以捨己的態度來讀你的聖經——並找到你自己ReadYour Bible with Self-Denial—and Find Yourself

作者：Scott Swain 譯者/修訂者：楊忠道/駱鴻銘

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/read-bible-self-denial-liberated/

http://peddrluo.blog.163.com/blog/static/19480131220182121639752/

耶穌背起我們的十字架的呼召對我們整體的生活具有許多的含義，其中包括如何讀我們的聖經。建立在這樣的信念之上，西敏大要理問答第157問規勸我們用「捨己」的態度來閱讀聖經。

Jesus’s call to take up our cross has implications for the entirety of our lives, including how we read our Bibles. Building on this conviction, Q & A 157 of the Westminster Larger Catechism counsels us to read Scripture with “self-denial.”

不幸的是，這樣的勸告在今日福音派的聖經閱讀、講道和教導裡時常被忽略掉。

Unfortunately, this counsel is often ignored in evangelical Bible reading, preaching, and teaching today.

相反，許多「以福音為中心」形式的聖經詮釋，都傾向於在被暱稱為「羅傑斯式的自我肯定」（Roerian self-regard）的方式上達到高峰，如同大衛鮑力森（David Powlison）所說的。這基本上是在對自己說：「不要擔心，耶穌已經遮蓋了你！」對此，自我回答說：「呼！我感覺好多了。」

Instead, many forms of “gospel-centered” biblical interpretation tend to culminate in a kind of baptized “Rogerian self-regard,” as David Powlison puts it. The self is essentially told, Don’t worry; Jesus has got you covered. To which the self responds, Whew! I feel so much better.

在這樣的背景下，基督的十字架被宣告出來，但背起我們的十字架卻被忽略掉了。我們蒙召去相信，卻沒有悔改。

In such contexts, the cross of Christ is proclaimed, but taking up our cross is neglected. We are called to faith, but not to repentance.

不是一種零和遊戲

Not a Zero-Sum Game

鑑於我們墮落天性的傾向，忽略以捨己的態度來閱讀的勸告是很容易的。墮落的自我偏向自己，全神貫注在自己身上，不惜一切代價去保護並推銷自己。因此墮落的自我不會——確實不能——考慮自我否認。

Given our fallen nature’s inclinations, it’s easy to ignore the counsel to read with self-denial. The fallen self is curved in on itself, preoccupied with itself, and committed at all costs to preserving and promoting itself. The fallen self therefore will not—indeed cannot—contemplate its own denial.

我們也因為誤解了這個勸告，所以忽略了它。當涉及上帝、自我和鄰舍的時候，墮落的自我就設想出一種「零和遊戲」：無論是上帝還是鄰舍，必須圍繞著我運行，不然我就輸了。否定你自己，這樣的理解上，就是抹殺了你自己。

We also ignore this counsel because we misunderstand it. The fallen self assumes a “zero-sum game” when it comes to God, self, and neighbor: either God and neighbor must orbit around me or I must lose. To deny yourself, on such an understanding, is to obliterate yourself.

當我們被要求從一個自我中心到以神為中心的進路理解聖經時，幫倒忙的聖經講員和老師時常無意識地在這種誤解的根基上運作。然而，以捨己的態度閱讀並不是簡單地從自我中心轉向神為中心而已；以捨己的態度閱讀聖經說的是重新定位自我，而不僅僅是取代自我。這是關於自我的死與復活，以及對上帝、自我、鄰舍的一種全新的、非競爭性的視角——是一種拒絕去玩墮落的自我喜歡玩的零和遊戲的視角。

Otherwise-helpful Bible preachers and teachers often unwittingly operate on the basis of this misunderstanding when calling us from a self-centered approach to Scripture to a God-centered approach. Reading with self-denial, however, isn’t simply about moving from self-centeredness to God-centeredness. Reading with self-denial is about reorienting the self, not just replacing the self. It’s about the self’s death and resurrection and a new, non-competitive perspective on God, self, and neighbor—a perspective that refuses to play the fallen self’s zero-sum game.

培養以神為中心的自我

Raising the God-Centered Self

重要的是，我們不僅僅是把神看為至高的良善和一切事物的中心，更是將祂視為創造者、救贖者和我們與鄰舍關係的成全者。神並不會妒忌我們的自我，祂不會把它當成祂天然的競爭者，神愛這個自我。神創造了它，當這個自我高舉自己抵擋上帝，導致自己的滅亡時，神為它賜下祂的獨生愛子。此外，神使這自我與祂被釘死在十字架上的兒子同死，又使得它與祂兒子一同復活，以至於自我可以為著祂的榮耀和鄰舍的美好而活出奉獻的生命。

It’s vital that we come to see God not only as the supreme good and center of all things, but also as maker, redeemer, and perfecter of our self in relation to our neighbor. God does not envy the self; he does not view it as his natural competitor. God loves the self. God created it and, when the self exalted itself against God to its own destruction, God gave his beloved Son for it. Moreover, God raised the self, in and with his crucified Son, that it might live a life devoted to his glory and our neighbor’s good.

所以，儘管這個墮落的自我假設到，讓神居首位必然意味它自身的消滅時，那個被福音殺死和因福音而活的自我並沒有如此假設。在被神創造、救贖和有待終極完成的世界裡面，自我真的發現自己是神的孩子，是耶穌基督的弟兄，並且是神家中的一員。

So while the fallen self assumes that God’s supremacy must entail its own annihilation, the self killed and made alive by the gospel does not. Within the world created, redeemed, and yet to be consummated by God, the self truly finds itself as a child of God, as a sibling of Jesus Christ, and as a member of the household of God.

因此，一個成熟的基督徒不是以自我本身的死亡的觀點，而是「以自我中心的自我」的死亡和「以神為中心的自我」的復活的觀點來閱讀聖經的。這就是自我、自我實現的真正意義，而自我的發展成就可以在與上帝和鄰舍的正確秩序的關係當中找到。

So a mature Christian reads the Bible with a view, not to the death of the self per se, but with a view to the death of the self-centered self and the resurrection of the God-centered self. This is where the self’s true meaning, fulfillment, and flourishing are found: in rightly ordered relations to God and neighbor.

如此理解，以捨己的態度來閱讀聖經是當下你所能追求的，最能榮耀神和最人道的閱讀方式。

Thus understood, reading your Bible with self-denial is at once the most God-honoring and humane kind of reading you can pursue.