"know the Word" 9 times
懂圣经(单词)
"know the Scriptures" 2 times
知道圣经
My Question Again:
What is the Purpose of the Word?
There are probably over 40,000 times in the Scriptures that command
us directly or indirectly to know the Lord in a personal and intimate
way. The Holy Spirit, God Himself, comes into our life when we believe
the Lord Jesus to be our Savior. That is intimacy with God Himself!
Jesus told His 12 disciples this is better than my presence with you!
Every believer knows the Lord at a different level. God commands us
to know him more as a believer. Seek to know the Lord better! And God
primarily uses the Word for us to know Him better but He also uses
fellow believers, circumstances, prayer, etc to know Him better!
One insightful Chinese brother wrote the following and translated one
Canadian brother's reply:
I feel you wrote something of great insights. So I volunteered to
translate it for you, Free of charge, of course.
我的问题再次:
圣经的目的是什么?
圣经中大约有
40,000经文多次命令我们直接或间接地以个人和亲密的方式认识主。我们相信主耶稣是我们的救主时,圣灵,上帝自己就进入了我们的生活。
那是与上帝自己的亲密关系!
耶稣告诉他的十二个门徒,这比我与你同在更好!
每个信徒在不同层面上都认识主。
上帝命令我们更多地了解他作为信徒。
希望更好地认识主!
上帝主要使用圣言让我们更好地了解他,但他也使用其他信徒,处境,祈祷等来更好地了解他!
一个知识渊博的中国兄弟写下了以下内容,并翻译了加拿大兄弟的回信:
我认为您写的东西很有见识。
因此,我当然愿意为您免费翻译。
===
圣经是属天的启示,目的是要告诉我们所需要了解的有关上帝的知识。但是,经文并不等同于
“跟上帝本人直接或立即的接触”。
当然,圣灵经常使用圣经直接对我们说话。
但是,它的文字本身又
不是上帝“永活的道”。基督本人才是!他曾经说过那著名的话: “你们查考圣经(或作:应当查考圣经),因你们以为内中有永生;给我作见证的就是这经。40 然而,你们不肯到我这里来得生命。(约5:39-40)”“圣经知识”再次成为了某些人的偶像。
今天的某些福音派人士,与圣经有着一种类似于淫乱的关系,他们
更像是锡克教徒对他们的
“经文”的崇拜,以及穆斯林对他们的“经卷”的崇拜。今天的福音派信徒吹嘘他们相信圣经的“无误”,但是他们却不愿意听从圣经的话。(撒但也相信圣经!)到时候,将是我们对于圣经话语的回应,而不是我们对圣经的“高度重视(high
regard)”,乃是要在神的审判台前接受审判的。
若是有一个人,爱他的邻居、愿意饶恕他的仇敌、将他的钱捐给穷人、拒绝眼目的情欲、不向再婚妥协、献身于私下的祈祷、谨防
宗教的伪善、认真地培训门徒、甘心为耶稣而舍弃生命,那么,即使他相信圣经充满了错误,并且有些书卷甚至不是来自上帝,这个人在将来的世代中将会受到很高的敬重。没有人会因他们对圣经的高度尊重而得到奖赏。
我宁愿做一个每周读一小段圣经并加以运用的人
……胜过充当
一位在圣经上满腹经纶、而其自身行为却完全看不到改变的学者。
正如马克
·吐温(Mark
Twain)所说,我所担心的并不是那些读不懂的经文,而是那些我确实理解了的“经文片段”,让我心怀恐惧。这才是正确的态度。
当我担任圣经翻译员足足
10年时,威克里夫(Wycliffe)的负责人告诉我,可以为该职位找到6种不同领域的博士人才,但是如果让他选择的话,他会(无需再三思量地!)选择一个谦虚的人,只要他对于上帝的话心怀战兢……而不会招收那些拥有博士学位的人。
可悲的是,在福音派
-学术界-工业界的复合体内,圣经已经成为谋求收入(和骄傲!)的炮灰。
简而言之,我们必须去到圣经当中
—去聆听听上帝的话……并适切地对神作出回应。
我从我的祖先那里听说过(并且已经学到了!)以上所有的道理!这些祖先们都会用多种语言背诵新约圣经,建立了
4所圣经学院,并用有学术水平的圣经知识带领教会。我的父亲,叔叔,祖父和曾曾祖父们每天都会在圣经中度过数个小时。我也在效仿他们的榜样。
法利赛人坚守旧约,不认识弥赛亚,并且拒绝了弥赛亚。今天基督的门徒们的本质是完全不同的。对基督的真实信仰与错误的信仰完全不同。我们的心和圣灵同证我们是上帝的儿女。拥有圣灵就是指真正与门徒们在一起,并继续完成耶稣在使徒行传中所做的事情。我们今天不能完全了解上帝,也不能完全理解圣经的
66本书,但是我们已经认识了上帝,我们已经能够明白圣经,并且我们将继续更好地了解上帝和圣经。如果你仅仅依靠自己的行为,就无法拥有救恩的确据。单单依靠耶稣,唯独基督,你就能拥有凭信心称义的确据。
The Scriptures are revelation intended to tell us what we need to
know about God.
But they do not amount to any direct and immediate contact with God
himself.
Of course, the Holy Spirit uses the Scriptures a lot to speak
directly to us.
But again, they are
not the
living Word of God. That is Christ himself, who famously said,
"You search the Scriptures all day long, but you do not come to ME
for life."
"Bible knowledge" has again become an idol.
Today's Evangelicals have an adulterous relationship with the Bible
which is more and
more like the Sikhs' worship of their "scriptures" and the Muslims'
worship of theirs.
Today's Evangelicals boast that they believe in the "inerrancy" of
the Scriptures, but
they do not obey it. (Satan also believes the Bible!) It is our
response to,
not our
"high regard" of the Scriptures that will be judged at His Judgment
Seat.
Someone who
loves his neighbor forgives his enemies, give his money to the poor,
refuses to look with lust or remarry, devotes himself to private
prayer, guards against
religious hypocrisy makes disciples, and loses his life for Jesus
will be highly esteemed
in the age to come even if he believes the Bible is full of errors
and some books are
not even from God. No one will be rewarded for their high esteem of
the Scriptures.
I'd rather be the man who reads a phrase a week and applies it . . .
than the man who is
a scholar . . . but his own behavior is not impacted.
As Mark Twain said, it's the little "passages of Scripture" I do
understand that scare me.
This is the right attitude.
When I worked as a Bible translator for 10 years the leader of
Wycliffe told me that there
are 6 different PhDs one can get for that job, but if he had the
choice he would choose
(without a second thought!) a humble man who simply trembled at the
Word of God . . .
over the man with a Ph.D.
Sadly the Scriptures have become cannon-fodder for the income (and
pride!) generating
Evangelical-academic-industrial-complex.
In short, we must go to the Scriptures
to
hear from God . . . and respond appropriately to Him.
I heard (and have learned!) all of the above from my forefathers who
memorized the NT in multiple languages, founded 4 Bible colleges and led
the church in Bible scholarship. My father, uncles, grandfathers, and
great grandfathers spent hours each day in the Scriptures.
And I follow their example.
The Pharisees stuck to the Old Testament, did not know the Messiah,
and rejected the Messiah. The essence of the disciples of Christ today
is completely different. True belief in Christ is completely different
from false belief. Our hearts and the Holy Spirit testify that we are
children of God. To have the Holy Spirit is to truly be with the
disciples and continue to accomplish what Jesus did in the Book of Acts.
We cannot fully know God today, nor can we fully understand the 66 books
of the Bible, but we already know God, we already understand the Bible,
and we continue to know God and the Bible better. If you rely on your
own actions, you can't have the assurance of salvation. Just relying on
Jesus alone has the assurance of justification by faith.