在时间和永恒里的恩典之约The Covenant of Grace in Timeand Eternity
作者：巴文克（Herman Bavinck） 译者：诚之
https://www.facebook.com/groups/462030323850206/https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/E0JxDN4yK3kwaKBXfYGh5A
拣选不是救赎计划的全貌（the whole counsel of
redemption），而只是其中一部分，尽管是首要、主要的部分。救赎计划里包含拣选，但也确立了实现拣选的方法；简而言之，救赎就是拣选的完成和施行。我们知道拣选是在基督里进行的，上帝的计划不仅是父的工作，而且也是圣子和圣灵的工作。这是圣三位一体共同执行的神圣工作。换句话说，救赎计划本身就是一个盟约——可以说，在这个盟约里，三个位格中的每个位格都接受了自己的工作并完成了自己的任务。在时间里出现，并且世代相传的恩典之约，就是那固定在永恒本体（the Eternal Being）里的盟约（译按：即圣约神学家所谓的「救赎之约」）的实现和印记或注记。就像在上帝的计划里一样，每个位格在历史上也都出现过。父是救恩的源头，子是成就者，而圣灵则是施行救恩的那一位。因此，当人撤销了永恒的基础，使历史脱离上帝满有恩典的、大能旨意里的定锚点，就是直接、且在同等程度上，不公正地对待圣父、圣子或圣灵的工作。
Election
is not the whole counsel of redemption, but is a part, the first and principle
part, of it. Included and established in
that counsel is also the way in which the election is to be actualized - in
short, the whole accomplishment and application is redemption. We know that the election was purposed in
Christ, and that the counsel of God is not merely a work of the Father, but
also a work of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It is a Divine work of ther Holy
Trinity. In other words the counsel of redemption is itself a covenant - a
covenant in which each of the three Persons, so to speak, receives His own work
and achieves His own task. The covenant
of grace which is raised up in time and is continued from generation to
generation is nothing other than the working out and the impression or imprint
of the covenant that is fixed in the Eternal Being. As in the counsel of God,
so in history each of the Persons appears. The Father is the source, the Son is
the Achiever, and the Holy Spirit is the one who applies our salvation. Hence everybody immediately and to the same
extent does injustice to the work of the Fsather, the Son, or the Spirit, when
he removes the foundation of eternity from time by loosening history from its
anchorage in the gracious, almighty Divine Will.
与此同时，尽管时间离不开永恒，而且尽管历史与上帝的思想有着最密切的关联，但两者并非在每一方面都是等同的。它们之间有很大的差异，上帝是永恒的，这个观念是在时间的历史里被启示出来，并得到实现的。救赎计划和恩典之约无法被切割，也没有必要切割，但是在这方面它们彼此是不同的，后者是前者的体现。救赎计划本身并不充分；它需要被执行出来。作为「决策」（decision），它本身就带着执行与实现的方案，它自己就会促成这些内容的实现。如果它无法实现、无法体现出来，它甚至就会失去其作为计划及决策的性质。因此，事情就这样发生了。在堕落之后，上帝就立即向人启示了恩典之约，并与人立了此约，从此代代相传，绵延不绝。原本只属于「决策」的一件事，在世界范围内展现出来，并以数个世纪的时间逐渐成长。
All
the same, though time cannot do without eternity, and although history stands
in the closest relationship with God's thought, the two are not in every way
the same. There is a big difference
between them that in the history of time the eternal idea of God comes to be
revealed and actualized. The counsel of
redemption and the covenant of grace cannot and may not be separated, but they
differ from each other in this respect, that the second is the actualization of
the first. The plan of redemption is not enough in itself. It needs to be
carried out. As a decision, it carries
its implementation and actualization within itself, and itself brings these
about. It would even lose its character
as counsel and decision if it did not achieve realization and manifestation. And so it happens. Immediately after the
fall, the covenant of grace is made known to man and is concluded with him, and
thereupon it continues itself in history from generation to generation. The
thing that is one thing in the decision unfolds itself in the breadth of thr
world and develops itself in the course of the centuries.