認識神學 02 - Dr.Gerald Bray

One day my mother came back from her church and she was very upset, because she had gone to a meeting and in this meeting, it was a women's meeting, and somebody had said from the front, "Do you love your husband?" And my mother had been married for forty years. And she said to me, she said, "I didn't know what to say." And I said, "what do you mean?" And she said, "Well, nobody ever asked me this question before. How do you begin to explain your entire life?" So at this point, I got worried. So I said, "Mother what did you say?" So she said, "Well, I said, 'yes, I love my husband'." And I said, "Oh, that's good. I'm glad you said that." And she said, "Yes, I said that because I knew it was the right answer." She said, "But what does it mean?" I said, "what does it mean to you?" And she said, "Well, we lived together. We have children together. We eat together. We plan our lives together. Sometimes, it's good. Sometimes, it's not so good. Sometimes, I have to do what he wants. And sometimes, he's intelligent and he does what I want. But we live like this from one day to the next." And she said, "Is that love?" So I said, "Well, I think that's a very good definition of love." I said, "Yes." I said, "You have done this for forty years and you are still happy to carry on. I think that's a very good thing."

I use this example because this is our relationship with God also. How do you explain what this relationship is like?" Sometimes it's very difficult to put it into words. And this is where theology helps us. Because the difference between my relatioship with God and my mother's relationship with my father is that my mother's relationship with my father is private to them. They have to work out their relationship with each other but nobody else is involved. But my relationship to God is not like that, because my relationship with God is something that I have to share with you.

And therefore, it is important that we are talking about the same God. Because, you see, if I describe a friend of mine and let us say my friend is a champion golfer. But you say to me, "No, no, he doesn't play golf at all." Then the question is, "Are we talking about the same person?" Because we do not see this person in the same way. Now of course sometimes this happens, because we are not perfect human beings. We cannot see everything. But in our relationship to God. we are called to be united to each other. And we are called to share this relationship with people outside. And so it is important that what we say about God, that this makes sense, that people know we are talking about the same God. So when I talk to you about God, it is important for you to say to me, "Yes. That's my experience, too." Becuase if you do not say this, if you say, "Oh, no. You're very wrong about that", then we have a problem. Either I am wrong, or you are wrong, or we are both wrong. But we cannot both be right. And so we have to examine this and say, "Well, what is the best way to express our experience?" And this is really what theology is about. It is finding the best way to express our experience of God.

Now you may think this is easy. But it is not necessarily easy. I have already said tonight, God is love. And if that is all I say, then we say, "Yes, God is love." But if I say then, but God also punishes sin, then I have introduced a new idea. And maybe somebody will say to me, "But if God is love, He cannot do that. How can God who loves us send people to hell?" So then we have to explain how that is possible. This is where theology begins, trying to say something which is true but to say it in a way that does not deny other things that are true. We have to have a full picture.

Now as I said at the beginning, there are some things that God does not tell us. But those things we do not need to know. He tells us what we need to know in order to follow Him. And that is enough for us to know, because the Christian life is a journey.

I learnt today that in Chinese, the word for "word" and the  word for "road" are the same thing. And this is very interesting, because if you are going to follow the word, you are going along the right road. The important thing, if you're going along the right road, is to know what the next step is. If I say to somebody I want to go to Shannghai tomorrow, it's not very helpful if somebody says to me, "Oh! China is a very big country." I'm sure that is true, but I need to get to my destination and all these other details I don't need to know. This is what theology does for us. It is the word of God which is the way of salvation. This is how we have to understand it.

Now, there is only one God. This is very important. Because when you read in the Bible about the way God speaks to His people, the first commandment is, "You will have no other gods but me". Now why is this important? It is important becasue there is unity in the plan of God. Because there is only one God, I know that there is only one plan for the world. I know that there is only one salvation. And I know that it is the same for everybody.

There are some people who say that there is one salvation for Jewish people and one salvation for others. "You can find this even in the New Testament. You know? The Jews have one law and other people have something else." And the apostle Paul had to say to them, "There is no difference", that it does not matter whether you are Jewish or not Jewish. It does not matter whether you are old or young because there is one savior, Jesus Christ for everbody. Ultimately, that is the guarantee of our salvation, because it is not possible for another power to come in and destroy the salvation that God has given to us. There is no other power equal to Him.

In the Book of Revelation, in chapter twelve, there is a very interesting story about the war in heaven. And this war is fought between the angel, the archangel Michael and Satan. And you know many people read this story and they do not understand it. Because they do not realize what God is doing in this story. God does not fight Satan directly. Why not? Becasue Satan is not His equal. Satan is lower than God. And God will not come down to the level of Satan in order to fight him, becasue He will not give Satan that dignity. You see what was the problem with Satan? Satan wanted to be God. He said, "I do not need God. I can be my own God." So of course this was not possible. And so God tells Satan this by sending the angel Michael to fight him, because Michael is on the same level as Satan. They are two angels. But you know what the name "Michael" means? It is a Hebrew word that means "who is like God?" It is a question. And it is God's joke. Because by sending Michael to fight Satan, God is saying to Satan, "who is like God?" To which the answer is, not you. So this is already the judgment on Satan. That he cannot overturn the salvation of God. You see?

There is no power in heaven or on earth that can separate us from the love of God. And this is why we need to know there is only one God and He is all powerful. If you forget that, then you are opening yourself to the possibility that somebody can come and take away your salvation. And this is not possible because God is one and all powerful. It does not mean that Satan will not try to attack us. But if we understand who God is, then we know that Satan cannot succeed in what he is trying to do. Because Satan cannot win against God.

Now you may think I'm talking a great deal about Satan and not so much about God. But actually this is not true because as children of God, we are called to be soldiers in His army. And if you are a soldier in the army, your first duty is to understand your enemy. I mean, if you carry a gun around but you don't know what to do with it, you're not a very good soldier. You need to know what that gun is for. You need to understand what your enemy is going to do. And you need to be better than him. And this again is what our theology teaches us. It teaches us to be prepared for the life that we have to live. The apostle Paul told the people in Ephesus, "Put on the whole armour of God." And that means "get the right theology". Understand what you need in order to win the battle which you are called to fight.

to be continued...

有一天，我媽媽參加完教會中的婦女聚會後回來，她很不開心，因為有人問她：「你愛你的丈夫嗎？」而我媽媽當時結了婚四十年，那時她跟我說：「我不知該如何回答。」我問：「此話何解？」她說：「從來沒有人問過我這個問題，你教我如何去闡述我一生的經歷？」那刻我也開始迷糊了，我問：「媽媽，那你如何回答？」她說：「我回答：『是的，我愛我的丈夫。』」我便說：「那很好啊！很高興你這樣說！」然後她說：「嗯，其實我這樣說是因為我知道這是標準答案。」她再問：「即便如此，又有何意義？」我反問：「那你認為對你的意義如何？」她說：「其實我真的不太清楚。」我問：「那你們做了甚麼？」她說：「嗯，我們一起住，一起養孩子，一起吃飯，一起計劃家庭。有時候很好，有時候不好。有時候我要做他所要求的事，也有時候他很識時務，做我所要求的事。而我們每天的生活就是這樣。」她再問：「這就是愛嗎？」然後我回答：「我覺得這就是愛。沒錯，你做了這些事已經四十年，而且樂此不疲，我想這是很好的事。」

我舉這例子是因為這就是我們和神的關係。你會如何闡述這個關係呢？有時候，這是非筆墨可形容的，因此神學便起作用了。我爸媽的婚姻關係，跟我和神的關係是有不同的，因為這是他們私人的事，沒有人能參與其中，但我和神的關係並非如此，因為我和神的關係是必須要和眾人分享的。

所以，我們所討論的必須是同一位神。如果我們有一位共同朋友，我對你說他是一位高爾夫球冠軍，但你又跟我說：「不，他從來不打高爾夫球的。」那我們要問：「到底我們是否在討論同一個人？」因為我們對這人的了解有不同。當然，這真是有可能發生的，因為人不是完全的，我們未必能看見所有事情，但論到我們和神的關係時，我們必須有一致的看法，而且必須要和外面的人分享這個關係。所以，如何論述神、論述是否合理、人是否知道我們所討論的是同一位神都是很重要。因此，當我跟你討論有關神的議題時，你回應說「這也是我同樣的經歷」是很重要的。反過來，如果你說：「噢，不是，你說的錯。」那就有問題了。也許是我錯，也許是你錯，也許是大家一起錯，但卻沒有可能大家都對。所以我們必須要檢視一下，並問：「如何才能好好地闡述我們的經驗？」這就是神學，就是如何闡述對神的經歷的思考。

可能你會認為很容易，其實未必。我剛才說過：神是愛，如果我所說的都是這些，然後我們一同說：「對，神是愛。」然後我再說：但神也懲罰罪惡，我便是提出了一個新的見解，這時可能有人會對我說：「但如果神是愛，祂不可能會這樣做啊。愛我們的神怎可能把人扔到地獄去呢？」那我們便須要解釋為甚麼是可能，這就是神學的開始，把真相道出來而不否認另一個真相。我們必須要看見整幅的圖畫。

正如我開始時說的，有些事情神沒有告訴我們，因為那些都是我們不須知道的事，祂只告訴我們必須知道的事，從而跟從祂，這便足夠了，因為基督徒的生命是一個旅程。

我知道在中文裡，「道」這個字能夠表示「說話」，也能夠表示「路徑」，這真的很有趣，就是說你服從那說話，便能走在正確的路徑上。重要的是，當走在正確的路徑上，便能知道下一步怎樣走。當我告訴某人我明天要到上海去，如果他回答我：「嘩！中國很大的啊。」這對我沒甚麼幫助，雖然這句話是對的，但我需要知道的是如何到達目的地，其他的我都不需要知道，這就是神學對我們的貢獻。神的說話，就是救恩的道路，這就是我們多麼需要認識神學。

神只有一位，這是非常重要的，因為當你讀聖經時，會發現神跟祂的百姓說出的第一誡是：「除了我以外，你們不可有別的神。」為何這非常重要？因為神的計畫是獨一無二的。因為神只有一位，對世人的計畫只有一個，救恩只有一個，對所有人都是一視同仁的。

有些人提出，對猶太人有一個救恩，對外邦人有另一個救恩，他們說：「你知道嗎？你也能在新約找到這教訓的。猶太人有律法，外邦人有其他東西。」所以使徒保羅對他們說：「是沒有分別的。」不論是猶太人還是非猶太人、是男還是女、是年長還是年幼，都只有一位救主，就是耶穌基督，是給所有人的。這是救恩的終極確據，因為絕不可能有其他勢力能破壞神給我們的救恩，再沒有與祂同等的其他力量。

在啟示錄第十二章裡，記載了一段很有趣的天上爭戰，就是天使的爭戰，是天使長米迦勒和撒但之戰。你要知道，有很多人讀這記載時都不明白，因為他們不明白神到底在做甚麼，神沒有直接打撒但，為甚麼？因為撒但不能和神同等，撒但是低於神的，神不會自貶到撒但的地位來打牠，祂不會給牠這個尊榮。你知道撒但有甚麼問題嗎？牠要當神，牠說：「我不需要神，我就是我的神。」當然，這是沒可能的事，神便派天使米迦勒來打撒但，藉此告訴牠。因為米迦勒和撒但是同等的，他們都是天使，你知道「米迦勒」是甚麼意思嗎？這是個希伯來文，意思是「誰能像神？」這是一條問題，是神開的玩笑，就是透過派米迦勒打撒但來對撒但說：「誰能像神？」這條問題的答案是：不是你！這是對撒但的審判。所以，牠不能破壞救恩，明白嗎？

在天上和地上都沒有任何力量可叫我們和神的愛隔絕，所以需要知道神只有一位，以及祂是全能的，如果你忘記了這個，你便會覺得別人能把你的救恩奪去。但這是不可能的，因為神是獨一的，也是全能的，不過，這不代表撒但不會攻擊我們。如果我們明白神是誰，我們便知道撒但所做的是沒可能成功，因為撒但沒可能勝過神。

可能你在想我花太多篇幅講述撒但而不講述神，其實不然，因為作為神的兒女，我們也是被徵召入伍，作祂的兵將，作為兵將，必須知彼。若手拿著槍，卻不知要作何事，便非為精兵，除非知道拿槍的目的。你須要知道仇敵所作的，也須要比仇敵厲害。同樣，這也是神學所教導我們的，它教導我們如何為活下去作準備。使徒保羅告訴以弗所人：「要拿起神所賜的全副軍裝。」就是說要拿起正確的神學，要明白自己所需要的，以戰勝這場我們被召去打的仗。

．．．待續

原著編評：Gerald Bray @ R.E.M POST

中文編譯：小火車 @ 基督教果園