主耶和華若究察罪孽，誰能站得住呢？Ifthe Lord Marks Iniquity, Who Should Stand?

作者: R.C. Sproul    譯者:  Maria Marta

http://www.ligonier.org/blog/the-human-dilemma/

https://plus.google.com/u/0/106695469993489516884/posts/9P1PANYF5t6

詩人問：「主耶和華若究察罪孽，誰能站得住呢？」 這顯然是一個反問句。答案很明顯，的確沒有人能站得住，這是唯一的答案。

這問題以有條件的形式提出來。它單單估量假設主耶和華究察罪孽時的後果。 我們松了一口氣，說：「謝天謝地，主不究察罪孽！」

這是虛假的希望。 我們一直被一系列無休止的謊言誤導，我們毫不懼怕上帝的記分卡。 我們可以確信，假若上帝可能審判，祂的審判也將會是寬容的。假若我們在祂的測試中都不及格-------也無需害怕-----祂會以相對評價來評分。 畢竟，常人都會犯錯,  饒恕乃神聖之事，這是公理。 此公理是如此的根深蒂固，以致於我們認為饒恕不僅是神聖的選項，更是神性本身真實的先決條件。 我們認為上帝不僅能饒恕，而且祂必須饒恕，否則祂就不是好上帝。 我們多麽快地忘記了上帝的特權：「我要憐憫誰，就憐憫誰；我要恩待誰，就恩待誰。」（羅九15新譯本）

今時今日我們見證了福音受遮蔽。黑暗陰影模糊了福音之光，這種情況不限於羅馬天主教或自由派新教;  而且也廣泛出現在福音派的社區。「傳講福音」的片語用作描述傳講的所有形式，除了傳講福音之外。「新」福音是一種不必擔心罪的福音。 它不覺得迫切需要稱義。 它輕易抹去「基督的義的歸算是救贖的根本需要」的真理。 我們用上帝「無條件的愛」取代基督的義。倘若上帝無條件愛我們，誰還需要基督的義呢？

而事實是上帝究察罪孽，並且表露出對罪的憤怒。在寫給羅馬人的信中，使徒保羅在展示福音的豐富之前，他為人需要福音作好預備：「神的震怒，從天上向所有不虔不義的人顯露出來……」（羅一18）。

這段經文肯定了真神的真震怒，從天上向所有真不虔不義的真人顯露出來。 沒有訴諸一些發明出來的想法，即上帝無條件之愛可以淡化現實。

人類的兩難論證（dilemma)是：上帝是聖潔的，我們不是。 上帝是義的，我們不是。毫無疑問，我們文化公開承認「沒有人是完美的」。即使最樂觀的人文主義者也認為人是敗壞的。但，全面考慮來說……這是一個困難。與穆斯林一樣，我們想當然認為上帝在審判我們时會「通盤考慮」。假若我們的好行為超過我們的不良行為，我們將平安抵達天堂。不過，假若我們的惡行超過我們的善行，我們將在地獄承受上帝的忿怒。 我們可能被罪「玷汙」，但決不會被它毀滅。 我們仍有能力用我們自己的義來抵消我們自己的罪。 這說法是所有謊言中最可怕的一個。 我們不僅聲稱這樣的義， 我們還依靠它，這樣的義實際上不存在。 我們的義是一個神話，但決非無害。 沒有什麽比不義之人將未來的希望支撐在幻想之上更危險的了。

保羅引用詩人以下這些話來強調的，正是這種幻想。「那又怎麼樣呢？我們比他們強嗎？絕不是的。因為我們已經控訴過，無論是猶太人或是希臘人，都在罪惡之下，正如經上所說：『沒有義人，連一個也沒有，沒有明白的，沒有尋求　神的；人人都偏離了正道，一同變成汙穢；沒有行善的，連一個也沒有。』」（羅三9–12新譯本）

           

新約聖經這四節經文所蘊含的含義是如此的根本，以致於現代教會若相信它，我們就會經歷一場復興，連宗教改革與之相比也會黯然失色。 但是，今天的教會並不相信這些經文的內容：沒有義人，連一個也沒有。

谁相信除了耶稣，没有义人，没有例外。没有一个非重生之人能明白上帝。

尋求上帝？為了讓「尋求者」敏感於集體敬拜，我們修改集體敬拜的方式。如果敬拜是為尋求者量身定做的，它就專門面向/針對信徒，因為除了信徒以外沒有人尋求上帝。

人人都偏離了正道，一同變成汙穢；沒有行善的，連一個也沒有。

好一字是相對的，要根據某些標準來定義。假若標準是我們制定的，我們可以祝賀自己，並從達到標準中得到安慰。 但假若標準是上帝制定的，而祂的標準包括外在行為（我們的行動與祂的律法完全符合）和內在動機（我們所有的行動都發自一顆無瑕的愛祂的心），那麽我們很快就看到我們虛偽的「良善」根本不良善。如此我們便明白當奧古斯丁在說人最好的行為只不過是「華麗的惡行」時，他所指責的是什麽。

因此真理很簡單。 假若上帝要求完美的義和完美的聖潔，才能在祂完美的審判下存活，那麽我們要面對嚴重的問題了。我們要麽將盼望建立在我們自己的義上------它遠遠不足夠，要麽逃到另一個人的義裡，一種外來的義，不是我們自己固有的義。能找到這種完美的義的唯一地方是在基督裡-----這是福音的好消息。除掉上帝「算為」或「歸算給」我們的外來的義的元素，我們根本沒有聖經的福音。 沒有歸算，福音就成為「另一個福音」，這樣的「福音」只會帶來上帝的詛咒。

藉著信心，擁有基督應許給我們的義，我們就有得救的盼望。 我們便成為那些主不算為有罪的有福之人（羅四8）。

本文原刊于Tabletalk雜誌。 

If the Lord Marks Iniquity, Who Should Stand?

FROM R.C. Sproul

The Psalmist asked the question: “If the Lord marks iniquity, who should stand?” This query is obviously rhetorical. The only answer, indeed the obvious answer is no one.

The question is stated in a conditional form. It merely considers the dire consequences that follow if the Lord marks iniquity. We breathe a sigh of relief saying, “Thank heavens the Lord does not mark iniquity!”

Such is a false hope. We have been led to believe by an endless series of lies that we have nothing to fear from God’s scorecard. We can be confident that if He is capable of judgment at all, His judgment will be gentle. If we all fail His test—no fear—He will grade on a curve. After all, it is axiomatic that to err is human and to forgive is divine. This axiom is so set in concrete that we assume that forgiveness is not merely a divine option, but a veritable prerequisite for divinity itself. We think that not only may God be forgiving, but He must be forgiving or He wouldn’t be a good God. How quick we are to forget the divine prerogative: “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” (Rom. 9:15 NKJV)

In our day we have witnessed the eclipse of the gospel. That dark shadow that obscures the light of the gospel is not limited to Rome or liberal Protestantism; it looms heavily within the Evangelical community. The very phrase “preaching the gospel” has come to describe every form of preaching but the preaching of the gospel. The “New” gospel is one that worries not about sin. It feels no great need for justification. It readily dismisses the imputation of Christ’s righteousness as an essential need for salvation. We have substituted the “unconditional love” of God for the imputation of the righteousness of Christ. If God loves us all unconditionally, who needs the righteousness of Christ?

The reality is that God does mark iniquity, and He manifests His wrath against it. Before the Apostle Paul unfolds the riches of the gospel in his epistle to the Romans, he sets the stage for the need of that gospel: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men … ” (Rom. 1:18).

This text affirms a real revelation of real wrath from a real God against real ungodliness and unrighteousness of real men. No appeal to some invented idea of the unconditional love of God can soften these realities.

The human dilemma is this: God is holy, and we are not. God is righteous, and we are not. To be sure, it is openly admitted in our culture that “No one is perfect.” Even the most sanguine humanist grants that humanity is marred. But, on balance … ah, there’s the rub. Like Muslims we assume that God will judge us “on balance.” If our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds, we will arrive safely in heaven. But, alas, if our evil deeds outweigh our good ones, we will suffer the wrath of God in hell. We may be “marred” by sin but in no wise devastated by it. We still have the ability to balance our sins with our own righteousness. This is the most monstrous lie of all. We not only claim such righteousness; we rely on such righteousness, which righteousness in fact does not exist. Our righteousness is a myth, but by no means a harmless one. Nothing is more perilous than for an unrighteous person to rest his future hope in an illusion.

It was against such an illusion that Paul stressed by citing the Psalmist: “For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.’” (Rom. 3:9–12 NKJV)

What comprises just under four verses of the New Testament is so radical that if the modern church would come to believe it, we would experience a revival that would make the Reformation pale into insignificance. But the church today does not believe the content of these verses: There is none righteous—not one.

Who believes that apart from Jesus not a single human being, without exception, is righteous. Not a single unregenerate person can be found who understands God.

Seeking God? We have totally revised corporate worship to be sensitive to “seekers.” If worship were to be tailored for seekers, it would be directed exclusively to believers, for no one except believers ever seeks God.

Every person turns aside from God. All become unprofitable in spiritual matters. At rock bottom no one even does good—no, not one.

Good is a relative term. It is defined against some standard. If we establish what that standard is, we can congratulate ourselves and take comfort in our attainment of it. But if God establishes the standard, and His standard includes outward behavior (that our actions conform perfectly to His law) and internal motivation (that all our acts proceed from a heart that loves Him perfectly), then we quickly see that our pretended “goodness” is no goodness at all. We then understand what Augustine was getting at when he said that man’s best works are nothing more than “splendid vices.”

So what? The equation is simple. If God requires perfect righteousness and perfect holiness to survive His perfect judgment, then we are left with a serious problem. Either we rest our hope in our own righteousness, which is altogether inadequate, or we flee to another’s righteousness, an alien righteousness, a righteousness not our own inherently. The only place such perfect righteousness can be found is in Christ—that is the good news of the gospel. Subtract this element of alien righteousness that God “counts” or “imputes” for us, and we have no biblical gospel at all. Without imputation, the gospel becomes “another gospel,” and such a “gospel” brings nothing but the anathema of God.

With the righteousness of Christ promised to us by faith, we have the hope of our salvation. We become numbered among those blessed to whom the Lord does not impute sin (Rom. 4:8).

This post was originally published in Tabletalk magazine.