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2019-04-19


贖罪和挽回祭是什麽意思?WhatDo Expiation and Propitiation Mean?

作者:  R.C. Sproul  譯者: Maria Marta

當我們談到贖罪的代替性層面時常反覆提及兩個專業術語1. expiation = 贖罪/消除2. propitiation = 使上帝息怒/獻上挽回祭。這兩個詞哪一個才是特定希臘字的翻譯呢?此問題引起各種各樣的爭論,有些版本的聖經用其中一個詞,而有些版本則用另一個詞。我經常被要求解釋它們之間的區別。但困難在於,即使這些詞出現在聖經中,但我們也沒有將它們当日常詞匯来使用,所以我們不確定它們在聖經中所表達的準確意思。我們缺乏與這些詞相關的參考點。

贖罪與挽回祭

讓我們來思考這兩個詞的意思。從「贖罪」(expiation)開始,前綴ex的意思是「」(out of 「從」(from),所以贖罪與移除或帶走某物有關。從聖經措詞嚴密的意義上說,它們與「借着償付刑罰的代價或獻上贖罪祭來除罪」有關。而「挽回祭」與贖罪的對象有關。前綴pro的意思是「代替」,所以挽回祭引起上帝態度的轉變:從與我們為敵轉變為為了我們得益處。藉著挽回祭的獻上,我們與上帝的交通得以恢復,在上帝面前得以蒙恩。

從某種意義上說,挽回祭與上帝被安撫有關。我們知道安撫一詞在軍事和政治沖突中是如何發揮作用的。我們想到所謂的綏靖政策,這種哲學認為,面對一個難以控制的世界征服者,其刀劍出鞘,錚錚作響,與其冒死抵擋他閃電戰般的狂怒,倒不如把捷克斯洛伐克的蘇台德(Sudetenland)或類似的大片領土割讓給他。你設法送些東西給他,滿足他,平息他的憤怒,好叫他不入侵你的國家將你打倒。這就是綏靖的不敬表現。你發怒、或暴虐,我就滿足你的怒氣、或安撫你,如此我就得以恢復,重新得到你的恩惠,困局就迎刃而解。

同一個希臘語字不時被翻譯成贖罪和挽回祭兩個詞。但它們有細微的差別。贖罪是導致上帝改變對我們的態度的行動。這就是基督在十字架上所作成的而基督贖罪之工的結果就是挽回——上帝的憤怒被消除。所償付的贖金與收取贖金的人的態度兩者之間有同樣的區別。

基督的工作是一種安撫的行動

贖罪和挽回祭合在一起構成一種安撫的行動。基督在十字架上的工作旨在平息上帝的怒氣。平息上帝憤怒這種概念並沒有平息現代神學家的憤怒。事實上,他們對平息上帝的憤怒的整個觀念非常憤怒。他們認為上帝必須被安撫是有失尊嚴的事,難道我們應當做些什麽來安慰祂或撫慰祂不成? 就如何理解上帝的憤怒,我們切要小心謹慎,但讓我提醒你們,平息上帝的憤怒的觀念,並非與神學的邊緣離題點有關,而是與拯救/救赎的本質有關。

什么是拯救?

讓我問一個非常基本的問題: 「拯救」(salvation)一詞是什麽意思?  試圖快速作出解釋,只會讓你頭疼,因為拯救一詞在聖經大約有70種不同的用法。如果人在必敗無疑的戰鬥中獲救,他就經歷了拯救。如果人在危及生命的疾病中幸存下來,他就經歷了拯救。如果植物從枯萎到茁壯成長,它們就得救了。拯救是聖經的語言,而且和我們自己的語言沒有什麽區別。例如:我們節省(save)金錢。拳擊手被鈴聲救(save)了,意思是說他從被擊倒的失敗對抗中獲救,而不用送進永恒的上帝之國。簡而言之,從任何當前明顯的危險中獲救的經歷都可以稱為得救的形式。

當我們談論聖經的拯救時,我們切要謹慎陳述我們最終以哪種方式得救。使徒保羅在帖撒羅尼迦前書一章10節的陳述恰好是我們的範例,他說耶穌「救我們脫離將來的憤怒」。最終耶穌救我們脫離上帝的忿怒。除此之外,我們根本無法理解拿撒勒耶穌的教導和宣講,因為祂不斷地警告人,終有一日整個世界都會受到上帝的審判。關於審判,祂作出以下警告: 「只是我告訴你們,凡向弟兄動怒的,難免受審判」 (太五22) ;「凡人所說的閒話,當審判的日子必要句句供出來」 (太十二36) ;「當審判的時候,尼尼微人要起來定這世代的罪,因為尼尼微人聽了約拿所傳的就悔改了。看哪,在這裡有一人比約拿更大!」(太十二41)   耶穌的神學是一種危機神學。希臘字「危機」是「審判」的意思。耶穌所宣講的危機是將要來的對世界審判的危機,屆時上帝將向未得救的、不敬虔的、不知悔改的人傾倒祂的憤怒。逃避那傾瀉的憤怒的唯一希望,就是被基督的贖罪遮蓋。

因此,基督在十字架上最大的成就,就是祂平息了上帝的憤怒。我們若不被基督獻上的祭遮蓋,上帝的憤怒必然焚燒我們。因此,反對平息或基督滿足上帝憤怒的觀念的人,必須警惕,因為福音危在旦夕。這是救恩的本質——作為被贖罪所遮蓋的人,我們從對任何人都是顯露的最大的危險中得救。落在憤怒的上帝的手中是一件可怕的事。上帝對其罪已被償付代價的人沒有忿怒。這就是救贖的意義所在。

本文摘錄自史鮑爾 (R.C. Sproul)博士所著的《The Truth of the Cross》一书。


What Do Expiation and Propitiation Mean?
FROM R.C. Sproul

When we talk about the vicarious aspect of the atonement, two rather technical words come up again and again: expiation and propitiation. These words spark all kinds of arguments about which one should be used to translate a particular Greek word, and some versions of the Bible will use one of these words and some will use the other one. I’m often asked to explain the difference between propitiation and expiation. The difficulty is that even though these words are in the Bible, we don’t use them as part of our day-to-day vocabulary, so we aren’t sure exactly what they are communicating in Scripture. We lack reference points in relation to these words.

Expiation and Propitiation

Let’s think about what these words mean, then, beginning with the word expiation. The prefix ex means “out of” or “from,” so expiation has to do with removing something or taking something away. In biblical terms, it has to do with taking away guilt through the payment of a penalty or the offering of an atonement. By contrast, propitiation has to do with the object of the expiation. The prefix pro means “for,” so propitiation brings about a change in God’s attitude, so that He moves from being at enmity with us to being for us. Through the process of propitiation, we are restored into fellowship and favor with Him.

In a certain sense, propitiation has to do with God’s being appeased. We know how the word appeasement functions in military and political conflicts. We think of the so-called politics of appeasement, the philosophy that if you have a rambunctious world conqueror on the loose and rattling the sword, rather than risk the wrath of his blitzkrieg you give him the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia or some such chunk of territory. You try to assuage his wrath by giving him something that will satisfy him so that he won’t come into your country and mow you down. That’s an ungodly manifestation of appeasement. But if you are angry or you are violated, and I satisfy your anger, or appease you, then I am restored to your favor and the problem is removed.

The same Greek word is translated by both the words expiation and propitiation from time to time. But there is a slight difference in the terms. Expiation is the act that results in the change of God’s disposition toward us. It is what Christ did on the cross, and the result of Christ’s work of expiation is propitiation—God’s anger is turned away. The distinction is the same as that between the ransom that is paid and the attitude of the one who receives the ransom.

Christ’s Work Was an Act of Placation

Together, expiation and propitiation constitute an act of placation. Christ did His work on the cross to placate the wrath of God. This idea of placating the wrath of God has done little to placate the wrath of modern theologians. In fact, they become very wrathful about the whole idea of placating God’s wrath. They think it is beneath the dignity of God to have to be placated, that we should have to do something to soothe Him or appease Him. We need to be very careful in how we understand the wrath of God, but let me remind you that the concept of placating the wrath of God has to do here not with a peripheral, tangential point of theology, but with the essence of salvation.

What Is Salvation?

Let me ask a very basic question: what does the term salvation mean? Trying to explain it quickly can give you a headache, because the word salvation is used in about seventy different ways in the Bible. If somebody is rescued from certain defeat in battle, he experiences salvation. If somebody survives a life-threatening illness, that person experiences salvation. If somebody’s plants are brought back from withering to robust health, they are saved. That’s biblical language, and it’s really no different than our own language. We save money. A boxer is saved by the bell, meaning he’s saved from losing the fight by knockout, not that he is transported into the eternal kingdom of God. In short, any experience of deliverance from a clear and present danger can be spoken of as a form of salvation.

When we talk about salvation biblically, we have to be careful to state that from which we ultimately are saved. The apostle Paul does just that for us in 1 Thessalonians 1:10, where he says Jesus “delivers us from the wrath to come.” Ultimately, Jesus died to save us from the wrath of God. We simply cannot understand the teaching and the preaching of Jesus of Nazareth apart from this, for He constantly warned people that the whole world someday would come under divine judgment. Here are a few of His warnings concerning the judgment: “‘I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment’” (Matt. 5:22); “‘I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment’” (Matt. 12:36); and “‘The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here’” (Matt. 12:41). Jesus’ theology was a crisis theology. The Greek word crisis means “judgment.” And the crisis of which Jesus preached was the crisis of an impending judgment of the world, at which point God is going to pour out His wrath against the unredeemed, the ungodly, and the impenitent. The only hope of escape from that outpouring of wrath is to be covered by the atonement of Christ.

Therefore, Christ’s supreme achievement on the cross is that He placated the wrath of God, which would burn against us were we not covered by the sacrifice of Christ. So if somebody argues against placation or the idea of Christ satisfying the wrath of God, be alert, because the gospel is at stake. This is about the essence of salvation—that as people who are covered by the atonement, we are redeemed from the supreme danger to which any person is exposed. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of a holy God who’s wrathful. But there is no wrath for those whose sins have been paid. That is what salvation is all about.

This excerpt is adpated from The Truth of the Cross by R.C. Sproul.



挽回祭 Propitiation

摘錄自《聖經新辭典》
    
挽回祭正式的意思是:藉著獻上禮物來消除忿怒。舊約以動詞kipper(贖罪)來表達這個意思。新約則主要採用hilaskomai這個詞組。近年,有人認為挽回祭這觀念含有與神的屬性不相稱的意思,所以他們強烈地批評它。許多人提議放棄「挽回祭」而用贖罪祭(expiation)
   
反對「挽回祭」觀念的人主要是抗拒「神故怒」的整個概念,很多反對者認為後者僅屬古人的思想,現代人卻不可仍有這想法。但舊約時期的人並沒有這方面的禁忌。對他們來說,「神是天天向惡人發怒的」(711)。所以,他們確信罪惡一定會引起神強烈的反應,人絕不能指責神在道德方面軟弱怯懦。祂會極力對付各式各樣的罪惡。祂也許「不輕易發怒」(917),但祂的怒氣必因罪惡而發作。我們唸過以下的經文:「耶和華不輕易發怒,並有豐盛的慈愛,赦免罪孽和過犯,「但祂」萬不以有罪的為為罪」(1418);甚至在一段論到神恒久忍耐的經文中,聖經作者也不忘提到神是不會放過罪惡的。對舊約的人而言,神不輕易發怒這觀念是不尋常的。這是奇妙首意想不到的,甚至使人頓生敬畏之心,也完全喜出望外。
   
舊約時代的人固然確信會因為各種罪惡而發怒,但他們也同時深信,神的怒氣是可消解的,方法是上適當的祭物。神止息祂的怒氣,最終不是由於祭物的效力,而是狺於神自己。神說:「我把這血賜給你們,可以在壇上為你們的生命贖罪」(1711)。人的罪得蒙赦免不是神無可奈何的勉強允准,而是神滿有恩慈的禮物;祂實在是一位切望饒恕人的神。故此,詩人可以這樣說:「但祂有憐憫,赦免他們的罪孽,不滅絕他們,而且屢次消祂的怒氣,不發盡祂的忿怒」(7838)。消除神忿怒斷不是人能作的事;惟有神自己可以挪移祂的忿怒」。
   
「「神的忿怒」在幾段新約經文中出現,但涉及這方面的論述則不限於這些經文。全本新約滿是神極力對付罪惡的說法。罪人的處境是險惡的。他自己選擇與神為敵,所以除了等候接受神嚴厲的審判之外,就別無盼望了。不管我們是稱之為「神的忿怒」,事實上它是存塑的。雖然反對「忿怒」這個用語的一些理由不無道理,但這到底還是聖經的字眼,同時也沒有人能提出適當的代用語。

從羅324-25的用法,我們可以看出挽回祭這觀念在新約的意義。這兩節經文說明了信徒「蒙神的恩典,因基督耶穌的救贖,就白白的稱義。神設立耶穌作挽回祭,是憑著耶穌的血,藉著人的信」。到此為止,保羅的論點就是,所有人—包括猶太人和外邦人—都一樣被神定罪。「神的忿怒從天上顯明在一切不虔不義的人身上」(118)。保羅首先表明外邦人被神定了罪,繼而說猶太人的光景也一樣。保羅是在這種背景中辨明基督的工作。基督拯救世人,這決不是莫須有的事,因為基督實在把人從極大的危險之中拯救出來。實際上,神已宣告對他們判刑,神的忿怒已包圍他們了。在羅馬書開頭的幾章,保羅非常強調神的忿怒;因此,基督的拯救工作也必須包括救他們脫離神的忿怒。這種拯救被稱為「挽回祭」。羅321起的這段重要經文陳述神怎樣解決人的困境,而經文除了採用「挽回祭」之外,並沒有更合適的措詞足以表達的種思想。

聖經對挽回祭的觀點並非只根據這段或那段經文而已。它涵蓋了聖經在這方面整體的教導。「挽回祭」使人想起:神是不留餘地的對抗一切邪惡的事情,而這種敵視可適當地形容為「忿怒」,至於消除神忿怒的方法,就只有基督的代贖。