为什么我们今天看到的神迹如此稀少？Why Do We See So Few Miracles Today?

作者: John Piper  译者: Duncan Liang

https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/why-do-we-see-so-few-miracles-today

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/s1lVzeUTtAd7Lc7Q7hwqpA

似乎我们在整本圣经都看到神迹奇事，但对我们许多人来说，我们在自己的生活里，在周围的世界上看不到有神迹奇事。那么神迹奇事都到哪里去了？这是一位写信给我们的大学生提出的问题。

It seems we see signs, wonders, and miracles all over our Bibles. But for many of us, we see an absence of signs, wonders, and miracles in our lives and in the world around us. So where did the wonders go? It’s a question from a college student who writes in to us.

 “约翰牧师，谢谢您很棒的广播，我有固定收听。我是宾州大学新生，我父母是在格鲁吉亚共和国宣教，我也曾经在宣教工场与他们度过一段时光。生活在一个非常世俗化的校园里，与生活在宣教工场有天壤之别，我与同班同学讲到信仰、人生和基督教信仰普遍情况的时候，这就特别明显。我的朋友常问我的一个问题就是：‘为什么神今天在21世纪的美国不像祂在旧约和新约时候一样行明显的神迹？是不是可以这样说，神只是在圣经中行神迹？’您如何回答这反对信仰的问题？”

“Pastor John, thank you for the wonderful podcast. I listen regularly. I’m a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania. My parents are missionaries in the Republic of Georgia. I have spent some time on the mission field with them as well. Living on a very secular campus is obviously a night and day difference from the mission field, especially as I talk to my classmates about faith, life, and Christianity in general. One question that my friends often ask me is this one: ‘Why doesn’t God work overt miracles today in twenty-first century America like he did in both the Old and New Testaments? Doesn’t it seem convenient that God only worked miracles in the Bible?’ How would you answer this objection to the faith?”

我对这问题的回答很简单，回答就是：圣经中的神迹比你可能以为的要少，而今天的神迹比你可能知道的要多；圣经中通行的神迹类型与今天不一样，而这是有很有合乎圣经的道理的。

My answer to this is fairly simple. It’s this: there were fewer miracles in the Bible than you probably think, and there are more miracles today than you probably know, and there is a good biblical reason for why there would be a certain kind of prevalence of miracles in the Bible that is different from today.

让我对这三种观察都简单说几句。

Let me say a word about each of those three observations.

旧神迹

Old Miracles

想想旧约圣经。一种典型的说法，就是诗人在诗篇77：11说的：“我要提说耶和华所行的，我要记念祢古时的奇事。”你读旧约圣经的时候，意识到那时候大多数圣徒都会这样说：“古时的奇事，哦，要记念古时的奇事。”

Think about the Old Testament. Here’s a typical statement: the psalmist says in Psalm 77:11, “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.” When you read the Old Testament, you realize most of the saints in most of those centuries would have talked like that: “The wonders of old. Oh, remember the wonders of old.”

他们当时可能有和我们一样的问题：“为什么在以利亚的时候，在摩西的时候有更多神迹，比今天先知的时候，列王的时候要多？”

“There were fewer miracles in the Bible than you probably think, and more miracles today than you probably know.” Tweet Share on

认为按圣经记载的，贯穿神百姓的历史神迹不断，这想法完全是极大的错误。神迹并不是贯穿神百姓的历史持续不断。它们在某个时期突然出现，就像在出埃及的时候，就像在以利亚和以利沙侍奉的时候。

It’s simply a great mistake to think that there are miracles running all through the history of God’s people as the Bible records it. They were not running all through the history of God’s people. They sprung up around certain periods of time like the exodus and like the ministries of Elijah and Elisha.

大多数时候，旧约圣经的圣徒是因信而活，相信神对将来的应许，这信是扎根在神过去已经行的神迹奇事上。这就是我们今天的生活之道——通过回头看圣经中耶稣基督决定性的工作，以此相信神的应许，盼望一个尚未得到完满的国度。

Most of the time, the saints of the Old Testament were living by faith in the promises of God for the future, rooted in the past wonders of God that he had worked. This is the way we live our lives today — by faith in the promises of God, for a kingdom that’s yet to be consummated, by looking back to the decisive work of Jesus Christ in the Bible.

新神迹

New Miracles

到新约圣经的时候，充满荣耀的事实就是，虽然耶稣只让三个人从死里复活，并没有在祂去到、没有去到的许多地方医治人，祂却是完美和连贯一致行神迹。

When it comes to the New Testament, it is gloriously true that Jesus did miracles perfectly and consistently, though even he raised only three people from the dead and didn’t heal people in many places where he traveled or where he didn’t travel.

耶稣行的神迹，显然不是表明国度已经完满。这些神迹表明国度已经入侵这世界，指向将来有一天，人人都要从死里复活，相信基督的人不再生病，因为这就是耶稣的做事之道，祂现在就在表明这其中一部分。

The miracles of Jesus were clearly not to show that the kingdom had been consummated. They showed that the kingdom had broken into the world, pointing to a future day when everybody would be raised from the dead and those who believe in Christ will not be sick anymore, because that’s the way Jesus is, and he’s showing some of that now.

不仅如此，耶稣还亲自解释说，祂自己行的神迹是指向祂的神性。换言之，这些神迹有一些方面与祂有密切关系，你不能期望它们以同样的方式与别人密切相关。

Not only that, but Jesus himself explains his own miracles as pointing to his divinity. In other words, something about these miracles attached to him and you wouldn’t expect them to attach to other people in the same way.

例如，祂在约翰福音10:37说：“我若不行我父的事，你们就不必信我。”换言之：“行的这些事是有力的证据，证明我在父里面，父在我里面，我独一无二，我是神的儿子，这是真的。”

For example, he said in John 10:37, “If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me.” In other words, “These works are good evidence that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. I’m unique. I am the Son of God. This is true.”

即使他赋予使徒权柄，让他们也能行神迹，使徒却知道，这人有一些独特之处，祂行神迹的方式有一些独特之处。这权柄和能力是独一无二存在祂里面，祂就是神的儿子。

Even though he gave his disciples authority to do miracles also, they knew that there was something utterly unique about this man and the way he did miracles. The authority and power uniquely resided in him as the very Son of God.

寥寥可数

Few and Far Between

当你翻开使徒行传和新约圣经的其他部分，很明显使徒确实行了一些令人震惊的神迹，但同样真实的，就是他们受了很大的苦，他们的同工生病，保罗随身带着一位医生，他们被关进监狱，他们被人杀害。

When you turn to the book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament, it’s obvious that the apostles did some astonishing miracles, but it’s also true that they suffered much and their colleagues got sick. Paul carried a doctor around with him. They got thrown into prison. They got killed.

即使哥林多前书12章讲到行神迹的恩赐，医治的恩赐，赶鬼的恩赐，认为第一世纪有这些恩赐的基督徒是像耶稣一样行神迹，这也是非常牵强的想法。在第一世纪，在耶稣的生平以外，情况已经有了改变。

Even though there were gifts of miracles and gifts of healing and gifts of exorcism that are spoken of in 1 Corinthians 12, it would be a huge stretch to think that the Christians with those gifts in the first century were performing miracles the way Jesus did. Already, in the first century, outside the life of Jesus, things had changed.

我的第一个观察，就是我们不应认为在圣经的时候，无论是在旧约还是新约的时候，神的圣徒都是至始至终在行神迹，这样想就是扭曲圣经的记载了。旧约的时候神迹很稀少，新约的时候以一种非常独特、尊崇基督的方式集中在耶稣和祂的使徒身上。这些神迹部分是通过属灵恩赐与所有圣徒共享。

My first observation is that we shouldn’t think of the Bible times, either Old or New Testament, as times in which saints of God consistently did miracles. That would be a distortion of the biblical record. They were few and far between in the Old Testament. They were uniquely concentrated in Jesus and his apostles in a very special, Christ-exalting way. They are shared in part through spiritual gifts with all the saints.

数不尽的神迹

Countless Miracles

我要作的第二个观察，就是今天发生的神迹很有可能比我们意识到的要更多。

The second observation I would make is that there are probably more miracles happening today than we realize.

如果我们能收集全世界——全世界所有国家、所有文化当中全部宣教士和全部圣徒身上发生的真实故事，如果我们能收集数以百万计基督徒和鬼魔之间，基督徒和疾病之间发生的事，所有世人说的碰巧的事，我们就会震惊，我们就会认为我们生活在一个充满神迹的世界上，情况确实也是如此。

If we could collect all the authentic stories all over the world — from all the missionaries and all the saints in the all the countries of the world, all the cultures of the world — if we could collect all the millions of encounters between Christians and demons and Christians and sickness and all the so-called coincidences of the world, we would be stunned. We would think we were living in a world of miracles, which we are.

我们信心的根基

Basis of Our Faith

我要作的第三个观察，这很有可能这就是我会对挑战我的不信的人说的话，就是基督教信仰的核心并不在于国度已经完全降临，所有的罪和邪恶在这个时代正在被对付解决。

The third observation I would make, and this is probably what I would say to the unbeliever who is challenging me, is that the heart of Christianity is not that the kingdom has fully come and all sin and evil is being overcome now in this age.

基督教信仰的核心，就是神的儿子基督耶稣在历史过去某一时刻降世，显明神是一位怎样的神，以死和复活为所有相信祂的人施行拯救。神迹环绕历史上耶稣的显现，使徒的生平，为要验证祂的宣告和他们所写的圣经为真。

 “We live today by faith in the promises of God by looking back to the decisive work of Jesus Christ.” Tweet Share on Facebook

The heart of Christianity is that Christ Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world at a point in history in the past to reveal what God is like and to accomplish salvation for all who believe in him by dying and rising again. Miracles cluster around that appearance in history in Jesus and in the life of the apostles to vindicate his claim and their writings.

基督教信仰在根本上是带着信心回头看基督的作为，带着盼望朝前看，因着过去盼望那将要来到完满。它是愿意现在受苦和爱人，呼吁人有这样的信心。

Christianity is basically a life lived by looking back with confidence in the work of Christ and looking forward in hope, because of that past, to a consummation that’s coming. It is to be willing to suffer and love people now and call them to that faith.

我们生活在一个时期，正正就是受苦是正常的时候。虽然如此，神确实时不时，有时在复兴的时候经常使用祂的大能，按祂主权的旨意，为祂的百姓行神迹。为什么祂现在不行比此刻更多的神迹，部分也许是因为我们缺乏期望和信心，但这最终要归因于祂主权的预旨。

We live in a period of time precisely where suffering is normal. Nevertheless, God does now and then, and sometimes regularly in periods of revival, use his power to perform, according to his sovereign will, miracles for his people. Why he doesn’t do it more now than he does is partly (perhaps) owing to our lack of expectancy and faith, but is ultimately owing to his sovereign decree.

我们呼吁人悔改相信的时候，不是呼吁他们根据他们昨天看到的一件神迹悔改相信，即使真有这样的神迹发生。我们是根据在圣经中，耶稣基督通过祂的死和复活显明的荣耀，呼吁他们悔改相信。这是根基。即使今天发生更多的神迹，这仍是信心的根基需要立定的地方。

When we call people to repent and believe, we’re not calling them to do this on the basis of a miracle they saw yesterday, even if it happened. We are calling them on the basis of the glory of Jesus Christ revealed in his death and resurrection through Scripture. That’s the basis. Even if miracles were happening more today, that’s where the foundation of faith would need to lie.

嬰兒用語這寶貴的恩賜The Precious Gift of Baby Talk

作者: John Piper    譯者: Maria Marta

http://www.ligonier.org/blog/precious-gift-baby-talk/

https://plus.google.com/u/0/106695469993489516884/posts/6qxkBuDWB7z

人類語言很珍貴。它把我們與動物區分開來。它使我們取得最先進的科學發現，和分享最深切的情感。最重要的是，上帝選擇通過人類語言，在聖經中向我們啟示祂自己。在時機成熟時，上帝藉著祂的兒子向我們說話，祂的兒子說人類的語言（來一1–2）。以同樣的方式，上帝差派祂的靈引導使徒進入所有的真理，好叫他們能用人類語言傳講祂兒子的故事。沒有人類語言所講述的兒子的故事，我們就不認識兒子。因此，人類語言無比寶貴。

但想要獲得上帝的豐盛，人類語言也是有缺點的工具。在哥林多前書第十三章，在今生與基督再來的來世這兩者之間有四個對比。

「愛是永存不息的。先知的講道終必過去，方言終必停止，知識終必消失。因為我們現在所知道的，只是一部分；所講的道也只是一部分；等那完全的來到，這部分的就要過去了。我作孩子的時候，說話像孩子，心思像孩子，想法像孩子，既然長大了，就把孩子的事都丟棄了。我們現在是對著鏡子觀看，模糊不清，到那時就要面對面了。我現在所知道的只是一部分，到那時就完全知道了，好像主完全知道我一樣。現在常存的有信、望、愛這三樣，其中最大的是愛。」（8 – 13節）  注意今生（現在）和來世（到那時）之間的比較：

現在：我們知道一部分。

到那時：那完全的來到，這部分的就要過去了。（9 – 10節）

現在：我說話像孩子，心思像孩子，想法像孩子。

到那時：既然長大了，就把孩子的事都丟棄了。（11節）

現在：我們對著鏡子觀看，模糊不清。

到那時：到那時就要面對面了（12節）。

現在：我所知道的只是一部分。

到那時：到那時就完全知道了，好像主完全知道我一樣（12節）。

在這脈胳下，我們能夠明白保羅寫這句話的意思:「我作孩子的時候，說話像孩子，心思像孩子，想法像孩子」， 他的意思是說，與我們來世的說話、心思、想法相比較，我們今生的說話、心思、想法像孩子一般。

當保羅被到樂園裡，他目睹天國的現實，他說他「聽見了難以言喻的話，那是人不可以說的。」（林後十二4）我們的語言不足以傳達上帝的所有偉大之處。

由此推斷我們可以輕視語言，或以藐視、草率的態度來對待它，這實在是一個大錯。如果我們開始將關於上帝的真實聲明貶為廉價的或無益的或錯誤的聲明，這是多麽無知的錯誤。如果我們鄙視命題、從句、短語、單詞，仿佛它們不是生活上無以言表的珍寶和必不可少的工具，我們是多麽的愚蠢。

將可能是愚蠢的主要原因是，上帝選擇差遣祂的兒子進入我們的世界這幼兒園，以嬰兒用語和我們交談。基督成為和我們一起的孩子。耶穌曾有過這樣的時候，並說過:「我作孩子的時候，說話像孩子，心思像孩子，想法像孩子。」這就是道成肉身的意思。上帝屈尊遷就，以嬰兒用語向我們說話。今生，在人類生活的幼兒園，祂與我們一起，期期艾艾地與我們說話。

耶穌以嬰兒用語說話。祂以嬰兒用語對我們講登山寶訓。在約翰福音第十七章，祂以嬰兒用語作大祭司的禱告。祂以嬰兒用語大聲呼號：「我的　神，我的　神，你為甚麼離棄我？」（可十五34）嬰兒用語無比珍貴、真實、榮耀。

還遠不止這些，上帝以嬰兒用語默示整本聖經-----真正的嬰兒用語。嬰兒用語具有絕對的權威和大能。嬰兒用語比蜜甘甜，比金子寶貴。加爾文曾說:「上帝和我們談話,  象奶媽褓姆慣於以嬰兒用語向小孩子說話一般」（《基督教要義》1.13.1）。上帝的嬰兒用語是多麽珍稀。它不像草必枯乾，花必雕謝，它永遠長存。（賽四十8）

來世將有另一種說話、心思、想法。我們將看到在我們今生的嬰兒用語中不能表達的事情。但當上帝差遣祂的兒子進入我們人類的幼兒園，以嬰兒用語說話，為蹣跚學步的幼兒而死時，祂堵住了一些人的嘴，這些人嘲笑孩子口中發出真實與美善之言語的可能性。

當上帝以嬰兒用語默示祂自己那無謬的解釋時，我們怎麽說那些不把「人類語言恩賜是認識上帝的媒介」當回事的孩子們？那些輕視、貶低、利用這恩賜或對孩子操縱這恩賜的人，有禍了。嬰兒用語不是幼兒園的玩具。嬰兒用語是生命的氣息:「我對你們所說的話是靈、是生命」（約六63）。

本譯文所引用的經文均出自聖經新譯本。

本文原刊於Tabletalk雜誌。

The Precious Gift of Baby Talk

FROM John Piper

Human language is precious. It sets us off from the animals. It makes our most sophisticated scientific discoveries and our deepest emotions sharable. Above all, God chose to reveal Himself to us through human language in the Bible. In the fullness of time, He spoke to us by His Son (Heb. 1:1–2), and that Son spoke human language. In like manner, He sent His Spirit to lead His apostles into all truth so that they could tell the story of the Son in human language. Without this story in human language, we would not know the Son. Therefore, human language is immeasurably precious.

But it is also imperfect for capturing the fullness of God. In 1 Corinthians 13, there are four comparisons between this present time and the age to come after Christ returns.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love (vv. 8–13). Note the comparisons with this age (now) and the age to come (then):

Now: We know in part.

Then: When the perfect comes, the partial will pass away (vv. 9–10).

Now: I spoke and thought and reasoned like a child.

Then: When I became a man, I gave up childish ways (v. 11).

Now: We see in a mirror dimly.

Then: We will see face to face (v. 12).

Now: I know in part.

Then: I will know fully, even as I am fully known (v. 12).

In this context, we can see what Paul means when he writes, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.” He is saying that in this age, our human language and thought and reasoning are like baby talk compared to how we will speak, think, and reason in the age to come.

When Paul was caught up into heaven and given glimpses of heavenly realities, he said that he “heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter” (2 Cor. 12:4). Our language is insufficient to carry the greatness of all that God is.

But what a blunder it would be to infer from this that we may despise language or treat it with contempt or carelessness. What a blunder, if we began to belittle true statements about God as cheap or unhelpful or false. What folly it would be if we scorned propositions, clauses, phrases, and words, as though they were not inexpressibly precious and essential to life.

The main reason this would be folly is that God chose to send His Son into our nursery and speak baby talk with us. Jesus Christ became a child with us. There was a time when Jesus Himself would have said, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child and thought like a child and reasoned like a child.” That is what the incarnation means. He accommodated Himself to our baby talk. He stammered with us in the nursery of human life in this age.

Jesus spoke baby talk. The Sermon on the Mount is our baby talk. His High Priestly Prayer in John 17 is baby talk. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) is baby talk—infinitely precious, true, glorious baby talk.

More than that, God inspired an entire Bible of baby talk. True baby talk. Baby talk with absolute authority and power. Baby talk that is sweeter than honey and more to be desired than gold. John Calvin said that “God, in so speaking, lisps with us as nurses are wont to do with little children” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1.13.1). How precious is the baby talk of God. It is not like grass that withers or flowers that fade; it abides forever (Isa. 40:8).

There will be another language and thought and reasoning in the age to come. And we will see things that could not have been expressed in our present baby talk. But when God sent His Son into our human nursery, talking baby talk and dying for the toddlers, He shut the mouths of those who ridicule the possibilities of truth and beauty in the mouth of babes.

And when God inspired a book with baby talk as the infallible interpretation of Himself, what shall we say of the children who make light of the gift of human language as the medium of knowing God? Woe to those who despise, belittle, exploit, or manipulate this gift to the children of man. It is not a toy in the nursery. It is the breath of life. “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63).

This post was originally published in Tabletalk magazine.

如何幫助自己讀經 How to Read the Bible for Yourself

作者：派博（John Piper） 譯者：駱鴻銘

http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/how-to-read-the-bible-for-yourself

http://www.crtsbooks.net/blog/post/2015/12/30/How_to_Read_the_Bible_for_Yourself.aspx

1. 讀出作者的意思，而不是你自己的意思

1. Read for the author’s meaning, not your own.

在我們閱讀時，我們的目的是想知道作者要我們在他的作品裏明白什麼、經歷到什麼。他寫作是有目的的。這是永遠不會變的。這是一個過去的、在歷史中出現的客觀事件。When we read, we want to know what an author intended us to see and experience in his writing. He had an intention when he wrote. Nothing will ever change that. It is there as a past, objective event in history.

我們不只是為了主觀的經歷來讀。我們閱讀是為了發現更多客觀的事實。當我在閱讀時，我不會滿足於我心裏在想什麼。一個句子或一個字詞，或一封書信的意義，在於作者想要我們明白什麼，因此，所有良好的閱讀，明白作者想要表達的意思，是第一個目標。We are not reading simply for subjective experiences. We are reading to discover more about objective reality. I’m not content with what comes to my mind when I read it. The meaning of a sentence, or a word, or a letter is what the author intended for us to understand by it. Therefore, meaning is the first aim of all good reading.

 2. 問一些問題，以便解開聖經豐富的內容。

2. Ask questions to unlock the riches of the Bible.

當我們閱讀時，除非碰到一個需要解決的難題、一個有待挖掘的奧秘、或一個有待破解的謎題，否則我們通常不會真正去思考。除非我們的心思受到挑戰，我們才會從被動的閱讀轉移到主動的閱讀，我們的心思才會專注，不會到處遊蕩。

When we read, we do not generally really think until we are faced with a problem to be solved, a mystery to be unraveled, or a puzzle to be deciphered. Until our minds are challenged, and shift from passive reading to active reading, we drift right over lots of insights.

問自己一些問題是一種製造難題或有待解決的謎題的方法。這意味著：問自己一些問題的這個習慣，會讓我們的思想甦醒、維持活力。它會在我們閱讀時刺激我們的頭腦，讓我們深入去挖掘一段經文真正的意思。Asking ourselves questions is a way of creating a problem or a mystery to be solved. That means the habit of asking ourselves questions awakens and sustains our thinking. It stimulates our mind while we read, and drives us down deep to the real meaning of a passage.

 2.1 問關於「字詞」（words）的問題

2.1 Ask about words.

問關於定義的問題。在這個特定的句子裡，這個詞是什麼意思？請記得，我們是在問作者用這個詞的意圖是什麼，而不是「我認為」這個詞是什麼意思。問這個問題的前提是，字詞在不同句子裡，會有不同的意思。Ask about definitions. What does this word mean in this specific sentence? And remember, we’re asking what the author intended by the word, not what we think it means. This assumes words will have different meanings in different sentences.

 2.2 問關於「詞組」（phrase）的意思。

2.2 Ask about phrases.

一個詞組（phrase）是一組沒有動詞的字詞，以描述某個動作、人物或事物。例如，「靠著聖靈治死罪」。「靠著聖靈」描述這個活動。它告訴我們「如何」治死我們生命中的罪。仔細查考類似這樣的詞組，並具體地問它們是要解釋什麼。A phrase is a group of words without a verb that describe some action or person or thing. For instance, “Put sin to death by the Spirit.” “By the Spirit” describes the activity. It tells us how we kill sin in our lives. Look closely at phrases like these and ask what specifically they’re explaining.

 2.3 問關於一些命題之間的關係。

2.3. Ask about relationships between propositions.

命題（proposition）是一組帶有主詞和動詞的字詞。一些命題之間的關係是我們問的問題中，最重要的問題之一。通常會有一個小小的連接詞告訴我們答案（例如：但是，如果，而且，因此，為了，因為；等等）。有時候不同的神學系統，其主要的差異就取決於這些關聯。A proposition is a group of words with a subject and a verb. How propositions relate to each other is one of the most important questions we can ask. Often, there will be a small connecting word that holds the answer (e.g. but, if, and, therefore, in order that, because, etc.). Sometimes the major differences between whole theologies hang on these connections.

 2.4 問經文脈絡（context）如何幫助我們界定字詞和詞組的意思。

2.4 Ask how the context helps define the meaning of words and phrases.

如果你不知道字詞的意思，你就無法準確地明白一個命題的意思，而如果你不明白這個命題的意思，你就無法明白字詞的意思。這是一個迴圈，但這不是一個叫人絕望的迴圈。字詞所具有的共享的意思是有局限範圍的。You can’t know accurately what a proposition means until you know the meaning of the words, and you can’t know the meaning of words until you know the meaning of the proposition. It is a circle, but it’s not a hopeless circle. Words have a limited range of shared meanings.

對一個字詞的意思所作的錯誤假設，通常在句子或段落的結尾就會得到糾正。即便字詞本身可以有好幾個意思，圍繞著它們的命題內容和命題之間的關係，通常會澄清作者的意圖，作者要用它們表達什麼具體的意思。Wrong guesses about a word’s meaning are often set right by the end of the sentence or paragraph. Even though words, in and of themselves, can have several meanings, the content and relationships of the propositions around them usually clarify the specific meaning the author intended them to have.

 2.5 問這段經文和聖經其他部分的關聯。

2.5 Ask about connections with other parts in the Bible.

我們必須問我們所閱讀的一段經文的意思，和其他經文要如何互相配合。聖經其他地方是否能確認這段經文的意思？是否有和這段經文互相矛盾或不一致的地方？We have to ask how the meaning we’re seeing in a passage fits together with other passages. Are there confirmations elsewhere in the Bible? Are there passages that seem contradictory or inconsistent?

當我感到兩節經文或段落之間有張力存在，我從來不會假設聖經是不一致的。我會假設我還沒有看到所有我必須看到的。倘若我看到的還不足以解釋表面的不一致，就要問更多有可能會幫助我更明白的一些問題只有其他少數的幾件事，比起這個問經文實際上是如何前後融貫一致（雖然從表面來看，它們是前後不一致的）的習慣，會使我們更深、更豐富地認識上帝。When I feel tension between two verses or passages, I never assume the Bible is inconsistent. I assume I’m not seeing all I need to see. If I have not seen enough to explain the apparent inconsistency, asking more questions will likely help me see more. Few things make us deeper and richer in our knowledge of God and his ways than this habit of asking how texts cohere in reality when at first they don’t look like they do.

 2.6 問關於應用的問題。

2.6 Ask about application.

聖經作者寫作的目的，不只是要我們「知道」，更是要我們「成為什麼樣的人」，以及「作什麼事」。因此，我們必須養成一個習慣，問一些關於應用的問題。如何應用在我們身上、應用到教會、應用到我們的人際關係、應用到世界。這個應用的任務是沒完沒了的。應用經文的方式有成千上百種，也可以把經文應用在成千上百種的處境和人際關係裏。我們的任務不是知道所有的應用，而是在我們的生活中，在應用經文的意思上不斷地成長。The aim of biblical writers is not only that we “know,” but that we “be” and “do.” So we need to form the habit of asking questions concerning application. To us. To our church and our relationships. To the world. The task of application is never done. There are millions of ways a text can be applied, and millions of situations and relationships for them to be applied. Our job is not to know every application, but to grow in applying the meaning of Scripture to our lives.

 2.7 問有關情感的問題——內心的正當回應。

2.7 Ask about affections — appropriate responses of the heart.

閱讀聖經的目標不只是頭腦的回應，而是內心的回應。人類感情的整個範疇都是對聖經的意義的可能回應方式。上帝賜下聖經的目的，不只是要讓我們的頭腦有知識，更是為了轉變我們的內心——我們的情感。尊崇上帝的話，不只是靠正確的理解，更要靠正確的情感。The aim of our Bible reading is not just the response of the mind, but of the heart. The whole range of human emotions are possible responses to the meaning of the Bible. God gave us the Bible not just to inform our minds, but also to transform our hearts — our affections. God’s word is honored not just by being understood rightly, but also by being felt rightly.

 3. 在聖經的每一頁，都禱告祈求上帝的幫助。

3. At every page, pray and ask for God’s help.

上主啊，讓我們的心倚靠祢的話，賜給我們渴慕的心。開啟我們的眼睛，明白其中的奧妙。制服我們的意志，並賜給我們順服的心靈。讓我們看見祢，看見祢為我們的生命所指示的道路，好滿足我們的心。O Lord, incline our hearts to your word. Give us a desire for it. Open our eyes to see wonders there. Subdue our wills and give us an obedient spirit. Satisfy our hearts with a vision of yourself and your way for our lives.