改革宗信仰基础10: 恩典之约Basics of the Reformed Faith:The Covenant of Grace
作者: Kim Riddlebarger 译者: 王一
圣约神学是改革宗神学的中心。这一点没错。在伊甸园里，全人类都在亚当里堕落了，他是我们整个人类的第一位，他背叛了造物主，把全人类带入了罪和死亡之中。这就需要另一位亚当（耶稣基督）完美遵行上帝的律法来满足所有义（参太3:15）。这另一位亚当不仅要除去我们个人的罪带来的罪责，也要除去从亚当归算给我们的罪责（参罗5:12-19）。但是，他要想成就这一切，就必须有一个不同于行为之约的约，上帝在其中允许第二位亚当来站在我们的地位上来赚取功德拯救我们。这就引出了恩典之约。
恩典之约是永恒的救赎之约在历史中的施行。上帝是这个恩典之约的作者，他把这个约赐给在亚当里堕落的人类。这个约里包含了永生的应许。在恩典之约里，所有的一切都取决于耶稣代赎的死和完美的顺服。他是上帝与人类之间唯一的中保（提前2:5），但他也体恤我们的软弱，因为他也凡事受了试探，只是没有罪（参来3:1-6；4:14-16）。
最初行为之约的条件是完全完美个人的顺服，但在恩典之约里的条件是对耶稣基督的信心，他逆转了堕落带来的后果（罗5:12-21；林后15:20-28）。这个恩典之约的本质可以从《创世记》17:7里看出：“我要与你，和你世世代代的后裔，坚立我的约，成为永远的约，使我作你和你的后裔的 神。”如果我们快进救赎历史到最后一章，我们会看到新耶路撒冷从天上降下来，我们再次听到这美妙的话语，就像恩典之约的座右铭：“看哪！ 神的帐幕在人间，他要与人同住，他们要作他的子民。 神要亲自与他们同在，要作他们的 神。”没错，他是我们神，我们是他的子民。
因此，救赎历史就是上帝永恒旨意在人类历史中的施行，其本质就是一系列约的展开，而这些约就是那一个恩典之约在不同历史时期的表达。在人类堕落之后，上帝应许亚当将来有一位救主要来拯救他和人类脱离罪。在创世记3：15，我们看到了恩典之约第一次在历史上彰显，这是第一次福音的应许（即所谓的原始福音）。亚当刚犯罪不久，上帝就向魔鬼宣告了咒诅：“我要使你和女人彼此为仇，你的后裔和女人的后裔，也彼此为仇，他要伤你的头，你要伤他的脚跟。”在这第一次福音应许中，上帝应许要摧毁古蛇拯救他的百姓。圣约中保必定到来。耶稣将会在十字架上受死来拯救我们脱离罪。
尽管恩典之约是在几个历史阶段中展开的，但是这个约从本质上是一个。只有一个福音，只有一位圣约中保。
上帝应许要做我们的上帝，我们要做他的百姓。这圣约的应许在整个救赎历史中前后呼应，从人类堕落伊始，到历史的尽头，当我们的主再次回来，复活死人，审判世界，更新一切。
The
Covenant of Grace
By Kim
Riddlebarger
It
has been said that covenant theology is at the center of Reformed theology. No
doubt, this is correct. In Eden, all of humanity fell when Adam, the first of
our race, rebelled against his creator and plunged the entire human race into
sin and death. It will take a second Adam (Jesus Christ) to perfectly obey the
commandments of God so as to fulfill all righteousness (cf. Matthew 3:15). It
will also take a second Adam to remove from us the guilt of our individual
sins, as well as that guilt imputed to us from our first father, Adam (cf.
Romans 5:12-19). But in order for a second Adam to accomplish these things,
there must be a different covenant than the covenant of works (and its demand
for perfect obedience), in which God allows a second Adam to do what is
necessary for us and in our place to be saved for us, and to earn sufficient
merit to save us. This brings us to the covenant of grace.
The
covenant of grace is the historical outworking of an eternal covenant of
redemption (the so-called “covenant before the covenant”) in which the members
of the Holy Trinity decreed that Jesus was to be the redeemer of those whom the
Father had chosen in him, and that Jesus would do this on behalf of, and in the
place of, all those sinners chosen from before the foundation of the world (cf.
Ephesians 1:3-14). This means that God’s saving grace is not directed to the
world in general, but to those specific individuals whom he intends to save. In
this covenant of redemption, the Holy Spirit will apply the work of Christ to
all those whom the Father had chosen, and for whom the Son will die, ensuring
that all of God’s elect will come to faith in Jesus Christ through the
preaching of the gospel–which is the divinely appointed means by which God’s
elect are called to faith.
As is
the case with the covenant of works, the specific terminology “covenant of
grace” does not appear in Scripture, although the rich and manifold theme of
covenant appears throughout redemptive history and lies at the very heart of
God’s redemptive purposes and relations with humanity. As with the covenant of
works, God is the author of this gracious covenant and he imposes specific
conditions upon Adam and his fallen race. This covenant also includes the
promise of eternal life, but is made on behalf of sinners by a gracious God who
intends to save his elect from the consequences of Adam’s sin through the work
of Jesus Christ–the second Adam. In the covenant of grace, everything hinges
upon the sacrificial death and the perfect obedience of Jesus who is the only
covenant mediator between God and humanity (1 Timothy 2:5), yet who can
sympathize with us in our weaknesses having been tempted in all ways as we
have, yet without sin (cf. Hebrews 3:1-6; 4:14-16).
While
the condition of the original covenant of works was full and perfect personal
obedience to the commandments of God, the condition of the covenant of grace is
faith in Jesus Christ, who undoes the awful consequences of the fall (Romans
5:12-21; 2 Corinthians 15:20-28). The essence of this gracious covenant can be
seen in the oft-repeated refrain first found in Genesis 17:7; “And I will
establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you
throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and
to your offspring after you.” If we fast-forward redemptive history to the
final chapter, when the new Jerusalem descends out of heaven on the last day,
once again we hear these wonderful words which serve as the motto of the
covenant of grace. “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, `Behold,
the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will
be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Revelation
21:3). Yes, he is our God, and we are his people.
Therefore,
redemptive history, which is the outworking in human history of God’s eternal
decree, is essentially the account of the unfolding successive covenants, which
are historical manifestations of the one covenant of grace. Immediately after
the fall of the human race into sin, God promised Adam that a redeemer will
come and rescue him and the human race from the consequences of his sin. In
Genesis 3:15, we find the first historical manifestation of the covenant of
grace in the first promise of the gospel (the so-called proto-evangelium). No sooner
had Adam sinned, the Lord pronounced the following curse upon the devil: “I
will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her
[Eve] offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” In
this first gospel promise, God promises to crush the serpent and to save his
people. The coming of the mediator of the covenant was now ensured. Jesus will
die on a cross to redeem us from our sins.
Although
the covenant of grace unfolds in several historical steps–(i.e., the promise
God made to Abraham in Genesis 12, 17, etc., the promises God made to Israel at
Mount Sinai in Exodus 24, as well as on the plains of Moab in Deuteronomy
29:13, the promise of an eternal kingdom made to David in 2 Samuel 7:14,
followed by the prophecy of a New Covenant made to Jeremiah in his prophecy
[31:33], which the author of Hebrews specifically applies to Jesus Christ, the
covenant mediator in Hebrews 8:1-13)–the covenant is essentially the same
throughout the entire course of redemptive history. This can be seen in the
simple fact that there is but one gospel in both testaments, just as there is
only one covenant mediator (Jesus Christ).
God
has promised to be our God, and that we are his people. These covenant promises
bookend redemptive history from the fall of our race into sin, until the time
of the end, when our Lord returns to raise the dead, judge the world, and make
all things new.
