改革宗信仰基础05：耶稣基督的神性Basics of the Reformed Faith:The Deity of Jesus Christ
作者: Kim Riddlebarger 译者: 王一
与犹太教和伊斯兰教一样，基督教是一神论宗教。但与这些宗教不同的是，基督教是三一神论的宗教。我们相信这独一上帝是三而一的，他启示自己为三个不同的位格：父、子、圣灵。当提到子（耶稣基督）的时候，圣经宣称他是真的永恒上帝，并非受造物，无始无终。
当然，耶稣是基督教的核心人物，没人会说他的坏话。非基督教的宗教常常试图把耶稣也纳入到他们的宗教里。但这并不是那么简单，因为耶稣基督神性的教义使基督教与其他所有宗教产生了区别。如果耶稣是真的永生的上帝，那么基督教的神论就是所有世界宗教里独一无二的。讽刺的是当所有的宗教都尊敬耶稣是一位先知或教师，但他们却都否定新约圣经的重点，那就是耶稣是成了肉身的上帝，并且这是耶稣自己相信并宣告的。
耶稣基督的神性这条教义并不是初代教会自己发明出来的，这一点可以在圣经里明确看到，不论在新约还是旧约里，都教导了耶稣的神性。其中最有力的证据来自于旧约圣经，例如《以赛亚书》7:14里著名的弥赛亚预言，在耶稣降生数百年前写下这样的话：“因此主自己必给你们一个兆头：看哪！必有童女怀孕生子；她要给他起名叫‘以马内利’（即上帝与我们同在）。” 在赛9:6，我们读到“因为有一个婴孩为我们而生，有一个儿子赐给我们；政权必担在他的肩头上；他的名必称为‘奇妙的策士、全能的上帝、永恒的父、和平的君’。” 这也是指耶稣基督。
除了《以赛亚书》里的弥赛亚预言，我们也有许多弥赛亚《诗篇》（例如8，89，110篇），其中父提到子时说他是被高举并且与自己同尊同荣。另外，我们还有《箴言》8:22-31这样的经文，描写人格化的“智慧”，当从新约的角度来看，这是指向永恒的圣子，他是上帝的智慧。另外如《弥迦书》5:2，先知提到那位将降生在伯利恒的君王是永恒的。将要到来的弥赛亚不断被称为全能的上帝，永恒的父，上帝的智慧，公义，被高举，却由一位卑微的童女而生。这些预言都指向一个人：以色列的拯救者，亚伯拉罕的上帝，耶稣基督（参约8:58）。
新约圣经里教导说耶稣是永恒的，是先存的。《约翰福音》1:1这样说，“太初有道，道与上帝同在，道就是上帝。” 约翰和保罗都称耶稣是创造万有、托住万有的那一位。“万物是借着他造的，凡被造的，没有一样不是借着他造的。”（约1:3）另外在《歌罗西书》1:16-17里，保罗提到耶稣这样说，“万有都是靠他造的，无论是天上的、地上的，能看见的、不能看见的，或是有位的、主治的、执政的、掌权的，一概都是借着他造的，又是为他造的。 17 他在万有之先，万有也靠他而立。”
新约圣经确定耶稣是上帝。在《约翰福音》20:28，多马跪倒在耶稣面前，承认耶稣是“我的主，我的上帝！”在《提多书》2:13里，保罗提到耶稣第二次到来是“伟大的上帝，救主耶稣基督荣耀的显现。”（新译本）《希伯来书》的作者提及耶稣，“但是论到儿子，却说：‘上帝啊！你的宝座是永永远远的，你国的权杖，是公平的权杖。’”
此外，圣经把那些只能归给上帝的归给了耶稣。耶稣是敬拜的对象（太28:16-17），他有能力使死人复活（约5:21; 11:25），他是人类最终的审判者（太25:31-32）。耶稣有普世的能力和权柄（太28:18），他也有赦免的权力（可2:5-7）。他不仅称自己为上帝（约14:8-9），他还称自己是阿尔法和俄梅拉，“首先的，也是末后的”，这只有上帝才能自称（启22:13）。
贯穿整本圣经，耶稣向我们启示自己就是那位真实的永恒的上帝，大有能力的第二位格上帝，万物的创造主，是我们必须敬拜和服侍的那一位。其实，我们能表达出来的关于上帝的一切，都可以应用在耶稣身上。
Basics of the Reformed Faith:
The Deity of Jesus Christ
By Kim
Riddlebarger
Like
Jews and Muslims, Christians are monotheists. But unlike Jews and Muslims,
Christians are also Trinitarians. We believe that the one God is triune, and is
revealed as three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When it comes
to the Son (Jesus Christ), the Bible everywhere affirms that Jesus is true and
eternal God, uncreated, and without beginning or end.
Given
Jesus’ central place in Christianity, no one, of course, wants to say anything
bad about Jesus. Non-Christian religions often attempt to co-opt Jesus and make
him one of their own. But this is not easy to do since the doctrine of the
deity of Jesus Christ differentiates Christianity from all other religions. If
Jesus is true and eternal God, then the Christian doctrine of God is unique
among world religions. The irony is that while virtually all religions honor
Jesus as a prophet or teacher, nevertheless they all reject (implicitly or
explicitly) the main point the New Testament makes about Jesus–that he is God
in human flesh, something Jesus clearly believed and proclaimed about himself.
That
the doctrine of the deity of Jesus Christ is not the invention of the early
church can be seen by merely scanning the pages of Holy Scripture, with its
substantial teaching regarding the deity of Jesus in both testaments. One of
the most powerful lines of evidence for the deity of Jesus are those verses in
the Old Testament, such as the famous messianic prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 written
hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth. “Therefore the Lord himself will give
you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and
will call him Immanuel.” The messiah will be miraculously conceived, and given
the title “God with us.” In Isaiah 9:6, we read “for to us a child is born, to
us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name
shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). This too refers to Jesus Christ.
In
addition to the messianic prophecies in Isaiah, we have a number of messianic
Psalms (i.e., 8, 89, 110), in which the Father speaks of the Son as highly
exalted and equal in majesty and glory. We also have a passage such as Proverbs
8:22-31, which depicts “wisdom” personified (when seen through the lens of New
Testament fulfillment, this is clearly a reference to the eternal Son, who is
wisdom from God), and Micah 5:2, where the prophet speaks of the one to be born
in Bethlehem (Jesus) as eternal. The coming Messiah is repeatedly identified as
the almighty God and eternal father, the wisdom of God, righteous, highly
exalted, yet to be born of a lowly virgin. These prophetic verses can only be
speaking of one person: Israel’s coming Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who is the God
of Abraham (cf. John 8:58).
In
the New Testament, Jesus is said to be eternal and preexistent. In John 1:1 we
read, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.” Jesus is described by both John and Paul as the creator and sustainer
of all things. “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing
made that was made” (John 1:3) and in Colossians 1:16-17, Paul says of Jesus,
“by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created
through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things
hold together.”
Jesus
is identified as “God” throughout the pages of the New Testament. In John
20:28, Thomas falls before Jesus and confesses of Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”
In Titus 2:13, Paul speaks of Jesus’ second coming as “the appearing of the
glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” The author of Hebrews writes
of Jesus, “but of the Son he says, `Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom’” (Hebrews 1:8).
Then
there are those attributes predicated of Jesus which can only apply to God.
Jesus is the object of worship (Matthew 28:16-17), he has the power to raise
the dead (John 5:21; 11:25), and he is the final judge of humanity (Matthew
25:31-32). Jesus has universal power and authority (Matthew 28:18), as well as
the power to forgive sins (Mark 2:5-7). He not only identifies himself as God
(John 14:8-9), but calls himself the Alpha and Omega, “the first and the last”
– a divine self-designation (Revelation 22:13).
Throughout
the Bible Jesus is revealed to us as the true and eternal God, the almighty,
the second person of the Godhead, the creator of all things, and that one whom
we must worship and serve. In fact, whatever we can say of God, we can say of
Jesus.
