不断归正SemperReformanda

作者：Michael S. Horton   译者：王一

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/semper-reformanda/

http://www.reformedbeginner.net/semper-reformanda/

如果你在福音派圈子里待久了，不管是保守派还是自由派，肯定听过“不断归正”或“不断改革” Semper Reformanda 这句话。我最近常常听到这句话，有许多人希望我们改革宗教会更开放，越过我们认信的教义准则去接受其他的信仰内容和实践方法。甚至最近在改革宗圈子里也冒出来各种运动挑战这些信仰准则。他们质疑这些十六、十七世纪写作的信条和要理问答是否能继续在二十一世纪里引导我们的教义、生活和敬拜。那些被囚于时代精神的自由派基督徒常常用这句话来为自己辩护，不过同样有许多保守派基督徒用这句话来把改革宗（或称归正）的定义模糊、扩大。

If you’ve been in Protestant circles for very long, whether conservative or liberal, you may have heard the phrase “reformed and always reforming” or sometimes just “always reforming.” I hear it a lot these days, especially from friends who want our Reformed churches to be more open to moving beyond the faith and practice that is confessed in our doctrinal standards. Even in Reformed circles of late, various movements have arisen that challenge these standards. How can confessions and catechisms written in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries guide our doctrine, life, and worship in the twenty-first? Liberal Protestants frequently invoked this phrase to justify their captivity to the spirit of the age, but some conservative Protestants also use it to encourage a broader definition of what it means to be Reformed.

不过这句话出自何处？第一次在历史上出现是在1674年，一位名叫洛但斯坦（Jodocus van Lodenstein），他是荷兰改革宗敬虔主义运动的一位重要代表。这次运动又被称为荷兰第二次宗教改革运动。他们认为，宗教改革运动的确恢复了教会论的教义，然而上帝的子民在生活和信仰实践上永远需要更进一步的修正。

But where did this phrase come from? Its first appearance was in a 1674 devotional by Jodocus van Lodenstein, who was an important figure in Dutch Reformed pietism — a movement known as the Dutch Second Reformation. According to these writers, the Reformation reformed the doctrine of the church, but the lives and practices of God’s people always need further reformation.

洛但斯坦和他的同事们被委派教导改革宗信条和要理问答。他们希望看到这些教导不仅停留在头脑理解上，更是要彻底地应用在生活中。不过，他说的原话是：“教会已经被改革，并不断需要照着上帝的话语被改革。”这里的动词是被动的：不是教会自己“不断归正”，而是教会在“不断被改革”。是圣灵藉着圣道改革教会。虽然改教家们没有用过这个口号，但这句话的确反映出他们努力的方向。他们希望人们不要断章取义。

Van Lodenstein and his colleagues were committed to the teaching of the Reformed confession and catechism; they simply wanted to see that teaching become more thoroughly applied as well as understood. However, here is his whole phrase: “The church is reformed and always [in need of] being reformed according to the Word of God.” The verb is passive: the church is not “always reforming,” but is “always being reformed” by the Spirit of God through the Word. Although the Reformers themselves did not use this slogan, it certainly reflects what they were up to; that is, if one quotes the whole phrase!

这句话里每个字都很重要。首先，教会是改革的（Reformed），这里所指的就是改革宗教会。如果两千多年前在巴勒斯坦地区，耶稣的确从死里复活了，那么在我们今天这个时代，这也依旧是个事实。大公信经清楚的告白了这个在不同文化、不同时代里，所有基督徒共同认信的真理。同样，改革宗信仰准则（如三项联合信条，威敏斯特信条及要理问答）总结了改革宗基督徒对上帝话语教导的信仰内容。随着时间地点的变迁，教会发生许多变化，然而这种对基督的信仰告白却并不改变，忠心地持守着“一次交付圣徒的真道”（犹3）

Each clause is crucial. First, the church is Reformed, and this should be written with a capitalized “R.” If it is true that Jesus rose from the dead two millennia ago in Palestine, then it is just as true in our time and place. The ecumenical creeds confess the faith that we all share across a multitude of cultures and eras. Similarly, the Reformed standards (such as the Three Forms of Unity and the Westminster Confession and Catechisms) summarize what Reformed Christians believe to be the clear teaching of God’s Word. Churches will always be changing in significant ways depending on their time and place, but these communal ways of confessing Christ remain faithful summaries of “the faith once and for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

提出这句话的先辈们始终想着在大公教会与福音派教会之间的合一，而这个合一就体现在改革宗的信条和要理问答当中。宗教改革的这一派自称为“改革宗”是有原因的。改革宗教会相信自己是大公教会延续的分支，这一点改革宗与重洗派不同。同时，改革宗教会希望“照着上帝的话语”来改革教会。不仅是教义上的改革，还包括敬拜、生活，都需要根据圣经来决定如何进行，而不是依靠人自己的奇思妙想。

Our forebears who invoked this phrase had in mind the consolidation of catholic and evangelical Christianity embodied in the Reformed confessions and catechisms. There is a reason that this wing of the Reformation called itself “Reformed.” Unlike the Anabaptists, Reformed churches understood themselves as a continuing branch of the catholic church. At the same time, the Reformed wanted to reform everything “according to the Word of God.” Not only our doctrine but our worship and life must be determined by Scripture and not by human whim or creativity.

一位主流的长老会神学家温特斯（Anna Case-Winters）提醒这个“被我们误用的格言”。温特斯指出，“在十六世纪当时，这句话所反映的既不是自由派思想，也不是保守派思想，而是要回到‘根基’”。也就是唯独圣经。宗教改革并不是为了“改革”而改革。正如加尔文在他的文章《论教会改革之必要》中提到，改教家们被认为在搞创新，可实际上是中世纪的教会搞了创新，歪曲了基督教信仰和敬拜，而宗教改革所作的是恢复使徒所传下来的基督教信仰。罗马试图假装自己“始终不变”，但是罗马教会里囤积的一大堆教义和做法是初代教会根本没有的，更是在新约圣经里根本找不到的。

Interestingly, it is a mainline Presbyterian theologian, Anna Case-Winters, who brings attention to what she calls “our misused motto.” Winters points out that “in the 16th-century context the impulse it reflected was neither liberal nor conservative, but radical, in the sense of returning to the ‘root.’” This was reflected in the rallying cry, sola Scriptura (by Scripture alone). The Reformation had no interest in “change” as an end in itself. As Calvin argued in his treatise “The Necessity of Reforming the Church,” the Reformers were charged with innovation when in fact it was the medieval church’s innovative distortions of Christian faith and worship that required a recovery of apostolic Christianity. Rome pretended to be “always the same,” but it had accumulated a host of doctrines and practices that were unknown to the ancient church, much less to the New Testament.

今天有些人离开“改革宗”，或者重新解释了“改革”或“归正”这个词。他们认为改革宗就是不断改革，不断归正，而不断归正就是相信圣经。所以只要相信圣经的，不管其解经是否和改革宗信条一致，就都成“改革宗”了。但是，我们看到这和“不断改革”这句话的本意是矛盾的。当然，改革宗信徒在许多信仰内容和敬拜方式上的确与非改革宗信徒一样，并且都是合乎上帝的话语的。我们也是始终敞开心扉，虚心接受其他教会团体的弟兄姐妹对我们纠正。然而，改革宗教会属于一个特有的基督教传统，改革宗传统有自己的定义，有自己的信仰内容和实践。我们相信，我们的改革宗各个信条和要理问答忠心地表达出了圣经里的教义系统。我们相信，不单单改革宗是符合圣经的，我们也相信符合圣经的即是改革宗的。

Some people today leave out the “Reformed” part or at least interpret it as “reformed” (little “r”): the church is “always being reformed according to the Word of God.” This means that to be Reformed is simply to be reformed and to be reformed is simply to be biblical. All who base their beliefs on the Bible are therefore “reformed,” regardless of whether their interpretations are consistent with the common confessions of the Reformed churches. However, this runs counter to the original intention of the phrase. Doubtless there are many beliefs and practices that Reformed believers share in common with non-Reformed believers committed to God’s Word. We must always remain open to correction from our brothers and sisters in other churches who have interpreted the Bible differently. Nevertheless, Reformed churches belong to a particular Christian tradition with its own definitions of its faith and practice. We believe that our confessions and catechisms faithfully represent the system of doctrine found in Holy Scripture. We believe that to be Reformed is not only to be biblical; to be biblical is to be Reformed.

比离开“改革宗”更危险的，是丢掉了“照着上帝的话语”这句话。这种改革在更加靠近自由派的基督教团体中已经出现。他们经常“不断改”，但并不是“不断被改革”。也就是说，教会是主动的，教会可以按照不断变化的文化环境来决定自己的教义、敬拜、纪律。进步主义（progressivism）成为目标本身，教会则变成世界的镜像。

As important as it is to keep “Reformed” in the phrase, an even more dangerous omission is often found among more liberal Protestants who also leave out the “according to the Word of God” clause. And usually it is “always reforming,” instead of “always being reformed.” In this view, the church is the active party, determining its own doctrine, worship, and discipline in the light of ever-changing cultural contexts. Progressivism becomes an end in itself and the church becomes a mirror of the world.

然而，我们作为认信的改革宗教会团体也应当小心，不要忘记我们的教义准则从属于上帝的话语。基督的教会在宗教改革和其后的时代被上帝话语改革更新。教会被带回到上帝的话语里，这是圣灵的伟大工作。而这工作的果子继续藉着留下来的各个信条和要理问答指引着我们。但是教会需要不断的被改革。就像我们个人的成圣，或者作为教会团体的忠心，我们都一直充满缺陷。我们不需要丢掉宗教改革的硕果，但是我们确实需要进一步的改革。这就是最后一句话所说的：“照着上帝的话语不断被改革”。

Yet those of us in confessional Reformed churches must also beware of forgetting that our doctrinal standards are subordinate to the Word of God. Christ’s church was reformed by God’s Word in the Reformation and post-Reformation era. It was brought back to God’s Word and the fruit of that great work of the Spirit continues to guide us through our confessions and catechisms. And yet the church is not only Reformed; it is always in need of being reformed. Like our personal sanctification, our corporate faithfulness is always flawed. We don’t need to move beyond the gains of the Reformation, but we do need further reformation. But here is where the last clause kicks in: “always being reformed according to the Word of God.”

这并不是因为文化在不断改变，所以我们需要跟上时代步伐。不！我们需要不断改革的原因是因为我们需要不断地重新定向圣经，不论是个人还是教会团体，因为教会无法永远站立不倒。教会必须是一个听的教会。“信道是从听道来的，听道是从基督的话来的”（罗十17）。不论是个人还是团体，教会一直需要听福音来维持生命。圣灵从来不会离开上帝的话语来引导我们，圣灵永远指引我们回到基督里来，而基督是在圣经里启示出来的。我们需要不断地听好牧人的声音。起初创造教会的福音，继续维持、更新教会。保罗在罗马书十二章对基督徒的要求，我们在今生是无法完全达到，同样，在这个时代的教会也永远无法做到完全。

It is not because the culture is always changing and we need to be up with the times, but because we are always in need of being re-oriented to the Word that stands over us, individually and collectively, that the church can never stand still. It must always be a listening church. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17). Personally and corporately, the church comes into being and is kept alive by hearing the gospel. The church is always on the receiving end of God’s good gifts as well as His correction. The Spirit does not lead us apart from the Word but directs us back to Christ as He is revealed in Scripture. We always need to return to the voice of our Shepherd. The same gospel that creates the church sustains and renews it. Our personal conformity to the Word that Paul commands in Romans 12 is never completed in this life, and the same is true of the church in this present age.

认识到这一点，我们就不会把传统当作是无误的，但同时也不会接受每个时代都存在的极端思想。当上帝的话成为我们生命的源头时，我们最终极效忠的就不是过去，也不是现在，也不是未来，而是，借用路德的圣诗词来说，“那远胜世上君王”的圣道。不是在之前，也不是在之后，而是在我们之上，我们这位满有主权的上帝在所有时代、所有地点都统治着他的身体。当我们提到这整句话时，“改革的教会也不断按照上帝的道被改革”，我们在宣告我们属于教会，而不是属于我们自己，并且终是由上帝的道创建并更新教会，而不是时代精神。

This perspective keeps us from making tradition infallible but equally from imbibing the radical Protestant obsession with starting from scratch in every generation. When God’s Word is the source of our life, our ultimate loyalty is not to the past as such or to the present and the future, but to “that Word above all earthly pow’rs,” to borrow from Luther’s famous hymn. Neither behind us nor ahead of us, but above us, reigns our sovereign Lord over His body in all times and places. When we invoke the whole phrase — “the church Reformed and always being reformed according to the Word of God” — we confess that we belong to the church and not simply to ourselves and that this church is always created and renewed by the Word of God rather than by the spirit of the age.