为什么我的非基督徒朋友比我的基督徒朋友要好？WhyAre My Non-Christian Friends Better Than My Christian Friends?

作者: Ying Yee  译者: Duncan Liang

https://au.thegospelcoalition.org/article/non-christian-friends-better-christian-friends

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/nkCQ8pKi59HmbarTPyouSw

为什么我的非基督徒朋友比我的基督徒朋友要好？过往几年我有好几次听过人提出这疑问，但真正冲击我的，就是我们从前一位教会成员在信仰方面发生了大转变。他是我们其中一位青年事工领袖，一个很了不起的基督徒弟兄。他是其中一个“值得关注的家伙”。我看着他进入全职服侍。但有一年，出于某个不知道的原因，他完全背离信仰。到底发生了什么事？当我好不容易找到他，他提出的一个解释就是：他的非基督徒朋友看来比教会里的人要好。我与一位成熟的基督徒朋友分享这一点，她说有时她也有这种感觉。这再一次把我打趴下了，促成我思考这问题。以下是我的一些想法：

Why are my non-Christian friends better than my Christian friends? I’ve heard this echoed a number of times over the years, but it really hit me when one of our former members did an about face on the faith. He was one of our youth leaders. He was a great Christian man. He was one of those ‘guys worth watching.’ I had set my eyes on him going into full-time ministry. But one year, for some unknown reason, he completely turned his back on the faith. What happened? When I caught up with him, one explanation he offered was just this: his non-Christian friends seemed better than the people at church. I shared this with a mature Christian friend. She said she sometimes feels like that as well. This floored me again, and it got me thinking. Here are some thoughts I came up with:

 1. 神不由得基督徒选择他们的朋友。

1. CHRISTIANS DON’T GET TO CHOOSE THEIR FRIENDS.

这并不是什么高深的科学道理。我们很自然会选择与我们喜欢的人在一起：仁慈、客气、讨人欢喜，与之相处令人高兴的人。但在教会，只有神对谁是我们共同体的一员拥有发言权。

This isn’t rocket science. We naturally choose to hang out with people we like: people who are kind and nice and pleasant; people who are a joy to be around. But in church only God gets to say who is part of our community.

我想这就好像建立一个家庭。我的孩子无权选择他们的弟兄姊妹。无论他们喜不喜欢，他们得到的，就是父母给他们的。我认识一个家伙，他和他的弟兄姊妹相处很有问题。但即使如此，尽管他们对他做了一切肮脏的事情——正如他对我说的——“他们仍是我的家里人，不管喜不喜欢，我都要帮助他们！”

I guess it’s like having a family. My children did not have the right to choose their siblings They got what they were given whether they liked it or not. I know one guy has a real problem with his siblings. But even so, despite all the rotten things they have done on him—as he said to me—“They are still my family and I have to help them whether I like it or not!”

我们也是如此。只有神——唯独神——可以选择祂教会的成员（弗1:4.5）。

So it is for us. Only God—and God alone—get to choose the members of his church (Ephesians 1:4,5)

 2. 神喜欢挑选那些没有盼望的人。

2. GOD LIKES TO PICK NO-HOPERS.

还有，神喜欢挑选不可爱的人。祂甚至拣选了仇敌成为我们家人的一部分。我们在以弗所书2-3章看到，神亘古的计划就是选择外邦人成为那原本是犹太人信仰的一部分（弗3:6）。这并不是仅仅很开心实践多元文化——犹太人和外邦人是深仇大恨的敌人！然而按神的想法，祂要把这些敌人招聚在一起，把他们变成一个新的共同体。

What’s more, God likes to pick unlikeable people. He’ll even choose enemies to be part of our family. In Ephesians 2-3 we find out that God’s eternal plan was to choose gentiles to be part of what was originally a Jewish faith (Ephesians 3:6). This wasn’t merely a happy exercise in multiculturalism—Jews and gentiles tended to the worst of enemies! Yet God had it in his mind to bring these enemies together and make them a new community.

还有根据同一个奇怪逻辑促成的另一个情形。耶稣拣选了一位犹太奋锐党人（一个游击队员，起义军）和一位税吏（通敌的人），让他们归属祂十二使徒的核心群体。请想象一下潜在的冲突。请想一想，这会为团队合一带来的各种麻烦。尽管如此，耶稣还是拣选了这两个人。他们没有发言权。

Here’s another case that follows the same strange logic. Jesus chooses both a Jewish zealot (a guerilla fighter or insurgent) and a tax collector (collaborator) to belong to his inner group of twelve. Imagine the potential for conflict. Imagine the problems it would create for team unity. Nevertheless, Jesus chose them both. They didn’t have a say.

保罗是另一个例子。他仇恨逼迫基督徒，然而神（满有怜悯！）拣选他成为使徒。想想神告诉亚拿尼亚，要他去给保罗施洗时亚拿尼亚说的话。他的回应基本上就是：“祢疯了吧？这人恨我们！”神的回答？“你只管去。他是我所拣选的器皿……”其余的就成了历史（徒9:1-16）。

Paul is another example. He’s a hater and persecutor of Christians, and yet God (mercifully!) chose him to become an apostle. Remember what Ananias says when God tells him to go and baptise Paul. His response is basically, “Are you crazy? This man hates us!” And God’s answer? “Go! I’ve chosen him …” and the rest is history (Acts 9:1-16).

以下是我自己经历的一件事。我记得一位年轻的基督徒姊妹讲到她一团糟的家庭生活，她讲到看着父亲离开患有精神病的母亲，去找另一个女人，这给她带来的毁坏性打击。但是，古怪的事情发生了——出于某种理由，神决定不仅要拯救那位父亲，还要把他带到他女儿的教会，让他成为一位关键的教会成员。这真是疯狂！

And here’s one from my own experience. I remember a young Christian woman speaking about her messed up family life. She talked about the devastation of seeing her dad leave her mentally ill mum for another woman. Yet—and this is where it gets weird—for some reason God decided, not just to save that dad, but also to bring him to his daughter’s church and make him a key member. Crazy!

如果这发生在一个普通人群当中，这位女儿就会明确告诉她父亲该到哪里去。但在教会里事情却并非如此。她没有选择。神没有请她批准。

If this were to happen in a normal community the daughter would tell her father where to go in no uncertain terms. But not in the church. She didn’t have a choice. God didn’t ask her permission.

这问题并不是碰巧，这是因福音本身的缘故。我们知道以弗所书2:8-9这段出名的经文：

This problem isn’t a coincidence. It’s because of the gospel itself. We know the famous passage in Ephesians 2:8,9

你们得救是本乎恩，也因着信；这并不是出于自己，乃是神所赐的；也不是出于行为，免得有人自夸。

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no-one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV.

我们通常把这看作是讲个人得救。神接纳外邦人进入在根本上是犹太人的信仰和群体当中，拯救他们，不是因为他们做了什么，而且靠完全的恩典。但如果我们要真正以福音为中心，就需要看到这逻辑后果，就是每一个人都必须受欢迎进入我们的教会，不管他们是谁，我们是否喜欢他们。为什么？因为拯救完全是白白无条件。

We usually apply this to talking personal salvation: God accepts gentiles into the essentially Jewish faith and community—saves them, because of anything they have done, but only by sheer grace. But if we are going to be truly gospel-centred, we need to see that the logical implication  is that anyone and everyone must be welcomed into our churches regardless of who they are—whether we like them or not. Why? Because salvation is completely free and unconditional.

3. FORGIVENESS IS CHRISTIAN DNA

 3. 饶恕是基督徒的DNA

在世界上，当我们的朋友对我们做了坏事，我们就争斗争辩。如果不能解决问题，我们就继续前行，去找到其他我们喜欢的人。但是当基督徒争斗，不能相处时，神命令我们要饶恕人。

In the world, when our friends do the dirty on us, we fight and argue. If that can’t be resolved, we move on and find other people whom we like. But when Christians have fights and don’t get along, we’re commanded to FORGIVE.

而这是难的。要记住，婚礼上常常用到的那关于爱的出名经文（林前13），在一开始的时候是写给一家在当中人关系破裂的教会。是这些人，保罗命令他们要彼此相爱。是这些人，要学会彼此相处。这就是真爱总是关乎饶恕的原因。我们说爱，这是什么意思？在这世界上，爱是关于彼此相处得来，彼此感觉良好，等等。但是在教会，爱在根本上是关乎彼此饶恕。

And it’s hard. It is worth remembering that that famous passage about love so often used in weddings (1 Corinthians 13) was first written to a church where relationships were falling apart. These were the people Paul commanded to love each other. These were the ones who had to learn to live with each other. Which is why real love is always about forgiveness. What do we mean by love? In the world love is about getting along with each other; feeling good about each other etc. But in the church it is fundamentally about forgiving each other.

这世界几乎没有真正的饶恕。人争斗，然后继续向前。但在教会，饶恕就是一切！饶恕是我们这些得饶恕之人的DNA。我们不能只是向前，因为神已选择我们彼此归属，把我们塑造成一个共同体。

In the world there’s very little real forgiveness. People fight and move on. But in the church, forgiveness is everything! It’s our DNA as forgiven people. We can’t just move on—because God has chosen us to belong to each other and formed us into one community.

 4. 神就是这样显明祂的恩典和智慧。

4. THIS IS HOW GOD REVEALS HIS GRACE AND WISDOM.

那么神为什么要让生活变得如此艰难？因为在一个人人彼此客气的地方，我们无法看到在一个共同体之内，真正的恩典和饶恕是怎样的。只有当神把大批乖僻的人召集在一起，真正的恩典和饶恕才闪闪发光；这时，祂用祂灵的大能改变他们，从死敌变成深交的朋友。世人从未成功做到这一点，但这就是神在祂的教会，通过祂的教会正在行使大能做成的事。

So why does God want to make life hard like this? Because we can’t see what genuine grace and forgiveness looks like in a community where everyone is nice to each other. It can only shine when God brings together a lot of ratbags and then, by the power of his Spirit, changes them from bitter enemies into deep friends. The world has never successfully done it, but this is what God is powerfully doing in and through his church.

这不会一夜之间发生，也不会没有痛苦。但这将要发生，现在正在发生。

It won’t  happen over night, nor will it be pain free. But it WILL happen and IS happening now.

那么我们的非基督徒朋友似乎总要比我们教会里的朋友好得多，这就没什么好奇怪的了。我们选择我们的非基督徒朋友，只选择对我们好的人。但在教会，我们没有选择他们。神选择了他们（还有我们！），无条件选择，现在祂呼吁我们每一个人继续彼此饶恕，就像基督已经赦免了我们一样。

Is it any wonder why our non-Christian friend always seem to be so much better than our Church friends? We choose our non-Christian friends, and only those who are nice to us. But when it comes to the church, we didn’t choose them. God chose them (and us!) unconditionally, and now he calls on each one of us to keep forgiving each other in the way Christ has forgiven us.