改革宗信仰基础03：圣经的充分性Basics of the Reformed Faith:The Sufficiency of Scripture

作者: Kim Riddlebarger   译者/校对者: 李博爱/王一

https://www.wscal.edu/blog/basics-of-the-reformed-faith-the-sufficiency-of-scripture

http://www.reformedbeginner.net/basics03-sufficiency-of-scripture/

圣经的充分性（sufficiency）与圣经的默示（inspiration）和权威（authority）紧密相连。圣经的默示是指圣经各个书卷均来源于上帝的旨意。圣经书卷是由圣灵上帝通过人类作者作为媒介而呼出的（提后3：16）。圣经的权威指的是，既然圣灵是圣经的神性作者，那么只有圣灵才能够为上帝话语的可信性和它的神圣来源作见证。圣经权威性不是教会赋予的。相反，教会只事认出圣经早已具备的权威，因为圣经是上帝呼出的。

我们说圣经是“充分的”，我们是指圣经启示了上帝想要我们了解他旨意以及如何从他的忿怒中得到拯救所需要知道的一切内容。上帝赐下圣经是为了一个非常明确的目的。圣经没有把所有实际有用的知识都教导我们。这不是上帝启示圣经的用意。圣经也不是用来满足罪人的好奇心，我们也不会从中得到一切生命的奥秘。隐秘的事属于上帝（申29:29）。

但圣经清晰启示了律法与福音。律法是上帝对我们的命令，我们可以从一些经文中找到，例如《出埃及记》第20章（十诫）。福音则是上帝在耶稣基督里赐给我们来满足他律法的要求，其内容可以在《哥林多前书》15:1-8找到（这只是一个例子）。尽管道德律是普世的，刻在我们的心上，因为我们是照上帝的形象造的。但只有在圣经中，我们才能找到上帝律法的书面形式，由此上帝的旨意清楚向我们显明。

尽管宇宙的壮丽将我们指向那位造物主，令我们无法否认上帝的存在，但上帝藉耶稣基督的位格与工作拯救罪人的救赎之工却没有因山峰雄伟而彰显，也没有因海浪匉訇而流露。只有在上帝书写的话语，我们才能找到福音。

当我们谈到圣经的充分性时，我们是指圣经中记载了上帝的救赎工作渐进展开，从上帝与亚当在伊甸园所立的行为之约，在十诫中重新颁布，再透过恩典之约的不同施行阶段，不论是在旧约的预表与影子中，还是在新约的应许和实现里，我们都看到耶稣拯救我们脱离罪恶。既然这救赎历史就是圣经的内容，我们还需要知道什么其他的东西才懂得如何敬拜上帝吗？既然上帝已经在他的话中启示我们如何在罪的权势中得到释放，我们还要去哪里寻找更多的答案呢？我们需要传统来澄清福音吗？我们需要额外的“神圣书卷”或者“启示”来揭晓某些圣经里缺少的内容吗？当然不需要。

在圣经里我们拥有一切有关上帝旨意和如何得蒙拯救的信息。我们既是被称义的罪人，已经被基督的宝血洗净，披上了他完美的义袍，因此我们可以自由的以感恩之心亲近圣洁的上帝，用他所规定的方式敬拜他。但是我们知道这一切都是因为圣经如此启示。这就是“圣经的充分性”所表示的含义。

Basics of the Reformed Faith: The Sufficiency of Scripture

By Kim Riddlebarger

The sufficiency of Scripture is closely related to the inspiration and authority of the Bible. When we speak of the inspiration of Scripture, we refer to the fact that the various books of the Bible have their origin in the will of God. The books of the Bible have been breathed forth by God the Holy Spirit through the agency of human writers (2 Timothy 3:16). When we speak of the authority of the Bible, we mean that since the Holy Spirit is Scripture’s divine author, the Holy Spirit is alone able to bear witness to the truthfulness and divine origin of God’s word. The church does not give the Bible its authority. Rather, the church can only recognize that authority which Scripture already possesses because God has breathed it forth.

When we speak of Scripture as “sufficient,” we mean that the Bible reveals everything God wants us to know about his will, and how to be saved from his wrath. The Bible was given for a very specific purpose. The Bible does not teach us everything that might be useful or practical to know, nor was it intended to do so. The Bible was not given to satisfy sinful human curiosity, nor will we find answers to all of the mysteries of life. The secret things belong to God (cf. Deuteronomy 29:29).

But the Bible does reveal both the law and the gospel. The law is that which God commands of us and is found in a passage such as Exodus 20 (the Ten Commandments). The gospel is what God gives to us in Jesus Christ which meets the demands of his law, and is spelled out by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 (as but one example). Although the moral law is universal–it us written upon our hearts because we are created in God’s image–only in the Bible do we find God’s law in written form so that God’s will is perfectly clear to all.

While the beauty and wonder of creation powerfully points us to the creator–so much so that we cannot deny God’s existence–the story of God’s saving work to rescue sinners through the person and work of Jesus Christ is not written in the beauty of mountain peaks, nor is it found in the awesome crashing of the seas. The only place where we will find the gospel is in the word of God written.

When we speak of the sufficiency of Holy Scripture, we mean that in the Bible we find the account of our redemption which unfolds in the covenant of works made in Eden with Adam, and which is restated in the Ten Commandments, as well as through the various administrations of the covenant of grace in which we witness Jesus save us from our sins in the types and shadows of the Old Testament, and in the promise and fulfillment of the New. Since this story of redemption is the content of the Bible, what else could we possibly need to know about how to worship God properly? What else do we need to know about how to be delivered from the guilt and power of sin that God has not already revealed to us in his word? Do we need church tradition to clarify the gospel? Do we need additional “holy books,” or “revelations” to reveal those things supposedly missing from the Bible? Of course not.

In the Bible we have all that we need to know God’s will and to be saved. As justified sinners who are cleansed by the blood of Christ and clothed in his perfect righteousness, we are free to approach the Holy God with thankful hearts, and worship him in the manner he prescribes. But we only know this because the Bible reveals this to us. This is what we mean when we say “Scripture is sufficient.”