2018-12-04


結出聖靈果子Bearing Spiritual Fruit

[每日靈修] 11/30/2018,  駱鴻銘編譯

靠著恩典,上帝把基督的義賜予所有信靠祂的人。凡相信的、凡信靠祂的人,基督的功勞都被算在他們的帳上。

這是否排除了信徒要在生活中行善?絕非如此。我們的稱義永遠是為了好行為。雖然我們的善行不會產生出任何功德——無論是在我們的回轉之前所完成的、還是之後所完成的——善行都是真實信心的必要果實。

「必要的果子?」是的,必要的。善行不是我們獲得稱義的必要條件。它們永遠不是我們稱義的基礎。它們只在更有限的意義上是必要的。它們是真正信心必然的推論。如果一個人聲稱擁有信心但卻沒有產生任何順服的果子,則證明信心的宣稱是虛假的主張。真正的信心不可避免地必然會結出果實。沒有果子表明沒有信心。

我們不是靠信心的果子稱義,而是靠基督功德的果子而得以稱義。我們只是靠信心領受祂的功勞,但只有真正的信心才能得到祂的功勞。凡真正的信心都會產生真正的果實

活在神的面光中(在神面前禱告):
虔誠地查驗你的信心和屬靈的果子。

進一步研讀:

加五2225 聖靈所結的果子,就是仁愛、喜樂、和平、忍耐、恩慈、良善、信實、 溫柔、節制。這樣的事沒有律法禁止。凡屬基督耶穌的人,是已經把肉體連肉體的邪情私慾同釘在十字架上了。我們若是靠聖靈得生,就當靠聖靈行事。


Bearing Spiritual Fruit

By grace, God offers the righteousness of Christ to all who put their trust in Him. For all who believe, all who have faith in Him, the merit of Christ is reckoned to their account.

 Does this exclude good works in the life of the believer? By no means. Our justification is always unto good works. Though no merit ever proceeds from our works, either those done before our conversion or those done afterward, good works are a necessary fruit of true faith.

 “Necessary fruit?” Yes, necessary. Good works are not necessary for us to earn our justification. They are never the ground of our justification. They are necessary in a more restricted sense. They are necessary corollaries to true faith. If a person claims to have faith yet brings forth no fruit of obedience whatsoever, it is proof positive that the claim to faith is a false claim. True faith inevitably and necessarily bears fruit. The absence of fruit indicates the absence of faith.

 We are not justified by the fruit of our faith. We are justified by the fruit of Christ’s merit. We receive His merit only by faith, but it is only by true faith that we receive His merit. And all true faith yields true fruit.

 Coram Deo
Prayerfully examine your faith and spiritual fruit.

Passages for Further Study
Galatians 5:22–25