从上帝而生

摘要

我們基督徒不是靠善行而被造的。我們是從聖靈和水而生為上帝的兒女的。這完全是上帝的工作。



約翰福音3:5-9
5耶穌說:「我實實在在地告訴你,人若不是從水和聖靈生的,就不能進上帝的國。6從肉身生的就是肉身;從靈生的就是靈。7我說:『你們必須重生』,你不要以為希奇。8風隨著意思吹,你聽見風的響聲,卻不曉得從哪裏來,往哪裏去;凡從聖靈生的,也是如此。」

基督徒是從上帝生的,是從水和聖靈生的(約3:5),是一種新的、屬天的誕生。
這種誕生有別於人藉著父母而誕生。儘管肉體的誕生也是上帝的工作,因為人不能造出哪怕是最纖細的頭髮或最小的血滴。這些都是上帝藉著父母而造出來的,所以,一個人的誕生必然有其血肉。
但是,因為人不能為一個基督徒的誕生而貢獻什麼,所以,這一定誠如約翰福音1:13所說的那樣:「這等人不是從血氣生的,不是從情慾生的,也不是從人意生的,乃是從上帝生的。」這意味著基督徒不是人的兒女,不是聖宗主教的兒女,也不是認養的或揀選的兒女。教皇也不能用他的法令創造出基督徒。

人的理性不能掌握它,人的感覺也無法覺察。
因為這一切都是由信心造成,由信心完成的。而信心是由聖靈賜予人心的。這就是基督在同一篇向尼哥德慕的講道中(約3:8)所說:「風隨著意思吹,你聽見風的響聲,卻不曉得從哪裏來,往哪裏去;凡從聖靈生的,也是如此。」
在此,基督用一個比喻或一幅圖畫將這屬靈的誕生,展現出來了。「風」的例證就如同清晨的露珠有異曲同工的道理。這兩幅圖畫都漂亮地展現出製造基督徒(即,上帝的兒女)的過程:不靠人的能力、也不是人的理智可以掌握的。這是聖靈屬天的操作,是藉著上帝的話語,福音的宣講,和洗禮而成就的。這就像天堂的露水滋潤地球,和風吹拂著地球一樣。沒有人看到露水如何產生,也不知道其由什麼形成,但卻看到小露珠鋪滿地面。沒有人知道風從哪裡來,到哪裡去,但卻聽到風聲,呼嘯而過。
這就如同從水和靈而成的神聖之誕生。你可以看見水的洗禮,就如你看到露水。你可以看到書本上的上帝話語,或聽到講道,就如你聽到風聲,但是你看不到、聽不到、也不明白聖靈,也不明白他所成就的:就是一個人藉著洗禮,從神父的手中被潔淨,由地獄之子成為上帝的兒女。

不同的教導
如果有教導與此不同,譬如說:「一個人必須靠著他的善工、或順服教皇、或順服教會的法令才能成為基督徒,即上帝的兒女」,那麼這人就在指證先知和基督自己是騙子,是以惡行摧毀真基督教會的暴徒。
因為真基督教會和她的主基督,以及聖教父,都承認、教導、和相信與此相反之道。這道是說:我們基督徒不是靠善行而被造的,我們不是由人所揀選,我們不是因我們的順服而被揀選,我們自己不能成長,我們不能作甚麼工而成為上帝兒女的身分。我們是從聖靈和水而生為上帝的兒女的。這完全是上帝的工作。一切的尊貴、頌讚都單單完全地歸於上帝那神聖的恩典。——馬丁路德(《詩篇》註釋選集,2)(AE 13:302–303)


Born of God
John 3:5-8
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

This birth is different from the one which occurs among men through the instrumentality of father and mother. Of course, when a man is born in the natural way, it is God’s work too; for no man can manufacture the tiniest hair or the smallest drop of blood. God does this through father and mother, so that a human birth is always of their flesh and blood. But since no human being can contribute anything to the birth of Christians, it must be, as we read in John 1:13, “not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” This means that Christians are not the children of men, nor of the holy patriarchs, nor children who have been adopted or elected—which would be the case if the pope were able to make Christians by means of his ordinances. Christians are “born of God,” through a new and heavenly birth, namely, of water and the Holy Spirit (John 3:5). This is a birth that reason cannot grasp or feel; for it occurs and is completed by faith, which the Holy Spirit confers upon the heart. This is also what Christ explains in that same sermon to Nicodemus (John 3:8): “The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Here Christ presents a parable or picture of the spiritual birth. The wind illustrates the same thing as the dew at dawn. Both pictures beautifully present the operation whereby Christians, or children of God, are made—not by the power or intellectual capacity of men but only by the heavenly operation of the Holy Spirit, and yet through the Word, the preaching of the Gospel, and Baptism. It is like the dew of heaven, which fructifies the earth, and the wind, which cools it. No one sees or experiences the dew or knows how and out of what it is made until the droplets lie on the earth, just as no one knows or feels whence the wind comes or where it goes, except that one hears it howl or blow.
Thus it also happens in the case of a divine birth from water and the Spirit. You can see the water of Baptism as you can see the dew, and you can hear the external or spoken Word as you can hear the wind; but you cannot see or hear or understand the Spirit, or what He accomplishes thereby: that a human being is cleansed in Baptism and becomes a saint in the hands of the priest, so that from a child of hell he is changed into a child of God. Nevertheless this is truly and actually accomplished. One has to say, in view of the power which attends it, that the Holy Spirit was present at the event and was making believers by means of water and the Word. No human power can possibly accomplish this.
Therefore if anyone teaches and maintains a different position about this matter—for example, that a man becomes a Christian or a child of God by his works or by his obedience to the pope and to the ordinances of the church, as they call them—he charges this holy prophet and Christ Himself with a lie and does violence and wrong to the true Christian Church. For the true Christian Church, with her Lord Christ and the holy fathers, confesses, teaches, and believes the very opposite. We are not Christians manufactured by works; we are not chosen by men; we are not elected in view of our obedience; we do not grow ourselves. Without any contribution of any kind on our own, we are born children of God by the Holy Spirit and the water. It is totally God’s work, and the honor and praise belong purely and utterly to His divine grace. (Selected Psalms II)(AE 13:302–303)


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