2018-11-15


尋找上帝FindingGod

[每日靈修] 11/15/2018,  駱鴻銘編譯

我們都聽過福音佈道家從啟示錄中引用:「看哪,我站在門外叩門,若有聽見我聲音就開門的,我要進到他那裡去,我與他,他與我一同坐席。」(啟示錄三20)。通常福音佈道家將這段經文作為對未悔改之人的訴求,說:「耶穌正在敲你的心門。如果你把心門打開,祂就會進來。」然而,在原文當中,這些話耶穌是對教會說的。這不是一個福音佈道的訴求。

所以呢?關鍵在於尋求是非信徒不能自己做的事情。不信的人不會尋求。不信的人不會敲門。尋求是信徒的事。愛德華茲(Jonathan Edwards)說:「尋求上帝的國度是基督徒生活的要務。」尋求是信心的結果,而不是信心的成因。

當我們歸信基督時,我們使用「發現」的說法來表達我們的轉變。我們論到「尋找基督」。我們可能會看到「我發現它」的保險槓貼紙。這些陳述確實是真的。具有諷刺意味的是:我們一旦找到了基督,它不是我們尋求的終點,而是起點。通常,當我們找到我們正在尋找的東西時,它標誌著我們搜索的結束。但是當我們「找到」基督時,它卻是我們尋找的開始。

基督徒生活始於回轉;它不會在它開始的地方結束。它會成長;信上加信,恩上加恩,命(生命)上加命。這種成長的動能是通過不斷尋求上帝而得著的。

活在神的面光中(在神面前禱告):
在你的屬靈生命中,你是從信上加信、恩上加恩、命上加命嗎?你是否不斷地在尋求上帝?

進一步研讀:
約十四23~24 耶穌回答說:「人若愛我,就必遵守我的道;我父也必愛他,並且我們要到他那裏去,與他同住。不愛我的人就不遵守我的道。你們所聽見的道不是我的,乃是差我來之父的道。
約十五10 你們若遵守我的命令,就常在我的愛裏,正如我遵守了我父的命令,常在他的愛裏。


Finding God

We have all heard evangelists quote from Revelation: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20). Usually the evangelist applies this text as an appeal to the unconverted, saying: “Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart. If you open the door, then He will come in.” In the original saying, however, Jesus directed His remarks to the church. It was not an evangelistic appeal. 

So what? The point is that seeking is something that unbelievers do not do on their own. The unbeliever will not seek. The unbeliever will not knock. Seeking is the business of believers. Jonathan Edwards said, “The seeking of the Kingdom of God is the chief business of the Christian life.” Seeking is the result of faith, not the cause of it. 

When we are converted to Christ, we use language of discovery to express our conversion. We speak of finding Christ. We may have bumper sticker that read, “I Found It.” These statements are indeed true. The irony is this: Once we have found Christ it is not the end of our seeking but the beginning. Usually, when we find what we are looking for, it signals the end of our searching. But when we “find” Christ, it is the beginning of our search.

The Christian life begins at conversion; it does not end where it begins. It grows; it moves from faith to faith, from grace to grace, from life to life. This movement of growth is prodded by continual seeking after God.

Coram Deo
In your spiritual walk, are you moving from faith to faith, from grace to grace, from life to life? Are you continually seeking after God?

Passages for Further Study
John 14:23–24
John 15:10



尋找上帝Finding God

[每日靈修] 11/15/2018,  駱鴻銘編譯

我們都聽過福音佈道家從啟示錄中引用:「看哪,我站在門外叩門,若有聽見我聲音就開門的,我要進到他那裡去,我與他,他與我一同坐席。」(啟示錄三20)。通常福音佈道家將這段經文作為對未悔改之人的訴求,說:「耶穌正在敲你的心門。如果你把心門打開,祂就會進來。」然而,在原文當中,這些話耶穌是對教會說的。這不是一個福音佈道的訴求。

所以呢?關鍵在於尋求是非信徒不能自己做的事情。不信的人不會尋求。不信的人不會敲門。尋求是信徒的事。愛德華茲(Jonathan Edwards)說:「尋求上帝的國度是基督徒生活的要務。」尋求是信心的結果,而不是信心的成因。

當我們歸信基督時,我們使用「發現」的說法來表達我們的轉變。我們論到「尋找基督」。我們可能會看到「我發現它」的保險槓貼紙。這些陳述確實是真的。具有諷刺意味的是:我們一旦找到了基督,它不是我們尋求的終點,而是起點。通常,當我們找到我們正在尋找的東西時,它標誌著我們搜索的結束。但是當我們「找到」基督時,它卻是我們尋找的開始。

基督徒生活始於回轉;它不會在它開始的地方結束。它會成長;信上加信,恩上加恩,命(生命)上加命。這種成長的動能是通過不斷尋求上帝而得著的。

活在神的面光中(在神面前禱告):
在你的屬靈生命中,你是從信上加信、恩上加恩、命上加命嗎?你是否不斷地在尋求上帝?

進一步研讀:
約十四23~24 耶穌回答說:「人若愛我,就必遵守我的道;我父也必愛他,並且我們要到他那裏去,與他同住。不愛我的人就不遵守我的道。你們所聽見的道不是我的,乃是差我來之父的道。
約十五10 你們若遵守我的命令,就常在我的愛裏,正如我遵守了我父的命令,常在他的愛裏。


Finding God

We have all heard evangelists quote from Revelation: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20). Usually the evangelist applies this text as an appeal to the unconverted, saying: “Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart. If you open the door, then He will come in.” In the original saying, however, Jesus directed His remarks to the church. It was not an evangelistic appeal. 

So what? The point is that seeking is something that unbelievers do not do on their own. The unbeliever will not seek. The unbeliever will not knock. Seeking is the business of believers. Jonathan Edwards said, “The seeking of the Kingdom of God is the chief business of the Christian life.” Seeking is the result of faith, not the cause of it. 

When we are converted to Christ, we use language of discovery to express our conversion. We speak of finding Christ. We may have bumper sticker that read, “I Found It.” These statements are indeed true. The irony is this: Once we have found Christ it is not the end of our seeking but the beginning. Usually, when we find what we are looking for, it signals the end of our searching. But when we “find” Christ, it is the beginning of our search.

The Christian life begins at conversion; it does not end where it begins. It grows; it moves from faith to faith, from grace to grace, from life to life. This movement of growth is prodded by continual seeking after God.

Coram Deo
In your spiritual walk, are you moving from faith to faith, from grace to grace, from life to life? Are you continually seeking after God?

Passages for Further Study
John 14:23–24
John 15:10



尋求上帝Seeking After God

  [每日靈修] 11/14/2018,  駱鴻銘編譯

你有多少次聽過基督徒說到(或者從你自己的口中聽到),「某某還不是基督徒,但他正在尋求」?這是基督徒之間共通的說法。這種觀念是:到處都有人在尋求上帝。他們的問題在於就是無法找到祂。祂正在和人玩捉迷藏。祂是難以捉摸的。

在伊甸園裏,在罪進入世界之後,誰躲藏起來呢?耶穌來到這個世界尋找並拯救失喪的人。耶穌不是那個躲藏的人。上帝不是逃犯。我們才是忙著逃跑的人。聖經宣告,惡人雖無人追趕也逃跑(箴廿八1)。正如馬丁路德所說:「異教徒聽見葉子的沙沙聲就顫抖。聖經一貫的教導是墮落的人一直在逃離上帝。」

人不會尋求上帝。他們尋求只有上帝才能給他們的好處。墮落人類的罪是這樣的:人在逃離上帝的同時,也在尋求來自上帝的好處。我們天生就是逃犯。

聖經一再告訴我們要尋求上帝。我們從這些經文中得出的結論是:既然我們蒙召要尋求上帝,就必定意味著,即使在我們墮落的狀態下,我們也有道德能力去尋求。但這些經文是在對誰說話呢?在舊約的情況下,以色列人蒙召去尋求主。在新約聖經中,信徒蒙召要尋求天國。

活在神的面光中(在神面前禱告):
你是在尋求上帝可以賜給你的好處,還是僅僅尋求上帝?

進一步研讀:
賽五五6 當趁耶和華可尋找的時候尋找祂,相近的時候求告祂。
太七7 你們祈求,就給你們;尋找,就尋見;叩門,就給你們開門。
啟三20 看哪,我站在門外叩門,若有聽見我聲音就開門的,我要進到他那裡去,我與他,他與我一同坐席。

Seeking After God

How many times have you heard Christians say (or heard the words from your own mouth), “So-and-so is not a Christian but he’s searching”? It is a common statement among Christians. The idea is that there are people all over the place who are searching for God. Their problem is that they just haven’t been able to find Him. He is playing hide-and-seek. He is elusive.

In the Garden of Eden, when sin came into the world, who hid? Jesus came into the world to seek and to save the lost. Jesus wasn’t the one who was hiding. God is not a fugitive. We are the ones on the run. Scripture declares that the wicked flee when no man pursues. As Martin Luther remarked: “The pagan trembles at the rustling of a leaf. The uniform teaching of Scripture is that fallen men are fleeing from God.”

People do not seek God. They seek after the benefits that only God can give them. The sin of fallen man is this: Man seeks the benefits of God while fleeing from God Himself. We are, by nature, fugitives.

The Bible tells us repeatedly to seek after God. The conclusion we draw from these texts is that since we are called to seek after God it must mean that we, even in our fallen state, have the moral capacity to do that seeking. But who is being addressed in these texts? In the case of the Old Testament, it is the people of Israel who are called to seek the Lord. In the New Testament, it is believers who are called to seek the kingdom.

Coram Deo
Are you seeking the benefits God can give you or seeking after God alone?

Passages for Further Study
Isaiah 55:6
Matthew 7:7
Revelation 3:20


福音是什麼?Whatis the Gospel?

作者: Burk Parsons   譯者/校對者: Maria Marta/誠之  

十九世紀偉大的普林斯頓神學家賀治(Charles Hodge)說,「福音是如此簡單,連小孩子都能明白,福音是如此深奧,即使是最聰明的神學家,他的研究永遠也論述不完福音的豐盛。」福音是我們所信之事的絕對根本。福音是我們作為基督徒的核心。然而,許多認信的基督徒卻難以回答這個問題:「福音是什麼?」 在我授課的時候,我非常驚訝,有如此之多的學生對這個問題竟然無法提供合乎聖經的準確解釋,更重要的是,他們不能解釋「福音不是什麼。」 如果我們不知道「福音是什麼?」,我們就是所有人之中最可憐的一個-----因為我們不僅不能在傳福音中宣講福音,以致罪人得救,而且,實際上可能連我們自己都未曾得救。

在我們這時代,在教會內外有無數的假福音存在。大多數基督教電視台所播放的,和基督教書店裏所寫的,完全混淆了福音的信息,因此他们是在變造另一個福音,也就是根本不是福音。英國牧師雷歷(J. C. Ryle)寫道,「既然撒但不能破壞福音,牠索性就通過加添、刪除、替代等慣用技倆來中和福音的果效。」重要的是我們要明白,不能僅僅因為牧師在談論耶穌、十字架、和天堂,就意味著他在傳講福音。不能僅僅因為每個拐角處有間教會,就意味著福音在每個拐角處被傳講。

從根本上說,福音是消息。福音是一個好消息-----關於我們三位一體的上帝為祂的子民完成救贖的好消息:父上帝差遣祂的兒子耶稣,道成肉身來到世間,活出完美的生命,成全了律法,獻上犧牲的祭,滿足上帝對我們的忿怒,使我們不需面對地獄的永刑,因此耶穌代贖了我們的罪;父上帝又透過聖靈的大能,使耶稣從死裏復活。這是上帝拯救罪人的勝利宣告。儘管耶穌基督的這些呼召:「背起他的十字架,來跟從我」;「當悔改,信福音」;「否定自己」;「遵守我的命令」,是直接跟隨著福音宣告的必要命令,但是這些命令本身並不包含在耶穌完成救贖這好消息之內。福音不是一種要人更努力去接近上帝的召喚;福音是最重要的消息,是關於上帝為了我們的益處,如何使萬事都一同效力。福音是好消息,不是好建議或好指南,正如梅晨(J. Gresham Machen)所寫的:「我首先需要的不是勸勉,而是福音,不是拯救我自己的指示,而是知道上帝如何拯救我。你有沒有什麼好消息?這是我問你的問題。」

本文原刊於TableTalk 雜誌 20151月號


What is the Gospel?
by Burk Parsons

The great nineteenth-century Princeton theologian Charles Hodge said, “The gospel is so simple that small children can understand it, and it is so profound that studies by the wisest theologians will never exhaust its riches.” The gospel is absolutely fundamental to everything we believe. It is at the very core of who we are as Christians. However, many professing Christians struggle to answer the question: What is the gospel? When I teach, I am astounded by how many of my students are unable to provide a biblically accurate explanation of what the gospel is, and, what’s more, what the gospel is not. If we don’t know what the gospel is, we are of all people the most to be pitied—for we not only can’t proclaim the gospel in evangelism so that sinners might be saved, but we in fact may not be saved ourselves.

In our day, there are countless counterfeit gospels, both inside and outside the church. Much of what is on Christian television and on the shelves of Christian bookstores completely obscures the gospel, thereby making it another gospel, which is no gospel whatsoever. English pastor J.C. Ryle wrote, “Since Satan cannot destroy the gospel, he has too often neutralized its usefulness by addition, subtraction, or substitution.” It is vital we understand that just because a preacher talks about Jesus, the cross, and heaven, does not mean he is preaching the gospel. And just because there is a church on every corner does not mean the gospel is preached on every corner.

Fundamentally, the gospel is news. It’s good news—the good news about what our triune God has accomplished for His people: the Father’s sending His Son, the incarnate Jesus Christ, to live perfectly, fulfill the law, and die sacrificially, satisfying God’s wrath against us that we might not face hell, thereby atoning for our sins; and raising Him from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the victorious announcement that God saves sinners. And even though the call of Jesus to “take up your cross and follow me,” “repent and believe,” “deny yourself,” and “keep my commandments” are necessary commands that directly follow the proclamation of the gospel, they are not in themselves the good news of what Jesus has accomplished. The gospel is not a summons to work harder to reach God; it’s the grand message of how God worked all things together for good to reach us. The gospel is good news, not good advice or good instructions, just as J. Gresham Machen wrote: “What I need first of all is not exhortation, but a gospel, not directions for saving myself but knowledge of how God has saved me. Have you any good news? That is the question that I ask of you.”


¿Qué es el Evangelio?
Por Burk Parsons

El teólogo de Princeton gran siglo XIX Charles Hodge dijo: "El evangelio es tan simple que los niños pequeños pueden entender, y es tan profundo que los estudios realizados por los teólogos más sabios nunca agotan sus riquezas." El evangelio es absolutamente fundamental para todo lo que creemos. Está en el corazón mismo de lo que somos como cristianos. Sin embargo, muchos cristianos profesantes se esfuerzan por responder a la pregunta: ¿Qué es el evangelio? Cuando enseño, estoy sorprendido por cómo muchos de mis alumnos son capaces de dar una explicación bíblicamente exacta de lo que es el evangelio, y, lo que es más, lo que el evangelio no lo es. Si no sabemos lo que es el evangelio, somos de todos los hombres los más dignos de lástima, ya que no sólo no podemos proclamar el evangelio en la evangelización para que los pecadores puedan ser salvos, sino que en realidad no podemos ser salvos nosotros mismos .

En nuestros días, hay un sinnúmero de evangelios falsificados, tanto dentro como fuera de la iglesia. Gran parte de lo que está en la televisión cristiana y en los estantes de las librerías cristianas oscurece completamente el evangelio, por lo tanto haciéndolo otro evangelio, que no es evangelio de ninguna manera. El Pastor Inglés JC Ryle escribió: "Puesto que Satanás no puede destruir el evangelio, que con demasiada frecuencia ha neutralizado su utilidad mediante la adición, sustracción o sustitución." Es vital que entendemos que sólo porque un predicador habla de Jesús, la cruz, y el cielo, no significa que él está predicando el evangelio. Y sólo porque hay una iglesia en cada esquina no significa que el evangelio es predicado en cada esquina.

Fundamentalmente, el evangelio es noticia. Son buenas noticias – las buenas nuevas de lo que nuestro Dios trino ha logrado para Su pueblo: el Padre enviando a Su Hijo, Jesucristo encarnado, para vivir perfectamente, cumplir la ley, y morir con sacrificio, satisfaciendo la ira de Dios contra nosotros para que no enfrentemos el infierno, por tanto expiando de ese modo nuestros pecados; y resucitándole de los muertos por el poder del Espíritu Santo. Es el anuncio victorioso de que Dios salva a los pecadores. Y a pesar de que el llamado de Jesús a "tomar tu cruz y sígueme", “arrepentíos y creed,” “negarse a sí mismo,” y “guardan mis mandamientos” son mandamientos necesarios que siguen directamente de la proclamación del Evangelio, no son en sí mismos la buena noticia de lo que Jesús ha logrado. El evangelio no es una citación que trabajar más para llegar a Dios; es el gran mensaje de cómo Dios obró todas las cosas para ayudar a bien, para llegar a nosotros. El evangelio es una buena noticia, no un buen consejo o buenas instrucciones, tal como J. Gresham Machen escribió: “Lo que necesito en primer lugar no es la exhortación, sino un evangelio, no instrucciones para salvarme a mí mismo, sino el conocimiento de cómo Dios me ha salvado. ¿Tienes alguna buena noticia? Esa es la pregunta que te hago.”


主權救恩觀爭論的認識Understanding the Lordship Controversy

作者J. I. Packer   翻譯Duncan Liang
www.old-gospel.net 恩典教义
https://www.facebook.com/peddrluo/posts/10157080991774653

如果十年前你對我講,我要看見有知識的福音派基督徒,其中一些是有博士學位,在神學院教書的,會爭辯說神所保證,直到永遠實在的拯救,其中可以沒有悔改,沒有跟從做門徒,沒有行為上的改變,沒有在實際上承認基督是人生命中的主,沒有在信心上的堅忍,我會對你說你是瘋了。也許我會用英國話裏說的,說這樣的人是赤裸,大眼瞪小眼的瘋子。但現在這樣的事已經發生了。其中一位哈濟(Zane Hodges),在其所著的《被圍困的福音》(The Gospel Under Siege (1981)和《絕對無條件》(Absolutely Free!)(1989)中,宣稱所有這些立場對基督教信息來說都是至關重要的,沒有這些,福音就會迷失在律法主義當中。哇!
If, ten years ago, you had told me that I would live to see literate evangelicals, some with doctorates and a seminary teaching record, arguing for the reality of an eternal salvation, divinely guaranteed, that may have in it no repentance, no discipleship, no behavioral change, no practical acknowledgment of Christ as Lord of one's life, and no perseverance in faith, I would have told you that you were out of your mind. Stark, staring bonkers, is the British phrase I would probably have used. But now the thing has happened. In The Gospel Under Siege (1981) and Absolutely Free! (1989), Zane Hodges, for one, maintains all these positions as essential to the Christian message arguing that without them the Gospel gets lost in legalism. Wow.

事情還不止於此。哈濟抨擊改革宗歷史性對福音的論述,他給這貼上一個標籤,叫作「主權救恩」(Lordship Salvation),說它是一種靠行為稱義,因為它堅持悔改,就是從罪中回轉來事奉耶穌,以他為主,和信心,就是從相信自己回轉來信靠耶穌作人的救主,一樣,對於得救來說都是必須的。哈濟說這樣的悔改是一種行為,而稱義是因著信心,不靠行為的。傳講、教導改革宗所講的條件就是破壞福音的恩典。哈濟說,在任何階段,得救的信心和好行為都不是一定要聯繫在一起的,認識這點非常重要。
Nor is this all. Hodges lashes the historic reformational account of the Gospel, which he labels "Lordship salvation," as a form of works-righteousness, because it affirms that repentance turning from sin to serve Jesus as one's Lord is as necessary for salvation as faith turning from self-reliance to trust Jesus as one's Savior. Such repentance, says Hodges, is a work, and justification is through faith apart from works. To preach and teach in reformational terms is to compromise the grace of the Gospel. It is vital, says Hodges, to see that there is no necessary connection between saving faith and good works at any stage.

哈濟來自時代論陣營的一枝,其中的人一直在對每一個人說,按照聖經標準,改革宗神學在整體上是偏離中心,是災難。哈濟的論據實質上已經在司可福聖經和崔福(Lewis Sperry Chafer)以及來利(Charles Ryrie)的著作中有所體現。如果不是他的一位引人注目,相信改革宗救贖論的時代主義者同袍,約翰麥克阿瑟(John MacArthur)在其所著的《按照耶穌的福音》(The Gospel According to Jesus(1988)中對他的觀點進行抨擊,他可能就不會如此受人注意。《按照耶穌的福音》是一本措辭嚴厲的書,前言為布易士(Boice)和巴刻所寫。《絕對無條件》一書就是哈濟對麥克阿瑟的回應。
Hodges comes out of that branch of the dispensationalist stable which has consistently assured everyone that by biblical standards Reformed theology is systematically off center and misshapen. Hodges' argumentation had already in essence appeared in the Scofield Bible and the writings of Lewis Sperry Chafer and Charles Ryrie. He might not have attracted much notice had not a distinguished fellow-dispensationalist with a Reformed soteriology, John MacArthur, Jr., attacked his view in The Gospel According to Jesus (1988), a strongly worded book with forewords by Boice and Packer. Absolutely Free! was Hodges' reply to MacArthur.

這情形很古怪。雙方都宣告神的恩典是絕對無條件的,稱義是絕對居中心位置的,信心對得救來說絕對是必須的——對方對什麼是基督徒的含義的論述是絕對錯誤的。哈濟稱麥克阿瑟的立場是「根本重寫福音」,「核心是屬撒但的」,「把信心的含義完全顛倒」,摧毀了確據的根基,所得出的教訓是新約作者所不認識的。麥克阿瑟稱哈濟的立場是一種「悲劇性的錯誤」,是「毀滅福音」的,「應許一種虛假的平安」,「產生出一種虛假的傳福音」,「給人虛假的盼望」。我們要問,這兩人看上去在如此多點上認同對方,那使他們分開的紛爭點到底是什麼? 這問題不難回答,這事關乎信心本質的問題。
It is an odd situation. Both sides proclaim that God's grace is absolutely free, that justification is absolutely central, that faith is absolutely necessary for salvation and that the other side's account of what it means to be a Christian is absolutely wrong. Hodges calls MacArthur's position "a radical rewriting of the Gospel," "Satanic at its core," which has "turned the meaning of faith upside down," destroying the ground of assurance and producing doctrine that the New Testament writers would find unrecognizable. MacArthur calls Hodges' position a "tragic error" that "destroys the Gospel," "promises a false peace," "produces a false evangelism," and "offers a false hope." What, we ask, is the point of cleavage that so drastically divides men who seemed to agree on so much? The question is not hard to answer. It has to do with the nature of faith.

哈濟完全用理智來定義信心,認為信心就是在思想上認同神在福音中告訴我們的。這種理智主義讓人想起羅馬天主教對信心的看法,就是相信教會所教導的。這和十八世紀蘇格蘭的有偏差的羅伯特桑德曼(Robert Sandema)的看法完全吻合,此人確信「每一個相信按著使徒所見證的那事件(基督贖罪的死)確實發生了的人就是被稱為義的。」它也和卡爾巴特(Karl Barth)的看法相對應。對巴特來說,信心就是簡單地相信因為基督死和復活,一個人就已經稱義,是繼承永生了,每個人都是這樣。
Hodges defines faith in exclusively intellectual terms, as mental assent to what God tells us in the Gospel. This intellectualism recalls the Roman Catholic conception of faith as believing what the church teaches. It corresponds exactly to that of the eighteenth-century Scottish eccentric Robert Sandeman, who affirmed that "everyone who is persuaded that the event (Christ's atoning death) actually happened as testified by the apostles is justified." It corresponds also to the view of Karl Barth, for whom faith is simply believing that because of Christ's death and resurrection one is already justified and an heir of eternal life, as is everybody else.

與之對立的是,按著改革宗的教導,信心是一種完整的實在之事,除了有理智的方面還有感情和意志的方面。按照十七世紀的分析所說的,它是 notitia (對事實的認識), assensus (高興接受) fiducia (個人信靠一位個人的救主,以及祂的應許)。正如韋斯敏斯德信條所說的那樣,這是新舉動的指導準則:
By contrast, faith according to reformational teaching is a whole-souled reality with an affectional and volitional aspect as well as an intellectual one. It is, as the seventeenth-century analysts put it, notitia (factual knowledge), assensus (glad acceptance), and  fiducia (personal trust in a personal Savior, as well as in His promises). It is a principle of new activity, as the Westminster Confession brings out:

藉此信心,基督徒相信凡在聖經中所啟示的都為真實,……既順服其命令,畏懼其警戒,持守神在其中所賜為今生和來生的應許。但得救信心的主要活動乃是憑恩典之約,惟獨接受並依靠基督而得稱義、成聖,和永生。(14.2)
By faith, a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word.yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God But the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace (XIV 2).

很明顯,如果哈濟、桑德曼、巴特的理智主義是對的話,韋斯敏斯德信條就是混亂,放錯了重點。同樣清楚的是,如果韋斯敏斯德信條是對的,那麼哈濟、桑德曼和巴特所定義的就還構不成信心,其本身並不能帶來拯救。
Clearly, if the intellectualism of Hodges, Sandeman, and Barth is right, Westminster confuses, misplacing the emphasis. Equally clear, if Westminster is right, what Hodges, Sandeman, and Barth define is less than faith, and will not of itself bring salvation.

很明顯,我認為哈濟是錯誤的,錯誤得很厲害。我發現他對信心的教導有四方面的主要錯誤。
As is apparent, I think Hodges is wrong, and ruinously so. I find his doctrine of faith involving four major errors.

第一是對基督的錯誤認識
The first is an error about Christ.

基督是分開的,還是不可分的?神豈不是把先知(教導),祭司(贖罪)和王(做主和主人)這三個角色聯在一起置於他兒子中保的職分之中嗎?神在聖經中豈不要求人積極回應其中的每一種嗎?麥克阿瑟清楚說明,基督自己在福音中的教訓豈不表明他自己不接受把得救和做門徒分隔開,承認、接受他作救主,但拒絕他作為主嗎?我的回答和哈濟的回答不一樣,他的教導在我看來是不榮耀我的救主的。
Is Christ divided, or divisible? Has not God joined the three roles of prophet (teacher), priest (atoner), and king (Lord and Master) in the mediatorial office of His Son? Does He not in Scripture require mankind to relate positively to each? Does not Christ's own Gospel teaching, well set out by MacArthur, show that He Himself does not accept the separating of salvation from discipleship, whereby He is acknowledged and taken as Savior but rejected as Lord? My answer is not Hodges' answer, and his teaching does not seem to me to honor my Savior.

第二是對行為的錯誤認識
The second is an error about works.

哈濟把作為是一種心理舉動的信心和作為是一種有功德作用行為的信心等同在一起,因此辯論說,如果要人把積極委身做門徒作為使人可以得救的對福音的回應的一部分,這就是教導靠行為稱義了。但這是很混亂的。信心的每一種作為,從心理方面來看,都是在做某些事情(知道和信靠,接受,決心順服一樣同是思想上的行為);然而每一樣信心的作為都只是把自己看作是在某種形式上領受不配恩典的手段而已。哈濟不能把信心作為舉動和信心作為行為分開,這不僅不能使他驅散那種關於福音條件的混亂認識,反而是加增了這種混亂,儘管他正確認識到這種混亂在今天正給我們帶來禍害。
Hodges equates faith as a psychological act ("closing with Christ," as the Puritans put it) with faith as a meritorious work, and so argues that to call for active commitment to discipleship as part of a saving response to the Gospel is to teach works-righteousness. But this is a confusion. Every act of faith, psychologically regarded, is a matter of doing something (knowing is as much a mental act as are trusting, receiving, and resolving to obey); yet no act of faith ever presents itself to its doer as anything but a means of receiving undeserved mercy in some form. Hodges' inability to distinguish faith as an act from faith as a work makes him increase, rather than dispel, the confusion about the terms of the Gospel that he rightly sees as bedeviling us today.

第三是對悔改的錯誤認識
The third is an error about repentance.

在聖經中,悔改和相信是並行、不可分開的;悔改意味著從罪中回轉,相信意味著轉向耶穌。時代論者並不總是可以看到這種聯繫。一些人堅持希臘文「悔改」(metanoia)的語源,把它解釋為只是對耶穌是誰看法上的改變;哈濟看到悔改在聖經中意味著生活上的改變,把它和救恩之道分開(這就和韋斯敏斯德信條相矛盾了,韋斯敏斯德信條依據路加福音十三35,說「沒有悔改無人可以得到赦免」),把悔改描述為自願向神所作的調整,可以是在得救前,或在得救以後臨到,或根本不會臨到。說得最簡單一點,他不能使人信服。
In Scripture, repentance and faith go inseparably together; repentance means turning from sin, faith means turning to Jesus. Dispensationalists do not always observe this connection. Some, fastening onto the etymology of repentance in Greek (metanoia), explain it as merely a change of mind about who Jesus is; Hodges, seeing that repentance means in Scripture a change of life, detaches it from the way of salvation (thus contradicting the Westminster Confession, which on the basis of Luke 13:3, 5, says that "none may expect pardon without it") and depicts it as a voluntary adjustment to God that may come before salvation or after salvation or never at all. To say the least, he fails to convince.

第四是對重生的錯誤認識
The fourth is an error about regeneration.

當聖經講到重生,是把它看為一種新生,一種死人復活,是把它看為一個人生命,或「心」的內在的改變,這樣,人要像他從前那樣繼續活在罪的控制之下,這就是不可能的。重生的果效就是人從內心深處要認識、愛、服事、信靠、順服和尊榮父與子,這樣,從前只是仇恨,與神為敵,現在順服的委身、作門徒則是自發地湧現出來。哈濟說基督徒作門徒是一種慎重、令人滿足,但不一定是必須的選擇,這表明他根本不明白這一點。特別的是,他看不到那使人稱義的信心只是一顆得到重生的心的表達而已。
When Scripture speaks of regeneration, which it represents as a new birth, a quickening of the dead, what is in view is an inner transformation of one's being, or "heart," which makes it impossible for one to go on living under sin's sway as one lived before. The effect of regeneration is that now one wants, from the bottom of one's heart, to know, love, serve, trust, obey, and honor the Father and the Son, so that obedient devotion and discipleship spontaneously spring up where there was only resentful hostility to God before. Hodges' account of Christian discipleship as a prudent and fulfilling, though not a necessary option, shows that he does not understand this at all. In particular, he does not see that the faith that justifies only appears as an expression of a regenerate heart.

這種教導在牧養方面只能產生出清教徒稱之為的「福音偽君子」——就是那些被告知他們是基督徒,永遠安全,因為他們相信基督為他們死了,而他們的心沒有改變,根本沒有對基督的個人委身的人。我是知道這點的,因為在神滿有憐憫地使我認識到我沒有歸正的光景前,有兩年時間我就是這樣的福音偽君子。如果你認為我這樣批評哈濟對信心的重新定義是不結果子的理智上的形式主義,這太嚴厲了,你一定要記得,因為相信哈濟所教導的,我曾一度幾乎失喪了我的靈魂,一個被火燒過的孩子事後總是對火非常害怕的。
The pastoral effect of this teaching can only be to produce what the Puritans called "Gospel hypocrites" persons who have been told that they are Christians, eternally secure, because they believe that Christ died for them, when their hearts are unchanged and they have no personal commitment to Christ at all. I know this, for I was just such a Gospel hypocrite for two years before God mercifully made me aware of my unconverted state. If I seem harsh in my critique of Hodges' redefinition of faith as barren intellectual formalism, you must remember that once I almost lost my soul through assuming what Hodges teaches, and a burned child always thereafter dreads the fire.

(From: Tabletalk, May, 1991, published by Ligonier Ministries, Inc., P.O. Box 547500,Orlando, FL 32746)