罪與工作的關係TheRelationship Between Sin and Work
作者: Richard Phillips 譯者: Maria Marta
我和許多人一樣，一次只能處理相對較少的信息量。記得我年輕時，我父親努力教我打高爾夫球。 十四項不同的指令在我青春期的腦中轟炸------膝蓋微彎，雙腳分開與肩同寬，左臂伸直，保持眼睛在球上等等。我當時就我斷定高爾夫不是我的運動項目之一。 於是我改打橄欖球。它可能是更耗費體力的運動，但很容易掌握，跑、抓、堵、攔阻是其要領。
上帝似乎知道我們的能力，因為在聖經關於創造的記載裡，祂保持對亞當工作的簡單描述。人在世上的生活包含兩個基柱：工作和休息。上帝創造的工作命令很明確：亞當被賦予管理的責任，要繁衍增多，充滿這地，征服它（創一28）。 上帝把亞當放在伊甸園裡，「叫他耕種和看守那園子」（二15）。 人要休息的吩咐從模仿上帝自己的歇息開始：第七日上帝歇了祂所作的一切工（二2）。
創世記第一章對基督徒來說非常重要的原因有很多。 創世記第一至二章告訴我們，上帝原初為我們，祂的受造物設計了什麼。 創世記第三章告訴我們世界出了什麼問題乃至關重要。 總之，世界因亞當墮入罪中而受到詛咒。 有趣的是，亞當的罪涉及他在工作上的失敗。亞當被吩咐要對其他被造物行使管轄權，但他卻容許自己和夏娃被狡猾的蛇支配。 亞當非但不向受造物宣告上帝的說話，反而受誘惑否認上帝的說話。 罪的首要影響是切斷亞當與上帝的關係，並將他置於死亡的咒詛底下。 正如悖逆上帝的錯誤立場敗壞人類生活的所有方面，亞當的墮落也造成工作與休閒扭曲的後果。
與這個話題最相關的經文出現在上帝詛咒蛇和女人之後。 在亞當的妻子受誘惑違背上帝的命令後，當亞當聽從妻子的說話時，他便在指派給他的任務上失敗了。因此亞當工作的地方與他一同受到上帝的懲罰：「地就必因你的緣故受咒詛」（三17）。 後果是挫折與虛空：「你必終生勞苦，才能從地裡得吃的。地要給你長出荊棘和蒺藜來；你也要吃田間的蔬菜」（17-18節）。 經過一生勞苦的刑罰，亞當因他的罪而死，被葬於自己工作的地方：「你必汗流滿面，才有飯吃，直到你歸回地土，因為你是從地土取出來的；你既然是塵土，就要歸回塵土」（第19節）。
我不需要說太多來解釋這些說話意味著什麽，因為你每天都這樣活著。 你油漆圍欄，它生銹。 你修剪草坪，雜草又將它占據。我們這些打高爾夫球的人被挫折感與虛空感淹沒。墮落後的光景就如保險杠貼紙的陳述：「生活太艱難了，然後慢慢地死去。」
但我要指出罪、工作、與休息之間的關係的三個特徵，好幫助我們更透切地理解。
詛咒的形態
首先請注意，罪在上帝原初意圖的方向上敗壞創造。 那個被造要作男人幫手的女人，發現自己與男人的關係以及懷胎都一同受到詛咒（第16節）。 同樣，亞當被造要在創造中作上帝的同工，但現在罪败壞了他的工作，使之變得艱辛與痛苦。
一般說來，罪在兩個方向之一上破壞人的工作態度。 有些人以減少投資回應工作困難。 他們幾乎沒有抱負，並且在服事他人，做善事或有益的事上缺乏熱情。他們轉向一種休閑的生活方式。 他們說，工作的目的是為了支付休息和玩樂費用。 也許在工作上作投資會嚇倒他們，因為他們預計會失敗和帶來羞恥。甚至在工作當中，他們的思想也是在湖上漂浮，陶醉於下一場派對，或構思視頻遊戲的新級別。
人對上帝詛咒工作的另一種反應是走向另一端。 工作艱辛和許多人似乎都會失敗的事實使主管者、驅使者這些職位更具吸引力。借著逐步升級的成就獲得渴望的自豪感和量估出他們的價值，他們為他們的工作而生活。 休息呢？它是為懦夫而設的。 平衡的生活呢？ 充足的金錢可以補償。 在晚餐上或與妻子相處的私人時間中，這樣的男人的眼睛顯示出他的心在別處------在工作上。他熱情工作，通常不是在幫助人或完成榮耀上帝的事的意義上說的，而是在摧毀競爭對手或感受下一個成就的快感的意義上說的。
在這兩種情況中-------我們都很少關心工作或只關心工作------罪已敗壞美好的事。人要工作畢竟是上帝設計的。 但現在工作要麼去避免責任，要麼變成崇拜偶像。這與上帝所設計的，亞當要「耕種和看守那園子」（二15），為榮耀上帝作上帝綠色地球的耕耘者與保護者相去甚遠。
詛咒的原因
其次，我們需要認識到上帝是施以這種詛咒的那一位------是有原因的。我們的第一對父母的羞恥、罪疚、與疏遠都是墮落自然而然的後果，用無花果葉子遮蓋自己，逃離他們的創造主的聲音已經證明了這 一點（創三7-12）。相比之下，創世記三章14-19節的咒詛不是墮落的自然後果。這些詛咒，包括上帝對亞當工作的詛咒都是付加的。 原因乃偶像崇拜是有罪之生命與生具來的。 人不再渴望為上帝的榮耀，而是為自己的榮耀而工作; 同樣，人在休息時不再敬拜上帝，而是陶醉於自娛自樂。這種情況對有至高主權的造物主來說是不能接受的，至少可以這麼說。上帝詛咒亞當、夏娃、與他們走過的地方，目的是讓罪所帶來的愁苦要麼驅使他們悔改，要麼導致他們死亡。
我剛才提到，罪的詛咒使我們不能在工作中找到滿足。 原因是上帝從未設計人可從自己所取得的成就中找到他們的身份或者最終的喜樂。 上帝設計我們工作，旨在成為一種與祂交流和敬拜祂的方式，而非一種自我實現和自我榮耀的行為。 這就是為什麼上帝對罪的精選罰之一：不僅使工作艱辛，而且也使成功空虛。 過度的休閒也是如此。要投入一輪接一輪的享樂，就要經歷藐視休息的報應。 人被造要與上帝立約交通，好叫上帝成為我們的喜樂。 人必需奉獻自己的工作來榮耀上帝和討上帝喜悅。 因為上帝不容忍偶像崇拜，故此崇拜工作或閒暇的人的靈魂最終會貧瘠枯乾。
詛咒的補救辦法
創世記第三章向我們顯明對人在工作和玩樂中虛空的補救方法。上帝因罪固有的偶像崇拜而詛咒人的工作和休息。上帝將詛咒變成誘發毒素，使活在罪中的生命貧瘠和痛苦。有解毒劑嗎？有。上帝本身就是艱辛、徒勞、不滿足的生活這一詛咒的補救方法。創世記第三章預見聖經其餘部分所詳細闡述的解決方法，那就是上帝親自為負罪責的罪人的回轉、恢復開闢道路。創世記三章21節呈現這福音信息的縮映：「耶和華 神為亞當和他的妻子做了皮衣，給他們穿上。」這樣，上帝用實例說明祂的兒子耶穌基督的拯救工作：祂將死在十字架上，承擔我們的罪的詛咒，當我們唯獨藉著信心來到祂面前時，祂會用自己的義遮蓋我們。現在，工作與休息的平衡生活的關鍵，是要以我們與上帝的交通和祂透過聖言對我們的吩咐為我們生活的中心。藉靠耶穌基督回轉歸向上帝，是獲得滿足和從活在死亡的咒詛底下解救出來的途徑。隨著上帝恢復我們生活的中心 ------隨著我們主要的工作是榮耀上帝，在人當中事奉上帝，和隨著我們將休息專用於享受上帝，讚美上帝------我們便可以在罪的咒詛底下，在工作和休息中經歷救贖的喜樂。
本譯文的聖經經文皆引自《聖經新譯本》。
The
Relationship Between Sin and Work
FROM
Richard Phillips
Like
many people, I can only handle a relatively small amount of information at a
time. I remember as a youth when my father tried to teach me to play golf.
Fourteen different instructions bombarded my adolescent brain—knees slightly
bent, feet shoulder width apart, left arm straight, eye on the ball, and so on.
I decided right then that golf would not be one of my sports. I played football
instead. It may be harder, but it is easy to grasp: run, catch, block, and
tackle.
God
seems to know this about us, for in the Bible’s creation account He keeps
Adam’s job description simple. Man’s life in the world involves two basic
poles: work and rest. The creation mandate to work is clear: Adam was given
dominion so as to be fruitful and fill the earth (Gen. 1:28). God put the man
in the garden “to work it and keep it” (2:15). Man’s calling to rest begins by
imitating God’s own sabbath, when on the seventh day the Lord rested from His
work (2:2).
The
first chapters of Genesis are important to Christians for many reasons. Genesis
1-2 tells us what God originally intended for us as His creatures. Genesis 3 is
vital in telling us what went wrong in the world. In short, the world has been
cursed by the fall of Adam into sin. Interestingly, Adam’s sin involved a
failure in his work. Called to exercise dominion over the other creatures, he
instead permitted himself and Eve to be ruled by the crafty serpent. Instead of
declaring the Word of God to the creatures, Adam was tempted to deny God’s Word
by a creature. Sin had the primary effect of severing Adam’s relationship with
God and placing him under the curse of death. And just as a wrong standing with
God corrupts every facet of human existence, so Adam’s fall led to the
perversion of both work and leisure.
The
most relevant passage to this topic occurs after God’s curse on the serpent and
on the woman. Adam failed in his assigned task when he listened to his wife
after she was tempted to violate God’s command. As a result, Adam’s workplace
would enter with him into God’s punishment: “Cursed is the ground because of
you” (3:17). The result would be frustration and futility: “In pain you shall
eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth
for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field” (vv. 17-18). After a life
sentence of hard labor, Adam would die and be buried in his workplace because
of his sin: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to
the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you
shall return” (v. 19).
I
need not say much to explain what this means because you live it every day. You
paint the fence and it rusts. You mow the lawn and weeds take it over. Those of
you who play golf are overwhelmed with frustration and futility. After the
fall, as the bumper sticker states, “Life is hard and then you die.”
Let
me point out, however, three features of the relationship between sin and work,
along with rest, that will take us deeper in understanding.
The
Shape of the Curse
First,
notice that sin corrupts creation along the lines of God’s original intention.
The woman, who was made as man’s helper, finds her relationship with the man
cursed, together with her calling to child-bearing (v. 16). Similarly, Adam was
created as God’s coworker in creation, but now sin corrupts that work with
hardship and pain.
In
general, sin corrupts man’s attitude to work in one of two directions. Some
people respond to the difficulty of working by disinvesting from it. They have
little ambition. They show little passion for serving others, making things
that are good, or doing things that are helpful. Instead, they gear their lives
toward leisure. The purpose of work, they say, is to pay for rest and play.
Perhaps investing in work frightens them because they expect failure and shame.
Even on the job, their minds are floating on the lake, reveling in the next
party, or plotting the next level of a video game.
Another
response to God’s curse on work runs in the other direction. The fact that work
is hard and that many people seem to fail makes it more attractive for the
competent and driven. Lusting for pride and gauging their value through
ever-escalating achievements, they live for their work. Rest? That’s for wimps.
A balanced life? Enough money will compensate. At dinner or in a private moment
with their wives, such a man’s eyes reveal that his thoughts are elsewhere—on
work. His passion usually is not work in the sense of helping people or
accomplishing things that glorify God, but on demolishing the competition or
feeling the thrill of the next accomplishment.
In
both of these cases—caring little for work or caring only for work—we find that
sin has corrupted something good. Human beings, after all, are designed by God
to work. But now work involves either a duty to be avoided or an idol to be
worshiped. This is a far cry from God’s design for Adam to “work and keep” the
garden (2:15), serving for God’s glory as cultivators and protectors of God’s
green earth.
The
Reason for the Curse
Second,
we need to realize that God is the one who inflicted this curse—and for a good
reason. Our first parents’ shame, guilt, and alienation resulted automatically
from the fall, as is demonstrated in their covering themselves in fig leaves
and fleeing the voice of their Maker (Gen. 3:7-12). By contrast, the curses of
Genesis 3:14-19 were not automatic results of the fall. The curses, including God’s
curse on Adam’s work, were added. The reason for this is the idolatry that is
inherent to a life of sin. Man no longer desires to work for God’s glory but
for his own; likewise, man no longer worships God in his rest but revels in his
own pleasure. This situation is not acceptable to the sovereign Creator, to say
the least. God cursed Adam, Eve, and the ground on which they walked so that
the misery of sin would drive them to either repentance or death.
I
mentioned earlier that the curse of sin keeps us from finding satisfaction in
our work. The reason for this is that God never designed people to find their
identities or their ultimate delight in the achievements of their own hands.
God intended for our work to be a way of communing with and worshiping Him, not
an act of self-actualization and self-glory. This is why one of God’s choicest
punishments for sin is not only to make work difficult but to make success
empty. The same is true of excessive leisure. To engage in one round of
pleasure after another is to experience depreciating returns on your rest. Man
was made in covenant communion with God so that He would be our delight. Man
was to offer his work to the glory and pleasure of God, and in that pleasure
Adam was to find his delight. Since God does not tolerate idolatry, those who
worship either work or leisure will find their souls ultimately barren.
The
Remedy for the Curse
Third,
Genesis 3 shows a remedy for the futility of man in his work and play. God has
cursed man’s work and rest because of the idolatry inherent to sin. God induced
the curses as a poison to make life in sin barren and painful. Is there an
antidote? There is. God Himself is the remedy for the curse of a hard,
frustrating, and unsatisfying life. Genesis 3 anticipates what the rest of the
Bible works out in detail, that God has Himself opened the way for guilty
sinners to return and be restored. Genesis 3:21 presents this gospel message in
microcosm: “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins
and clothed them.” In this way, God illustrated the saving work of His Son,
Jesus Christ, who would bear the curse of our sin by dying on the cross and
would clothe us in His own righteousness when we come to Him by faith alone.
The key, now, to a balanced life of work and rest, is to center our lives on
our communion with God and His calling through His Word. The way to
satisfaction and relief from life under the curse of death is to turn to God
through faith in Jesus Christ. With God restored to the center of our lives—with
our work directed primarily to His glory and to His service among men, and with
our rest devoted to enjoying God and giving Him praise—we may experience joyful
redemption from the curse of sin on both our work and rest.
This
post was originally published in Tabletalk magazine.