感謝讚美上帝護理的大能与豐盛的供應。 本網誌內的所有資源純屬學習交流之用。

2018-10-02


沒人想要的耶穌基督THE JESUS CHRIST THAT NOBODYWANTED

作者:  Nicholas Davis  譯者/校對者:Maria Marta/誠之

為什麼要寫約翰福音? 我們有作者本人的聲明:

「但記這些事要叫你們信耶穌是基督,是神的兒子,並且叫你們信了祂,就可以因祂的名得生命。」(約廿31

約翰寫這卷福音書是為了告訴他的讀者(和我們! 誰是「基督」。注意他說耶穌是「那基督」,而不僅僅是「耶穌基督」,彷彿耶穌基督是祂的姓和名似的。「基督」不是我們的主的姓氏,就像我的姓氏是大衛那樣。耶穌基督實際上是祂的名字和祂的頭銜/稱號。

這是對猶太聽眾說話的方式:耶穌是「彌賽亞」——祂來應驗他們期待已久的許多預言。耶穌是「受膏者」,這個詞充滿了舊約的涵義。

新約聖經根源於舊約聖經。了解舊約書頁中發生的事有助於我們更好地理解整部新約找到的主題和提及的事。從許多方面來說,我們閱讀聖經的方式,應該是從前面到後面,再從後面回到前面。我們將每個部分視為更大整體的一部分。

沒人想要的基督

當然,約翰寫作的真正目的不只是告訴我們耶穌是彌賽亞或基督,而是說服我們確實信靠耶穌。我們必需確信這一點,因為我們對彌賽亞的許多期望有很大的偏差。猶太人期望彌賽亞要來推翻羅馬帝國,給予他們對古代世界的最高統治權,但耶穌不是他們所要的那種彌賽亞。

相反,他們得到一個釘死在十架的主和死去的君王。

「彼拉多說:『你不對我說話嗎?你豈不知我有權柄釋放你,也有權柄把你釘十字架嗎?』耶穌回答說:『若不是從上頭賜給你的,你就毫無權柄辦我。』」(約十九1011a

耶穌是那種沒人想要的基督。整本約翰福音的寫作方式都是為了向我們表明上帝的計劃,從一開始就是直接進入十字架。約翰福音告訴我們耶穌來的原因。

作為彌賽亞的耶穌不是為了滿足猶太人對地上征服的期望,而是為了滿足祂的天父對世人獲得永恒救恩的期待。

換句話說,祂「並不是要受人的服事,乃是要服事人,並且要捨命做多人的贖價。」(可十45 耶穌來的原因是要作「神的羔羊,除去世人罪孽的!」(約一29)耶穌來受死,是為叫我們活著。

對一些人來說,這聽起來可能是無稽之談。受苦的君王?誰會想要?死去的領袖?我們為什麼想要這種君王和領袖?

耶穌和我們所有人渴望得到的那種總統或世界領袖剛好相反。我們想要一個有權有勢、富有、強壯的領袖,但是來到我們面前的耶穌卻是無權無勢、貧窮、軟弱的。我們想要的神,是在至高之處榮耀那些尊貴的、強而有力的人;我們並不期望祂會在最卑微的地方揀選那些弱小又骨瘦如柴的人。

我們已準備好選舉掃羅作我們強大的國王,但上帝卻揀選面色紅潤的牧童大衛。

你不明白嗎?事實上,上帝正是藉著軟弱和痛苦帶來拯救!祂不是以我們想要的方式拯救我們,而是以我們所需要的方式拯救我們。

約翰福音迫使我們考慮十字架事件。耶穌死了,復活,被高舉,現在被提供給我們,作為我們得救的唯一途徑。

每個人都需要的基督

這就是基督教的全部意義所在。基督教是關於上帝從天上降下來——祂代替我們去做我們做不到的事。基督教不像世上其他的宗教,其他的宗教告訴我們,要藉著做好事、作好人,爬上天堂。

佛教、道教、儒家思想、伊斯蘭教、摩門教,以及世上所有其他宗教都可以歸結為「關於我們的事」——我們可以升到上帝面前,我們的良善、善行,為我們贏得了在上帝餐桌上的合法地位。我們被告知要繼續努力,希望我們在來世必能成功。或者,也許我們試圖要求權利——無論出於何種原因,我們試圖鼓起勇氣,我們配得上天堂。

然而,基督教告訴我們的是不同的事。它不僅是世界上唯一的宗教,坦白地告訴我們這個事實:我們不可能把每件事情都做得對、做得正確;我們不是我們該有的樣子;而且它還告訴我們更好的事。

藉著耶穌基督的位格和工作,上帝已經從天降下,來到我們當中。

藉著耶穌基督的位格和工作,上帝已為我們糾正了我們所做的一切錯事。在基督裏,上帝成為我們所渴望和盼望的人。祂下降是為了將我們升高。

基督教的信息——福音或「好消息」——不是關於我們可以把自己洗乾淨;或我們所需要的僅僅是額外的助力,好將一切做得對、做得正確;或者我們可以憑一己之力振作起來。

我們的一切善行和努力都是不夠好的,因為上帝對我們的要求是完美。我們任何的主張,說我們出身在權貴家庭,或承諾要成為一個更好的人,都是不足夠的。上帝的聖潔和祂的公義標準,對我們來說都是壞消息,因為我們是不義的和不配的。我們都知道我們並沒有遵守上帝的律法。

但基督教,如約翰福音所陳述的,並非要爬上通往上帝的階梯。基督教是關於上帝下降到我們中間,從馬槽到十字架的過程。上帝已藉著祂的話語和耶穌的工作降臨到我們當中。

凡相信約翰福音所提供的耶穌的人,都是上帝的兒女。


THE JESUS CHRIST THAT NOBODY WANTED
Nicholas Davis

Why was the Gospel of John written? We have a statement from the author himself saying,

These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31)
John wrote this Gospel to tell his readers (and us!) who “the Christ” is. Notice that he said Jesus is “the Christ,” and not simply “Jesus Christ,” as if this were his first and last name. “Christ” is not our Lord’s last name in the same way my last name is Davis. Jesus Christ is actually his name and then his title.

This was the way of saying to a Jewish audience that Jesus was “the Messiah”—he had come to fulfill many prophecies that they long expected and awaited. Jesus is the “Anointed One,” and this term is loaded with Old Testament meaning.

The New Testament is rooted in the Old Testament scriptures. Understanding what happened in the pages of the Old Testament helps us to make better sense of references and themes that we find throughout the New Testament. In many ways, reading front to back—and back to front—is how we are supposed to read the Bible. We see each part as a piece of a greater whole.

The Christ That Nobody Wanted
Of course, John’s real purpose is not just to tell us that Jesus is the Messiah or Christ but to persuade us to actually believe in Jesus. We need to be convinced of this because a lot of our messianic expectations are way off. The Jews expected that the Messiah would come to overthrow the Roman Empire and give them supreme rule over the ancient world, but that’s not the kind of Messiah they got.

Instead, they got a crucified Lord and a dead King.

So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.” (John 19:10–11a)
Jesus was the kind of Christ figure that nobody wanted. The whole Gospel of John is written in such a way as to show us that God’s plan from the beginning was to go straight to the cross. It tells us why Jesus came.

Jesus as Messiah came not to fulfill Jewish expectations for earthly conquest but to meet his heavenly Father’s expectations for eternal salvation.

In other words, he “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). The reason Jesus came was to be “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Jesus came to die so that we might live.

Now to some people this probably sounds like nonsense. A suffering king? Who wants that? A dying leader? Why would we want that?

Jesus is the antithesis of the kind of president or world leader we all long for. We want a powerful, wealthy, strong leader, but Jesus comes to us powerless, poor, and weak. We want a God who glories in the great and mighty in the highest of places; we don’t expect him to choose the small and scrawny in the lowliest of places.

We’re ready to elect Saul as our mighty king, but God selects the ruddy shepherd boy named David.

Don’t you see? It’s actually through weakness and suffering that God is bringing about redemption! He came to save us not in the way that we wanted but in the way that we needed.

The Gospel of John forces us to reckon with the event of the cross. Jesus died, was raised, is exalted, and is now offered to us as our only means of salvation.

The Christ Everybody Needed
This is what Christianity is all about. It is about God’s descent from heaven—his acting on our behalf to do what we could not do. Christianity is not like other religions of the world where we are told to climb up into heaven by doing or being good.

Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Islam, Mormonism, and all of the other world religions boil down to being about us—our ascent to God, our goodness, our good deeds to earn our rightful place at God’s table. We are told to keep trying, and hopefully, we’ll make it in the afterlife. Or maybe we try to claim entitlement—for whatever reason, we try to muster up, we deserve to be there.

Yet, Christianity tells us something different. Not only is it the only religion in the world that is honest with us about the fact that we can’t get everything right and we aren’t who we should be, but it tells us something far better.

In the person and work of Jesus the Christ, God has come down to us.

In the person and work of Jesus the Christ, God has gotten everything right for us that we got wrong. In Christ, God became the human we all longed to be and hoped for. He came down in order to raise us up.

The Christian message—the gospel or “good news”—is not that we can clean ourselves up, that we just need an extra push to get everything right, or that we can pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.

None of our good deeds or efforts will ever be good enough because God demands perfection from us. None of our claims based upon birth into a privileged family or promises to be a better person will be enough. The news of God’s holiness and his righteous standard comes to us as bad news, because we are unrighteous and undeserving. We know that we haven’t kept God’s law.

But Christianity, as set forth in John’s Gospel, is not about climbing up a ladder to God. It’s about God’s descent to us from the manger to the cross. God has descended to us in the words and works of Jesus, the Incarnate Word.

All who believe in the Jesus whom this Gospel of John offers us, these are the children of God.



我們知道我們在星期天都做些什嗎?Do We Know What We’re Doing onSundays?

作者: Jordan Kauflin   譯者: Maria Marta

假如我問你:「你每個周日參加教會聚會時都做些什麽?」你會如何回答?「我們喝咖啡,聊天,唱歌30分鐘,讀一段認信告白,聽講道,領聖餐……」換句話說,你向我描述你所參與的具體行動。

「為什麽你要做你在每個周日教會聚會時所做的事呢?」 假如我這樣問你,會怎麽樣? 換句話說,這些行動背後的目的是什麽呢?你能回答嗎?   更重要的是,你能講出上帝所說的,你每周定期參加的教會集體敬拜的目的嗎?

就像沒有明確目的地的旅程,或沒有真正目的的行為那樣,沒有「為何我們要聚會集體敬拜上帝」這種知識作指導的集體敬拜,會讓我們一周複一周的崇拜事奉處於漫無目的的瞎轉當中。 但知道我們為何做我們所做的事,不僅有助於我們做正確的事,在過程當中真正尋求主, 還能加深我們的期盼:在我們的敬拜中,上帝如何與我們相遇。

在聖經中,上帝至少給我們「教會要聚會」的三個理由。

首先也是最重要的是,我們之所以每個星期天都聚會,是因為上帝創造我們為敬拜者,祂邀請我們唯獨敬拜祂。

這恩慈的邀請有它的根源,源於上帝啟示祂自己的真理。我們不可能正確敬拜我們不認識的神。因此,上帝的自我啟示在我們的聚會中至關重要。

上帝藉著祂的話語啟示祂自己,祂的道成文字 (inscripturated Word,即聖經) 啟示道成肉身(Incarnated Word),即耶穌基督。這就是為什麽在我們的聚會中聖經和耶穌必須突出的原因。我們需要上帝的自我啟示,而這啟示是以耶穌的位格和工作為中心。

對我們來說,任何沒有意識和直接使人轉向耶穌的經歷上帝的經驗,都會落入依靠我們自己、我們的情緒、我們的恩賜來到上帝面前的危險當中。外來的噪音越多,這些依靠變得越重要。我們不能假設好音樂、出色的事奉、我們說話的質量容許我們敬拜祂。因為只有藉著耶穌基督,我們才能得到上帝的稱許。

上帝的真理要求回應。我們聚在一起注目,但這種注目會有效果。我們不但透過我們的歌曲,也藉著獻上自己來回應祂 (羅十二1 - 2)。我們對真理的回應不僅是必要的(雅一22-25),更是我們所渴望的。上帝不僅僅想我們研究祂;  更想和我們建立關系。

我們聚在一起複述救贖的故事

在整部聖經中,上帝告訴祂的子民複述祂為他們所做的事。對以色列人來說,他們必須回憶他們從埃及被拯救出來 (申八章)。詩篇告訴我們「不可忘記他的一切恩惠」 (02) 和「要將耶和華的美德和他的能力,並他奇妙的作為,述說給後代聽。」 (七十八4)    聖餐和洗禮這兩個聖禮是賜給我們的記號和印記,提醒我們上帝的應許和工作。

這種記憶將我們固定在唯一重要的故事裡,一個使所有生命都有意義的故事——救贖的故事。很久以前,教會領袖們已經認識到,基督徒每周複述福音,對他們如何看待上帝,如何與上帝互動,如何生活都有重大影響。參加福音塑造的敬拜,可培養人在救贖故事中開展思考和生活訓練的能力。每個星期天,當我們堅持對上帝是誰,祂做了什麽,我們該如何回應等問題重述一遍時,我們也在培養自己如何在生活中實踐的能力。

我們聚在一起彼此建立

在教會歷史上,在教會的各種禮儀當中,其中一個重大的錯誤出現在參與方面。隨著時間的推移,上帝的超越性與榮耀變得如此突出,以致於任何建立會眾和鼓勵他們參與的想法都在事情之重要性上消失了。改教家們試圖恢復新約聖經的崇拜圖景:  集體的、賦予生命的、建立人的。這是人參與的敬拜,而非牧師執行的中保/調解性質的任務。

上帝呼召我們所有人參與建立基督的身體。上帝賜給我們每個人恩賜,作為敬拜者,我們蒙呼召使用這些恩賜來建立別人,尤其是在我們的主日聚會上(徒二42-47; 林前十二12-31; 十四3-5, 12, 17, 26; 帖前五11; 弗四11-16)。主日崇拜事奉絕不僅僅是達到目的一種手段——「加油」,然後進入開展事奉的真實世界。這相當於作為基督徒我們如何生活的一個示範。上帝牧養我們,向我們啟示祂自己,在那一刻我們通過彼此服事來回應。所以,教會聚會代表和類似於被上帝改變了的團體。我們的聚會看起來應該有別於世界,因為我們是上帝創造的屬天團體的圖畫。

充滿恩典的邀請

每個周日我們所做的事的細節可能由於不同的宗派、文化、時期而有所不同。但我們所做之事背後隱含的意義,都是上帝對祂聚集的教會的充有恩典的目的。祂每個星期天都邀請我們每一個人在祂的榮耀中注視祂,在敬拜中作出回應,複述祂藉著耶穌所成就的一切,並藉著聖靈賦予能力的事工,參與建造基督的身體的工作。多好的機會啊

Rev. Jordan Kauflin is a staff pastor at Redeemer Church in Arlington, Va.

本文原刊于Tabletalk雜誌。


Do We Know What We’re Doing on Sundays?
by Jordan Kauflin

If I asked you, “What do you do at the weekly Sunday gathering with your church?” what would you say? “We drink coffee and talk, we sing for 30 minutes, we say a confession, we hear a sermon, we take communion. . . .” In other words, you would give me a description of particular actions you participate in.

But what if I were to ask you, “Why do you do what you do at the weekly Sunday gathering with your church?” In other words, what is the purpose behind the actions? Could you answer? More importantly, could you describe what God says is the purpose of the weekly rhythm of gathering with your church for corporate worship?

Like a journey without a clear destination or a habit with no real purpose, corporate worship that is not informed by knowledge of why we do what we do puts us at risk of wandering aimlessly through our services Sunday after Sunday. But knowing why we do what we do helps us not only to do the right things but to truly seek the Lord in the midst of them. It also deepens our expectation for how God is going to meet us in our worship.

God gives us at least three reasons in Scripture for the church to gather.

WE GATHER TO RESPOND TO HIS REVELATION
First and foremost, we gather each Sunday because God created us as worshipers and He invites us to worship Him alone.

This gracious invitation has, at its source, the truth of who God has revealed Himself to be. We can’t rightly worship someone we do not know. Therefore, God’s revelation of Himself is vital in our gatherings.

He has revealed Himself through His Word, and His inscripturated Word reveals the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ. This is why Scripture and Jesus must be preeminent in our gatherings. What we need is God’s revelation of Himself, and this revelation centers on the person and work of Jesus.

For us to come to any experience with God without a conscious and direct turn to Jesus risks reliance upon ourselves, our emotions, or our gifts to come before Him. This becomes increasingly important the more extraneous noise there is. We cannot assume that good music, the excellence of our service, or the quality of our speaking allows us to worship Him. The only way for us to be commended to God is through Jesus Christ.

These truths demand a response. We gather to behold, but this beholding should have an effect. We respond to Him not only with our songs but by offering ourselves (Rom. 12:1–2). Our response to truth is not only essential (James 1:22–25) but to be desired. God doesn’t simply want us to study Him; He wants to have a relationship with us.

WE GATHER TO REHEARSE THE STORY OF REDEMPTION
Throughout the Bible, God tells His people to rehearse what He has done for them. For Israel, they were to recall their deliverance from Egypt (Deut. 8). We are told in the Psalms to “forget not all his benefits” (103:2) and to “tell . . . the glorious deeds of the Lord” (78:4). The sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and baptism were given to be signs and seals that remind us of God’s promises and work.

This remembering roots us in the only story that matters, the one that makes sense of all of our lives—the story of redemption. Long ago, church leaders recognized that Christians’ rehearsing the gospel each week has a powerful effect on how they view God, how they interact with Him, and how they live their lives. Participating in gospel-shaped worship trains people to develop the discipline of thinking and living in the redemptive story. Each Sunday as we consistently walk through who God is, what He has done, and how we are to respond, we are training ourselves in how to do this in our lives as well.

WE GATHER TO EDIFY ONE ANOTHER
One of the significant mistakes in the history of the church and its various liturgies was in terms of participation. Over time, God’s transcendence and glory became so emphasized that any thought of edifying the congregation and encouraging them to participate was lost in the weightiness of the event. The Reformers sought to bring back the picture of New Testament worship: communal, life giving, and edifying. It is the people’s worship, not a priest performing mediatorial tasks.

God calls all of us to participate to build up the body. God has given each one of us gifts, and as worshipers, we are called to use them to edify others, particularly in our Sunday gatherings (Acts 2:42–47; 1 Cor. 12:12–31; 14:3–5, 12, 17, 26; 1 Thess. 5:11; Eph. 4:11–16). The Sunday worship service is never merely a means to an end—a “fill-up” to then go out into the world where real ministry takes place. It is rather a demonstration of how we are to live our lives as Christians. God ministers to and reveals Himself to us, and we respond in that moment by ministering to each other. The church assembled, then, represents and resembles the changed community of God. Our gatherings should look distinct from the world because we are a picture of the heavenly community that God is creating.

A GRACE-FILLED INVITATION
The details of what we do each Sunday can vary according to denomination, culture, and season. But underlying what we do are God’s grace-filled purposes for His gathered church. He invites us each and every Sunday to behold Him in His glory, to respond in worship, to rehearse all that He has accomplished through Jesus, and to participate in the work of building up His body through Spirit-empowered ministry. What an opportunity!

Rev. Jordan Kauflin is a staff pastor at Redeemer Church in Arlington, Va.




為何你的道德對上帝來說絕不足夠?WHY YOUR MORALITY WILL NEVERBE ENOUGH FOR GOD

作者: Silverio Gonzalez   譯者: Maria Marta 

遵守(律法)規條與基督教有什麽關系?與福音有什麽關系?

1. 光有道德是不夠的

假冒為善之路,從那些自認為遵守律法但卻沒有遵守的人開始。假冒為善的癥結不是他們不能遵守律法,而是他們沒有抓住法律的要領。法利賽人對律法專心一意。 他們是有道德的人。 他們是耶路撒冷的保守派,但耶穌說:

「假冒為善的人哪!以賽亞指著你們說的預言是不錯的,他說:『這百姓用嘴唇尊敬我,心卻遠離我。他們將人的吩咐當做道理教導人,所以拜我也是枉然。』」(太十五7-9)

當耶穌表明律法需要愛時,祂定立了一個高標準。那就是「你要盡心、盡性、盡意愛主你的神。這是誡命中的第一,且是最大的。其次也相仿,就是要愛人如己。這兩條誡命是律法和先知一切道理的總綱。」(太廿二37-40)

愛上帝,愛人。這些(誡命)規條是好的和真實的,但重點是無法遵行。 耶穌暴露了法利賽人的假冒為善。他們的問題是他們用太膚淺的眼光看待上帝的律法。他們的眼光膚淺得足以讓他們通過遵行這一關,而且順利遵行得足以激起他們的驕傲。 我們總能想愛上帝更深,關心更多人,更要付諸行動。倘若愛是標準,那麽每次我都失敗了。 每次我想「我希望我不必做這件事」時,我就失敗了。 每次我生氣,我就失敗了。 每當我不想做正確的事,我就失敗了。

2. 律法將人帶到基督面前

耶穌旨在表明人離遵守律法這一目標有多遠。倘若人真正愛神愛人,耶穌就不會為世人的罪而死。保羅在加拉太書討論法律時清楚解釋這一點。靠律法得救,必招致死的詛咒。 為什麼? 因為沒有人能滿足律法的一切要求。 在這種背景下,基督來了:

「基督既為我們受了咒詛,就贖出我們脫離律法的咒詛,因為經上記著:『凡掛在木頭上都是被咒詛的。』這便叫亞伯拉罕的福,因基督耶穌可以臨到外邦人,使我們因信得著所應許的聖靈。」(加三13–14)

保羅解釋,上帝設立律法的目的並非要提供一條救恩的道路,而是要領人到基督那裡:「但聖經把眾人都圈在罪裡,使所應許的福因信耶穌基督歸給那信的人。」(加三22 律法並非提供救恩之路,而是把我們引向基督,在祂裡面找到救恩。藉著耶穌基督,我們白白得到救恩,並且唯獨藉著信心稱義。

3.聖靈創造愛

當你閱讀到使徒行傳,你會注意到聖靈將極度驚恐的人轉變成耶穌勇敢的見證人。有愛上帝的決心,耶穌的門徒就能做各種他們以前害怕去做的事。規條已經隱退。他們順服上帝是出於愛。因為他們的救恩在基督裏是穩妥的,唯獨憑信心領受,所以他們的行為越發接近律法的要求。上帝已改變他們的心意。

格雷爾(J.D. Greear)提出一個重要的觀點:
 
「倘若你未達到你應有的屬靈狀態,那麽標題的答案就不單單是為耶穌變得更忙碌,不單單是更徹底的忠誠於上帝,不單單是尋求更大的屬靈恩賜,甚至更了解聖經,而且更要在上帝的愛中建造你們的家,這愛是在基督裏賜給你們的恩賜禮物。」(Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary, 19)

倘若你想順服上帝,那麽你需要知道,藉著在基督裏的信心,上帝就接納你,愛你,在我們還作罪人的時候基督為我們死(羅五6-8),即使你似乎從未改變,祂也接納你。上帝所應許的不單單是接納。祂對你的愛足以改變你的心,賜給你愛。 這就是保羅所說的聖靈的果子。祂希望你知道聖靈已賜給你,使你結出一顆愛神、愛人的心(加五22)。 所以該放鬆了。 基督教不是律法宗教,乃是恩典宗教,上帝已經應許要把你變成一個愛神、愛人的人。


WHY YOUR MORALITY WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH FOR GOD
By Silverio Gonzalez

What does rule-keeping have to do with Christianity? What does this have to do with the gospel?

1. Morality is not enough.
The road to hypocrisy begins with people who think they keep the law but don’t. The problem with hypocrites is not their failure to keep the law, but that they miss the law’s point. Pharisees were all about rules. They were moral people. They were the Jerusalem conservatives, but Jesus said:

“You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” (Matt. 15:7–9)

Jesus set the standard high when he showed that the law requires love. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:37–40).

Love God and love people. These rules are good and true but impossible to keep, and that is the point. Jesus showed the hypocrisy present among the Pharisees. Their problem was that they had too low a view of God’s law. Their view was low enough for them to pass, but high enough to inspire pride. We can always imagine loving more, caring more, doing more. If love is the standard, then I fail every time. Every time I think, “I wish I didn’t have to do this,” I fail. Every time I become angry, I fail. Every time I don’t want to do the right thing, I fail.

2. The law leads to Christ.
Jesus’ point was to show how far people fall from obeying the law. If people did love, Jesus wouldn’t have had to die for the sins of the world. Paul explains this point clearly in Galatians when discussing the law. To rely on the law for salvation leads to a curse of death. Why? Because no one has done everything that the law requires. It is into this context that Christ came:

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Gal. 3:13–14)

Paul explains that the law was not intended to provide a path to salvation but to lead people to Christ: "But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe" (Gal. 3:22). The law, instead of providing a way for salvation, leads us to the person in whom we find salvation: Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ we receive salvation as a free gift and are justified by faith alone.

3. The Holy Spirit creates love.
When you read the book of Acts, one of the things you will notice is that the Holy Spirit turned fear-stricken people into bold witnesses for Jesus. With their hearts set on loving God, Jesus’ disciples were enabled to do all sorts of things that before they feared doing. The rules had faded into the background. They obeyed God out of love. Because their salvation was secure in Christ, received by faith alone, their actions came much closer to the law. God had changed their hearts.

J. D. Greear makes an important point:

If you are not where you should be spiritually, the answer is not simply to get busier for Jesus. It is not just to get more radical in your devotion to God. It’s not only to seek greater spiritual gifts or even to learn more about the Bible. It is to make your home in God’s love given to you as a gift in Christ. (Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary, 19)

If you want to obey God, you need to know that God accepts you and loves you as you are though faith in Christ. Jesus died for you while you were still a sinner (Rom. 5:6–8), and he accepts you even if you never seem to change. But God has promised more than acceptance. He loves you enough to change your heart, to give you love. This is what Paul meant by the fruit of the Spirit. He wants you to know that God the Holy Spirit was given to you to produce a loving heart toward both God and people (Gal. 5:24). So relax already. Christianity isn’t a religion of rules; Christianity is a religion of grace, and God has promised to make you into a person who loves.





地球上最危險的地方The Most Dangerous Place OnEarth

作者: Steven Lawson  譯者: Maria Marta 

沒有比直接、簡單易懂地教導「上帝的聖言與死的宗教對抗」的場所更危險的地方了。只要讓死的宗教沈睡在死亡的睡眠之中,一切就會平靜、和平地繼續下去。但當聖經的真理挑戰空洞的宗教時,一場災難性的沖突必然發生。這是因為每當上帝的聖言在敬拜場所(殿)被教導時,地獄就惱火了。聖潔與真理之光一照進黑暗的國度,罪就暴露出來,不潔的靈魂就怒氣沖沖,撒但就暴跳如雷。沒有比真理受到壓制的敬拜場所更大的撒旦據點了。沒有一個地方比那些敬虔但沒有超自然的聖潔與真理之光的人的生活,更能讓撒但深入的挖防護壕溝。但對撒旦王國而言,沒有比穿透性的聖潔與真理之光更具威脅,因為它入侵這些惡魔的堡壘。

「到了迦百農,耶穌就在安息日進了會堂教訓人。眾人很稀奇他的教訓,因為他教訓他們正像有權柄的人,不像文士。在會堂裡有一個人被汙鬼附著,他喊叫說:『拿撒勒人耶穌,我們與你有什麼相干?你來滅我們嗎?我知道你是誰,乃是神的聖者!』」(可一21-24

在迦百農,有一天耶穌正處於這樣一個危險的地方。那裏的猶太教堂是撒旦的立足點。此處有宗教卻沒有悔改;  有儀式卻沒有重生;  有規條卻沒有藉著聖子,主耶穌基督與永活的上帝建立關系。毫無疑問,最反對基督的是一群無情的宗教信徒。他們認為祂的行為是魔鬼所為,指責祂是私生子,誹謗祂,中傷祂,最後把祂釘在十字架上。耶穌迎戰魔鬼,毫不畏懼地將真理推進這個惡魔般的宗教堡壘。隨之而來的是光明與黑暗、真理與謬誤、天堂與地獄、聖潔與非聖潔之間的沖突。

本文摘自Steven Lawson博士的著作《Holy, Holy, Holy: Proclaiming the Perfections of God》。


The Most Dangerous Place On Earth
FROM Steven Lawson

There is no more dangerous place to be than where the direct, straightforward teaching of the Word of God confronts dead religion. As long as dead religion is allowed to sleep the sleep of death, all continues placidly and peaceably. But when the truth of Scripture challenges empty religion, a cataclysmic collision is sure to result. This is because whenever the Word is taught in houses of worship that are devoid of gospel truth, hell is aggravated. As soon as the light of holiness and truth shines into the kingdom of darkness, sin is exposed, unclean spirits are angered, and Satan is provoked. Satan has no greater strongholds than houses of worship where the truth is suppressed. Nowhere is he more deeply entrenched in the lives of people than among those who are religious but who have no supernatural light of holiness and truth. But there is no greater threat to Satan’s kingdom than the penetrating light of holiness and truth as it invades these fortresses of demons.

And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, saying, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” (Mark 1:21-24)

It was in such a dangerous place that Jesus found Himself one day in Capernaum. The synagogue there was a place where Satan had gained a foothold. It was a place that had religion but no repentance; ritual but no regeneration; rules but no relationship with the living God through His holy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Make no mistake, it was a ruthlessly religious crowd that most opposed Christ. They attributed His works to the Devil, accused Him of being born out of wedlock, maligned Him, slandered Him, and ultimately nailed Him to a cross. When Jesus fearlessly advanced with the truth into this bastion of demonic religion, He met the Devil head on. What followed was a clash between light and darkness, truth and error, heaven and hell, and holiness and un-holiness.

This excerpt is taken from Steven Lawson’s contribution in Holy, Holy, Holy: Proclaiming the Perfections of God.




麼是自然啟示What is Natural Revelation?

作者Tim Bertolet  譯者: 駱鴻銘

重要的是要明白除非上帝向我們啟示自己否則我們無法瞭解任何關於祂的事。上帝是無限的,我們是有限的。上帝和人之間的距離是如此之大,以至於如果祂沒有向我們啟示自己,我們就無法瞭解任何關於祂的事,或祂對我們的要求是什麼(WCF 7.1)。正如以賽亞所說:「天怎樣高過地,照樣,我的道路高過你們的道路;我的意念高過你們的意念。」(賽五五9)上帝藉著兩種方式向我們啟示自己。神學家將這些歸類為「特殊啟示」和「普遍」或「自然」啟示。特殊啟示是上帝在聖經中說話,也包括上帝藉著聖子說話(希伯來書一12)。上帝說話,有特定的時間和地點,它是特殊的,乃是在於它是清晰的、直接的。
It is important to understand that we cannot know anything about God unless He reveals Himself to us. God is infinite, and we are finite. The distance between God and man is so great that we could not know anything about Him or what He requires if He did not reveal Himself to us (WCF 7.1). As Isaiah says, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” There are two ways that God reveals Himself to us. Theologians classify these as “special” and “general” or “natural” revelation. Special revelation is when God speaks in His Word, the Bible, and would also include God speaking in the Son (Heb. 1:1-2). It is in particular times and places that God speaks, it is special in that it clear and direct.

自然啟示是上帝藉著祂所造的萬物說話並使祂自己在其中被人認識。聖經教導說上帝創造了一切被造物並在其中為我們顯明祂的屬性。我們把這稱為「自然」啟示,因為它是上帝在被造界中讓人知道的。這並不代表被造萬物是神(這是泛神論的看法),而只是上帝使被造萬物反映祂榮耀的方方面面。我們也可以稱之為「普遍」啟示,因為它是向所有人發出的。每個人都可以看見它、聽見它。我們被這種啟示所包圍。因為我們是按照祂的形象被造的上帝的知識就明明白白地擺在我們面前。
Natural revelation is God speaking and making Himself known in His creation. The Bible teaches that God made all creation and has put His attributes on display for us in it. We call this “natural” revelation because it is something that God has made known in creation. This does not mean that the creation is God but only that God makes creation to reflect aspects of His glory. We can also call this “general” revelation because it goes out to all people. Everyone can see and hear it. We are surrounded with this revelation of God. By virtue of being made in His image the knowledge of God is plainly before us.

所以被造萬物述說著上帝的榮耀
So the creation speaks the glory of God:

詩十九14諸天述說神的榮耀穹蒼傳揚他的手段。這日到那日發出言語;這夜到那夜傳出知識。無言無語,也無聲音可聽。他的量帶通遍天下,他的言語傳到地極。神在其間為太陽安設帳幕.
Psa. 19:1-4: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun,

自然啟示「如白晝一般明顯」。我們看得到它且無法躲避。從某種意義上說,被造界正在對我們說話。它無論何時何地都在告訴我們,三位一體的上帝是真實的。這並不代表我們總是願意傾聽。
Natural revelation is ‘as plain as day.’ We see it and cannot hide from it. The creation is, in a sense, talking to us. It is telling us everywhere that the Triune God is real. This does not mean we are always listening to it.

保羅告訴我們雖然這些知識在我們周圍但我們阻擋它、壓制它
Paul tells us that while this knowledge is all around us, we suppress it:

羅一1921 神的事情人所能知道的原顯明在人心裡因為神已經給他們顯明。自從造天地以來,神的永能和神性是明明可知的,雖是眼不能見,但藉著所造之物就可以曉得,叫人無可推諉。因為,他們雖然知道神,卻不當作神榮耀他,也不感謝他。他們的思念變為虛妄,無知的心就昏暗了。
Rom. 1:19-21 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

保羅告訴我們我們在不義中阻擋、壓制神的真理羅一18。這裏描寫的圖畫是:被造界正在述說一切關於上帝的事情,祂是誰,祂像什麼樣子。它讓我們知道祂「無形的屬性」,即祂的「永能和神性」。這些東西顯然是存在的(「是明明可知的」)。然而,我們在罪中,就像小孩子把手指塞他的耳朵裏,說著:「我不聽......我不聽。」這並不能否定有人正在說話的事實。同樣我們對上帝的拒絕並不能否定上帝已經在被造萬物中賜下關於祂自己的充足的知識。
Paul tells us that we suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18). The picture is that creation is telling all these things about God, who He is and what He is like. It makes known to us “his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature.” These things are clearly there (“being clearly perceived”). However, we in our sin are like the little child who crams his fingers in his ears and shouts “I’m not listening…I’m not listening.” This does not deny the fact that someone is speaking. So too, our rejection of God does not deny the fact that God has given sufficient knowledge of Himself in creation.

這種知識不是使人得救的知識。上帝乃是藉著祂的話語和聖靈帶來救贖性的知識並除去我們心中的盲目。然而,自然啟示是足夠的,足以使我們負責,也足以使我們受審判。當一個不知悔改的人在審判的日子站在上帝面前時,他們將找不到藉口說:「我不知道;我從未聽聞。」我們每天都「聽到」上帝是誰,正如祂在創造中所顯明的那樣。祂正在說話。
This knowledge is not saving knowledge. God uses the means of His Word and the Holy Spirit to bring redemptive knowledge and to remove the blindness from our hearts. Yet, natural revelation is sufficient to bring accountability and judgment. When an unrepentant person stands before God on the day of judgment they will not be able to make the excuse “I did not know; I had never heard.” We ‘hear’ every day who God is as He has evidenced it in His creation. He is speaking.

Tim Bertolet畢業於蘭凱斯特聖經學院和西敏神學院。他從南非比勒陀利亞大學University of Pretoria獲得博士學位。他是聖經團契教會的牧師,現任賓州約克的信心聖經團契教會(Faith Bible Fellowship)的牧師。他是四個女兒的丈夫和父親。你可以在Twitter @tim_bertolet上關注他。
Tim Bertolet is a graduate of Lancaster Bible College and Westminster Theological Seminary.  He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He is an ordained pastor in the Bible Fellowship Church, currently serving as pastor of Faith Bible Fellowship Church in York, Pa. He is a husband and father of four daughters. You can follow him on Twitter @tim_bertolet.

作為基督徒我應該同時學習神的聖言聖經和神的創造之書。這就是為什麼基督徒可以成為一名科學家的原因。我們可以探索上帝的被造萬物。如果人類有機會在火星上殖民或探索星際空間,我希望基督徒能夠參與,好叫他們能夠進一步關注上帝所造的一切。就現在而言,我們在世上,但我們不要忘記上帝藉著被造萬物向我們喊叫的神奇和榮耀。願我們有眼可看、有耳可聽不是要讚美被造物而是我們可能會被引導去讚美上帝這位造物主。
As a Christian, I should study both the book of God’s Word (the Bible) and the book of God’s creation. This is why a Christian can be a scientist. We can explore God’s creation. Should we ever have the chance to colonize Mars or explore interstellar space, I hope that Christians will go so that they can pay further attention to all God has made. For now, we are on earth, but let’s not forget the wonder and glory of God that He is shouting forth to us in creation. May we have eyes to see and ears to hear, not to praise creation, but so that we might be led to praise the creator God.