Month: June 2020

“神的羔羊，除去世人的罪孽!”

基督教是一个充满血腥味的宗教 — 基督的血可以洗净我们所有人的罪孽! 这个现实必须是首要的在我们基督徒的见证与思想中。是的，基督带来给我们丰盛的生命。是的，基督行了许多神迹，他今天依然也能在我们的生活中创造奇迹。但这些都只不过是福音的益处，而并不是福音本身。

福音以背负罪的基督为中心 —“神的羔羊，除去世人的罪孽!”我们大多数人都明白施洗约翰在说什么。然而，我们的救恩并不取决于我们对赎罪教义理论的掌握，而是取决于我们亲身经历主为我们赎罪的事实! 耶稣是我们的羔羊吗? 我们真的相信他为我们而死吗? 如果我们时常提醒自己我们已被赎罪的奇妙恩典，那我们将会是不一样的人!

赎罪羔羊是我们永恒传讲的信息。亚伯拉罕和以撒预言了他的牺牲。逾越节运用了他为我们献祭的原则。以赛亚53章中拟人化了他的牺牲。约翰福音1章指明了这赎罪祭。在《启示录》5:9-14中扩显了基督牺牲之死 — 基督为我们死是我们信息的本质。（ 约翰休斯）

Christianity is a bloody religion—the blood of Christ cleanses us of all sin! This reality must be primary in our witness and in our thinking! Yes, Christ came to give abundant life. Yes, Christ worked miracles, and he can work miracles in our lives today. But these are benefits of the gospel, not the gospel itself. The gospel centers upon Christ as the sin-bearer—“the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Most of us understand what John is saying. However, our salvation does not depend on our formulation of the doctrine of the Atonement, but on our experience of it! Is he our Lamb? Do we really believe he died for us? If we keep the wonder of the Atonement before us, we will be different people!
The Lamb is our eternal message. Abraham and Isaac prophesied his sacrifice. The Passover applied the principles of his sacrifice. Isaiah 53 personified his sacrifice. John 1 identified the sacrifice. And it is magnified in Revelation 5:9–14. The sacrificial death of Christ—this is the essence of our message. （R. Kent Hughes）

赛27:1 到那日，耶和华必用他刚硬有力的大刀刑罚鳄鱼（原文：livyâthân利未亚坦 Leviathan），就是那快行的蛇，刑罚鳄鱼（原文：livyâthân利维坦 Leviathan），就是那曲行的蛇，并杀海中的大鱼（原文：tannı̂yn 大龙或海怪）。这海怪在圣经中有时也被称为（参原文：livyâthân利未亚坦 Leviathan （诗74:13-14）、或chêyvâ’ （但7:3）或海里的拉哈伯 rahab （伯26:12、诗89:9-10、赛51:9-10）。

【背景：赛27:1 和合本中的“鳄鱼”其实是利未亚坦Leviathan （不明的古兽），几乎所有英文圣经都不把livyâthân翻译成鳄鱼，而是直接按希伯来文音译为利未亚坦Leviathan。 经文中的“大鱼”tannı̂yn 在英文圣经中都被翻译为龙dragon或兽monster。

上帝透过以赛亚先27:1知说祂会刑罚那兽（利未亚坦Leviathan）并且也要杀海中的龙或兽。 这（利未亚坦Leviathan）在诗篇74:13-14 拥有几个头 （注：英文圣经都按原文翻译为复数的头 heads）。

在旧约中敌对上帝的势力或君王有时被比喻是从海里出来的tannı̂yn龙/海怪（结29:3、32:2、伯7:12 翻译“大鱼”；诗91:13翻译“大蛇”）。亚述帝国、巴比伦帝国、波斯帝国、亚历山大帝国也同样被比喻成从海中上来的兽chêyvâ’ （但7:3）。埃及王有时被称为海里的 tannı̂yn （结29:3）或海里的拉哈伯rahab 赛30:7。

启示录中约翰所看见的七头海怪（启11:7、13:1-2）多半是映射自旧约中的海兽（chêyvâ’ 但7:3；tannı̂yn 结29:3、32:2、伯7:12；诗91:13；livyâthân 赛27:1、rahab （伯26:12、诗89:10、赛51:9-10）。 无论在旧约或启示录中都看见上帝最终一定击败抵挡祂的任何势力包括撒旦与抵挡祂的世界众君王。】

🙏感谢主，提醒我们你最后一定审判刑罚任何抵挡你的势力。你一定得胜 🙏

2021年6月2日修改

（因人的知识有限并且是类比上帝绝对完全的知识，所以人的知识必定出现表面上的矛盾。 As man’s knowledge is limited and analogical of God’s comprehensive and absolute knowledge therefore man’s knowledge will bound to have apparent contradictions)

【每一笔知识交易都有一个指向上帝的参考点。既然我们无法完全理解上帝，我们必然会陷入我们所有知识中似乎自相矛盾的境地。我们的知识是类比上帝的，因此必然是出现矛盾的。我们说，如果有任何真实的知识的存在，那么上帝必须有一个绝对完整的知识体系。因此，我们坚持认为一切知识都必须与上帝的绝对真理体系有关。然而，我们人却无法对这个绝对真理系统彻底理解。

为了说明我们这里所说的意思，我们不妨以基督徒对事物的解释中最突出的矛盾之一为例，如：神的旨意与我们的祷告之间的关系。一方面我们说祷告能改变事物，另一方面我们说一切都是按照神的计划发生的，神的计划是不可改变的。

范泰尔 Van Til, C.】

Every knowledge transaction has in it somewhere a reference point to God. Now since God is not fully comprehensible to us we are bound to come into what seems to be contradiction in all our knowledge. Our knowledge is analogical and therefore must be paradoxical. We say that if there is to be any true knowledge at all there must be in God an absolute system of knowledge. We therefore insist that everything must be related to that absolute system of God. Yet we ourselves cannot fully understand that system.
We may, in order to illustrate our meaning here, take one of the outstanding paradoxes of the Christian interpretation of things, namely, that of the relation of the counsel of God to our prayers. To put it pointedly: We say on the one hand that prayer changes things and on the other hand we say that everything happens in accordance with God’s plan and God’s plan is immutable.

Van Til, C. (1955). The defense of the faith. The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company: Philadelphia.

加尔文论 预言的恩赐 Calvin on the gift of prophecy

约翰加尔文是归正神学的先父，他在评论哥林多前书14:32时，他因教会缺乏属灵恩赐(尤其是预言)而感哀叹。加尔文羡慕先前赐予哥林多教会的诸多恩赐。加尔文在评论使徒教导哥林多教会命令先知们要彼此等待并轮流作预言时说:

【“从保罗的这段记载中，我们可以推断出教会在属灵的恩赐上是多么的显赫。从前有几班先知，所以必须痛下命令，使他们各其所位。我门看见他们有如此多而又多的不同恩赐。我们现在看到的却是我们的消瘦，不应该被称为贫穷; 但在这事上、我们受了理当的惩罚、是要惩戒我们对主的忘恩负义。但神的恩典并没因此而缺乏，祂的恩慈也并没有因此而减少。只是我们不配得祂的赏赐罢了，也无能领受祂的厚恩。虽然如此，我们拥有足够的光照和教义，只要我门在虔诚的栽培方上面没有缺乏，并由此结出的果子来”】 加尔文的释经书 （林前14:32）

John Calvin considered the forefather of Reformed Theology when commenting on 1 Corinthian Chpt 14:32 mourned over the lack of spiritual gifts (especially prophecy) in his church during his days and he admired the gifts bestowed to the Corinthian Church during the early days. For Calvin when commenting on Apostle instruction to the church for the prophets to wait and take their turn to prophesy says:

【From this passage of Paul’s writings, we may conjecture how very illustrious that Church was, in respect of an extraordinary abundance and variety of spiritual gifts. There were colleges of Prophets, so that pains had to be taken, that they might have their respective turns. There was so great a diversity of gifts, that there was a superabundance. We now see our leanness, nay, our poverty; but in this we have a just punishment, sent to requite our ingratitude. For neither are the riches of God exhausted, nor is his benignity lessened; but we are neither deserving of his bounty, nor capable of receiving his liberality. Still we have an ample sufficiency of light and doctrine, provided there were no deficiency in respect of the cultivation of piety, and the fruits that spring from it.】

Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians . Calvin commentary on 1 Corinthians 14:32