拒做滚石！No Rolling Stones!
文/ Richard B. Gaffin Jr. 译/非比 校/江文宇
教会是什么？教会的目的是什么？我属于教会意味着什么？——这些都是长期存在的问题，每一代基督徒都需要预备好给出有见地的答案。这种预备极其重要，不仅因为我们是耶稣基督的信徒，而这些问题的答案对于我们的身份认知至关根本；还因为在每一代人中都会冒出一些错误的答案，以各种方式误导教会，模糊教会的身份。
What is the church?
What is the purpose of the church? What does it mean for me to belong to the
church? These are perennial questions, and each generation of Christians needs
to be ready with informed answers. That readiness is so essential not only
because such answers are basic to our identity as believers in Jesus Christ,
but also because in every generation wrong answers crop up—answers that in
varying ways mislead the church and blur its identity.
新约中有一段关于教会的关键经文，即彼得前书2:4-5。我们反思这段经文的教导，可以用一种反差对比的方式，即注意并强调教会“不是”什么。我们可以说，这段经文指给我们看：教会并非由滚石构成（信徒不是滚石！）。以下从两种意义上来说明这一真理。
A key New Testament
passage about the church is 1 Peter 2:4–5. One way we may usefully reflect on
its teaching is to note, in contrast, what the church is not. This passage, we
may say, shows us that the church is not made of rolling stones (believers are
not rolling stones!). That’s true in two senses.
建造在基督之上
Built on Christ
新约圣经中关于教会的诸般描绘或曰诸种模型中，最爱用的一个就是房屋——教会是上帝的家。教会是上帝这位设计师和大建筑师，在耶稣复活与再来之间，着手兴办的伟大建筑工程（同时特别参见弗2:19-22）。
One of the favorite
New Testament pictures or models for the church is a building; the church is
God’s house. The church is the great construction job that God, the master
architect and builder, has going in the period between the resurrection and
return of Jesus (see also especially Eph. 2:19–22).
具体而言，这里彼得说到，信徒和基督同为建筑材料——且就建材而言也是极其特殊的一种——活石。教会这个家的独特之处在于，信徒与基督作为“活石”，形成了“属灵的房屋”（和合本作“灵宫”——译注）。基督徒们要明白，自己是“死在过犯罪恶之中”（弗2:1、5）的石头，被上帝这位拥有至高主权的救主，从充满罪恶的人类荒场乱堆中拾起；是藉着祂的圣灵才得以活过来，与基督同被建造。
Specifically, here
Peter says that believers, together with Christ, are the building material, and
a most remarkable construction material at that—living stone. The uniqueness of
the church-house is that as “living stones” they form a “spiritual house.”
Christians are to understand themselves as those stones, “dead in your
transgressions and sins” (Eph. 2:1, 5), that God, the sovereign Savior, has
picked up off the rubble heap of sinful humanity, enlivened by his Spirit, and
built together with Christ.
但我们一定不要忽略耶稣在这所房子里的特殊地位：祂居首位，祂才是那活石。正如彼得立即补充所言（6-7节），祂是那“房角石”（参见弗2:20）；祂也是教会的根基（林前3:11）。只有当信徒被建造在基督之上时，他们才是和基督同被建造，因为他们依靠于基督，被祂托住。这道理反过来便不成立——基督并不依托于信徒。
But we must be sure
not to miss the special place, the primacy, that Jesus has in this house; he is
the living stone. As Peter immediately adds (verses 6–7), he is the
“cornerstone” (cf. Eph. 2:20); he is the foundation of the church (1 Cor.
3:11). Believers are built together with Christ only as they are built on him,
because they rest on and are supported by him. It is not the other way around;
Christ does not rest on them
基督何以得为根基和坚固磐石，托举教会使之建立于其上？彼得在这一点上讲得很清楚——因着祂的死（2:24）和复活（1:3）。基督之所以是基石，并非因着祂的智慧（虽然祂是一位渊博的老师），也不是因为祂所树立的榜样（虽然我们要“跟随他的脚踪行”，2:21），而是因为祂的献祭，因为祂为我们的罪而死。基督是教会的根基，因为祂为我们做了一件事——那一件绝对必要但我们却无法为自己做到的事，而且祂这赎罪祭只一次献上，便全然成就。
How is Christ the
foundation, the solid rock, on which the church is being built? Peter is clear
on that—because of his death (2:24) and resurrection (1:3). Christ is not the
foundation-stone because of his wisdom (though he is a profound teacher) or
because of the example he sets (though we are to “follow in his steps,” 2:21),
but because of his sacrifice, because he died for our sins. Christ is the
foundation of the church because he did for us the one, absolutely necessary
thing that we can’t do for ourselves, and he did it perfectly, once for all.
因此，首先，从这个意义上来说信徒并不是滚石；他们是被稳固建造在基督之上的石头，坚立在磐石之上——这磐石就是祂的义。我们已经与耶稣基督联合，没有什么能使我们与祂分离；正如保罗向我们确保，即使死亡本身都不能叫我们与上帝的爱隔绝（参罗8:38-39）。
So, first of all,
believers are not rolling stones in this sense: they are those stones firmly
built on Christ, fixed upon the solid rock of his righteousness. We have been
bonded to Jesus Christ and nothing can detach us from him; as Paul assures us,
not even death itself can separate us from his love (Rom. 8:38–39).
同被建造
Built Together
彼得以生动话语描绘的画面，使我们看到另一个方面，即关于信徒非滚石的第二种意义。我们必须充分认识到，这一点与第一点密不可分。
Peter’s word picture
enables us to see another, second aspect in which believers are not rolling
stones; this aspect, we must appreciate, is inseparable from the first.
在教会这个家里，就像在任何一间建筑中一样，不仅存在各种正交力，就是向下一直延伸到地基的垂直支撑线，还需考虑各种水平线。任何一幅画面的稳定性，也都要取决于其不同部分之间的横向联结以及交叉关系。
In the church-house,
as in any building, there are not only perpendicular forces, the vertical lines
of support that run down to the foundation, but also horizontal lines, to
consider. The stability of any picture depends as well on lateral ties,
cross-cutting relationships between the various parts.
然后，我们必须意识到，我们与基督的关系和我们与其他信徒的关系密不可分。当然两者一定不要混淆，前者是垂直的，后者是水平的。这种混淆在当今常有发生，例如，在这种混乱的观念中，有人会说自己在其他“人”的身上找到了基督，诸如此类（“在我的弟兄身上看见基督”）。这是种严重的混淆，通过否认基督的独一性而毁坏了福音，剩下我们自己靠自我努力进行自救。
We must recognize,
then, that our relationship to Christ cannot be separated from our
relationships with other believers. Certainly the two must not be confused, the
vertical with the horizontal. That often happens today, in the confused notion,
for instance, that I find Christ in other human beings as such (“Christ in my
fellowman”). That sort of confusion is serious; it destroys the gospel by
denying the uniqueness of Christ and leaving us dependent on our own efforts to
save ourselves.
然而，还是要说，我们与基督的关系并不是孤立的。属乎基督就是属乎祂的教会。要被建造在基督之上，就必须与其他信徒一起同被建造。“在基督里”是“彼此”同在。你绝不可能脱离其他人而单独被建造。
But still our
relationship with Christ is not an isolated one. To belong to Christ is to
belong to his church. To be built on Christ is, necessarily, to be built next
to other believers. To be “in Christ” is to be “with one another.” You simply
cannot have the one without the other.
这段经文对荼毒当代基督教的个人主义来说，是一个清楚具体的、明确无误的挑战——至少在西方是如此。一个太过寻常的现状是，当福音派基督徒听到“教会”这个词时，他们主要地、甚至排他地认为那是一处场所，一间我每周进一次（也许甚至两次或更多）的建筑，进到里面敬拜上帝并听祂的话语被宣讲。
This passage is a
graphic and unmistakable challenge to the individualism that plagues much
contemporary Christianity, at least in the West. Too often when evangelical
Christians hear the word church, what they think of primarily, even
exclusively, is a place, a building that I enter once (or maybe even twice or
more) a week to worship God and hear his word preached.
不要误会。真正的敬拜，以健全的讲道为中心，当然至关重要——这是教会的生命血脉。拿走对道的宣讲，或者甚至是轻视其重要性，教会就会枯干并终归灭没。
Don’t misunderstand.
True worship, with sound preaching at its center, is vital; it is the lifeblood
of the church. Take away preaching, or even slight its importance, and the
church will wither and eventually die.
话虽如此，在教会中却存在一个根深蒂固的问题，严重损害其果效，那就是有太多人是运作一种“讲道站”模式的教会。彼得向我们描绘的教会不是一种属灵的加油站，好似我每周日把车开进去，为当周余下六日灌满了油，然后驱车离去。教会不是我光顾的一间建筑，而是一座房屋、一个家，且我自身就是这房屋的一部分，甚至我的身份就恰恰取决于我在其中的位置。
Still, a deep-seated
problem in the church, seriously impairing its effectiveness, is that too many
people operate with a “preaching station” model of the church. The church Peter
pictures for us is not a kind of spiritual gas station that I drive into on
Sundays, tank up for the rest of the week, and then drive away. The church is
not a building I come to, but a building I am a part of, so much so that my
very identity depends on my place in it.
尽管人们普遍认为教会是一个社会机构，甚至是颇为重要的社会机构，但教会绝不仅仅是一个社会机构。我们是被上帝的灵感动，自由地回应福音，甘心乐意加入教会。但我们必须明白，最终在最深层意义上来说，教会不是一个志愿团体，而是源于上帝主权的、不可抗拒的行动。
Despite much popular
thinking, the church is not just one, even important, institution of society.
Moved by God’s Spirit, we do respond freely to the gospel and join the church
willingly. But we must appreciate that ultimately, in the deepest sense, the
church is not a voluntary association; it results from God’s sovereign,
irresistible activity.
作基督徒是个人的事，但绝不是私人的事；信靠基督是我作为个体必须要做的一件事，但这不是个体独立的行动。那种认为我可以自己独自信，认为我作为一个信徒可以脱离其他信徒而独自发挥作用的观念，在新约中简直是无法想象的。
Being a Christian is
personal, but it is not private; believing in Christ is something I must do as
an individual, but it is not an individualistic activity. The notion that I can
believe by myself, that I can function as a believer apart from other
believers, is simply unthinkable for the New Testament.
基督徒不是隐士，教会里也没有属灵独行侠存在的位置。新约圣经中关于教会的教导，其重大前提之一，通过圣经中频繁出现的短语“彼此”和“互相”就充分体现出来。那么，我们需要认识到，正如我们的信条本身所教导的一样（《威斯敏斯特信条》25:2），通常来说教会之外无救恩。
A Christian is not a
recluse; there is no place in the church for spiritual loners. One of the great
presuppositions of New Testament teaching on the church is captured in the
frequently occurring phrases “each other” and “one another.” We need to
recognize, then, as our Confession itself teaches (25:2), that ordinarily there
is no possibility of salvation outside of the church.
得建造以服事
Built to Serve
古谚云：“滚石不生苔。”可在教会里这并非真理。尽管信徒并非滚石，但他们也绝非懒懒散散、无所事事只能长苔藓的乱堆！
“A rolling stone gathers no moss,” says the
old proverb. But that’s not true in the church. Believers, even though they are
not rolling stones, are not idle, inactive moss gatherers!
教会不是一座陵墓，而是由活石做成。教会也不仅仅是一座令人印象深刻的纪念碑，矗立在那里为过路人观看和欣赏。更确切地讲，教会是一座“属灵的房屋”（“灵宫”），这意味着在这个地方要发生事情。具体来说，教会是要作“圣洁的祭司”，其存在是为了献上“灵祭”。简言之，彼得所描绘的是一座殿。正如耶稣所预言的（约2:19-22），教会这个家是新的也是最终的殿，取代并超越了在耶路撒冷那流于字句表面的、无活泼生命的石头建筑。
The church is not a
mausoleum; it is made of living stones. Nor is it simply an impressive
monument, standing there for passersby to look at and admire. Rather, it is a
“spiritual house”; that means it’s a place where things are to happen.
Specifically, the church is a “holy priesthood” that exists to offer “spiritual
sacrifices.” In a word, what Peter pictures is a temple. Just as Jesus foretold
(John 2:19–22), the church-house is the new and final temple that replaces and
surpasses the structure of literal, inert stone in Jerusalem.
我们经常提到“信徒皆祭司”。这是尤其在宗教改革时期重获的伟大真理，是宝贵的福音真理，即罪人来到上帝面前得蒙拯救，不需要依赖于人间的祭司，或基督以外任何其他中保。
We frequently speak of
“the priesthood of all believers.” That is the great truth recaptured
especially at the time of the Reformation, the precious gospel reality that
sinners are not dependent on human priests, or any other mediator than Christ,
to come to God for salvation.
这段经文还能使我们从另一种意义上思考信徒的祭司身份，而这一点并不常为人们所认识。藉着基督，所有的信徒都是祭司，不仅因为他们可以直接到上帝那里，而且因为他们对上帝的事奉。所有基督徒，而不只是其中一些人，都被呼召作为祭司来事奉上帝——这并非某种可选项，而是基于基督徒的基本身份人人如此。只因为我们无法为我们自己得救做任何事（我们也确实什么都没做），我们就被呼召去为我们的救主做一切事情。作为活石就要靠着圣灵内在的大能，如此才能够献上灵祭。
But this passage
enables us to think of the priesthood of believers in yet another sense, one
not so often recognized. Through Christ, all believers are priests, not only
because of their direct access to God, but also because of their service of
God. All Christians, not just some, are called to serve God as priests, and
that, not as some option, but because of their basic identity. Simply because
we (can) do nothing for our salvation, we are called to do everything for our
Savior. To be a living stone is to be qualified, by the indwelling power of the
Holy Spirit, to offer spiritual sacrifices.
显然，灵祭的内容是全方位的。没有理由将其限制在基督教活动的某个特定领域，而是要包括上帝叫我们为祂做的一切事情。这是一种全面看待基督徒生活的方式。
Plainly, spiritual
sacrifice is a comprehensive reality. There is no reason to restrict it to a
special sector of Christian activity; it includes everything that God wants us
to do for him. It is one way of looking at the Christian life in its entirety.
但是，所献这祭的核心，或许也是彼得在写信时最关切的，正如我们所引经文前几节所写到的：“你们既因顺从真理，洁净了自己的心，以致爱弟兄没有虚假，就当从心里彼此切实相爱。”（彼前1:22）
But what is at the
core of such sacrifice, and perhaps Peter’s foremost concern as he writes,
comes out just a few verses prior to our passage in chapter 1:22: “Now that you
have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for
your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.”
此处“你们洁净了自己的心”并非主要指向伦理的更新或者道德败坏的消除，甚至也许根本不是指这些。此处的语言是关乎圣礼的，带有旧约的背景，描述的是承接祭司圣职。因此，我们可以合理地解释作“你们既被分别出来作祭司……，就当彼此相爱……”这样，此处与我们所查考经文的直接关联就不容置疑了：我们可以说，灵祭开始于，并且在很大程度上存在于，对其他基督徒待之以爱的过程中。
Here, “you have
purified yourselves” does not refer primarily, perhaps not at all, to ethical
renewal or the removal of moral corruption. The language is sacral, with an Old
Testament background; it describes being consecrated a priest. So we may fairly
paraphrase, “Now that you have been set apart as priests ..., love one
another....” With that, the direct link with our passage is unmistakable:
spiritual sacrifice begins and in large part consists, we may say, in loving
other Christians.
就此关联而言，至少需要强调两点。
In this connection, at
least two things need to be stressed.
首先，彼得生动话语描绘的画面适用于教会的各个层面。其指向的是在所有时代、所有地方的一个整体的普世教会。就我们的经验所限而言，其最具体、最直接的体现，是在于地方会众。我得被建造，而与我最接近的其他活石，那些最直接与我相邻的活石，就是那些我在聚会敬拜和生活中与其有（或应该有）持续联系的活石，因为我只是这聚会敬拜和生活的一部分。灵祭“始于家里”。
First, Peter’s word
picture applies to the church at all levels. It refers to the whole, one,
universal church in all times and places. It has in view most concretely and
directly, so far as our experience is concerned, the local congregation. The
other living stones that I’m built closest to, those that are most directly
adjacent to me, are those with whom I have (or ought to have) constant contact
in the ongoing congregational worship and life of which I’m a part. Spiritual
sacrifice “begins at home.”
第二，就灵祭而言，其所呼召的爱不是模糊不确定的，这一点也是在圣经经文中一以贯之的。这爱不仅仅是一种态度或感觉，不仅仅是对待他人的一种“暖意”（尽管这种暖意经常包含在其中）。更确切地说，就像上帝对祂百姓的爱一样，这爱是通过具体行动将自身表达出来。这爱是恒久不懈、竭尽全力地使别人得益处（林前13:4-7）。灵祭是对上帝和他人的一种自我牺牲的爱。因为基督徒不是滚石，他们是要彼此服事。
Second, in the matter
of spiritual sacrifice, the love called for, as always in Scripture, is not
something vague and indefinite. It is not simply an attitude or feeling; it is
not just a “warm glow” toward others (although it may often involve that).
Rather, it expresses itself, like God’s love for his people, in concrete deeds
of love. In unremitting, virtually inexhaustible ways, it seeks the best for
others (1 Cor. 13:4–7). Spiritual sacrifice is self-sacrificing love for God
and others. Because Christians are not rolling stones, they are to serve one
another.
从心里彼此相爱，永不止息。这很难，非常难——尤其是当我们彼此认识的时候。我们不可避免地在别人身上发现许多不可爱、缺乏吸引力和难以相处的地方，正如他们在我们身上发现的一样。那么，我们可能会问：如此献上灵祭的祭司事奉，谁能胜任？
Love one another from
the heart, continually. That’s difficult, very difficult—especially when we get
to know each other. Inevitably we discover in others, as they discover in us, a
lot that is unlovable, unattractive, and difficult to live with. We might ask,
then: this priestly service of spiritual sacrifice, who is capable of it?
当然，答案是我们当中没有人可以胜任。就我们自己而言，没有一个人有这样的“秘诀”。这就是为什么新约的信息不是一番关于“更加努力”的励志演讲，也不是关于积极思考或“自尊心”的信息；而是福音，是关于我们在基督里到底是谁的好消息，是关于上帝在基督里将教会建造为何种样式的好消息。
The answer, of course,
is that no one of us is; of ourselves, none of us has the “secret.” And that’s
why the message of the New Testament is not a “try harder” pep talk, not a
message of positive thinking or “self-esteem,” but the gospel, the good news of
who we are in Christ and what God in Christ has made the church to be.
最后，请记住，在所有这些方面，福音及其果效都处于紧要关头。因为今天，世界仍一如既往地观看着，即使有时可能是无意识地观看，试图看看自己和教会之间是否真有差别，看看作一个基督徒是否真那么与世不同。如果世界在教会里看到的，是不和谐、不和睦，是冲突和自我中心这些在世界自身那里再熟悉不过的东西，世人又会怎么想呢？
Remember, finally,
that the gospel and its effectiveness is at stake in all this. For today, as
always, the world is watching, even when it may not be aware of doing so, to
see if there really is a difference between itself and the church, whether
being a Christian is all that different. What then is it to think if it sees
there, in the church, the disharmony and discord, the strife and
self-centeredness it is all too familiar within itself?
愿上帝赐给我们这个时代的教会一个明确的身份认知——让信徒们看到他们不再是如滚石一般，在自己罪恶带来的死亡中盲目飘摇；而是活石，被坚立在基督之上，并与其他信徒同得建造。当我们在基督里彼此同在，愿祂使我们单单为着祂的荣耀可以有更多的彼此服事。
May God grant to the
church in our own time a clear sense of identity—for believers to see that they
are no longer rolling stones, drifting about aimlessly in the deadness of their
sins, but living stones, firmly built on Christ and together with other
believers. May he grant that as we are with each other in Christ, we may be for
each other more and more, to his glory.