《西敏信条教牧简释 9.1》

Posted on Sep 3, 2020 by admin

第9章 论意志自由

9.1 上帝造人,把本性的自由赋予人的意志。这意志既不受强迫,其本质中也无任何绝对的必然性,而不得不行善作恶1。

1 太17:12;雅1:14;申30:19。

9.1 God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that it is neither forced, nor, by any absolute necessity of nature, determined to good, or evil.1

1 Mt 17:12; Jas  1:14; Dt 30:19.

反对改革教会的其中一个常用攻击点就是:我们不相信人之“自由意志”,因为所有事情早就被上帝预定了,包括(如前一章最后一节所能见到的)基督已为他们购买救赎的那些人被得救的把握。在此,我们第9章整篇专注于回应这点反对,以明确不含糊的肯定来开头——“上帝造人,把本性的自由赋予人的意志”。这点还能由以下两个相关的的否定得到进一步的定义。

One accusation that has very often been levelled against the Reformed church is that we do not believe in the “free will” of man, since everything has already been predetermined by God, including (as we saw in the last paragraph of the last chapter) the certainty of the salvation of those for whom Christ has purchased redemption. Here then, we have an entire chapter devoted to answering this objection, and which opens with a clear and unequivocal affirmation that “God has endued the will of man with that natural liberty,” which is further defined for us in two related negations:

第一,此“本性的自由”不是被逼的,就是说,不是被外来境遇迫不得已。有时候,我们受到了别人的影响和强迫,去做我们在别的境遇里不会想做的行为,但严格来说,我们的行为总不会是“不情愿”的,因为意志本身是不能如提线木偶一般被别人控制。如果一个人因自己被枪威胁而射死了另一个无辜的人,与其不杀人(而让自己被杀),那个人做出了一个自由的决定去杀人。他也许没有其他更适当的选择,但有了自己已有的两个选项,他没被强迫去选任何一项。事实是,(从何时何处被生,至何时怎样会死)我们几乎不能挑选生活中的情况与我们所面对的选择,但从上帝所赐给我们的选项中,我们能自由选择,也就得为这些选择而承受道德方面的责任。

First, this “natural liberty” is not forced, that is, it is not compelled from the outside. There are times when we are influenced or pressured by others to perform certain actions we would rather not do under other circumstances, but strictly speaking, we never act “unwillingly” because the will itself cannot be controlled by others like a puppet on a string. One who shoots an innocent person because a gun was pointed to his own head had made a free choice to kill rather than to not kill (and be killed). He may not have had other more preferable options open to him, but with the two he had, he was not forced to choose one or the other. The fact of the matter is that we hardly ever get to choose our circumstances in life and thus the options we have (from when or where we were born to when and how we will die), but among the options that God gives to us, we are free to choose, and thus also morally responsible for those choices.

但第二,我们的意志也不是“其本质中任何绝对的必然性”所定出的,也就说明了我们做出的决定不是上帝创造我们无可避免的后果。例如因自己的酗酒恶习而责怪自己的基因是不适当的。“我本来就是这个样子”这个借口也常常被听过了。人体的组合也许能使一个人更容易地被诱惑,但让步于诱惑、成行于罪恶做法的每个决定并不是我们本质所定出的,而是源自我们意志的自由选择。

But second, our wills are also not determined by “any absolute necessity of nature,” that is, the fact that we have made a certain choice is not the unavoidable result of how God created us. For example, it would not work for one to blame his genes for his drunkenness. Such is the often-heard excuse, “That is just the way I am.” Bodily make-up may make one more susceptible to certain temptations, but each decision to give in to a temptation and embark on a sinful course of action is not already determined by our nature but is a free choice that flows from our will.

“本质中的必然性”这个短语在这里区别于上帝预旨的必然性

(参见:3.1;5.2),因为我们确实会选择上帝所预定的,我们必然(不是不情愿地)选择。这预旨的必然性并不会损害我们的意志,也不会拿走我们选择的自由,因为上帝的本分没有任何“堆牌”的做法。上帝不会(也不必)操纵体系而使我们不得不选择祂所预定我们做的。如果我们可以选择实践其他的做法,(我们意志以外的)事物其本质不会必然使我们选某一种做法。

The phrase “necessity of nature” is also used here in distinction from the necessity of God’s decree (cf. 3.1; 5.2), since it is true that whatever God has ordained that we will choose, we will necessarily (but not unwillingly) choose. This necessity of the decree does not do violence to our wills or take away from the freedom of our choices because it does not involve any kind of “stacking the cards” on the part of God. God does not (and does not have to) rig the system such that we will have no choice but to choose what he has ordained that we will do. The nature of things (apart from our wills) does not make inevitable our choice to perform any particular action over another physically possible alternative.

也许这即是必然,也是偶然的动态最明显的例子就是我们主基督——如彼得所说,“按着神的定旨先见交与人”——所经验的十字架刑。而同时(在同一句里)彼得告诉犹太人,他们的罪在于“把他钉在十字架上,(把祂)杀了”(徒2:23)。如果有任何一件事起初已牢牢被上帝一成不变的预旨所预定,那就是基督为我们罪恶而牺牲死亡——然而,犯了那最可恶之罪的人没有被任何事物所强迫,却以他们的意志自由而做出那件事,被他们的私欲所牵引诱惑(雅1:14)。

Perhaps the clearest example of this necessary-yet-contingent dynamic is the very crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ who, the Apostle Peter says, was “delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.” And yet, at the same time (and in the same sentence), Peter says to the Jews that it was they who are guilty of having “taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain [him]” (Acts 2:23). If anything was fixed and predetermined from the very beginning by the immutable decree of God, it was Christ’s death as a sacrifice for our sins, and yet nothing compelled those who committed that most vile of sins to the act of it, but they acted freely by their own wills, being drawn away by their own evil desires (James 1:14).

依然,当我们来到已复活的基督之面前崇拜我们的主、呼吁祂的大名、听从祂的话语时,记得你在接下来一个半钟头有一些你必须做出的重要选择。你会集中精神,还是会让自己分心?你会谦虚听从上帝要告诉你的话语,并详细察看那全备、使人自由之律法(雅1:25),还是会硬着心惹他对你发怒(诗95:7-8;来3:7ff.)?生死祸福现在已陈明在你面前。拣选生命吧(申30:19)!

But as we then come into the presence of our resurrected Christ to worship the Lord, to call upon his name, and to hear from his Word, bear in mind that especially in the next hour and a half there will be very important choices that you will have to make. Will you pay attention or allow yourself to be distracted? Will you listen humbly to what God has to say to you and examine your life before the mirror of his perfect law of liberty (James 1:25), or will you harden your heart in unbelief and provoke him to anger against you (Psalm 95:7–8; Heb. 3:7ff.)? You will now have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose life (Deut. 30:19)!

原文作者: 林集章 、蔡林斯 、欧阳效正
中文譯者: 何恩杰,刘行
來源: 
Westminster Confession of Faith — With Brief Pastoral Comments  

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