马修·麦克劳，《莫忘死：通向永生盼望的惊人道路》，书摘20条20Quotes from a Profound New Book on Death

作者: Ivan Mesa译者: Duncan Liang

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/b1eNDEen9QvhnVnpArUabg

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/20-quotes-book-death/

以下是我读马修·麦克劳，《莫忘死：通向永生盼望的惊人道路》（MatthewMcCullough, Remember Death: The Surprising Path to Living Hope, Crossway, 2018）一书的时候让我难忘的20条书摘。

The following quotes caught my attention as I read Matthew McCullough’s thoughtful and profound book Remember Death: The Surprising Path to Living Hope (Crossway, 2018).

死的现实远离我们思想时，耶稣的应许常常就似乎与我们的生活脱节。 (19)

When the reality of death is far from our minds, the promises of Jesus often seem detached from our lives. (19)

在你盼望不可朽坏的生命之前，你必须接受这事实，就是你和你关心的每一个人都正在灭亡。你必须认识到，你在这世上能成就、能获得的一切，已经正在渐渐衰败。只有这时，你才会渴望耶稣已经为你成就和获得的那永不衰残的荣耀。你需要认识到，你要失去你在这世上所爱的一切，然后才能盼望要得着那在天上为你存留的基业。(20–21)

Before you long for a life that is imperishable, you must accept that you are perishing along with everyone you care about. You must recognize that anything you might accomplish or acquire in this world is already fading away. Only then will you crave the unfading glory of what Jesus has accomplished and acquired for you. And you need to recognize you are going to lose everything you love in this world before you will hope in an inheritance kept in heaven for you. (20–21)

一旦我们学会看见死的阴影，就能去取用基督的明光。 (23)

 Once we’ve learned to see the shadow [of death], we’ll be able to apply the light of Christ. (23)

如果死对我们说，我们并不是如此重要，以至于我们死不得，那么福音就是对我们说，我们是如此重要，以至于基督已经为我们死。并不是说死论到我们的这信息是错的。这信息没有错。靠着我们自己，我们是可以被替代的。但因着我们与基督联合，我们就是与祂相联，我们就是义人，我们就是神的儿女，神就不会让我们死，正如祂不会让耶稣永远留在坟墓里一样。(24)

If death tells us we’re not too important to die, the gospel tells us we’re so important that Christ died for us. And not because death’s message about us is wrong. It isn’t. On our own, we are dispensable. But joined to Christ, through our union with him, we are righteous, we are children of God, and God will not let us die any more than he left Jesus in the grave. (24)

死不正常。我们回避死这主题，就是行事为人，仿佛死并不真实。我们就是调低耶稣得胜的规模，让它迁就我们现在活在其中的这世界。 (52)

Death is not ok. By avoiding the subject of death, we act like that’s not true. And we shrink down the scale of Jesus’s victory to fit the world we live in now. (52)

如果死不是一个问题，耶稣就不会是一个有多重要的解决之道。我们越深深感受到死的毒钩，我们就要越清醒体会到福音的医治大能。我们越小心数算我们的日子，我们就越欢喜听到死的日子也是屈指可数了。 (52)

If death is not a problem, Jesus won’t be much of a solution. The more deeply we feel death’s sting, the more consciously we will feel the gospel’s healing power. The more carefully we number our days, the more joyfully we’ll hear that death’s days are numbered too. (52)

死对我们每一个人都下了一个判断：你并不是如此重要，以至于你死不得……只要死还只是别人的问题，耶稣就还只是别人的救主。

Death makes a statement about each of us: you are not too important to die. . . . [S]o long as death remains someone else’s problem, Jesus will remain someone else’s Savior. (54, 55)

死并不是仅仅生物生命自然的终结。死是对创造主完美世界的入侵，这同一位创造主设计要通过死说明一个问题。死是对人类骄傲的惩罚，死揭露了我们愚昧的自信，就是我们有自由随心所愿，成为我们想要成为的任何人。 (64)

Death is not the natural end to a merely biological life. Death is an intrusion into the perfect world of the Creator designed by that same Creator to make a point. Death is a punishment for human pride. It exposes our foolish confidence in our freedom to be whoever we want to be. (64)

察觉到我们会死，不退缩逃避这事实，这能帮助我们遏制我们内心的自恋，让我们安稳依靠神的应许。认识到死对我们意味着什么，在此光照下，福音告诉我们，我们很重要，因为我们是蒙神所爱的，但我们蒙神所爱，并不是因为我们很重要。神的爱采取主动，把我们分别出来，重新定义我们是谁。 (70)

An awareness of death that won’t shrink back from the truth can help us to check our inner narcissism and rest in the promises of God. The gospel, seen in the light of what death means for us, tells us we are important because we are loved, not loved because we’re important. God’s love initiates, marks us off, redefines who we are. (70)

因着必死，我们倒不如变得无名好了。我们实质上是在等着时间过去，被人遗忘。但在基督里，我们是父所认识的，直到永远，父认识我们，就像认识祂的儿子一样亲密动情……我们仍要等待，但我们不会被神遗忘。 (76)

Through death we may as well be nameless. We’re essentially waiting to be forgotten in time. But in Christ we are known, eternally, by the Father with the same intimacy and affection he has for his Son. . . . We wait, still, but not to be forgotten. (76)

我们耗尽所有时间和关注，不管多么小心保管我们的东西，或如何一路走来如何自得其乐，我们都只不过是在为别人积累和安排机会，让他们与我们讨价还价罢了。(95)

For all our time and attention, no matter how carefully we curate our stuff or how much we might enjoy ourselves along the way, we’re all merely stocking and staging someone else’s opportunity for bargain prices. (95)

我们经历人生虚空，在这背后的，是我们潜意识企图胜过死亡，却徒劳无功。当工作、快乐、财富或任何别的事情无法按我们的要求起作用，我们就经历这一切的虚空。我们请求它们保护我们免于死亡，让我们人生有意义，是死不能涂抹的。就这目的而言，这些事情是徒劳的。我们是在用纸巾建墙筑顶，让它们给我们遮风挡雨。(99)

Behind our experience of life’s futility is the unrecognized and fruitless attempt to overcome death. We experience futility in work or pleasure or wealth or whatever else when these things are not able to do what we’re asking them to do. We’re asking them to protect us from death—to give our lives meaning that death won’t erase. And for this purpose, they are futile. We’re building walls and roofs out of tissue paper and asking them to give us shelter from the rain. (99)

时间和死亡把生活甜美的时节变成痛苦的回忆，让人想起那失去的一切。 (115)

Time and death turn sweet seasons of life into painful memories of what’s been lost. (115)

死是一种生物事件——心跳、肺呼吸、大脑思想终止——但死也远远不止是这些。你不能把死局限在你生命终止的那一刻。死的影响各处都是。与其说死是一个事件，倒不如说它是一个过程，有最终的高潮——一个虹吸过程，把我们与我们所爱的分开，到了最后，人人都失去了一切。但是当我们认识到这事实，当我们承认这事实，不退缩逃避，我们就上路，更深入更完全以这应许为乐，就是在一个不死的世界里，我们所爱的永不会消失，这世界是复活在祂，生命在祂的那一位应许给我们的。 (115)

Death is a biological event—the end of the heart’s beating, the lungs’ breathing, and the brain’s processing—but it is also far more. There’s no confining death to the moment at which your life ends. Its effects are everywhere. Death is not so much an event as a process with a final culmination—a siphoning process that separates us from what we love so that, in the end, everyone loses everything. But when we recognize this truth, when we acknowledge it and don’t shrink back from it, we join the path to deeper, fuller joy in the promise of a deathless world where what we love won’t ever pass away, a world promised to us by the one who is the Resurrection and the Life. (115)

死让它的毒液渗透进入我们享受的一切，因为我们享受的，没有一样是我们能留住的。时过境迁，最终人人都要失去他们所爱的一切。(117)

Death spreads its poison through everything we enjoy because nothing we enjoy is ours to keep. Time passes, things change, and eventually everyone loses everything they love. (117)

当我们认真思想死，思想死如何吞没我们今生所爱的，我们就预备好了要看到，耶稣要给我们的，就是一直以来我们需要的。耶稣要把永远，不死生命的应许给凡信靠祂的人。这意味着祂要给人喜乐，是不会被哀伤遮蔽的。 (127)

When we think carefully about death and how it swallows up what we love about life now, we’re prepared to see that what Jesus offers is what we’ve needed all along. Jesus offers eternity, the promise of deathless life, to all who trust in him. And that means he offers joy that won’t be clouded by sorrow. (127)

耶稣来要给我们的，就是我们要认识真正长久喜乐就必须得着的。祂给我们的，是我们离不开的。但祂给我们的，常常与我们以为我们需要的有天壤之别。我们常常聚焦我们今生想要的，但耶稣并没有应许给我们更多，却让死最后无论如何都要偷走。祂要给我们的，是死不能触碰的。(134)

Jesus came to offer what we must have if we’re to know true and lasting joy. He offers what we can’t do without. But what he offers is often far different from what we think we need. We’re often focused on what we want from this life. But Jesus doesn’t promise to give us more of what death will only steal anyway. He wants to give us what death can’t touch. (134)

我们意识到自己要死，坦然接受这一点，就能切断对这世上事物那令人心碎的依恋，我们就不再自然而然用物质主义的标准评价耶稣。否则，我们就会好像耶稣起初对他们说话的那些人一样，活着，仿佛死并不是一个问题，怨恨耶稣，因祂不把更多我们今生所要的给我们……耶稣来，要给我们永生，而不是给我们更多东西，然后让死把这些东西偷走。 (136)

Embracing death-awareness is how we strip away a heart-breaking attachment to the things of this world. It’s how we’re weaned from the materialistic standards we would naturally use to evaluate Jesus. Otherwise, like those to whom Jesus first spoke, we’ll continue living as if death isn’t a problem, and we’ll resent the fact that Jesus doesn’t offer us more of what we want from life. . . . Jesus came to give us eternal life, not to give us more stuff for death to steal away. (136)

耶稣的死和复活，还有祂的应许，就是如果我们相信祂，祂也要给我们生命，这一切要重新塑造我们对今生一瞬即逝事物的感受。完全品尝永生甜美的方法，并不是后退，不享用今生的美事，而是把这些美好短暂的欢愉转变成为对那将来无尽筵席的盼望。爱今生和它一切的美好，真实坦诚认识到我们要失去一切，这实际上能强化我们对来生的爱慕。 (138)

Jesus’s death and resurrection, and his promise that he will give life to us too if we believe in him, reframe how we experience the transient things of this life. The way to fully taste the sweetness of eternal life is not to pull back from enjoying the good things of this life, but to leverage these good and passing pleasures into longing for the endless feast to come. Loving this life and all its goodness, knowing with truth and honesty that we’re going to lose everything, can actually deepen our love for the life to come. (138)

一切都取决于耶稣的复活。只有当我们让自己看到死，为死忧伤，我们才会看到这事实。当我们认识到我们与亚当一道死了，我们就准备好了，可以认识到我们要与耶稣一道活着。 (178)

Everything depends on Jesus’s resurrection. We see that truth only when we’ve allowed ourselves to see and to grieve over death. When we’ve recognized our solidarity with Adam in death, we’re ready to recognize our solidarity with Jesus in life. (178)

《全备的基督》书摘20条20Quotes from Sinclair Ferguson’s New Book on Legalism, Antinomianism, andAssurance

摘录者/译者: Ivan Mesa /Duncan Lian，摘自Sinclair B. Ferguson《全备的基督》 （Crossway, 2016）

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/20-quotes-from-sinclair-fergusons-book-on-legalism-antinomianism-assurance/

http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/MXPKc5yQQtHnWuqGBfgC-A

福音的福益（称义、和好、救赎、得儿女名分）是在基督里的。它们不脱离祂存在。只有在祂里面，它们才是我们的。(44)

“The benefits of the gospel [justification, reconciliation, redemption, adoption] are in Christ. They do not exist apart from him. They are ours only in him.” (44)

论牧师和讲道

On Pastors and Preaching

知道如何“从旧约传讲基督”，或明白圣经神学，或看到救赎历史的发展，或明白如何从圣经任何一部分去到基督那里，这并不必然导致实际传讲耶稣基督祂自己。看基督解释了嵌入旧约圣经的一系列线索，这与传讲耶稣祂自己取了我们的肉身，承担我们的罪，代替我们而死，复活使我们称义并不实际上是一样。传讲基督的一种讲道模式，这并不等同于基督祂自己，我们绝不可把释经原则与基督祂自己混淆起来。前者并没有为我们死在十字架上，后者却为我们在十字架上死了。 (49 n. 23)

 “Knowing how to ‘preach Christ from the Old Testament,’ or understanding biblical theology, or seeing the flow of redemptive history, or knowing how to get to Christ from any part of the Scriptures does not necessarily result in actually preaching the person of Jesus Christ himself. Seeing Christ as the solution to a series of clues embedded in the Old Testament is not actually the same as proclaiming Jesus himself, in our flesh, bearing our sins, dying our death, and rising for our justification. A formula for preaching Christ is not identical to the persona of Christ, and we must never confuse hermeneutical principles with Christ himself. The former did not die for us on the cross; the latter did.” (49 n. 23)

牧师需要自己被神无条件的恩典征服。他们需要把一种为自己辩护的法利赛人精神和条件主义残余从自己身上清除出去。他们需要像救主一样面对压伤的芦苇，不将它折断，面对将残的灯火，不将它吹灭。说到底，敬虔的牧师岂不就像神一样，有充满恩典的心吗？这样的牧师看到神把浪子带回家，就跑过去拥抱他们，因着他们被带回家就喜极而泣，与他们亲嘴，不问问题，不要求他们满足资格或条件。 (73)

“Pastors need themselves to have been mastered by the unconditional grace of God. From them the vestiges of a self-defensive pharisaism and conditionalism need to be torn. Like the Savior they need to handle bruised reeds without breaking them and dimly burning wicks without quenching them. What is a godly pastor, after all, but one who is like God, with a heart of grace; someone who sees God bringing prodigals home and runs to embrace them, weeps for joy that they have been brought home, and kisses them—asking no questions—no qualifications or conditions required?” (73)

论律法主义

On Legalism

律法主义很简单，就是把神的律法和神祂自己分隔开来。 (83)

“Legalism is simply separating the law of God from the person of God.” (83)

律法主义的核心，就是人心扭曲神的恩惠与施恩惠的神。 (88)

“The essence of legalism is a heart distortion of the graciousness of God and of the God of grace.” (88)

人常说一个人可能有一个律法主义的头脑和一个律法主义的内心。但同样太过可能的，就是人有一个福音的头脑，却有一个律法主义的内心。 (94)

“It’s commonplace to say that one can have a legalistic head and a legalistic heart. But it’s also all too possible to have an evangelical head and a legalistic heart.” (94)

律法主义几乎与伊甸园本身一样历史悠久。本质上它是一切削弱、扭曲神的大爱和神完全无条件恩典的教导。然后这教导扭曲神在祂律法之内启示的祂的恩典，未能看到律法按其在救赎历史当中本有的处境，是向人表明一位满有恩惠的父。这就是律法主义的性质。确实我们可以说，这些是律法主义各样的性质。 (95)

“Legalism is almost as old as Eden itself. In essence it’s any teaching that diminishes or distorts the generous love of God and the full freeness of his grace. It then distorts God’s graciousness revealed in his law and fails to see law set within its proper context in redemptive history as an expression of a gracious Father. This is the nature of legalism. Indeed we might say these are the natures of legalism.” (95)

我们当传讲基督完全的位格和工作，然后信心就直接紧紧抓住在祂里面神的怜悯，这样悔改的生命就开始，这悔改的生命就成为信心的果子。 (101)

“Christ should be presented in all the fullness of his person and work; faith then directly grasps the mercy of God in him, and as it does so the life of repentance is inaugurated as its fruit.” (101)

说到底，我们不能按时间先后把相信和悔改分开。真基督徒是带着悔改的心相信，是带着信心悔改。出于这原因，新约圣经表明这两种层面时，这两个说法都使用，它们出现的顺序各异。但按性质的次序，就福音内在的逻辑和福音“文法”发挥作用的方式而言，人绝不能说悔改先于相信。离开了相信这处境，悔改就不能发生。 (104)

“At the end of the day we cannot divide faith and repentance chronologically. The true Christian believes penitently, and he repents believingly. For this reason, in the New Testament either term may be used when both dimensions are implied; and the order in which they are used may vary. But in the order of nature, in terms of the inner logic of the gospel and the way its ‘grammar’ functions, repentance can never be said to precede faith. It cannot take place outside of the context of faith.” (104)

相信总是悔改，悔改若是真实，就总是相信。 (104 n. 17)

“Faith will always be penitent; repentance will always be believing if genuine.” (104 n. 17)

恩典按定义，是排除了一切限制。因此恩典消灭了一切夸口，它让夸口窒息，在我们任何一切关于自己有所贡献的讨价还价开始之前，就已经让这一切哑口无言。按定义，我们不能在任何方面、以任何方式、通过任何行动“限制”恩典。因此拆毁律法主义的，是对神恩典的认识，就是说，认识神祂自己。恩典凸显了律法主义的破产，表明律法主义不仅无用，还是毫无意义，恩典扼杀律法主义的生命气息。 (110)

“Grace rules out all qualifications by definition. Grace therefore eliminates boasting; it suffocates boasting; it silences any and all negotiations about our contribution before they can even begin. By definition we cannot ‘qualify’ for grace in any way, by any means, or through any action. Thus it’s understanding God’s grace—that is to say, understanding God himself—that demolishes legalism. Grace highlights legalism’s bankruptcy and shows that it’s not only useless; it’s pointless; its life breath is smothered out of it.” (110)

论反律主义

On Antinomianism

虽然在一种意义上，反律主义是与律法主义“相反”的一种错误，但在另外一种意义上，它是与律法主义“同等”的错误，因它与律法主义一样，都是将神的律法与神祂自己和祂的品格分隔开来（从旧约到新约，神祂自己和祂的品格是不变的）。反律主义未能认识到，那定我们的罪的律法，是神起初赐下，为要教导我们如何不犯罪。 (141)

 “Although in one sense antinomianism is the ‘opposite’ error from legalism, in another sense it’s the ‘equal’ error, for it similarly abstracts God’s law from God’s person and character (which undergoes no change from old to new covenant). It fails to appreciate that the law that condemns us for our sins was given to teach us how not to sin.” (141)

对律法主义最深入的回应，并不是“你不是在律法之下”，而是“你是在藐视福音，未能明白神的恩典如何在福音当中发挥效力！”因着你因信与基督联合，你在律法之下就不被定罪，但这同一个因信联合带来的结果，就是律法的要求通过圣灵在你身上得到满足。你真正的问题并不在于你不明白律法，而是在于你不明白福音。因保罗说我们是“因律法与基督成为姻亲”。我们与律法的关系不是一种赤裸裸的律法关系，冷冰冰没有人性。不是的，我们遵守律法，这是我们与我们新的丈夫耶稣基督结婚的结果。(153–154)

“The deepest response to antinomianism is not ‘You are under the law’ but rather ‘You are despising the gospel and failing to understand how the grace of God in the gospel works!’ There is no condemnation for you under the law because of your faith-union with Christ. But that same faith-union leads to the requirements of the law being fulfilled in you through the Spirit. Your real problem is not that you do not understand the law. It’s that you do not understand the gospel. For Paul says that we are ‘in-lawed to Christ.’ Our relationship to the law is not a bare legal one, coldly impersonal. No, our conformity to it is the fruit of our marriage to our new husband Jesus Christ.” (153–154)

反律主义和律法主义其实并不是如此完全相反，因它们两样都是与恩典对立。因此圣经从来没有把一样当作解决另一样的药方。而是解决这两样问题的药方，都是恩典，神在基督里，在我们与基督联合当中的恩典。 (156)

“Antinomianism and legalism are not so much antithetical to each other as they are both antithetical to grace. This is why Scripture never prescribes one as the antidote for the other. Rather grace, God’s grace in Christ in our union with Christ, is the antidote to both.” (156)

律法主义只有一种真正的解决之道，就是与福音为反律主义开的同样药方：认识与耶稣基督祂自己的联合，尝到这联合的滋味。(157)

“There is only one genuine cure for legalism. It’s the same medicine the gospel prescribes for antinomianism: understanding and tasting union with Jesus Christ himself.” (157)

反律主义可能隐藏在教义和神学术语当中，但它既暴露，也掩盖了人内心对绝对当向神尽的义务或本分是一屑不顾。因此在教义方面进行解释，这只是这场争战的一部分。我们面对的，是某样更难以捉摸的事情，是一个人的精神，一种直觉，一种有罪的性情趋向，一种微妙的将本分和喜乐分开的做法。这要求努力、爱心的教牧关怀，特别忠心、强调与基督联合、完全地解开神的道，好让福音可以融化我们心里顽固的律法主义精神。 (161)

“Antinomianism may be couched in doctrinal and theological terms, but it both betrays and masks the heart’s distaste for absolute divine obligation, or duty. That is why the doctrinal explanation is only part of the battle. We are grappling with something much more elusive, the spirit of an individual, an instinct, a sinful temperamental bent, a subtle divorce of duty and delight. This requires diligent and loving pastoral care and especially faithful, union-with-Christ, full unfolding of the Word of God so that the gospel dissolves the stubborn legality in our spirits.” (161)

神的陈述带出神的命令。这是圣经基本的文法。在这种意义上，恩典总是生出义务、本分和律法。(168)

“Divine indicatives give rise to divine imperatives. This is the Bible’s underlying grammar. Grace, in this sense, always gives rise to obligation, duty, and law.” (168)

诫命就像火车铁轨，圣灵浇灌把神的爱浇灌在人心里，这给人的生命加力，让这生命在铁轨上运行。爱给火车头加力，律法指引方向。爱和律法互相依存。爱能脱离律法运行，这种观念是是虚构的想象。它不仅是一种糟糕的神学，也是一种糟糕的心理学。它需要从律法借用眼睛才能让爱看得见……旧约信徒和救主都没有把神的律法与满有恩惠的祂自己割裂开来。凡父命令耶稣做的，祂都去做，这并不是律法主义。我们这样做，也不是律法主义。 (168–169, 173)

“Commandments are the railroad tracks on which the life empowered by the love of God poured into the heart by the Holy Spirit runs. Love empowers the engine; law guides the direction. They are mutually interdependent. The notion that love can operate apart from law is a figment of the imagination. It’s not only bad theology; it’s poor psychology. It has to borrow from law to give eyes to love. . . . Neither the Old Testament believer nor the Savior severed the law of God from his gracious person. It was not legalism for Jesus to do everything his Father commanded him. Nor is it for us.” (168–169, 173)

论确据

On Assurance

得救确据是相信基督结出的果子。基督能，实际上确实拯救凡因着信到祂这里来的人。因信心就是信靠基督能施行拯救，因此有一种相信和确据是如萌芽一般存在于信心当中。因此信心的作为本身就包含有确据的种子。确实，信心起初的作为，就是一种关乎基督的确据。 (197)

 “Assurance of salvation is the fruit of faith in Christ. Christ is able to and does, in fact, save all those who come to him through faith. Since faith is trust in Christ as the one who is able to save, there is a certain confidence and assurance seminally inherent in faith. The act of faith, therefore, contains within it the seed of assurance. Indeed, faith in its first exercise is an assurance about Christ.” (197)

当信心如此这般把握住我们最终和完全称义这现实，此时基督祂自己就显为大。这就是享有得救确据的关键，这完全是因为确据是我们确信祂是一位伟大的救主，祂是我们的救主。因此在福音确据中，基督处于中心地位；确实基督是一切。 (200)

“When faith thus grasps the reality of [our final and complete justification], then Christ himself looms large. This is the key to the enjoyment of assurance precisely because assurance is our assurance that he is a great Savior and that he is ours. Thus in gospel assurance Christ is central; indeed Christ is everything.” (200)