生命的福音: 序言
我们是一个福音派教会的团契,为了完全符合圣经深切地委身在基督的福音里更新我们的信仰和改革事工的实 践。我们深切地关注一些传统福音派主义内的运动,它们似乎在削弱教会的生活和带领我们离开故有的信仰和 实践。一方面,我们忧虑对个人消费主义的崇尚和信仰的政治化。另一方面,我们又因为道德相对主义毫无质疑 地被接纳而苦恼。这些运动,导致轻易地放弃了我们故有信仰所任命的圣经真理和生命的更新。我们不单听闻 这些影响,亦看见它们的后果。我们基于那唯独透过信心、唯独借著恩典、唯独在基督里所领受的应许,委身以 新的盼望和激励的喜乐,使教会得到振奋。
我们相信在许多福音派的教会里,对福音真理都存有深和广的共同见解。但我们经常看见,我们与基督联合的 庆祝被古老的权力和富足所吸引,或从修道的退隐,以 至被仪式及圣礼所取代。任何取替福音的东西,将不能 促进一个有使命心志的信仰,就是稳固在持久的真理里、透过无愧的门徒训练、热切地经得起国度的呼召、和 牺牲的考验。我们渴望在王者的大道上前进,常常以倡导福音、鼓励和教育为目标,以致现在和下一代的教会领 袖有更好的装备,在原则和实践上加强他们的事工, 以荣耀救主,并做福那些蒙祂生命的血所洒的人。
我们想发起一个所有人一致的力量-就是热衷于荣耀基督和倍增门徒,加入一个真正是为耶稣的联盟。这样的一 个以圣经为根基和联合的使命,才是教会唯一能持久的将来。这个现实也催促我们,与那些确信耶稣基督是我 们永恒救恩的唯一盼望的人站在一起。我们渴望以清楚、怜悯、勇气、和喜乐来卫护这福音-欢欣地跨越宗 派、 种族、和阶层的界线,与各信徒的心连在一起。
我们渴望服侍我们所爱的教会,邀请所有的弟兄姊妹与我们一起努力,以自古以来基督的福音更新当代教会, 以致我们真正地为祂宣讲和生活,借此清楚地向我们的世代传扬。
身为牧师,我们会透过祂一般恩典的方式:以祷告、宣讲神的话、洗礼及圣餐、和圣徒的团契来实践。我们盼望 与所有这样的人同工,他们除了接受这里所定出的认信和异象之 外,亦寻求以基督为整个生命的主,带著无愧 的盼望,在圣灵的能力里去更新个人、社区、和文化。这里附有我们的认信声明和事工的神学异象(这异象紮根 于圣经 并以福音为中心)。
认信声明
1. 三一真神
我们相信独一的神,永恒地以三个同等神圣的位格存在: 圣父、圣子、 和圣灵,彼此认识、 爱、和互相荣耀。 这又真又活的神,祂的爱和神圣是无限完美的。祂是万有的创造者,包括可看见和不能见的。因此,祂是配 受所有的荣耀和尊崇。祂是不朽和永恒的,祂自始完全及详尽地知道未来的一切,承托和主治万有,并护佑 达成祂永善的目的,为自己救赎一群子民和修复已堕落的创造,回到称讚祂荣耀的恩典。
2. 启示 神已在创造的秩序里满有恩典地彰显了祂的存在和能力,又尊贵地在祂道成肉身的儿子里向已堕落的人类
启示了自己。而且,这是说话的神,祂借著圣灵有恩典地以人的言语显示了自己:我们相信神所默示的话,已 保存在圣经旧约和新约的六十六卷书内,也是祂拯救世界的纪录和途径。唯独这些记载是神逐字启示的话 语,是终极的权威和其原稿为无误的,是祂救恩旨意完全的启示,足够所有神要求我们所信和所行的,和所 提及一切知识领域的终极权威。我们承认由于我们的有限和罪性,令我们无法完全参透神的真理,但我们 肯定,借著圣灵的启迪,我们能真实地知道神启示的真理。我们要相信圣经的一切教导都是神的教训,它所 有的要求都当以神的命令来遵守,并且相信一切的应许都是神的承诺。当属神的人听见、相信、和遵行这道 时,他们就被装备为基督的门徒和福音的见证人。
3. 创造人类 我们相信神按著自己的形象造男造女、创造人类。亚当和夏娃是在受造之列,神宣告这创造是甚好的。亚当 和夏娃接受神的讬付,去关怀、管理、治理各样受造之物,过圣洁的生命,以及与创造主联合,建立亲密的关 系。男与女,都同等地按著神的形象被造,借著信靠耶稣基督同样地得以进入神的国度,也同样被呼召离开 消极放纵的生活,以至在公众和私人生活中都积极投入家庭、教会及社会。神创造亚当和夏娃,使他们成为 一体,并互相补足,以建立男女之间性关系的唯一规范模式。这样的婚姻关系最终用来表达基督与教会的 联合。在神智慧的旨意里,男与女是不可随便互换的,而是以彼此充实的方式互为补足。神命定他们各有独 特的角色,从而反映基督与教会之间爱的关系。丈夫为首,以表现出基督舍己的爱与关怀;妻子顺服丈夫,就 是教会爱主的榜样。在教会的事奉中,我们鼓励男与女都服事基督,并在神子民的各种事奉中,发展他们的 潜能。基于创造、堕落与救赎,教会领袖独特的职份是授予胜任的弟兄,绝不能因文化的发展而偏离。
4. 堕落 我们相信亚当是按神的形象被造,但因被撒旦引诱以致犯罪,神的形象被扭曲,而且也丧失了他和后裔本来
应得的祝福。结果,世人都与神分隔,在每一方面都败坏 (如在肉体上、精神上、意志上、情绪上、灵性上), 最终要受审判,并且必致死亡 (就是与神慈爱的介入隔离)。在神的公义与圣洁的忿怒下,世人最大的需要就 是要与神复和。世人唯一的盼望就是神那份我们不配得的爱,只有祂能拯救我们,使我们与祂和好。
5. 神的计划 我们相信神从亙古已决定了以恩典拯救各族、各言语、各民、各国中大群的罪人,预知和拣选他们。我们相
信神使那些借著恩典信靠耶稣的人称义和成圣,并且有一天祂将要使他们得荣耀 - 都要讚美祂荣耀的恩 典。神既已为蒙祂拣选的人预备了救恩,又预备了基督成为他们的救主,就在爱中命令及要求世人悔改和相 信祂。
6. 福音
我们相信福音就是关于耶稣基督的好信息 - 这耶稣是神的智慧。虽然这是神对那些蒙拯救的人的大能,但 对世人来说是愚拙的。这福音是论及基督的,以十字架与复活为中心:如果基督没有被宣扬,福音就没有被 传开;如果祂的死及复活不是中心,真正的基督就没有被宣扬 (经上说:「基督...为我们的罪死了...第三天 复活了。」)。这好信息是建基于圣经 (祂的死与复活是有圣经根据的)、神学及救赎计划 (基督为我们的罪而 死,使我们可以与神复和)、历史 (如果救赎的事没有发生,我们的信是徒然的,我们仍旧活在罪中,而且比 众人更加可怜)、使徒 (使徒是救赎事件的见证人,这信息是交讬他们并由他们传开)、和相当个人的 (每一个 人接受、相信及坚持,都能得救)。
7. 基督的救赎 我们相信,因著爱及顺服父的原故,永在的子成为人:道成为肉身,是完全的神和完全的人,二性在一个位 格之内。成为人的耶稣,是应许中以色列的弥赛亚,由圣灵感孕,童贞女马利亚所生。祂完全地遵行天父的 旨意,活出无罪的生命,并行神蹟奇事。祂在本丢彼拉多手下受难,第三天从死里复活,升天。祂作为中保的 王,坐在父神的右边,在天上和地上都行使神的主权。祂是我们的大祭司及公义的中保。我们相信透过祂的 道成肉身、生、死、复活及升天,耶稣基督成为我们的代表及代替者。祂这样行,为的是叫我们可以成为神的 义:祂在十字架上除去了罪,挽回了神的忿怒;因祂揹负我们所有的罪债,使相信的人可以与神复和。透过祂 的复活,父引证了耶稣基督的清白,打碎了死的权势,战胜了那曾掌权死亡的撒旦,给祂的子民带来永远的 生命。透过祂的升天,祂永远被高举为主,而且又为我们预备地方,使我们可以与祂在一起。我们相信除祂 以外别无拯救,因为在天下人间没有赐下别名,使我们可以靠著得救。因为神拣选世上低下的、卑贱的、无 用的,以致没有人可以在祂面前夸口这是我们的义、圣洁和拯救。基督耶稣为我们成为从神而来的智慧。
8. 罪人称义 我们相信透过祂的顺服和死亡,基督完全除去了人的罪债,使人称义。透过祂的献祭,祂为我们的罪承担了 惩罚,适切、真实及完全地代我们满足了神的公义。借著祂完全的顺服,祂代我们满足了神公正的要求,因 为唯有透过信心,祂那完全的顺服使所有信靠基督的人也被神接受。正如天父将基督赐给我们,接受了祂 为我们的顺服和惩罚,并非因我们有任何可取之处,完全是神白白的恩典,为的是让神的公义和厚恩能在罪 人的称义中被荣耀。我们相信个人和公开顺服的热衷,都是源自这白白的称义。
9. 圣灵的能力 我们相信圣经所宣告及耶稣基督所肯定的拯救,是借著圣灵给予祂的子民。圣灵被父及子差遣,荣耀主耶
稣基督,又如”另一位”保惠师与信徒同在并在他们里面。 祂叫世人知罪、公义和审判,又借著祂的能力及奥 秘,叫灵性上已死的人再生,使他们甦醒、悔改、相信,在祂里面他们受洗,与主耶稣联合,以致他们单靠著 恩典及相信 耶稣基督,在神面前得以称义。借著圣灵的工作,信徒得以更新、成圣,和进入神的家。他们与 神的性情有份,并接受祂主权所分配的恩赐。圣灵是所应许产业的凭 据,在这个世代内住、指引、教导、装 备、复兴、和坚立信徒有能力去活像基督和事奉。
10. 神的国度 我们相信那些得以进入神的国度的人,是借著神的恩典得救、凭著信心与基督联合、被圣灵重生的,他们并
得享新约的福乐:就是罪得赦免、内心更新,以致唤醒那荣耀、信靠和顺服神的渴望,以及盼望将要显现的 荣耀。善行是救恩不可或缺的证据。信徒就如腐败世代中的盐和黑暗世界中的光,不应离群遁世,反之,我 们应该为社会效力,因为国家的荣耀及声誉都是要献给永活的神。认清了是谁的创造,又因为我们是神国的 子民,我们就必须爱人如己、对人行善,特别是对那些神家里的成员。神的国度已经存在、但尚未完全实现, 神要在世上执行祂的主权,直到万物的终极救赎。神的国是入侵撒旦黑暗国度的力量,透过悔改和信心使 人的生命更新,将他们从那国度拯救出来。因此,它必然要建立一个属于神的新群体。
11. 神的新子民 我们相信神的新约子民已经来到属天的耶路撒冷,他们已经在天上与基督同坐。这普及的教会是在以基督 为首的地方教会中被显明。所以,每一间”地方教会”就是神的家、是永生神的群体,是真理的柱石和根基。 教会是基督的身体、是祂眼中的瞳仁,被刻在祂的手上,并永远许诺给她。教会被分别出来,是因著她的福 音信息、她的圣礼、她的纪律、她的大使命,以及最重要的是她对神的爱和她的成员彼此相爱及对世人的 爱。最关键的是,我们所珍贵的福音,同时是有个人和群体两方面的,而且缺一不可。基督耶稣是我们的平 安:祂不单带来与神同在的平安,也为疏离的人带来平安。祂的目的是创造一个在祂里面的新群体,既在十 字架上灭了冤仇,使犹太人和外邦人归为一体,与神和好了,以促成和平。当教会的成员不以自我为中心,乃 是为彼此服事和服事邻舍而活的时候,教会就成了神将来新天新地的记号。教会是神的灵的居所,也是为神 在世上持续的见证。
12. 洗礼与主餐
我们相信 洗礼与主餐是主耶稣亲自设立的。前者是与进入新立约的群体有关,而后者则是这约持续的更
新。两者同时是神向我们所承诺的神圣恩典的渠道,亦是我们顺服那曾被钉及现已复活的基督公开的誓言, 并盼望祂的再来及万事的成就。
13. 万物的复和 我们相信主耶稣会亲自以荣耀的身体联同祂的圣天使再来,那时祂将作最后的审判,祂的国度亦会完全成 就。我们相信义与不义的都会身体复活,如我们的主所教训:不义的要受审判和在地狱里受永远有知觉的刑 罚;义人就得以进入新天新地和公义之家的福乐中,与那坐在宝座上的及羔羊同在。到那日,因为基督的顺 服、受苦和得胜,教会在神的面前无可指责,所有的罪都得到洁淨,罪的恶果也永远消除。神与祂的子民全 然同在,他们将即时被祂那无可媲美的圣洁吸引,万物都会讚颂祂荣耀的恩典。
For more about our confessional statement, check out our series of 14 booklets written by the Council and edited by co-founders D. A. Carson and Timothy Keller.
The Tri-une God We believe in one God, eternally existing in three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who know, love, and glorify one another. This one true and living God is infinitely perfect both in his love and in his holiness. He is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible, and is therefore worthy to receive all glory and adoration. Immortal and eternal, he perfectly and exhaustively knows the end from the beginning, sustains and sovereignly rules over all things, and providentially brings about his eternal good purposes to redeem a people for himself and restore his fallen creation, to the praise of his glorious grace.
Revelation God has graciously disclosed his existence and power in the created order, and has supremely revealed himself to fallen human beings in the person of his Son, the incarnate Word. Moreover, this God is a speaking God who by his Spirit has graciously disclosed himself in human words: we believe that God has inspired the words preserved in the Scriptures, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, which are both record and means of his saving work in the world. These writings alone constitute the verbally inspired Word of God, which is utterly authoritative and without error in the original writings, complete in its revelation of his will for salvation, sufficient for all that God requires us to believe and do, and final in its authority over every domain of knowledge to which it speaks. We confess that both our finitude and our sinfulness preclude the possibility of knowing God’s truth exhaustively, but we affirm that, enlightened by the Spirit of God, we can know God’s revealed truth truly. The Bible is to be believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it teaches; obeyed, as God’s command, in all that it requires; and trusted, as God’s pledge, in all that it promises. As God’s people hear, believe, and do the Word, they are equipped as disciples of Christ and witnesses to the gospel.
Creation of Humanity We believe that God created human beings, male and female, in his own image. Adam and Eve belonged to the created order that God himself declared to be very good, serving as God’s agents to care for, manage, and govern creation, living in holy and devoted fellowship with their Maker. Men and women, equally made in the image of God, enjoy equal access to God by faith in Christ Jesus and are both called to move beyond passive self-indulgence to significant private and public engagement in family, church, and civic life. Adam and Eve were made to complement each other in a one-flesh union that establishes the only normative pattern of sexual relations for men and women, such that marriage ultimately serves as a type of the union between Christ and his church. In God’s wise purposes, men and women are not simply interchangeable, but rather they complement each other in mutually enriching ways. God ordains that they assume distinctive roles which reflect the loving relationship between Christ and the church, the husband exercising headship in a way that displays the caring, sacrificial love of Christ, and the wife submitting to her husband in a way that models the love of the church for her Lord. In the ministry of the church, both men and women are encouraged to serve Christ and to be developed to their full potential in the manifold ministries of the people of God. The distinctive leadership role within the church given to qualified men is grounded in creation, fall, and redemption and must not be sidelined by appeals to cultural developments.
The Fall We believe that Adam, made in the image of God, distorted that image and forfeited his original blessedness—for himself and all his progeny—by falling into sin through Satan’s temptation. As a result, all human beings are alienated from God, corrupted in every aspect of their being (e.g., physically, mentally, volitionally, emotionally, spiritually) and condemned finally and irrevocably to death—apart from God’s own gracious intervention. The supreme need of all human beings is to be reconciled to the God under whose just and holy wrath we stand; the only hope of all human beings is the undeserved love of this same God, who alone can rescue us and restore us to himself.
The Plan of God We believe that from all eternity God determined in grace to save a great multitude of guilty sinners from every tribe and language and people and nation, and to this end foreknew them and chose them. We believe that God justifies and sanctifies those who by grace have faith in Jesus, and that he will one day glorify them—all to the praise of his glorious grace. In love God commands and implores all people to repent and believe, having set his saving love on those he has chosen and having ordained Christ to be their Redeemer.
The Gospel We believe that the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ—God’s very wisdom. Utter folly to the world, even though it is the power of God to those who are being saved, this good news is christological, centering on the cross and resurrection: the gospel is not proclaimed if Christ is not proclaimed, and the authentic Christ has not been proclaimed if his death and resurrection are not central (the message is: “Christ died for our sins . . . [and] was raised”). This good news is biblical (his death and resurrection are according to the Scriptures), theological and salvific (Christ died for our sins, to reconcile us to God), historical (if the saving events did not happen, our faith is worthless, we are still in our sins, and we are to be pitied more than all others), apostolic (the message was entrusted to and transmitted by the apostles, who were witnesses of these saving events), and intensely personal (where it is received, believed, and held firmly, individual persons are saved).
The Redemption of Christ We believe that, moved by love and in obedience to his Father, the eternal Son became human: the Word became flesh, fully God and fully human being, one Person in two natures. The man Jesus, the promised Messiah of Israel, was conceived through the miraculous agency of the Holy Spirit, and was born of the virgin Mary. He perfectly obeyed his heavenly Father, lived a sinless life, performed miraculous signs, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead on the third day, and ascended into heaven. As the mediatorial King, he is seated at the right hand of God the Father, exercising in heaven and on earth all of God’s sovereignty, and is our High Priest and righteous Advocate. We believe that by his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus Christ acted as our representative and substitute. He did this so that in him we might become the righteousness of God: on the cross he canceled sin, propitiated God, and, by bearing the full penalty of our sins, reconciled to God all those who believe. By his resurrection Christ Jesus was vindicated by his Father, broke the power of death and defeated Satan who once had power over it, and brought everlasting life to all his people; by his ascension he has been forever exalted as Lord and has prepared a place for us to be with him. We believe that salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved. Because God chose the lowly things of this world, the despised things, the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, no human being can ever boast before him—Christ Jesus has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.
The Justification of Sinners We believe that Christ, by his obedience and death, fully discharged the debt of all those who are justified. By his sacrifice, he bore in our stead the punishment due us for our sins, making a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice on our behalf. By his perfect obedience he satisfied the just demands of God on our behalf, since by faith alone that perfect obedience is credited to all who trust in Christ alone for their acceptance with God. Inasmuch as Christ was given by the Father for us, and his obedience and punishment were accepted in place of our own, freely and not for anything in us, this justification is solely of free grace, in order that both the exact justice and the rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners. We believe that a zeal for personal and public obedience flows from this free justification.
The Power of the Holy Spirit We believe that this salvation, attested in all Scripture and secured by Jesus Christ, is applied to his people by the Holy Spirit. Sent by the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ, and, as the other Paraclete, is present with and in believers. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and by his powerful and mysterious work regenerates spiritually dead sinners, awakening them to repentance and faith, and in him they are baptized into union with the Lord Jesus, such that they are justified before God by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. By the Spirit's agency, believers are renewed, sanctified, and adopted into God's family; they participate in the divine nature and receive his sovereignly distributed gifts. The Holy Spirit is himself the down payment of the promised inheritance, and in this age indwells, guides, instructs, equips, revives, and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.
The Kingdom of God We believe that those who have been saved by the grace of God through union with Christ by faith and through regeneration by the Holy Spirit enter the kingdom of God and delight in the blessings of the new covenant: the forgiveness of sins, the inward transformation that awakens a desire to glorify, trust, and obey God, and the prospect of the glory yet to be revealed. Good works constitute indispensable evidence of saving grace. Living as salt in a world that is decaying and light in a world that is dark, believers should neither withdraw into seclusion from the world, nor become indistinguishable from it: rather, we are to do good to the city, for all the glory and honor of the nations is to be offered up to the living God. Recognizing whose created order this is, and because we are citizens of God’s kingdom, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, doing good to all, especially to those who belong to the household of God. The kingdom of God, already present but not fully realized, is the exercise of God’s sovereignty in the world toward the eventual redemption of all creation. The kingdom of God is an invasive power that plunders Satan’s dark kingdom and regenerates and renovates through repentance and faith the lives of individuals rescued from that kingdom. It therefore inevitably establishes a new community of human life together under God.
God’s New People We believe that God’s new covenant people have already come to the heavenly Jerusalem; they are already seated with Christ in the heavenlies. This universal church is manifest in local churches of which Christ is the only Head; thus each “local church” is, in fact, the church, the household of God, the assembly of the living God, and the pillar and foundation of the truth. The church is the body of Christ, the apple of his eye, graven on his hands, and he has pledged himself to her forever. The church is distinguished by her gospel message, her sacred ordinances, her discipline, her great mission, and, above all, by her love for God, and by her members’ love for one another and for the world. Crucially, this gospel we cherish has both personal and corporate dimensions, neither of which may properly be overlooked. Christ Jesus is our peace: he has not only brought about peace with God, but also peace between alienated peoples. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both Jew and Gentile to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. The church serves as a sign of God’s future new world when its members live for the service of one another and their neighbors, rather than for self-focus. The church is the corporate dwelling place of God’s Spirit, and the continuing witness to God in the world.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper We believe that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordained by the Lord Jesus himself. The former is connected with entrance into the new covenant community, the latter with ongoing covenant renewal. Together they are simultaneously God’s pledge to us, divinely ordained means of grace, our public vows of submission to the once crucified and now resurrected Christ, and anticipations of his return and of the consummation of all things.
The Restoration of All Things We believe in the personal, glorious, and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ with his holy angels, when he will exercise his role as final Judge, and his kingdom will be consummated. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the just and the unjust—the unjust to judgment and eternal conscious punishment in hell, as our Lord himself taught, and the just to eternal blessedness in the presence of him who sits on the throne and of the Lamb, in the new heaven and the new earth, the home of righteousness. On that day the church will be presented faultless before God by the obedience, suffering and triumph of Christ, all sin purged and its wretched effects forever banished. God will be all in all and his people will be enthralled by the immediacy of his ineffable holiness, and everything will be to the praise of his glorious grace.