感謝讚美上帝護理的大能与豐盛的供應。 本網誌內的所有資源純屬學習交流之用。

2019-02-01


 經屬於所有時代The Bible Belongs to Every Age

作者: Stephen Nichols  譯者: Maria Marta

1733-34年,喬納森愛德華茲 (Jonathan Edwards) 和北安普敦的會眾經歷了一次復興。康涅狄格河流域、康涅狄格和馬薩諸塞殖民地的其他許多教會也經歷了復興。1733年秋天,愛德華茲作了一些言辭激烈的講道。其中一次是173311月宣講的《人想要的講道》。此次講道從舊約開始,他觀察到上帝子民一直不缺假先知:「假先知總是在他們的罪中奉承他們。」 真先知則斥責罪人。假先知任由罪人「在他們的罪中平安享樂」。接著,針對他那個時代的人對假先知的渴望,他指出:「若牧師們受差遣去告訴大家,他們可以滿足他們的欲望而毫無危險……那麽有些人就會多麽熱切地傾聽他們的話,寄予他們多麽高度的關注。」他補充說:「他們想要一個在他們的罪裏拯救他們的救主,勝過要一個拯救他們脫離罪的救主。」

愛德華茲回應當日那些自認比上帝說話懂得更多的人。他還寫論文回應那些自認比上帝說話明白得更多的學者。愛德華茲時代的英國學術界被啟蒙運動的新思想迷惑。自然神論者掌握實權。他們相信上帝創造世界後就撤手不管了,現在祂讓世界自行運轉。他們拒絕「上帝在祂的說話中啟示祂的旨意」這一觀點。他們拒絕基督道成肉身和基督之神性的教義。他們拒絕神跡的可能性,更莫提神跡的實際發生。他們已經「長大成人」。啟蒙運動思想家和神秘主義者資質深厚,以致無法屈從於古書。

哲學家們影響了教會。1727年,一群獨立的牧師在倫敦集會,討論基督的神性。他們恰恰17世紀堅定的清教徒的後裔。他們就基督的神性和基督喪失神性進行表決。這些人應該知道得更清楚,但他們卻屈從於當天的突發奇想。

愛德華茲與時俱進,跟上這些發展的步伐。他不是邊遠地區的牧師,他擁有最新書藉,洞悉最新觀念。他看到這些觀念將美洲殖民地的教會帶向何方。他發出警報。他也看到他的會眾是如何容易被錯誤的追求引入歧途。他更看到世俗是如何伏在門口,準備突然降臨在那些願意讓步的人身上。


所以,他不是浸沒在清教徒泡沫裏。他對自己的文化和會眾作出回應。他講道,寫書——都是為了捍衛聖經。

我們並不像愛德華那樣,處身歷史上的啟蒙運動初期,而是處身啟蒙運動的沒落期。我們生活在後現代主義初期。我們生活在那些拒絕聖經的人當中。我們生活在那些屈服於世俗爪子的人當中。罪也伏在我們的門口。

那麽愛德華茲提供什麽教牧建議呢?  他將他的會眾指向聖經。他根據聖經來反對啟蒙運動的思想家和自然神論神學家。他依靠上帝的話語。

正如愛德華茲指出,聖經屬於每一個時代。它不僅僅是第一世紀上帝真實的說話。它不僅僅是第一世紀上帝權威的說話。它不僅僅是第一世紀上帝必需的說話。它不僅僅是第一世紀上帝全備(足夠)的說話。

它是歷世歷代,包括二十一世紀的上帝真實、權威、必需、全備的說話。有時神學家說這些都是聖經的屬性。正如上帝的屬性幫助我們認識上帝一樣,聖經的屬性也幫助我們明白聖經。聖經首要的屬性是它的權威性。聖經具有權威性。讓我們再次傾聽殉道者彼得·維米利(Martyr Vermigli)對我們的提醒,這一切都歸結為「耶和華如此說」。若聖經是上帝的說話,它就具有權威性。

本文摘自Stephen Nichols博士所著的《A Time for Confidence》一書。

The Bible Belongs to Every Age
FROM Stephen Nichols

In 1734 and 1735, Jonathan Edwards and the congregation at Northampton experienced a revival. So did many other churches in the Connecticut River Valley in the colonies of Connecticut and Massachusetts. In the fall of 1733, Edwards preached some hard-hitting sermons. One of them, preached in November 1733, has been titled “The Kind of Preaching People Want.” Edwards starts his sermon in the Old Testament, observing that God’s people have had no shortage of false prophets, “that always flattered them in their sins.” True prophets rebuke the sinner. False prophets leave sinners “to the peaceable enjoyment of their sins.” He then turns to the desire that people in his own day had for such false prophets. Edwards continues, “If ministers were sent to tell the people that they might gratify their lusts without danger… how eagerly would they be listened to by some, and what good attention they would give.” He adds, “They would like a savior to save them in their sins much better than a savior to save them from their sins.”

Edwards was responding to those of his day who thought they knew better than the Word of God. He also wrote treatises to respond to the academics who thought they knew better than God’s Word. The English academic world of Edwards’ day was enthralled with the new thinking of the Enlightenment. The deists ruled. They believed that God created the world and then backed away, and now He lets it run along all on its own. They rejected the idea that God reveals His will in His Word. They rejected the doctrine of the incarnation and the deity of Christ. They rejected the possibility, let alone the actual occurrence, of miracles. They had “come of age.” The Enlightenment thinkers and the deists were far too sophisticated to submit to some ancient book.

The philosophers had affected the church. In 1727, a group of independent ministers met in London to debate the deity of Christ. These were the exact descendants of the stalwart Puritans of the 1600s. They voted on the deity of Christ, and the deity of Christ lost. These were men who should have known better. They capitulated to the whims of the day.

Edwards kept up with these developments. He was not a backwoods minister. He had the latest books and kept current with the latest ideas. He saw where these ideas would take the church in the American Colonies. He sounded the alarm. He also saw how his congregation could be so easily led astray by the wrong pursuits. He saw how worldliness crouched at the door, ready to overtake those who so willingly gave in.

So, he was not in a Puritan bubble. He responded to his culture and to his congregation. He preached sermons and he wrote books—all defending the Bible.

We are not historically situated at the dawn of the Enlightenment as Edwards was. We find our place at the Enlightenment’s setting sun. We live in the dawn of postmodernism. We live among those who reject the Bible. We live among those who give in to the clutches of worldliness. Sin crouches at our door too.

So what pastoral counsel did Edwards offer? He pointed his congregation to the Bible. He argued against the Enlightenment thinkers and against the deist theologians based on the Bible. He looked to the Word.

As Edwards noted, the Bible belongs to every age. It is not simply the true Word for the first century. It is not simply the authoritative Word for the first century. It is not simply the necessary Word for the first century. It is not simply the sufficient Word for the first century.

It is the true, authoritative, necessary, clear, and sufficient Word for all centuries, including the twenty-first. Theologians sometimes speak of these as the attributes of Scripture. As the attributes of God help us to learn about God, the attributes of Scripture help us learn about Scripture. The first and foremost attribute of Scripture is its authority. Scripture is authoritative. We again hear Peter Martyr Vermigli remind us that it all comes down to “Thus says the Lord.” If Scripture is the Word of God, it’s authoritative.

This excerpt is adapted from A Time for Confidence by Stephen Nichols


[每日靈修] 2/1/2019,  駱鴻銘編譯

在聖經中,最高的女性形象歸給了教會。然而,在教會被視為母親之前,她首先被啟示為是一位新婦。在舊約中,以色列全體國民是耶和華的新婦。而在新約聖經中,教會是基督的新婦。

由此產生的家庭塑像有些奇怪。上帝是父;基督是兒子。身為上帝的兒子,基督又被稱為我們的長兄。教會是他的新婦。在家庭的用語中,這意味著教會是我們的長嫂。但是卻沒有人談到神聖的長嫂教會。

我們,連男帶女,都被賦予了「基督新婦」的稱號。我是男性,但我屬於一個用女性術語描述的身體的一部分。更奇怪的是,被稱為新娘的同一個實體(我是其中一部分),被視為我的母親。我不能成為自己的母親。

這些圖像並不是把一團荒唐或混亂的東西混雜在一起的結果。把教會稱為母親並不是胡說八道。雖然我們是由聖靈所生,但我們主要是在教會的搖籃裏得到屬靈生命的。如果教會不算是我們的出生地,那肯定算是我們的育兒園。蒙恩之道集中在她的懷裏。教會培育我們成熟的信仰。

活在神的面光中(在神面前禱告):
反思上帝如何使用教會生育你、培養你、使你的信仰成熟。為這個運行在你身上的神聖過程感謝上帝。

進一步研讀:
約壹三12 你看父賜給我們是何等的慈愛,使我們得稱為神的兒女;我們也真是祂的兒女。世人所以不認識我們,是因未曾認識他。親愛的弟兄啊,我們現在是神的兒女,將來如何,還未顯明;但我們知道,主若顯現,我們必要像祂、因為必得見祂的真體。
約一12 凡接待祂的,就是信祂名的人,祂就賜他們權柄,作神的兒女。

Understanding Relationships
In the Bible, the supreme feminine image is ascribed to the church. Before the church is ever seen as mother, though, she is first revealed as a bride. In the Old Testament, the commonwealth of Israel is the bride of Yahweh. In the New Testament, the church is the bride of Christ.

The resulting familial imagery is somewhat strange. God is the Father; Christ is the Son. As the Son of God, Christ is then referred to as our Elder Brother. The church is His bride. In the language of family, this would then mean that the church is our sister-in-law. But no one speaks of holy sister-in-law church.

We, both men and women, are given the title “bride of Christ.” I am male, yet I am part of a body that is described in feminine terms. What is stranger is that the same entity that is called bride, of which I am a part, is regarded as my mother. I cannot be my own mother.

These images are not the result of a jumbled mass of nonsense or confusion. It is not a matter of nonsense to refer to the church as mother. Though we are born of the Spirit, it is chiefly within the cradle of the church where we are birthed into spiritual life. If the church is not our birthplace, it is surely our nursery. It is in her bosom that the means of grace are concentrated. The church nurtures us unto mature faith.

Coram Deo
Reflect on how God has used the church to birth you, nurture you, and mature your faith. Thank God for this divine process that is at work in you.

Passages for Further Study
1 John 3:1-2
John 1:12



門徒訓練與懲戒/紀律Disciplingand Disciplining

[每日靈修] 1/31/2019,  駱鴻銘編譯

當代教會的語言有一種奇怪的二分法。關於訓練(discipling)新基督徒的重要功能的說法和著作多如牛毛,與此同時,教會紀律/懲戒(discipline)的功能則幾乎完全消失了。今天,「門徒訓練」(discipline )是一個用來指教導並培育信徒的詞。它通常不具有教會的責備或懲罰的內涵。

從某種意義上說,這種現代版的門徒訓練與新約聖經的模式有關。新約中,「門徒」(disciple)一詞的意思是「學習者」。耶穌的門徒是註冊耶穌巡迴(peripatetic )拉比學校的學生。他們稱他作「拉比」或「老師」。跟隨耶穌,就是按照祂的指示,跟在祂身後,到處遊逛(peripatetic 這個詞來自希臘詞“peripateo”,意思是「走路」)。

新約聖經的群體對其成員相當寬容且具有耐心,它接受一種能遮掩眾多罪惡的愛。但是在新約聖經中,教會的門徒訓練也涉及到懲戒/紀律。從責備和勸誡中,可以看到使徒教育的一部分。教會有各種階段或程度的懲戒/紀律,從輕微的指責到逐出教會的最終步驟。

活在神的面光中(在神面前禱告):
你接受教會的懲戒/紀律以及當地教會的門徒訓練嗎?求上帝讓你更容易接受祂的管教。

進一步研讀:
提後四2 務要傳道,無論得時不得時,總要專心;並用百般的忍耐,各樣的教訓,責備人、警戒人、勸勉人。
箴九8 不要責備褻慢人,恐怕他恨你;要責備智慧人,他必愛你。
啟三19 凡我所疼愛的,我就責備管教他;所以你要發熱心,也要悔改。

Discipling and Disciplining

There is a strange dichotomy in the language of the contemporary church. Much is said and written about the important function of discipling new Christians, while at the same time the function of church discipline has almost vanished. Today, discipline is a word used to refer to the instruction and nurture of the believer. It does not usually carry the connotation of ecclesiastical censure or punishment.

In one sense, this modern version of discipling is linked to the New Testament model. The term disciple in the New Testament means “learner.” The disciples of Jesus were students who enrolled in Jesus’ peripatetic rabbinic school. They addressed Him as “Rabbi” or “Teacher.” To follow Jesus involved literally walking around behind Him as He instructed them (the word peripatetic comes from the Greek word peripateo, which means “to walk”).

The New Testament community was forbearing and patient with its members, embracing a love that covered a multitude of sins. But in the New Testament, church discipleship also involved discipline. Part of apostolic nurture was seen in rebuke and admonition. The church had various levels or degrees of such discipline, ranging from the mild rebuke to the ultimate step of excommunication.

Coram Deo
Do you accept discipline as well as discipling from your local church body? Ask God to make you more receptive to His discipline.

Passages for Further Study
2 Timothy 4:2
Proverbs 9:8
Revelation 3:19