作者: R.C.
Sproul 譯者: Maria Marta
當我們談到贖罪的代替性層面時，常反覆提及兩個專業術語：1. expiation = 贖罪/消除；2. propitiation = 使上帝息怒/（獻上）挽回祭。這兩個詞哪一個才是特定希臘字的翻譯呢？此問題引起各種各樣的爭論，有些版本的聖經用其中一個詞，而有些版本則用另一個詞。我經常被要求解釋它們之間的區別。但困難在於，即使這些詞出現在聖經中，但我們也沒有將它們当日常詞匯来使用，所以我們不確定它們在聖經中所表達的準確意思。我們缺乏與這些詞相關的參考點。
贖罪與挽回祭
讓我們來思考這兩個詞的意思。從「贖罪」（expiation）開始，前綴ex的意思是「从中」（out of） 或 「從」（from），所以贖罪與移除或帶走某物有關。從聖經措詞嚴密的意義上說，它們與「借着償付刑罰的代價或獻上贖罪祭來除罪」有關。而「挽回祭」與贖罪的對象有關。前綴pro的意思是「代替」，所以挽回祭引起上帝態度的轉變：從與我們為敵轉變為為了我們得益處。藉著挽回祭的獻上，我們與上帝的交通得以恢復，在上帝面前得以蒙恩。
從某種意義上說，挽回祭與上帝被安撫有關。我們知道安撫一詞在軍事和政治沖突中是如何發揮作用的。我們想到所謂的綏靖政策，這種哲學認為，面對一個難以控制的世界征服者，其刀劍出鞘，錚錚作響，與其冒死抵擋他閃電戰般的狂怒，倒不如把捷克斯洛伐克的蘇台德(Sudetenland)或類似的大片領土割讓給他。你設法送些東西給他，滿足他，平息他的憤怒，好叫他不入侵你的國家將你打倒。這就是綏靖的不敬表現。你發怒、或暴虐，我就滿足你的怒氣、或安撫你，如此我就得以恢復，重新得到你的恩惠，困局就迎刃而解。
同一個希臘語字不時被翻譯成贖罪和挽回祭兩個詞。但它們有細微的差別。贖罪是導致上帝改變對我們的態度的行動。這就是基督在十字架上所作成的；而基督贖罪之工的結果就是挽回——上帝的憤怒被消除。所償付的贖金與收取贖金的人的態度兩者之間有同樣的區別。
基督的工作是一種安撫的行動
贖罪和挽回祭合在一起構成一種安撫的行動。基督在十字架上的工作旨在平息上帝的怒氣。平息上帝憤怒這種概念並沒有平息現代神學家的憤怒。事實上，他們對平息上帝的憤怒的整個觀念非常憤怒。他們認為上帝必須被安撫是有失尊嚴的事，難道我們應當做些什麽來安慰祂或撫慰祂不成? 就如何理解上帝的憤怒，我們切要小心謹慎，但讓我提醒你們，平息上帝的憤怒的觀念，並非與神學的邊緣離題點有關，而是與拯救/救赎的本質有關。
什么是拯救？
讓我問一個非常基本的問題: 「拯救」（salvation）一詞是什麽意思?
試圖快速作出解釋，只會讓你頭疼，因為拯救一詞在聖經大約有70種不同的用法。如果人在必敗無疑的戰鬥中獲救，他就經歷了拯救。如果人在危及生命的疾病中幸存下來，他就經歷了拯救。如果植物從枯萎到茁壯成長，它們就得救了。拯救是聖經的語言，而且和我們自己的語言沒有什麽區別。例如：我們節省（save）金錢。拳擊手被鈴聲救（save）了，意思是說他從被擊倒的失敗對抗中獲救，而不用送進永恒的上帝之國。簡而言之，從任何當前明顯的危險中獲救的經歷都可以稱為得救的形式。
當我們談論聖經的拯救時，我們切要謹慎陳述我們最終以哪種方式得救。使徒保羅在帖撒羅尼迦前書一章10節的陳述恰好是我們的範例，他說耶穌「救我們脫離將來的憤怒」。最終耶穌救我們脫離上帝的忿怒。除此之外，我們根本無法理解拿撒勒耶穌的教導和宣講，因為祂不斷地警告人，終有一日整個世界都會受到上帝的審判。關於審判，祂作出以下警告: 「只是我告訴你們，凡 向弟兄動怒的，難免受審判」 (太五22)
；「凡人所說的閒話，當審判的日子必要句句供出來」 (太十二36) ;「當審判的時候，尼尼微人要起來定這世代的罪，因為尼尼微人聽了約拿所傳的就悔改了。看哪，在這裡有一人比約拿更大！」(太十二41) 耶穌的神學是一種危機神學。希臘字「危機」是「審判」的意思。耶穌所宣講的危機是將要來的對世界審判的危機，屆時上帝將向未得救的、不敬虔的、不知悔改的人傾倒祂的憤怒。逃避那傾瀉的憤怒的唯一希望，就是被基督的贖罪遮蓋。
因此，基督在十字架上最大的成就，就是祂平息了上帝的憤怒。我們若不被基督獻上的祭遮蓋，上帝的憤怒必然焚燒我們。因此，反對平息或基督滿足上帝憤怒的觀念的人，必須警惕，因為福音危在旦夕。這是救恩的本質——作為被贖罪所遮蓋的人，我們從對任何人都是顯露的最大的危險中得救。落在憤怒的上帝的手中是一件可怕的事。上帝對其罪已被償付代價的人沒有忿怒。這就是救贖的意義所在。
本文摘錄自史鮑爾 (R.C. Sproul)博士所著的《The Truth of the Cross》一书。
What
Do Expiation and Propitiation Mean?
FROM
R.C. Sproul。
When
we talk about the vicarious aspect of the atonement, two rather technical words
come up again and again: expiation and propitiation. These words spark all
kinds of arguments about which one should be used to translate a particular
Greek word, and some versions of the Bible will use one of these words and some
will use the other one. I’m often asked to explain the difference between
propitiation and expiation. The difficulty is that even though these words are
in the Bible, we don’t use them as part of our day-to-day vocabulary, so we
aren’t sure exactly what they are communicating in Scripture. We lack reference
points in relation to these words.
Expiation
and Propitiation
Let’s
think about what these words mean, then, beginning with the word expiation. The
prefix ex means “out of” or “from,” so expiation has to do with removing
something or taking something away. In biblical terms, it has to do with taking
away guilt through the payment of a penalty or the offering of an atonement. By
contrast, propitiation has to do with the object of the expiation. The prefix
pro means “for,” so propitiation brings about a change in God’s attitude, so
that He moves from being at enmity with us to being for us. Through the process
of propitiation, we are restored into fellowship and favor with Him.
In a
certain sense, propitiation has to do with God’s being appeased. We know how
the word appeasement functions in military and political conflicts. We think of
the so-called politics of appeasement, the philosophy that if you have a
rambunctious world conqueror on the loose and rattling the sword, rather than
risk the wrath of his blitzkrieg you give him the Sudetenland from
Czechoslovakia or some such chunk of territory. You try to assuage his wrath by
giving him something that will satisfy him so that he won’t come into your
country and mow you down. That’s an ungodly manifestation of appeasement. But
if you are angry or you are violated, and I satisfy your anger, or appease you,
then I am restored to your favor and the problem is removed.
The
same Greek word is translated by both the words expiation and propitiation from
time to time. But there is a slight difference in the terms. Expiation is the
act that results in the change of God’s disposition toward us. It is what Christ
did on the cross, and the result of Christ’s work of expiation is
propitiation—God’s anger is turned away. The distinction is the same as that
between the ransom that is paid and the attitude of the one who receives the
ransom.
Christ’s
Work Was an Act of Placation
Together,
expiation and propitiation constitute an act of placation. Christ did His work
on the cross to placate the wrath of God. This idea of placating the wrath of
God has done little to placate the wrath of modern theologians. In fact, they
become very wrathful about the whole idea of placating God’s wrath. They think
it is beneath the dignity of God to have to be placated, that we should have to
do something to soothe Him or appease Him. We need to be very careful in how we
understand the wrath of God, but let me remind you that the concept of
placating the wrath of God has to do here not with a peripheral, tangential
point of theology, but with the essence of salvation.
What
Is Salvation?
Let
me ask a very basic question: what does the term salvation mean? Trying to
explain it quickly can give you a headache, because the word salvation is used
in about seventy different ways in the Bible. If somebody is rescued from
certain defeat in battle, he experiences salvation. If somebody survives a
life-threatening illness, that person experiences salvation. If somebody’s
plants are brought back from withering to robust health, they are saved. That’s
biblical language, and it’s really no different than our own language. We save
money. A boxer is saved by the bell, meaning he’s saved from losing the fight
by knockout, not that he is transported into the eternal kingdom of God. In
short, any experience of deliverance from a clear and present danger can be
spoken of as a form of salvation.
When
we talk about salvation biblically, we have to be careful to state that from
which we ultimately are saved. The apostle Paul does just that for us in 1
Thessalonians 1:10, where he says Jesus “delivers us from the wrath to come.”
Ultimately, Jesus died to save us from the wrath of God. We simply cannot
understand the teaching and the preaching of Jesus of Nazareth apart from this,
for He constantly warned people that the whole world someday would come under
divine judgment. Here are a few of His warnings concerning the judgment: “‘I
say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in
danger of the judgment’” (Matt. 5:22); “‘I say to you that for every idle word
men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment’” (Matt.
12:36); and “‘The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this
generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and
indeed a greater than Jonah is here’” (Matt. 12:41). Jesus’ theology was a
crisis theology. The Greek word crisis means “judgment.” And the crisis of
which Jesus preached was the crisis of an impending judgment of the world, at
which point God is going to pour out His wrath against the unredeemed, the
ungodly, and the impenitent. The only hope of escape from that outpouring of
wrath is to be covered by the atonement of Christ.
Therefore,
Christ’s supreme achievement on the cross is that He placated the wrath of God,
which would burn against us were we not covered by the sacrifice of Christ. So
if somebody argues against placation or the idea of Christ satisfying the wrath
of God, be alert, because the gospel is at stake. This is about the essence of
salvation—that as people who are covered by the atonement, we are redeemed from
the supreme danger to which any person is exposed. It is a dreadful thing to
fall into the hands of a holy God who’s wrathful. But there is no wrath for
those whose sins have been paid. That is what salvation is all about.
This
excerpt is adpated from The Truth of the Cross by R.C. Sproul.
