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2020-07-24


六个理由:亚当和夏娃吃禁果是对上帝的严重悖逆6 Reasons Why Adam and Eve’sEating of the Forbidden Fruit Was a Terrible Transgression Against God

作者Le Ann Trees   译者/校对者:陈小燕 /骆鸿铭

神学家赫尔曼·巴文克Herman Bavinck写道上帝为何要创造这世界答案是因为祂愿意如此。[1]神无须告诉我们祂创造宇宙的原因,但祂想让我们对祂有特别的认识(特殊启示),这是我们无法通过观察和研究物质世界而获得的(普遍启示)。
The theologian Herman Bavinck writes: “Why did God create the world? the answer is: Because he so willed.”[1] God didn’t have to tell us why he made the universe, but he wanted us to have specific knowledge about him (special revelation) that we could never acquire from observing and studying the physical world (general revelation).

圣经始于一个栽种着生命树的美丽园子,也结束于同样栽种着生命树的另一个美丽园子。这样的安排有一个很好的理由:神为自己的荣耀创造了万有,好叫祂的受造物能为祂而活,并在万事上荣耀祂。《创世记》描述了神所造的万物如何成为美好(创1)。神造人,使人作祂荣耀形象的代表来统治和照料各样活物,治理祂的园子,并与所有的受造物一同来荣耀他们的创造主。亚当和夏娃本是诚实正直的,有能力去顺服神并遵行祂的命令。在神将生命的气息吹入第一个人类里面之后,耶和华神就把人安置在伊甸园中,让他修理看守。耶和华神吩咐人说:“园中各样树上的果子,你可以随意吃,只是分别善恶树上的果子,你不可吃,因为你吃的日子必定死。” (创2:1617
The Bible begins and ends in a beautiful garden with a life-giving tree located in each one. There is a good reason for this: God created the world for his glory—so that his creation would live unto him, giving him praise in all things. Genesis describes how everything God created was good (Gen. 1). God created humans as his royal image bearers to rule over creation, tend his garden, and care for his creatures—honoring their creator in all. Adam and Eve were righteous and upright, with the full ability to obey God and keep all his commands. After breathing life into the first human, The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen. 2:16– 17)

亚当和夏娃本有责任要侍奉神,并看顾在祂统治之下的所有活物。神给了亚当一个考验来证明他们对创造主的忠心:亚当必须顺服神的命令不吃分别善恶树上的果子,以便能吃园中另一棵树——生命树——上的果子。(创2:9
Adam and Eve were responsible to serve God and care for all the creation under their dominion. To prove their faithfulness to their Creator, God gave Adam a test: Adam must obey God’s command to not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in order to eat from the other mentioned tree in the garden—the tree of life (Gen. 2:9)—and live forever in God’s presence.

神与亚当之约
The Covenant between God and Adam

亚当的顺服是神与亚当立的约的条件在这个约中亚当代表全人类承受顺命的奖赏生命或悖逆的后果死亡17世纪的神学家赫尔曼·韦修斯(Herman Witsius)说道:如果亚当持守顺服,律法给他带来的将是和现今在基督里所领受的一样(永生)。这从基督而来的产业不出于行为,乃是凭着信心。[2] 亚当与神之间的这种有条件的立约关系也被称为行为之约(covenant of works)。
The relationship that existed between God and Adam had a condition placed upon it, which was Adam’s obedience, as well as a reward for obedience (life) and a consequence for disobedience (death), and Adam represented all of humanity in this covenant. The seventeenth-century theologian Herman Witsius states, If Adam therefore had persevered in obedience, the law would have brought him to that same inheritance [eternal life], which now in Christ is allotted not to him that worketh, but to him that believeth.[2]This conditional covenantal relationship Adam had with God is also known as the covenant of works.

耶稣教导我们世界的问题是如何开始的
Jesus Teaches Us How the World’s Problems Began

在神的园子里,有一个敌人,就是那已经背叛神,现在企图要把人类归入他权下的。蛇,一个名叫魔鬼的堕落天使,要尊荣自己(赛13:12-15;太4:8-10;路4:5-8)。他引诱亚当和他的妻子夏娃违背神,吃了那园中唯一不可吃的树上的果子,欺骗他们说,这果子可以让他们“如神能知道善恶” (创3:45)。
There was an enemy in God’s garden—one who had rebelled against God and now sought to bring humanity under his dominion. The serpent, a fallen angel called the devil, wanted the glory for himself (Isa. 14:12–15; Matt. 4:8–10; Luke 4:5–8). He enticed Adam and his wife Eve to disobey God by eating the only forbidden fruit in the entire garden, falsely claiming that the fruit would make them “like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:4–5).

亚当和夏娃吃果子的那一刻,他们的眼睛就明亮了,但却不是撒旦诱导他们以为的那样。他们痛苦地看见背叛神和犯罪所带来的羞辱,并徒劳地企图躲避神的面。亚当和夏娃设法用无花果树的叶子遮掩他们的赤身露体,但他们的努力却无法减轻他们的罪咎感和刑罚(创3:7)。
The moment Adam and Eve ate the fruit, their eyes were opened—but not in the way Satan led them to believe. They painfully saw the shame of their sin and rebellion against God and attempted in vain to hide from him. Adam and Eve tried to cover their nakedness with fig leaves, but their own efforts could do nothing to remove their guilt and punishment (Gen. 3:7).

因着亚当和夏娃的悖逆,夏娃生产儿女必多受苦楚,她的丈夫亚当必管辖她(创3:16)。地从神受了咒诅,亚当要终身劳苦,才能从地里得吃的(创3:17-18)。随后,神换下了亚当和夏娃所穿的人手所造的无花果树的叶子:“耶和华神为亚当和他的妻子用皮子作衣服给他们穿”(创3:21)。最后,神把亚当和夏娃赶出伊甸园,并派天使把守生命树的道路。第一个男人和女人的犯罪使他们不配再站在他们圣洁的创造主面前,每日与神交流。
Because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, Eve would now bring forth children in increased pain, and her husband would rule over her (Gen. 3:16). God cursed the ground from which Adam must now toil to produce food (Gen. 3:17–18). Then God replaced the man-made fig leaves Adam and Eve wore: “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21). Finally, God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden and placed an angel to guard the tree of life. Instead of communing daily with God, the sin of the first man and woman made them unworthy to stand in their creator’s holy presence.

神的刑罚为什么是公义的
Why God’s Punishment Was Just

此刻你可能会想问:神对亚当和夏娃的罪行是否反应过度了?刑罚看起来好像与罪行不相称:受咒诅的世界和与神隔离的人类,痛苦,苦难,以及死亡——皆因吃了某个禁果。亚当和夏娃的不顺服为何是对神可怕的过犯?
You might be wondering right now: Did God overreact to Adam and Eve’s sin? The punishment might seem not to fit the offense: a cursed world and humanity estranged from God, and pain, suffering, and death to boot—all for eating some forbidden fruit. Why was Adam and Eve’s disobedience such a terrible transgression against God?

乌尔西努(Zacharias Ursinus)在16世纪对这个问题进行了论述。在他的《海德堡要理问答注释》中,乌尔西努罗列了亚当和夏娃的不顺服导致的6个严重罪行
A man named Zacharias Ursinus addressed this very issue back in the sixteenth century. In his commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, Ursinus lists six terrible offenses connected to Adam and Eve’s act of disobedience:

1. 骄傲、野心和自义:人不满足于自己被赋予的地位和尊荣,想要与神同等。
Pride, ambition, and an admiration of self: Man, not satisfied with his own dignity, and in the condition he was placed, desired to be equal with God.

2. 不信:亚当相信魔鬼,胜过相信神,并且吃了那禁果;他也不相信任何刑罚将会临到他。
Unbelief: Adam believed the devil rather than God, and ate the forbidden fruit; nor did he believe any punishment would overtake him.

3. 对神的藐视和违抗:这体现在他违反神的命令吃了禁果的事实上。
Contempt and disobedience to God: This appears in the fact that he ate the fruit contrary to the command of God.

4. 忘恩负义:即使亚当是按着神的形象受造,并且是为了要享受永恒的生命,但对所领受的恩典,他的回报却是顺服魔鬼而不是顺服神。
Ingratitude for benefits received: Even though Adam was made in the image of God—and for the enjoyment of eternal life—his return for this benefit received was to obey the devil rather than God.

5. 违反天性的,缺乏对后代的爱:亚当没有考虑过神赐予他和他所有子孙后代的礼物将会失去。
Unnaturalness, and the want of love to posterity: Adam did not consider that the gifts God had bestowed upon him and his posterity would be lost not only to himself but also to all his descendants.

6. 背道:通过相信和顺从魔鬼,而不是神,亚当想要与神同等。他用魔鬼取代神使自己与神隔离。[3]
Apostasy: By believing and obeying the devil rather than God, Adam wished to obtain equality with God. He set up the devil in the place of God, separating himself from God.[3]

乌尔西努正确地总结道:“人的堕落不是无足轻重的,也不是单一的过犯;而是本质上多样而骇人的罪行。因此神公正地拒绝他和他所有的后代。[4]
Ursinus rightly concludes, “The fall of man was no trifling, nor singular offense; but it was a sin manifold and horrible in its nature, on account of which God justly rejected him, and all of his posterity.”[4]

因着亚当的不顺服和堕落,全人类背负亚当的罪咎,因为他是全人类的代表。而且,亚当的罪导致了他的天性的堕落,所有子孙后代——包括你我在内——要一同承受有罪的本性。使徒保罗阐述了亚当的背叛导致的深远影响:
Because of Adam’s disobedience and fall, all people bear Adam’s guilt, because Adam represented all humanity. Furthermore, Adam’s sin caused the corruption of his nature, and all his posterity—including you and me—would now bear that same sinful nature. The apostle Paul described the far-reaching consequences of Adam’s rebellion:

这就如罪是从一人入了世界,死又是从罪来的,于是死就临到众人,因为众人都犯了罪。( 5:12 )
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. (Rom. 5:12)

每一个人天生都是有罪的
Every Human Being Is Inherently Sinful

在诗篇中大卫王意识到自己未出生之前就带着罪
In the book of Psalms, King David recognized his inherent sinfulness that was present even before he was born:

我是在罪孽里生的,在我母亲怀胎的时候就有了罪。( 51:5 )
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Ps. 51:5)

有些人把上述经文解读为性是一种罪恶的行为,但那完全不是大卫所表达的重点。大卫明白他在出生之前就是有罪的,因为亚当的堕落,没有任何一个婴孩出生时不带着罪性。人无法凭自己的行为重新获得神的喜悦,“因为世人都犯了罪,亏缺了 神的荣耀”(罗 3:23)。
Some people take the above verse to mean that sex is a sinful act, but that was not at all the point David was making. David understood that he was sinful before he was even born. Because of Adam’s fall, no mere human child has ever been born without sin. There was no way for humans to be right with God again on their own merits, because “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).

我们所有最好的行为都受到我们有罪的现状的影响。像伊曼纽尔·康德(Immanuel Kant)这样的哲学家相信,幸福可以凭人类的理性找到,但是这种追寻注定要失败,甚至在开始之前就注定如此,因为自从伊甸园的堕落以来,罪恶的心智就无法以未堕落的方式进行推理。
All our best efforts are tainted by our sinful state. Philosophers such as Immanuel Kant believed happiness could be found in human reason, but this quest is doomed to failure before even starting, because the sinful mind is incapable of reasoning in an uncorrupted fashion since the fall in the garden of Eden.

原罪一词描述了因亚当的犯罪而导致的人类有罪的现状。我们从亚当继承堕落的本性,也导致我们从出生到死亡不断积累更多的罪。麦克·霍顿(Michael Horton)在他的著作Core Christianity(暂译:《基督教核心》)里解释到,人类的全然败坏意味着我们所有的言行举止都被罪玷污了:
The term original sin describes this present state of humanity’s guilt because of Adam’s sin. The corrupt nature we inherited from Adam also causes us to heap even more condemnation on ourselves due to the sins we each commit from birth until death. The total depravity of humanity, as Michael Horton explains in his book Core Christianity, means that everything we are and do is tainted by sin:

这就是说在我们里面没有任何部分是未曾堕落的,以至于我们可以开始讨价还价或修复我们的状况。这不意味着每个人都会沉溺于每一种形式的罪,或我们不能欣赏高尚的品格。人仍然拥有良心可以区分善恶。我们可以自由选择我们的思想和心灵所渴望的,但我们的思想已经昏暗,我们的心灵已经变得自私自利。每个人都有一种天生的能力去顺服神,但自从堕落之后,我们的道德能力已经成为我们的自私和偶像崇拜的俘虏。问题不在于我们不能,而在于我们不愿意从罪恶转向永生的上帝。[5]
It says that there is nothing within us that is left unfallen from which we might begin to bargain or to restore our condition. It does not mean that every person will indulge in every form of sin or that we cannot admire virtuous character. Humans still possess a conscience and can discriminate between good and evil. We are free to will and choose what our mind and hear desire, but our mind has been darkened and our heart is selfish. Everyone has a natural ability to render God faithful obedience, but after the fall our moral ability is held captive to our own selfishness and idolatry. The fault lies not in that we cannot but that we will not turn from our sin to the living God.[5]

因为神是圣洁的,非圣洁没有人能进入祂的同在(利 20:26;彼前1:16)。如果神对人类堕落的境地无动于衷,那么我们所有的人都将伏在祂的公义刑罚之下,从神的美德中被剪除,无法获得或经历美善、真理和圣洁。无论我们多努力地去掩饰或除去心里的黑暗,在神面前我们始终被罪捆绑,处于与美善相反的,丑陋的一面。
Since God is holy, no one can enter his presence unless they are holy as well (Lev. 20:26; 1 Pet. 1:16). If God had done nothing to help humanity in its fallen state, we would all be under his just punishment, forever cut off from the beauty of God’s perfection, unable to attain—or experience—goodness, truth, and purity. No matter how much we try to cover up or clean up the darkness of our hearts, we remain in bondage to sin and guilty before God—a state of ugliness—the opposite of beauty.

耶稣,第二亚当,是我们唯一的盼望
Jesus, the Second Adam, Is Our Only Hope

感恩的是,故事并未完结。让我们回到《创世记》217节的内容——神说到关于吃分别善恶树上的果子的后果。为什么亚当和夏娃没有如神所说的吃的日子必定死?
Thankfully, there is more to the story. Let’s return to what God said in Genesis 2:17 about the consequences that would come from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Why didn’t Adam and Eve die on the day they sinned, as God said they would?

在整本圣经中,有一节关键经文,表明人恢复与神正确的关系中的唯一途径:在《创世记》315节,一节被称为原始福音(protoevangelium,即圣经中第一次宣告福音)的经文,神宣告祂对蛇的咒诅,随之而来的是伟大的应许:
There is one key verse in the entire Bible that points us to the only way for people to be returned to a right relationship with God: In Genesis 3:15, a verse known as the protoevangelium (the first announcement in the Bible of the gospel), God pronounces his curse on the serpent, and with the curse is the great promise that summarizes the Bible:

我又要叫你和女人彼此为仇;你的后裔和女人的后裔也彼此为仇。女人的后裔要伤你的头;你要伤他的脚跟。(创 3:15
“I will put enmity between you and the woman,and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Gen. 3:15)

亚当和夏娃被逐出伊甸园,实际上是出于神的怜悯。如果亚当和夏娃至今仍吃生命树上的果子,那么他们将永远在罪中活着。然而,神自始至终有祂的计划。因为神的无所不知,祂从永恒中就知道亚当的悖逆。亚当和他后裔的唯一盼望只能从神而来。第二亚当必须成功通过亚当曾经失败的考验。
The expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden was actually a divine mercy. If Adam and Eve were now to eat from the tree of life, they would be condemned to live forever in their sinful state. Yet, God had a plan all along. Because God is all-knowing, he knew from eternity that Adam would disobey him and that Adam’s only hope—and that of his descendants—could only come from God himself. A second Adam must pass the test Adam failed to pass.

这位第二亚当——既是完全的神又是完全的人,将完美遵守神的律法,并作为那完美的一次而永远的祭代受罪的刑罚,以致于人可以重新与神毫无阻隔地交流。亚当和夏娃没有立刻死,因为那将要来的救主将从他们的后裔而出。亚当给他的妻子取名叫夏娃,意思是众生之母,这表明了他对神应许拯救他的信心。
This second Adam—both fully God and fully man, would keep God’s law perfectly and bear the full punishment for sin as the perfect once-for-all sacrifice, so that people could once again be in full communion with their Creator. Adam and Eve would not die right away, because they must bring forth children from whom the Savior would come. Adam showed his faith in God’s promise to save him by naming his wife Eve, which means the mother of all living.

神的怜悯
A Divine Mercy

神与亚当的关系里,有一个条件的层面。认识到这个层面,会帮助我们明白耶稣为什么必须来,且要完成亚当未通过的考验。在耶稣里,神最终将有一个完全顺服的儿子。耶稣的顺服带来了一个国度,在那里人要与祂一同作王,直到永远。
Understanding the conditional aspect of God’s relationship with Adam helps us make sense of why Jesus had to come and fulfill what Adam failed to do. In Jesus, God would finally have a perfectly obedient Son. Jesus’ reward for his obedience would be a kingdom and a people who would reign with him forever.

耶稣用比喻的原因是祂不想揭示祂所要做的一切(路8:10)。祂的门徒想方设法要让祂成为地上的王,但耶稣不是为此而来。耶稣确实是君王,但祂的国度不属这世界。当祂越靠近十字架,耶稣就越清晰地述说祂的使命是要救赎这世界:
One reason Jesus spoke in parables is because he didn’t want to reveal everything about what he was going to do (Luke 8:10). His followers might try to make him an earthly king, and that is not why Jesus came. Jesus was indeed a king, but his kingdom was not of this world. As he approached the cross, Jesus spoke more plainly about his mission to redeem the world:

从此,耶稣才指示门徒,他必须上耶路撒冷去,受长老、祭司长、文士许多的苦,并且被杀,第三日复活。 16:21
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. (Matt. 16:21)

缺少了基督代表人所成就的工,人就不仅要面对肉体的死亡,更要面对神公义的忿怒和刑罚。耶稣来远不止成为一个好榜样:祂来是要消灭罪恶、死亡和魔鬼。耶稣来是要拯救我们脱离地狱,领我们进入神的国度。
Without Jesus’ finished work on their behalf, people face more than physical death—they also face God’s righteous wrath and punishment. Jesus came to be far more than a good example: he came to destroy sin, death, and the devil. Jesus came to save us from hell and bring us into the kingdom of God.

[1] Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: God and Creation, 2, ed. John Bolt, trans. John Vriend (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004), 234.
[2] Herman Witsius, The Economy of the Covenants Between God and Man, 1 (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2010), 74.
[3] Adapted from Zacharias Ursinus, The Commentary of Dr. Zacharius Ursinus, on the Heidelberg Catechism, trans. G. W. Willard, 3rd American ed. (Cincinnati: T. P. Bucher, 1851), exposition on Q. 7:  33-34页。
[4] Ursinus, 34.
[5] Michael Horton, Core Christianity: Finding Yourself in God’s Story (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 95.

2018-11-13


原罪Original Sin

作者: 巴刻 (J.I. Packer)  译者: 张麟至
选自《简明神学》P69,更新传道会出版

堕落影响着每一个人

五十一5 我是在罪孽里生的,在我母亲怀胎的时候就有了罪。

根据圣经的诊断,罪是一种人性普遍的败坏,它发生在每一个人的每一部分(王上846;罗39-23718;约壹18-10)。新旧两约都给罪一些名称,以曝露罪的道德本质,诸如:悖逆神的管治,误失神所要人达到的目标,逾越神的律法,不服神的指引,污秽自己以干犯神的纯洁,在神这位判官面前招致罪咎。这种道德性的扭曲有其动力(This moral deformity is dynamic):罪的成立首先是出于对神的呼召与命令的一种非理性的、负面的、悖逆的反应,一种与神抗争,好让自己作神的精神。罪的根源是倨傲(pride),与神敌对,这种精神见之于亚当的首次犯罪;而罪行的背后,总是包含有一些思想、动机和欲望,以各种方式表达出人类堕落的心灵是如何刻意要顶撞神对我们生命所作的安排。

罪可以总括定义为:在行为、习惯、态度、看法、性情、动机和生存模式中,与神的律法不一致。描述罪的不同层面之经文有:耶利米书179,马太福音1230-37,马可福音720-23,罗马书118-32077-2585-81423(马丁路德说,保罗写罗马书是为了「把罪放大」),加拉太书516-21,以弗所书210-11417-19,希伯来书312。雅各书210-11,约翰壹书34517。保罗在书信中所提的「肉体」一词,通常是指被罪欲所驱使的人;此字亦可作「情欲」。圣经所查出并揭发之特定的缺失和邪恶,那更是多得无法在此胜数了。

“原罪”是指我们的本性所衍生的罪恶,这并不是圣经上的词彙,而是奥古斯丁创造的,然而它却将罪在我们的属灵体系里的实情,原本托出。原罪的主张并不是说,起初神造人时,罪是人性的一部分(神造的人是正直的,传729);也不是说,罪与繁衍和生产过程有关(利1215章中所谓的与月经、遗精、生产有关的不洁,只是预表性的、仪式性的,而非道德上的、真实的)。原罪的主张乃是说:(1) 罪恶在人一出生时就存在,在人犯下实际的罪行之前,罪恶已经藉著动机扭曲之心态存在了;(2) 这种内在的罪恶是所有实际罪行的根源;(3) 罪恶由亚当——人类在神面前的第一位代表——透过一种实在却神秘的途径,传给了我们。原罪的主张强调:我们不是因为犯了罪,才成为罪人;而是因为我们是罪人,生来就有被罪奴役的性情,我们才犯罪。

“全然堕落”(total depravity)一词,常常被用来把原罪的涵义表明清楚。它指明我们在道德与灵性上的败坏是全然的。完全不是指程度而言(因为人有可能比他现在坏的程度更坏),而是指范围而言。这教义宣告,人没有一处不被罪玷污,所以,我们的行为不会像我们应该有的光景那样好。结果,导致在我们里面的、和我们有关的事物,在神的眼中看来,没有一样是有功绩的,无论我们做什么,我们都无法赢得神的喜悦;除非神的恩典拯救我们,我们是失丧的。

全然败坏的教义也隐含了全然无能的教义。全然无能是指一种光景,人靠他自己无法真诚地、全心地回应神和祂的话(约644;罗87-8)。保罗称这种无力回应神的堕落之心,为一种死亡的状态(弗215;西213)。威敏思特信仰告白,第9章第3条说:「人因堕落在罪恶的状态中,已经完全丧失一切的意志力,不再能实行任何与救恩伴随之属灵的良善。所以属血气的人既是与属灵的良善完全相反,并且死在罪中,他就不可能靠自己的力量,自行归正,也不能自行预备归正。」


Original Sin - Depravity Infects Everyone
By J.I. Packer (from Concise Theology)

"Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me" (Ps. 51:5)

Scripture diagnoses sin as a universal deformity of human nature, found at every point in every person (1 Kings 8:46; Rom. 3:9-23; 7:18; 1 John 1:8-10). Both Testaments have names for it that display its ethical character as rebellion against God's rule, missing the mark God set us to aim at, transgressing God's law, disobeying God's directives, offending God's purity by defiling oneself, and incurring guilt before God the Judge. This moral deformity is dynamic: sin stands revealed as an energy of irrational, negative, and rebellious reaction to God's call and command, a spirit of fighting God in order to play God. The root of sin is pride and enmity against God, the spirit seen in Adam's first transgression; and sinful acts always have behind them thoughts, motives, and desires that one way or another express the willful opposition of the fallen heart to God's claims on our lives.

Sin may be comprehensively defined as lack of conformity to the law of God in act, habit, attitude, outlook, disposition, motivation, and mode of existence. Scriptures that illustrate different aspects of sin include Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 12:30-37; Mark 7:20-23; Romans 1:18-3:20; 7:7-25; 8:5-8; 14:23 (Luther said that Paul wrote Romans to "magnify sin"); Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 2:1-3; 4:17-19; Hebrews 3:12; James 2:10-11; 1 John 3:4; 5:17. Flesh in Paul usually means a human being driven by sinful desire; the niv renders these instances of the word as "sinful nature." The particular faults and vices (i.e., forms and expression of sin) that Scripture detects and denounces are too numerous to list here.

Original sin, meaning sin derived from our origin, is not a biblical phrase (Augustine coined it), but it is one that brings into fruitful focus the reality of sin in our spiritual system. The assertion of original sin means not that sin belongs to human nature as God made it (God made mankind upright, Eccles. 7:29), nor that sin is involved in the processes of reproduction and birth (the uncleanness connected with menstruation, semen, and childbirth in Leviticus 12 and 15 was typical and ceremonial only, not moral and real), but that (a) sinfulness marks everyone from birth, and is there in the form of a motivationally twisted heart, prior to any actual sins; (b) this inner sinfulness is the root and source of all actual sins; (c) it derives to us in a real though mysterious way from Adam, our first representative before God. The assertion of original sin makes the point that we are not sinners because we sin, but rather we sin because we are sinners, born with a nature enslaved to sin.

The phrase total depravity is commonly used to make explicit the implications of original sin. It signifies a corruption of our moral and spiritual nature that is total not in degree (for no one is as bad as he or she might be) but in extent. It declares that no part of us is untouched by sin, and therefore no action of ours is as good as it should be, and consequently nothing in us or about us ever appears meritorious in God's eyes. We cannot earn God's favor, no matter what we do; unless grace saves us, we are lost.

Total depravity entails total inability, that is, the state of not having it in oneself to respond to God and his Word in a sincere and wholehearted way (John 6:44; Rom. 8:7-8). Paul calls this unresponsiveness of the fallen heart a state of death (Eph. 2:1, 5; Col. 2:13), and the Westminster Confession says: "Man by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able by his own strength to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto" (IX. 3).




2018-11-12


原罪這個詞是什麼意思?¿QuéSignifica El Término Pecado Original?

作者:  R.C. Sproul   誠之

有一種理論說,人沒有原罪。人一生下來都是天真無邪的,在道德上都是中立的,沒有好或壞的偏向。人會變壞,都是因為社會造成的,是社會讓人無邪的本性變壞的。當我們曝露在環繞著我們的有罪的行為舉止中,我們正常的、天然的天真就被社會所侵蝕、所影響。但是愛德華茲不認為如此。他曾經寫了一篇非常精彩的、有關原罪的論文,來闡述聖經關於人墮落的性質,以及如何傾向邪惡的習性,來反駁這種世俗的、理性主義的觀點。(譯按:http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/works1.vi.html

他提出一個問題人類社會在一開始是怎麼變壞、怎麼墮落的社會是由人所構成的。為什麼這麼多人會犯罪?在我們的文化中,這基本上是一個不言而喻的公理,就是沒有人是完美的。愛德華茲問,人為什麼會不完美?如果每個人生下來在道德上都是中立的,從統計來說,你會期望大約有一半的人長大後不會犯罪。但是我們所發現的情形不是這樣。我們所看到的每個人都違反了新約的道德觀念和標準。事實上,無論人們生活在哪一種文化下,都沒有人能完美地遵守那個文化的道德標準。即使是盜賊自己立下的榮譽,也會被他們所破壞。任何一個社會,無論它的道德標準多低,人們還是會破壞這個道德標準。

所以人類的品格是墮落的這是無可置疑的。所有的人都會犯罪。

原罪的教義教導,人們會犯罪,是因為我們是罪人。我們不是因為犯罪才成為罪人,而是因為我們是罪人,所以會犯罪。換句話說,自從人類墮落以來,我們都承繼了一個有罪、敗壞的狀態。如今,我們有一個犯罪的本性(罪性);我們的天性傾向邪惡,所以我們的確會犯罪;這是因為我們的本性會犯罪。但是這個本性不是上帝原先賜給我們的。我們原來是無罪的,是天真無邪的,但是如今人類已經筆直地墮入一個敗壞的狀態。


What is meant by the term original sin?
By RC Sproul

Original sin has to do with the fallenness of human nature. Jonathan Edwards wrote a tremendous treatise on original sin. He not only devoted himself to a lengthy exposition of what the Bible teaches about man’s fallen character and his propensity toward wickedness, but he made a study from a secular, rational perspective that addressed the philosophy that was widespread in his day: Everyone in the world is born innocent, in a state of moral neutrality in which they don’t have any predilection toward either the good or the evil. It’s society that corrupts these innocent natives, so to speak. As we are exposed to sinful behavior around us, our normal, natural innocence is eroded by the influence of society. But that begs the question, How did society get corrupt in the first place? Society is people. Why is it that so many people have sinned? It’s almost axiomatic in our culture that nobody is perfect. And Edwards asked questions like, Why not? If everyone were born in a state of moral neutrality, you would expect statistically that approximately 50 percent of those people would grow up and never sin. But that’s not what we find. Everywhere we find human beings acting against the moral precepts and standards of the New Testament. In fact, whatever the moral standards are of the culture in which they live, nobody keeps them perfectly. Even the honor that’s established among thieves is violated by thieves. No matter how low the level of morality is in a given society, people break it.

So there is something indubitable about the fallenness of our human character. All people sin.

The doctrine of original sin teaches that people sin because we are sinners. It’s not that we are sinners because we sin, but rather, we sin because we are sinners; that is, since the fall of man, we have inherited a corrupted condition of sinfulness. We now have a sin nature. The New Testament says we are under sin; we have a disposition toward wickedness, so that we all do, in fact, commit sins because it is our nature to commit sins. But that’s not the nature that was originally given to us by God. We were originally innocent, but now the race has been plummeted into a state of corruption.


¿Qué Significa El Término Pecado Original?
Por R.C. Sproul

El pecado original tiene que ver con la caída de la naturaleza humana. Jonathan Edwards escribió un tremendo tratado sobre el pecado original. No solo se dedicó a una extensa exposición de lo que la Biblia enseña sobre el carácter caído del hombre y su propensión a la maldad, sino que hizo un estudio desde una perspectiva secular y racional que abordaba la filosofía que se difundió en su época: Todos en el mundo nacen inocentes, en un estado de neutralidad moral en el que no tienen ninguna predilección por el bien o el mal.

Es la sociedad la que corrompe a estos inocentes nativos, por así decirlo. Al estar expuestos a un comportamiento pecaminoso a nuestro alrededor, nuestra inocencia normal y natural se ve erosionada por la influencia de la sociedad. Pero eso plantea la pregunta: ¿cómo se corrompió la sociedad primeramente? La sociedad es gente ¿Por qué tantas personas han pecado? Es casi axiomático en nuestra cultura que nadie es perfecto. Y Edwards hizo preguntas como, ¿por qué no? Si todos nacieran en un estado de neutralidad moral, se esperaría estadísticamente que aproximadamente el 50 por ciento de esas personas crecería y nunca pecaría. Pero eso no es lo que encontramos. En todas partes encontramos seres humanos que actúan en contra de los preceptos morales y los estándares del Nuevo Testamento. De hecho, cualesquiera que sean los estándares morales de la cultura en la que viven, nadie los mantiene a la perfección. Incluso el honor que se establece entre los ladrones es violado por los ladrones. No importa qué tan bajo sea el nivel de moralidad en una sociedad dada, la gente la rompe.

Entonces, hay algo indudable sobre la caída de nuestro carácter humano. Toda la gente peca.

La doctrina del pecado original enseña que las personas pecan porque somos pecadores. No es que seamos pecadores porque pecamos, sino que pecamos porque somos pecadores; es decir, desde la caída del hombre, hemos heredado una condición corrupta de pecaminosidad. Ahora tenemos una naturaleza pecaminosa. El Nuevo Testamento dice que estamos bajo pecado; tenemos una disposición hacia la iniquidad, de modo que todos, de hecho, cometemos pecados porque es nuestra naturaleza cometer pecados. Pero esa no es la naturaleza que originalmente nos fue dada por Dios. Originalmente éramos inocentes, pero ahora la raza se ha derrumbado en un estado de corrupción.

2017-04-11

作者: 史鮑爾 (R.C. Sproul) 譯者: 姚錦榮
摘自《神學入門》《Essential Truths of the Christian Faithp.137-138 ,更新傳道會出版http://www.crmnj.org/

 俗語說「人性本善。」雖然這句話不是說人性是完美的但是它的確淡化了人性邪惡的一面。如果人性真的是良善的,為什麼罪惡在世上卻如此普遍!

一般人的解釋是,人人之所以會犯罪,是因為社會對我們每個人都產生過負面的影響;問題出在我們的環境,而不是我們的本性。其實這種對罪惡普遍性的解釋,只是迴避問題而已。人若是普遍良善的,人類社會又怎麼會變得邪惡呢?如果人生來是良善和無辜的,我們至少也能見到有百分之一的人保持良善,不犯任何的罪行;我們至少也該能找到一些尚未敗壞的社會,其間的環境不受罪的感染。可是今天連罪熱心行義的社區,都有對付罪惡的部門。

既然整棵樹的果子都壞了,我們就需要來看看根源的問題。耶穌說過,好樹不能結壞果子,而且聖經清楚地告訴我們,因為我們的老祖宗亞當和夏娃陷在罪裡,結果導致每一個生下來的人,都具有罪惡和敗壞的本性。如果沒有聖經在這方面清楚的教導,我們很可能只得憑自己的理性,去推斷罪惡普遍存在的原因了。

但人類的墮落並不是個單用理性就可以推斷出來的問題,它乃是神的啟示,論及所謂的原罪問題。原罪主要不是指亞當和夏娃最先犯的罪而言,而是指最初的罪所帶來的結果——全人類的敗壞。原罪是指我們出生時墮落的光景。

有關人類的墮落,聖經已經清楚記載。墮落的破壞性極大。這件事究竟是怎樣發生的,在改革宗思想家中也頗富爭論。《威敏思特信仰告白》(WCF)用很簡單的字句解釋這件事,一如聖經所記述的一般:

我們的祖先中了撒但的詭計和試探,吃了禁果而犯罪。然而神按照祂智慧和聖潔的籌謀,就樂意容許他們犯這罪,定意使這事發生,使自己得榮耀。(第6章第1條)[1]

人類的墮落就這樣發生了,但它所影響的層面卻遠超過亞當和夏娃;這些結果不但影響了全人類,而且毀滅了全人類。我們在亞當裡都成為罪人,我們不能這樣問:「那個人是什麼時候變成罪人的?」因為真正的情況是,全人類都活在一個罪惡的光景之中。因為全人類都與亞當相連,所以全人類在神眼中都是有罪的。

《威敏思特信仰告白》也清楚闡明墮落的後果,特別是這結果對人類所造成的影響:

人類因這次的罪行,從原來的義和與神的相交中墮落了,死在罪中,以致身體和靈魂一切的組織和官能全都遭到污染。亞當和夏娃既是全人類的根源,這罪孽(guilt)就歸算(imputed)給他們的後裔;同一罪中之死,與同一敗壞的本性,也隨著自然的傳宗接代,連帶傳給他們的子子孫孫。我們因著這最初的敗壞,就徹底不願意行善、也無力行善,同時敵對所有的良善,並全然傾向罪惡,繼續不斷地行出一切的過犯。(WCF,第62-4條)[2]

最後一句話至關緊要。我們不是因為犯了罪,才成為罪人;而是因為我們是罪人,所以會犯罪。大衛也如此哀嘆說:「我是在罪孽裡生的,在我母親懷胎的時候就有了罪。」(詩515

總結:
1. 罪的普遍性不能歸咎於社會和環境的因素。
2. 罪的普遍性原因是由於全人類的墮落。
3. 原罪不是指第一件罪,而是指那件罪的結果。
4. 所有的人生來都具有罪性,也就是都有原罪。
5. 因為我們的罪性,所以我們都會犯罪。

思考經文:
31-24;耶179;羅310-26;羅512-19;多115

1. Westminster Confession of Faith ( Committee for Christian Education y Publication, Presbyterian Church in America, 1990), art. 6:1.
2.Westminster Confession, art. 6: 1-4.


Original Sin

 It is commonplace to hear the statement, "people are basically good." Though it is admitted that no one is perfect, human wickedness is minimized. Yet if people are basically good, why is sin so universal?

It is often suggested that everybody sins because society has such a negative influence upon us. The problem is seen with our environment, not with our nature. This explanation for the universality of sin begs the question, how did society become corrupt in the first place? If people are born good or innocent, we would expect at least a percentage of them to remain good and sinless. We should be able to find societies that are not corrupt, where the environment has been conditioned by sinlessness rather than sinfulness. Yet the most dedicated-to-righteousness communes we can find still have provisions for dealing with the guilt of sin.

Since the fruit is universally corrupt we look for the root of the problem in the tree. Jesus indicated that a good tree does not produce corrupt fruit. The Bible clearly teaches that our original parents, Adam and Eve, fell in sin. Subsequently, every human being has been born with a sinful and corrupt nature. If the Bible didn't explicitly teach this, we would have to deduce it rationally from the bare fact of the universality of sin.

Yet the Fall is not simply a question of rational deduction. It is a point of divine revelation. It refers to what we call original sin. Original sin does not refer primarily to the first or original sin committed by Adam and Eve. Original sin refers to the result of the first sin—the corruption of the human race. Original sin refers to the fallen condition in which we are born.

That the Fall occurred is clear in Scripture. The Fall was devastating. How it came to pass is open to dispute even among Reformed thinkers. The Westminster Confession explains the event simply, much in the manner that Scripture explains it:

Our first parents, being seduced by the subtlety and temptation of Satan, sinned, in eating the forbidden fruit. This their sin, God was pleased, according to His wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to His own glory.
Thus, the Fall occurred. The results, however, reached far beyond Adam and Eve. They not only touched all mankind, but decimated all mankind. We are sinners in Adam. We cannot ask, "When does the individual become a sinner?" For the truth is that human beings come into existence in a state of sinfulness. They are seen by God as sinful because of their solidarity with Adam.

The Westminster Confession again elegantly expresses the results of the Fall, particularly as it relates to human beings:

By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of soul and body. They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, and the same death in sin, and corrupted nature, conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation. From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.
That last phrase is crucial. We are sinners not because we sin. Rather, we sin because we are sinners. Thus David laments, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me" (Psalm 51:5, NIV).

1.  The universality of sin cannot be accounted for by pointing to societal or environmental factors.
2.  The universality of sin is explained by the Fall of mankind.
3.  Original sin does not refer to the first sin, but to the result of that sin.
4.  All people are born with a sinful nature or "original sin."

5.  We all sin because we are sinners by nature.


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