福音派害怕输掉什么？What Are Evangelicals Afraid of Losing?
作者：Michael Horton 翻译：王一
本周一（2018年8月27日），川普总统在白宫召见福音派领袖们。据报道，川普总统在会议中警告保守派基督徒，如果共和党在11月的中期选举中输了的话，他们将会面临极大威胁。他说，福音派基督徒们“离输掉一切只差一次选举。”
作为福音派基督徒，我们应该在这一点上纠正总统。如果一次选举可以让我们输掉一切，那么我们原来拥有的到底是什么呢？
In a
Monday meeting with evangelical leaders at the White House, President Trump
reportedly warned of violence against conservative Christians if the GOP loses
in November. Evangelicals, he said, were “one election away from losing
everything.”
As
evangelicals, we would do well to correct the president on this point. If an
election can cause us to lose everything, what is it exactly that we have in
the first place?
当然，我们感激每一位坚守美国宪法第一修正案的公仆。另外，我们应该赞扬那些奔波捍卫宗教自由的人们（只要他们不是想赋予基督教在法律上优于其他宗教的特权）。
Surely
we can be grateful for any public servant who upholds the First Amendment. And
we should applaud fellow believers who ply their education and experience as
lawyers to defend religious freedom (as long as they don’t seek to privilege
Christianity legally above other religions).
然而，教会传讲福音不是为了讨好任何政府，教会也不会因为怕得罪任何政府而停止传讲福音。我们只为讨基督的喜悦。而且，我们无权制定什么政策，我们只能传达那位君王的旨意。我们输掉一切时并不是当我们落入狮口的时候，而是当我们传讲另一个福音的时候。“人若赚得全世界，赔上自己的生命，有什么益处呢？”（太16:26）
However,
the church does not preach the gospel at the pleasure of any administration or
decline to preach it at another administration’s displeasure. We preach at
Christ’s pleasure. And we don’t make his policies but communicate them. It’s
not when we’re fed to lions that we lose everything; it’s when we preach
another gospel. “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet
forfeit their soul?” (Matt. 16:26).
然而，在胜利主义（triumphalism）和悲观绝望之间摇摆，许多牧师正在向公众传达一种信靠政治力量的信仰，而这与我们说自己所信的形成了鲜明对立。对于我们的邻舍来说，国会牧师们看起来更像是一群弄臣。
And
yet, swinging from triumphalism to seething despair, many pastors are conveying
to the wider, watching public a faith in political power that stands in sharp
opposition to everything we say we believe in. To many of our neighbors, the
court chaplains appear more like jesters.
这里潜藏着一个更重大的危机：福音派基督徒是否更多地将他们的信仰依靠在凯撒和他的国度，而不是依靠基督和他的统治？在这个问题上，我们确实输掉一切，不仅是今年11月，并且所有选举周期我们都输了。当我们为教会寻求特殊的政治宠爱时，我们就是在向群众传达，基督的国只不是美国的另一种选民人口。
Something
tremendous is at stake here: whether evangelical Christians place their faith
more in Caesar and his kingdom than in Christ and his reign. On that one, we do
have everything to lose—this November and every other election cycle. When we
seek special political favors for the church, we communicate to the masses that
Christ’s kingdom is just another demographic in the US electorate.
让我们正视这一现实吧。不论是自由派还是保守派，不论是天主教徒还是新教徒，都已经向政治权力示爱，并欣然的任其摆布。当教会将基督的国与当今时代的政权混为一谈时，这种情况总会发生。耶稣降世不是为了重启以色列的神权政体，更不用说成为任何其他国家的开国元勋了。甚至在他的传道期间，两位门徒，雅各和约翰，想要对一个拒绝他们的村庄进行审判，但是耶稣转身斥责了他们（路9：54-55）。他不是某个投票集团的吉祥物，他是世界的救世主。他来是带给我们赦罪和永生，他来是为了受死并复活，好叫我们通过对他的信靠，得以有份于他的新创造。
Let’s
face it. Liberal and conservative, Catholic and Protestant, have courted
political power and happily allowed themselves to be used by it. This always
happens when the church confuses the kingdom of Christ with the kingdoms of
this present age. Jesus came not to jump-start the theocracy in Israel, much
less to be the founding father of any other nation. Even during his ministry,
two disciples—James and John—wanted to call down judgment on a village that
rejected their message, but “Jesus turned to them and rebuked them” (Luke
9:54–55). He is not a mascot for a voting bloc but the savior of the world. He
came to forgive sins and bring everlasting life, to die and rise again so that
through faith in him we too can share in his new creation.
在他受审时，耶稣告诉本丢·彼拉多他的确是个王，但他继承的王位远超过这位罗马长官的想象。“我的国不属这世界。我的国若属这世界，我的臣仆必要争战，使我不至于被交给犹太人。只是我的国不属这世界”（约18:36）。在这世界里，没错。甚至是为了这世界。但绝不是属于这世界，不是从这世界而来的。正因如此，决定耶稣命运的并不是彼拉多。“没有人夺去我的生命，是我自愿舍弃的。我有权柄舍弃生命，也有权柄再把它取回来”（约10:18）。
At
his trial, Jesus told Pontius Pilate that he was indeed a king—but the heir to
a greater throne than the Roman prefect could imagine. “My kingdom is not of
this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the
Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place” (John 18:36). In it,
yes. Even for it. But not from the world. Thus, it is not Pilate who decides
Jesus’ fate. “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own
accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again”
(John 10:18).
耶稣曾预言耶路撒冷的圣殿被毁，并且接下来一段很长的时间里，他的国将一边受逼迫一边扩张。怎么做到？不是用其他的方法，而是用福音的宣讲、洗礼和圣餐，以恩典中的自由和对所有需要听到这得救福音的人的爱为动力来扩张。如果真的要谈基督徒面临的威胁的话，初代教会的逼迫肯定算数。但是新约圣经谈到这些时，教导我们要爱我们的仇敌，为他们祷告，并且相信基督依旧正在建立他的教会。可是，每次诉诸恐惧的话都对那些自称跟随耶稣的人奏效呢？耶稣难道不是已经对我们说：“你们这小群，不要惧怕，因为你们的父乐意把国赐给你们”（路12:32）吗？
Jesus
predicted the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and a long period
afterward that would be marked simultaneously by persecution and expansion of
his kingdom. How? Armed with nothing more than his gospel, baptism, and the
Supper, fueled by the freedom of grace and love of all people, the low and the
high, who need to hear this saving message. If one wants to talk about real
violence against Christians, surely the persecution of the early Christians
should count. Yet every New Testament command on the subject calls us to love
and pray for our enemies with the confidence that Christ is still building his
church. Then why does the appeal to fear work so consistently with many who
claim to stand in the line of Jesus’ disciples, to whom he said, “Do not be
afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom”
(Luke 12:32)?
这并不是说，我们应该对我们国家的状况漠不关心。新约圣经从未要求基督徒逃避我们属世的责任，虽然我们最终的国籍是在天上（腓3:20）。但是，我们中间很多人听起来好像把所有的赌注不仅压在宪法规定的自由上，而且还压在了社会地位，接纳度甚至权力上。但这换来的代价是把福音与基督教国家主义混淆。
This
is not to say we should have no concern at all about the state of our nation.
Nowhere in the New Testament are Christians called to avoid the
responsibilities of our temporary citizenship, even though our ultimate
citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). However, many of us sound like we’ve
staked everything not only on constitutional freedoms but also on social
respect, acceptance, and even power. But that comes at the cost of confusing
the gospel with Christian nationalism.
今天在世界上，唯一一个基督教国家就是那群“从各族、各方、各民、各国中”被买赎来聚集聆听他们君王的人组成的国。在颁布大使命时，耶稣把权柄赐给教会，是去使万国的人做门徒，而不是去建立基督教国家；是去传讲福音，而不是宣传政治理念；是去奉父、子、圣灵的名给他们施洗，不是奉美国之名或某个政党之名；是去教导耶稣所吩咐的一切话，而不是我们自己的政治主张。而他应许我们的的同在，则是这个世界无法拦阻的。
The
only Christian nation in the world today is the one gathered “from every tribe
and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9) to be addressed by its king. In
his Great Commission, Jesus gave authority to the church to make disciples, not
citizens; to proclaim the gospel, not political opinions; to baptize people in
the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, not in the name of
America or a political party; and to teach everything that he delivered, not
our own personal and political priorities. And he promised that his presence
with us is something that the world can never take away.
对于那些相信福音派基督徒在11月“离输掉一切只差一次选举”的人，不要忘记诗人的警告：“你们不要倚靠君王，不要倚靠世人，他不能拯救。”（诗146:3）
Anyone
who believes, much less preaches, that evangelical Christians are “one election
away from losing everything” in November has forgotten how to sing the
psalmist’s warning, “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who
cannot save” (Ps. 146:3).
Michael
Horton is J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at
Westminster Seminary California and takes questions at CoreChristianity.com.
