传福音的神学动机Theological Incentives for Evangelism
作者: Chad Brand 译者/校对者: 郑丽/恩静
本文节选自美南浸信会神学院出版的《传福音指南》（A Guide to Evangelism）
正如基督徒实践的其他方面——敬拜、祷告、讲道、辅导一样，传福音也需要有神学性的反思来作为基础，即我们正在做的传福音是什么以及为什么要传福音。如同R. B. 凯波尔（R.B.Kuiper）所说的，传福音的根基在于永恒。
As in other areas of Christian
practice, worship, prayer, preaching and counseling, evangelism needs to be
undergirded by a theological reflection on just what it is we are doing and
why. This is because, as R.B. Kuiper puts it, “Evangelism has its roots in
eternity.”
在此，我不会直接陈述救赎的教义。相反，我会讲述迫使基督徒“去传”福音的神学议题。尽管在这个过程中，我会触及到跟救赎教义本身相关的一些重要议题，但你若想要查看完整的救赎教义，就需去寻找另外的资源。
In this chapter, I won’t address the
doctrine of salvation directly. Instead, I will address the theological issues
that compel Christians to “go.” In so doing, I will touch on some of the
important issues that relate to the doctrine of salvation itself, but an
examination of the issues related to a thorough doctrine of salvation will have
to be sought elsewhere.
神迫使我们
God Compels Us
谈传福音的神学的起始是神的爱。因此约翰福音3 :16这段充满爱的经文才会如此被人喜爱。在约翰福音的前四章，我们看到世界处于如此的黑暗和邪恶当中，神却爱世人。查理•卫斯理在诗歌中以问话的形式表达出这一点：“奇异的爱，怎能如此，我主我神，为我受死？”
The place to begin articulating a
theology of evangelism is the love of God. There is good reason that John 3:16
is such a beloved text of Scripture. In the first four chapters of John’s
Gospel, though the world lies in darkness and wickedness, God loves it. Charles
Wesley expressed the idea poetically by asking, “Amazing love, how can it be,
that thou my God shouldst die for me?”
神的爱伟大，不是因为这世界如此之大，而是因为居住其中的世人如此败坏。神呼召他的子民和他一起爱世人，就是把神的爱传给那些还未曾在救恩中认识和经历神的爱的人。我们分享福音，是因为神爱世人。
God’s love is not great because the
world is so large, but because the people who dwell in it are so bad. God calls
on his people to be co-lovers of the world with him, and in so doing to extend
the love of God to those who have not yet recognized and experienced it in a
saving manner. We share the gospel because God loves the world.
传福音的神学还包括相信神选择救赎许多人。并非每一位读者都对神拣选的教义有如此解读。但我们都应该同意以弗所书说的：“就如神从创立世界以前，在基督里拣选了我们，使我们在他面前成为圣洁，无有瑕疵。”（弗1:4）拣选的结果就是有很多人会得救，“他们的数目有千千万万”。（启5:11）
Our theology of evangelism also
entails the belief that God has chosen to save a great multitude of persons.
Not everyone who reads this will agree on how to articulate the doctrine of
election, but we can all agree that “He chose us in him [Christ] before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Eph
1:4). The result of this election is that a great multitude will be saved, a
multitude of “myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands” (Rev 5:11).
当我们想到神拣选的旨意跟传福音的关系，我们应该意识到我们肩负重任，要呼召神从创立世界以先已经拣选的人得到救恩。（弗1:3）在众多真理当中，是这个真理，让现代宣教运动的创始人之一威廉•克里（William Carey）在印度一直坚持传福音，即使七年都没有见到一个人归信。他深信神在这片土地上有属他的百姓。神的拣选不应当只是一个辩题，而是传福音神学的一个核心特征，尽管可能出于不同解释，操作方式可能会有些不同。但我们需要花更多精力在把福音传给神的选民上，而不是在咖啡馆里对此教义争论不休。
When we think of God’s electing
purpose and its relation to evangelism, we should recognize that we are about
the task of calling to salvation all of those whom the Lord has known to be his
from the foundation of the world (Eph 1:3). It was this truth, among others,
that compelled one of the founders of the modern mission movement, William
Carey, to work for seven years before he saw a single convert in India; he was
convinced that God had people in that land who were his own. Election ought not
merely be a debate point, but a central feature of our theology of evangelism,
even though it might function somewhat differently depending on how we construe
it. We need to expend more energy in preaching for the chosen of the Lord than
in debating the doctrine in coffee houses.
为什么人们需要被救赎？最为根本的是，失丧的人无法自己生发意愿去荣耀神，或降服于基督的主权。神的荣耀和基督的主权是圣经作者们热切强调的两个点。神创造了世界来彰显他的荣耀（诗19）。基督从死里复活，以大能显明自己是神的儿子和宇宙的主。（徒2:36；罗1:3-4）
Why is it that people need to be
saved? Most foundationally, lost people do not willingly glorify God or submit
to the lordship of Christ. the glory of God and the lordship of Christ are the
two consuming passions of Scripture’s authors. God created the world to display
his glory (Ps 19), and in his resurrection Christ was declared with power to be
both Son of God and Lord of the universe (Acts 2:36; Rom 1:3-4).
无论是在我们的小区邻舍中，还是在世界各地，传福音的过程及其结果，我们都带给神最大的荣耀，并拓展神儿子的主权领域。这样做不只是为赢得灵魂，也为这之后必然的结果：那些得救之人屈膝跪在主面前，开始一个敬拜的生命。
In evangelism, and what results from
evangelism, whether in our own neighborhood or around the globe, we bring the
greatest glory to God and extend his Son’s lordship. It is not the winning of
souls alone that does this, but also what it entails and what follows: the
bowing of knees to the Lord and the initiation of a life of worship for those
so saved. As the dutch pastor, statesman and theologian, Abraham Kuyper put it,
“There is not one square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over
which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine.’” That domain
includes the lives of those who do not yet know their sovereign.
人们迫使我们
People Compel Us
传福音也要求我们理解传福音对象的灵性状况。为使失丧的人正确地荣耀神和顺服于基督的主权，他们需要罪得赦免。我们传福音是因为人们在罪中迷失，他们唯一的盼望就是耶稣基督的福音。他们的问题有双重的糟糕：他们失丧了，而且不自知。使徒保罗形容不信者对耶稣第二次再来的反应是全然震惊。他们正说着“平安稳妥”，日子临到他们像贼一样。（帖前5:1-4）
Evangelism also demands an
understanding of the spiritual state of those whom we evangelize. In order for
lost people to glorify God rightly and submit to the lordship of Christ, they
need forgiveness of sins. We evangelize because people are lost in sins and
their only hope is the gospel of Jesus Christ. their problem is doubly bad:
they are lost, but do not know it. The apostle Paul depicts the response of
unbelievers at the time of the second coming as one of total shock. they will
say, “Peace and security,” before he comes like a thief in the night (1 thess
5:1-4). Lost people do not know their peril. Some recognize that they have
“problems,” and they may employ some self-help, or “religion,” or attempt to
make themselves pleasing to God through philanthropy or moral improvement. But
the gospel makes clear that such efforts are to no avail.
失丧之人不知道自己处于怎样的危险当中。有些人意识到自己有“问题”，他们去找一些“自助”的办法，或是寻求“宗教”，或是试图通过慈善或者道德的改善，靠着这些试图取悦神。但是福音清楚地表明这些努力都是徒劳。
IN ORDER
FOR LOST PEOPLE TO GLORIFY GOD RIGHTLY AND SUBMIT TO THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST,
THEY NEED FORGIVENESS OF SINS.
范泰尔（Cornelius Van Til）曾把这样的努力比作一个用水造的人，试图从水桶里面出来，用的还是用水造的梯子。有人说这个类比太荒谬了，确实，这跟人相信一个人可以自我救赎一样荒谬。保罗在罗马书1-4章以及以弗所书1-2章将福音的信息解释得很清楚，在许多其他经文中也很清晰。
Cornelius Van Til once illustrated
such efforts by comparing them to a man made of water, trying to get out of a
vat of water, by climbing up a ladder made of water. The analogy, someone might
say, is ridiculous – but so is the belief that one can save oneself. The gospel
message articulated by Paul in Romans 1-4 and in Ephesians 1-2 renders that
entirely clear, as do many other passages.
人类也从根本上需要有归正的经历。关于传福音最伟大的经文对此有清晰表述：所以你们要去，使万民作我的门徒，奉父、子、圣灵的名给他们施洗。凡我所吩咐你们的，都教训他们遵守，我就常与你们同在，直到世界的末了。（太28:19-20）
Humans also have a fundamental need
for a conversion experience. The greatest of all evangelism texts makes this
abundantly clear: Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe everything i have commanded you. And remember, I am with you
always, to the end of the age (Matt 28:19-20).
我们必须让人做主的门徒，最有可能成为门徒的人是那些听到福音并因此经历了悔改和信靠的人。
We must make disciples, and this most
often happens with a gospel encounter and a resultant experience of repentance
and faith.
奇怪的是，这样的传福音的神学在历史上很长时间在多数教会中都是缺失的。即使在宗教改革因信称义的教义恢复之后，他们不会要求人经历一个“信心的危机”或者必须有一个具体的时刻而成为一名门徒。他们对他们的孩子用教理问答教授教义（这没什么问题），并且相信他们孩子中被拣选的人（希望所有孩子都是）能被称义。但是那个时期只有重洗派信徒比如门诺•西蒙斯（Menno Simons）和康拉德•格列伯（Conrad Grebel）开始催促人们悔改并且受洗。
Curiously, such a theology of
evangelism was absent from most of the church for much of its history. Even
with the Reformers’ recovery of the doctrine of justification by faith, they
often did not call for a “crisis of faith,” or a specific moment when a person
became a disciple. they catechized their children (nothing wrong with that),
and believed that the elect among their children (hopefully all of them) would
find justification. But it was Anabaptists like Menno Simons and Conrad Grebel
in that period who first urged people to repent and be baptized.
到下一个世纪，许多清教徒跟随他们，他们花多年时间“预备”孩子归信，使得他们有可能真正的归正，成为“可见的圣徒”，完全进入教会的圣约当中。之后的一个世纪，领导复兴运动者乔纳森•爱德华兹，特别是乔治•怀特菲尔德，将此深入到新的层次，他对着大量的听众传道，呼召他们经历重生。
They were followed in the next
century by many Puritans, who spent years “preparing” their children for
conversion, so that they might be capable of relating a genuine conversion,
become “visible saints” and enter into the full covenant of the church. Then,
in the next century it was the revivalists Jonathan Edwards, and especially
George Whitefield, who took that to the next level and preached to large
numbers, calling upon them to experience the new birth.
传福音神学必须强调归正的经历，即便在教会中有些人不记得自己归正的时刻；如果他们今天已经得救，那么一定有一个时间他们“决定”作主的门徒。
A theology of evangelism must
emphasize the conversion experience, even if there are some in the church who
do not remember their moment of conversion; if they are saved today, there was
a time when their discipleship was “made.”
任务迫使我们
The Task Compels Us
阐明福音最主要的方法是什么？传福音最重要的方法是通过经文。保罗问：“然而人未曾信他，怎能求他呢？未曾听见他，怎能信他呢？没有传道的，怎能听见呢？若没有奉差遣，怎能传道呢？如经上所记：‘报福音传喜信的人，他们的脚踪何等佳美！’”（罗10:14-15）
What is the primary means by which
the gospel is set forth? The primary means of evangelism is Scripture. Paul
asks, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how
are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to
hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are
sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the
good news!’” (Rom 10:14-15).
这个人们必须相信的“他”是福音叙述中所描述的“他”，是那位在整本旧约中被预先告知、旧约时期的人们预言和翘首以盼的那位，是使徒行传和使徒书信中不断被解释和诠释的那位，是在启示录中在荣耀的光辉中显现的那位。
The “him” in whom they must believe
is the “him” of the Gospel narratives, the one predicted and anticipated in the
whole old testament, the one explained and commented on in Acts and Epistles,
and the one who appears in all his radiant glory in the book of Revelation.
钟马田博士强调说：传道是一个人能得到的最伟大、最高和最荣耀的呼召。不是说他把这个事工抬举超过其他职业，比如，屠夫或者面包师，而是说，传讲神的话语是我们能做的最伟大的事情。这不是必须成为“神职人员”才能做的事情，而是所有基督徒的任务。（彼前3:15）
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones asserted,
“Preaching is the greatest and highest and most glorious calling to which
anyone can ever be called.” He was not thereby exalting the ministry to a
higher vocation than, say, a butcher or a baker, but was saying that
proclaiming the Word is the greatest thing any of us can do. And it can be done
by those who are not ordained “clergy.” it is in fact the task of all
Christians (1 Pet 3:15).
要以神话语的大能把失丧的人带到基督那里，我们需要这样强调的原因之一是，因为在我们现今的时代，许多人想要通过娱乐的手段，或者求助于修辞或者情感的吸引让人信主，而没有给他们足够的福音和圣经的内容。神应许了使用圣经来刺入剖开人心中的思念和主意，以改变人的生命（来4:12），而不是娱乐或者只有诉诸情感却内容空洞的呼召。
One of the reasons we need to address
this issue of the power of God’s Word to bring lost people to Christ is that so
many in our day seek to win people to Christianity by means of entertainment
and by resorting only to rhetorical and emotional appeals without sufficient
gospel and biblical content. God has promised to use Scripture to dissect the
thoughts and intentions of the heart and thereby to change our lives (Heb
4:12), not entertainment or emotional and content-less appeals.
永恒迫使我们
Eternity Compels Us
最后，迫使我们尽可能多和尽可能广地分享福音的教义是主的再来。当然，我们不知道他何时再来，有可能非常快，所以我们希望趁着还有今日做好我们的本分，将基督活泼的主权传扬给尽可能多的人。
Finally, the doctrine that compels us
to share the gospel as much and as widely as we can is the return of our Lord.
We do not know when he will return, of course, but it could be very soon, so we
want to do our part to extend Christ’s active lordship into as many lives as
possible in the time we have.
当谈到我们怎么知道我们在基于圣经传福音这个问题时，巴刻的回答是：“要想知道你到底是不是在传福音，不是要问你的见证是否带来归正的果子，而是去问你是否忠实地把福音信息传讲清楚。”这个福音信息是什么？就是耶稣为拯救罪人而死，在十字架上代替我们，为我们流血牺牲。对这个福音信息的回应是什么？是悔改和信靠。相信耶稣已经做了必需的一切来救我们。把你的盼望放在他里头，他很快要再来。要记住他再来之后，就要施行审判。
J. I. Packer, in addressing the
question of how we know we are doing biblical evangelism, says this: “The way
to tell whether in fact you are evangelizing is not to ask whether conversions
are known to have resulted from your witness. It is to ask whether you are
faithfully making known the gospel message.” What is that gospel message? It is
that Jesus died to save sinners, shedding his blood on the cross as our
sacrifice and our substitute. What is the response to the gospel message? It is
repentance and faith, faith that Jesus has done all that is necessary to save
us. Put your hope in him, the one who is coming soon, remembering that after he
comes, judgment follows.
Chad Brand美南浸信会神学院博伊斯学院的基督教神学副教授。
