為什麽要讀舊約？Whythe Old Testament?
作者：Iain D.
Campbell 譯者: 駱鴻銘
華腓德（B. B. Warfield）曾經把舊約描述為一間「擺設完整但缺少燈光」的房間。他的意思是福音所有的基本元素在舊約中都已經啟示出來，但是要等到耶穌基督降生，在那榮耀的光中，這些啟示才會完全被照明出來。在回以馬忤斯的路上，當復活的耶穌基督與兩個門徒同行時，祂開始照明經文的意義。我們不知道這兩個門徒究竟是誰，但是他們的情況我們很清楚：「他們……臉上帶著愁容。」（路廿四17） 耶穌給他們的診斷是他們讀錯了舊約聖經，因舊約經文清楚地說，「基督這樣受害，又進入祂的榮耀，豈不是應當的嗎？」（26節）
B.B.
Warfield famously described the Old Testament as a room “fully furnished but
dimly lit.” By that he meant that all the fundamental elements of the gospel
were revealed in the Old Testament but awaited the coming of Jesus Christ to
bathe that revelation in glorious light. As Jesus walked alongside the Emmaus
disciples after the resurrection, He began shining His light on the Scriptures.
Who these two were, we do not know; but what they were is evident: “they stood
still, looking sad” (Luke 24:17). His diagnosis of their condition was their
misinterpretation of the Old Testament and its clear evidence that “the Christ
should suffer these things and enter into his glory” (v. 26).
耶穌提供的解決辦法是把他們帶回到聖經最開始的部分——摩西的書——把摩西五經中彌賽亞的主題凸顯出來。祂是否提到創世記三章15節，那裏第一次預言有一位人類的救主會給撒但帶來致命的一擊——雖然祂自己會受傷呢？祂是否提到神給挪亞的應許，就是上帝會成為閃的後裔的神（創九26）呢？或是否曾提到對亞伯拉罕的應許，就是他的後裔會得到神的祝福（十七7）呢？還是提到雅各的預言，就是猶大的子孫中，會產生出一位握有皇家權杖的人（四十九10）呢？還是提到巴蘭的預言，「有星要出於雅各」（民廿四17）呢？
Jesus’
solution for them was to take them right back to the earliest sacred writings
of Holy Scripture — the books of Moses — to highlight the messianic themes of
the Pentateuch. The details are not supplied. Did He refer to Genesis 3:15 with
its first prediction of a savior of mankind who would deal a deathblow while
receiving injury himself? Did He refer to the promise to Noah that God would be
the God of Shem’s line (Gen. 9:26)? Or to the promise to Abraham that his
offspring would be blessed by God (17:7)? Or to the prediction of Jacob that a
son of Judah would wield a royal scepter (49:10)? Or to Balaam’s forecasting of
a star that would rise out of Jacob (Num. 24:17)?
我們無法得到確定的答案，但是——用司布真的話說——這是個最特別的時刻，就是最好的老師，用最好的課本，給門徒上了最好的一課。主耶穌自己是那位老師，而課程的內容就是祂自己。這就是我們認識福音時真正的情況——基督的神打開我們的眼睛，看見祂自己工作的榮耀和奇妙。而祂所用的課本就是舊約聖經——耶穌從摩西和眾先知的話講起，說明祂自己就是舊約聖經真正的意義，祂是解開舊約的鑰匙，也是舊約要帶領我們看見的。當然，舊約聖經的每一部分不都完全與彌賽亞有關，但是彌賽亞卻是我們舊約中所有的神學觀念，所有的文字圖畫，所有的歷史事件，所有的出生與死亡，所有的詩歌與詩篇，所有的格言和比喻，所有的細節，背後真正的主角。
We
cannot be sure, but — to paraphrase C.H. Spurgeon — this was a remarkable
moment in which the best teacher used the best textbook to teach the best
lesson. The teacher was the Lord Himself, as He was the lesson. That is always
the reality of our gospel learning — the Christ of God opens our eyes to the
glory and wonder of His own work. And His textbook was the Old Testament
Scriptures — Jesus began with Moses and the prophets and went on to show that
He Himself is the meaning of the Old Testament, the key to unlock it, and the
one to whom it leads. Not every part of the Old Testament is explicitly
messianic, of course, but the Messiah stands behind every theological concept,
every word picture, every historical event, every birth and death, every poem
and psalm, every aphorism and metaphor, every jot and tittle of our Old
Testament.
而當耶穌基督巍然矗立在舊約經文中，我們明白那不只是一個模糊的關於祂的概念，而是祂受苦，進入榮耀的具體細節。我們知道有許多舊約經文不只是在預備彌賽亞的道路，而且是在向我們說明祂作為中保的工作的細節，向我們顯明祂所要受的苦，以及祂受苦、受死之後，必要被高舉的絕對必要性。光也許尚未充滿這房間，但是基本的元素卻一直是存在的。
And
as He stands before us in the Old Testament, we realize that it is not just
some vague notion of Him that is presented to us, but the specifics of His
suffering and His consequent glory. We understand that a host of Old Testament
passages do not merely pave the way for the Savior but present to us the
particulars of His work as mediator, showing us that there were things He had
to suffer and that there was a consequent absolute necessity of His being
exalted after His suffering and death. The light may not have been filling the
room, but the essential elements were there all the time.
所有的這些，對我們至少有三個意義。首先，我們不只是新約的信徒。我們相信的是整本的聖經。我們所誦讀、所宣講，以及所默想的，是神所默示的整本聖經，因為這書中的每一個部分，都會幫助我們通向那永恒的、成了肉身的、榮耀的神的道。我們來到聖經的每一部分，是因為我們如同約翰福音十二章中所提到的，到耶路撒冷過節的希利尼人，他們說：「我們願意見耶穌」。（21節）當我們沐浴在耶穌所完成之工作的光中，舊約會向我們顯明關於基督的事，而這些事是若我們缺乏這光，就會錯失的，例如詩篇（像詩篇廿二篇）所告訴我們的，耶穌在十字架上所想的是什麽。
All
of which means, for us, at least three things: First, we are not simply New
Testament believers. We are whole Bible believers. We read, preach, and
meditate on the whole of the inspired Word, because in every part it is our
access to the eternal, incarnate, and glorified Word. We come to the Scriptures
in every part, as the Greeks came to the feast in John 12, saying “we wish to
see Jesus” (v. 21). And bathed in the light of the finished work of Christ, the
Old Testament shows us things about Jesus that we might otherwise have missed,
as the Psalms (for example, in Psalm 22) tell us what Jesus was thinking on the
cross.
其次，明白舊約聖經往往是我們明白新約的關鍵。會以馬忤斯路上的那兩個門徒需要聽到的，是根據舊約經文的闡釋和應用所作的講道，以至於他們能更好地明白十架。而新約也努力傳遞給我們這樣的觀念，就是舊約所發生的事件，都是為了我們的好處（林前十11）。如果我們想要明白希伯來書或啟示錄，我們能缺少對舊約的認識嗎？
Second,
understanding the Old Testament is often the key to our understanding the New.
The disciples of Emmaus needed to hear exposition and application from a sermon
based on a string of Old Testament texts in order that they might better
understand the cross. And the New Testament labors the point that what happened
in the Old Testament happened for our benefit (1 Cor. 10:11). Can we make sense
of Hebrews or Revelation without knowing our Old Testament?
第三，聖經神學是屬靈低潮最好的解藥。憂愁的心可以靠默想舊約中彌賽亞的主題而變得火熱。沒有什麽東西能像展開聖經的故事一樣，會掃除心中的鬱悶，把我們從絕望中救拔出來。基於這個原因，所有的傳道人在這點上都有責任追隨我們救主的榜樣，把他的聽眾引導到認識耶穌的路上。只有耶穌能開他們的心竅，讓他們認識聖經（路廿四45）；但是當我們打開聖經，祂會差遣祂自己說預言的靈（prophetic spirit），到福音的傳道者身上，打開基督的聖道（the Word of Christ），而聽眾的心就會被溫暖起來，得到激勵，並被吸引到聖道中的基督（the Christ of the
Word）那裏。
Third,
biblical theology is the best cure for spiritual depression. Sad hearts can be
turned into burning hearts by meditating on the messianic theme of the Old
Testament. Nothing can dispel gloom or lift us out of despair quite like having
the story of the Bible unfolded. For that reason, every Bible preacher has a
duty to follow the example of the Savior at this point and to direct his
hearers along the roads that lead to Jesus. When it comes to opening the
understanding (Luke 24:45), Jesus stands alone; but in opening the Scriptures
He commits His own prophetic spirit to the preachers of the gospel, and in
unfolding the Word of Christ, the hearts of believers are warmed, stirred, and
drawn to the Christ of the Word.
到以馬忤斯的路，至終成了欣賞舊約的擺設（furniture）的旅程。而這兩個門徒最後之所以能在他們的家中終於認出祂來（路廿四31），是因為神首先已經讓他們在我們稱為「舊約」的擺設中看到，受苦的彌賽亞和得榮耀的彌賽亞的圖像。
What
began as a journey to Emmaus ended up as a tour of the furnishings of the Old
Testament. And when these two disciples finally recognized Him in their home
(Luke 24:31), it was only because first they had been shown the portrait of a
suffering and glorified Messiah that had always been hanging amid the rich
furniture of the room we call the Old Testament.
Dr.
Iain D. Campbell was minister of Point Free Church in Isle of Lewis, Scotland,
and editor of The Record, the official publication of the Free Church of
Scotland.
