真正蒙赦免的人真心饒恕人ThoseWho Are Truly Forgiven, Truly Forgive

作者: Philip Ryken   譯者:  Maria Marta

http://www.ligonier.org/blog/those-who-are-truly-forgiven-truly-forgive/

https://plus.google.com/u/0/106695469993489516884/posts/f4ex52VfkUG

我們需要每日饒恕人，每日蒙保守，每日得到天父的供應。所以耶穌在教導我們「每天所需的食物，求你今天賜給我們」的禱告後，也教導我們要這樣禱告：「赦免我們的罪債，好像我們饒恕了得罪我們的人；不要讓我們陷入試探，救我們脫離那惡者」（太六12-13）。

這些祈求是為墮落的罪人-------為那些經常受試探犯罪，且有時會投降的人而預備的。甚至在我們遇到這些試探之前，我們也應該懇求上帝，保守我們脫離如約翰·加爾文在他的著作《基督教要義》中所說的「撒但的暴力襲擊」。懇求不要讓我們陷入試探，並非懇求絕不要讓我們陷入試探，而是懇求當我們受試探時，上帝救我們脫離撒旦的致命攻擊。

但當我們犯罪，陷入屬靈的罪債之中，會怎麽樣？我們應該如何禱告呢？

當我們陷入罪債時，我們首先要做的是計算我們虧欠了多少。因為我們自己的罪，我們欠上帝什麽債？因著我們已犯的罪、未犯的罪、「怠忽的罪」（sin of omission）、與「幹犯的罪」（sin of commission），我們都是有罪的。我們的罪債包括隱秘的罪、公開的罪、蓄意犯的罪、相對無知而犯的罪。當我們所有的罪加在一起時，它們就將我們置於虧欠上帝的永恒的罪債之中。

然而耶穌教導我們，要懇求天父幫助我們。我們切要禱告：「我們在天上的父，赦免我們的罪債。」我們用這些說話宣告我們的道德淪喪，坦白承認我們對上帝的虧欠多過我們所擁有的一切。然後我們懇求上帝徹底赦免我們。因為上帝是我們慈愛的天父，祂會應允我們所祈求的。當我們因犯罪欠債，頹喪地來到上帝的面前時，祂不是與我們坐在一起討論，制定一個付款計劃。相反，祂供應我們全備和白白的赦免。

當上帝赦免我們的罪債，祂是在祂權利範圍內這麽做的，因為聖經說，祂除去我們的罪，「塗抹了那寫在規條上反對我們、與我們為敵的字句，並且把這字句從我們中間拿去，釘在十字架上」（西二14）。這幅生動的圖畫與古代世界不時取消債務的方式相對應。當一個債務人最終還清他所有的債務時，債權人會用釘釘住所有的債務憑證。同樣地，當耶穌基督死在十字架上時，上帝便用釘釘住我們所欠的極龐大的罪債。不會再有任何未解決的指控控告我們。

我們以主耶穌教導我們的禱告方式，祈求上帝所赦免我們的罪債，就是那些與耶穌基督同釘在加略山十字架上的字句 。當耶穌基督被釘死在十字架上，我們所有的罪債都被取消了。「取消」的希臘字是exaleipho，是保羅在歌羅西書第二章所使用的字，其意思是「抹掉」或「擦去」。這意味著因為我們的罪，我們欠上帝的累累債務已被徹底清除。

然而，我們仍然欠上帝——不是債務，而是感恩之情——饒恕人是感恩的具體表現之一。耶穌教導我們禱告「赦免我們的罪債，好像我們饒恕了得罪我們的人」（太六12）。我們從這個祈求了解到，我們不是唯一的欠債人。我們有我們自己的債務人，即那些因他們的所為，虧欠我們的人。我們受吩咐要饒恕他們。

這是一句難明的說話。求赦免的禱告是主禱文中唯一一個附帶條件的祈求。倘若我們不饒恕人，我們將不蒙赦免。但我們發覺很難饒恕人。既然這樣，我們如何能得蒙赦免呢？

為了說明這種困難，我們來思考約翰衛斯理（John Wesley）的說話。約翰衛斯理（John Wesley）在宣教期間，曾與格魯吉亞（Georgia）將軍------一位驕傲、冷酷的殖民地創始人，曾有一段關系僵持的時間。奧格爾索普驚人地評論道：「我決不饒恕你。」衛斯理回答：「先生，我希望，你從未犯過罪。」衛斯理想到主禱文，這意味著不饒恕人者不蒙赦免。

「祈求我們自己得蒙赦免」當優先於「祈求饒恕人」。倘若我們在蒙赦免之前必須先饒恕人，那麽饒恕便變成一項工作，某些我們為得救而要做的事。然而救恩唯獨藉著恩典而來。我們不能償還我們的罪債，我們只能祈求我們的罪債被取消。但現在，我們已得蒙赦免，藉著上帝的恩典，我們也能夠饒恕人。事實上，我們饒恕人的能力是我們蒙赦免的最可靠的記號之一。那些真正蒙赦免的人真心饒恕人。

給予這樣的饒恕可能要付出非常昂貴的代價，別人傷害我們越深，就越難饒恕。然而，饒恕不僅給「被饒恕者」，而且特別地給「饒恕者」帶來巨大的喜樂。「饒恕」的希臘字（aphiemi）源自意思是「釋放」的字。饒恕是一種釋放，釋放諸如憤怒、怨恨、覆仇等自我毀滅的情緒。

Richard Wurmbrand（理查德•沃姆布蘭德）曾遇見一個經歷因饒恕而得着神聖釋放的人。當時，沃姆布蘭德被關押在共產黨當權的羅馬尼亞監獄，躺在一間專為快要死的囚犯而設的牢房裡。在他右邊的小床上，有一位被毒打得快要死的牧師。在他左邊是一位曾毆打過牧師，後又遭其同志出賣和拷打的共產主義者。

一天晚上，那名共產主義者在噩夢中驚醒，大聲喊道：「牧師，請為我祈禱。我犯下如此的惡行，我不能死。」牧師無力地站起來，跌跌撞撞地走過沃姆布蘭德的床，坐在他的仇人的床邊。

沃姆布蘭德看著他們，他看到牧師撫摸着那個曾虐待過他的仇人的頭發，驚人地說道：「我已全心全意原諒了你，我愛你。倘若我只是一個罪人，也能夠愛和原諒你，更何況耶穌，上帝的兒子，愛的道成肉身。回轉歸向祂吧。祂渴望得到你遠遠超過你渴望得到祂。祂希望赦免你多過你希望得到的赦免。而你只需要悔改。」在牢房中，共產主義者開始承認他所有的殺人和虐待人的罪行。當他承認完畢，兩個人一起祈禱，擁抱，然後各自回到他們的床上，他們兩人當晚都死了。

這位羅馬尼亞牧師學會如何饒恕。他從耶穌身上學到這一點，祂首先赦免他的罪債，然後教導他饒恕他的債務人。同一位耶穌也赦免我們，拯救我們，因為祂藉著祂在十字架上的死，除去了我們的罪，敗壞了魔鬼的權勢。

本譯文的聖經經文皆引自《聖經新譯本》。

本文原刊於Tabletalk雜誌  。

Those Who Are Truly Forgiven, Truly Forgive

FROM Philip Ryken

We need daily pardon and daily protection as well as daily provision. So after Jesus taught us to pray, “give us today our daily bread,” He also taught us to pray, “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6:12–13).

These petitions are for fallen sinners — for people who are often tempted to sin, and sometimes give in. Even before we face these temptations, we should ask God to keep us safe from what John Calvin called in his Institutes “the violent assaults of Satan.” In asking not to be led into temptation, we are not requesting that we will never be tempted at all, but that when we are tempted God will deliver us from Satan’s deadly attacks.

But what about the times when we do sin and fall into spiritual debt? How should we pray then?

The first thing to do when we fall into debt is to figure out how much we owe. So what debt do we owe to God because of our sin? We are guilty for what we have done and for what we have left undone, for sins of omission as well as commission. Our debt includes secret sins as well as public ones, deliberate sins as well as sins committed in relative ignorance. And when all our sins are added together, they place us in God’s eternal debt.

Yet Jesus has taught us to ask our Father to help us. “Our Father,” we are to pray, “forgive us our debts.” With these words we declare our moral bankruptcy, freely admitting that we owe God more than everything we have. Then we ask Him to forgive us outright. And because He is our loving Father, God does what we ask. When we go to Him weighed down with the debt of all our sin, He does not sit down with us to work out a payment plan. Instead, He offers full and free forgiveness.

When God remits our debts He is well within His legal rights, for the Scripture says that He took our sin away, “canceling the record of debt that stood against us” by “nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2:14). This vivid image corresponds to the way debts were sometimes cancelled in the ancient world. When a debtor finally paid off all his debts, his creditor would strike a nail through the certificate of debt. In the same way, when Christ died on the cross, God drove a nail right through the infinite debt of our sin. There are no longer any outstanding charges against us.

The debts we ask God to forgive when we pray the way Jesus taught us to pray are the very debts that were crucified with Christ at Calvary. When Christ died on the cross, all our debts were cancelled. The Greek word for “cancel” (exaleipho), which Paul uses in Colossians 2, means “to blot out” or “to wipe away.” It means that the mountain of debt we once owed to God because of our sin has been completely erased.

There are still some things we owe to God, however — not out of debt, but out of gratitude — and one of those things is forgiveness. “Forgive us our debts,” Jesus taught us to pray, “as we forgive our debtors” (Matt. 6:12 nkjv). From this petition we learn that we are not the only ones in debt. We have debtors of our own, people who owe us something for what they have done to us. And we are called to forgive them.

This is a hard teaching. The prayer for forgiveness is the only petition in the Lord’s Prayer that comes with a condition attached. If we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven. Yet we find it hard to forgive. How, then, can we be forgiven?

To illustrate the difficulty, consider something John Wesley said in his missionary days when he was having a difficult time with General Oglethorpe, the proud and pitiless founder of colonial Georgia. Oglethorpe made this startling comment: “I never forgive.” “Then I hope, sir,” replied Wesley, “you never sin.” Wesley was thinking of the Lord’s Prayer, which implies that the unforgiving are unforgiven.

Asking for our own forgiveness takes priority over offering it to others. If we had to forgive before we could be forgiven, then forgiveness would become a work, something we had to do to be saved. Yet salvation comes by grace alone. We cannot work off our debts, we can only ask for them to be canceled. But now, having been forgiven, by the grace of God we are also able to forgive. Indeed, our ability to forgive is one of the surest signs of our having been forgiven. Those who are truly forgiven, truly forgive.

Giving such forgiveness can be very costly, and the more someone has hurt us, the harder it is to forgive. Yet forgiveness also brings great joy, not only to the forgiven, but especially to the forgiver. The Greek term for “forgiveness” (aphiemi) comes from a word that means “to let go.” Forgiveness is a release, a letting go of self-destructive feelings like anger, bitterness, and revenge.

Richard Wurmbrand once met a man who had experienced the divine release that comes through forgiveness. Wurmbrand was in a Communist prison in Romania at the time, lying in a prison cell reserved for those who were dying. In the cot on his right was a pastor who had been beaten so badly that he was about to die. On his left was the very man who had beaten him, a Communist who was later betrayed and tortured by his comrades.

One night the Communist awakened in the middle of a nightmare and cried out, “Please, pastor, say a prayer for me. I have committed such crimes, I cannot die.” The pastor feebly got up, stumbled past Wurmbrand’s cot, and sat at the bedside of his enemy.

As he watched, Wurmbrand saw the pastor caress the hair of the man who had tortured him and speak these amazing words: “I have forgiven you with all of my heart, and I love you. If I who am only a sinner can love and forgive you, more so can Jesus who is the Son of God and who is love incarnate. Return to Him. He longs for you much more than you long for Him. He wishes to forgive you much more than you wish to be forgiven. You just repent.” There, in the prison cell, the Communist began to confess all his murders and tortures. When he had finished, the two men prayed together, embraced, and then returned to their beds, where each died that very night.

The Romanian pastor had learned how to forgive. He had learned this from Jesus, who first forgave his debts, and then taught him to forgive his debtors. This same Jesus forgives us and delivers us, for by His death on the cross He has canceled our debt and destroyed the power of the Devil.

This post was originally published in Tabletalk magazine.

与基督联合：攸关灵命生死的大事     Unionwith Christ: A Matter of Spiritual Life and Death

 作者： Philip Ryken  译者/校对者:  Maria Marta/骆鸿铭 

http://www.ligonier.org/blog/union-christ-matter-spiritual-life-and-death/

http://peddrluo.blog.163.com/blog/static/194801312201311281513698/

 与基督联合是基督信仰核心的神学原理之一。这个观念遍布在新约圣经中，特别可以从「在……里」（in）这个字看出来。这个简单的介词有着深远的涵义。

信徒常被人说是在基督里：「若有人在基督里，他就是新造的人。」（林后五17）  有时候这句话会很容易被人忽略，以至于我们可能完全没有注意到，就像保罗的开场白，写给「凡住腓立比在基督耶稣里的众圣徒」（腓一1） 。但即使是这类不经意的表达，也是基于我们与基督在信心上联合的深刻属灵真理。我们之所以被称为「在基督耶稣里的圣徒」，是因为我们真实和最终的身分只能在祂里面找到：「因为你们在基督耶稣里都成为一了。」（加三28）

在其他地方，圣经教导主耶稣也在信徒里面的互惠原则：「现在活着的，不再是我，乃是基督在我里面活着」（加二20 ） 。同样，保罗写到，福音的奥秘是「历世历代所隐藏的奥秘，但如今向祂的圣徒显明了。」（西一26）这荣耀的奥秘是什么呢？ 「就是基督在你们心里，成了有荣耀的盼望。」（西一27 ）

基督在我们里面，我们在基督里面。这种相互关系的两方面有时会一起出现在圣经中。例如，主耶稣在教导门徒葡萄树与枝子的比喻中——一个与基督联合的比喻——主耶稣说: 「你们要常在我里面，我也常在你们里面。」（约十五4）同样，使徒约翰描述与基督的联合是圣灵双重的居所：「从此就知道我们是住在祂里面，祂也住在我们里面。」（约壹四13）

凭着这种属灵内住的相互关系——我们与基督联合——我们领受上帝所有的救赎恩福。因着我们与基督的联合，我们不仅接受基督自己，也接受祂的恩惠。所有属于基督的就变成我们的，因为上帝「在基督里曾赐给我们天上各样属灵的福气」（弗一3）。  因此，我们看到，加尔文说，「我们的整个救恩和其所有的部分都包含在基督里面。」的确，与基督联合是福音的核心，当使徒保罗「为福音和福音的好处下定义时，他说，我们被召与主耶稣基督有分，与祂成为一体，且住在祂里面，祂也住在我们里面；我们不可分割地结合在一起。」

当加尔文思考我们怎样「领受父上帝赐予祂独生子的恩惠」时，他的回答是：我们通过与基督联合承受这些恩惠。基督必须「把自己呈现给我们，并邀请我们进入这种真正联合的关系，祂以这样的方式住在我们里面：所有属于祂的都属于我们。」 因此，加尔文将与基督联合，视为他的救恩论或是救恩教义中最主要的原则之一。

离开与基督的联合，我们就不可能有别的渠道领受上帝任何救赎的福分。除非我们和基督联合，否则连十字架和空坟墓也救不了我们。加尔文强调：

「我们必须明白，只要基督还留在我们外面，我们还是与祂分开，那么基督为人类所作、所受的一切苦难，就仍旧毫无用处，对我们没有价值。因此，基督为要把从父上帝所领受的与我们分享，祂必须变成我们的，且要住在我们里面……在另一方面，我们是被『移植到祂里面的枝子』（罗十一17 ），『要披戴祂』（加三27）；因为正如我所说，除非我们和祂连为一体，祂所拥有的一切就与我们无份。」（加尔文，《基督教要义》三.1.1）

简单地说，如果我们不是住在基督里，我们就无份于基督十架的死所成就的救赎，也无份于祂的死里复活。那么，我们就没有被称义，没得到儿子名分，不能成圣，不能得荣耀。 「我无法明白」，加尔文写到，「人怎么可能会有把握，他会拥有基督十架的救赎与公义，与祂的死所带来的生命——除非他主要依靠的是真正参与在基督自己里面。因为那些恩惠并不会自动跑到我们身上，除非基督让祂自己属于我们。」 因此，与基督联合，乃是攸关灵命生死的大事。

节选自伯克帕森斯（BURK PARSONS）着，《约翰?加尔文：对委身、教义，和赞美的热爱》（John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, and Doxology）。

Union with Christ: A Matter of Spiritual Life and Death

FROM Philip Ryken

Union with Christ is one of the central theological principles of the Christian faith. Its pervasive presence in the New Testament typically is indicated by the word in, a simple preposition with profound implications.

Believers often are said to be in Christ: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). Sometimes this phrase passes by so rapidly that we may hardly notice, as in Paul’s opening address to “the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi” (Phil. 1:1). But even such passing expressions are grounded in the deep spiritual truth of our faith-union with Jesus Christ. The reason we are called “saints in Christ” is because our true and ultimate identity is found in Him: “you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).

On other occasions, the Bible teaches the reciprocal principle that Jesus Christ is in the believer: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Similarly, Paul wrote of the gospel mystery that has been “hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints” (Col. 1:26). What is this glorious mystery? “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27).

Christ is in us and we are in Christ. The two sides of this mutual relationship sometimes appear together in Scripture. For example, in teaching His disciples about the vine and the branches—a metaphor for union with Christ—Jesus said, “Abide in me, and I in you” (John 15:4). Similarly, the apostle John described union with Christ as a double habitation by the Holy Spirit: “We know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit” (1 John 4:13).

By virtue of this mutual relationship of spiritual indwelling—our union with Christ—we receive all the saving blessings of God. In being united to Christ, we receive not only Christ Himself, but also His benefits. What is His becomes ours, for God “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing” (Eph. 1:3). Thus we see, said Calvin, that “our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ.” Indeed, union with Christ is the heart of the gospel, for when the apostle Paul “defines the Gospel, and the use of it, he says that we are called to be partakers of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to be made one with Him, and to dwell in Him, and He in us; and that we be joined together in an inseparable bond.”

When Calvin considered how “we receive those benefits which the Father bestowed on his only-begotten Son,” his answer was that we receive them by our union with Christ. Christ must “present Himself to us and invite us into such a relationship that truly we are united to Him, that He dwells in us in such a way that everything that belongs to Him is ours.” Thus Calvin made union with Christ one of the controlling principles of his soteriology, or doctrine of salvation.

Apart from union with Christ, it is impossible to receive any of the saving blessings of God. Not even the cross and the empty tomb can save us unless we are joined to Jesus Christ. Calvin was emphatic:

We must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value for us. Therefore, to share with us what he has received from the Father, he had to become ours and to dwell within us…. We also, in turn, are said to be “engrafted into him” [Rom. 11:17], and to “put on Christ” [Gal. 3:27]; for, as I have said, all that he possesses is nothing to us until we grow into one body with him.

Simply put, if we are not in Christ, we have no part in His death on the cross to atone for sins and no share in His resurrection from the dead. We are not justified, adopted, sanctified, or glorified without being united to Christ. “I do not see,” wrote Calvin, “how anyone can trust that he has redemption and righteousness in the cross of Christ, and life in his death, unless he relies chiefly upon a true participation in Christ himself. For those benefits would not come to us unless Christ first made himself ours.” Union with Christ, therefore, is nothing less than a matter of spiritual life and death.

This excerpt is taken from John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, and Doxology edited by Burk Parsons.