為何保羅稱教會為上帝的田地?WhyDoes Paul Call the Church God’s Field?
作者: William B. Barcley 譯者: Maria Marta
聖經談到上帝的子民和上帝與他們的關系時，使用許多引人註目的農業圖畫。其中包括：以賽亞書第五章的葡萄園之歌，上帝的葡萄園只結野葡萄，上帝任葡萄園被毀壞；詩人將義人比喻成一棵栽種在溪水旁，按時候結果子的樹 (詩一3) ；耶穌講述關於撒種者、種子、土壤、麥子、稗子、芥菜籽的比喻；耶穌又將自己比作葡萄樹，將門徒比作枝子。這些圖象都是強有力的工具，不僅因為它們令人難忘，而且更因為它們生動描繪了上帝如何作工，和祂的子民如何作出反應的經過。
在哥林多前書三章, 使徒保羅用農業的比喻來描述教會，稱教會為「神的田地」(9節；《聖經新譯本》)，他在同一章中也將教會稱為「神的房屋」(9節) 和「神的殿」(16節)。使徒使用這些形象教導我們一些關於教會的事，每一個比喻都呈現了教會的不同特征，以及我們作為教會成員的責任。
聖經中的農業圖畫通常帶有生長或缺乏生長的含義。今天我們也經常以同樣的方式使用它們，例如，我們說孩子「像野草一樣生長」。成長的觀念也是保羅在哥林多前書第三章中的「教會是神的田地」的形像化描述所固有的。保羅的觀點有兩重含義: 首先，他譴責哥林多人缺乏成長; 其次，他指出當教會正常運作時，它是上帝子民成長的地方。
在這章開頭，保羅將哥林多基督徒比作嬰孩，嬰孩仍需要牛奶，而非固體食物 (我的高中英語老師不讚成混合比喻)。他們的不成熟表現在於分裂、以自我為中心的個人主義、世俗的心態。教會被分成不同的派別: 「『我是保羅派的』……『我是亞波羅派的』……『我是磯法派的』…..『我是基督派的』」(一12; 《聖經新譯本》)。他們的行動只是為了自己，而非為了整體利益(正如書信其余部分的痛苦表述那樣)。此外，他們的行為和態度反映了他們周遭的文化。
為解決這一問題，保羅首先將他們指向十字架。雖然十字架在世人眼中是愚笨和軟弱的，但它卻是上帝的智慧與能力 (一17-25)。十字架會讓信徒謙卑，因為它表明只有道成肉身的上帝的死，才能為我們的罪付上代價，並帶來與上帝和好。我們不能救自己。十字架還會導致一種「十字形」的生活，那就是為他人，而非為自己而活。保羅在第三章敏銳指出，哥林多信徒要轉離自我，轉離對名人的崇拜，歸向上帝自己。本章有23節經文，其中21節提到上帝、基督、或聖靈。基督徒的生活是以上帝為中心，而非以自我為中心的生活。
這些都是今天教會需要再次學習的功課。許多基督教福音派已墮落為一種以自我為中心的消費主義的宗教，常常受世俗心態驅使。在上教會的過程中，許多個體基督徒已成為教會消費者，只有在教會「滿足我的需要」的情況下，他們才留在教會。許多教會本身也助長這種消費主義心態，他們調整其事奉哲學和崇拜事奉，以吸引特定的人群。托馬斯·伯格勒(Thomas Bergler) 所著的《美國基督徒的青少年化》(The Juvenilization of
American christian) 一書很有幫助地展示了教會所廣泛采用的方法，這些方法原來是為了讓基督教吸引年輕人而設計的，但最終卻產生了极不成熟的教會，從而失去影響我們的文化的能力。這與保羅在哥林多教會的講話有著驚人的相似之處。今天的教會正在培養「在基督裏的嬰孩」，而非那些能承受效法世界的社會壓力的成熟信徒。
這就引出教會是「上帝的田地」這一圖畫的第二個含義，也就是說，教會本身——或者至少應該是——上帝子民成長的地方。這是如何發生的?保羅給出的公式是: 「我栽種了，亞波羅澆灌了，唯有神叫他生長」 (三6-7)。保羅如何栽種? 他傳講聖道，尤其是耶穌基督並祂釘十字架(二1)。亞波羅如何澆灌? 他宣講、教導聖道。這些都是上帝叫祂的教會成長的主要媒介。這些恩典的普通媒介具有非凡的能力，因為上帝藉著它們使人成長。
然而，要留意兩個警告。第一，宣講和教導聖道的人不能老是餵奶 (三1-2)。保羅在這裏沒有詳細說明什麽是「奶」，什麽是「固體食物」。但希伯來書的作者列出信心的六個基本原則，這些原則是基督徒必須超越的「奶」，如此他們才能獲得「固體食物」，即信仰更深層的教導 (來五11-6:3)。接著他立即警告他的讀者切莫偏離信仰 (六4-8)。換句話說，徹底失去信心是持續不成熟的生活的危險。
一般說來，對今天教會的警告是, 在特定的教會崇拜事奉中, 只要上帝聖道的宣講越過福音的基本信息，或持續針對某個消費主義人群, 那麽就會發現教會幾乎不可能邁向成熟。這也使得自稱是基督徒的人處於完全喪失信心的危險當中。
第二個警告是，宣揚上帝全部旨意的教會也有可能不成長。哥林多教會有如使徒保羅的植堂者，如亞波羅的傳道者。你找不到比他們更好的牧師了。然而，哥林多信徒沒有成長。
當我們將自己置於一般的恩典媒介之下，喜樂地領受和默想它們，並忠心禱告，將我們所學的實踐出來。基督徒的生命就會成長。雅各警告說，聽道而不行道的人，乃自己欺哄自己 (雅一22-25)。特別是，我們務要將聖經的觀念模式/思維倾向應用到我們生活的所有領域。這包括批判性地思考世俗心態是如何影響我們自己的思維和生活方式的。哥林多教會仍然信納世上必勝主義者，以人為本的哲學。這就阻礙了他們在基督裏的成長。
從聖經的角度來看，培育和成長主要在教會內和透過教會發生。縱觀整個教會歷史，偉大的聖經詮釋者都認識到這一點。教父居普良(Cyprian)有句名言: 「不以（大公）教會為母的，就沒有上帝為父。」偉大的改教家約翰加爾文使用相同的意象，寫到「上帝喜悅將祂的兒女聚集在教會的懷抱中，不只為了使他們在嬰兒孩童時期，從教會的扶助與職事中得著養育他們，並且也要他們在教會母親般的關懷蒙引領，直到長大成熟，至終達成信心的目標。」這些偉大的註釋者只是在詳細說明聖經的教導。使徒保羅寫道，只有與「眾聖徒」在一起，信徒才能領悟基督的愛，並被上帝一切的豐盛所充滿 (弗三18-19)。基督徒的成長要求共同成長。教會是上帝命定的實現成長的媒介。
公元第一世紀教會的個人主義和世俗心態與今天的福音派教會非常相似。對許多福音派教徒來說，教會充其量是次要的。這與上帝所啟示的旨意相悖。
個體基督徒務要常常禱告，委身於全體信徒，而全體信徒委身於普通的恩典媒介。上帝藉著祂普通、非凡的媒介「叫他們生長」。生長主要在當地教會，和藉著當地教會發生。當地教會是上帝的田地，即上帝的子民成長的地方。
Dr.
William Barcley is senior pastor of Sovereign Grace Presbyterian Church and
adjunct professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in
Charlotte, N.C. He is author of The Secret of Contentment and Gospel Clarity.
Why
Does Paul Call the Church God’s Field?
by
William B. Barcley
The
Bible uses a number of striking agricultural images when speaking about God’s
people and God’s relationship with them. Isaiah 5 includes the song of God’s
vineyard that yields only wild grapes, and God gives it over to be destroyed.
The psalmist compares the righteous man to a fruitful tree planted by streams
of water (Ps. 1:3). Jesus tells parables about a sower, seed and soil, about
wheat and tares, and about a mustard seed. He also compares Himself to a vine
and His disciples to branches. These images are powerful tools, not only
because they are memorable, but also because they vividly portray how God works
and how His people are to respond.
The
Apostle Paul uses an agricultural metaphor for the church in 1 Corinthians 3,
calling it “God’s field” (v. 9). In that same chapter, he also refers to the
church as “God’s building” (v. 9) and “God’s temple” (v. 16). All of these
images teach us something about the church, and each metaphor brings out a
different feature about the church and our responsibility as members of it.
Agricultural
images in Scripture typically carry connotations of growth—or lack thereof. We
often use them the same way today when, for instance, we speak of a child as
“growing like a weed.” The idea of growth is also inherent in Paul’s imagery of
the church as “God’s field” in 1 Corinthians 3. Paul’s point is twofold: first,
he chastises the Corinthians for their lack of growth; second, he points to the
church, when functioning properly, as the place of growth for God’s people.
Paul
begins this chapter by comparing the Corinthian Christians to infants who still
need milk, not solid food (my high school English teacher would frown on the
mixing of metaphors). Their immaturity is evident in their divisions, their
self-centered individualism, and their worldly mind-set. The church is divided
into factions: “‘I follow Paul’ . . . ‘I follow Apollos’ . . . ‘I follow
Cephas’ . . . ‘I follow Christ’” (1:12). They act only with regard to self, not
for the good of the whole (as the rest of the letter painfully demonstrates).
Furthermore, their actions and attitudes reflect the culture around them.
To
counter this, Paul begins by pointing them to the cross. The cross, while
foolish and weak in the eyes of the world, is the wisdom and power of God
(1:17–25). It should humble believers because it says that only the death of
God incarnate can pay the penalty for our sins and bring reconciliation with
God. We cannot save ourselves. It should also lead to a “cross-shaped” life,
living for others, not self. In chapter 3, Paul also subtly points the
Corinthians away from self and away from the cult of celebrity to God Himself.
In this chapter, there are twenty-one references to God, Christ, or the Holy
Spirit in twenty-three verses. The Christian life is a God-centered, not a
self-centered, life.
These
are lessons that the church needs to learn again today. Much of evangelical
Christianity has degenerated into a self-focused, consumerist religion often
driven by a worldly mind-set. Many individual Christians have become consumers
in their approach to churches, remaining in a church only as long as that
church “meets my needs.” Many churches themselves foster this consumerist
mentality, gearing their philosophy of ministry and their worship services to
attract a particular demographic. Thomas Bergler’s book The Juvenilization of
American Christianity helpfully shows how the widespread, churchwide embrace of
methods originally designed to make Christianity attractive to young people has
ended up producing a largely immature church that has lost its power to
influence our culture. This is eerily similar to what Paul was addressing in
the church at Corinth. The church today is fostering “infants in Christ,” not
mature believers who can withstand social pressure to conform to the world.
This
leads to the second implication of the image of the church as “God’s field,”
namely, the church itself is—or at least should be—the place of growth for
God’s people. How does this take place? Paul gives the formula: Paul planted,
Apollos watered, but God gives the growth (3:6–7). How did Paul plant? He
preached the Word, especially Jesus Christ and Him crucified (2:1). How did
Apollos water? He preached and taught the Word. These are the primary means
that God uses to cause His church to grow. These ordinary means of grace have
extraordinary power because God Himself works through them to bring growth.
There
are two caveats, however. The first is that those who preach and teach the Word
cannot go on forever giving milk (3:1–2). Paul does not give detail here about
what is “milk” and what is “solid food.” The writer of Hebrews, however, lays
out six foundational tenets of the faith that are the “milk” that Christians
need to move beyond so they can get to the “solid food” of the deeper teachings
of the faith (Heb. 5:11–6:3). He then immediately warns his readers about
falling away from the faith (6:4–8). In other words, the danger of living in
continual immaturity is losing the faith altogether.
The
warning for the church at large today is that as long as a particular church’s
worship services, where the Word of God is preached, do not get beyond the
basic gospel message or continually target a certain consumerist demographic,
then that church will find it nearly impossible to move on to maturity. It also
puts professing Christians at risk of losing the faith altogether.
The
second caveat is that it is possible to be in a church that proclaims the whole
counsel of God and still not grow. The Corinthians had the Apostle Paul as
church planter and Apollos as one of their preachers. You cannot get better
pastors than that. Yet the Corinthian believers were not growing.
Growth
in the Christian life comes when we place ourselves under the ordinary means of
grace, receive them joyfully, meditate on them, and faithfully and prayerfully
put into practice what we learn. James warns that the one who is only a
“hearer” of the word and not a “doer” deceives himself (James 1:22–25). In
particular, we must apply a biblical mind-set to every area of our lives. This
includes thinking critically about how the attitudes of the world infect our
own ways of thinking and living. The Corinthians still embraced the world’s
triumphalist, human-centered philosophy. This
stunted their growth in Christ.
From
a biblical perspective, nurture and growth take place primarily in and through
the church. The great interpreters of Scripture throughout church history have
recognized this. The church father Cyprian famously said, “You cannot have God
as your Father if you do not have the church as your mother.” The great
Reformer John Calvin used the same imagery, writing of “the church, into whose
bosom God is pleased to gather his sons, not only that they may be nourished by
her help and ministry as long as they are infants and children, but also that
they may be guided by her motherly care until they mature and at last reach the
goal of faith.” These great interpreters are only expounding what Scripture
teaches. The Apostle Paul wrote that only together “with all the saints” will
believers be able to grasp the love of Christ and to be filled with all the
fullness of God (Eph. 3:18–19). Growth in the Christian life requires growing
together. The church is God’s ordained means of bringing this about.
The
individualism and worldly mind-set of the first-century church is very similar
to that of the evangelical church today. The church is peripheral at best for
many evangelicals. This is contrary to God’s revealed will.
Individual
Christians need to commit themselves prayerfully to a body of believers—one
that is committed to the ordinary means of grace. “God gives the growth”
through His ordinary, extraordinary means. And this takes place principally in
and through the local church, God’s field where God’s people grow.
