每個基督徒都必須使用信經的三個理由 3Reasons Every Christian Needs to Use the Creeds
作者：Timothy W. Massaro 譯者：駱鴻銘
當我們想到基督信仰的時候，大多數人很少想到信經，崇拜禮儀，或信仰告白，更不用說會認為，信經對他們與上帝的關係來說是非常基本、不可或缺的。我們對信經的疑慮是可以理解的，尤其是當它們與我們的敬拜和對上帝的愛脫節的時候。人們往往把信經視為是冷酷、愚蠢的教義，和耶穌沒有半點關係。但是這些信經當初並不是為這個目的被創造的，這更不是正確使用它們的方法。When we think about
the Christian faith, most people today rarely think about creeds, liturgy, or
confessions, let alone see them as essential to their relationship with God.
Our hesitation concerning creeds is understandable, especially when they are
disconnected from our worship and love of God. People often see them as cold,
mindless doctrines that have nothing to do with Jesus. But this is not how they
were created nor how they should be used.
在早期教會的信經裏，我們發現到一個被隱藏的秘密——這是被許多人忽略的藏寶盒。我們在一次交付給聖徒的信仰中找到一個教導自己和我們的兒女的方式（猶3）。讓我們一一來查看這三點，來看每個基督徒是否需要在他們個人和團體的敬拜裏，使用這些信經。In the creeds of
the early church, we find something of a hidden secret – a treasure chest overlooked by many. We find a way to
instruct ourselves and our children in the faith once for all delivered to the
saints (Jude 3). Let’s look at each of these three points to see why every
Christian needs to use the creeds in their personal and corporate worship.
1. 信經有教育意義，因為它們是合乎聖經的。Creeds are
instructive because they are biblical.
當我們想到這些偉大的信經（例如，使徒信經或尼西亞信經）時，我們經常把它們和聖經對立起來。我們往往沒有想清楚的是聖經自己也引領我們形成信經，也被信經的陳述所充滿。When we think of
the great Christian creeds (the Apostles’ Creed or Nicene Creed, for example), we often put
them in opposition to the Bible. What we often do not realize is that the Bible
itself leads us into making creeds and is filled with creedal statements.
在舊約裏，我們看到，當以色列以所謂的「示瑪」（意思是「你要聽！」）來敬拜上帝時，公開認信她對上帝的信仰：「以色列啊，你要聽！耶和華我們上帝是獨一的主。 你要盡心、盡性、盡力愛耶和華你的上帝。」（申六4～5）這個每天的信仰聲明與愛上帝的命令是交織在一起的。上帝是誰、祂為拯救百姓成就了什麼，和我們以信心與愛來回應是結合在一起的。畢竟，「Credo」（拉丁文的「信經」）這個詞——即英文「creed」（信經）的字源——的意思簡單說就是「我信」。In the Old
Testament, we see Israel confessing its faith in God as it worshiped him in
what is called the Shema: “Hear, O Israel. The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
strength” (Deut. 6:4-5). This daily statement of faith is intertwined with the
command to love God. Who God is and what he has done to save his people is tied
to our response in faith and love. Credo, from which creed is derived, after
all simply means, “I believe.”
早期教會繼承了這個傳統，並在世人面前承認她所信的。這些信仰告白和信經，有許多內容都出自新約著作（參：帖前四14；林後五1；羅四25；啟二8）。這些信仰聲明流傳在早期教會裏，為的是承認他們所信的是什麼：神是誰，耶穌為什麼是神又是人，以及祂降生所作的事對他們的敬拜和教會生活來說為什麼是絕對必要的。The early church
inherited this tradition and confessed before the world what it believed. Many
of these confessions and creeds found their way into the New Testament writings
(cf. 1 Thess. 4:14, 2 Cor. 5:15, Rom. 4:25, Rev. 2:8). These statements were
circulated in the early church to confess what they believed. Who God was, who
Jesus was as the God-man, and what he came to do were essential to their
worship and life as the church.
我們說聖經是我們最終的權威，這是正確的。當教會漸漸意識到她所相信的——與假教導是對立的——關於我們是如何信靠上帝的，我們就必須澄清我們的信念，把它們寫下來。使徒保羅這樣作了，也把其中許多陳述記在新約裏（林前十五3～5，十一23～26；帖後二15）。耶穌自己在啟示錄中告訴教會，要傳承這個合乎聖經的傳統，並相信他們從前所領受、從使徒那裏聽到的內容（啟三3）。We rightly say that Scripture
is our ultimate authority. When the church becomes aware of what it believes in
opposition to false teaching concerning how we come to a saving faith in God,
we must clarify our beliefs. We must write them down. The Apostle Paul did this
and placed many of these statements into the New Testament (1 Cor. 15:3-5,
11:23-26; 2 Thess. 2:15). Jesus himself tells the church in the Book of
Revelation to carry on this biblical tradition and believe what they have
received and heard from the apostles – the eyewitness testimonies of the risen
Lord (Rev. 3:3).
教會將聖經視為其最終的權威，也不得不在信心裏對她所信的作出回應。她相信、承認、向世人宣告，上帝在耶穌基督裏為她作了什麼。忽略這個偉大的財富就是在嘗試重造車輪，也誤解了歷代基督徒所一直在作的，對耶穌的忠心見證。請研讀信經，來認識他們的見證是否是真的。The church looks at
Scripture as its ultimate authority and cannot but respond in faith concerning
what she believes. She believes, confesses, and declares to the world what God
has done for her in Jesus Christ. To neglect this great treasure is to attempt
to reinvent the wheel and miss what Christians for millennia have been doing as
part of their faithful witness to Jesus. Study the creeds to know they are
true.
2. 信經是上帝救贖作為的總結，並引領我們敬拜上帝。Creeds are
summaries of redemption and lead us to worship God.
雖然信經是在熱烈的爭論中產生的，但是這是常見的情況，就是在教會敬拜裏所說的、所唱的、所禱告的，會成為百姓區分真理和錯誤的來源。對上帝的敬拜，明白對我們的救恩來說什麼是必須的，驅使了我們的教會教父把救恩的基本外型和為什麼必須是這樣寫下來。早期教會認識到，若神格裏的三個位格不是完全的神，就不會有救恩。我們也無法正確地敬拜上帝。若耶穌不是完全的神和完全的人，我們就沒有盼望。承認耶穌是主，敬拜祂，迫使他們承認他們的信仰，以反對錯誤的信仰。While the creeds
were formed in the heat of controversy, it was often the case that worshipping
God in church, what was said, sung, prayed, and spoken, became the fountain
from which people recognized truth from error. Worshipping God, and
understanding what was necessary for our salvation, drove our church fathers to
write down why salvation had to look and be a certain way. Without each person
of the Godhead being fully God, the early church knew there could be no
salvation. We could not worship God rightly. Without Jesus being fully God and
fully man, we have no hope. Worshipping Jesus as Lord drove them to confess
their faith against error.
因此，最早的信經成為基督徒敬拜，以及讚美祂一切奇妙作為的方式的生命血脈。The earliest
creeds, therefore, became the very life-blood of Christian worship and the way
to praise God for all his wondrous deeds.
大哉，敬虔的奧秘！無人不以為然：
就是神在肉身顯現，
被聖靈稱義，被天使看見，
被傳於外邦，被世人信服，
被接在榮耀裡裏
He
appeared in the flesh,
was
vindicated by the Spirit,
was
seen by angels,
was
preached among the nations,
was
believed on in the world,
was
taken up in glory (1 Tim. 3:16).
這仍然是我們今天的模式。當我們越來越認識上帝，我們對祂的敬拜和愛就會被上帝的話和聖靈所潔淨。這正是基督降生的目的。祂在聖靈裏、在真理裏帶領我們敬拜上帝（約四24）。祂是創造、塑造我們的，讓我們能傳講上帝所賜給我們的話，向世界宣告上帝的作為（詩七一15，一〇五1，一四五6；來十5～10）。信經的目的是為了敬拜，為了傳唱，為了誦讀，為了記憶，好叫基督的話可以豐豐富富地住在我們裏面。務要將它們放在你們的敬拜服事裏，來默想上帝。This is still our
pattern today. As we come to know more and more about God, our worship and love
for him are purified by God’s Word and Spirit. This is specifically what Christ
came to do. He brought us to worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). He
is the one who forms and shapes us to speak all the words God has given us to
say, declaring to the world the works of God (Ps. 71:15, 105:1, 145:6; Heb.
10:5-10). Creeds are meant for worship, to be sung, recited, and memorized so
the word of Christ may dwell in us richly. Put them into your worship services
to meditate on God.
3. 信經是我們信仰和教義的護欄Creeds are guardrails for our
faith and doctrine.
當我們所信的內容被記錄下來，也讓這些信念受屬靈前輩的指導，我們就不會被這代人特殊的觀念所影響，也可以避開那些濫用他們權柄的領袖的暴政。就像高速道路上的道路一樣，它們會使我們不會開到會破壞我們車輪的路上，如同保羅所說的，「在真道上如同船破壞了一般」（提前一19）When our beliefs are written down and we have
them informed by those who have gone before us, we safeguard ourselves from our
generation’s peculiarities and from the tyranny of leaders who would abuse
their authority. Like roads on a highway, they keep us from driving onto
terrain that will destroy our tires or, as Paul says, to prevent us from
shipwrecking our faith (1. Tim. 1:19).
如果我們不寫下我們所相信的，和我們為何相信，我們就是為那些未曾言明的傳統以暴力統治我們開了大門。很諷刺的是，如果我們不寫下我們的信條，這些未曾言明的傳統就會成為最高的權威。因為無人可以讀到它們，也就無人可以質疑它們。但是當它們被寫下來，它們就迫使我們看到，它們的確是符合聖經的。當它們被最小的孩童到最老的聖徒認識到的時候，它們就可以照著上帝對自己的啟示，來引領我們敬拜三一上帝。When we fail to
write down what we believe and why, we open the door for people’s unspoken
traditions to tyrannize us. When traditions are unspoken, they ironically take
on supreme authority. Because no one can read them, no one can question them.
When they are written down, they compel us to see if they are in fact biblical.
When they are known by the smallest child to the oldest saint, they can lead us
to worship the triune God as he has revealed himself.
在這些信經當中，我們找到一條與歷世歷代聖徒一同敬拜上帝的方法，聆聽並呼應幾個世紀以來的敬拜。我們會找到來自各國、各民、各方，正在敬拜三一上帝的百姓，讚美祂在耶穌裏為我們賺得的救贖。我們可以預嚐祂已經引進到這個世界、而且有一天會使它完成的新創造。在這些信經中，我們看到了可以走的久經考驗的路徑。當我們想要越來越認識耶穌時，這些路徑會幫助我們每天仰望祂。請務必使用它們來引領你對三一上帝的愛。In the creeds, we
find a way to worship God with the saints of all ages, hearing the echoes of
worship through the centuries. We find a people from all nations, tribes, and
tongues worshipping the triune God for the redemption he has purchased in
Jesus. We have a foretaste of the new creation he has ushered into this world
and will one day bring to completion. In the creeds, we see time-tested paths
to tread that keep us looking to Jesus every day as we seek to know him more
and more. Use them to guide your love for the triune God.