THE CHRISTIAN WAY （基督教底蕴：十之六）

By DR W. R. MATTHEWS

By an act of faith, which is not a leap in the dark but a rational choice, I accept both the fact of revelation and the belief that in the Bible I have the record and expression of the most continuous and coherent revelation. In the experience which has created the Bible I look for the authentic self disclosure of God. For me then, though the Bible is in a secondary sense the word of God, it is more properly described as the record of the word, that is of the divine communication which came in divers parts and manners to the fathers by the Prophets, and finally through the Son. Though I am far from holding any theory of verbal inspiration, it seems to me that I am almost compelled to hold, too, that the Bible has taken shape in the providence of God and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I must add a consideration which is of the highest importance, though it cannot be presented in the form of an argument. Calvin laid stress on the testimonium Sancti Spiritus, by which he meant that the Holy Spirit, speaking through Scripture, finds a response inspired by the same Spirit, in me. S. T. Coleridge, I suppose, meant much the same when he said that the Bible "finds us". That is an evidence which each of us must test for himself, but who could deny the impressive weight of the witness of so many of every sort and condition who have discovered that the Bible answers their deepest needs?

根据信心行事并不是盲目地跳入黑暗之中，它是一种理性的选择；由于根据信心而行事，我接受启示的论证，而且相信在圣经中我看到最为连绵不断、前后连贯的启示的记载。圣经是靠经历和体验所创作的，我沉浸在那些经历和体验中寻求上主所作出的真正的自我显露。对于我，虽然圣经只在次要意义上是上主的言辞，它已经更为适当地被描写为上主之道的纪录，这些纪录是神圣的传意，是祖先们从不同的地方和方式先后经由先知们和圣子所获得的。虽然我没有达到敢于主张“圣言灵感”理论的地步，但是我却几乎一定会坚信，圣经是在上主的领地之中、并在圣灵的启发之下渐次成形的。有一项最为重要的考虑我必须补充，虽然我不能把它作为论证而提出。加尔文强调“圣灵经由圣经表达”，在我之中也经由同一圣灵启发而做出回应。我敢肯定的是，柯尔雷基在说出圣经“找到我们”的时候，他所意指的大体是一样。这一证据是我们每人应该自己求证的；各个种类和各种情况的证人有如是之多，他们都发现圣经能满足他们内心最深处的需要，有谁能够否认那么动人心弦的大批证人呢？

　　[God“上帝、神、上主”：在圣经中，这个英文字大多翻译为上帝或神，译者想到现代统治者已经没有“皇帝/帝王”这类头衔，同时也见到基督教的信众日渐式微，既是这样，难道我们还该用“上帝”吗？译文自本部分开始将使用“上主”的另一个理由就是，“天主教”是Christian Church 内重要的流派，据说他们只用“天主”称呼 God （当然，将来译者获得机会时将把全部译文中的“上帝”改为“上主”）。
　　[the Prophets“先知们”、the Son“圣子”：本段的这两个词都是大写，后者用“圣子”译出，可以表达其对应英文名词用大写的含义，前者也许需要改写为“伟大的先知们”，聊以表达其对应的英文名词为大写。]

I will bring this part of my confessio fidei to a conclusion by quoting three propositions from Wittgenstein, who is not generally regarded as a friend of theologians. "The Sense of the world must he outside the world." [Tractatus 6.41]. "God does not reveal Himself in the world." [Op. cit. 6.432]. "There is indeed the inexpressible. This shows itself; it is the mystical." [Op. cit. 6.522]. The first and last of these' propositions are true; if "in" means within", the second proposition is false and is inconsistent with the third. God is indeed the “inexpressible”, in logical propositions, but He “shows” Himself, and the vision of prophets and mystics can be, within limits, described, though not defined.

　　大体说来，维根斯坦并不是神学家的朋友，他曾经提出三个命题，我愿意在结束这部分我对信仰作出剖白之时，引用他那三个命题。“世界感一定在世界之外。”[短文6.41]。“上主不在这个世界显露自己。”[同前6.432]。“无法形容的存在是的确具有的。它会显露自己；它是神秘的。”[同前6.522] 这三个命题的第一个和第三个是确实的；如果“在”表示“在XX 之内”，第二个命题就是错误的，它跟第三个命题彼此矛盾。在逻辑的命题中，上主的确是“无法形容的存在”，但是他“显露”自己，在有限度的范围内，各先知和方士所描写的“显灵”，略得其要，但并非肯定的。

　　[if “in” means “within” ：在原著中，此处所引英文的结束为“；”，译者按文意把它改为“，”，否则原文似乎读不出意义。]

To point to the Christian creed and say, There is my philosophy of life, would be true up to a point, but misleading, for it might imply both that I supposed I succeeded in living up to it and that I accepted it simply on authority and thought no more about it. This is not the place to expound and defend the Christian creed the main tenets of which I assume are well known to my readers. I confine myself to a brief statement of how I take the Christian faith and how it ought to affect, and to some extent does actually affect, my attitude towards life, other persons and society.

　　指着基督教义，说“基督教义中含有我的人生哲学”，到某个限度为止可以说是对的，但可能让人误解，因为它可能含示：（1）我设想我做到了基督教的要求，（2）我接受基督教只是出于依赖权威、自己未能多做思考。本文不是解释和辩护基督教义的地方，而且我觉得本文的读者对其要旨都很明白。我让自己限定于简短的叙述之内，说明我如何接受基督教信仰，以及它会如何、而且在某种程度上已经实际地如何影响到我对生命、对其他人和社会的态度。

The New Testament as a whole is to me quite evidently the record and expression of a supremely revelatory experience which originates with Christ and centres upon Him. The core of the revelatory experience is the experience of Jesus of Nazareth, but that, so to speak, spreads out through other persons and other lives, which are caught up in the spiritual tide which flows from Him. But I cannot accept the New Testament without accepting also the Church, and that for two reasons: first, that the New Testament itself regards the Church as an essential element in its revelation, and, secondly, that the New Testament comes to me through the Church, which selected the books that are to be revered as inspired. I could not have the Church without the Bible, and I should not have the Bible without the Church.

　　就整体而言，新约很明显的是以基督为开端、以基督为中心的最高级的启示经验的记载。其启示经验的重点是耶稣的经验，其他人和其他生灵被卷入于耶稣带来的精神浪潮中，也因此可以说他的经验是经由其他人和生灵而得以扩展。但是，我不能接受新约而不同时接受基督教会，我这么做有两个理由：第一，新约的经文认为教会是其启示的基本要素，第二，新约是经由教会而传递给我，是教会受到启发选择值得重视的典籍。我不能有教会而没有圣经，我不应该有圣经而没有教会。

　　[Jesus of Nazareth“(来自Nazareth的)耶稣”：中文不轻易容许“来自Nazareth的耶稣”这类的短语，如果容许，必定意味着另有来自其他地方的耶稣；幸好“耶稣”在中文里是独一无二的指称，大可把这短语只译为“耶稣”。

The old Anglican formula "The Church to teach and the Bible to prove" satisfies me, if I am allowed to put my own interpretation upon it. In my view, it implies that I am never called upon to adopt the doctrines of the Church uncritically, for I can always ask for the proof, and indeed I ought to do so. Thus, though I hope I shall always pay due regard to the "Mind of the Church", I insist, too, that my mind is a part of the Mind of the Church, though no doubt not a very important one. In this way, I believe, it is possible to reconcile the authority of the continuing spiritual experience of the Christian fellowship with personal freedom of thought. And freedom of thought within the Church is of the utmost value, if Christianity is to be preserved from stagnation and superstition.

　　如果允许我加入自己的解释，我乐意接受圣公会的一句老话“教会教导、圣经证明”。在我看来，这就是说我不必无条件地接受教旨，因为我总是可以要求证据的，而的确我应该那么做。这样，虽然我希望自己总会对“教会的心灵”给予适当的尊重，我也坚持自己的心灵是教会心灵的一部分，尽管无疑问的是极不重要的部分。在这种方式下，我认为基督教整体的属灵的长远的经验，可以跟个人的思想自由，有可能获得和解。如果要维护基督教而且让它不致僵化和迷信，在教会之内的思想自由是最有价值的。（十之六完）