（內容不斷補充）
《神的聖潔》The Holiness of God ，史鮑爾 (R.C. Sproul) 著/黃一亭、顧華德譯。
傳道人的信息越忠實於神的話，他越容易陷於虛假的口實。為什麼呢？因為一個人對神的話越忠實，他所傳講之信息的格調也越高。信息的格調越高，他自己距遵循的標準就越遠了。43頁
“The
more faithful preachers are to the Word of God in their preaching, the more
liable they are to the charge of hypocrisy. Why? Because the more faithful
people are to the Word of God the higher the message is that they will preach.
The higher the message, the further they will be from obeying themselves.”
神的公義絕不偏離祂正直的軌道，祂從未定無辜的人為有罪，犯罪的人也從未豁免其罪責。祂從未以嚴苛的極刑來懲罰人，祂也從未遺漏正直人應得的奬賞；祂的公義是完美無疵的。133頁
God’s
justice is never divorced from His righteousness. He never condemns the
innocent. He never clears the guilty. He never punishes with undo severity. He
never fails to reward righteousness. His justice is perfect justice.
通常我們會說「遲延公義，就是泯滅公義。」這句話並不十分正確。當我們看到神創造天地和人類墜落這個例子時，我們知道就是因為神鐵面無私的公義遲廷了，所以恩典才有機會來促成美事。在這個例子中，遲延公義並非泯滅公義，反而因此奠定了憐憫和恩典的根基。137頁
We
have a saying that “justice delayed is justice denied.” Not always. In the case
of creation and mankind’s fall, the full measure of justice was delayed so
grace would have time to work. Here the delay of justice was not the denial of
justice but the establishing of mercy and grace.
罪是一種普世的叛變。罪令我們背叛一位完美無疵的至高者。罪是一種萬惡不赦的忘恩負義態度，使我們違逆那位把萬有和生命購給我們的神。那些最輕微的是什麼？那些最微不足道的過失是什麼？我曾經思考過它們更深層的含意嗎？當我們在一些小節上違背祂的旨意時，我們將如何面對創造主呢? 此時，我們正朝祂的正直還以一擊。我們無異是厚顏地說：「神啊！祢的律法並不恰當。我的判斷下得比祢還準確。祢的權柄管不到我的頭上。我可以逍遙於祢的審判權之處。我有權隨心所欲，我也有權聽命於祢。」139頁
“Sin
is cosmic treason. Sin is treason against a perfectly pure Sovereign. It is an
act of supreme ingratitude toward the One to whom we owe everything, to the One
who has given us life itself. Have you ever considered the deeper implications
of the slightest sin, of the most minute peccadillo? What are we saying to our
Creator when we disobey Him at the slightest point? We are saying no to the
righteousness of God. We are saying, “God, Your law is not good. My judgement
is better than Yours. Your authority does not apply to me. I am above and
beyond Your jurisdiction. I have the right to do what I want to do, not what
You command me to do.”
十字架在神的震怒中，擁有最叫人毛骨悚然及最皎潔美麗的一體兩面。它象徵歷史上最公義又最恩慈的舉動。倘若在最初不是耶穌心甘情願地把世人的罪背在自己的身上，那麼神刑罰耶穌的判決，必然是比不公不義還有過之而無不及，祂心然是一位殘暴無度的神。正當耶穌做了那個決定，正當祂志願成為神的羔羊，擔負我們的罪時，神卻搖身一變，成為這個星球上最古怪且惹人嫌惡的角色。由於耶穌所承擔的罪孽，是集合眾罪於一身的淵藪，因此祂成為父神的眼中釘、肉中刺。神的震怒便傾瀉在這隻代罪羔羊身上。神使基督所背負的罪孽成為祂責無旁貸的罪狀。在這件事上，我們看見神完全地影響了祂神聖的公義。然而，祂所做的卻是為了我們。祂一手承擔我們理當為公義付上的代價，十字架背後所意味的「擔代」含意，正足以證明神恩浩蕩。十字架是公義和恩典的表徵，是神的震怒，卻也是祂的憐憫。137頁
The
Cross was at once the most horrible and the most beautiful example of God’s
wrath. It was the most just and the most gracious act in history. God would
have been more than unjust, He would have been diabolical to punish Jesus if
Jesus had not first willingly taken on Himself the sins of the world. Once
Christ had done that, once he volunteered to be the Lamb of God, laden with our
sin, then He became the most grotesque and vile thing on this plant. With the
concentrated load of sin He carried, He became utterly repugnant to the Father.
God poured out His wrath on this obscene thing. God made Christ accursed for
the sin He bore. Herein was God’s holy justice perfectly manifest. Yet it was
done for us. He took what justice demanded from us.
當我們了解神的性格，當我們約略領悟祂的聖潔時，然後我們就開始了解自己的罪和無助的真面目。無力自救的罪人只能靠恩典得以生存。我們的力量本身是虛無空乏的，若不是慈愛的神攙扶我們，我們的靈命也是貧瘠無力的。或許我們不喜歡投註太多註意力在神的震怒和公義上，然而直到我們樂意相信神本性中的這些特點，否則我們永遠不會感激神在我們身上所成就的一切。縱然愛德華茲這篇關於罪人落在神手中的證道，並不在於刻意強調地獄的火焰。它那宏亮的音調並不是落在熾熱的無底坑之上，而是落在那位伸手扶持且拯救我們免入無底坑的神身上。神的雙手滿有恩慈，唯獨這雙手才能有能力拯救我們脫離毀滅之災。217頁
“When
we understand the character of God, when we grasp something of His holiness,
then we begin to understand the radical character of our sin and hopelessness.
Helpless sinners can survive only by grace. Our strength is futile in itself;
we are spiritually impotent without the assistance of a merciful God. We may
dislike giving our attention to God's wrath and justice, but until we incline
ourselves to these aspects of God's nature, we will never appreciate what has
been wrought for us by grace. Even Edwards's sermon on sinners in God's hands
was not designed to stress the flames of hell. The resounding accent falls not
on the fiery pit but on the hands of the God who holds us and rescues us from
it. The hands of God are gracious hands. They alone have the power to rescue us
from certain destruction.”
連一個最輕微的罪，都是一種藐視宇宙主宰的舉動。罪是一種叛逆的行為，是一種使人反叛主恩的行為。217頁
“Every
sin is an act of cosmic treason, a futile attempt to dethrone God in His
sovereign authority.”
另譯:
每一件罪都大如宇宙中之叛國罪，因為每一件罪都是企圖推翻神至高無上的管治權。
“Every
sin is an act of cosmic treason, a futile attempt to dethrone God in His
sovereign authority.”
----摘自《神學入門》《Essential Truths of the
Christian Faith》，130頁，史鮑爾 (R.C. Sproul)/姚錦榮譯，更新傳道會出版
