古老異端的五個新要點FiveNew Points of Old Heresy

作者: Burk Parsons  譯者: Maria Marta

https://tabletalkmagazine.com/article/2019/01/five-new-points-old-heresy/

每個人都有自己的信條。即使那些聲稱他們「唯一的信條是基督」的基督徒也有一條信條，因為就在他們開始解釋他們對基督的信仰的那一刻，他們實際上在背誦他們關於基督的信條。事實上，沒有信條是不可能的。因此，問題是:  我們的信條是否經過謹慎制定並記錄下來，是否合乎聖經和正統教義，並得到教會先輩們的確認?  或者我們的信條是建立在我們自己的權威和聰明的發明之上，總是按照我們讀到的最新互聯網帖文，或按照我們自己對教義的突發奇想而改變。

如果我們確實是基督徒，我們就會關心我們所相信的，因此，我們會關心信條中所認信的，因為我們所相信的是一種依據，以此判斷我們是否合乎聖經正統，是否是異教徒。歷史上的改革宗信經和信條總結並系統地闡明上帝話語對我們的教導，其最終的目的是使我們能榮耀上帝，以祂為樂，直到永遠。如果我們關心我們所相信的，我們就會關心教會歷史上的信經和信條，我們就會關心四百年前荷蘭發生的事，以及改革宗教會是如何作出回應的。

雅各布斯•阿米念（Jacobus Arminius）教授於1609年去世後，他的學生們采納了他的一些觀點，並加上許多他們自己的觀點，以抗議改革宗教會長期以來確立的教義。這些抗議者或抗辯派（Remonstrants）起草了與改革宗教會在教義上存在分歧的五點意見。他們的五要點其實並不新鮮。它們同樣是一些穿著十七世紀裝束的老伯拉糾異端。為了回應抗辯派的非正統的教義陳述，多特會議於1618-1619年在德雷赫特 (簡稱多特) 召開，目的是打擊他們的錯誤教導。會議擬定出多特信經，它與比利時信條(1561年)、海德堡要理問答(1563) 的信仰準則一致。這些文獻稱為三項聯合信條，改革教會在幾個世紀以來一直由衷地肯定這些文獻，為的是讓教會能夠繼續認識和敬拜那一位按照祂的形象創造我們的獨一真神，而非我們在我們的心中制造出來的神。

Dr. Burk Parsons (@BurkParsons) is editor of Tabletalk magazine, senior pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla., and a Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow. He is cotranslator and coeditor of A Little Book on the Christian Life by John Calvin.

Five New Points of Old Heresy

by Burk Parsons

Everyone has a creed. Even those Christians who claim that their “only creed is Christ” have a creed, because the very moment they begin to explain what they believe about Christ, they are in fact reciting their creed about Christ. In truth, it’s impossible not to have a creed. So, the question is this: Is our creed carefully formulated and written down, biblically and doctrinally orthodox, and attested to by faithful forefathers of the church? Or is it based on our own authority and clever invention, always changing according to the last internet post we read or according to our own doctrinal whims?

If indeed we are Christians, we will care what we believe and, therefore, what we confess in our creed, for what we believe is the very basis of whether we are biblically orthodox or whether we’re heretics. The historic Reformed creeds and confessions summarize and systematically articulate what the Word of God teaches us, to the end that we might glorify God and enjoy Him forever. If we care about what we believe, we will care about the historic creeds and confessions of the church, and we will care about what happened in the Netherlands four hundred years ago and how the Reformed church responded.

After the death of professor Jacobus Arminius in 1609, his students took some of his thoughts and many of their own and protested the long-established doctrines of the Reformed church. These protesters, or Remonstrants, drafted five points of doctrinal disagreement with the Reformed church. Their five points were nothing new. They were some of the same old Pelagian heresies dressed in seventeenth-century garb. In response to their unorthodox doctrinal formulations, a synod was held in Dordrecht in 1618–19 to combat their false teaching. The synod produced the Canons of Dort, which are consistent with the Belgic Confession (1561) and the Heidelberg Catechism (1563). These documents are known as the Three Forms of Unity, and the Reformed church has heartily affirmed them through the centuries to the end that the church might continue to know and worship the one, true God who made us in His image, and not the god we made in ours.