作者: R.C. Sproul 譯者: Maria Marta
信心是基督信仰的核心。新約反復呼籲人相信主耶穌基督。有一套明確的主體內容必須要相信，它是我們宗教活動不可缺少的部分。在宗教改革時期，信心的本質曾引起爭議。什麽是得救的信心呢？唯獨因信稱義的觀念使很多人聯想到幾乎不加掩飾的反律法主義-------聲稱人只要相信正確的事，就能以他們喜歡的任何方式生活。然而，雅各在他的書信中寫道：「我的弟兄們，人若說他有信心，卻沒有行為，有甚麼益處呢？……只有信心，沒有行為，這信心就是死的」（雅二14，17；《聖經新譯本》）。路德說，這種稱義的信心是fides viva，即「活的信心」，它能使人不可避免、必然、立即結出公義的果子。我們唯獨藉著信心得救，但不是靠一個單獨的信心。結不出果子的信心不是真信心。
對羅馬天主教而言，信心加上行為等於稱義；對反律法主義者而言，信心減去行為等於稱義；對新教改教家而言，信心等於稱義加上行為。換句話說，上帝在祂面前稱我們為義，行為不被考慮在內；行為不是上帝決定稱我們為義的部分理由。
得救信心的組成要素是什麽？ 新教改教家認識到聖經裡的信心有三個關鍵方面：notitia 信仰的內容（資料/信息）、assensus理性上的認同、與fiducia信靠和依賴（信任委身）。
notitia是指信仰的內容，我們所相信的事（資料/信息）。關於基督，有些確鑿的事我們需要相信，那就是祂是上帝的兒子，祂是我們的救主，祂提供了贖罪等等。
Assensus是指深信我們信仰的內容是真實的。一個人可以知道基督信仰，但卻認為它是不真實的。 我們可能懷疑或混淆我們的信仰，但如果要獲得拯救，智力的肯定和信念必須要達到一定的程度。任何人在真正信靠耶穌基督之前，他必須相信基督確實是救主，祂正是祂所宣稱的。 真信心說內容，即notitia，是真實的。
Fiducia是指個人的信靠和依賴。 知道和相信基督信仰的內容是不夠的，因為即使惡魔也能做到這一點（雅二19）。信心只有在一個人親自唯獨信靠基督而得救才有效。智力上同意一個命題是一回事，個人信靠又是另一回事。我們可以說我們唯獨因信稱義，卻仍然認為憑借我們的成就、我們的行為、我們的努力可到達天堂。頭腦上獲得因信稱義的教義很容易，但將它吸收進你的血液之中，好叫我們唯獨只靠基督獲得救恩卻很難。
除了信靠之外，fiducia還有另一個要素，那就是感情。 一個未重生的人決不會來到耶穌的面前，因為他不想要耶穌。 在他的頭腦和心裡，他從根本上與上帝的事為敵。 只要一個人對基督懷有敵意，他就不會愛祂。 撒但就是一個例子。 撒但知道真理，但牠憎恨真理。牠完全不想敬拜上帝，因為牠不愛上帝。 我們在本性上也是這樣的。 我們死在我們的罪中。我們服從空中掌權的首領，隨著肉體和心意所喜好的去行。 在聖靈改變我們之前，我們擁有一顆石心。一個未重生者的心不愛基督; 它是無生命，沒有愛的。 聖靈改變我們心的性情，好叫我們看到基督的甘甜，並擁抱祂。 不但我們沒有人會完全愛基督，而且在非聖靈改變我們的石心，使之成為肉心之前，我們根本不能愛祂。
本文摘錄自《Everyone’s a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology》，史鮑爾 (R.C. Sproul) 著。
What Is Saving Faith?
FROM R.C. Sproul
Faith is central to Christianity. The
New Testament repeatedly calls people to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a definite body of content to be believed, which is part and parcel of
our religious activity. At the time of the Reformation, the debate involved the
nature of saving faith. What is saving faith? The idea of justification by
faith alone suggests to many people a thinly veiled antinomianism that claims
people can live any way they like so long as they believe the right things. Yet
James wrote in his epistle: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he
has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?…Faith by itself, if
it does not have works, is dead” (2:14, 17). Luther said that the sort of faith
that justifies is fides viva, a “living faith,” one that inevitably,
necessarily, and immediately yields the fruit of righteousness. Justification
is by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. A faith without any yield
of righteousness is not true faith.
For the Roman Catholic Church, faith
plus works equals justification; for antinomians, faith minus works equals
justification; for the Protestant Reformers, faith equals justification plus
works. In other words, works are the necessary fruit of true faith. Works are
not factored into God’s declaration that we are just in His sight; they are not
part of the grounds for God’s decision to declare us righteous.
What are the constituent elements of
saving faith? The Protestant Reformers recognized that biblical faith has three
essential aspects: notitia, assensus, and fiducia.
Notitia refers to the content of
faith, the things we believe. There are certain things we are required to
believe about Christ, namely, that He is the Son of God, that He is our Savior,
that He has provided an atonement, and so on.
Assensus is the conviction that the
content of our faith is true. One can know about the Christian faith and yet
believe that it is not true. We might have a doubt or two mixed with our faith,
but there has to be a certain level of intellectual affirmation and conviction
if we are to be saved. Before anyone can really trust in Jesus Christ, he has
to believe that Christ indeed is the Savior, that He is who He claimed to be.
Genuine faith says that the content, the notitia, is true.
Fiducia refers to personal trust and
reliance. Knowing and believing the content of the Christian faith is not
enough, for even demons can do that (James 2:19). Faith is effectual only if
one personally trusts in Christ alone for salvation. It is one thing to give an
intellectual assent to a proposition but quite another to place personal trust
in it. We can say that we believe in justification by faith alone and yet still
think that we are going to get to heaven by our achievements, our works, or our
striving. It is easy to get the doctrine of justification by faith into our
heads, but it is hard to get it into the bloodstream such that we cling to
Christ alone for salvation.
There is another element to fiducia
besides trust, and that is affection. An unregenerate person will never come to
Jesus, because he does not want Jesus. In his mind and heart, he is
fundamentally at enmity with the things of God. As long as someone is hostile
to Christ, he has no affection for Him. Satan is a case in point. Satan knows
the truth, but he hates the truth. He is utterly disinclined to worship God
because he has no love for God. We are like that by nature. We are dead in our
sin. We walk according to the powers of this world and indulge the lusts of the
flesh. Until the Holy Spirit changes us, we have hearts of stone. An
unregenerate heart is without affection for Christ; it is both lifeless and
loveless. The Holy Spirit changes the disposition of our hearts so that we see
the sweetness of Christ and embrace Him. None of us loves Christ perfectly, but
we cannot love Him at all unless the Holy Spirit changes the heart of stone and
makes it a heart of flesh.
This excerpt is adapted from
Everyone’s a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology by R.C. Sproul.