistein, which means “to believe,” and they were able to isolate
three distinctive aspects of biblical faith.
The first is the Latin term notitia: “believing in the
data” or the information. It’s an intellectual awareness. You can’t have faith
in nothing; there has to be content to the faith. You have to believe something
or trust someone. When we say that a person is saved by faith, some people say,
“It doesn’t matter what you believe, just as long as you are sincere.” That’s
not what the Bible teaches. It matters profoundly what you believe. What if I
believed that the devil was God? That wouldn’t save me. I must believe the
right information.
The second aspect of faith is what they call assensus,
or intellectual assent. I must be persuaded of the truthfulness of the content.
According to James, even if I am aware of the work of Jesus—convinced
intellectually that Jesus is the Son of God, that he died on the cross for my
sins, and that he rose from the dead—I would at that point qualify to be a
demon. The demons recognize Jesus, and the devil himself knows the truth of
Christ, but he doesn’t have saving faith.
The crucial, most vital element of saving faith in the
biblical sense, is that of personal trust. The final term is fiducia, referring
to a fiduciary commitment by which I put my life in the lap of Jesus. I trust
him and him alone for my salvation. That is the crucial element, and it
includes the intellectual and the mental. But it goes beyond it to the heart
and to the will so that the whole person is caught up in this experience we
call faith.
What Is Faith? and other questions can be found in our
Questions Answered section. To learn more about this topic download What Is
Faith? by R.C. Sproul. Download all of the Crucial Questions booklets for free
here.