作者: R.C. Sproul 譯者/校對者:Maria Marta/誠之
在我們應當聽到的信息中, 再沒有比我們稱之為「福音」更偉大的信息了。雖然這點很重要，但是福音信息往往被嚴重歪曲或被過度簡化。一般人以為當他們告訴你，「你可以找到你的人生目標」，或者「你可以找到你的人生意義」, 又或者「你可以和上帝建立個人/親密的關係」時, 他們就是在向你傳福音。他們提到的所有這些方面都是正確的，而且也都很重要，但是他們沒有抓到福音的核心。
福音被稱為「好消息」，因為它解決了人類如你和我最嚴重的問題，這個問題簡單說就是：上帝是聖潔和公義的，而我不是。在我生命結束以後，我將要站在公義和聖潔的上帝面前，我將會受到審判。我受審判要麼是根據自己的義——或缺少義——要麼根據另一個人的義。福音的好消息是：基督活出了完全公義、完美順服上帝的生命，不是為了祂自己的福祉，而是為了祂的子民。祂為我完成了我不可能為自己做的事情。祂不但活出完美順服的生命, 而且獻上自己成為完美的祭物，滿足了上帝的公義和正義。
我們這個時代一個極大的誤解是：上帝並不關心保護祂自己的純正、完整。祂是一種空泛的神，只會向每一個人揮舞著寬恕的魔杖。不，絕非如此。要讓上帝赦免你，是要付出非常昂貴代價的。這個代價就是祂要獻自己的愛子為祭。這個獻祭是如此昂貴,
以致上帝藉著使祂愛子從死裏復活——好叫基督為我們而死，為我們的稱義而復活——來宣告這個獻祭是寶貴的。所以，福音是客觀的。福音的信息是關於耶穌是誰和祂做了什麼。
但是福音也有一個主觀的層面。耶穌的恩惠如何在主觀上成就在我們身上呢？我如何能得到這些恩惠？聖經清楚表明，我們得以稱義既不是藉著我們的善行，也不是靠我們的努力，更不是憑著我們的所作所為，而是藉著信心——而且唯獨藉著信心。你能領受基督生命和死亡的益處的唯一途徑是：信靠祂，而且唯獨信靠祂。你若如此行，上帝便會宣告你為義，接納你進入祂的家中，赦免你所有的罪，你就會開始你永恒的天路歷程。
What
Is the Gospel?
FROM
R.C. Sproul
There
is no greater message to be heard than that which we call the gospel. But as
important as that is, it is often given to massive distortions or over
simplifications. People think they’re preaching the gospel to you when they
tell you, ‘you can have a purpose to your life’, or that ‘you can have meaning
to your life’, or that ‘you can have a personal relationship with Jesus.’ All
of those things are true, and they’re all important, but they don’t get to the
heart of the gospel.
The
gospel is called the ‘good news’ because it addresses the most serious problem
that you and I have as human beings, and that problem is simply this: God is
holy and He is just, and I’m not. And at the end of my life, I’m going to stand
before a just and holy God, and I’ll be judged. And I’ll be judged either on
the basis of my own righteousness–or lack of it–or the righteousness of
another. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus lived a life of perfect
righteousness, of perfect obedience to God, not for His own well being but for
His people. He has done for me what I couldn’t possibly do for myself. But not
only has He lived that life of perfect obedience, He offered Himself as a
perfect sacrifice to satisfy the justice and the righteousness of God.
The
great misconception in our day is this: that God isn’t concerned to protect His
own integrity. He’s a kind of wishy-washy deity, who just waves a wand of
forgiveness over everybody. No. For God to forgive you is a very costly matter.
It cost the sacrifice of His own Son. So valuable was that sacrifice that God
pronounced it valuable by raising Him from the dead–so that Christ died for us,
He was raised for our justification. So the gospel is something objective. It
is the message of who Jesus is and what He did. And it also has a subjective
dimension. How are the benefits of Jesus subjectively appropriated to us? How
do I get it? The Bible makes it clear that we are justified not by our works,
not by our efforts, not by our deeds, but by faith–and by faith alone. The only
way you can receive the benefit of Christ’s life and death is by putting your
trust in Him–and in Him alone. You do that, you’re declared just by God, you’re
adopted into His family, you’re forgiven of all of your sins, and you have
begun your pilgrimage for eternity.