以耶稣仆人的心志学习神学STUDYING THEOLOGYAS A SERVANT OF JESUS

 文/约翰弗雷姆（John Frame） 译/苗仲善 校/陈彪

http://www.frame-poythress.org/studying-theology-as-a-servant-of-jesus/

https://www.churchchina.org/no130703

三十二年执教於神学院后，或许人们可以恕我直言，向神学生、尤其是為那些刚刚踏入神学学习的同学，谈谈我累计多年长辈般的劝勉。当你开始人生中这一新的里程时，其中一些忠告或许会有助你（我是把你作為青年神学家来谈的）。

After thirty-two years of seminary teaching, I may be pardoned for having accumulated a lot of grandfatherly advice for theological students, especially for those who are beginning their course of study. Some of it may be helpful to you (I address you as a young theologian) as you begin this important new phase of your life.

从许多方面来看，神学院给我们一个非常正面的经歷。你的思想将被激发到你从未想像的地步。我还没有遇见任何一个神学毕业生，他神学院的学习没有极大地影响其思想。你将结识一些极好的朋友，遇见一群你一生都会寻求他们辅导的人。你必经歷不少塑造你的敬拜、探讨、团契和娱乐的时光。

Seminary is, in many ways, a very positive experience. Your thinking will be stimulated beyond what you ever imagined. I’ve never known a graduate of any seminary whose thinking was not greatly influenced by his seminary work. You’ll make some terrific friends, meet a number of people to whom you’ll turn all through your life for counsel. You’ll experience some formative times of worship, discussion, fellowship, and play.Still, there are a lot of perils in the road toward ministry. Some students expect, at least subconsciously, that theological study is like a summer camp “mountaintop experience,” in which everything seems to motivate you almost effortlessly toward spiritual growth. Students with that romantic notion tend to be gravely disappointed, for they discover that theological study can be a major spiritual trial. Much about seminary can be a great blessing, but make no mistake: Satan is particularly interested in attacking those who are studying God’s Word intensely. And in addition to financial difficulties, intellectual problems, and juggling responsibilities of family, study, church and job, there is the problem of the sin within your own heart.

然而，在通向服事的道路上还有许多的困难。一些神学生至少其下意识裡，期待神学学习就像夏令营裡的那种「属灵高峰的经歷」，这裡的一切似乎都激励你毫无费力的属灵成长。有这种浪漫看法的神学生肯定会大大的失望，因為他们发现神学学习可以是一个重大的属灵试炼。神学院裡的学习人生可以是极大的祝福，但是，同时一定要牢记，魔鬼特别有兴趣攻击那些正专注於学习神话语的人。除了经济上的困难、智力的困扰，平衡来自家庭、学业、教会和工作各方面的责任，还要对付来自你内心中罪的缠累。

So it’s important to get started with a good orientation, to which end I hope this essay will be of some help. Of course there is no guarantee that reading this paper will keep you out of danger. I am very much aware of my inadequacies as a theological pastor. I’ve given this advice to many students, and I’ve been dismayed and humbled to see how many of them have fallen into the precise errors I’ve warned them about. And even if I were a perfect teacher, that wouldn’t be enough. The sin within us leads us to resist even the best, and best-formulated, spiritual counsel (see Prov. 1:20-33, and many other passages in Proverbs). There is a biblical place for teachers and counselors, but, in the end, only God, by his Word and Spirit, can make us obey; only he can open our ears and hearts to the counsel he provides us. I can only pray that the Lord himself will work through this essay, together with the counsel of other pastors and teachers, to set you on a wise course.

因此，从一开始就瞭解读神学院意味著什麼，对你们神学生是相当重要和有助的；这也是我写这篇文章的根本目的。当然，谁也保证不了，你读了这篇文章就能一帆风顺了。我相当清楚自己作為一个神学牧师的不足。儘管我曾经给予许多学生类似的忠告，然而我仍然遗憾地看到许多人恰恰落入我所警告他们的错误之中。我即便是个完美无缺的老师，也无济於事。我们裡面的罪性导致我们抵挡即便是至善至美的属灵辅导（见箴言1:20-33和其他章节）。虽然，圣经强调作教导和辅导等工作的重要性，但是，终极而言唯有神透过祂的话和祂的灵亲自动工才能使我们顺服；唯有祂能开通我们的耳朵和打开我们的心灵，使我们面向祂亲自的引导。这裡，我只能祈求神自己使用这篇文章和其他的牧师和教师的忠告，把你领到一个智慧光明的路上。

So it’s important to get started with a good orientation, to which end I hope this essay will be of some help. Of course there is no guarantee that reading this paper will keep you out of danger. I am very much aware of my inadequacies as a theological pastor. I’ve given this advice to many students, and I’ve been dismayed and humbled to see how many of them have fallen into the precise errors I’ve warned them about. And even if I were a perfect teacher, that wouldn’t be enough. The sin within us leads us to resist even the best, and best-formulated, spiritual counsel (see Prov. 1:20-33, and many other passages in Proverbs). There is a biblical place for teachers and counselors, but, in the end, only God, by his Word and Spirit, can make us obey; only he can open our ears and hearts to the counsel he provides us. I can only pray that the Lord himself will work through this essay, together with the counsel of other pastors and teachers, to set you on a wise course.

一、神学是属灵的重任1. Theology is a Spiritual Task

「神学」这个名词会有点令人忘而生畏，听起来令人感到其庞大、深奥、抽象和专业化。更进一步，我们许多人都怀疑这个学科——认為或许神学与我们与神同行的事情不搭边，更有甚者，认為神学只是人的一些看法。我们怎敢把神活泼的话语框在一个知识体系中？因此，我还是十分感激在我年轻时就被警告过有关神学的事，儘管我现在已经知道那些反对神学之人的问题所在。无论如何，我们都应该对「学院派神学」要谨慎，因為，一不小心，就会误入歧途，就会和那些不健康的思维方式混為一谈。

The term theology scares people. It sounds formidable, esoteric, abstract, technical. Further, many of us have suspicions about the discipline– that it is perhaps irrelevant to our walk before God, or, even worse, a sort of human presumption. How can we dare to think of “grasping” the living Word of God and stuffing it into an intellectual system? Thus was I warned about theology during my youth; and, although I now think the objections to it can be answered, I’m glad I was warned. We should all be a little suspicious of academic theology, because, studied in the wrong way, it can get mixed up with some unhealthy ways of thinking.

依我的观点，对神学最好的定义就是将整本圣经应用於整个的人生。神学不是企图精确无误地表述我们对神的感受（士莱马赫），也不仅仅是试图陈述客观的真理，或只是将真理「分门别类」（贺治），因為圣经本身已经完美无缺地既向将这些方面处理妥当。所以说，神学是為人类需要来教导圣经真理[1]。神学回答人们的问题，试图解除人们的疑惑，将经文应用於人生的情形中。

The best way to define theology, in my view, is as the application of the whole Bible to the whole of human life. Theology is not an attempt to articulate our feelings about God (Schleiermacher), but neither is it merely an attempt to state the objective truth, or to put the truth in “proper order” (Hodge), for Scripture already does those things perfectly well. Theology is, rather, teaching1 the Bible for the purpose of meeting human needs. It answers human questions, tries to relieve doubts, applies texts to life-situations.

据我所知，能最广义的描述神学所涉及到一切范畴的术语，莫过於「应用」这个词；因此，我敢高呼「神学就应用」。当然，「应用」这个词也容易引起大家的误解。对某些人来说，它已经意味著一种嫌弃任何「理论性的」，而单单注重「实践性的」神学。為此，我得在这澄清一下，我可没有这个意思。理论性的神学工作是十分重要的。我所是要指出是，即便是最理论性的神学工作还是可以置於「应用」的名下。要不然我们发展神学理论干什麼呢？不就是正因為神学理论要答覆人们对面临具有属灵重要性的事务时所提出的实际问题。因此，理论也是应用的一部分。

The broadest term I know to describe everything theology does is the term “application;” hence my slogan, “theology is application.” Of course, the term “application” is susceptible to some misunderstanding. It has suggested to some a type of theology that abhors anything “theoretical” and focuses only on the “practical.” So let me say here that that is not at all what I have in mind. Theoretical work in theology is very important. My only concern is to point out that even the most theoretical sort of theology falls under the label “application.” For why do we develop theological theories, after all? Only because they address real questions people have on matters of spiritual importance. So theory is part of application.

这样看来，在神学中，就不会在总体上重实践轻理论。反之，也不会重理论轻实践。理论和实践的问题是同等重要，都是神学家旗鼓相当的任务。

So this way of looking at theology does not elevate the practical over the theoretical in any general way. On the other hand, neither does it elevate the theoretical over the practical. Theoretical and practical questions are on a par with one another, all fair game for the theologian.

我也极力反对那种把理论看成是实践基础的看法。更合乎圣经的观点则為,圣经本身是理论和实践两者的基础；并且降伏於圣经的权威之下，理论和实践相得益彰。

I also resist the notion that theory is somehow the basis of practice. A much more biblical view is that Scripture itself is the basis of both theory and practice, and that, under the authority of Scripture, theory and practice serve one another.

同样地，思考「教义与人生的关係」这个问题时，也要遵循这个原则。比如，我们有时很乐意说「教义是基督徒人生的基础。」[2]这的确是对的，如果这裡的教义指的是圣经的教导。但是，如果「教义」是指人总结出来的神学原则，使人对圣经教导的理解，那麼，这些就不是基督徒人生中唯一的基础了。我寧愿说，教义和人生是互相关联，是相互依存的关係。

Similar considerations bear on the question of the “relation of doctrine to life.” We are sometimes inclined to say that “doctrine is the basis of the Christian life.”2 That’s a true statement, if by “doctrine” we mean the teaching of Scripture itself. But if “doctrines” are human theological formulations, human understandings of biblical teachings, then they are not the singular basis for the Christian life. Rather, doctrine and life are correlative; each feeds the other.

毫无疑问，教义（这裡专指敬虔的圣经教师们的作品）对基督徒人生会有很大的贡献。根据圣经的教导，有些情况是基督徒人生优先於教义的。正如主耶穌基督告诉尼哥底母（「以色列人的教师」，约3:10），「人若不重生，就不能见神的国。」（约3:3）这就是说，除非你又从神来的新生命（参见约一2:29,3:9,4:7,5:14,18）你就见不著神的国，除非神给你一个新生命，你就不可能成為真正的教师。透过那个新生命，神赐给你愿意成就神旨意的心志，从而让你能够明白主耶穌教导的真理。注意，这裡就是生命改变在先，而理智的变化或教义的更改在后。

Certainly, doctrine (defined as the work of godly teachers of the Bible) contributes much to the Christian life. But in some ways, according to Scripture, the Christian life is prior to doctrine in this sense. As Jesus told Nicodemus (“the teacher of Israel,” John 3:10), you can’t even see the kingdom of God unless you are born again (John 3:3), that is, unless you have new life from God (cf. 1 John 2:29, 3:9, 4:7, 5:1, 4, 18). You cannot be a teacher unless God has given you new life. Through that new life, God gives you a “willingness to do his will” that enables you to know the truth of Jesus’ teaching (John 7:17). Note that here a change of life is prior to a change in intellectual orientation, a change in doctrine.

也请注意，保罗在罗马书中12：1-2裡告诉我们如何寻求、实践和证实神的旨意：「所以弟兄们，我以神的慈悲劝你们，将身体献上，当作活祭，是圣洁的，是神所喜悦的；你们如此事奉乃是理所当然的。不要效法这个世界，只要心意更新而变化，叫你们察验何為神的善良、纯全、可喜悦的旨意。」

Note also how the Apostle Paul tells us to find, test, and approve the will of God in Rom. 12:1-2: by making our bodies living sacrifices, renouncing conformity to the world, being transformed by the renewal of our minds. Again, a change of life is what brings insight, doctrinal understanding. Compare in this respect 1 Cor. 8:1-3 (where love and humility are indispensible prerequisites to knowledge), Eph. 5:8-10 (where living as children of light leads us to find what God’s will is), Phil. 1:9-10 (where love gives insight), Heb. 5:11-13 (where ethical maturity prepares us to benefit from doctrinal teaching about Melchizedek).

在一次表明生命的改变导致对教义的真正领会。同样的角度，请比较林前8：1-3（那裡爱和谦卑成了知识不可缺少的先决条件），弗5:8-10（这裡光明之子的人生带领我们能够找到神的旨意），腓1:11-13（那裡爱给於我们洞察力），和希5:11-13（这裡道德方面的成熟预备我们从关於麦基洗德的教义中获得益处）。因此，神学不是自给自足的，它是依赖於你的基督徒人生是否成熟，就像是你的基督徒人生是否成熟依赖於教义一样。在恩典中成长，会使你成為一个更好的神学家，成為一个更好的神学家也会帮助你在恩典中成长，两者之间就像螺旋上升的关係一样。当你成為基督徒，通常你会得到一些很基本的神学教导，这对你开始与主同行是一个极大的帮助。但是当出现新的问题时，你回到圣经和神学中，你会得到更清晰的答案——有些时候很多的问题就是你刚信耶穌是的问题。所以说，你在主裡更加成熟的话，使你能够理解、甚至更喜欢那些有深度的教导。这些教导又反过来帮助你更加成熟，就这样相互促进。

So theology is not self-sufficient. It depends on the maturity of your Christian life, as the maturity of your Christian life depends on theology. Growth in grace will make you a better theologian, and becoming a better theologian will help you grow in grace. There is a “spiral” relationship between the two. When you become a Christian, you usually get some elementary theological teaching, a great help in getting started in your walk with the Lord. But then new questions arise, and you go back to Scripture and theology, and you get more advanced answers—sometimes to the same questions you had as a spiritual babe. But your greater maturity enables you to understand and appreciate teaching of greater depth. And that teaching, in turn, helps you to grow more, and so on.

这就是為什麼在新约中，保罗（提前3:1-7，多1:5-9）特别强调作為一个合格的教师，更重要的是属灵方面的成熟，而不是知识方面的优势。保罗虽然也重视个人是否有教导的恩赐、是否能讲纯正的教导，但更多地，保罗关注一个人作為长老、教师在道德方面的标準，「无可指责」，「一个妇人的丈夫」，「温和」，「有节制」等等。这些教导的现实意义是很明显的，如果你想成為一名神学家，你必须是一位敬畏神的人，这一原则对纯做学术研究的神学家和对实际从事牧养工作的神学家们都适用。你们当中的许多人属於后一种情况，即要站讲台讲道、带领查经、喂养信徒、在失丧人中间作见证。

This is why, in the New Testament, the qualifications of teachers (1 Tim. 3:1-7, Tit. 1:5-9) are more spiritual than intellectual. Paul mentions “aptness to teach” and “sound doctrine,” but his qualifications for elder-teachers are mostly ethical: “above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled,” etc. The application is obvious: If you want to become a theologian, you must be a godly person. That principle applies to the most academic and theoretical of theologians, as well as to the practical theologians (like most of you) who preach sermons, lead Bible studies, nurture other believers, and witness to the lost.

实际上，神学和基督徒之间的关係比上面讲的这些还要密切。如果两者间相互强化对方一点也不过分。因此，我寧愿说神学是基督徒人生的一部分。而且是对其他部分產生最深远影响的那部分。神学是信耶穌的人一定要付诸实践的一件事。因此，像做其他事情一样，要荣耀神，这是服事主耶穌的一部分。所以，我们的神学思考、神学实践，必须要蒙主悦纳，就像神颁布有关敬拜真神、孝敬父母、不许杀人、不许奸淫、不许偷盗的这些戒命，神也会有对神学的神圣命令。神学无论是内容和方法，都必须要以圣经為依据，不可偏离丝毫。

Indeed, the relation between theology and the Christian life is even closer than that. It’s not enough to say that theology and life are two things that reinforce one another. Rather, it’s important to notice that theology is part of the Christian life: a part that, to be sure, is crucial to the well-being of the other parts. Theology is one of the things we do as believers. So, like all other things we do, we should do it to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). It is part of our service to Christ. So we must do theology in a way that is acceptable to God. Just as there are divine commands about worship, honoring parents, murder, adultery, theft, etc., there are divine commands about theology. Theology, both in its content and its method, must be subject to Scripture.

圣经裡，很多地方讲论关於神学的事，也讲论到属灵智慧和知识的事。「敬畏耶和华是智慧的开端」（诗111:10，箴9:10），属世的任何智慧都是抵挡永生神的智慧（林前1-2）。神的话是一切属灵知识的基準。

Scripture has much to say about theology, about the business of gaining spiritual wisdom and knowledge. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psm. 111:10, Prov. 9:10) and of knowledge (Prov. 1:7). The wisdom of the world is antithetical to the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1-2). God’s written Word is the standard for spiritual knowledge (Deut. 6:6-9, Psm. 119:9, 11, 1 Cor. 14:37, 2 Tim. 3:15-17, 2 Pet. 1:19-21).

在这点上，我们是反文化的。恐怕没有比我们所主张的以圣经為基準的学术规则更与现代的或后现代的思潮水火不容。大多数的人们会告诉我们，思想应该是自圆其说的，完全融於这个世界的科学、歷史、艺术，甚至宗教研究都要毫无列外地不带任何宗教情结，即持所谓的中间立场。我们的救主耶穌基督告诉我们，要尽心、尽意事奉他。矛盾和斗争在清楚不过了。

Here we must be counter-cultural. Nothing is more absurd to the modern or postmodern mind than the proposition that an academic discipline should be subject to biblical norms. The major opinion-makers tells us that thought must be autonomous, secular, that science, history, art, even the study of religion, but be religiously neutral. But our Lord tells us that we must serve him with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. The contrast, and the conflict, could not be more clear.

对於基督徒而言，不仅是神学要严格的把持这样的原则，所有其他的学术规则，都要以圣经為依据。但我们研究歷史、科学、文学、政治学时，我们必须一神的话是永远不变的真理為前提。我们必须要搞清楚神的话如何运用在我们特定的学术领域中所遵循的规则。因此，很清楚，神学更要无可置疑地以圣经為基础。

Indeed, for the Christian, not only theology in the narrow sense, but all other academic disciplines as well, must be subject to Scripture. When we study history, or science, or literature, or politics, we must presuppose the truths of God’s Word; we must ask in each case how Scripture applies to these disciplines. So it should be obvious, though it does not go without saying, that theology, too, is subject to Scripture.

所以，神学是我们作為基督门徒的一部分，并且它会大大影响其它部分的那个部分。作為生命的一部分，我们必须要顺服圣经。就这点来论，神学就成為一件属灵的大事[3]。

So theology is part of our discipleship. It is a part of the Christian life that nurtures all the rest of life. And as part of life, we should carry it out in obedience to Scripture. In these ways, theology is a spiritual task.3

二、神的话既有危险性、又大有造就性2. The Word of God is Dangerous, As Well As Edifying

神学是研究神话语的学问。这一点在你圣经神学和系统神学课程中是显而易见的，但是，其他的课程，如讲道学、辅导学、教会歷史也是一样的。因為你们的老师会以圣经為标準去解释和评价他们所选的专题。因此，你们在神学院的课程中充满了圣经裡的章节、书写的神的话。

Theology is a study of the Word of God. That is obvious in the case of your courses in Bible and Systematic Theology, but it is no less true in areas like preaching, counseling, and church history: for in those disciplines too, your professors will seek to interpret and evaluate their subjects according to biblical standards. So your seminary course will amount to a saturation in Scripture, the written Word of God.

当然，从事研究神的话，我们可以从中蒙福受益。一切的丰盛和知识都在耶穌基督裡（西2:3）。我们从神的话语来瞭解他。诗人在诗篇119:97提到，「我何等爱慕你的律法，终日不住地思想。」103节进一步讲，「你的言语在我上膛何等甘美，在我口中比蜜更甜！」圣经是「神所默示的，於教训、督责、使人归正、教导人学义都是有益的，叫属神的人得以完全，预备行各样的善事」（提后3:16-17）。圣经的信息是神救赎的大能（罗1:16），「是活泼的，是有功效的」（希4:12）。

除了在圣经裡，我们还能在其他地方找到我们為神做工和与神同行时需要的一切吗？我们会像彼得一样坚定地宣告：「主，你有永生的道，我们还去跟谁呢？」（约6:18）

This study can be a great blessing, of course. All the riches of wisdom and knowledge are in Christ (Col. 2:3), and we learn of him in Scripture. “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long,” says the Psalmist (Psm. 119:97). “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” he says in verse 103. The Scriptures are “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Their message is “the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16), “living and powerful” (Heb. 4:12). Where else can we find what we need for ministry and for our life with God? With Peter, we exclaim, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

但是，神的话也是相当危险的。正如神的话是神救赎的大能，有时也会带来定罪。神命令以赛亚传神的道，但告诉他，他所传的并非是祝福听道的人：「你去告诉这百姓说：你们听是要听见，却不明白；看是要看见，却不晓得。要使这百姓心蒙脂油，耳朵发沉，眼睛昏迷；恐怕眼睛看见，耳朵听见，心裡明白，回转过来，便得医治。」（赛6:9-10）

But the Word can also be dangerous. As the Word is the power of God to salvation, it can sometimes also bring condemnation. God commanded Isaiah to preach the Word, but told him it would not bless its hearers:Be ever hearing, but never understanding; Be ever seeing, but never perceiving.Make the heart of this people calloused; Make their ears dull And close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And turn and be healed (Isa. 6:9-10).

耶穌引用这段经文来说明他用比喻教训犹太人；在保罗从不信的犹太人中转向外帮人时，也引用了同一段经文。我们知道，歷史上从远古到近代，许多人听到了神的话，心却更加刚硬，从而诱发人们更大的犯罪（罗7:8-13）。他们满不在乎的方式去回应所听到的神的话。有时，甚至是低档神的话。因此，这些人為自己积蓄神更大的愤怒。当那时来到之时，神的话就会直接审判他们（约12:48）。

Jesus quotes this passage in connection with his own parabolic teaching (Matt. 13:13-15 and parallels), and Paul quotes it as he turns from unbelieving Jews to the Gentiles (Acts 28:26-28). We know that often in biblical and later history, many people have heard the Word of God without benefit to themselves. Rather, hearing it has hardened them, provoked them to greater sin (Rom. 7:8-13). They respond to it indifferently, or even with hostility. So they pile up to themselves greater condemnation. And on the last day, the Word is their judge (John 12:48).

為什麼我在这篇有关神学学习的文章中提出这个问题呢？因為它有可能把注意力集中在神学学习的一个更大的危害上。你完全沉浸在神的话语中，有时是个祝福，有时却是个咒诅。如果你听到神的话却以不相信或满不在乎的方式去领受，几年下来，你的灵性就会大大地偏离纯正的信仰。

Why do I raise this issue in an essay about theological study? Because it focuses our attention on one great danger of theological study. Your very immersion in the Word of God can be a blessing, or it can be a curse. If you hear the Word in unbelief or indifference, and respond to it that way over and over again over several years, you will be much worse off spiritually as a result.

有两点特点要注意：

1）在进入神学院要确定你是一个基督徒。我知道，这话听起来很怪。為什麼一个进入神学院读书的人会不是一个基督徒呢？但是我确定知道有的神学院毕业生作见证讲，他们上神学院时还没有悔改，没有让耶穌基督做他们的救主和生命的主。是后来他们在神学院学习的时候，神才找到他们。人们来神学院学习，有许多的原因，但并不都是来学习如何做基督的僕人。碰巧在神学院有人悔改信主了，但是我猜肯定会有人用永永远远也不会经歷神拯救的恩典。这样神学院的经歷只能增加他们的刑罚。

1. Make sure that you are a Christian, before you enter seminary. That sounds strange, I know. Why would anyone enter seminary without being a Christian? But I’ve known some seminary grads who have testified that they went to seminary unconverted and didn’t come to know Christ as Lord and Savior until God reached them in their seminary studies. People come to seminary for all sorts of reasons; not always to study as servants of Christ. Occasionally these are converted while in seminary, but I suspect that some never do experience God’s saving grace, and the seminary experience only increases their condemnation.

注意，你并不是通过水礼成的基督徒的、或因為是教会的会友、或正确的教义，或好的行為成為基督徒的。法利赛人无论从教人方面还是从实际的标準衡量都是行义的，但耶穌照样定他们的罪。我们中间没有一个人可以好到能达到上帝的标準。所以我们救不了自己，救恩是神的礼物，就是那个完全的义人耶穌在十字架上担当了我们的罪。我们惟有通过信靠耶穌為我们的救主和主宰，只能藉著信心接受这个礼物。如果你还没有凭著信心接受耶穌為救主，此时此刻你要来接受。「「神爱世人，甚至将他的独生子赐给他们，叫一切信他的，不至灭亡，反得永生。」只有接受了耶穌，那时，你才可以说自己是个基督徒。但是，如果你没有信耶穌就进入神学院学习，属灵的大灾难就等著你呢！

None of us is good enough to measure up to God’s standards. So we cannot save ourselves. Salvation is a gift of God, the gift of Jesus’ perfect righteousness in place of our sin, which he bore for us on the cross. We receive that gift through faith alone, by trusting Jesus as Lord and Savior. If you have not received Jesus by faith, now is the time to do so. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Then, and only then, can you say that you are a Christian.But if you go to seminary without Jesus, you are headed for spiritual disaster.

2）在神学院学习时，永远不要把神的话仅仅当做是些的学术课题。即使是你学习希腊文动词在一个圣经句子中语法关係时，也要聆听那句话在说什麼，用信心去接受，并乐意去遵行。年轻的撒母耳说：「耶和华啊，请说，僕人敬听」（撒上3:9）。如果你满不在乎的方式听神的话，a)你要麼会失去神的话的祝福；b)或者你会形成和重复一种坏习惯，导致你失去其他的祝福；c)最坏的情况，就是与神的恩典隔绝，你的心变得刚硬到一个程度去抵挡真理，神的话对你会越来越没有意义。

2. In your seminary studies, never treat God’s Word as a mere academic assignment. Even when you are parsing Greek verbs in an assigned passage, listen to what that passage says. Hear it in faith, with a disposition to obey. With young Samuel, say “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (1 Sam. 3:9). If you hear God’s Word indifferently, (a) you will lose the blessing of it, (b) you will form or reinforce a bad habit that will lead to other lost blessings, and (c) at worst, apart from God’s grace, you will be hardened against the truth. It will come to mean less and less to you.

三、 神学要求严谨的思考3. Theology Demands Rigorous Thought

改革宗神学院（RTS）的座右铭是“思想真理，心向真神”（A mind for truth, A heart for God）。神学学习要涉及这两方面。上一节，我讲到我们和上帝的内在关系。在这一节我将着重讲“思想真理”，这当然也是“心向真神”的一个方面[4]。The motto of Reformed Theological Seminary is “a mind for truth, a heart for God.” The study of theology involves both of these. In the previous sections I addressed our heart-relationship to God. In this one I shall focus on the “mind for truth,” which, of course, is an aspect of “the heart for God.”4

神学的根本之处意味着一定要人在智力上全力以赴。注意，神学并不排除绞尽脑汁的思考，而是要用到这样的思考。这节我们所讲的是前节内容的具体应用。上帝呼召我们不但要尽心、尽性、尽力，也要尽意（智）去服事他。倘若你不能情愿接受上帝在思想方面的这一标准，你怎么敢说在“人生的各个层面”都接受上帝的命令呢？One important implication of the spirituality of theology is that theology deserves our best intellectual effort. Notice that intellectual rigor is not something alien to spirituality, but part of it. What I say in this section is an application of what went before. God calls you to serve him with the mind, as well as heart, soul, and strength. If you are unwilling to accept God’s standards in thought, can you rightly claim to be accepting his demand in “all of life”?

你认为上帝要你思想他的话到一个什么程度呢？当你读到一段不太容易明白的圣经经节，你认为上帝要你简单地去接受最先出现在你脑海中的解释吗？还是你要把上帝的话看重到一个地步，直到竭尽全力得到一个正确的答案呢？作为上帝的仆人，你愿意根据自己的实际情况，攻克各个难关，诸如涉及语言、各种文化、沟通原则及其神学上的奥秘，直到你确信上帝要让你教导属他的子民为止吗？How hard do you think God wants you to think about his Word? When you read a difficult passage of Scripture, do you think he wants you to jump at the first interpretation that pops into your head? Or do you value him enough to work hard at it until you get it right? Are you willing, as a servant of Christ, to work your way through the difficulties of ancient languages and cultures, principles of communication, indeed of theological mysteries, until you know what God wants you to teach his people?

保罗告诫帖撒罗尼迦人要“凡事察验”（帖前5:21）。保罗要求他们要像那些庇哩亚的贵族们，“天天考查圣经，要晓得这（保罗所传的）道是与不是”（徒17:11；比较申18:20-22）。彼得也要求我们能够回答质疑我们永生盼望的那些人的问题（彼前3:15）。Paul tells the Thessalonians to “test everything” (1 Thess. 5:21). He wants them to be like the noble Bereans who “examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11; compare Deut. 18:20-22). Peter wants us to have an answer to everyone who asks us a reason for our hope (1 Pet. 3:15).

我承认，我对目前福音派、特别是改革宗福音派人士的思想质量很是担忧。[5]依我看，当今出现的神学（无论是学术界还是大众化的）真是不能叫人心悦诚服。当然，这些问题在做学生时就开始显露出来。如果学生们进的是医学院或法学院，大家都预备很用功地学习，但是，学生们对神学学习的态度就不同了，他们通常指望神学院里的学习比医学院或法学院容易得多。为什么呢？或许他们脑子里会想，基督徒的老师应该会比外面世界的老师好对付些（错误地理解基督徒的爱和温和），或许他们认为学神学时灵性方面的规则，用不着使劲去思想（正如我们所看到的，那种错误理解何谓合乎圣经的属灵性质）。I confess to some concern about the quality of thought in the evangelical community and specifically in the Reformed branch of evangelicalism.5 In my view, much that passes for theology today (both academic and popular) is not very cogent. The problem begins, of course, in the student years. Students expect to study hard if they go to medical school or law school. But they tend to have a different attitude toward theology. They often expect theological studies to be easier than medicine or law or other graduate programs. Why? Perhaps in the back of their minds, they figure that Christian teachers ought to be easier on them than secular teachers (misunderstanding the nature of Christian love and gentleness). Or they think that because theology is a spiritual discipline they shouldn’t have to think hard about it (misunderstanding, as we have seen, the nature of biblical spirituality).

请把上述误会从你的头脑中拿掉吧！一个基督徒被上帝呼召去学上帝的话，决不能不尽自己最大的努力。我们真是要有这样的态度。首先，基督徒一定要奉耶稣基督的名（西3:17），全心全意地做好摆在他前面的一切任务（西3:23）。其次，是因为上帝的话本身的重要性。此外，是因为事奉上帝的性质。请这么想，你的事奉是从神学院做学生开始的。如果你在神学院没有好好学习，你就不能很好地服事现在和将来的人。倘若你不能好好地为上帝的儿女预备属灵的食物，你就是不爱上帝的儿女。Please put those notions out of your heads. A Christian, called to study the Word of God, may give to that task nothing less than his best. That is true, (1) because the Christian must do every task laid before him with all his heart (Col. 3:23) and in the name of the Lord Jesus (Col. 3:17), (2) because of the importance of the subject matter (God’s own Word) and (3) because of the nature of the ministry. Think of it this way: your ministry begins in your student years. You are shortchanging the people to whom you will minister (now and in the future) if you fail to work hard at your studies. You don’t love God’s people if right now you fail to prepare good spiritual food for them.

如果，你没有上帝话语的扎实知识和将它们应用于人们的需要，你就比一个不懂医术的医生却去给人看病更糟！为什么说更糟呢？因为你牧养的人的结局是通向永远的。If you try to minister to people without a solid knowledge of God’s Word and an ability to apply it to human needs, you are worse than a physician who treats people in medical ignorance. Worse, because the consequences can be eternal.

思想本身不会扭曲或否认上帝的话，但罪却能够。反智者常常是只关注问题的一部分，即理性的堕落，却缩小了罪在生命的其他领域的危害。另一方面，如此行反智者也就忽略了上帝所赐的成圣工具的重要作用，从而失去上帝话语在其身上的全备影响。但是，本着圣经教导的神学观念却是用各种方式将上帝的话应用在其儿女身上。我们应该尽力应用一切的学习工具去这样做，如语言学、考古学、推理、想象、逻辑等等。Thinking as such does not distort or deny the Word of God; sin does. The anti‑intellectual too often focuses on only part of the problem, the depravity of the intellect, minimizing the effects of sin in other areas of life. On the other hand, in doing so he overlooks significant God‑given tools of sanctification and thus loses the full impact of the Word upon him. But one with a fully biblical concept of theology will use all these means to apply the Word to God’s people. We should use to the fullest all the tools of learning: linguistics, archaeology, reason, imagination, logic, and so on.

通过这样的神学，让我们更加顺服；而通过顺服让我们变成更好的神学家。倘若神学是我们在上帝的话语里与永活的上帝相遇，那么我们怎敢怠慢而拿次好的献在上帝面前呢？要是真敢有人拿次好的给上帝的话，那真是罪恶的自满和傲慢的自负。Through such theology we will become more obedient, and through obedience we will become better theologians. If theology is a confrontation with the living God in His Word, then we dare not bring before Him any less than our best. To do so is sinful complacency, arrogant pride.

这就意味着：Some implications:

 1. 要是你在神学院里感到工作量有些超负荷或遇到学习的困难，不必大惊小怪，更不要发怒。神学院是个研究生院，理所当然，所学的功课比大学里所学的要难一点。再者，你的老师也会认真地对待我们讨论过的这些话题，尤其是神学上周密思想的重要性。这里几条实用的建议，很适用于那些特别在学习上不适应的同学。（1）少选几门课。有时不在一年中同时选希腊文和希伯来文也挺有帮助。特殊情况下，同学也可考虑延长一下学习年限，不一定要在通常的两、三年之内毕业。（2）组织学习小组，一起讨论所学的内容。也可以分享各自的难处。（3）和你自己的牧师、指导教授或主管学生的辅导主任谈谈。千万不要躲在一处生闷气。（4）花点时间在基础领域，将有助于你从不适应中恢复。如读读威斯敏斯特要理问答，找些为平信徒甚至是为初信者的神学读物。1. Don’t be surprised if you feel a bit overwhelmed at the seminary workload and the difficulty of study. And don’t be resentful, either. Seminary is, of course, a graduate school, and the work is appropriately more difficult than college work. Further, your professors take seriously what we have been discussing, the special importance of careful thinking in theology. Here are some practical suggestions for those who are feeling acute academic pain: (1) Consider reducing your course load. It might, for example, be especially helpful to avoid taking Hebrew and Greek the same year. In some cases students should consider extending their programs beyond the standard two- or three-year periods. (2) Form study groups to discuss the material. Share the pain. (3) Talk to your pastor, faculty advisor, or Dean of Students; don’t just go away mad. (4) Give yourself some remedial studies in the basics. Read the Westminster Confession and Catechisms. Get some texts in the theological disciplines written for laymen or even for new believers.

 2.试着去理解，以神学院标准来学习神学很可能是你以前未曾经历过的事。你可能在学生宿舍吹牛聚会时和别人争论过神学，你或许也知道改革宗的要理问答，尽管当今知道这些也算是稀罕了。你或许像越来越多的学生一样，学过从教会历史看教义发展的这门课。不管怎么样，当你在神学院学神学时，你就得准备好去满足更严格的思考标准和神学深度[6]。你过去的答案不一定够用了。2. Try to understand that the study of theology at the seminary level is probably unlike anything you have done before. You may be experienced in arguing theology in dorm-room bull sessions; you may even have fairly good background in the Reformed confessions and catechisms, although that is rare these days. You may, like an increasing number of students, have studied the development of doctrine through the history of the church. Nevertheless, when you study theology at seminary, you will be expected to conform to a higher standard of intellectual rigor and theological depth.6 Your old answers will not necessarily be sufficient any more.

没有比那些认为自己什么都知道的一年级神学生更可爱的了（也有将要毕业的神学生，甚至快要退休的神学院教授，有时也会如此表现自己！）。请相信我，人不会什么都知道的。你只是还不知道问题的复杂程度和要考量的众多因素而已。Nothing is less attractive than a first-year seminarian (or even graduating seminarian, or even retiring professor!) who thinks he knows everything. Believe me, you don’t. You probably have very little idea how complicated the questions are, how many facets of them need to be considered.

一步步走，眼下坐矮凳也该满足。千万别对与你看法不同的同学傲慢。圣经里教导，我们怎样论断人，我们也要怎样被同样的标准来论断。在那些高难和有争议的问题上，千万别充当专家。比如：唯唱诗篇者、基本敬拜准则、信守信条者、神律主义、堕落前预定论、普遍恩典、孩童可领圣餐说、辨道的方法等等。直到你用柔和的心，思想过各个方面，你最好不要形成自己的主张。开放自己，有改变的可能。在改革宗的圈子里有太多的武断，面对许多复杂的问题有太多简单的答案。让我们不要在贬低主基督福音的罪上有份。[7] Take one step at a time. Be content to take a lower seat for the time being. Don’t be arrogant with your fellow students with whom you disagree. Scripture tells us that we ourselves will be judged by the standards we apply to others. Don’t act like the great expert on difficult and controversial issues like exclusive psalmody, the regulative principle, confessional subscription, theonomy, supralapsarianism, common grace, infant communion, apologetic method, etc. It is best not even to make up your mind on such matters until you have sympathetically considered all sides. Open yourself to the possibility of change. There is far too much cocksureness in Reformed circles, too many easy answers to difficult questions. Let us not be guilty of so trivializing the gospel of Christ.7

 3. 让每堂课、每份作业成为你认真反思的机会。例如，想想你的阅读作业。我知道这听起来很明确。但是，学生们的一个主要难处就是不太知道如何很好地去阅读。电视、录音带的出现后，高中和大学的标准渐渐降低，基督徒的学术水准也普遍降低（见1），从而使得我们要通过自我阅读来教导遇到了困难。然而，能够有思考的阅读能力，对一个有效的事奉是绝对必须的。倘若你不知道怎么阅读，你最好开始学习这门功课，因为你的教授指望你通过自己阅读学很多东西。这本是研究院学习的特色。别指望老师在课堂上解释所有那些阅读材料，课堂讲解只是你阅读的一个补充，而不是重复。如果你上了研究院却不能这么做，你必须要加油了——用自己的时间去补这一课。我们无法在神学院里教阅读。我们只能预先假设这是一个事奉必须拥有的技能。Take one step at a time. Be content to take a lower seat for the time being. Don’t be arrogant with your fellow students with whom you disagree. Scripture tells us that we ourselves will be judged by the standards we apply to others. Don’t act like the great expert on difficult and controversial issues like exclusive psalmody, the regulative principle, confessional subscription, theonomy, supralapsarianism, common grace, infant communion, apologetic method, etc. It is best not even to make up your mind on such matters until you have sympathetically considered all sides. Open yourself to the possibility of change. There is far too much cocksureness in Reformed circles, too many easy answers to difficult questions. Let us not be guilty of so trivializing the gospel of Christ.7

你也要在阅读时花时间默想。用祷告的心去阅读，求上帝帮助你如何面对阅读材料中的真理和谬误。用分析及批判的眼光去阅读，提出好的问题，搞清楚作者为什么这样去表达他们要表达的意思。为什么用这种手法，而不用另一种手法；为什么作者的意思是对，或是错。不要单单学习作者怎么说，而要用作者的思想去激发自己的思想。You should also spend time meditating on your reading. Read prayerfully, asking God to help you react properly to the truths and falsehoods in the texts. Read analytically and critically ‑ asking good questions, finding out why the writers say what they say, why they say it in one way rather than another, why their views are right or wrong. Don’t just learn what the authors say: use their thoughts as a stimulus to your own.

同样的忠告也适用于课堂。听老师讲和阅读一样，要求我们思想，你要是只在上课时或考试前才想讲课的内容，你就没消化这门课。把自己的笔记带回家去分析一下，就像你对待阅读作业一样。你要默想、祷告，查考圣经看看课堂上讲的对不对（徒17:11）。The same advice bears on class lectures. Lectures, like readings, require thought. You cannot do justice to a lecture if you think about it only when it is given and before the examination. Take your notes home with you and analyze them as if they were a reading assignment (above, #4). Meditate; pray; search the Scriptures to find if the lecture is true (as Acts 17:11).

四、优先次序4.  Priorities

到目前为止，我们看到神学就像大得难以想象、使人疲惫的事务——要求属灵上持之以恒、不遗余力地投入，这投入还包括令人头痛的学术水准。那么，谁够格学神学呢？绝对不是你，也不是我。靠着上帝的恩典，我们可以向着真正的神学目标迈进。但是，我们的有生之年永远也达不到那里，我们的罪性和我们的脆弱，总是会使我们难以达成神学目标。既然不能达到完美的地步，我们就该对我们的景况满意吗？从一种意义上说，我们不满意：只要我们对不完美的情形满意的话，就意味着我们会停止追求，从而完全失去我们前面的目标。但从另一方面来讲，我们是满意的：坚持今世要达到完美无缺，就意味着我们期待上帝没有给我们的应许——要求有今世的完美。So far, theology sounds like an incredibly taxing business ‑ demanding a constant, intense spiritual involvement, that involvement including painstaking scholarship. Who is sufficient for these things? Not you or I. By the grace of God we can make progress toward the goal of real theology, but we shall never achieve it in this life. Our sin and frailty will always bring us short of the goal. Can we be satisfied with less than perfection? In one sense, no: to be satisfied with imperfection can mean that we cease striving and thus lose sight of the goal altogether. But in another sense, yes: for to insist on perfection can mean that we expect something God has not promised ‑ perfection in this life.

因此，我们必须要注意到我们的罪性和脆弱。成圣不是一朝一夕的事情，而是一个渐进过程。我们通常在属灵争战时，一次对付一个敌人，并且不忘后面还有其他的敌人要对付。除了罪性外，作为一个被造的活物，我们也不能同时遵循上帝所有的命令。我们不能把祷告，讲道，研经，喂养饥饿的人，安慰受折磨的人都放在一起同时去做。我们必须延迟一部分上帝的命令，而去顺服地执行其他神圣的命令。这好像互相矛盾似的，其实不然。We must, therefore, take our sin and frailty into account. Sanctification is not an instant achievement, but a gradual process. Often we must fight one spiritual battle at a time, knowing that there are other enemies to be conquered later. Even as creatures, apart from sin, we cannot obey all of God’s commands simultaneously. We cannot pray, preach, study Scripture, feed the hungry, counsel the afflicted, etc., all at the same time. We must, paradoxically as it may seem, postpone obedience to some divine commands in order to obey others.

有时候我们为了上帝的荣耀，必须对希腊文动词作解析；其他时候，我们必须放下希腊文动词而去专心祷告。有人有时会说，我们不能把学习研究和灵修截然分开。从某种意义上说这是对的，祷告不应该排斥学习研究，学习研究也不应该把祷告排斥在外。确实是这样，两者应该互相强化，而不是减弱。但是要说祷告和学习研究是一回事，或要选一个放弃另一个，那就错了。我们的确有时候必须常常着力某事而放下另一件事情；如果这被称为是“一分为二”，我们也只好承认在这种意义下，我们就得一分为二。At some times we must parse Greek verbs (to the glory of God!); at other times we must put our Greek verbs aside and pray. People sometimes say that we must not “dichotomize” between, say, studies and devotions; and they are right in some senses of that tricky word “dichotomize.” It is true that prayer should not exclude study nor vice‑versa; it is also true that each ought to enhance, not detract from, the other. But it is not true that prayer and study are the same thing, nor is it true that we never have to choose between the two. We do have to decide often to do the one and to stop doing the other; and if that is “dichotomizing,” well, in that sense we must indeed dichotomize.

所有这些意味着我们必须要尽力平衡一下，从而找到上帝的每一条命令在我们生命中的位置，而又不排斥其他的命令。我们必须决定，在特定时间内，哪些事情一定要完成，哪些事情可以稍微放一放，哪些事情要花很多时间，哪些事情只是举手之劳等等。我们每个人都应有个优先次序的天平。All of this means that we must make a conscious attempt to achieve a balance ‑ to find some place in our life for every command of God, to the exclusion of none. We must decide what must be done at a certain time, what must be postponed until later, what demands a lot of time, what demands only a little, etc. Each of us must have a scale of priorities.

在神学院，像在其他任何地方一样，最要紧的是荣耀上帝。其他重要的事情在圣经里也有很清楚地启示：我们每个人都必须花一些时间祷告；花些时间学习上帝的话，等等。“听命胜于献祭”（撒上15:22）这段经文表现的优先次序是我们都要注意的。但是其他优先次序会因人而异，有时要取决于他的呼召（参徒6:2），有时要取决于个人特殊的属灵长处和弱项。The top priority, at seminary as everywhere else, is the glory of God. Others are dictated by Scripture to all uniformly: each of us must spend some time in prayer, some time in the Word, etc. “To obey is better than sacrifice” (I Sam. 15:22): such passages indicate priorities we all must observe. But other priorities vary from person to person. Sometimes they are a function on one’s calling (cf. Acts 6:2). Some are functions of one’s particular spiritual strengths and weaknesses (cf. Matt. 19:21).

你的情况如何呢？你应该在神学上有高的标准——高的属灵标准，它包括很高的理性思考标准。但是，这不意味着你必须将你所有醒着的时间都用到学习上。你还得做其他事情，如吃饭、喝水、锻炼身体、交朋友、照顾自己的家庭、在教会做一个好会友、探访有难处的人，等等。你要在神学学习和其他责任间找到平衡，不然，你就是个不顺服上帝的人，沦为不称职的神学家。What about you? You ought to have high standards in theology ‑ high spiritual standards, and that involves high intellectual standards. But this does not mean that you must give all your waking hours to study. You need to do other things as well: to eat, to drink, to exercise, to make friends, to care for your family, to be a good church member, to visit the afflicted, etc. You will have to balance your theological work with your other responsibilities; else you will be a disobedient and therefore poor theologian.

此外，你也许还有其他来自你特殊呼召的责任：教会的工作、街头布道、部分时间“世俗”的工作，你还得要平衡这方面的责任。And there may be still other responsibilities, stemming from your particular calling: a church job, a street preaching ministry, a part time “secular” job. You will have to balance out these responsibilities too.

学生有时会说：“既然上帝引领我到神学院，上帝当然要我得高分数”，然后，他把所有的事情都搁在一边，把自己埋在书本里一直到毕业。这是过于天真的想法，也是危险的情形。谁都不应该只把自己献给学习。投入学习的量要依你的呼召和你的属灵光景而定。如果你必须牺牲其他职责和属灵的成长来获取A，那么你应该降低你对分数的期望，瞄准稍低点的成绩；或者干脆不要顾及表面的分数，而去在你所要服事的领域里学习。如果这就是“一分为二”的话，那就必须要一分为二。Students have sometimes said, “God has led me to seminary, and therefore he expects me to make the best grades possible.” Then they put all else aside and bury themselves in books until graduation. This is simplistic and dangerous. No one ought to give himself exclusively to study. The amount of study you do will depend very much upon your calling and your spiritual condition. If you must sacrifice your other responsibilities or your spiritual growth in order to earn an A, then you ought to renounce the A and work for a lesser grade ‑ or, better, forget about grades and learn what you need for your distinctive ministry. And if that is “dichotomizing,” then we must dichotomize.

我们必须在诸多科目的学习中作出决定，我并不认为每个学生都该把我教的科目置于最重要的位置，如果你有足够的理由认为该让新约的课程得A，我教的系统神学得C，我会尊重你的选择（给你应得的C）。You must also make decisions among the various types of study. I do not believe that everyone ought to give top priority to my own courses. If you choose, for good reasons, to work for A’s in New Testament and only C’s in my systematics course, I will respect you for that (and give you the C you deserve!).

请记住，你在神学院学习的这几年，不仅仅是要预备当门徒，这几年本来就应该是当门徒的时间。这几年不是要让你离开基督徒的人生而过活。这几年你只是在很多事上与以后的年月有不同的优先次序而已。即使作为神学生，你也还有除学习以外的其他责任。你首先是个基督徒，其次你才是个神学生。Remember that your seminary years are not only a preparation for discipleship. They must themselves be a time of discipleship. They are not a hiatus from the Christian life. During these years you will and should have somewhat different priorities from those you will have later on. But even as a seminarian, you have a responsibility to do things other than study. You are a Christian first, a student second.

尽管和其他信主的人相比，你面对事情的优先次序有些不大相同，但是，有些事情是每个基督徒都要极为重视的。要特别重视支取恩典的那几种途径：上帝的话、圣礼和祷告。这对每一个信徒都是必须的，但是在这里特别指出是因为神学是属灵的工作。你怎么会成为神学家而又不极度渴慕主的同在？没有圣灵没有人可以见到上帝的国（约3:3、5）。没有圣灵光照，我们都不可能明白上帝的话（林前2:12-16；帖前1:5）。因此，我们要花时间祷告：独自祷告，在家里祷告，在教会中祷告，神学院的敬拜和祷告小组也很有价值。这些活动提供更多的敬拜、教导的机会，对同学们都很有益处。同时这些活动把神学院所有的弟兄姐妹作为一个整体连接起来，推动这个群体一起事奉耶稣[8]。Although your priorities will and should differ somewhat from those of other believers, there are some things that every Christian should place high on his agenda. Particularly important are the means of grace: the Word, the sacraments, and prayer. These are necessities for every believer, but it is especially important to mention them here since theology is a spiritual task. How can you be a theologian and not have an intense desire for the presence of the Lord? You cannot even see the kingdom of God without the Spirit (John 3:3, 5). You cannot understand the Word without the Spirit’s illumination (1 Cor. 2:12-16, 1 Thess. 1:5). So you must make time to pray: as an individual, in your family, in the church. Seminary chapel services and prayer groups are valuable too. They provide further opportunities for worship and teaching, which are good in themselves, but which also do much to unite the seminary community as brothers and sisters in the Lord and reinforce the purpose of the community in serving Jesus.8

要点概括：在开始神学院学习时，设立你的优先次序。以圣经的标准找出你的恩赐和需要之间的对应关系。确保你的各项责任都有各自的安排：给上帝的、给家庭的、给教会的、给工作的、给学习的。确保你在神学院里有属灵的成长。魔鬼在神学院里也很活跃。与上帝对峙是很危险的（见第二大点）。千万别低估了难处。从现在起，开始一个好的灵修习惯。在一个正统健康的教会受到建造。（常换教会是件很有害的事。如果你老是挑挑拣拣，你不可能在基督的身体里发挥合宜的作用，你既不可能承担别的弟兄姐妹的负担，也不会找到知己来分担你的负担。）尽力为主耶稣作见证。帮助你的同学。同时，因着你的忙碌，也要接纳自己在神学院没有尽善尽美的成就。虽然听起来有点奇怪，其实上，上帝要求对不完美有一定程度的忍耐；因为，要成为神学家，你必须又是其他的角色。然而，作为神学家，你必须是个敬虔的人。The crux: at the beginning of your seminary career, decide what your priorities are going to be. Correlate your gifts and needs with the biblical norms. Make sure there is room in your schedule for all your responsibilities: to God, family, church, job, studies. Make sure that at seminary you will grow spiritually. Satan is very active at seminary. Confrontation with the Word of God is a dangerous business (above #2). Do not underestimate the perils. Determine now to establish good devotional habits. Get established in a sound church. (Church‑hopping is a terrible evil: you cannot properly function in the body of Christ, you cannot bear the burdens of others or find others who can knowledgeably bear yours, if you church‑hop.) Find some way to witness for Christ. Be helpful to fellow students. Meanwhile, busy as you have become, you may have to tolerate some imperfection in your seminary achievement. But, strange as it may seem, God requires a certain tolerance of imperfection; for to be a theologian, you must be other things as well. To be a theologian, you must be a godly person.

五、道德标准5. Moral Standards

与上帝同行永远意味着坚守上帝的诫命（约14:15、21、23）。只因为你准备成为永生神教会中的领袖，魔鬼就会把你作为试探的特定目标。正如你需要锻炼身体一样，你需要严格的敬虔操练，与上帝同行（提前4:8；来5:11-14）。别指望进了神学院成圣就会变得容易，成圣将是一生的努力。Godliness always means keeping the commandments of God’s Word (John 14:15, 21, 23). As you prepare for positions of leadership in the church, Satan will make you a particular target of temptation. Just as you engage in physical exercise to care for your body, you need to think in terms of vigorous exercise in godliness (1 Tim. 4:8, Heb. 5:11-14). Don’t assume that sanctification will come easily once you are in seminary. It will continue to be a struggle.

人们越来越把你当做一个与上帝同行的带领人，你要自己谨慎。扪心自问，你最清楚自己并不是像人们想象的那么好、属灵上那么成熟。在赞扬声中要站得稳。听见上帝的话并让圣灵引导你悔改并更加严格地要求自己。Increasingly, people will look to you as a godly leader. Look into your own heart. You know that you are not as good, not as spiritually mature, as people think you are. Don’t be swayed by the praise of others. Hear the Word and the Spirit driving you to repentance and greater discipline.

魔鬼要败坏上帝教会的事工常常会集中在性关系方面。许多牧师经历了跌倒，甚至沉沦，就是因为没有保守自己的心，结果面临性的试探失败了。尽管这是一生都要面对的挑战，年轻时这方面的争战会更加激烈。Satan’s war against the church’s ministry has often focused in the sexual area. Many pastors have suffered setbacks, even shipwreck, because of failure to guard their heart against sexual temptation. This battle is most intense during one’s youth, but it continues throughout life.

站在教师、牧师或青少年领袖的地位上，你的权柄使得你在异性面前更具魅力。此时你要特别地警戒自己：“劝少年人如同弟兄，劝老年妇女如同母亲，劝少年妇女如同姐妹。总要清清洁洁的。”（提前5:1-2）A position of authority as a teacher, preacher or youth leader, will likely increase your attractiveness to the opposite sex. You should take special precautions to “treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity” (1 Tim. 5:2).

敬虔肯定在某种程度上牺牲自己的自由。上帝的诫命并不是让人负担沉重，但确实是呼召我们牺牲奉献。当你被呼召在教会做领袖，其中一条必须要付代价的就是要时刻谨记：不仅要做一个敬虔的人，而且还要在人前做敬虔的表率（提前4:12）。这就意味着你不仅仅要注意上帝的准则，还要注意在人前的形象。当今人们怀疑教会的领袖，从某种意义上讲并非没有根据。你必须从你的圣洁赢得人们的信任。另外，道德方面的诬陷指控并不是件新鲜事。有一个规矩可以避免怀疑，就是当你与年轻人或是异性在一起时，一定要别人在场。经济方面也是要特别留意。你要确保在财务上绝对诚实，不要给人怀疑。Godliness always involves some sacrifice of personal freedom. God’s commandments aren’t burdensome, but they often call for sacrifice. One of those sacrifices we must make when we are called to positions in leadership in the church is the burden of having to be, not only a godly person, but a godly example to others (1 Tim. 4:12). That means that you must be concerned, not only about God’s standards, but about appearances. People today are suspicious of church leaders, and they are not entirely wrong in this. You will have to earn their trust. And false charges on moral grounds are not unheard-of. A good rule is to make sure that your conferences with young people and people of the opposite sex are open to witnesses, beyond suspicion. Finances are also a major subject of concern. Make sure that your financial affairs are thoroughly honest and beyond suspicion.

六、人际关系6. Interpersonal Relations

很多时候，对将来的事工最有效的预备，不是来自于正式教导，而是来自非正式场合与教授及同学们的接触中获得的。上帝让我们尽量多用这个途径成长。神学院不同于教会[9]，但是神学院一定是力图成为一个以圣经标准来规范人际关系的基督徒群体。A great deal of your preparation for ministry will result, not from formal instruction, but from informal contacts with professors and fellow students. The Lord wants us to make the best possible use of these. Seminaries are not churches,9 but they must seek to be Christian communities where biblical standards govern relationships.

从一开始，就要遵行圣经启示的爱的律法，帮助你的神学院成为不仅是个神学的学术机构，同时也是弟兄姐妹爱主和彼此相爱的团体。让我们立下这样的雄心：就像第一世纪外邦人看到初代教会那样，让我们的邻舍看到我们彼此相爱，就大感惊奇。Resolve from the beginning to follow the biblical law of love, to help make your seminary, not only a theological academy, but a community of brothers and sisters who love the Lord and one another. Let’s have this ambition: that our neighbors, like the first century pagans who observed the young church, will marvel at the love we have for one another.

具体地说，与教授们帮助同学相比，通常同学之间更能有效互相帮忙。要彼此了解各自的需要，别让任何同学掉队，别让任何同学无友孤独，别让任何同学灰心丧气。记住那条黄金律：要建造，不要拆毁，不说不造就人的话（弗4:29）。Concretely: often students can help students more effectively than a professor can. Be open to one another’s needs. Don’t let anyone get left behind, friendless, frustrated. Keep the Golden Rule in mind. Try to build up, not tear down. Don’t speak unless your words are edifying (Eph. 4:29).

有时批评同学或教授是应该的，但要注意按上帝所喜悦的方式行，如果你对某人有强烈的批评意见，千万不要背着他的面讲，直接对他讲，正如主耶稣在马太福音18章中所要求的那样。千万别说闲话。把你的问题带到可以认真对待和解决问题的人面前。信任你的弟兄姐妹；做事的前提是要相信其他弟兄姐妹也是一样对上帝忠心。

Criticism of one another and of professors will sometimes be necessary; but do it in a godly way. If you have a serious criticism of someone, don’t murmur behind his back. Talk to him, as our Lord requires in Matt. 18. Don’t gossip. Take your problems to people who can act on them and fix them. Trust your brothers and sisters; act on the assumption that they want to be faithful to God just as you do.

七、帮派偏见7.  Partisanship

保罗在哥林多前书1-3章特别警告在教会中结党纷争的危害。依我看，这一点在神学院的群体中也有同样的危险。学生有时被一些想法或运动搞得兴奋无比（这样的事有时是因着个别教授的思想，有时不是）。于是，就小看不认同他们这些想法、要点或运动术语的人。即使他们的这些看法与改革（归正）宗信仰不沾边（或顶多是边缘性的），爱结党营私的人就把他们的想法当成是检验正统与否的试金石。

Paul warns, especially in 1 Cor. 1-3, about the danger of factional battles in the church. In my opinion, this is a great danger in the seminary community also. Students sometimes get excited about some idea or movement (sometimes based on the thinking of a professor, sometimes not) and will look down their noses at anybody who doesn’t share these ideas, or the emphasis, or jargon of their movement. Even when the ideas in question are not resolved in the Reformed confessions (or when they are peripheral to the confessions), the partisans often take them to be virtual tests of orthodoxy.

在我写的Cornelius Van Til[10]的前几章中，我特别严厉地指出我那些属Van Til派老朋友们的这种“运动”的思想方式。[11]在美国的长老会中有不少类似的运动。有关千禧年的理解，上帝的不可知性，杜伊维尔（Dooyeweerd）派的哲学，律法的地位，崇拜的风格，信仰认信的作用，传统的价值，堕落前上帝恩典的存在，圣经诸约的性质，行为与称义的关系，圣经神学在讲道中的地位，在辅导中普遍启示的功用，圣约中幼儿圣餐，创造日的长短等等的问题。In the early chapters of my Cornelius Van Til,10 I have rebuked this kind of “movement” thinking among my fellow Van Tillians.11 There have been many movements of this kind in American Presbyterianism, over views of the millennium, the incomprehensibility of God, Dooyeweerdian philosophy, the place of the law, styles of worship, the place of confessions, the place of tradition, the existence of divine grace before the Fall, the nature of biblical covenants, the relation of works to justification, the place of biblical theology in preaching, the role of general revelation in counseling, paedocommunion, the length of creation days, and so on.

通常的形式大致如此：（1）有人提出一个想法；（2）他自己和其他人形成一个党派，要力争并坚持此想法是检验教会是否正统的试金石；（3）别人起来反对此想法并结党将其定为异端；（4）这争议浪费了许多教会和机构的许多时间，甚至将他们毁掉；（5）没有任何结论，人们早已厌倦了双方的争论，于是又去争论新的问题。The usual pattern is that (1) Someone proposes an idea. (2) He and others form a party to defend that idea and to insist that it must be a test of orthodoxy in the church. (3) Someone else attacks the idea and assembles another faction to condemn the idea as heresy. (4) The controversy wastes hours of time in Christian churches and organizations, and at worst destroys them. (5) Without any resolution, people get tired of the discussion, and they go on to debate something new.

我想许多这些争论的事一出笼就该夭折。当有人提出一个听起来很好的新观点时，很多情况下最好是让人们多谈论、多思想、多查考圣经，容忍对问题的不同观点。当然有些观点的确是异端邪说，这在教会中是不能容忍的。但是，我不认为上述所言情形属于异端邪说。上述所言的情形为我们提供了一些不同观点的实例，是我们应当在基督教会的团契中相互容忍的。[12] I suspect that most of these controversies should have been aborted after stage (1). When someone comes up with a new-sounding idea, most of the time it is best just to talk and think about it for a while, searching the Scriptures, tolerating various opinions on the subject. There are, of course, some views that are genuine heresies, that cannot be tolerated in the church. But I don’t believe any of those are on the above list. That list, rather, provides examples of differences of opinion that ought to be tolerated within the fellowship of the church.12

在神学院学习期间，你或许会碰上要你加入一个神学派别的事，请坚决抵制。你所知的还不足以让你到处指责别人为非正统，你若知道的话，你肯定不会介入这样的争端中。你可以从那些对有争议的问题持不同观点或重点不同的人那里学习，你的确应该如此。不要仅仅因为你的老师和同学没有在你结党的偏见上推波助澜，就拒绝不理他们。保持一个开放的心和一个受教的灵。During your seminary years, you may be tempted to join such a theological party. Resist the temptation, please. You simply do not know enough to go around accusing one another of unorthodoxy on these sorts of matters, and if you did know more, you would not join the controversy. You can learn from people who have different points of view and emphases on controversial matters, and you should. Don’t dismiss any of your teachers or classmates merely because they fail to reinforce your partisan prejudices. Keep an open mind, a teachable spirit.

雅各警告我们注意为人师的危险（雅3:1、8）。因为老师用舌头，而舌头又是一个危险的武器，不容易控制。看似全知的神学家，像那些文士和法利赛人在圣经里常常是惹动上帝愤怒的一类人。在用高言大志出击那些你认为是无知的人之前，要学习真理、智慧和温柔。

James warns us against the dangers of the teaching vocation (3:18), because teachers use their tongues, and the tongue is a dangerous weapon, difficult to control. Know-it-all theologians, like the court prophets and the Pharisees, regularly incur God’s wrath in Scripture. Learn truth, wisdom, and gentleness, before you go off on your high horse to do battle with those you consider ignorant.

八、神学家和教会8. Theologians and the Church

以上的忠告也同样适用于神学家和平信徒（没有受过正式的神学训练的基督徒）之间的关系。Helmut Thielicke在他的著作A Little Exercise for Young Theologians[13]里用了很大的篇幅谈论这一点。我并不完全同意Thielicke对所关注问题的主要苛评。他所担心的是神学生毕业回到过去的教会，以骄傲的态度把那些不相信圣经的批评家们的大量理论一下子全摆在人们面前。Thielicke建议学生们不必拒绝这些理论，但要耐心等到你的属灵生命更加成熟时，等到介绍这些不信派的理论不至于引起攻击时，再拿出去。[14]依我的意见，这些不信的批评理论是属灵的剧毒物，根本就不应该如同是真理一般在教会传讲，即便是很成熟的老师也不要讲这些东西。The above admonitions also bear on the relations of theologians to Christians not trained in academic theology. Helmut Thielicke is much preoccupied with this issue in his A Little Exercise for Young Theologians.13 I am not sympathetic with the main thrust of Thielicke’s concern. He is worried about the seminarian who returns to his home church and pridefully dumps on the people all the theories of the unbelieving Bible critics. Thielicke advises the student, not to reject those theories, but to hold back until he is more mature spiritually, until he can present these unbelieving theories in such a way as not to cause offense.14 Well, in my view, these critical theories are spiritual poison and should not be taught as truth in the church, even by the most otherwise mature teachers.

但是与此同时，Thielicke也作了些有效的观察。这些观察也适用于那些坚持圣经无谬信念的年轻神学家。甚至那些没有受过圣经高等批判观影响的学生，也经常会在教会会众面前，以不敬和不造就的方式贩卖新的神学知识。比如说，一个二十五岁的神学生以训斥的态度对待65岁的长老，即便这位长者对圣经的某些经节坚持一种过时的解释，这样也是不合宜的。多年前的一个真实故事，一个神学生站在一群只受过9-12年教育从事体力劳动的会众面前，读了30多页Vos的圣经神学。我们可以看到这是很骄傲的行为。如果一个一年级的神学生相信他必须要以最新希伯来原文介词用法的方式教他的成人主日学，那就是很错误的想法。But along the way, Thielicke makes some valid observations, that apply equally well to young theologians who uphold the infallibility of the Bible. For even students unaffected by such Bible criticism often have a way of dumping their new theological knowledge on congregations in a way that is unwelcome and unedifying. It is unbecoming, certainly, for a twenty-five-year-old seminarian to berate a sixty-year-old elder, for example, because the older man holds an outdated interpretation of a Bible passage. There is something prideful about a student (this is a true story, from years ago) who stands and reads thirty pages of Vos’s Biblical Theology to a congregation of working people with ninth to twelfth grade education. There is something wrong when a first-year seminarian believes that he must (in the most incomprehensible jargon) lay on his adult Sunday School class all the latest theories about the use of Hebrew prepositions.

这类学生就是没有看到神学是属灵重任的眼界。神学是应用，如果没有造就人，就失去了其价值，并不是为信息而信息。神学永不该成为人们理性骄傲的资本。Such students lack the perspective of seeing theology as a spiritual task. Theology is application. If it doesn’t edify, it is worthless. It is not information for information’s sake. It should never be a vehicle of intellectual pride.

 “单纯信耶稣的人”往往比受过很多教育的神学家更明白上帝的心意。很多没有受过正规神学教育的人，会比年轻的神学生更有资格在教会里担任长老或执事。比起神学生来，这些人也许不懂得很多学术性的神学，但他们可能在明白何为重要的事上更有深度和眼光，从而更明白如何应用于人生。如果年轻的神学生想要督责这样的长老，他一定要谨记保罗在提摩太前书5章1节的教导，直到他学会一些主耶稣的温柔和恩典之前，他最好不要去督责他们。“Simple believers” often know God better than many learned theologians. Many who lack formal theological training are better elders and deacons than any young seminarian could be. They may know less about academic theology than the young seminarian, but they may well know more of what’s important, in greater depth and perspective, and better how to apply it to life. If the young seminarian wishes to rebuke such an elder, he should take 1 Tim. 5:1 to heart. More likely he should not rebuke at all until he learns something of the gentleness and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

更重要的一条，年轻的神学生要谦卑地向那些与上帝同行多年的人学习，这些人是在属灵的征战中逐步成熟起来的。这样的学习与课堂上的学习一样重要，二者都是培养年轻神学家将来能更好地服事主。But even more important, the young seminarian should be humble enough to learn from those who have walked with Christ for many years, who have matured through fighting the spiritual warfare. This kind of learning can be just as important as classroom learning in preparing a young theologian for ministry.

我讲这些话只是想告诫同学们，要认识到自己还不成熟，要认识到自己有许多不懂的东西，有许多要成长的地方。你也许被一些假象迷惑了，部分的原因是因为在神学院，你学了一般信徒一无所知的技术方面的内容。能够阅读希伯来文、希腊文或讲论恩约与堕落前预定论及其他东西，可能会让你自认为比单纯相信的人更知道上帝的心意。这样的想法是大错特错了，Thielicke很好地列举出有的人可能有广博的知识，但缺乏最重要的知识的情形：All of this is an exhortation to students to recognize your own immaturity, how much you don’t know, how much you need to grow. You might deceive yourself about this, partly because at seminary you are learning so much technical stuff of which the simple believers are ignorant. Being able to read Hebrew and Greek, and to speak of covenants and supralapsarianism and the rest might lead you to think (quite wrongly) that you know God better than the simple believers. But Thielicke illustrates well how somebody can have a lot of knowledge, while lacking knowledge of the most important sort:

在一个年轻的一年级神学生真正注目圣经救赎故事的基石前，例如，创造的故事和堕落的纪录，在他开始认识到伟大神圣思想的各个阿尔卑斯山峰之前，他已经熟悉那个基石的矿物质分析。但是，在他爬阿尔卑斯山之前，他在图表上所学的地质形成的知识，都很难使他到达那种地步以至于能很好地理解阿尔卑斯山到底是个什么样子。[15] Before the young freshman has really looked at the cornerstone of the Biblical story of salvation, for example, the story of Creation and the account of the Fall, before he has come to know the Alpine peaks of the divine thoughts in their majesty, he is made familiar with the mineralogical analyses of that stone. But anybody who studies geological formations on maps and graphs, and learns mineralogical formulae from a set of tables before he ever climbs the Alps, is hardly in a position to comprehend at all what the Alps are.15

单纯相信的人很可能在某种程度上，比一个神学生的矿物学家更了解神学的阿尔卑斯山。年轻的神学家当然有必要熟知技术性的神学，但在他试图去说服在主内的父辈和母辈之前，需要比现在更深入地认识上帝。

The simple believer may well know the theological Alps, in some ways, better than the seminarian mineralogist. The young theologian, for all his necessary immersion in technical theology, may well need to know God much better than he does, before he seeks to edify his fathers and mothers in the Lord.

九、结论9. Conclusion

我并不想让你们泄气。本文的第二段就指出神学学习的一部分是充满喜乐的，我希望我所说的这些并没有否认这点。I don’t mean to discourage anyone. The second paragraph of this essay indicates something of the joy that is part of theological study, and I hope nothing else I have said negates that.

我只是寻求竖一些警告牌。总结一下：作为上帝的话在人生的应用，神学是一个属灵的重任。因此，要求你切切地与上帝同行，且要乐意按上帝的方式去做神学。否则，学习神学对你的灵魂可能是极度危险的事。有一件事，上帝要求你的就是刻苦学习，同时把上帝的话和他的世界富有思想地互动起来。同时，上帝也期待你为其他责任留出时间，建立好各项事务的优先次序，以便你可以有丰富的灵修生活，还可以服事你家庭里、教会中、工作岗位上及神学院群体中的人们。耶稣爱的律法应该要充分彰显在神学院的群体中。主耶稣的这一律法（加上你对自己的知识程度有真实评价），可以使你宽容你不同的意见。你也要忍耐没有达到你同样技术知识水平的人（这些人很有可能在最重要的知识领域超过了你）。But I have sought to put up some warning signs. To summarize: theology, as the application of God’s Word to human life, is a spiritual task, and, as such, requires you to have a close walk with God and a willingness to do theology his way. Otherwise, the study of theology can be a danger to your soul. One thing God demands from you is hard work in your studies, a thoughtful interaction with his Word and his world. But he also expects you to make room in your schedule for your other responsibilities, to develop a system of priorities that gives you time for a rich devotional life and enables you to serve others in your family, church, workplace, and in the seminary community itself. Jesus’ law of love should prevail in that community, and that (plus a realistic assessment of your own level of knowledge) can necessitate tolerance of some positions that you don’t agree with. It also requires patience with others who have not achieved your level of technical knowledge (who may, nevertheless excel you in knowledge of what is most important).

我一直试图找到我写这篇文章的内心动机。我试着为处于爱上帝、爱他的教会、爱我在这里告诫的年轻神学生们的缘故来写。如果我所写的有不真实之处，或与爱的本质相抵触，我祷告就是求上帝抹去坏的影响。在你踏上这个激动人心的路程时，愿上帝丰富地祝福你。愿他预备你“为要成全圣徒，各尽其职，建立基督的身体，直等到我们众人在真道上同归于一，认识上帝的儿子，得以长大成人，满有基督长成的身量”（弗4:12-13）。I have tried to search my own heart-motives in writing this essay. I have tried to write out of love for God, for his church, and for the young seminarians I have spoken to here. If I have written anything untrue, or contrary to that spirit of love, I pray that God will negate the effect of it. And may he richly bless you as you embark on this exciting journey. May he use you “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:12-13).

作者为美国改革宗神学院（RTS）系统神学及哲学教授，美洲长老会（PCA）教导长老。曾任美国费城威斯敏斯特和加州威斯敏斯特神学院教授。本文承蒙作者及译、校者授权刊载，特此致谢。

 [1] 这样的教导是didache,didaskalia, 正是保罗在他的书信中谈到过。因此，这样定义神学是直接源于圣经的教导。

[2] 经常听到人们对神学院的学生讲“教义和人生不可分开”，的确是这样。但是，这句话到底是什么意思呢？什么是教义？人生又是什么？二者究竟有什么关系？“教义”和“人生”二者不应该分开，但是，两个东西可分或不可分有很多不同的含义。比如，“黑板和粉笔不应该分开”，我们是指要把粉笔粘在黑板上吗？或用粉笔的材料做黑板吗？或除非有粉笔，否则黑板就不是真正的黑板了？或你绝不可只提黑板不谈粉笔呢？还是，简单来讲，无论是黑板还是粉笔，在对方不在的情况下，就都变得毫无用处。同理，当我们谈论教义和人生的时候，我们必须要明确到底在谈论什么问题。我们必须要弄清，“教义”和“人生”两者间，我们为何常感到之间的张力；我们如何以圣经为基准来减低这之间的张力，并且把两者很好的结合起来。在正文中，我将基于这点来讨论这些问题。

[3] 有关“神学作为应用”、“教义和生活”和顺服在真知识之下等议题更为详尽的讨论，请参考我的另一本书：Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, Phillipsburg: P&R, 1987。特别是其中的第1-100页。

[4] 圣经里没有把意念和心对立起来，尽管在以赛亚书29章13节把心和嘴唇对立起来（这是极少有的情形），在圣经里，心并非像现代浪漫情调那样作为情绪的居所，而是作为一个活生生的人最核心的部分，即一个人最根本的面目。意念只是心里想的一个部分，而非与心里想的对立。在圣经里意念也是个比我们通常讲的智能更广的一个术语。意念指的是人用来思考、判断和作决定的本领。

[5] 改革（归正）宗以其学术质量而著名，这就使得其他福音派的教会也依赖于改革宗的学术成果。或许我们（我是作为持守改革宗信条之人来说的）对我们的学术成果太自鸣得意了。相对于其他的基督徒，我们的确自恃有些知识上的优越感。这样的骄傲态度从来都是不合宜的，只是在我看来，今天仍有这样的态度是比以往更讲不通的了。

[6] 有关教义历史，似乎我应该反复强调：教义历史本身从来不解决任何神学争端。比如，有关洗礼的事情，单从引述历代教父的观点、路德的观点、加尔文的观点或其他人的思想，你就永远也得不出一个结论来。更正教的神学是基于唯独圣经这一原则，这就意味着，纵然我们可以从历代上帝所兴起的老师那里学习他们的思想而得到帮助，但解释圣经是任何教义结论的根本基础。单凭某观点有其可贵的历史就争辩它为真，那就立刻落入逻辑上的“遗传性的谬误”：假定一个思念为真是基于思念本身。

[7] 或许请容许我谈两件伤脑筋的事情。它们都和我上面谈的有关：（1）在神学院只得C的同学，很勉强的通过了按牧考试，但此同学认定上帝呼召他成为他所属宗派的神学权威。然后，他就开始在每个角落发现“异端”，用片面的指责和糟糕的思想连累教会。这种情况下，请求告上帝让你面对现实，认清自己的属灵恩赐和神对你的呼召。（2）在神学院拿A的同学，也得到了博士学位。但就是找不到教职，或许是因为他不讨人喜欢的方式。然而，他认定自己不被接纳是因为教会和神学院变的不够正统，于是，他向他们发出激烈的缺乏思考的批评，认为他们不公正地埋没了他的理智恩赐，并且充满了“酸葡萄”的滋味。此时，要求上帝让你清楚知道你的动机。

[8] B. B. 华菲德，在他的《神学生的信仰生活》一文中，强调这点。此文章由J. E. Meeter编入：Selected Shorter Writings of B. B. Warfield, Nutley: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1970, I, pp.411-425。年轻的神学家应该好好地读一下。

[9] 有些神学院当然是特定教会发展的事工，但大部分不是。

[10] P&R, 1995.

[11] 有关我自己和Van Tillian的运动，见Mark Karlberg, “John Frame and the Recasting of Van Tilian Apologetics,” Mid-America Journal of Theology 9:2 (Fall, 1993), pp.279-296，其中有我的答复。

[12] 当然，区别哪些不同意见可以容忍、哪些不可以并不是那么容易，通常教会的信仰告白提供一个适用的

参考，但是教会的信仰告白也不是无谬的，只有圣经无误。有关这类问题更多的思考请参阅我的另一本书——福音派的再联合（Evangelical Reunion, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1991）。

[13] Grand Rapids:Baker, 1962.中文译本：《神学第一步》，陈佐人译（译者注）。

[14] 特别请看p.38。

[15] Ibid., p.39.