改革宗信仰基础18：救恩次序Basics of the Reformed Faith:The Order of Salvation
作者： Kim Riddlebarger 译者：寇正华
当基督徒说 ordo salutis 时，我们指的是“救恩的次序”。虽然我们应当通过肯定无所不知的上帝不需要像我们一样按着顺序次序做事来限定对这样的“次序”的任何讨论，然而，上帝救我们脱离罪恶及其后果的方式是有逻辑次序的。既然我们被描述为“死在罪中”（弗2:1-5）并且不能做任何事情来救我们摆脱可怕的困境（约6:44），上帝为要救我们脱离罪恶，就必须在我们仍旧“死”的时候向我们行事。救恩次序只是试图理解上帝采取什么步骤来拯救我们，并且这些步骤是按什么逻辑次序。
这不是一个抽象的概念，因为圣经本身说我们的救恩是按照神圣命定的进程为我们完成的。这些经文段落中的第一个是在罗马书8:28-30中发现的所谓的“金链”。在这段中，保罗写道：“我们晓得万事都互相效力，叫爱神的人得益处，就是按他旨意被召的人，因为他预先知道的人，就预先定下效法他儿子的模样，使他儿子在许多弟兄中作长子。预先所定下的人又召他们来，所召来的人又称他们为义，所称为义的人又叫他们得荣耀。”
这段已被描述为救恩的“金链”（golden chain），因为保罗不仅说到对于上帝借以救我们的计划的牢不可破的次序（这就是“链”），而且使徒清楚，我们的救恩自始至终都是恩典和主权的上帝的工作，上帝开始了拯救我们的过程，并且一直看顾到底（这就是“金”）。这里有些观点是没有意义：上帝所拣选的一些人最终被拒绝，或者罪人里面有一些善行，促使上帝怜悯他们并且因而为他们行事。
虽然保罗提醒他的读者，上帝有权能使万事互相效力（28节），但他很快地开始限定：这仅向着根据上帝的旨意被召的人施行。因此，当福音传给我们时，上帝最终呼召他的选民信靠耶稣基督。这呼召包含几个重要的元素 。
保罗将那些被上帝预先知道的人说成是被预先被定下的人。有些人错误地认为这意味着上帝俯视时间的走廊，然后选择拯救那些他预先知道当福音传给他们时会信福音的人。情况并非如此，因为保罗已经告诉我们，某些人得救的呼召不是基于预见的信心，而是基于上帝的旨意（28节）。此外，预先知道不仅仅意味着上帝预先知道我们将做什么，而是上帝知道我们，如同在诗篇139篇中描绘的全部意思中的个体那样——其中上帝被说成甚至在我们思考之前就知道我们的想法，因为是他使我们在母腹中成形。
保罗说，所有上帝所预先知道的人，他也预定。预定指的是他的选民被拣选的特定结局——效法基督的模样（如同在链中最后一环中所阐明的，得荣耀）。那些预先所知道的人被预先定下，而那些被预先定下的人被呼召。呼召发生在当福音被传讲并且上帝的选民以信心回应这信息的时候。那些通过福音的传讲而被召的人被称为义。称义的发生是因为基督的善功通过信心的工具归给被召的人，并且因着基督的善功，我们在神面前被看作义。
链中的最后一环是那些被预先知道、预先定下、被召并且称义的人最终被称为得荣耀。也就是说，当在基督里死去的人复活的那天，我们完全从罪恶的结果中恢复。保罗的观点是，上帝开始我们的救恩，并确保它完成。
在另一段经文中，保罗提出了类似的救恩的“次序”（林前6:11），当使徒写道，“你们奉主耶稣基督的名，并藉着我们神的灵，已经洗净、成圣、称义了。”虽然一些特定的元素以与罗马书8:28-30中的不同的次序出现，但总体的思想是一样的。一方面，保罗在此使用的所有动词（希腊语的不定过去时）表明这些元素中的每一个都是已经完成的动作。正如在罗马书8:28-30节中一样，上帝为我们完成了这些事。他为我们做的拯救工作已经完成。所有在基督里的人被洗净、成圣、称义了。
洗净指的是重生，是一种神圣的行为，借此，我们得到新的生命并且从罪恶中被洗净，而且是在压制我们的罪恶权势被打破的时候。所有被“洗净”的人也被称为成圣的人。也就是说，那些由上帝的灵重生的人如今为着上帝的神圣旨意被分别出来，并且开始了向罪死以及复活成新生命的生命过程（成圣）。上帝为着他自己神圣的旨意所分别出来的那些人也称为被称义的——也就是当我们重生时，我们恢复生命并且将我们的信赖投靠在耶稣基督身上。当我们将信赖（信心）投靠基督时，基督的善功就被看作或归给我们，所以我们在上帝面前被宣告为义。保罗结束这个特殊的益处清单时告知我们，所有的这些都是由圣灵完成的，圣灵将基督的拯救工作施行给我们。
救恩次序（ordo salutis）的教义让我们看到，圣经非常清楚地教导，我们的救恩自始至终都是上帝通过耶稣基督为我们完成的工作。我们也看到，上帝不只是开始了该过程，却在中间停下。所有被预先知道的人（罗8:28-30）都得荣耀，并且所有被洗净的人（林前6:11）都被称义。从始至终，我们的救恩确确实实是属于主的。
Basics of the Reformed Faith:
The Order of Salvation
Kim
Riddlebarger
When
Christians speak of the “ordo salutis” we are referring to the “order of
salvation.” While we should qualify any discussion of such an “order” by
affirming that an omniscient God does not need to do things in sequential order
as we do, nevertheless there is a logical order to the way in which God saves
us from sin and its consequences. Since we are described as “dead in sin”
(Ephesians 2:1-5) and unable to do anything to save ourselves from our dire
predicament (John 6:44), God must act upon us while we are still “dead” in
order to save us from our sins. The ordo salutis is simply an attempt to
understand what steps God takes to save us, and in what logical order he takes
them.
This
is not an abstract concept because Scripture itself speaks of our salvation as
being accomplished for us according to a divinely-ordained progression. The
first of these passages is the so-called “golden chain” of salvation found in
Romans 8:28-30. In that passage Paul writes, “and we know that for those who
love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according
to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed
to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many
brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he
called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
The passage
has been described as the “golden chain” of salvation because Paul not only
speaks of an unbreakable order to the plan by which God saves us (the chain),
but the apostle is clear that our salvation from beginning to end is the work
of a gracious and sovereign God, who having begun the process of our salvation,
sees it through the end (the “gold”). There is no sense here that some of those
chosen by God are eventually rejected, or that there is something good within
the sinner which moves God to have pity on them and then act on their behalf.
Although
Paul reminds his reader that God has the power to turn all things to good (v.
28), he quickly goes on to qualify that this applies to only those who are
called according to God’s purpose. Therefore, when the gospel is preached to
us, God effectually calls his elect to faith in Jesus Christ. And that call
involves several important elements (i.e., the ordo salutis).
Paul
speaks of those foreknown by God as being predestined. Some have erroneously
taken this to mean that God looks down the corridors of time and then chooses
to save those whom he knows in advance will believe the gospel when it is
preached to them. This is not the case, because Paul has already told us that
calling of certain people to salvation is not based upon foreseen faith, but
upon the purposes of God (v. 28). Furthermore, foreknowledge does not merely
mean that God knows what we will do in advance, but rather that God knows us as
individuals in the full sense depicted in Psalm 139–where God is said to know
our thoughts before we even think them because it is he who has formed us in
our mother’s womb.
According
to Paul, all those whom God foreknows, he also predestines. Predestination
refers to the particular end for which his elect are chosen–to be conformed to
the image of Christ (as spelled out in the final link in the chain,
glorification). Those foreknown are predestined, and those predestined are
called. Calling occurs when the gospel is preached, and God’s elect respond to
that message with faith. Those called through the preaching of the gospel are
said to be justified. Justification occurs because the merits of Christ are
imputed to those called through the means of faith, and because of Christ’s
merits, we are reckoned righteous before God.
The
final link in the chain is that those foreknown, predestined, called, and
justified, are at last said to be glorified. That is, we are fully restored
from the effects of sin on the day when the dead in Christ are raised. Paul’s
point is that God begins our salvation and ensures that it is completed.
In
yet another passage, Paul lays out a similar “order” of salvation (1
Corinthians 6:11), when the apostle writes, “you were washed, you were
sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the
Spirit of our God.” Although some of the particular elements appear in a
different order than in Romans 8:28-30, the general idea is the same. For one
thing, all the verbs (in the Greek aorist tense) used here by Paul indicate
that each of these elements is already a completed act. And just as in Romans
8:28-30, God accomplishes these things for us. His saving work on our behalf is
already finished. All those in Christ are washed, are sanctified, are
justified.
Washing
refers to regeneration, that divine act whereby we are given new life and are
cleansed from the guilt of sin, and when sin’s power over us is broken. All
those “washed” are also said to be sanctified. That is, those regenerated by
God’s Spirit are now set apart for God’s holy purposes and begin the life-long
process of dying to sin and rising to newness of life (sanctification). Those
set part by God for his own holy purposes are also said to be justified–that is
when we are regenerated, we come to life and place our trust in Jesus Christ.
When we place our trust (faith) in Christ, Christ’s merits are reckoned or
credited to us, so we are declared righteous before God. Paul ends this
particular list of benefits by informing us that all of this was accomplished
by the Holy Spirit, who applies to us the saving work of Jesus Christ.
The
ordo salutis is one very useful way to keep before our eyes the fact that
Scripture very clearly teaches that from beginning to end, our salvation is
God’s work, accomplished for us by Jesus Christ. We also see that God doesn’t
begin the process, only to quit in the middle of it. All those foreknown (in
Romans 8:28-30) are glorified, and all those washed (in 1 Corinthians 6:11),
are justified. Our salvation is truly of the Lord, from beginning to end.