12月30日 重生的教义
12月30日，周二
重生的教义
“神啊！求祢为我造一颗清洁的心。”（诗篇51:10）
照我看来，没有什么比人按着天然本性永远是反对“重生”的这个教义更令人感到奇怪了。我有时也觉得，没有什么比这种关于人反对“再生”、反对“从上头生”的教义，更能显明人心深处的罪有多深。你去读新约圣经，就会发现当时的人也同样反对这教义。每当我们的主和救主耶稣基督提到这件事，祂总会遭到逼迫；人们厌恶祂提起这点。每当主开始揭露人心深处的罪恶，并谈到人必须重生时，人们总是不明白祂的意思，也厌恶祂这样的教导。那时如此，此后也一直如此。
约翰·卫斯理真正悔改归主之后，回到牛津大学，正是围绕这个主题讲了一篇道；结果他因此而遭人憎恨。牛津那些“体面”“可敬”的宗教人士不喜欢这教义，他们设法使他不能继续在那里讲道。天然的人，那未重生的心，总会反对这伟大而奇妙的圣经教义：“重生”与“从上头生的”。直到今天仍然如此。 人们坐在那里，听一篇讲论所谓“神是众人的父”或“四海之内皆为兄弟”的信息，从不反对。有人劝他们要做一个更好的人，他们也不反感；他们会说：“这话完全对。”即使他们被责备“没有更高尚地生活”，他们仍会说：“这确实是真的，也很公平；我们本来可以做得更好。”
但如果有一位传道人站在天然人面前，对他说：“你必须重生——你必须从神得着一个新的生命。”他们就会问：“这是什么奇怪的教义？”
默想主题：
没有什么比人反对“重生的教义”更能显明人心深处的罪有多深。
【译者注：卫斯理是一位严肃对待人心败坏、强调真实属灵生命而非道德主义的传道人。他勇敢挑战当时的“文化基督教”。在牧养与布道上，相比不少看似正统却趋于冷漠的教会，他更清楚、更迫切地指出“未重生的危险”。但与此同时，我们也需要留意他在神学上的关键问题：他未能在救恩论上始终贯彻“全然无能”（total inability）的教导，也没有坚定持守“重生先于信心”的圣经次序。其结果是，在他的语境与实践中，“重生”容易被理解为人对呼召作出正确回应之后的经验与转变，而不够突出它首先是神主权性的创造工作——正如诗人所祈求的：“神啊，求祢为我造一颗清洁的心”（诗51:10）。这一点我们必须清楚指出；同时，我们也当向卫斯理学习：忠心传讲悔改与赦罪之道，催促人不要满足于外在宗教，而要切切寻求从神而来的新生命。】
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：代下35章，启21章
个人灵修：玛3章，约20章
December 30, Tuesday
THE DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION
Create in me a clean heart, O God. (PSALM 51:10)
Nothing, it seems to me, is quite so strange as the way in which man by nature always objects to the doctrine of regeneration. There is nothing also, I sometimes think, that so demonstrates the depth of sin in the human heart as this objection to the doctrine of the rebirth or being born again. Read the New Testament Scriptures, and you will find that men objected to it in those days. When our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ spoke about it, He was always persecuted. People disliked Him for mentioning it. When He began to expose the depth of iniquity in the human heart and to talk about a rebirth, they invariably misunderstood Him. They disliked it then, and it has always been the same ever since.
When John Wesley was truly converted, he went back to his university at Oxford and preached a sermon on this very subject; and he was hated for it. Those respectable religious people in Oxford disliked this doctrine, and they made it impossible for him to continue preaching there. The natural man, the unregenerate human heart, objected to this great and wondrous biblical doctrine of rebirth and regeneration. And it is equally true today. People sit and listen to an address or sermon on what is called the fatherhood of God or the brotherhood of man and they never object to it. When they are exhorted to live a better life, they never express any objection at all. They say that it is perfectly right, and even though they are reprimanded for not living better lives, they say that it is perfectly true and quite fair and that they could do better. But if a preacher stands before the natural man and says, “You must be born again—you must have a new life from God,” they ask, “What is this strange doctrine?”
A Thought to Ponder: There is nothing that so demonstrates the depth of sin in the human heart as objection to the doctrine of the rebirth.