愛的基督教美德The Christian Virtue of Love
作者: R.C. Sproul 譯者: Maria Marta
你知道有多少人是因为他们的爱而得以亮相于音乐、艺术、文学、体育等领域的名人馆？我们把人抬高到英雄的位置来纪念，是因为他们的天赋、才能、与能力，而不是因为他们的爱。然而，从上帝的角度来看，爱是一切美德之首。但什么是爱？
據說愛使世界運轉，浪漫的愛必使文化圍繞著廣告和娛樂運轉。我們似乎從不厭倦那些以浪漫為主題的故事。但當我們談到愛的基督教美德時，我們不是指浪漫的愛。我們在談論一種更深層次的愛，一種如此之至上的美德， 以致它將基督徒與所有其他人分別開來。此外，愛對聖經的教導來說是如此重要，以致約翰告訴我們：「神就是愛」（約壹四7–8）。不論我們再怎麽說關於愛的基督教美德，我們都必須明白，上帝命令的愛是效仿祂自己的一種愛。上帝的愛絕對完全。我們受吩付要反射、映照這種完全的愛，要完全，正如天父是完全的（太五48；《聖經新譯本》 ）。當然，現在我們沒有一個人是完全的，這就是為什麽我們必須唯獨籍著信靠基督, 被祂完美的義遮蓋的原因。雖然如此，對我們來說，一遍又一遍地回到聖經中, 找到愛的應有樣子是很重要的，因為我們太容易滿足愛的感性、傷感、浪漫、膚淺的理解。
哥林多前書第十三章是愛的真正意義的最透徹的闡釋。這章書是一根測量桿，我們可以用它來仔細省察自己，看看愛是否存於我們心中，並在我們的生活中表現出來。我很驚訝於一個事實，那就是哥林多前書第十三章是最受歡迎, 而不是最被輕視的篇章之一。我想不出聖經中有哪一章要比這一章更能迅速地揭露我們的罪。它深受歡迎可能是由於它是聖經中最被誤解和最不被應用的一章。對這章書，我們有一種矛盾的感覺。因為它的偉大主題和雄辯文才，我們被深深吸引，與此同時，因為它揭露了我們的弱點，我們感到被駁斥。我們想與它保持一段安全的距離，因為它清楚表明我們缺乏真正的愛。
這章書是使徒對基督徒的警告的一部分, 這些基督徒被教會內的爭論弄得四分五裂。他們以不成熟，屬肉體的方式來處理問題，他們不敬虔的行為的核心是一種沒有在生活體現出愛的某些才幹、能力、與恩賜的表現。在開頭的經文中，保羅講的愛是基督徒美德的必要條件（林前十三1–3）。他以誇張的修辭手法講述, 有意誇大事情來表達他的觀點。他一開始便把愛與語言恩賜進行比較。保羅實際上是說，我不在乎你是否流利地說五十種語言，或者你擁有恩賜，奇跡般地說外語。我不在乎上帝是否賜予你能力，說天使的語言。如果你沒有愛，你的語言口才會變成噪音，變成一種不協調、刺激、騷擾的吵鬧聲。」 這裡保羅說，我們若能說世人和天使的方言，卻沒有愛，我們就成了鳴的鑼、響的鈸一樣------噪聲而已。沒有愛，所有語言之美也失去光彩。
然後, 保羅把愛與預言、理解的恩賜，上帝在使徒時代賜給人的神奇恩賜（miraculous endowments）作對比。這些巨大恩賜與愛沒有什麼可比之處。使徒說，你可以擁有神奇恩賜，你可以領受來自上帝和聖靈的能力，但它們必須要在愛的恩典的背景下運用。如果沒有愛，神聖能力的運用只是看手勢猜字謎的遊戲而已。耶穌曾警告自己的門徒，關於運用上帝賜予的恩賜而沒有愛的危險。耶穌賜能力給門徒, 讓他們參與趕鬼事工，他們外出執行使命, 回來時喀嚓聲立正。他們事工的效果讓他們興奮激動，喜樂於基督所賜的能力。但基督說了什麽？「不要因為鬼服了你們就歡喜，卻要因為你們的名字記錄在天上而歡喜」（路十1–20；《聖經新譯本》）。門徒被能力，而不是能力背後的恩典吸引。他們沈醉於恩賜的喜悅，卻忘記了恩賜的賜予者。
關鍵問題是沒有愛卻能夠運用上帝的恩賜。當這種情況發生時，他們的美德就被摧毀了。哥林多前書第十三章告訴我們，愛的本質是為了尋求他人的福利。一個反映上帝之愛的人有動力去為其他人獻出自己，而不是為了自己的利益而行使自己的能力。我們是對能力，對所作，而非所是更感興趣的人。我們更關心抓住上帝賜予的超自然的能力, 而不是上帝借著聖靈澆灌在我們心裏的超自然的大愛（羅五5）。我們顛倒了優先順序。感謝上帝，祂對我們的愛比我們對祂的愛更大。願上帝堅固我們，首先去追求愛，一種祂在基督裡向我們顯明的愛（羅五8）。
本文原刊于Tabletalk杂誌2015年八月号。
The Christian Virtue of Love
FROM
R.C. Sproul
How
many people do you know that have made it to the hall of fame in music, art,
literature, or sports because of their love? We elevate people to the status of
heroes because of their gifts, their talents, and their power, but not because
of their love. Yet, from God’s perspective, love is the chief of all virtues.
But what is love?
Love
is said to make the world go round, and romantic love certainly makes the
culture go round in terms of advertising and entertainment. We never seem to
tire of stories that focus on romance. But we’re not referring to romantic love
when we speak of the Christian virtue of love. We’re talking about a much
deeper dimension of love, a virtue so paramount that it is to distinguish
Christians from all other people. Moreover, love is so important to the Bible’s
teachings that John tells us, “God is love” (1 John 4:7–8). Whatever else we
say about the Christian virtue of love, we must be clear that the love God
commands is a love that imitates His own. The love of God is utterly perfect.
And we are called to reflect and mirror that love to perfection, to be perfect
as He is perfect (Matt. 5:48). Now, of course, none of us loves perfectly,
which is why we must be covered with the perfect righteousness of Christ by
faith in Him alone. Nevertheless, it’s important for us to return time and
again to Scripture to find out what love is supposed to look like, for we’re so
easily satisfied with a sentimental, maudlin, romantic, or superficial
understanding of love.
First
Corinthians 13 plumbs the depths of what love really means. It’s a measuring
rod by which we can examine ourselves carefully to see whether this love
resides in our hearts and is manifested in our lives. Given that truth, I’m
surprised that 1 Corinthians 13 is one of the most popular passages in all of
Scripture instead of being one of the most despised. I can’t think of any
chapter in Scripture that more quickly reveals our sins than this chapter. It’s
popularity may be due to its being one of the most misunderstood and least
applied chapters in the Bible. There’s a sense in which we’re ambivalent toward
it. We’re drawn to it because of the grandeur of its theme and the eloquence of
its language, yet at the same time we’re repulsed by this chapter because it
reveals our shortcomings. We want to keep some safe distance from it because it
so clearly demonstrates to us our lack of real love.
This
chapter is part of an Apostolic admonition to Christians who were torn apart by
contentions in the church. They were behaving in an immature, fleshly manner,
and at the heart of this ungodly behavior was a manifestation of certain
talents, abilities, and gifts without the presence of love in their lives. In
the opening verses, Paul speaks of love as the sine qua non of Christian virtue
(1 Cor. 13:1–3). He’s speaking with hyperbole, intentionally exaggerating
things to make his point. He starts off comparing love to the gift of tongues.
Paul says, in effect, “I don’t care if you are fluent in fifty languages or if
you have the gift to speak foreign languages miraculously. I don’t care if God
has endowed you with the ability to speak the language of the heavenly host. If
you don’t have love, the eloquence of your speech becomes noise. It becomes
dissonance, an irritating and annoying racket.” He says here that if we speak
in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, we become a sounding
brass or a clanging symbol—mere noise. All the beauty of speech is lost when
love is absent.
Paul
then compares love to the gifts of prophecy and understanding, miraculous
endowments that God gave to people during the Apostolic era. These tremendous
gifts were nothing compared to love. The Apostle says that you can have a
miraculous endowment, you can receive power from God the Holy Spirit, but it is
to be used in the context of the grace of love. And without that love, the use
of the divine power is a charade. Jesus had to warn even His own disciples
about the danger of using a God-given gift without love. Jesus empowered His
disciples to participate in His ministry of exorcism, and they went out on
their mission and came back clicking their heels. They were so excited at the
effectiveness of their ministry that they were rejoicing in the power Christ
had given them. But what did Jesus say? Don’t rejoice because you have been
given power over Satan, but rejoice that your names have been written in heaven
(Luke 10:1–20). The disciples were caught up with the power instead of the
grace that was underlying that power. They were intoxicated with the gift, and
were forgetting the One who gave it.
The
bottom line is that the gifts of God can be used without love. When that
happens, their value is destroyed. The essence of love, 1 Corinthians 13 tells
us, is to seek the welfare of others. A person who reflects God’s love is
driven to give of himself for others, not to wield his power for his own
benefit. But we are people who are more interested in power, in doing rather
than being. We’re more concerned to seize the supernatural power that God can
give rather than the supernatural love that is shed abroad in our hearts by the
Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). We have misplaced priorities. Thanks be to God that His
love for us is greater than our love for Him. May He strengthen us to pursue
love above all else, a love that reflects His love for us in Christ (5:8).
This
post was originally published in Tabletalk magazine.
