10 神的自存——神永远存在Self-existence - God hasalways been
《简明神学》Concise Theology: A Guide to
Historic Christian Beliefs，巴刻（J. I. Packer）著/張麟至译，更新传道会，2007年。
10 神的自存——神永远存在
Self-existence - God has always been
诸山未曾生出，地与世界你未曾造成，从亘古到永远，你是神。（诗90：2）
孩子们有时会问：[神是谁创造的？]答案很清楚：神从来不需要被造，因为祂一直都存在。祂的存在与我们有别：身为祂的被造物，我们是以有所依赖的、有所出的、有限的、脆弱的模式存在时间；但我们的造物主存在的模式却是永远的、自给的、必然的---所谓必然的意思乃是说。神压根儿不可能离开祂的存在，就如同我们根本不可能存活到永远一样。人必然会衰老、死亡，因为人的现状之本性使然；神则必然存活到永远、永不改变，这是因祂永存之本性使然。这是受造之物与创造主之间的许多对比之一。
神的自存是一项基要的真理。保罗向雅典拜偶像的人介绍他们的未识之神时，一开始就这样解释说：这位神是创造世界的主，[……也不用人手服事，好像缺少什么，自己倒将生命、气息、万物，赐给众人……]（徒17：23-25）今日的部落宗教献祭给偶像，犹如古代之雅典；他们想这是一种方法，可使其神祇继续发挥功能。但是造物主无需这样的帮扶系统。英文字aseity的意思是：祂在自己有生命，并可从祂自己里面汲取无尽的能力（aseity 一字源自拉丁文a se ，[由己而出]之意）；此字是由神学家所造，用以表达这项圣经上所揭示的真理（诗90：1-4；102：25-17
；赛40：28-31；约5：26；启4：11）
数不清的神学错谬均源于，我们将自己的情况、界限和有限的存在之假设加诸于神身上；神的自存之教义犹豫干城，抵挡这种错谬。在我们信仰的生活里，一旦接纳了神是处处受限、渺小不堪的思想，我们就沦于贫乏；而神的自存的教义，有屹立犹如干城，可抵挡这种想法的发生。相信神是伟大的，这攸关我们属灵的健康（参诗95：1-7）；而掌握神的自存的教义，则是迈向属灵健康的第一步。
SELF-EXISTENCE
GOD HAS ALWAYS BEEN
Before
the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from
everlasting to everlasting you are God. PSALM 90:2
Children
sometimes ask, “Who made God?” The clearest answer is that God never needed to
be made, because he was always there. He exists in a different way from us: we,
his creatures, exist in a dependent, derived, finite, fragile way, but our
Maker exists in an eternal, self-sustaining, necessary way—necessary, that is,
in the sense that God does not have it in him to go out of existence, just as we
do not have it in us to live forever. We necessarily age and die, because it is
our present nature to do that; God necessarily continues forever unchanged,
because it is his eternal nature to do that. This is one of many contrasts
between creature and Creator.
God’s
self-existence is a basic truth. At the outset of his presentation of the
unknown God to the Athenian idolaters, Paul explained that this God, the
world’s Creator, “is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything,
because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else” (Acts
17:23-25). Sacrifices offered to idols, in today’s tribal religions as in
ancient Athens, are thought of as somehow keeping the god going, but the
Creator needs no such support system. The word aseity, meaning that he has life
in himself and draws his unending energy from himself (a se in Latin means
“from himself”), was coined by theologians to express this truth, which the
Bible makes clear (Pss. 90:1-4; 102:25-27; Isa. 40:28-31; John 5:26; Rev. 4:10).
In
theology, endless mistakes result from supposing that the conditions, bounds,
and limits of our own finite existence apply to God. The doctrine of his aseity
stands as a bulwark against such mistakes. In our life of faith, we easily
impoverish ourselves by embracing an idea of God that is too limited and small,
and again the doctrine of God’s aseity stands as a bulwark to stop this
happening. It is vital for spiritual health to believe that God is great (cf.
Ps. 95:1-7), and grasping the truth of his aseity is the first step on the road
to doing this.