泥巴: Jonty Rhodes

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2022-01-04

用合理與必要的推論
By Good and Necessary Consequence
作者：Jonty Rhodes 誠之譯自：
https://tabletalkmagazine.com/posts/by-good-and-necessary-consequence-2019-06/
https://yimawusi.net/2021/12/15/by-good-and-necessary-consequence/

「我在聖經中看不到三位一體這個詞，」到你家門口敲門的耶和華見證人信徒說道。一位滿心憤怒的教會成員爭辯說，「沒有任何聖經經文說我們不應該超速，」他已經是第十次被警察攔下了。「我在聖經中找不到婦女可以領主的聖餐的明確例子，」最近剛信主的單身母親擔心道。這些人說的都是對的，不是嗎？
“Idon’t see the word Trinity in the Bible,” says the Jehovah’s Witness knocking on your door. “There are no Bible verses that say we shouldn’t speed,” argues the angry church member who’s been pulled over by the police for the tenth time. “I can’t see a clear example of a woman taking the Lord’s Supper in Scripture,” worries the newly converted single mom. And they’re right, aren’t they?

作為福音派信徒，我們理所當然地希望能成為被聖道得著的人（people of the Word）。我們珍視《聖經》，認為它是聖靈所默示的上帝的道。我們承認它是沒有錯誤的，足以滿足我們作為門徒的各種需要。我們承認它是我們的最高權威，因為它來自我們的主和王。但是，這個具有權威的話語是否只限於經文裏出現的字句呢？我們的改革宗先賢們並不以為然。以《威斯敏斯特信仰告白》中的這一段為例：「神的全備的旨意，與上帝自己的榮耀、人的得救、信仰、生活有關的一切必要之事，都是聖經明明記載的，或是可以用正當且必要的推論，從聖經引申出來的。」（WCF 1.6）。
As evangelicals, we rightly want to be people of the Word. We treasure the Bible as the Spirit-breathed Word of God. We acknowledge it to be without error, sufficient for our every need as disciples. We recognize it as our supreme authority, coming, as it does, from our Lord and King. But is this authoritative Word limited to the words of the text alone? Our Reformed forefathers thought not. Take this paragraph from the Westminster Confession of Faith: “The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture” (WCF 1.6).

對我們來說，其中關鍵的短語是，「可以用正當與必要的推論，從聖經中引申出來」。簡單地說，這意味著不僅是明確的經文，還有那些無可避免、可以從經文中引申出來的真理，也是上帝聖言的意義的一部分。因此，想想我們的超速司機。聖經有關於開車速限的具體經文嗎？顯然沒有。但是，如果我們考慮到我們有責任服從上帝設置在我們頭上的那些屬地的掌權者（羅十三1-7），我們就有理由聲稱，要我們遵守速限的不僅僅是警察，更是上帝。聖經裏是否有婦女領主的聖餐的明確例子？也許沒有。但是，一旦我們把關於婦女在教會中的地位和聖餐的目的的經文仔細放在一起，我們就應該得出結論，不僅僅是基督徒婦女可以領聖餐，而是必須領，除非她們受到教會的懲戒約束。在其他條件相同的情況下，如果因為她們的性別而拒絕讓那些作出可靠的信仰宣告的人領聖餐，或者讓我們剛信主的十分緊張的媽媽放棄這個特權，就都是錯誤的。
The key phrase for our purposes is, “by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture.” Put simply, this means that not just the explicit text but also those truths that unavoidably arise from the text are also part of the meaning of God’s Word. So, consider our speeding driver. Is there a specific Scripture on speed limits? Clearly not. But if we consider our duty to obey those earthly authorities God sets over us (Rom. 13:1–7), we are justified in claiming that it is not just the police but God who wants us to obey speed limits. Is there an explicit example of a woman eating the Lord’s Supper? Perhaps not. But once we’ve carefully put together texts on the place of women in the church and the purpose of the supper, we should conclude not just that Christian women may take communion, but that they must unless they are under church discipline. All other things being equal, it would be wrong to refuse to admit to the supper on account of their gender someone who credibly professes faith in Christ or for our nervous newly converted mom to abstain.

但是，我想討論的與「正當與必要的推論」有關的特殊問題是教牧上的問題。也就是說，我們必須學會區分「正當」的推論和「必要」的推論。如果不這樣做，就會導致律法主義或不順從的生活。簡而言之，除非我們從聖經中得出的教導既是正當的又是必要的，否則我們就不能用它來約束別人。
But the particular concern I want to address in relation to “good and necessary consequence” is pastoral. Namely, we must learn to distinguish between “good” consequences and “necessary” ones. Failure to do so will lead either to a legalistic or a disobedient life. In short, unless a teaching we have derived from Scripture is both good and necessary, we may not use it to bind others.

偶爾，我們可能會得出一個結論，在我們有限的人類思維中似乎是必要的，但事實上並不是正當的。讓我們繼續用上面的例子，以及羅馬書十三章1節，其中說到：「在上有權柄的，人人當順服他」。僅僅看這一段文字，有人可能會爭辯說，如果他們所順服的特定政府命令他們跪拜偶像，他們也應該這麽做。乍一看，這似乎是順服統治者的命令的一個「必要的」推論。但即使是對《聖經》其他部分的膚淺瞭解，也表明這不是一個正當的推理；我們有明確的禁止敬拜偶像的經文。因此，雖然羅馬書十三章1節的「邏輯」可能導致我們的朋友認為他跪拜偶像是順從，但作為服膺上帝話語的人，我們知道這是錯誤的推理。我們從某段經文中得出的看似「必要」的結論並非都是正當的——這主要是因為我們的思想是有限的，是被罪蒙蔽的。
Occasionally, we might draw a conclusion that seems necessary to our limited human minds but isn’t, in fact, good. Let’s stick with our example above and Romans 13:1, which says, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.” Looking at that one text alone, someone might argue that if the particular government they are subject to orders them to bow to an idol, they should do so. It seems, at first glance, to be a “necessary” consequence of the command to obey rulers. But even a superficial knowledge of the rest of the Bible shows that this wouldn’t be a good consequence; we have clear texts forbidding idolatry. So, while the “logic” of Romans 13:1 might lead our friend to think he is being obedient in bowing down to an idol, as people under God’s Word, we know that this is faulty reasoning. Not all seemingly “necessary” conclusions we draw from a particular passage are good—not least because our minds are limited and clouded by sin.

更微妙的，但也許更常見的是，把正當的推論變成必要的推論的危險。想像一下，你被要求就《提摩太後書》3章16節做一個簡短的講解，這節經文說：「聖經都是神所默示的，於教訓、督責、使人歸正、教導人學義都是有益的」。你仔細闡述了對聖經的一種忠實的看法，呼籲人們相信它是神的話語。然後你的思想轉向了應用：這段經文要求我們做什麼呢？這就是對正當與必要的推論的正確理解變得如此重要的地方。你想到的是你自己每天早上讀經的習慣。這是相信聖經是神的話的一個正當推論嗎？當然是。但這是一個必要的推論嗎？當然不是。這節經文——或者坦率地說，任何其他章節的經文——是否約束所有的基督徒每天都要為自己讀聖經？不是，原因很明顯，在神的教會的大部分歷史中，這是不可能的。人們無法閱讀，也沒有自己的聖經。因此，我們可以正當地吩咐人們「晝夜思想」聖經（詩一2），但我們不能在吩咐人們在敬拜中聚會並聆聽聖言之外，再規定領受聖言的途徑。一個忠心的信徒也許會默想上個主日的講章，但卻很少自己讀聖經。這本身在本質上並不是不順服。無論我們多麼熱衷於讓人們喜愛上帝的話語，我們都不能把正當的做法變成有強制力的必要做法，否則我們就會用不必要的罪咎感壓垮羊群。
Subtler, but perhaps more common, is the danger of turning good consequences into necessary ones. Imagine you have been asked to give a short talk on 2 Timothy 3:16, which reads, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” You carefully set out a faithful view of the Bible, calling people to trust it as God’s Word. Then your mind turns to application: What is this text calling us to do? This is where a right understanding of good and necessary consequence becomes so important. Your thoughts go to your own habit of reading a portion of the Bible yourself each morning. Is this a good consequence of believing the Bible is God’s Word? Absolutely! But is it a necessary one? Surely not. Does this verse—or, frankly, any other section of Scripture—bind all Christians to read the Bible for themselves each day? No, for the fairly obvious reason that for most of the history of God’s church, this would have been impossible. People couldn’t read and didn’t own their own Bibles. So, we can rightly command people to “meditate” on the Word (Ps. 1:2), but we mustn’t legislate the means of receiving that Word beyond the command to gather in worship and hear the Word preached. A faithful believer might perhaps take the sermon preached last Sunday and meditate on that, rarely if ever reading the Bible for himself. This in itself would not be inherently disobedient. However zealous we are for people to delight in God’s Word, we must not make good practices into bindingly necessary ones or we will crush the flock with unnecessary guilt.

我們可以多舉一些例子。希伯來書十章25節警告我們不要停止聚會。這是否意味著成為家庭小組的成員是絕對必要的？家庭小組是該經文的一個「正當」推論，但不是一個正當且必要的推論。因此，它們不應該成為約束教會成員的條件，否則我們為教會成員設定的標準就會比基督為祂的國度設定的標準更高。
We could multiply examples. Hebrews 10:25 warns us not to neglect meeting together. Does this mean it is absolutely necessary to be a member of a home group? No. Home groups are a “good” consequence of that text, but not a good and necessary one. Therefore, they should not be made binding for church membership or we are setting a higher bar for membership of our churches than Christ does for His kingdom.

當然，在講道和教導中，我們可以推薦一些「正當的」推論，但必須總是小心，避免給人留下這樣的印象，說它們是有強制力的，或者是全然委身的門徒的真正標誌。我們祈求聖靈的幫助，既不至於沒有把上帝全部的啟示教導給會眾，也不至於超越它，用不必要的負擔壓垮上帝的百姓。
Of course, in preaching and teaching we can recommend “good” consequences, but must always be careful to avoid giving the impression that they are binding or the true marks of committed discipleship. We pray for the Spirit’s help neither to fall short of teaching the fullness of His revelation nor to go beyond it and crush people with unnecessary burdens.

姜迪·羅茲牧師是英國利茲市中央基督教會的牧師，著有Covenants Made Simple: Understanding God’s Unfolding Promises to His People 一書。