预定：别谈论它，除非…Predestination: Don’t Say aWord About It Until…

作者：Daniel Hyde  译者: 骆鸿铭 

https://www.ligonier.org/blog/predestination-dont-say-word-about-it-until/

https://www.facebook.com/peddrluo/posts/10157836939274653

基督徒需要谈论预定、牧师也需要宣讲预定。但是，如你所知，想要在家人和朋友之间制造冷场，没有比说「大家好，让我们来谈谈预定吧」更稳当的方法了。我们都知道这个教义会多么挑动不信者、甚至信徒的敏感神经。但我不想让你经历这种尴尬的场合。我希望你我都成为耶稣基督有力的见证人。我们需要的不仅仅是对真理的了解，更需要在智慧中成长，在爱里说诚实话（弗四15）。

Christians need to talk about and pastors need to preach predestination. But as you may know, there’s no more surefire way to create awkward silence among family and friends than to say, “Hey everyone, let’s talk about predestination.” We all know how offensive this doctrine is to the sensibilities of unbelievers and even believers. But I don’t want you to have that awkwardness. I want you and me to be effective witnesses for Jesus Christ. We need more than knowledge of the truth; we need to grow in the wisdom of speaking the truth in love (Eph. 4:15).

这就是为什么在谈论预定之前，你必须知道，也必须准备好传达几件事。想象一下，这个教义有如一幅美丽的画。但是，甚至在开始涂上颜料之前，你需要的是一块画布。预定是颜料。但我们不是从颜料开始，而是从颜料的画布开始。

That’s why you need to know and be prepared to communicate several things before talking about predestination. Imagine that this doctrine is as a beautiful painting. But before you can even begin to apply the paint, you need to have a canvas. Predestination is the paint. We don’t begin with the paint. We begin with a canvas to which the paint is applied.

你知道你罪恶的光景

You Know Your Sinful Condition

除非你知道你罪恶的光景，否则不要谈论预定。当我们的属灵先祖为多特大会聚集，以回应亚米念（Jacob Arminius）的教导时，他们最先说的是：

Don’t say a word about predestination until you know your sinful condition. When our spiritual forefathers gathered for the Synod of Dort to respond to the teachings of Jacob Arminius, the first thing they said was this:

因为众人在亚当里都犯了罪、受咒诅、当受永死，所以如果上帝让众人灭亡，因罪恶而被定罪，上帝也没有什么不公义的地方。（多特信经，I.1）

As all men have sinned in Adam, lie under the curse, and are deserving of eternal death, God would have done no injustice by leaving them all to perish and delivering them over to condemnation on account of sin. (Canons of Dort, 1.1)

我们的罪恶光景被描述为「在亚当里」犯了罪。在罗马书第五章中，保罗说到，「这就如罪是从一人入了世界，死又是从罪来的；于是死就临到众人，因为众人都犯了罪。」（第12节）在第13～14节，保罗接着说，即使在亚当违背了上帝的律法之后，而以色列会在摩西统治下再次打破上帝律法之前，每个人都是有罪的。为什么呢？都是因为亚当。请注意这个次第：亚当，罪，死亡。上帝创造了亚当；上帝给了亚当一个命令；亚当违反了这命令。你必须明白，亚当的所作所为影响到所有生在这世上的人。他是我们的祖先所说到的「公众人物」，是其他人的代表。正如我们的总统所做的对我们其他人很重要，因为他代表我们，亚当所做的也很重要，因为他在伊甸园里代表你我。

Our sinful condition is described as having sinned “in Adam.” In Romans 5, Paul says, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (v. 12). In verses 13–14, Paul goes on to say that even after Adam broke God’s law and before Israel would break God’s law again under Moses, everyone was still sinful. Why? Because of Adam. Notice the progression: Adam, sin, death. God created Adam; God gave Adam a command; Adam violated the command. And you have to understand that what Adam did affected everyone else who was to come into the world. He was what our forefathers called “a public person,” a representative of everyone else. Just as what our president does matters to the rest of us because he represents us, so too what Adam did matters because he represented you and me way back in the garden of Eden.

因此，「罪从亚当入了世界」，也请注意，正因为那一次的罪，「死」进入世界，「临到众人」（原文直译是散布到所有的人）。但问题是，所有生在世上的人若还没有犯罪，死是如何临到他们的？最后一句话是关键：「因为众人都犯了罪」。何时犯的罪？当亚当犯罪的时候。所有的人在一个人里面犯了罪。因此，我们生来就是「死在过犯和罪恶中」（弗二1），「在罪孽里生的，……在罪中......怀了我」（诗五一5；见新译本）。

So “sin came into the world through” Adam, and notice that it’s because of that one sin that “death” came into the world, “spread[ing] to all men.” But the question is, How did death come to everyone born into the world when everyone born had yet to sin? The last phrase is the key: “because all sinned.” When? When Adam sinned. All sinned in the one man’s sin. Thus, we are born “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1) and born “in iniquity, and in sin … conceiv[ed]” (Ps. 51:5).

由于亚当的罪，也因为我们与它有分，我们就落在创世记二章15节的诅咒之下。在罗马书第五章中，我们再次在15～19节中读到亚当和耶稣之间三个一系列的强烈对比，结果是我们配得永死。这里的次第是：罪，诅咒，死亡。你可以在罗马书第五章保罗的话中看到这一点：起初有「一人」，即亚当；亚当的所作所为用三个词来形容：他「犯罪」，他的「过犯」，他「悖逆」；正因为这点，上帝宣告了祂的「审判」；这个判决导致他被「定罪」；而他被定罪导致他属灵生命和身体最终的「死亡」。

Because of Adam’s sin and our participation in it, we lie under the curse of Genesis 2:15. In Romans 5, again, we read in verses 15–19 a series of three great contrasts between Adam and Jesus, with the result that we are deserving of eternal death. Sin, curse, death. And you can see this in the progression of Paul’s words in Romans 5: in the beginning there was “one man,” Adam; what Adam did is described with three terms: he “sinned,” he “trespassed,” and he was “disobedient”; because of this, God pronounced his “judgment”; this judgment led to his “condemnation”; his condemnation led to his spiritual and eventual physical “death.”

你当认识上帝正义的定罪

You Know God’s Just Condemnation

这会冒犯人敏感的神经，不是吗？因此，我们经常被告知，「上帝不会把任何人送进地狱；是他们把自己送进去的」。我们被告知，「上帝不会因为任何人有罪就把他们送进地狱，而只会因为他们不信耶稣基督」。我们被告知，「我们都有一个平等的机会上天堂」。有人问我们，「那么，那些真心寻求上帝的人呢？」对于一个多元文化、多元主义、所谓后现代的世界来说，上帝的公平是人难以理解的。但是，现代人的反对意见说，「上帝是不公平的」，根本不是现代才有的。在罗马书第九章中，保罗所回应的，正是这种古老的反对意见之一。这是对人生来有罪的反驳。

This is offensive to the sensibilities of people, isn’t it? So often we are told, “God sends no one to hell; they send themselves there.” We’re told, “God doesn’t send anyone to hell because of their sinfulness, but because of what they didn’t do with Jesus Christ.” We’re told, “We all have an equal opportunity to get to heaven.” We’re asked, “What about those who sincerely seek after God?” The justice of God is hard to understand for a multicultural, pluralistic, so-called post-modern world. But the modern objection that says, “God is unjust,” is not modern at all. In Romans 9, this was one of the ancient objections to which Paul responded. This is an objection of natural sinfulness.

相反，上帝的话语（圣经）告诉我们，我们是罪人，而上帝是公义的。圣经告诉我们，由于我们的罪，「每个人都无话可说」和「普世的人都伏在上帝的审判之下」（罗三19）。圣经告诉我们，「世人都犯了罪」，因此都「亏缺了上帝的荣耀」（罗三23）。圣经告诉我们，「罪的工价就是死」（罗六23）。因此，「如果上帝让众人灭亡，因罪恶被定罪，上帝也没有什么不公义的地方。」。所以，在你认识上帝公正的定罪之前，不要谈论预定。祂是至高至圣的法官，只会做正确的判决。

Instead, the Word of God tells us that we are sinners and God is just. Scripture tells us that because of our sins, “every mouth may be stopped” and “the whole world may be held accountable to God” (Rom. 3:19). Scripture tells us that “all have sinned” and therefore all have “fall[en] short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Scripture tells us that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Therefore, God would have done no injustice by leaving us all to perish and delivering us over to condemnation on account of sin. So don’t say a word about predestination until you know God’s just condemnation. He is the Supreme Judge who only does what is right.

你当认识上帝的爱

You Know God’s Love

在你认识上帝的爱之前，不要谈论预定。我在上面提到多特信经的第一条。在我们提到预定之前，请听第二条：

Don’t say a word about predestination until you know God’s love. I mentioned above the first article of the Canons of Dort. Now listen to the second article, before any mention is made of predestination:

但「上帝差祂独生子到世间来，…上帝爱我们的心在此就显明了」（约壹四9），「叫一切信祂的，不至灭亡，反得永生」（约三16）。（多特信经，I.2）

But in this the love of God was manifested, that He sent His only begotten Son into the world, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life. (Canons of Dort, 1.2)

使徒约翰告诫他的听众，说到：「亲爱的弟兄啊，我们应当彼此相爱」（约壹四7），然后又说，「亲爱的弟兄啊，上帝既是这样爱我们，我们也当彼此相爱」（第11节）。在这之间，约翰谈到我们爱的原由。我们应当爱，是因为「爱是从上帝来的」（第7节）。祂已经把它赐给凡「从上帝而生」的人，他们如今也「认识上帝」（第7节）。然后，他指出最终的原因：「上帝是爱」（第8节）。

The Apostle John exhorted his hearers, saying, “Beloved, let us love one another” (1 John 4:7), and then again, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (v. 11). In the midst of this, John speaks of the cause of our love. We are to love because “love is from God” (v. 7). He has given it to whoever has “been born of God” and now “knows God” (v. 7). Then he states the ultimate cause: “God is love” (v. 8).

上帝对自己的爱

God’s Love of Himself

在你谈论预定之前，你必须认识上帝对自己的爱。约翰谈到「上帝的爱」（第9节）。他说的不是我们对上帝的爱，而是上帝的爱。正如神学家所描述的，这种爱是内在地（ad intra），自然地（amor naturalis），必然地（amor necessitas）存在于上帝里面，后来自动地（amor voluntarius）在上帝从外（ad extra）差遣祂的爱子时显明出来。上帝的爱体现在祂差祂的儿子给我们，我们因此认识上帝的爱。但务必认识到这一点：因为上帝显明祂的爱，这就意味着在我们经历这种爱之前先有一种爱。我们在约翰壹书四章9～10节中，当我们读到上帝和祂的独生子时，略略地瞥见了这种爱的本质。

Before you say a word about predestination, you need to know God’s love of Himself. John speaks of “the love of God” (v. 9). He’s not speaking of our love of God, but of God’s love. As theologians have described, this love exists internally (ad intra), naturally (amor naturalis), and necessarily (amor necessitas) in God and is later manifested voluntarily (amor voluntarius) from God externally (ad extra) in the sending of His Son. We know God’s love in manifesting it in the sending of His Son to us. But recognize something about that. Because God manifests His love, this means that there is a love that is prior to our experiencing it. We get a glimpse of its essence in 1 John 4:9–10 when we read of God and His only Son.

作为上帝，祂以「他们」的身分永远存在，且是自我充足的：圣父，圣子——这里同时提到了——和圣灵。上帝在创造世界以前所做的，是在圣父、圣子和圣灵的关系中爱自己。我们对父母的爱有一个起点；我们对朋友的爱有一个起点。然而，约翰所说的是从以前到现在都存在的爱——更好的说法是，那永远是现在式的爱。

As God, He exists eternally and self-sufficiently as Them: Father, Son—both mentioned here—and Holy Spirit. What God was doing before creation was loving Himself within the relationships between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our love for our parents had a beginning. Our love for our friends had an inception point. What John is talking about, though, is love that has always been—better yet, that just is.

请看约翰福音第十七章。耶稣在第22至23节中为祂教会的合一向父神祈求，然后在第23节的结尾，我们读了这个祷告的目的：「叫世人知道你差了我来，也知道你爱他们如同爱我一样」。这只是圣父对还在地上时的耶稣的爱吗？这种爱显明在耶稣的洗礼中：「这是我的爱子」（太三17）。这种爱可以追溯到更远。在约翰福音十七章24节，耶稣祈求：「父啊，我在哪里，愿你所赐给我的人也同我在那里，叫他们看见你所赐给我的荣耀；因为创立世界以前，你已经爱我了。」最后，在约翰福音十七章26节中，耶稣说到，「我已将你的名指示他们，还要指示他们，使你所爱我的爱在他们里面，我也在他们里面。」这意味着上帝作为三位一体对自己的爱是一种永恒的、自给自足的爱。正如汤玛斯•曼顿（Thomas Manton）所说：

Look at John 17. Jesus prays to the Father for the unity of His church in verses 22–23, and then at the end of verse 23 we read the purpose: “so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (emphasis added). Was this just the love of the Father for Jesus while He was on earth? That love was manifested in His baptism: “This is my beloved Son” (Matt. 3:17). This love goes back further. In John 17:24, Jesus prays that His people “may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (emphasis added). Finally, in John 17:26, Jesus says, “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them” (emphasis added). This means that God’s love of Himself as Trinity is an eternal, self-sufficient love. As Thomas Manton said,

「上帝的爱和祂自己一样古老；上帝不曾在任何时候不想到我们、爱我们。我们习惯奖励一个老朋友；但我们最古老的朋友是上帝，祂不仅仅在我们变得可爱之前就爱我们，而且甚至是在我们存在于世界之前就爱我们。祂在我们想到祂之前，就已经想到我们了。」

God’s love is as ancient as himself; there was no time when God did not think of us, and love us. We are wont to prize an ancient friend; the ancientest friend we have is God, who loved us not only before we were lovely, but before we were at all. He thought of us before ever we could have a thought of him.

这意味着上帝对自己作为三位一体的爱是完美的爱。因此，根据约翰壹书第四章的说法，这是我们爱的榜样。上帝作为三位一体对自己的爱，是圣父借着与圣灵的团契对祂独生子的一种深情的爱。永恒的圣子是圣父完整的爱的第一个对象。约翰•欧文说，儿子是「在父的怀里——在祂的爱的永恒怀抱中」。

This means that God’s love of Himself as Trinity is a perfect love. Therefore, it is the paradigm for our love, according to 1 John 4. God’s love of Himself as Trinity is an intimate love of Father for His only Son in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The eternal Son is the first object of the whole of the Father’s love. John Owen said the Son “is in the bosom of the Father—in the eternal embraces of his love.”

上帝对世人的爱

God’s Love of the World

在你谈论预定之前，你必须认识上帝对世人的爱。如此，在圣三一之间永恒的、内在的、自给自足的爱，在上帝差遣「祂的独生子到世上来」（约壹四9），「就在我们中间显明了」（参《新译本》）。

Before you say a word about predestination, you need to know God’s love of the world. The eternal, internal, self-sufficient love among the persons of the Holy Trinity is then “made manifest among us” in God’s sending of “His only Son into the world” (1 John 4:9).

上帝的爱显明在祂差遣「祂的独生子到世上来」，这里的「世界」是什么意思？希腊文单词kosmos，「世界」，在约翰的著作中有许多不同的用法。首先，它谈到受造界（约一3、10，十七5、24，廿一25）。这意思是上帝对祂受造界普遍的爱。其次，它谈到人类世界（约一10、29，四42，六33、51，十二19、46-47，十四17、19，十六20，十七21；约壹二2，三1），以及在失丧状态下的人类世界（约三16、17、19，四42，八23，九39，十二47，十二31，十三1，十六11，十八36；约壹四14）。这个世界需要救主，因为它仇恨耶稣（约七7）和祂的门徒（约十五18-19；约壹三13、17）。尽管人类因它的罪而理当受到刑罚，但具体来说，上帝对罪人有一种特殊的爱。「上帝爱世人，甚至……」（约三16）。但具体而言，上帝爱祂从世界中救拔出来的特定子民：「不是我们爱上帝，乃是上帝爱我们，差祂的儿子为我们的罪作了挽回祭，这就是爱了。」（约壹四10）正如巴刻（J. I. Packer）所解释的，「上帝以某种方式爱一切的人...但祂以一切的方式爱一些人。」

What does it mean that God’s love was manifested “into the world”? The Greek word kosmos, “world,” is used in many different ways in John’s writings. First, it speaks of the created world (John 1:3, 10; 17:5, 24; 21:25). This means that there is a love of God for His creation in general. Second, it speaks of the world of humanity (John 1:10, 29; 4:42; 6:33, 51; 12:19, 46–47; 14:17, 19; 16:20; 17:21; 1 John 2:2; 3:1) as well as the world of humanity in its lost condition (John 3:16, 17, 19; 4:42; 8:23; 9:39; 12:47; 12:31; 13:1; 16:11; 18:36; 1 John 4:14). This world needs a Savior because it hates Jesus (John 7:7) and His disciples (John 15:18–19; 1 John 3:13, 17). While humanity justly deserves condemnation because of its sins, there is a special love of God for sinners in particular. “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16). But specifically, God loves His peculiar people whom He takes out of the world: “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10, emphasis added). As J.I. Packer explained, “God loves all in some ways … He loves some in all ways.”

那么，就预定而言，这一切意味着什么呢？这意味着，在你谈论预定之前，你必须强调圣经中的教导：关于人类在上帝面前的罪，上帝对罪的公正刑罚，以及上帝长阔高深的爱。然后，也只有到那个时候，圣经预定的教义才会显得有意义，才会变得顺理成章。

So what does all this mean in terms of predestination? It means that before you speak a word about predestination, you need to emphasize the biblical teachings of humanity’s sin before God, God’s just punishment upon that sin, and the deep and high love of God. Then, and only then, does the biblical doctrine of predestination make any sense.