社會正義是一個福音議題嗎？Is Social Justice a GospelIssue?
作者：Kevin DeYoung 譯者: 駱鴻銘
對這篇文章標題所提出的問題有一個直截了當的答案：看情況。
There
is a simple, straightforward answer to the question posed in the title of this
post: it depends.
社會正義是一個福音議題嗎？這取決於我們所謂的「社會正義」，和我們所說的「福音議題」究竟是什麼意思。
Is
social justice a gospel issue? That depends on what we mean by “social justice”
and what we mean by “gospel issue.”
什麼是社會正義？
What
Is Social Justice?
我以前曾經寫到，社會正義是一個含糊的術語，對某些人來說是毫無爭論餘地的，但對其他人來說，卻會令人起疑。對一些基督徒來說，如果你不關心社會正義，那麼你就一定不關心種族主義、墮胎、性侵犯、性別不平等，或神的形象（imago dei）本身。相反，如果你在其他基督徒周圍為社會正義說好話，他們可能會認為你熱愛森林，討厭警察。這個語詞都沒有共同的涵義，或者至少沒有眾人一致同意的準確定義。
I’ve
written before that social justice is a nebulous term, unassailable to some and
arousing suspicion in others. For some Christians, if you aren’t into social
justice, then you must not care about racism or abortion or sexual assault or
inequality or the imago dei itself. Conversely, if you put in a good word for
social justice around other Christians, they may assume you hug trees and hate
police officers. The term has no shared meaning, or at least no precise
definition we all agree on.
據我們所知，「社會正義」一詞可以追溯到十九世紀四〇年代，一位名叫塔帕雷利（Luigi Taparelli，1793-1862）的耶穌會哲學家首次使用這個詞。塔帕雷利是教皇權威和保守派天主教徒的堅定支持者，他認為社會不平等不是對正義的侵犯，而是正義的副產品，他認為這是對憲政體制的合理安排。塔帕雷利對「社會正義」這個詞的用法，與這個詞在當代日常對話中的用法，幾乎沒有類似之處。
As
far as we know, the term “social justice” dates to the 1840s when it was first
used by a Jesuit philosopher named Luigi Taparelli (1793-1862). Taparelli was a
strong supporter of papal authority and a conservative Catholic who argued that
social inequality is not a violation of justice but a byproduct of justice,
which he understood to be the right ordering of constitutional arrangements.
Taparelli’s use of “social justice” bears little resemblance to how the term is
used in common conversation today.
在我們評估社會正義與福音之間的關聯之前，我們必須知道前者的涵義。如果「社會正義」的內涵包括提出具體政策，基督徒應該（或不應該）支持某個候選人，並就經濟、種族分歧、大規模監禁（mass incarceration）、移民改革，以及許多其他有爭議的議題得出明確的結論，那麼我們對於要把像社會正義這種在政治上具有規範意義的東西，和像福音這種具有普世救贖意義的東西關聯在一起，就應該要非常謹慎。
Before
we can evaluate the connection between social justice and the gospel, we have
to know what we mean by the former. If “social justice” entails specific policy
proposals, certain candidates Christians should (or shouldn’t) support, and
definite conclusions about economic and racial disparities, mass incarceration,
immigration reform, and a host of other debatable topics, then we ought to be
extremely cautious about linking something as politically prescriptive as
social justice with something as universally salvific as the gospel.
當然，基督徒可以（也應該）對政策建案、候選人和任何有爭議的主題，按照聖經來建立我們的信念。我永遠不會想要把基督徒公民和基督徒思想排除在當今最棘手的問題之外。有些論點確實比其他論點更強。但我們必須區分好的和壞的論點，也要分辨基督徒的和非基督徒的立場。在右派這邊，我有時會聽見，如果你關心墮胎（按照聖經，這是一種罪），你就必須支持川普；而在左派這邊，我聽說如果你關心種族主義（按照聖經，這也是一種罪）你就永遠不可支持川普。儘管我對我們總統必然有我自己的看法，但教會不能僭越上帝所賦予的權力和權柄，來捆綁其成員的良心。最誠實的一些基督徒在一些立場或結論上，可以有不同的看法。
Of
course, Christians can (and should) have biblically informed convictions about
policy proposals, candidates, and any number of controversial subjects. I would
never wish to shut out Christian citizens and Christian thinking from the
thorniest problems of our day. Some arguments are better than others. But we
must distinguish between good and bad arguments and Christian and
non-Christians positions. On the right, I sometimes hear that if you care about
abortion (which, according to the Bible, is a sin) you must support Trump,
while from the left, I hear that if you care about racism (which, according to
the Bible, is also a sin) you must never support Trump. While I certainly have
my opinions about our President, the church must not go beyond its God-given
authority and power in binding the consciences of her members to positions or
conclusions that honest Christians can disagree on.
我對「社會正義」一詞，也對這個詞所蘊含的涵義，有我自己的擔憂。但是，如果我們追問一種更少受到文化控制和更符合聖經的理解呢？幾年前，我仔細研讀了聖經中主要幾段與正義有關的經文：利未記十九章、廿五章，以賽亞書第一章、五十八章，耶利米書廿二章，阿摩司書第五章，彌迦書六8，馬太福音廿五31～46，和路加福音第四章。我所得出的那不太令人興奮的結論是，我們不應該誇大或低估聖經對正義的看法。一方面，聖經記載了很多關於上帝眷顧窮人、被壓迫者、弱勢群體的事。也有很多警告，反對以殘忍和無禮的態度來對待無依無靠的人。另一方面，正義作為聖經的一個範疇，並不是說凡是我們認為對世界有益的事就一定是符合正義的。行公義意味著要遵守法治，表現公平，履行你的承諾，不偷竊，不詐騙，不收受賄賂，也不占弱者的便宜，只因為他們不知道如何阻止你，或沒有任何的人際關係來阻止你。
I
have my concerns with the term “social justice” and with all that it connotes.
But what if we press for a less culturally controlled and more biblically
defined understanding? Several years ago, I worked my way through the major
justice passages in the Bible: Leviticus 19, Leviticus 25, Isaiah 1, Isaiah 58,
Jeremiah 22, Amos 5, Micah 6:8, Matthew 25:31-46, and Luke 4. My less-than-exciting conclusion was that we
should not oversell or undersell what the Bible says about justice. On the one
hand, there is a lot in the Bible about God’s care for the poor, the oppressed,
and the vulnerable. There are also plenty of warnings against treating the
helpless with cruelty and disrespect. On the other hand, justice, as a biblical
category, is not synonymous with anything and everything we feel would be good
for the world. Doing justice means following the rule of law, showing
impartiality, paying what you promised, not stealing, not swindling, not taking
bribes, and not taking advantage of the weak because they are too uninformed or
unconnected to stop you.
因此，為簡單起見，讓我們把聖經中的「社會正義」定義為「公平對待人，為公平的制度和結構努力，並看顧弱者和弱勢群體。」如果這就是我們的意思，那麼，社會正義是一個福音議題嗎？
So
for simplicity sake, let’s take biblical “social justice” to mean something
like “treating people equitably, working for systems and structures that are
fair, and looking out for the weak and the vulnerable.” If that’s what we mean,
is social justice a gospel issue?
什麼是福音議題？
What
Is a Gospel Issue?
再次，我們必須定義我們的用語。如果「福音議題」意味著我們將好行為走私到「唯獨信心」的等式中，那麼很顯然，社會正義並不是福音議題。我們不是為了拯救自己，而救助弟兄中最小的一個。
Again,
we have to define our terms. If “gospel issue” means we are smuggling good
works into the sola fide side of the equation, then clearly social justice is
not a gospel issue. We don’t save the least of the these in order to save
ourselves.
同樣，如果「福音議題」的意思是「與宣告基督被釘十字架同等重要」，那麼問題的答案必須再次是：否。只有一件事是最重要的，根據保羅在哥林多前書十五章中的說法，就是基督照聖經所說，為我們的罪死了，並在第三天復活的信息。
Likewise,
if “gospel issue” means “as important as the proclamation of Christ crucified”
then the answer must again be no. There is only one thing that can be of first
importance, and that, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, is the message
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and was raised on the
third day.
我會更進一步說：「福音議題」不應該是「你必須對我所熱衷的一切都充滿熱情」的簡寫。它也不應該是「建造國度」或「轉化文化」這兩個概念的同義詞。出於同樣的原因，傳教士必須小心，以免他們讓美國有線電視新聞網（CNN）和福克斯新聞（Fox News），更不用說Twitter和Facebook，為他們每週的講道事奉設定議程。如果我們這個時代的牧師任憑他對文化的關切，排擠掉他對重生、悔改、稱義的宣講，那麼這不會是在教會歷史中，「福音」（指文化福音）第一次變得比真正的福音更具社會性的時候。
I’ll
go even further: “gospel issue” should not be shorthand for “you must be
passionate about all the same things I’m passionate about.” Nor should it be
synonymous with notions of “building the kingdom” or “transforming the
culture.” By the same token, preachers must be careful lest they allow CNN and
Fox News, not to mention Twitter and Facebook, to set the agenda for their
weekly pulpit ministry. If pastors in our day let cultural concerns crowd out
the preaching of new birth, repentance, and justification by faith alone, it
wouldn’t be the first time in the church’s history that the “gospel” became
more social than gospel.
然而，「福音議題」所指的，並不是這些事。倘若「福音議題」的意思是：「那些被福音所拯救的人所必須關注的」，或「『與福音保持同步』的真正意義，其中的一個層面」，或「若缺乏這些事實，你很可能沒有真正相信福音」，那麼社會正義肯定是一個福音議題。按照聖經的定義，社會正義是愛鄰舍如己的基本要件。這是遵守十誡第二塊石版的一部分。這是行「善」——也就是上帝所預備叫我們行的——的一部分（弗二10）。
And
yet, “gospel issue” need not mean any of these things. If “gospel issue” means
“a necessary concern of those who have been saved by the gospel” or “one aspect
of what it means to keep in step with the gospel” or “realities without which
you may not be truly believing the gospel,” then social justice is certainly a
gospel issue. When biblically defined, social justice is part and parcel of
loving our neighbor as ourselves. It’s part of keeping the second table of the
Decalogue. It’s part of doing the good works God has prepared in advance for us
to walk in (Eph. 2:10).
總結
Conclusion
正如在眾多的爭議中，我們必須更快地定義我們的用詞，而不是定義我們的對手。毫無疑問，其中有值得探索和揭露的真正分歧。但其中也可能有比一些人最初想像的更為一致的看法。
As in
so many controversies, we must be quicker to define our terms than to define
our opponents. No doubt, there are real disagreements worth exploring and
exposing. But there also may be more agreement than some might initially
imagine.
根據我們的定義，社會正義和福音可能相距甚遠，或它們也可以非常靠近，就如：愛神的，就必遵守祂的命令（約十四15）。
Depending
on our definitions, social justice and the gospel may be miles apart, or they
may be as close as loving God by obeying his commands (John 14:15).
