P.O. Box 1308, Denton, TX 76202
P.O. Box 1308, Denton, TX 76202
I recently sat in on a class on the book of James at a Bible college. The teacher was an older man who had been teaching the Bible for years. It just so happened that he was teaching on James 2. With the great amount of confusion over this chapter in the Bible, it didn’t […]
罗马书》经常被认为是一本告诉人们如何从火湖里得救的书。许多传福音的人使用书中的不同经文来告诉不信的人如何在这方面得救。当你把这一点与许多人认为整个《新约》就是为了这个目的而写的倾向结合起来，就不奇怪为什么许多基督徒把《罗马书》中的大量经文解释为谈论永恒的救恩。 我们可以合理地问，这是否总是决定《新约》内容的正确起点。例如，《罗马书》是写给罗马教会的(罗1:7)。保罗为信徒写一本书，告诉他们如何成为信徒，这多让人吃惊呀! 我想看看《罗马书》中的一节，来说明通常的倾向是如何产生令人困惑，甚至是荒谬的解释。而如果把这段经文理解为对已经是基督徒的人说的话，就更有意义了。 在《罗马书》5:16中，保罗说:“原来审判事由一人而定罪，恩赐乃是由许多过犯而称义。”我们经常听到人们说，这节经文的意思是，在我们信前，我们在审判之下。那个审判就是我们被判下地狱。然而，我们一旦信了，就在因信得称义之后，领受了永生的免费礼物。因此，信徒将进入天堂。 这种常见的解释存在许多问题。首先，《罗马书》5-8讲的是基督徒的生活。但即使在这一节中，保罗只是简单地说信徒要上天堂，从地狱中得救，他也是多余的。他会说作为不信的人，我们受到审判(下地狱)，而审判导致定罪(下地狱)。然后我们接受了永生的礼物(上天堂)，这使我们称义(上天堂)。对我来说，这说不通。 还有一个更好的方法来看待这一节。赞恩·霍奇斯(Zane Hodges)在他的书《〈罗马书〉:从神的愤怒中得救》(Romans: rescue from God’s Wrath)中对此进行了详细的讨论。这本书可以在GES 的网站上找到。他指出，在希腊语(和英语!)中，审判和定罪是两个不同的词。可以很自然地得出结论，它们指的不是同一件事。保罗所说的审判是我们都在亚当中肉体死亡。这是亚当罪的结果。定罪的理由是，作为不信的人，我们被那在我们取死的身体里运转的罪所奴役。我们必须服事罪。这就是罪现在如何影响我们。 我们因信心而得到的免费礼物就是我们的称义(罗3:24)。在5:16中，称义的希腊词，与保罗在书中前面所使用的称义的词不同。它意味着义的行为。这个词的意思是，信徒在被神宣告为义后，现在可以产生义的行为。 同样的，作为不信的人，我们在罪所带来的死的审判之下。这就使我们成为罪的奴仆。当我们信的时候，我们被称为义，是神赐给我们的礼物。这能让我们活出义。这是我们称义的结果。 当然，这不是自动的。信徒必须靠圣灵的能力行走。这是《罗马书》5-8(罗马书8:12-13)的主题。当我们明白《罗马书》是写给信徒的，告诉他们如何生活时，解读像《罗马书》5:16这样的经文会有多大的不同。保罗并不是告诉信徒他们将要上天堂(他们已经知道了);他告诉他们，他们可以体验此时此地的生命。 保罗在这一节中提出了深刻的真理。在基督里，信徒从罪的力量(定罪)中被释放出来。不需要再为罪服务了。因为，作为一份免费的礼物，我们有祂的灵，并且被上帝宣告为义，我们可以通过祂在我们里面的能力产生义的行为。 这不是一个小问题。对于基督徒中的教师来说，正确地划分上帝的话语已经是很久以前的事了。当我们认为像《罗马书》这样的书是在告诉人们如何逃离地狱时，我们就剥夺了这本书中对信徒的精彩教义。与之相反，我们可以告诉他们如何摆脱罪的能力，这是我们非常熟悉的。
By Bob Wilkin1 The Calvinist doctrine of unconditional election is meant to be a wonderful comfort to people. Back in 1978 I was on staff with Cru at NC State University. I remember hearing the Campus Director from the University of Carolina speak on the doctrine of election. I don’t recall having heard about it […]
By Ken Yates INTRODUCTION Politics has a bad reputation today. Our leaders are accused of not doing what is right, but simply letting their politics dictate their decisions. The approval rating of members of Congress is below 20%, and it has been as low as 9%. By comparison, 47% of Americans have a very favorable […]
By Lucas Kitchen I have received the question pretty often, “How could a loving God allow all the suffering in the world?” This question makes it sound as if God is sitting by with His enormous arms crossed, staring down indifferently. Or maybe He’s not staring down at all but is occupied with something else. […]
By Dix Winston One Solitary Life is a popular and well-read poem about Jesus Christ. It is attributed to James Allan Francis, (1864-1928) a Canadian pastor: He was born in an obscure village The child of a peasant woman He grew up in another obscure village Where He worked in a carpenter shop Until He […]
By Marcia Hornok Serious Bible study reveals God’s character and ways. But looking for God’s sense of humor, as well, has serious benefits. Perhaps He inserted 1 Chronicles 26:18 as a bit of comic relief, knowing that the KJV would translate it: “At Parbar westward, four at the causeway, and two at Parbar.” In Part […]
By Summer Stevens Though I’ve been a Christian most of my life, there are seasons when I’ve felt like I’ve needed to dig into different spiritual practices for growth and nourishment. Sometimes it’s been memorizing large passages of Scripture or doing group Bible studies or praying the Psalms. The Holy Spirit has been faithful to […]
By Ken Yates Sometimes when I read about certain people in the Bible, they seem to be superhuman. One of those people is the prophet Jeremiah. His ministry was one of suffering. The Lord asked him to do many things that were very difficult. There is a reason he is known as the “weeping prophet.” […]
By Nancy Rempel My body was rigid with tension as I lay in the sweltering heat of another Pakistani spring. Some missionary I had turned out to be. It was Easter 1995, and we had just dedicated our second baby, Curtis, at the little church in Layyah, Pakistan. I felt like a baby myself as […]
In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the fate of the world rests on a ring. Forged by the Dark Lord Sauron, the Ring of Power corrupts all...
Welcome to the Grace in Focus podcast. Bob Wilkin and Sam Marr are answering a question from Philippians 3:10-14. Did Paul view the resurrection as...
And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand (John 10:28). The Lord Jesus makes five different never...
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