9.2    人处于无罪状态时，有自由和能力立志行事，得蒙上帝的悦纳1；但人本是可变的，所以他也可以从那状态中堕落2。

1传7:29；创1:26；2创2:16-17；3:6

从这一节开始，我们先考虑人的四种状态–无罪，本性败坏，恩典，得荣耀–其中的第一状态: 无罪。

 

In this paragraph, we begin by looking at the first of what is often known as the fourfold-state of man as it relates to the nature of his will, which are his states of innocency, sin, grace, and glory.

 

在无罪的状态中，人类”有自由和能力立志行事，得蒙上帝的悦纳”。重要的是，”无罪”并不表明一个人只是犯罪而没有被发现过，虽然这是”无罪”一词的通常理解。上帝所造的人，不是一个白板，也不是中立的存在，而是正直的(传7:29)。亚当和夏娃不是一半好，一半坏，需要他们决定自己的选择。这不是自由意志的意思，虽然有许多教导–包括基督教传统的–都不幸地如此认为。人是按照上帝的形象和样式造的(创1:26)，所以他的意志是完全倾向于好的。

 

In the state of innocency, man “had freedom, and power to will and to do that which was good and well pleasing to God.” It is important to note that “innocency” does not refer to someone who has simply not been found guilty of wrongdoing, as the common understanding of the word “innocent” today may suggest. God made man, not as a blank slate or a neutral being, but as a righteous one (Eccl. 7:29). Adam and Eve were not fifty-fifty between good and evil and had to make their own choice which they would like to be. That is not what free will means, contrary to much teaching, sadly, even within the Christian tradition. Man was made in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26), which means that his will had every tendency towards that which is good.

但是，与上帝不同的是，亚当和夏娃是可变的–有可能持续于这初始的状态，也可能从中堕落。他们有犯罪的能力，有可能犯罪，有可能被欺骗，如同夏娃被诱惑时那样。他们有能力怀疑上帝的话，忽视祂对不服从则会死的警告，而他们的确如此做了(创2:16,17; 3:6)。这样一个有完美的知识和良心的人，在没有逼迫的情况下，为何会愿意做一件反于常理和正义的事，这是无法解释，也无法被辩护的。

 

But unlike God, however, Adam and Eve were mutable, or changeable—able to either remain in or fall from this first state. They were posse peccare, able to sin, able to be deceived, as Eve was in the temptation. They were able to distrust God’s instruction and disregard his threat of death for disobedience, which they did (Gen. 2:16,17; 3:6). How one who was perfect in his knowledge and conscience could, in the absence of any distress whatsoever, so willingly do something so completely opposed to reason and righteousness is beyond explanation but also beyond excuse.

要承认我们从这起初无罪的状态中堕落了，我们也要为我们作为亚当和夏娃的后裔所犯的所有的罪负责，也包括这些罪的后果。我们不能对上帝说：“我们没有机会选择，因为我们本身是有罪的。”我们已经有过最好的机会，但是已经被我们错失了，现在我们所承受的则是它的后果。我们至今所受的所有苦难都是应得的，而在加上一个永恒的苦难也不为过。这些完全不是强加给我们的。上帝造我们原是正直的，但我们寻出许多巧计，有意并情愿地做不该做的事。（传7：29）

 

To make this confession of the innocency of our first state from which we have fallen means that we must take all the responsibility for all the sins that we have committed as the children of Adam and Eve, and all of the subsequent fallout from those sins. We can’t say to God, “we didn’t have a chance since we’re so sinful.” We had the most perfect opportunity and we blew it, and now we’re suffering the consequences of it. We deserve all the suffering we have had to endure to this day and an eternity more of it. None of it was pushed upon us. God made us upright, but we have sought out many devices, to do, knowingly and willingly, that which ought not to be done (Eccl. 7:29).

这应当让我们认识到这一令人警醒的事实：撒旦是一个高明的迷惑者。这也应当使我们更谦虚，意识到我们的本性有多脆弱，而我们之中最好的也会轻易地陷入罪中，叛逆上帝。这应当使我们不轻易地根据我们“自由意志”做看似正确的事，而是逃离自己而逃向基督，来自天堂的第二个亚当—祂从生到死，之后复活并升天，证明了祂是唯一一个正直而不变的，并心甘情愿地顺服上帝，甚至至死。

 

This should sober us to the reality of how subtle a deceiver Satan is, and even more so humble us as to how frail our nature is and how easily even the best of us can slide into sin and rebellion against God. This should lead us, not to trust in our “free will” to do what is right, but to flee from ourselves and to Christ, the Second Adam from heaven, who showed from his birth to his death and proved by his resurrection and ascension into heaven how he is the only immutably righteous one, who willingly obeyed the Father even unto death.

 

在此，我们被提醒要祈求上帝为基督而更新并立定我们的脚步（诗37：23），而我们也期待那一天，我们不仅将被恢复到原本正直的状态，也会被领至基督新的创造中祂的充足，获得不变的新本性，也永远不再会堕落。希望主尽快催促那一天的到来。

 

Here we are reminded to pray that God would, for Christ’s sake, renew and direct our wills every step of the way (Psalm 37:23), as we also long for the day when we will not only be restored to our original righteousness, but be brought to the fullness of Christ in his new creation, with a new and immutable perfection from which we can never fall from. And may the Lord hasten that day.

 

中文譯者： 何恩杰，刘行
來源： Westminster Confession of Faith — With Brief Pastoral Comments  

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