Exhort Romans 9:30-10:11 Bro Peter H 1/2/04
劝勉词 罗马书 9章30节至10章11节 彼得 弟兄 04年2月1日
Beloved brothers and sisters, 亲爱的弟兄姐妹们:
We send our greetings to you from the ecclesia in Hong Kong. 香港教会的弟兄姐妹向大家主内问安
Today, we will learn about righteousness. And to learn about righteousness we will commence by a consideration of the fifteen verses from Romans 9:30 to 10:11. But to set the scene let me outline three characteristics of Romans and these fifteen verses in particular: 今天我们将学习罗马书 9章30节至10章11节有关公义的15节经文。但是在具体学习之前请让我概括罗马书和这15节经文的3个特点。
1. The apostle Paul's letter to the Romans deals extensively with "righteousness". A way of weighting this is to note that the word "righteousness" occurs ninety two times in the new testament and to note that more than one third of these uses, in fact thirty six of them, occur in the letter to the Romans! 使徒保罗在写给罗马教会的信里大幅度地阐述了"公义"的内容。需要额外注意的是"公义"一词在新约里出现过92次,而其中三分之一, 实际上有36次出现罗马书里!
2. Perhaps more remarkably, of these thirty six instances in the letter to the Romans, exactly one third of them occur in our fifteen verses. So it is plain from this that the end of Romans 9 and the beginning of Romans 10 are especially important for understanding scripture's teaching about righteousness. That's a good reason for taking these verses as our starting point. 可能更令人惊奇的是,罗马书里关于这一主题的36节中有1/3就在我们今天要学的15节经文里。因此很明显罗马书第9章结尾和第10章开头对于我们理解公义的教导是多么重要。这也是我们从这里开始学习的原因。
3. Another aspect of Romans 9 and 10 is that the apostle Paul makes extensive reference to the prophet Isaiah. And the fifteen verses we have under consideration are bounded by the repeated quotation of one particular prophecy which the margins in your bibles will tell you is from Isaiah 28:16: "whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed" (Rom 9:33; 10:11). 罗马书 9章和10章的另一个特点是使徒保罗大量参考了以赛亚的预言。而我们要学习的15节经文中反复引用的以赛亚书28章16节, 大家可以在圣经边上的注解中看到:"所以主耶和华如此说:"看哪,我在锡安放一块石头,作为根基,是试验过的石头,是稳固根基,宝贵的房角石,信靠的人必不着急。"(罗马书 9:33, 10:11) 这15节经文包含一条特别的预言:信靠他的人必不至于羞愧。
Before we explore what the apostle teaches about righteousness let's each ask our self a couple of questions. The first question is this, when you think of "righteousness", what is it that comes to your mind? Do you think about the things that you should be doing in order to walk in a right way before God? Do you think, perhaps, of those things you should have done or not done last week in order that you could be righteous? Let's each ask our self another question, when you think of "God's righteousness", what is it that comes to your mind? Is it that you think of his righteous judgments against sin? Do you fear the righteousness of God because of its retribution against unrighteousness? And this is a critical question because one of the things that the apostle teaches us in Romans 10 is that Israel of the flesh, to their shame, were "ignorant of God's righteousness" (Rom 10:3). I'm sure you will agree that this is not something we want to be said about us! Now, in our consideration of righteousness we will bring scripture's answer to these questions and perhaps discover some surprising things. 在我们探索使徒保罗对公义的教导之前,请我们大家先问自己几个问题。第一组问题是:何时你会想起公义?对你来说公义意味着什么?是否是指你应该在神面前行的正道?或是想起上个礼拜你做过的和未做的事是公义的?让我们每个人再想另一个问题:何时你会想起"神的公义"?对你来说神的公义意味着什么?它使你想起神对罪的审判吗?你会因为神对不义的报应而害怕神的公义么?这是一个很重要的问题,因为使徒在罗马书第十章所教导的令以色列民蒙羞的是“不服神的义”(罗马书10章3节)。我肯定你不愿意这话是讲我们自己的。现在,我们将在经文里寻找这些问题的答案,也许还有惊人的发现。
So, to commence the development of our understanding, let's examine the repeated quotation of Isaiah 28:16 in Romans 9 and 10. 为了进一步理解,让我们查阅罗马书9章和10章中反复引用的以赛亚书28章16节的话。
Please turn to Romans 9:30. Read Romans 9:30-33. 请翻到罗马书9章30节,阅读30到33节:"这样,我们可说什么呢?那本来不追求义的外邦人反得了义,就是因信而得的义。但以色列人追求律法的义,反得不着律法义。这是什么缘故呢?是因为他们不凭着信心求,只凭着行为求,他们正跌在那绊脚石上。就如经上所记:"我在锡安放一块绊脚的石头,跌人的磐石;信靠他的人必不至于羞愧。"
Here we see that the words "whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed" in Romans 9:33 are quoted from Isaiah 28:16 to explain something about why "the nations... have attained to righteousness" (Rom 9:30) whereas Israel "has not attained to the law of righteousness" (Rom 9:31). 我们看到罗马书9章33节中“信靠他的人必不至于羞愧”是引自以赛亚书28章16节。以说明为什么“那外邦人反得了义......”(罗马书9章30节)而以色列人“......反得不着律法的义”(罗马书9章31节)
Now please turn to Romans 10:10. Read Romans 10:10,11. 请翻到罗马书10章10节。阅读10到11节:" 因为人心里相信,就可以称义;口里承认,就可以得救。经上说:"凡信他的人必不至于羞愧。"犹太人和希利尼人并没有分别,因为众人同有一位主;他也厚待一切求告他的人。"
Here we see that the words "whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed" in Romans 10:11 are quoted to explain something about how "with the heart man believes to righteousness" (Rom 10:10). 这里我们看到在罗马书10章11节中引用旧约中的话“信靠他的人必不至于羞愧”以解释为什么“人心里相信,就可以称义。”(罗马书10章10节)
So it is plain that the repeated quotation from Isaiah 28:16 is used to explain the apostle's teaching about righteousness. With this realisation it is good that we turn to Isaiah 28 to understand what it is that Paul is resting upon in his teaching. So please turn to Isaiah 28:14. 所以很显然反复引用子以赛亚述28章16节的经文是用来解释使徒对公义的教导。认识到这些,我们就可以翻到以赛亚书28章看看保罗苦心教导的是什么。请翻到以赛亚书28章14节。
Read Isaiah 28:14-17. 阅读以赛亚书28章14节到17节:" 所以你们这些亵慢的人,就是辖管住在耶路撒冷这百姓的,要听耶和华的话。你们曾说:"我们与死亡立约;与阴间结盟。敌军如水涨漫经过的时候,必不临到我们;因我们以谎言为避所,在虚假以下藏身。"所以主耶和华如此说:"看哪,我在锡安放一块石头,作为根基,是试验过的石头,是稳固根基,宝贵的房角石,信靠的人必不着急。我必以公平为准绳,以公义为线铊。"
Now we see our word, "righteousness" in Isaiah 28:17. It is used about the righteous judgments of God against lies. But there is something strange about this use of "righteousness"; it is the only time in the whole of Isaiah 28 that the word is used and it hardly serves as an explanation for Paul's teaching about righteousness in Romans 9 and 10; how, for example, does this verse explain something about how "with the heart man believes to righteousness" as we saw it is used in Romans 10? It doesn't, does it! There is another thing that is strange in Isaiah 28. Notice the words at the end of Isaiah 28:16, "he that believes shall not make haste". These are the words that are said to be quoted twice in Romans 9 and 10 but the second half of this quotation is different from the new testament. Isaiah says "shall not make haste" whereas Romans says "shall not be ashamed". So what's going on? Helpfully, there is a single solution to these strange things which teaches us a great deal about righteousness! 现在我们在以赛亚书28章17节里看到了我们今天学习的词"公义", 表述神对于谎言公义的审判。但是这里对于公义的使用有些特殊。整个28章仅仅出现一次。也不是用来解释保罗在罗马书9章和10章的对于公义的教导。不过,这一节是否在说明罗马书10章的“因为人心里相信,就可以称义”呢?并不是啊!以赛亚书28章还有一件特殊的事。注意以赛亚书28章16节结尾的话“信靠的人必不着急”。在罗马书9章和10章引用过2次。但是这句话的后半部分和新约的有所不同。以赛亚书说“必不着急”而罗马书说“必不至于羞愧”。怎么回事儿?好在有一个办法可以解开这些疑惑,也给予我们许多关于公义的教导。
The solution lies in recognising that "shall not be ashamed" in Romans 9 and 10 is quoted from a distinct old testament source. Actually, "not ashamed", occurs quite frequently throughout the old testament but the instance we will examine follows a few years later in Isaiah's prophecy. Please turn to Isaiah 45:17 to see this. 这个办法源于识别罗马书9章和10章的“必不至于羞愧”出于独特的旧约来源。实际上,“不蒙羞”经常见于旧约。但是我们查阅的例子是在以赛亚预言之后的几年。请翻到以赛亚书45章17节.
Read Isaiah 45:17. There, in the second half of this verse, you see the words "you shall not be ashamed" and these are the words which are quoted at the end of each of Romans 9:33 and 10:11. So when Paul says, "whosoever believes in him shall not be ashamed" he is combining together quotations from Isaiah 28:16 and 45:17. 阅读以赛亚书45章17节:"惟有以色列必蒙耶和华的拯救,得永远的救恩。你们必不蒙羞,也不抱愧,直到永世无尽。'"这节的后半部分,你看到“你们必不蒙羞”。在罗马书9章33节和10章11节的结尾引用。因此当保罗说“信靠他的人必不至于羞愧”,他是结合了以赛亚书28章16节和45章17节的内容。
Let's consider the context. Isaiah 45 is a prophecy about Cyrus, a king of the Persians, through whom the house of Israel was restored to their land after their captivity in Babylon. But principally it is about our Lord Jesus Christ of whom Cyrus is a figure. Now the word "righteousness" occurs extensively in this chapter. Let's read each of the uses to learn what it teaches us and what it is that Paul is resting upon in his teaching. 以赛亚书45章是关于波斯国王居鲁士的预言。自从以色列人被掳至巴比伦后,直到波斯帝国统治时期,居鲁士才同意他们回到祖国重建以色列的家。但是原则上在这里居鲁士象征了主耶稣基督。公义这个词贯穿45章整章。让我们阅读每个地方,学习他的教导和使/徒保罗的用意。
Look at Isaiah 45:8. Read Isaiah 45:8. We learn something critical in this verse about righteousness: "I, Yahweh have created it". Righteousness is not something that we create, it is created by God. And, as we shall see as we examine Isaiah 45 further, righteousness always and only comes forth from God. Isaiah 45:8 also shows us that righteousness pours down from the skies, from God, and that when the earth is opened, salvation and righteousness spring up together. Perhaps it is unexpected for us but this verse teaches us that God's righteousness is bound up with our salvation! This is not a righteousness that those to whom salvation is promised should fear! As Paul teaches when he brings together righteousness and salvation: "with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation" (Rom 10:11). 让我们阅读以赛亚书45章8节:“这都是我耶和华所造的”。公义不是我们所创造的。是神创造的。继续看45章,公义从来都是并且只来自神。45章8节中告诉我们公义从天上来,从神来,当大地开裂,救恩和公义一同发生。可能我们没有想到但是经上说明了神的公义和我们的救恩在一起!这不是那些得到应许救恩的人应该害怕的公义。象保罗教导的, 把救恩和公义合在一起:“因为人心里相信,就可以称义;口里承认,就可以得救”(罗马书10章11节)
Next look at Isaiah 45:13. Read Isaiah 45:13. The one raised up here is the Lord Jesus Christ. We learn that he is "raised up in righteousness" and this requires that Jesus was righteous, as illustrated by God saying he will "direct all his ways". However, the expression "in righteousness" is a description of the creative purpose that God has in raising up Christ; it is God's righteousness that is in God's purpose when he sends his son into the world for our salvation to, as the verse says, "let go [God's] captives". And as Paul says in Romans "God has set forth [Jesus]... to declare his righteousness" (Rom 3:25,26). Thus we see that God's righteousness features in God's purpose in the salvation of men. Again, this is not a righteousness that those who are promised salvation should fear. And again, it does not speak of any righteousness that we perform but of the righteousness of God alone. 接下来看以赛亚书45章13节:"我凭公义兴起古列,又要修直他一切道路。他必建造我的城,释放我被掳的民;不是为工价,也不是为赏赐。这是万军之耶和华说的。"这里所说兴起的古列就是耶稣基督。他是“凭公义兴起”, 这就要求耶稣是公义的。正如神所说“又要修直他一切道路”。不过“凭公义”的表述也是描写神兴起基督的创世目的。这就是神的公义,神的目的是为了我们的救赎,派遣自己的儿子来到这世,象经文所说“释放我被掳的民”。像保罗在罗马书所说“神设立耶稣......要显明神的义”。这样我们明白神的公义也显示了神救赎人类的目的。同样的,这不是应许救恩的人应害怕的公义。同样的,并不是说公义是我们任何人所能履行的, 因为它只来自于独一的真神。
Now turn to Isaiah 45:18. Read Isaiah 45:18,19. We see here that it is God who speaks "righteousness". As we noted when God is described as the creator of righteousness, it is God that is the source of righteousness not man. But let's note why God says he speaks righteousness; he is opposing an idea that it is a vain thing that Jacob, the house of Israel, should seek God. Rather, God has instructed all men to seek him, not in vain, but that the earth should be inhabited to the glory of God and through the salvation of men (Is 45:18). And so we see again how it is that God's righteousness and the wonderful free gift of salvation offered to men are bound up together. 现在请翻到以赛亚书45章18,19节:" 创造诸天的耶和华,制造成全大地的 神,他创造坚定大地,并非使地荒凉,是要给人居住。他如此说:"我是耶和华,再没有别神。我没有在隐密黑暗之地说话,我没有对雅各的后裔说,你们寻求我是徒然的。我耶和华所讲的是公义,所说的是正直。" 我们看到神说“公义”。我们注意到神被称为公义的创造者,公义的源头是神而不是人。但是让我们注意为何神讲公义。他是在驳斥那说雅各, 以色列的家寻求神是徒然的论点。而且,神指示所有人寻求他,不是徒然的,大地是要给人居住归于神的荣耀人的救恩。所以我们再次明白神的公义和给人的无偿救恩是多么紧密的连在了一起。
Go forward now to Isaiah 45:21. Read Isaiah 45:21,22. Consistent with what has been taught earlier in Isaiah 45, God here is said to be both a "righteous God" and a "saviour". As this verse states, there is no god else beside this true God! Only the true God is able perfectly to bring together righteousness and salvation. Truly our God is a righteous God and a saviour! Isaiah 45:22 explains again that when God speaks in righteousness, it is not in vain that his people should seek him; as he says: "Look to me, and be saved all the ends of the earth"! Jews, and all nations are invited here to look to the righteous God and saviour, that we might all be saved. 现在到以赛亚书45章21节。和前面45章教导得一致,神在这里被称为公义的神和一个救主。除此真神并无别神。只有真神能完美地结合公义和救恩。确实我们的神是公义的神和救主!以赛亚书45章22节再次说明当神凭公义说话,他的民寻求他不是徒然。如他所说“地极的人都当仰望我,就必得救”!犹太人,和万民都被邀请仰望公义的神和救主,那样我们都可能被拯救。
Now before continuing our review of "righteousness" in Isaiah 45, let's pause to reflect upon this wonderful thing about God's righteousness. We have seen that it is God's righteousness that is at the heart of God's purpose in saving us from sin and death! For each one of us that has responded to God's promise of salvation, God's righteousness is not something to fear! 在继续讨论以赛亚书45章的公义之前,让我们暂停一会儿,想象神的公义多么美好。我们明白在神的公义里有神拯救我们脱离罪和死的目的。对于我们每个响应神救赎应许的人来说,神的公义并不可怕。
How can this be when we saw in Isaiah 28 that "righteousness" was used about the judgments of God against men? It is indeed the case that, left to the works of our own hands, we will die through the righteous judgments of God. The men in Isaiah 28 were like this. They said: "we have made a covenant with death... the overflowing scourge...shall not come to us" (Is 28:15). These men thought they would be preserved because they had worked with their own hands to make a covenant with death; they were endeavouring to establish righteousness through the works of their own hands. But for those who are promised salvation, it is God's righteousness not our own through which we are saved! And this is what Isaiah 45 proceeds to teach us. So let's see this by continuing at Isaiah 45:23. 那我们又如何理解以赛亚书28章中讲到的公义是神对人的审判呢?事实的确如此,放下手中的工作,我们将死后通过神的公义审判。人就像以赛亚书28章所描述的, 他们说:“我们与死亡立约......敌军(原文作"鞭子")如水涨漫经过的时候,必不临到我们”(以塞亚书28:15). 这些人认为他们会保全,因为他们因只靠自己亲手作工而与死亡立约; 他们竭力通过自己的工建立公义。但是对于那些应许救恩的人来说,是神的公义而不是通过我们自己得救!这也是以赛亚书45章接着教导的, 所以现在让我们翻到以赛亚书45章23节。
Read Isaiah 45:23. This continues the theme that righteousness issues forth from God. As before, his righteousness is in his word and the righteous word speaks of his work in the Lord Jesus Christ. God says the word of righteousness "shall not return" and it shall not return because "it will accomplish that which [God] pleases" (Is 45:23; 55:11). Now the marvellous thing that the word of righteousness accomplishes is that we, who are born sinners, who fall short of the glory of God, are made the righteousness of God. This is what the remainder of Isaiah 45 teaches us. 阅读以赛亚书45章23节:"我指着自己起誓,我口所出的话是凭公义,并不反回;万膝必向我跪拜,万口必凭我起誓." 这里继续讲由神而得的公义的话题。以前,他的公义显明在他的话里,并且提到了主耶稣基督的工作。神说公义的话必不返回。因为“要成就我所喜悦的”。(以塞亚书 45:23; 55:11) 公义的话成就的奇迹就是我们这些生来的罪人,本亏缺神的荣耀,却要显明出神的公义。这就是以赛亚书45章剩余部分给我们的教导。
Continue at Isaiah 45:24. Read Isaiah 45:24. This is very clear. When we think of righteousness, should we be thinking about the things that we do so that we can be righteous? No! When asked about our righteousness our answer should be "in Jesus have I righteousness". Righteousness is not of ourselves, we are counted righteous "freely by [God's] grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus... through faith" (Rom 3:24,25). And the next verse confirms this, which we will now read. 继续看以赛亚书45章24节:"人论我说,公义、能力,惟独在乎耶和华;人都必归向他,凡向他发怒的,必至蒙羞。" 非常清楚。我们想起公义的时候,是应该想到是因我们自己做工而成为义吗?不是的!当有人问到我们的义时,我们的答案应是"我凭着耶稣称义"。公义不是我们自己的,我们称义是“蒙神的恩典,因基督耶稣的救赎, 借着人的信,就白白地称义......”(罗马书3:24,25)。下一节证明了这句话,我们来看看。
Read Isaiah 45:25. All the seed of Israel shall be made righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. 读以塞亚书45章25节:"以色列的后裔,都必因耶和华得称为义,并要夸耀。" 所有以色列的后裔都必靠主耶稣基督显出神的公义。
This, my dear brothers and sisters, is the righteousness which is of faith. And this is the teaching of the apostle Paul in Romans. But before returning to Romans to conclude, let us notice another aspect of the teaching in Isaiah 45. We have seen from the way that Paul combines Isaiah 28 and Isaiah 45 that whosoever believes in Jesus shall not be ashamed. May this be true of us, beloved brothers and sisters! But Isaiah 45 tells us about those who will be ashamed. Please go back to Isaiah 45:16. Read Isaiah 45:16. Here we see that those who will be ashamed are those who make idols, the works of their own hands. And we learn in Isaiah that these people believed that the works of their own hands would save them. See what Isaiah says in Isaiah 45:20. Read Isaiah 45:20. These people "pray to a god that cannot save" and yet they clearly believed the works of their own hands could save them! We will see now the relevance of this to the teaching of the apostle Paul in Romans. 我亲爱的弟兄姐妹,这就是因信称义。这就是使徒保罗在罗马书给予的教导。但是在返回罗马书作出结论之前,让我们注意以赛亚书45章的另一方面。我们已经看到保罗结合以赛亚书28章和45章说明信靠耶稣基督的人必不至于蒙羞。亲爱的弟兄姐妹,的确如此!但是以赛亚书45章告诉我们谁是将要蒙羞的人。请阅读以赛亚书45章16节:"凡制造偶像的,都必抱愧蒙羞,都要一同归于惭愧。"这里我们看到那些蒙羞的人是亲手制造偶像的人。我们从以赛亚书得知这些人相信将被自己制造的偶像拯救。看看先知以赛亚在以赛亚书45章20节说的话。那些人“祷告不能救人之神”然而他们还相信自己制造的偶像!现在我们看看这一点和使徒保罗在罗马书教导的关联之处。
Please turn to Romans 10:3. Read Romans 10:3. We have noted before that Israel after the flesh were ignorant of God's righteousness. We see a consequence of it here: they went about "to establish their own righteousness" and we have seen from Isaiah 28 and 45 that this amounts to a belief that they can be saved by the works of their own hands. Can we achieve this brothers and sisters? Can we attain to righteousness through our own works? Emphatically no! Look at Romans 9:31,32 again. Read Romans 9:31,32. Why didn't Israel attain to righteousness? Because they sought it by the works of the law, they sought to establish their own righteousness. And as we have seen from Isaiah 45, to behave as though we can establish righteousness through the works of our own hands is as vain as worshipping a piece of wood! 请翻到罗马书10章3节:" 因为不知道神的义,想要立自己的义,就不服神的义了。"我们已经注意到肉身的以色列民不服神的义。我们看到的结果是他们想要"建立自己的义"。我们也从以赛亚书28章和45章了解到这等于他们亲手建立了一个自己的信仰。我们弟兄姐妹能完成这样的事么?断乎不能!请再看罗马书9章31和32节:" 但以色列人追求律法的义,反得不着律法的义。这是什么缘故呢?是因为他们不凭着信心求,只凭着行为求,他们正跌在那绊脚石上。"为什么以色列民得不着义呢?因为他们追求律法的义。他们寻求建立自己的义。从以赛亚书45章得知,即使我们能够建立自己的义,我们不过是徒然地崇拜一片木头!
So what must we do? As we saw in Romans 10:3, we must submit to "the righteousness of God". And we have seen in Isaiah 45 what this means, we must believe with the heart and confess with the mouth, "in Jesus have I righteousness". And why are we granted this righteousness freely, through God's grace? Turn to Romans 9:30 again. Read Romans 9:30. We have righteousness through faith. As Paul says twice, quoting from Isaiah 28 and 45, "whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed". What a wonderful thing it is that God freely gives to us! Through his righteousness declared in the Lord Jesus Christ we are saved freely, by grace. Unworthy servants though we are, he saves us and counts us righteous through faith. 因此我们该怎么做呢?就像我们在罗马书10章3节看到的,我们必须服从"神的义"。我们从以赛亚书45章看到,心里相信和口里承认,"凭着耶稣称义"。为什么我们因神的恩典白白地称义呢?请翻到罗马书9章30节。我们因信而得义。保罗两次引用以赛亚书28章和45章说,"信靠他的人必不至于羞愧"。神白白地赐予我们多么美好的东西!通过他向主耶稣基督显明神的义,我们靠着恩典白白得救。虽然我们是微不足道的仆人,神仍然拯救我们,让我们因信称义。
Now in conclusion, you may wonder, is it irrelevant that I should be obedient? Absolutely not! But what we have seen is that we must not count our obedience as the righteousness of our own works before God. God is the creator of righteousness and it is he that freely counts us righteous through faith. He makes us righteous even though we fall short of the glory of God. It is God, our saviour, who clothes us with righteousness in Christ Jesus. But, you may ask, what is the purpose of obedience? Please turn to Romans 6:16. Read Romans 6:16-18. Brothers and sisters, when we reflect upon the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, is not this our united response, "God be thanked" (Rom 6:17)?And thus the love of God constrains us no longer to be the "slaves of sin" but to be the "slaves of righteousness" and to fulfil God's promises in us. And what is it to be the "slaves of righteousness"? Look a little later in Romans 6 to verse 22. Read Romans 6:22. When we are the "slaves of righteousness" we are "slaves to God" because our obedience from the heart shows forth his righteousness, not our own! 现在总结一下,你可能会问,我们的顺从与此无关吗?不, 当然有关。我们不能把自己的顺从当作在神面前的义。神是公义的创造者,是他让我们白白地因信称义。即使我们亏缺荣耀他也让我们显明公义。是神我们的救主,让我们披戴耶稣基督称义。但是你会问,顺从的意义是什么?请翻到罗马书6章16节。阅读16到18节:" 岂不晓得你们献上自己作奴仆,顺从谁,就作谁的奴仆吗?或作罪的奴仆,以至于死;或作顺命的奴仆,以至成义。感谢神!因为你们从前虽然作罪的奴仆,现今却从心里顺服了所传给你们道理的模范。你们既从罪里得了释放,就作了义的奴仆。"弟兄姐妹,当我们思索神的智慧和知识时,"感谢神"不是我们统一的反应吗? 神的爱使我们不再作罪的奴仆而是义的奴仆,并成就他对我们的应许。"义的奴仆"是什么意思?请阅读罗马书6章22节:"但现今你们既从罪里得了释放,作神的奴仆,就有成圣的果子,那结局就是永生。因为罪的工价乃是死;惟有神的恩赐,在我们的主基督耶稣里,乃是永生。"我们是义的奴仆我们就是神的奴仆,因为心里顺从就显明他的义,而非我们自己的义!
And so, beloved brothers and sisters, as we share the memory of the Lord Jesus Christ in eating bread and drinking the fruit of the vine, let us rejoice that our obedience from the heart shows forth the righteousness of God not our own. Let us remember that it is not in the works of our hands that righteousness is to be found, for the fruit of those things is that we will be ashamed. Let us believe with our heart and confess with our mouth that it is in Jesus that God has freely granted to us righteousness. Let us trust in our heart that we shall not be ashamed. 亲爱的弟兄姐妹,当我们掰饼、喝酒纪念主耶稣基督时,让我们诚心顺服,显明神的义而不是我们自己的欣喜。让我们记得并不是通过自身的工找到公义, 因我们将因为自己立义的行为而蒙羞。让我们心服口服地相信凭着耶稣,神白白给了我们他的义!让我们心里相信我们必不至于羞愧。