如何辨別聖靈與蛇How to Distinguish the Holy Spirit from theSerpent

作者:  傅格森（Sinclair Ferguson)    譯者/校對者: Maria Marta/駱鴻銘

http://www.ligonier.org/blog/how-distinguish-holy-spirit-serpent/

https://plus.google.com/u/0/106695469993489516884/posts/ixDyQHQP6Gj

我們如何辨別這兩者呢？施恩的聖靈對我們生命的引領和掌管的感動，與來自這世界的靈和我們自己有罪的心的錯覺？倘若我們想要坦然自若地確信與我們相交的靈真的是聖靈，這就是非常重要的問題。

約翰‧歐文（John Owen) 提出四種區分聖靈和蛇的方法：

1.  歐文說，聖靈的引導是一般性的，即是根據聖規（the regulum) 的：聖經的原則。聖靈不是在我們身上工作，賜給我們新的生命原則，而是幫助我們明白和運用聖經中的原則。因此，詢問有關任何引導的基本問題應該是：這行動方針符合上帝的話語嗎？

2.  聖靈的命令是不難遵守的，祂的命令與聖道是和諧一致的，而聖道與作為新造者的信徒是和諧一致的。基督徒自覺地順服上帝的話語，會在遵守上帝的話語中找到喜樂，即使主為我們預備的道路充滿了爭扎，痛苦和悲傷。然而，基督的軛是輕省的；衪給我們的擔子永遠不會壓碎我們的靈(太十一28-30）。

3.  聖靈的「提議」（motions) ，是有秩序的。正如上帝的盟約在萬事上都是有秩序的，是堅穩的（撒下廿三：52），所以盟約所應許的恩賜，即內住的聖靈，在祂對待我們的方式上，也是有秩序的。躁動不是與聖靈相交的標記，而是那惡者的作為。也許歐文心里想著的，是與他會眾中特定的會友，他寫道：

「我們看到一些可憐的靈魂受到這樣的梱綁，被催促要在許多責任間匆忙地竄上跳下，討撒但的喜悅。他們必須在許多責任間跳來跳去，卻往往疏忽職守。當他們在禱告時，應該是在受呼召的崗位上工作的時候；當他們在受呼召的崗位工作時，卻又受到試探拋開一切，跑去禱告。信徒知道這不是來自上帝的靈，上帝的靈「使萬事各按其時，成為美好。」

4. 歐文說，「提議」或聖靈的感動，總是傾向於按照上帝的話語來榮耀上帝。祂把耶稣的教導帶進我們的記憶；祂榮耀救主；祂在我們心裏澆灌對上帝濃濃的愛。

那麼，聖靈如何在信徒身上作工呢？聖靈是作爲我們最終救贖的保證金、定金、頭期款而到來的。此時此地,  祂是未來榮耀的預嚐。但是，祂的同在也是一個跡象，表明我們目前的屬靈經驗是不完整的。

歐文在這裏所寫的，與那些說到自己已經脫離內在的罪和掙扎的影響，並藉著聖靈的自由得到釋放的人的言論，形成鮮明的對比。正是因爲祂是初熟的果子，還不是最終的收成，在一定的意義上，內住的聖靈是信徒歎息的緣由：「連我們這些有聖靈作爲初熟果子的人，自己也在內心歎息，熱切期待成爲嗣子，就是我們的身體得贖。」（羅八23新譯本）聖靈的同在已經帶給我們未來榮耀的預嚐，然而，祂也同時在我們心裡，對我們目前的屬靈經歷建立起一種不完全感。這點對歐文而言，按照聖經的理解，就是與聖靈相交為何會為信徒的生命帶來喜悅，然而卻又深深地感知到圓滿的喜悅尚未完全的原因。

本文摘編自Sinclair Ferguson著的《The Trinitarian Devotion of John Owen》。

How to Distinguish the Holy Spirit from the Serpent

FROM Sinclair Ferguson

How do we distinguish the promptings of the Spirit of grace in His guiding and governing of our lives from the delusions of the spirit of the world and of our own sinful heart? This is a hugely important question if we are to be calm and confident that the spirit with whom we are communing really is the Holy Spirit.

John Owen suggests four ways in which the Spirit and the serpent are to be distinguished:

1. The leading of the Spirit, he says, is regular, that is, according to the regulum: the rule of Scripture. The Spirit does not work in us to give us a new rule of life, but to help us understand and apply the rule contained in Scripture. Thus, the fundamental question to ask about any guidance will be: Is this course of action consistent with the Word of God?

2. The commands of the Spirit are not grievous. They are in harmony with the Word, and the Word is in harmony with the believer as new creation. The Christian believer consciously submitted to the Word will find pleasure in obeying that Word, even if the Lord’s way for us is marked by struggle, pain, and sorrow. Christ’s yoke fits well; His burden never crushes the spirit. (Matthew 11:28-30)

3. The “motions” of the Spirit are orderly. Just as God’s covenant is ordered in all things and secure, (2 Samuel 23:5) so the promised gift of that covenant, the indwelling Spirit, is orderly in the way in which He deals with us. Restlessness is not a mark of communion with the Spirit but of the activity of the evil one. Perhaps Owen had particular members of his congregations in mind when he wrote:

We see some poor souls to be in such bondage as to be hurried up and down, in the matter of duties at the pleasure of Satan. They must run from one to another, and commonly neglect that which they should do. When they are at prayer, then they should be at the work of their calling; and when they are at their calling, they are tempted for not laying all aside and running to prayer. Believers know that this is not from the Spirit of God, which makes “every thing beautiful in its season.”

4. The “motions,” or promptings of the Spirit, Owen says, always tend to glorify God according to His Word. He brings Jesus’ teaching into our memories; He glorifies the Savior; He pours into our hearts a profound sense of the love of God for us.

How, then, does the Spirit act on the believer? The Spirit comes to us as an earnest, a pledge, a down payment on final redemption. He is here and now the foretaste of future glory. But His presence is also an indication of the incompleteness of our present spiritual experience.

Owen here writes in sharp contrast to those who spoke of release from the influence of indwelling sin and struggle through the liberty of the Spirit. Precisely because He is the firstfruits and not yet the final harvest, there is a sense in which the indwelling of the Spirit is the cause of the believer’s groaning: “We ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:23) The presence of the Spirit brings us already a foretaste of future glory, but also, simultaneously, creates within us a sense of the incompleteness of our present spiritual experience. This, for Owen, is how communion with the Spirit—understood biblically—brings joy into the life of the believer and yet a deep sense that the fullness of joy is not yet.

This excerpt is taken from The Trinitarian Devotion of John Owen by Sinclair Ferguson.

教會唯一的根基 The Church’s One Foundation

作者: R.C. Sproul   譯者: Maria Marta  

http://www.ligonier.org/blog/churchs-one-foundation/

https://plus.google.com/u/0/106695469993489516884/posts/B63EsEsk8zx

四十多年前，洛杉磯曾發生過一場該市曆史上其中一次最嚴重的，可怕的地震。我記得那次事件是因為在地震發生之前，我開車送一位朋友到機場，讓他就可以趕上開往洛杉磯的航班，他是一名洛杉磯牧師。他後來他告訴我，地震影響了他牧養的教會，地震後教堂初時似乎完好無損。盡管沒有明顯的嚴重損壞，但後來的檢測顯示，教堂的地基移位程度嚴重，以致他們不得不關閉教會，重建教堂,   因爲教堂建築物不再安全了。對任何不經意的旁觀者而言，教堂似乎是堅固的。然而，在現實中它卻不適宜使用，必須拆除,  在穩固的根基上重建。

在詩篇十一篇3節，大衛問道，「根基若毀壞，義人還能作什麼呢？」大衛借物理領域的術語來打比方，表達他對屬靈狀況的特別擔憂。倘若建築物理根基的毀壞意味著整座建築的倒塌，那麼上帝子民維護真理根基的失敗,  就意味著他們的屬靈健康和福祉的災難。

我們可以將這觀念應用於教會。倘若教會的根基動搖，教會能生存？ 不能。 但什麼是教會的根基？正確的回答將有助於防護根基和維護上帝的真理。

在多年的事奉中,   我經常教導教會根基這一主題。我常常指出，寫「教會唯一的根基是我們的主耶穌基督」這行句子的作者，在寫他的贊美詩時的動機本意是好的,  但這句子本身傳達著錯誤的信息。關於教會的根基，聖經說耶穌就是根基：「因為除了那已經立好的根基以外，沒有人能立別的根基。那根基就是耶穌基督。」（林前三11）  然而，關於教會根基，這並非全部新約聖經所說的。保羅在以弗所書二章20節說,  耶穌實際上是「房角石」。耶穌被稱爲根基，因為祂是關鍵，可以說，是奠立整個根基的關鍵。但在這根基中，還有其他石頭。

那麼，根基的其余部分是什麼？保羅告訴我們，包括先知和使徒（弗二18-21）。在啓示錄第廿一章，我們讀到從天而降的聖城,  新耶路撒冷的宏偉景象。14節告訴我們：「城牆有十二根基，根基上有羔羊十二使徒的名字。」 甚至天上的耶路撒冷也建造在使徒的根基之上。

就本質而言，曆史上的基督教教會是使徒性的。使徒Apostle 一字源自希臘字apostolos，意思是「被派遣的人」。在古希臘文化裏， apostolos首先是指一名信使、大使、或使者。但他不僅是一個助理。他是國王授權,  代表國王的使者（在國王不在的情況下），並且擁有國王的權柄。

新約聖經的第一個使徒實際上是耶穌，因爲祂被父上帝差遣來到世上。在新約聖經, 我們從耶穌關於祂自己的角色的言論中, 我們得到「成為一個使徒意味著什麽」的最完整的圖畫。耶穌基督說：「我不憑著自己作甚麼事；我說的這些話，是照著父所教導我的。」（約八28）  耶穌基督又對門徒說：「因為我沒有憑著自己說話，而是差我來的父給了我命令，要我說甚麼，講甚麼。」（約 12:49）  耶穌基督還道：「天上地上一切權柄都賜給我了。」（太28:18）   耶穌蒙父上帝賜予權炳,   代表祂發言，傳遞祂的說話，所以耶穌的教導具有上帝的權炳。

使徒憑著從基督轉交下來的權柄言談，傳遞祂的教導。使徒運用耶穌基督的權柄作教導，耶穌基督運用上帝的權柄作教導。因此，很久以前,  當教父愛任紐（Irenaeus）曾論證說，拒絕使徒的權柄就是拒絕耶穌基督的權柄。歸根到底，拒絕耶穌基督的權柄就是拒絕上帝的權柄。

我們這裏所說的使徒權柄的概念對基督徒信仰來說非常重要。但我們如何認識使徒的權柄？通過順服使徒傳統來認識。保羅在哥林多前書十五章3節告訴我們：「我從前領受了又傳交給你們那最要緊的」,   他使用希臘字paradosis，我們翻譯爲「傳統」。Paradosis的字面意思是「委托/移交」,  這正是新約所指的意思。這就是教會所領受的使徒傳統。教會從使徒那領受，使徒從基督那領受，基督從上帝那領受。這就是爲什麼當我們拒絕使徒----新約聖經的使徒傳統----我們就在拒絕上帝的權柄。

本譯文的聖經經文皆引自《聖經新譯本》。

本文原刊於Tabletalk雜誌。

The Church’s One Foundation

FROM R.C. Sproul

More than forty years ago, Los Angeles experienced a terrible earthquake, one of the worst in the city’s history. I remember the event because just before the earthquake, I had driven a friend of mine to the airport so that he could catch a flight to Los Angeles, where he was a pastor. The earthquake affected his church, and he later told me that at first everything seemed to be fine with the sanctuary building. Although there was no visible damage of any significance, a later inspection revealed that the foundation of the church had shifted to such a degree that they had to close the church and rebuild the sanctuary because it was no longer safe. To any casual observer, it seemed like the sanctuary was stable. However, in reality it was unfit for use, and it had to be demolished and rebuilt upon a sure foundation.

In Psalm 11:3, David asks the question, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” David draws on an analogy in the physical realm to depict a particular spiritual concern that he had. If the failure of a building’s physical foundation spells the end for the entire building, the failure of God’s people to maintain the foundation of truth means disaster for their spiritual health and well-being.

We can apply this idea to the church. If the foundation of the church is shaken, can the church survive? No. But what is the foundation of the church? Answering that question correctly will help us guard the foundation and preserve His truth.

I’ve often taught on this subject—the foundation of the church—in my years of ministry. I’ve often pointed out that while the author of the line, “The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ our Lord,” had his heart in the right place when he was writing his hymn, the line itself is a conduit of misinformation. With respect to the foundation of the church, Scripture does speak of Jesus as the foundation: “For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11). However, that is not all that the New Testament says about the church’s foundation. Paul says in Ephesians 2:20 that Jesus is actually “the cornerstone.” Jesus is called the foundation because He is the linchpin, as it were, for the entire foundation. But there are other stones in this foundation.

What, then, is the rest of the foundation? The foundation, Paul tells us, consists of the prophets and the Apostles (Eph. 2:18-21). In Revelation 21, we read of the magnificent vision of the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city that comes down from above. Verse 14 tells us that “the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” Even the heavenly Jerusalem is based upon the foundation of the apostles.

Historically, the Christian church is, in its very essence, Apostolic. The term Apostle comes from the Greek word apostolos, which means “one who is sent.” In the ancient Greek culture, an apostolos was first of all a messenger, an ambassador, or an emissary. But he wasn’t just a page. He was an emissary who was authorized by the king to represent the king in his absence, and he bore the king’s authority.

The first Apostle in the New Testament was actually Jesus, for He was sent by His Father into the world. We get the fullest picture of what it is to be an Apostle by looking at what He says in the New Testament about this role of His. Jesus said, “I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me” (John 8:28). Christ told His disciples, “For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak” (12:49). He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18). Jesus was granted authority by God the Father to speak on behalf of the Father and to deliver His Father’s Word, so Jesus’ teaching had God’s authority.

The Apostles spoke with a transferred authority from Christ to deliver His teachings. The Apostles taught with the authority of Jesus, who taught with the authority of God. Therefore, as the church father Irenaeus argued long ago, to reject Apostolic authority is to reject the authority of Jesus. And in the final analysis, to reject the authority of Jesus is to reject the authority of God.

What we have here in the concept of Apostolic authority is of vital importance to the Christian faith. But how do we recognize Apostolic authority? By submitting to the Apostolic tradition. In 1 Corinthians 15:3 Paul tells us, “I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received,” and he uses the term paradosis, which is the Greek term we translate as “tradition.” Paradosis literally means “a giving over, a transfer,” and that’s what the New Testament is. It is the Apostolic tradition that the church has received. The church received it from the Apostles, who received it from Christ, who received it from God. That’s why when we reject the teaching of the Apostles—the Apostolic tradition of the New Testament—we’re rejecting the very authority of God.

This post was originally published in Tabletalk magazine.

罪與工作的關係TheRelationship Between Sin and Work

作者: Richard Phillips  譯者:  Maria Marta 

http://www.ligonier.org/blog/relationship-between-sin-and-work/

https://plus.google.com/u/0/106695469993489516884/posts/ERmaYYzbfji

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.

聖靈的職事The Holy Spirit’s Ministry

作者: Sinclair Ferguson   譯者: 禾壯

http://www.ligonier.org/blog/holy-spirits-ministry/

https://plus.google.com/u/0/106695469993489516884/posts/9UdguY84GD7

改教家們非常強調聖靈有恩賜給基督的全部身體（教會）。加爾文被譽爲「最懂得聖靈的神學家」。然而，改革宗基督徒卻總是因爲聖靈恩賜的看法而爲他們贏得不佳的聲譽。

我們相信，爲了達成祂特定的目的，上帝刻意將某些恩賜 (特別是：講啓示性預言，行神跡，說方言)  只在有限的時段內賜下。如此說法是有牢固的聖經根據的：

1. 這些恩賜的暫時性表現是貫穿於整本聖經曆史的上帝一貫的作工模式和特征。與流行的觀點相反,  神跡奇事的恩賜在聖經曆史中僅是間間斷斷臨到，他們集中發生在不多的幾個時間區間內，每個區間約持續一個世代左右。

2. 這些恩賜的功能，即傳達和印證啟示（現已停止，直到基督回來），是新約本身所強調的（徒二22, 十四3 ;  林後十二12 ;  來二3-4）。

3.  新約聖經的歷史表明,  隨著使徒時代的結束，這些神跡奇事的恩賜的功能已經被新約聖經的完成所取代。因此，教牧書信既沒有提到神跡奇事賜的出現，也沒有期望對這等恩賜的運作有任何的規範。

從聖經的基督論角度來看，還可補充一點,  在五旬節講預言，行神跡，說方言等聖靈的恩賜傾倒下來，目的是特別標記基督的加冕。因此，它本來就是教會生活非永久性的固有特徵。但在這種背景下，它可能是強調另一個更重要的，經常被忽視的改革宗教導。偉大的清教徒約翰歐文出色地描述了這一教導：

「盡管所有這些恩賜和他們的運作在某些方面已經停止了，其中某些已經完全停止了，另外一些在直接交通的方式上和在優越的程度方面也已經不如以往；然而，就他們對教會的造就性而言，有些與他們相似的事情在過去和現在一直未曾中斷。」

這是什麼意思？簡單而言：那同一位聖靈所賜給教會的恩賜中，既有暫時性的，也有延續性的。因此，在兩者中若能找到某些相同的脈絡，毫不奇怪。

也許在暫時性與延續性兩種不同的恩賜當中最重要的相同脈絡，在於聖靈的光照——祂照明我們的心思意念，使我們認識、看見、抓住並實踐上帝的心意。在上帝所賜的暫時性恩賜中，這種光照是直接。聖靈將直接教導使徒們「一切的事」（約十四26），帶他們進入「一切的真理」（約十六13）。今天，聖靈透過祂使門徒們為我們寫成的聖經，在我們的生命中繼續不斷做類似的工作。事實上，在臨別講話中（約翰福音十四至十六章），我們的主明確地告訴使徒們，這將是聖靈在他們生命中最核心的事工之一。祂將要讓他們想起耶穌說了什麼（福音書），引導他們進入一切的真理（所有的書信），還要把未來的事情講給他們（啓示錄）。

既然如此，爲什麼今天的基督徒-----與他們的教父相比------更渴望能經曆到上帝直接的個人的啓示（上帝告訴我如何如何）,  而上帝對我們的期望卻是持久不斷的聖靈的工作，透過新約聖經間接的公開的啓示，打開我們的心思意念來認識他 ？ 有三個方面的原因：

1.  直接的個人化啟示，比透過聖經間接的公開的啟示，更能激勵人心，有更明顯的超自然性，對許多人而言，這更「屬靈」，更「神聖」。

2. 許多人認爲，能夠說「上帝直接對我說如何如何」，比「聖經告訴我如何如何」來得更有權威。

3. 直接啓示可以不必痛苦堅忍地研究聖經，仔細地思考基督教的教義，就可以明白神的旨意，是條捷徑。與直接啓示相比，坦白地說，研究聖經很枯燥。

身為改革宗的基督徒,  惟恐我們受到威嚇，和滋生一種受困的心態，我們應該將聖靈光照的幾件事情牢記在心：

1.  聖靈的光照也是耶穌的親身經曆。不錯，我們的主曾經講過許多的預言，行過許許多多的神跡；但如果我們不透過耐心的默想舊約聖經來認識耶穌的智慧與上帝和人喜愛祂的心與日俱增（路二52），我們就可能會犯「基督幻影論（Docetism ）的錯誤（認爲耶穌的人性只是看起來與我們相象而已），和不忠實於聖經。請看先知以賽亞的第三篇「仆人之歌」展示給我們的是一幅何等超乎尋常的感人畫面(賽五十4–11)：耶穌基督每天醒來，依靠祂的父光照，使祂明白天父的話，使祂有能力去思想、感覺、行動，並活出一個完全的人的生命，滿有智慧和知識 (賽十一1-3a).

2. 這不僅是耶穌生命成長之路，也同樣是所有基督徒生命得以真實無僞地成長的神聖方法。因爲它涉及人的心意更新變化（羅十二2），而且它是循序漸進的（它要花費我們的時間，要求我們意志的降服）。雖然有些時候，上帝做事很快；但是祂通常的方法乃是一步一步實實在在地在祂兒女們身上作工，使我們逐漸變得更象主耶穌。

3.  聖靈與上帝的話語同工，且借著上帝的話光照和更新我們的心意，其結果是：我們敬虔的本能被哺育出來，且經常以出乎意料的方式運作。在一個得到良好的真理教導，又被聖靈光照的基督徒身上，聖經啓示的真理深深融入他的思想觀念之中，以至於上帝的旨意對他而言變得非常清晰，幾乎成爲他的本能與直覺；從這個意義上說，他能夠非常「直接」地領受上帝的旨意。正如一個訓練有素且經驗豐富的音樂耳朵可以輕易辨識出某一段音樂的演奏是好是壞，在上帝的話語中屬靈的操練可以産生出辨識的能力（來五11-14）。

不幸的是，有些動機良好的基督徒有時卻誤將光照當作啓示，這可能會導致嚴重的神學混淆，和潛在的不幸的實踐後果。但光照的教義也有助於我們解釋經曆中某些神秘的元素，而不必急於宣告說「我們得了特殊啓示和講預言的恩賜」。在這裏，前威斯敏斯特神學院教授約翰慕理（John Murray）的一番話極有智慧：

「當我們作爲聖靈光照的領受者時，會産生反應；當聖靈在我們心中運行要實行神的旨意時，我們會有感覺、印記、強烈的信心、衝動、禁止、興奮、負擔、決心。聖靈透過上帝的話語光照並引領我們，在我們的意識中用以上的這些方法聚焦。我們並非自動機器……我們不應當認爲以上的現象就必然不理性或帶著令人著迷的神秘色彩。」

上帝的話語透過聖靈的光照，成爲我們腳前的燈、路上的光，引領我們進入屬靈的穩妥與自由，正如詩篇一百一十九篇所言。它引領我們每一天毫不動搖地去認識、熱愛並遵行上帝的旨意。

本文原刊於Tabletalk雜誌。

The Holy Spirit’s Ministry

FROM Sinclair Ferguson

The Reformers placed tremendous stress on the gifts of the Spirit to the whole body of Christ. John Calvin himself has rightly been described as “the theologian of the Holy Spirit” (B.B. Warfield). Yet Reformed Christians always have been given a “bad press” for their views on the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Our conviction is that God purposefully gave some gifts (specifically the ability to work miracles, the gift of revelatory prophecy, and speaking in tongues) only for a limited period. We have solid biblical reasons for believing this:

1. A temporary manifestation of these gifts is characteristic of God’s pattern of working. Contrary to popular opinion, such gifts as these were given spasmodically in biblical history. Their occurrence is generally contained within a handful of time periods lasting around a generation each.

2. The function of these gifts, namely to convey and to confirm revelation (now ceased until Christ’s return), is underlined in the New Testament itself (Acts 2:22, 14:3; cf. 2 Cor. 12:12; Heb. 2:3–4).

3. The history of the New Testament suggests that by the close of the apostolic age the role of these gifts was being superseded by the completion of the New Testament. Thus, there is no reference to their presence—or, more significantly, their future regulation—in the Pastoral Letters.

More could be said here in terms of biblical Christology, for the outpouring of the gifts of tongues, prophecy, and miracles at Pentecost was specifically intended to mark the coronation of Christ. It was, therefore, inherently intended to be a non-permanent feature of the life of the church. But in this context, it probably is more important to emphasize another, often-ignored facet of Reformed teaching. It is well-expressed in some words of the great Puritan John Owen:

Although all these gifts and operations ceased in some respect, some of them absolutely, and some of them as to the immediate manner of communication and degree of excellency; yet so far as the edification of the church was concerned in them, something that is analogous unto them was and is continued.

What does this mean? Simply this: It is the same Spirit who gives both temporary and continuing gifts to the church. We should not be surprised, therefore, to discover common threads in both.

Perhaps the most important common thread is the Spirit’s ministry in illumination—He enlightens our minds to enable us to know, see, grasp, and apply the will and purposes of God. There was an immediacy to illumination in the temporary gifts. The Spirit taught the apostles “all things” (John 14:26) and led them into “all truth” (John 16:13). Now, however, He continues this work in us through the Scriptures He enabled the apostles to write for us. Indeed, during the Farewell Discourse (John 14–16), our Lord made it clear to the apostles that this would be one of the central ministries of the Spirit in their lives: He would remind them of what Jesus had said (the gospels), lead them into the truth (the epistles), and show them the things to come (e.g. Revelation).

Why, then, are Christians today—in contrast to their fathers—so thirsty to experience immediate revelation from God, when His desire for us is the ongoing work of the Spirit opening up our understanding through the mediated revelation of the New Testament? There seem to be three reasons:

1. It is more exciting to have direct revelation rather than Bible revelation. It seems more “spiritual,” more “divine.”

2. For many people, it feels much more authoritative to be able to say, “God has revealed this to me” than to say, “The Bible tells me so.”

3. Direct revelation relieves us of the need for painstaking Bible study and careful consideration of Christian doctrine in order to know the will of God. In comparison to immediate revelation, Bible study seems—to be frank—boring.

Lest we be brow-beaten and develop a kind of siege mentality as Reformed Christians, here are some things we should bear in mind about the work of illumination:

1. Jesus experienced it. Yes, our Lord prophesied; yes, He worked miracles. But we would be guilty of Docetism (the view that Jesus’ humanity only seemed to be like ours) and untrue to Scripture if we failed to recognize that Jesus Himself grew in wisdom and favor with God (Luke 2:52) by patiently meditating on the Old Testament Scriptures. (I suspect He probably knew them by heart.) The third Servant Song of Isaiah (Isa. 50:4–11) gives us an extraordinarily moving picture of the Lord Jesus waking up each day, dependent on His Father to illumine His understanding of His Word that He might think, feel, act, and live as the Man full of the Spirit of wisdom and understanding (Isa. 11:2ff).

2. This is the divine method that produces authentic Christian growth, because it involves the renewal (not the abeyance) of the mind (Rom. 12:2) and it is progressive (it takes time and demands the obedience of our wills). Sometimes God does things quickly. But His ordinary way is to work slowly and surely to make us progressively more like our Lord Jesus.

3. The result of the Spirit working with the Word of God to illumine and transform our thinking is the development of a godly instinct that operates in sometimes surprising ways. The revelation of Scripture becomes, in a well-taught, Spirit-illumined believer, so much a part of his or her mindset that the will of God frequently seems to become instinctively and even immediately clear—just as whether a piece of music is well or badly played is immediately obvious to a well-disciplined musician. It is this kind of spiritual exercise that creates discernment (see Heb. 5:11–14).

Well-meaning Christians sometimes mistake the Spirit’s work of illumination for revelation, which, unhappily, can lead to serious theological confusion and potentially unhappy practical consequences. But the doctrine of illumination also helps us explain some of the more mysterious elements in our experience without having to resort to the claim that we have the gift of revelation and prophecy. Here the late John Murray spoke with great wisdom: “As we are the subjects of this illumination and are responsive to it, and as the Holy Spirit is operative in us to the doing of God’s will, we shall have feelings, impressions, convictions, urges, inhibitions, impulses, burdens, resolutions. Illumination and direction by the Spirit through the Word of God will focus themselves in our consciousness in these ways. We are not automata.… We must not think [these things] are … necessarily irrational or fanatically mystical.”

God’s Word, illumined by God’s Spirit, is, as Psalm 119 so magnificently shows, the pathway to spiritual stability and liberty. It leads us unwaveringly to knowing, loving, and doing God’s will on a daily basis. It brings joy through light.

This post was originally published in Tabletalk magazine.