林慈信牧师：二十一世纪福音派教会面临的信仰挑战

作個 「有道可傳」 的教會﹕

21世紀福音派教會面臨的信仰挑戰（兼﹕附件）

BE A CHURCH WHICH HAS A MESSAGE TO PROCLAIM:

Doctrinal Challenges Confronting the 21^st Century Evangelical Church

 

 

我們活在一個不信的時代﹐一個充滿著異教信仰的時代。西方社會 (美國) 已經成為一個抵擋基督教信仰的社會﹔而亞洲﹐非洲地區的教會正開始領導普世教會。

We live in an age of unbelief. We live in an age of pagan beliefs. Western (American) society has become an anti-Christian society. The church in Asia and Africa has begun to take over the leadership of the global body of Christ. 

 

21世紀需要的﹐是認信的基督徒﹐認信的教會。21世紀需要有道可傳﹐又好好忠心﹐勇敢去傳的信徒與教會。

What the 21^st century needs, are confessing Christians, and confessing churches. The 21^st century needs Christians and churches with a message to proclaim: holding forth the Word of God, and faithfully, boldly proclaiming this Word.  

 

有真正的認信﹐就有強而有力的講臺﹐主日學/查經班﹐強而有力的佈道見證。
Where the church truly confesses her faith, there will be strong pulpits, strong Sunday Schools and Bible studies, and a strong witness in evangelism.

 

“我們爭戰的兵器﹐本不是屬血氣的﹐乃是在神面前有能力﹐可以攻破堅固的營壘﹐將各樣的計蜘o各樣攔阻人認識神的那些自高之事﹐一概攻破了﹔又將人所有的心意奪回﹐使它都順服基督。” (林後10﹕4-5)

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (II Corinthians 10:4, 5)

 

我們有道可傳嗎﹖我們可傳的道來自《聖經》﹐唯獨來自《聖經》。因此談到 「認信」﹐背後有一個很基本的預設觀念 ﹕《聖經》裡有一套教義真理。

Do we have a message to proclaim? Our message comes from the Bible, only from the Bible. When we seek to be Christians with a message to proclaim, we must hold a foundational presupposition: There is a system of doctrine contained in the Bible. 

 

《聖經》是歷史﹐是神在時間﹐在歷史﹐文化中向人的啟示。這啟示的結果﹐是一本不自我矛盾的書﹐裡面有一套真理 (教義) 。在《聖經》裡﹐透過《聖經》﹐神教導我們一套一貫的教義(真理) 。《聖經》不只是給我們救恩的道理﹐然後一些互不相關的故事。不是。《聖經》是神的啟示﹐裡面含著一套教義 (真理) 。

The Bible is history; it is God’s revelation to man in time, history and culture. The product of this revelation is not a book with contradictions, but a book which contains a system of truth. In the Bible, through the Bible, God teaches us a consistent system of doctrine. The Bible does not merely teach us about salvation plus an assortment of stories. No. The Bible is God’s revelation; the Bible teaches a system of doctrine. 

 

《聖經》裡教導一套教義真理。我們依賴聖靈的引導研讀《聖經》﹐可以發現﹐認識它。我們可以﹐應該篤信它﹐愛它﹐遵行它﹐宣講它﹐教導它﹐並為它辯護。

There is a system of doctrine taught in the Bible. We can study the Bible, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to discover this system of doctrine. We can, and should believe, love, obey, proclaim, teach, and defend this system of doctrine. 

 

「《聖經》教導一套真理」 是歷代正統教會的信仰。這信念後還有一點預設﹕《聖經》有神自己設定的﹐單一﹐固定﹐不變的意義。《聖經》的原意與人的解釋不同。《聖經》傳達原來作者 – 聖靈 – 的意思﹐這意義是單一的﹐不變的。

The conviction that “there is a system of doctrine taught in Scripture” is the orthodox belief of the church through the centuries. There is a 2^nd presupposition underlying this belief: the Bible has a singular, stable, unchanging, God-ordained meaning. The meaning intended by God is different from man’s interpretation. The Bible communicates the author’s (the Holy Spirit’s) original intention. This meaning is one and unchanging. 

 

1974年﹐在洛桑全球福音大會上﹐薛華這樣呼籲福音派的領袖們﹕

基督教是一套特定的真理﹔基督教是一個系統﹐而我們必不可以對 「系統」 這個詞感到羞恥。真理是存在的﹐而我們必須持守這真理。在一些邊緣地帶的問題上我們會有異議﹐可是在核心的事上﹐必不可以妥協。

At the Lausanne Congress (1974) Francis A. Schaeffer appealed to evangelical leaders:

Christianity is a specific body of truth; it is a system and we must not be ashamed of the word system. There is truth and we must hold that truth. There will be borderline things in which we have differences among ourselves, but on the central issues there must be no compromise. 

(Francis Schaeffer, “Form and Freedom in the Church,” Let the Earth Hear His Voice: International Congress on World Evangelization, Lausanne, Switzerland, ed. J.D. Douglas; Minneapolis: World Wide Publications, 1975, pp. 361-379. 也以單行本出版

﹕Francis Schaeffer, 2 Contents, 2 Realities, Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP, 1974, p. 8.) 

 

 

（林慈信）