尋找你的身份Finding Your Identity
[每日靈修] 1/27/2019, 駱鴻銘編譯
聖經中使用了幾個圖景來描述教會：基督的身體，選民，上帝的家，聖徒。聖經使用的最有意義的表達之一是「上帝的子民」，λαός θεών（laos theon， people of God）。
如此，教會就是神的百姓。羅馬天主教會曾經宣稱：「主教在哪裏，教會就在那裏。」宗教改革則宣稱：「上帝的子民在哪裏，教會就在那裏——在基督主權之下，由聖靈內住的教會。 」
教會既不是建築物，也不是神職人員，更不是抽象的制度——它是上帝的子民。當馬丁路德闡明他對「所有信徒都有祭司職分」的看法時，他並沒有詆毀教會聖職人員的合法角色。他明白基督已經將牧師、教師賜給祂的教會，連同其他職分與特定的任務。然而，路德要表達的意思是，基督的祭司職事在某種程度上已經傳遞給每一位信徒了。
活在神的面光中（在神面前禱告）：
為你是基督身體、選民和上帝子民的一部分而感恩。
進一步研讀：
弗四11～15 祂所賜的，有使徒，有先知，有傳福音的，有牧師和教師， 為要成全聖徒，各盡其職，建立基督的身體， 直等到我們眾人在真道上同歸於一，認識神的兒子，得以長大成人，滿有基督長成的身量， 使我們不再作小孩子，中了人的詭計和欺騙的法術，被一切異教之風搖動，飄來飄去，就隨從各樣的異端； 惟用愛心說誠實話，凡事長進，連於元首基督，
Finding Your Identity
Several
images are used in the Bible to describe the church: the body of Christ, the
elect, the house of God, the saints. One of the most meaningful expressions the
Bible uses is “the people of God,” the laos theon.
The
church, then, is people. The Roman Catholic Church once declared, “Where the
bishop is, there is the church.” The Reformation declared, “Where the people of
God are, there is the church—the church under the Lordship of Christ and indwelt
by the Holy Spirit.”
The
church is neither a building nor the clergy nor an abstract institution—it is
the people of God. When Martin Luther articulated his vision of the priesthood
of all believers, he did not denigrate the legitimate role of the clergy. He
understood that Christ has given pastors and teachers to His church, along with
other offices, with specified tasks. What Luther was getting at, however, is
that the priestly ministry of Christ is passed on in some measure to every
believer.
Coram
Deo
Give
thanks that you are part of the body of Christ, the elect, the people of God.
Passages
for Further Study
Ephesians
4:11–15
