—般性啟示 Immediate And Mediate General Revelation

摘自《神學入門》《Essential Truths of the Christian Faith》10頁 , R.C. Sproul著/姚錦榮译，更新傳道會出版。

在我小時候，毎當母親吩咐我去做一事，且不要我拖延時，她就會用立刻這個詞，比方說，她會講：「你立刻回房間去！」

母親所說的立刻，是指及時完成一件事，而不要受時間的阻撓。但在神學上，立刻一詞（immediate) 卻另有含意，它是指一些事情的發生或完成，並不需要藉助於別的代表、物件或媒介，是指不需倚賴居間者完成的一種行動。

聖經神學中提到兩種一般性的啟示，一是中介性的（mediate), 另一是立即性的（immediate)。中介性的一般啟示，是指透過某些媒介傳達啟示。當諸天述說神的榮耀時，諸天便成為彰顯神榮耀的中介。從這個角度來說，整個宇宙都成了神啟示的媒介，受造物成為創造主的見證。

聖經說，全地滿了耶和華的榮耀。很可惜，我們對環繞自己周圍的偉大榮耀卻往往視而不見。我們活得十分膚淺，對於上帝榮耀創造之工所彰顯的奇妙與偉大朩然。我們充耳不聞，視若無睹。

其實神崇高的同在就在我們四周，只是我們耳不聰、目不明，不懂得這些語言！讓我們駐足，嗅一嗅花的氣味，花香飄逸，除了甜美，它還能散發出創造主的榮耀呢！只要我們領會到自然界中神的榮耀，便能觸及神的啟示了。大自然並不神聖，但是神的榮耀卻充滿大自然，並在大自然中，和透過大自然，將祂自己啟示出來。

神除了間接地透過受造之物啟示衪的榮耀外，祂也直接在人的思想中啟示衪自己。這種啟示我們稱之為立即性的一般啟示。

使徒保羅提到，神的律法已寫在人的心中（羅二12-16）。加爾文也說，神在每個人的思想中種下一種神性的意識。他說：

「在人心𥚃存著某種與主俱有對神存在的感受，這點我們以為無庸爭議：因為神自己......已經賦予所有人類某種對神的觀念，而它所產生的回憶，神又不斷地予以更新，且不時地擴大它。」（註1）

世界各地的文化都包含了某種形式的宗教活動，這證明人類擁有與生俱來的宗教本性。人類的核心本質是宗教化的。宗教的特性可以表現在粗鄙愚昩的偶像崇拜上-------但即使是拜偶像，也特別顯明出這種與生俱來的知識雖會被誤用，卻絕不會被消除。

我們心靈的深處都知道神的存在，也知道神賦予我們當遵守的律法，但我們為了逃避神的命令，一味想要壓制這種認識。然而無論我們怎樣努力逃避，也壓制不住自己𥚃面的聲音-------這聲音可以被壓抑，但永不能被消滅。

總結

1.神的榮耀在我們四周是顯然易見的；它透過神的創造界為中介顯明出來。

2.人類的本性是宗教化的。

3.神在所有人類心𥚃，種下一種認識神自己的固有知識。這可稱為立即性的一般啟示。

思考經文：

詩 19 : 1-14 徒 14 ：8-18 徒 17 ：16- 34 羅 1 ：18-23 羅2 ：14-15

註1. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Henry Beveridge, 2 vols.， bk. I (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans， 1975)，43.

3. IMMEDIATE AND MEDIATE  GENERAL REVELATION

When I was a boy and my mother required that I do something without delay, she punctuated her orders to me by using the adverb immediately.

She would say, “Son, go to your room immediately.” She used the word immediately to refer to an event in time that occurs without any intervening block of time. In theology the term immediate means something else. It means that something happens without passing

through any intervening agent, thing, or means. It is an action that takes place without an intermediary.

In biblical theology we distinguish between two types of general revelation—that which is communicated through an intermediary and that which is direct. When we speak of mediate general revelation, we refer to  revelation that is transmitted through something. When the heavens reveal God, they become the medium or means through which God displays His glory. In this sense, the whole universe is a medium of divine revelation. The creation bears witness to its Creator.

The Bible says that the whole earth is full of the glory of God. Sadly, we often miss the very glory that surrounds us. We tend to live on the surface of things. We are asleep to the wonder and awe that God provides in His glorious creation. We have tuned out. We are out of touch. Religious ideas are worthless if they do not express something real.

The sublime presence of God is all around us. Yet we are often blind and deaf to it. We don’t understand its language. It takes more than stopping to smell the flowers. The flower contains more than a sweet aroma or fragrance. It exudes the glory of its Creator.

We are all in touch with divine revelation when we are aware of God’s glory in nature. Nature is not divine. But God’s glory fills nature and is revealed in and through it.

In addition to revealing His glory indirectly through creation, God also reveals Himself directly to the human mind. This revelation is called immediate general revelation.

The apostle Paul speaks of the law of God that is written upon our hearts (Romans 2:12-16). John Calvin spoke of a sense of the divine that God implants in the mind of every person. He said:

That there exists in the human mind, and indeed by natural instinct, some sense of Deity, we hold to be beyond dispute, since God himself . . . has endued all men with some idea of his Godhead, the memory of which he constantly renews and occasionally enlarges.1

Cultures everywhere attest to the presence of some kind of religious activity, confirming humankind’s incurably religious nature. Human beings are religious at their core. The character of such religion may be crassly idolatrous, but even idolatry, indeed, especially idolatry, gives evidence of this innate knowledge that can be distorted but never obliterated.

Deep within our souls we know that God exists and that He has given His law to us. We seek to suppress this knowledge in order to escape God’s commands. But no matter how hard we try, we cannot silence this inner voice. It can be muffled but not destroyed.

Summary

1. God’s glory is evident all around us. It is mediated through God’s creation.

2. Human beings are religious by nature.

3. God implants in all human beings an innate knowledge of Himself. This is called immediate general revelation.

Biblical passages for reflection:

Psalm 19:1-4

Acts 4:8-18

Acts 17:16-34

Romans 1:18-23

Romans 2:14-15

1. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Henry Beveridge, 2 vols., bk.I

(Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1975), 43.