羅馬書9:30-33

 

9:30 這樣，我們可說甚麼呢？那本來不追求義的外邦人反得了義，就是因信而得的義。
9:31 但以色列人追求律法的義，反得不著律法的義。
9:32 這是甚麼緣故呢？是因為他們不憑著信心求，只憑著行為求；他們正跌在那絆腳石上。
9:33 就如經上所記：我在錫安放一塊絆腳的石頭，跌人的磐石；信靠他的人必不至於羞愧。

 

³⁰ What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; ³¹ but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. ³² Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. ³³ As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall,
    and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

 

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    不管你使否相信「預定論」，或是不管你是不是「靈恩派」，但是一件事情是救恩必須，你也一定會贊同，就是是因著信靠耶穌而得救，不是靠信仰立場或行為或守規條而得救！

 

    既是憑著信心而得救，那是因為上帝的恩典！用信心表示我們不是靠行為或修行，是完全信賴上帝的引導和耶穌基督的代贖，以及聖靈將救恩運行在我們身上，使我們出死入生！

 

    所以，不管是猶太人、外邦人都只有一條路，且是唯一的一條路，就是信靠耶穌基督，正如主耶穌說：「我就是道路、真理、生命；若不藉著我，沒有人能到父那裡去。」（約翰福音14:6）

 

 

 

 

羅馬書9:14-29

 

9:14 這樣，我們可說甚麼呢？難道上帝有甚麼不公平嗎？斷乎沒有！
9:15 因他對摩西說：我要憐憫誰就憐憫誰，要恩待誰就恩待誰。
9:16 據此看來，這不在乎那定意的，也不在乎那奔跑的，只在乎發憐憫的上帝。
9:17 因為經上有話向法老說：「我將你興起來，特要在你身上彰顯我的權能，並要使我的名傳遍天下。」
9:18 如此看來，上帝要憐憫誰就憐憫誰，要叫誰剛硬就叫誰剛硬。
9:19 這樣，你必對我說：「他為甚麼還指責人呢？有誰抗拒他的旨意呢？」
9:20 你這個人哪，你是誰，竟敢向上帝強嘴呢？受造之物豈能對造他的說：「你為甚麼這樣造我呢？」
9:21 窯匠難道沒有權柄從一團泥裡拿一塊做成貴重的器皿，又拿一塊做成卑賤的器皿嗎？
9:22 倘若上帝要顯明他的忿怒，彰顯他的權能，就多多忍耐寬容那可怒、預備遭毀滅的器皿，
9:23 又要將他豐盛的榮耀彰顯在那蒙憐憫、早預備得榮耀的器皿上。
9:24 這器皿就是我們被上帝所召的，不但是從猶太人中，也是從外邦人中。這有甚麼不可呢？
9:25 就像上帝在何西阿書上說：那本來不是我子民的，我要稱為「我的子民」；本來不是蒙愛的，我要稱為「蒙愛的」。
9:26 從前在甚麼地方對他們說：你們不是我的子民，將來就在那裡稱他們為「永生上帝的兒子」。
9:27 以賽亞指著以色列人喊著說：「以色列人雖多如海沙，得救的不過是剩下的餘數；
9:28 因為主要在世上施行他的話，叫他的話都成全，速速地完結。」
9:29 又如以賽亞先前說過：若不是萬軍之主給我們存留餘種，我們早已像所多瑪、蛾摩拉的樣子了。

 

¹⁴ What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! ¹⁵ For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
    and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”^[f]

¹⁶ It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. ¹⁷ For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”^{[g] 18} Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

¹⁹ One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” ²⁰ But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”^{[h] 21} Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

²² What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? ²³ What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— ²⁴ even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵ As he says in Hosea:

“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
    and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”^[i]

²⁶ and,

“In the very place where it was said to them,
    ‘You are not my people,’
    there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”^[j]

²⁷ Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,
    only the remnant will be saved.
²⁸ For the Lord will carry out
    his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”^[k]

²⁹ It is just as Isaiah said previously:

“Unless the Lord Almighty
    had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
    we would have been like Gomorrah.”

 

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    相信反對「預定論」者讀了保羅這段文字之後，內心必定有許多掙扎，甚至會說：「上帝不是愛世人嗎？怎麼可以一些人得憐憫而被上帝拯救，而一些遭上帝憤怒而滅亡呢？上帝不應該是這樣！

 

    如果你有這樣的想法，就是在代替上帝做上帝，代替上帝做決定，這是與上帝主權相衝突，是撒但的作為，下場就是滅亡！你不覺得不接受保羅所得的啟示而寫出的話語，就是在反抗上帝嗎？

 

    也因為如此，我們不要做上面的想法與上帝的主權相爭，我們反倒要因保羅這樣說來感謝上帝，因為要不是上帝的憐憫我們怎會接受耶穌基督為救主？怎會成為上帝的兒女呢？這一切都是上帝的恩典，我們一定要為此感謝與讚美上帝，將榮耀歸給他都來不及，還與祂有甚麼相爭的呢？

 

 

 

 

羅馬書9:1-5

 

9:1 我在基督裡說真話，並不謊言，有我良心被聖靈感動，給我作見證：
9:2 我是大有憂愁，心裡時常傷痛；
9:3 為我弟兄，我骨肉之親，就是自己被咒詛，與基督分離，我也願意。
9:4 他們是以色列人；那兒子的名分、榮耀、諸約、律法、禮儀、應許都是他們的。
9:5 列祖就是他們的祖宗；按肉體說，基督也是從他們出來的。他是在萬有之上，永遠可稱頌的上帝。阿們！

 

I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— ² I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³ For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, ⁴ the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. ⁵ Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised!^[a] Amen.

 

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    不是猶太人就是信耶穌的，他們反而是不信的！而不信主耶穌就無法得上帝的拯救，這是救恩中很重要的原則。也因為這樣保羅為了猶太人不信耶穌而感到痛心疾首，以至於他會說：「我是大有憂愁，心裡時常傷痛；為我弟兄，我骨肉之親，就是自己被咒詛，與基督分離，我也願意。」

 

    也因為這樣，教會不一定要照「猶太曆」來行事，不一定要守逾越節、住棚節、悔罪日、…等等猶太人的節日。因為不是守這些節日得救，正如不是慶祝聖誕節或復活節而得救！最重要是要信靠耶穌基督才能得救，這才是上帝的旨意！

 

    親愛的弟兄姊妹，既有這樣的認識，我們也要如保羅一般的心志，盼望我們的骨肉至親都能夠信靠耶穌基督成為救主，情願讓我們來交換他們得救。雖然這是上帝的揀選，但是我們期盼我們的家人、同胞都能信靠主耶穌而得救！

 

 

羅馬書8:31-39

8:31 既是這樣，還有甚麼說的呢？上帝若幫助我們，誰能敵擋我們呢？
8:32 上帝既不愛惜自己的兒子，為我們眾人捨了，豈不也把萬物和他一同白白地賜給我們嗎？
8:33 誰能控告上帝所揀選的人呢？有上帝稱他們為義了（或譯：是稱他們為義的上帝嗎）。
8:34 誰能定他們的罪呢？有基督耶穌已經死了，而且從死裡復活，現今在上帝的右邊，也替我們祈求（有基督....或譯：是已經死了，而且從死裡復活，現今在上帝的右邊，也替我們祈求的基督耶穌嗎）。
8:35 誰能使我們與基督的愛隔絕呢？難道是患難嗎？是困苦嗎？是逼迫嗎？是飢餓嗎？是赤身露體嗎？是危險嗎？是刀劍嗎？
8:36 如經上所記：我們為你的緣故終日被殺；人看我們如將宰的羊。
8:37 然而，靠著愛我們的主，在這一切的事上已經得勝有餘了。
8:38 因為我深信無論是死，是生，是天使，是掌權的，是有能的，是現在的事，是將來的事，
8:39 是高處的，是低處的，是別的受造之物，都不能叫我們與上帝的愛隔絕；這愛是在我們的主基督耶穌裡的。

 

³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”^[j]

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

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    保羅在此宣告：「是別的受造之物，都不能叫我們與上帝的愛隔絕；這愛是在我們的主基督耶穌裡的。」

 

    也因為如此，基督徒有勇氣來面對人生各樣的考驗，我們相信上帝在基督裡的愛，永遠支持與保守我們！