009B 加尔文，《基督教要义》，3.2.1-7:「信心」
John Calvin on “Faith,” from Institutes of the Christian Religion (3.2.1-7)
3.2 – 信仰（信心）的意义及其特性
Faith: Its Definition Set Forth, and Its Properties Explained
3.2.1 信心的对象是基督 The Object of Faith is Christ
我们对信心若有一个较明确的定义，这一切的事就很容易明了了，而读者也可以了解它的性质和重要性。但读者应当牢记以前所说过的，上帝赐祂的律法给我们作为行为的准则，假若我们对律法稍有违犯，我们将遭受祂所指定那可怕的永死惩罚。再者，要按祂所要求的去实行律法，不但困难，而且绝非我们能力所能做到，所以若我们仅看到自己和自己的过失，不得不认为自己乃是上帝所抛弃，而面临着永远沉沦的人。第三，我们已经说过，只有一个拯救释放的方法，可以叫我们免于灾难，那就是救主基督的出现，天父借着祂就乐意以祂无限的良善与仁慈，怜悯我们这些以诚恳信心接受祂的仁慈，和以不变的希望寄托在祂身上的人。
But it will be easy to understand all these matters after a clearer definition of faith has been presented, to enable our readers to grasp its force and nature. We may well recall here what was explained before: First, God lays down for us through the law what we should do; if we then fail in any part of it, that dreadful sentence of eternal death which it pronounces will rest upon us. Secondly, it is not only hard, but above our strength and beyond all our abilities, to fulfill the law to the letter; thus, if we look to ourselves only, and ponder what condition we deserve, no trace of good hope will remain; but cast away by God, we shall lie under eternal death. Thirdly, it has been explained that there is but one means of liberation that can rescue us from such miserable calamity: the appearance of Christ the Redeemer, through whose hand the Heavenly Father, pitying us out of his infinite goodness and mercy, willed to help us; if, indeed, with firm faith we embrace this mercy and rest in it with steadfast hope.
但我们必须研究信心的性质，看看它怎能使我们以上帝之子的名份而承受天国，因为不是每一种意见，也不是每一种信念都能与信心这么伟大的事相匹敌。我们研究信仰的本质，更要特别小心谨慎，以免陷入现代一般人所堕进的迷惑。世界上许多人在听到 「信仰」一词的时候，以为那不过是同意于福音的历史而已。甚至经院主义对信仰之争，也不过把上帝当做信仰的客体，（如我在其它的地方所发觉的）他们徒然引人误入空想的迷途，而不是引人进入正轨。因为上帝既是「住在人不能靠近的光里」（提前6：16），必须基督居间为中保，人才可以接近上帝。因此，祂自称「是世界的光」（约8：12），又说祂 「是道路，真理，和生命，」因为 「若不借着我，没有人能到」 生命之源的 「父那里去」（约14：6）；因为只有祂认识父，又把父显现给相信的人（参路10：22）。
But now we ought to examine what this faith ought to be like, through which those adopted by God as his children come to possess the Heavenly Kingdom, since it is certain that no mere opinion or even persuasion is capable of bringing so great a thing to pass. Ad we must scrutinize and investigate the true character of faith with greater care and zeal because many are dangerously deluded today in this respect. Indeed, most people, when they hear this term, understand nothing deeper than a common assent to the gospel history. In fact, when faith is discussed in the schools, they call God simply the object of faith, and by fleeting speculations, as we have elsewhere stated, lead miserable souls astray rather than direct them to a definite goal. For, since “God dwells in inaccessible light” [I Tim. 6:16], Christ must become our intermediary. Hence, he calls himself “the light of the world [John 8:12], and elsewhere stated, “the way, the truth, and the life”; for no one comes to the Father, who is “the fountain of life” [Ps. 36:9], except through him [John 14:6] because he alone knows the Father, and afterward the believers to whom he wishes to reveal him [Luke 10:22].
因为保罗说，除耶稣基督以外，没有别的是他值得他认识的，（参林前2：2）；在使徒行传第二十章中他说，他是劝人信靠基督；在另一处基督对他说：「我差你到外邦人那里去……叫他们……因信我，得蒙赦罪，和一切成圣的人同得基业」（徒26：17，18）。这使徒告诉我们，上帝的荣光在基督身上向我们显明，「叫我们得知上帝荣耀的光，显在耶稣基督的面上」（林后4：6）。
On this ground, Paul declares that he considers nothing worth knowing save Christ [I Cor. 2:2]. In the twentieth chapter of Acts he relates that he has preached “faith in… Christ” [v.21]. And in another passage he has Christ speak as follows: “I shall send you among the Gentiles…, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among the saints through faith that is in me” [Acts 26:17-18]. And Paul testifies that the glory of God is visible to us in His person, or – what amounts to the same thing – that the enlightening knowledge of the glory of God shines in His face [II Cor. 4:6].
不错，信心的对象是唯一真神，但也必须认识上帝所差遣的耶稣基督（约17：3）。假如我们不是被基督的光明所启发，我们将完全无法认识上帝。所以上帝把一切荣华交付与祂的独生子，好在子身上显明祂自己；又使基督所赐的福可以表明父荣耀的真像。以前说过，我们必须为圣灵所吸引，激发我们寻求基督，同样我们也应该知道，不能见的父只能从这个形像中去寻求。这问题奥古斯丁在论信仰之时说得好：「我们应该知道往何处去，和怎样去法；」随即又作结论说：「那避免一切错误的稳当的方法便是认识那位神人合一的基督，因为我们所要接近的是上帝，我们所藉以接近上帝的是人；而这两者只能在基督身上找到。」保罗讲到信上帝的时候，并无意破坏他平日对信心的教训，这信心是全靠基督而得安定的。彼得更恰当地把两者连为一，说：「我们因着祂而信上帝」（彼前1：21）。
Indeed, it is true that faith looks to one God. But this must also be added, “To know Jesus Christ whom he has sent” [John 17:3]. For God would have remained hidden afar off if Christ’s splendor had not beamed upon us. For this purpose the Father laid up with his only-begotten Son all that he had revealed himself in Christ so that Christ, by communicating his Father’s benefits, might express the true image of his glory [cf. Heb. 1:3]. It has been said that we must be drawn by the Spirit to be aroused to seek Christ; so, in turn, we must be warned that the invisible Father is to be sought solely in this image. Augustine has finely spoken of this matter: in discussing the goal of faith, he teaches that we must know our destination and the way to it. Then, immediately after, he infers that the way that is most fortified against all errors is he who was both God and man: namely, as God he is the destination to which we move; as man, the path by which we go. Both are found in Christ alone. But, while Paul proclaims faith in God, he does not have in mind to overturn what he so often emphasizes concerning faith: namely, that all its stability rests in Christ. Peter, indeed, most effectively connects both, saying that through him we believe in God (I Peter 1:21).
3.2.2 信心是建立在知识上，不是在敬虔的无知上
Faith Rests Upon Knowledge, Not Pious Ignorance
(Faith involves knowledge; the true doctrine obscured by Scholastic notion of implicit faith, 3.2.2-5)
…这罪恶和其它数的恶一般，完全是生于经院派之将基督蒙上一层面纱，掩盖了祂的真面目；其实，除非我们直接专一地注意祂，我们将永远陷于迷宫。
This evil, then, like innumerable others, must be attributed to the Schoolmen, who have, as it were, drawn a veil over Christ to hide him. Unless we look straight toward him, we shall wander through endless labyrinths.
他们不但以模糊的定义减削了，甚而几乎是完全消减了信仰的一切重要性,而且虚构了「默信」之说，他们用默信这名词来粉饰无知，以最烈的毒素迷惑一般可怜的人。老实说这观念不但埋没了信仰，而且完全毁灭了它。所谓信仰，竟是一无所知，而使认识徒然顺从地屈服于教会吗？信仰不是在于无知，乃是在于认识；不但认识上帝，还要认识上帝的旨意。因为我们得救，不是靠于承认教会所指示的伪真理，或在我们把我们所应当研讨的都交给教会。当我们知道，由于基督所完成的复和，上帝对我们是慈祥的父，又知道父把基督赐给我们，为的是叫我们得着公义，成圣，和生命，我敢说，我们是由于这个认识，不是放弃认识，而得以进入天国。因为使徒所说：「人心里相信，就可以称义，口里承认，就可以得救」（罗10：10）若是指人默信那自己所不了解，也不加以研究的事是不够的；他必须对上帝的怜悯有明确的认识，因为我们被称义是根据此怜悯。
But besides wearing down the whole force of faith and almost annihilating it by their obscure definition, they have fabricated the fiction of “implicit faith.” Bedecking the grossest ignorance with this term, they ruinously delude poor, miserable folk. Furthermore, to state truly and frankly the real fact of the matter, this fiction not only buries but utterly destroys true faith. Is this what believing means, to understand nothing, provided only that you submit your feelings obediently to the church? Faith rests not on ignorance, but on knowledge. And this is, indeed, knowledge not only of God but of the divine will. We do not obtain salvation either because we are prepared to embrace as true whatever the church has prescribed, or because we turn over to it the task of inquiring and knowing. But we do so when we know that God is our merciful Father, because of reconciliation effected through Christ [II Cor. 5:18-19], and that Christ has been given to us as righteousness, sanctification, and life. By this knowledge, I say, not by submission of our feeling, do we obtain entry into the Kingdom of Heaven. For when the apostle says, “With the heart a man believes unto righteousness, with the mouth makes confession unto salvation” [Rom. 10:10, cf. Vg.], he indicates that it is not enough for a man implicitly to believe what he does not understand or even investigate. But he requires explicit recognition of the divine goodness upon which our righteousness rests.
3.2.3罗马天主教的信心观（信心等于默认教会的教义）是虚假的
Roman Doctrine of “Implicit” Faith Basically False
我不否认，因我们的无知，现在有许多事还是模糊不清，将来也要如此，直等到我们摆脱了肉体的负担，和上帝更加接近的时候。关于这些问题，最好是保留判断，坚决地与教会保持一致。但在这个托词之下，以信仰的雅号尊称无知与谦虚的结合，是极端的荒谬。因为信仰在乎对上帝和基督的认识（约17：3），而不是在乎对教会的尊敬。我们知道，他们如何以这捏造的观念构成一座迷官，以致一般无知浅见的人不知辨别，凡在教会名义之下所指示的，无不视为神谕，热心接受；有时甚至连最大的错误也盲目接受。虽然这是终必毁灭的盲信，他们却辩称，那不是他们的确定信仰，乃是一种以教会是否如此信仰为条件的信仰。因此他们诡称真理是在错误中，光明是在黑暗中，真知识是在愚昧中。
Indeed, I do not deny – such is the ignorance with which we are surrounded – that most things are now implicit for us, and will be so until, laying aside the weight of the flesh, we come nearer to the presence of God. In these matters we can do nothing better than suspend judgment, and hearten ourselves to hold unity with the church. But on this pretext it would be the height of absurdity to label ignorance tempered by humility “faith”! For faith consists in the knowledge of God and Christ [John 17:3], not in reverence for the church. We see the sort of labyrinth they have constructed with this “implication” of theirs! Anything at all, provided it be palmed off on them under the label “church” – sometimes even the most frightful errors – the untutored indiscriminately seize upon as an oracle. This headless gullibility, although it is the very brink of ruin, yet is excused by them; only on condition that “such is the faith of the church” does it definitely believe anything. Thus they fancy that in error they possess truth; in darkness, light; in ignorance, right knowledge.
我们不必多费时间驳斥他们，只劝告读者把他们的教理和我们的教理作一番比较，因为真理的清晰性本身即足以驳倒他们。他们的问题不在乎信仰是否包括在无知的余物中，但他们坚持说，对于未知的事物只要同意教会的权威和判断，虽为无知所惑，甚而故意纵容无知，也是有真信仰的人，彷佛整个《圣经》并没有告诉我们，知识是必须与信仰相结连的。
But let us not tarry longer over refuting them; we merely admonish the reader to compare these doctrines with ours. The very clarity of truth itself will of itself provide sufficiently ready refutation. For they do not ask whether faith is wrapped in many remnants of ignorance, but define right believers as those who go numb in their own ignorance, and even brag about it, provided they give assent to the authority and judgment of the church in things unknown to them. As if Scripture does not regularly teach that understanding is joined with faith!
3.2.4 甚至真正的信心，也常被错误和不信包围
Even Right Faith Is Always Surrounded By Error and Unbelief
我们承认，当我们在世作客之时，我们的信仰是默从的，不但因为我们对许多事还不了解，而是因为错误如云雾般地包围我们，以致我们对一切事物的认识很不完全。那最完全之人的最大智慧是在于以忍耐温顺，努力向前，不住改善。所以保罗劝告信徒，若他们彼此意见有所不同，就要等待进一步的启示（腓3：15）。经验告诉我们，直到我们解除肉体的束缚，我们的知识与我们的心愿相去不知多远；我们每天读经，常遇疑难，这就足以证明我们的无知。上帝用这界限约束我们，叫我们谦虚，给每人分配多少的信心，叫甚至饱学的教师也得学习。
We certainly admit that so long as we dwell as strangers in the world there is such a thing as implicit faith; not only because many things are as yet hidden from us, but because surrounded by many clouds of errors we do not comprehend everything. The height of wisdom for the most perfect is to go forward and, quietly and humbly, to strive still further. Therefore Paul exhorts believers that, if some disagree with others in any matter, they should wait for revelation [Phil. 3:15]. Experience obviously teaches that until we put off the flesh we attain less than we should lie. And in our daily reading of Scripture we come upon many obscure passages that convict us of ignorance. With this bridle God keeps us within bounds, assigning to each his “measure of faith” [Rom. 12:3] so that even the best teacher may be ready to learn.
我们可以基督的门徒在未蒙完全开导时作为这默信的榜样。我们知道他们最初受教是如何的困难；他们甚至在最小的事上也踌躇犹豫；甚至在倾听夫子训诲之时，仍然没有多大的长进；当他们得到妇女们的通报，跑到坟墓去之时，还是如在梦中。基督既已证明他们的有信，自不容我们说他们完全没有信心；其实，假如他们不相信基督要从死里复活，他们自然不会对萶祂再有关切。那些妇女并非因迷信而以香膏涂抹那死者的身体，以为祂复生是没有希望的；不过虽然她们相信祂的话，知道那是真实可靠的，但那依然盘据在他们心里的无知，使他们的信心陷在黑暗中，以致他们非常的骇异，不知所措。所以说，当他们看见基督的话业已为事实所证明，最后就相信了；这不是说他们的信仰在这时候开始，而是那在他们心里好像死了，其实是潜伏着的信心种子，现在才生气勃发地滋长起来。所以他们有了真实的，却是默从的信心，因为他们尊基督为唯一的老师；他们既受祂的熏陶，就相信祂是他们的救主，他们相信祂是来自天上，好藉父的恩惠把祂所有的门徒带到天上。其实每一个人的信心总混杂着一些不信的成份的，这一点我们毋须再寻找比这更熟悉的证据了。
Remarkable examples of this implicit faith may be noted in Christ’s disciples before they attained full enlightenment. We see how with difficulty they taste even the first rudiments, halting over the slightest matters, and though hanging on their Master’s words, making but little progress. Indeed, when, warned by the women, they rush to the tomb, the resurrection of their Master seems to them like a dream [Luke 24:11-12; cf. John 20:8]. Since Christ previously bore witness to their faith, it is wrong to say that they were completely devoid of it. No, unless they had been persuaded that Christ would rise again, all zeal would have failed them. Nor was it superstition that prompted the women to anoint with spices the corpse of a dead man for whose life there would be no hope. But although they had faith in the words of him whom they knew to be truthful, the ignorance that as yet occupied their minds so enveloped their faith in darkness that they were almost dumfounded. Hence, also it is said that they finally believed after they themselves had discovered the truth of Christ’s words through the very fact of his resurrection. Not that they then began to believe, but because the seed of hidden faith – which had been dead, as it were, in their hearts – at that time burst through with renewed vigor! For there was in them a true but implicit faith because they had reverently embraced Christ as their sole teacher. Then, taught by him, they were convinced he was the author of their salvation. And finally, they believed he came from heaven that, through the Father’s grace, he might gather his disciples thither. We ought not to seek any more intimate proof of this man that unbelief is, in all men, always mixed with faith.
3.2.5默信﹕信心的准备
“Implicit” Faith as Prerequisite of Faith
有时我们所称为默信的，若严格地说，无非是信心的准备。福音书说有很多人相信，可是这些人虽然钦敬基督的神迹，对福音的教理却没有多大的认识，所以最多只有相信祂是弥赛亚而已。那种引他们乐意顺服基督的尊敬之心，虽被称为信仰，其实不过是信仰的开端而已。例如，那相信基督关于他儿子可得医治的大臣，按照福音书的见证，当他回到家里的时候，他又再相信了（约4：50-53）。这就是说，他最初把基督的话当做神谕；不过，以后他专心致志地顺服祂的权威，接受祂的教义。我们应该知道，他是顺从和勇于学习的；那第一个「信」是指一种特殊的信心；第二个「信」是指把他列在那（删﹕以自己的名字）奉献与基督的门徒中的。约翰艾萨克玛利亚人为例；他们因相信那妇人的报告就急切地跑到基督跟前，又在听了基督说话以后，就对那妇人说：「现在我们信，不是因为你的话，是我们亲自听见了，知道这真是救世主」（约4：42）。这样看来，那些还没有进入信仰的最初境地，仅倾向于顺从的人，也可以被称为信徒，这不是按照严格的意义来说，乃是因为上帝仁慈地把这伟大的荣誉归给敬虔的心。但这种求进步的顺从之心，与那些因受罗马教徒所捏造的默信之影响而麻木了的人，是有很大差别的。如果保罗严厉责备那些「常常学习，终久不能明白真道」的人（提后3：7），那末，那些专事研究而故作无知的人，又是何等的可耻！
We may also call that faith implicit which is still strictly nothing but the preparation of faith. The Evangelists relate that very many believed who, caught up into wonderment by the miracles only, did not advance farther than to believe Christ the Messiah who had been promised, although they had not been imbued with even a trace of the gospel teaching. Such reverent attention, which disposed them to submit themselves willingly to Christ, is graced with the title “Faith”; yet it was only the beginning of faith. Thus, the court official who believed Christ’s promise concerning the healing of his son [John 4:50], having returned to his house, as the Evangelist testified, believed anew [John 4:53] because he first received as an oracle what he had heard from the mouth of Christ, and then submitted to Christ’s authority to receive the teaching. Yet we must know that he was so teachable and ready to learn that in the first passage his admission of belief signifies a particular faith, while in the second passage he is counted among the disciples who had enlisted with Christ. John sets forth a like example in the Samaritans who so believed the word of a woman that they eagerly rushed to Christ, but spoke to her, when they heard him, as follows; “Now we do not believe on account of your speaking, but we have heard him and we know that it is the Savior of the world” [John 4:42]. From these instances it is clear that even those who are not yet imbued with the first elements but are still inclined to hearken are called “believers”; not in an exact sense, indeed, but in so far as God in his kindness deigns to grace that pious affection with such great honor. But this teachableness, with the desire to learn, is far different from sheer ignorance in which those sluggishly rest who are content with the sort of “implicit faith” the papist invent. For if Paul severely condemns those who “are always learning but never arrive at a knowledge of the truth” [II Tim. 3:7], how much greater ignominy do those merit who deliberately affect complete ignorance!
3.2.6 信心依靠上帝的话语
Faith Rests Upon God’s Word
(Relation of Faith to the Word and Brief Definition of Faith, 6-7)
因此，对基督真正的认识，在乎接受祂为父之所赐，在福音里认识祂；祂既是我们信仰的对象，若没有福音的指导，我们就不能正当地接近祂。福音给我们开了无限恩惠的宝藏，若没有那些宝藏，基督对我们便没有多大的益处，保罗把信仰与教理看为不可分开的，所以说，「你们学了基督，却不是这样；如果你们听过上帝的道，领了祂的教，学了祂的真理」（弗4：20，21）。
This, then, is the true knowledge of Christ, if we receive him as he is offered by the Father: namely, clothed with his gospel. For just as he has been appointed as the goal of our faith, so we cannot take the right road to him unless the gospel goes before us. And there, surely, the treasures of grace are opened to us; for if they had been closed, Christ would have benefited us little. Thus Paul yokes faith to teaching, as an inseparable companion, with these words: “You did not so learn Christ if indeed you were taught what is the truth in Christ” [Eph. 4:20-21 p.].
我却不将信仰限于福音范围内，我承认摩西与先知们所传的足以建立信心；不过因为福音对基督有更充份的表现，所以保罗说得对，「这是信仰和真道的话语」（参提前4：6）。因此在另一处，他认为信仰废了律法（加3：23-25）意思是福音是新的教训，因为基督一现身作为我们的夫子，祂就使父的慈悲更加发扬光大，而我们的救恩有更显明的见证。那么，我们的比较方便的解释方法，是依次由类降到种。
Yet I do not so restrict faith to the gospel without confessing that what sufficed for building it up had been handed down by Moses and the prophets. But because a fuller manifestation of Christ has been revealed in the gospel, Paul justly calls it the “doctrine of faith” [cf. I Tim. 4:6]. For this reason, he says in another passage that by the coming of faith the law was abolished [Rom. 10:4; cf. Gal. 3:25]. He understand by this term the new and extraordinary kind of teaching by which Christ, after he became our teacher, has more clearly set forth the mercy of the Father, and has more surely testified to our salvation.
- 我们必须知道，信仰与道有永恒的关系，两者不能分开，正如光线之
与太阳，所以上帝借着以赛亚说：「你们侧耳而听，就必得活」（赛55：3）。道是信仰的源泉，可由约翰的话看出来：「但记载这些事，要叫我们信」（约20：31）。诗人也劝百姓相信，说：「惟愿你们今天听祂的话」（诗95：7；94﹕8）；听即是指信而言。最后，以赛亚书认为教会的儿女所以与外人不同，是在于前者是祂的门徒，受祂的教训（参赛54：13；约6﹕45）。假如这利益是大家所共有的，祂为什么只对少数人说呢？同样，福音书总是把「信徒」和「门徒」作为同义字，尤其路加和使徒行传，常有那样的用法；在使徒行传第九章，他把门徒这名词用到一位妇女身上（增﹕徒9﹕36； 6﹕1-2，7；9﹕1，10，19，25-26，38；11﹕26，29；13．52；14﹕20，8；15﹕10；徒16-21章）。
Yet it will be an easier and more suitable method if we descend by degrees from general to particular. First, we must be reminded that there is a permanent relationship between faith and the Word. He could not separate one from the other any more than we could separate the rays from the sun from which they come. For this reason, God exclaims in The Book of Isaiah: “Hear me and your soul shall live” [ch. 55:3]. And John shows this same wellspring of faith in these words: “These things have been written that you may believe” [John 20:31]. The prophet, also, desiring to exhort the people to faith, says: “Today if you will hear his voice” [Ps. 95:7; 94:8; Vg.]. “To hear” is generally understood as meaning to believe. In short, it is not without reason that in The Book of Isaiah, God distinguishes the children of the church from outsiders by this mark: he will teach all his children [Is. 54:13; John 6:45] that they may learn of him [cf. John 6:45]. For if benefits were indiscriminately given, why would he have directed his Word to a few? To this corresponds the fact that the Evangelists commonly use the words “believers” and “disciples” as synonymous. This is especially Luke’s usage in The Acts of the Apostles: indeed he extends this title even to a woman in Acts 9:36 [Acts 6:1-2, 7; 9:1, 10, 19, 25-26, 38; 11:26, 29; 13:52; 14:20, 28; 15:10; also chs. 16 to 21].
- 因此，若信心对应针对着的目标稍有偏移，就丧失了它原来的性质，
流为无定的盲信，陷心灵于歧途。这道是支持信的基础，一旦离开了它，信仰就不免崩溃。没有道，即没有信。
Therefore if faith turns away even in the slightest degree from this goal toward which it should aim, it does not keep its own nature, but becomes uncertain credulity and vague error of mind. The same Word is the basis whereby faith is supported and sustained; if it turns away from the Word, it falls. Therefore, take away the Word and no faith will then remain.
我们在这里不用争论传布那产生信心的上帝的道是否需要人的工作，这一点我们将留在别的地方讨论；但我们敢说，那传与我们的道的本身无论怎样传来，是好像一面镜子，叫信仰在其中可以看见上帝。所以不论上帝是否借用人，或完全靠自己的权能运行，祂总是以道向祂所要吸引的人表现自己（参罗1：5）。因此，保罗把信心解释为对福音的服从，而称赞信心为供献的祭物（腓2：17）。信心所了解的，不但是一位上帝，主要的乃是认识祂对我们的旨意。因为我们要明白祂是什么，远不如明白祂对我们是怎样的重要。
We are not here discussing whether a human ministry is necessary for the sowing of God’s Word, from which faith may be conceived. This we shall discuss in another place (IV. 1. 5). But we say that the Word itself, however it be imparted to us, is like a mirror in which faith may contemplate God. Whether, therefore, God makes use of man’s help in this or works by his own power alone, he always represents himself through his Word to those whom he wills to draw to himself. And for this reason, Paul defines faith as that obedience which is given to the gospel [Rom. 1:5], and elsewhere praises allegiance to faith in Philippians [Phil. 1:3-5; cf. I Thess. 2:13]. In understanding faith it is not merely a question of knowing that God exists, but also – and this especially – of knowing what is his will toward us. For it is not so much our concern to know who he is in himself, as what he wills to be toward us.
所以我们知道，信心就是从上帝的道所得来关于祂对我们的旨意的认识。信心的基础是在于预先相信上的真理。若心中稍存疑惑，便动摇了道的权威，或者根本没有了道的权威。除非你毫无疑义地承认，凡出自上帝的，都是神圣不可侵犯的真理，否则，只有信上帝为真实无欺是不够的。
Now, therefore, we hold faith to be a knowledge of God’s will toward us, perceived from his Word. But the foundation of this is a preconceived conviction of God’s truth. As for its certainty, so long as your mind is at war with itself, the Word will be of doubtful and weak authority, or rather of none. And it is not even enough to believe that God is trustworthy [cf. Rom. 3:3], who can neither deceive nor lie [cf. Titus 1:2], unless you hold to be beyond doubt that whatever proceeds from him is sacred and inviolable truth.
3.2.7 信心﹕确定的知识，知道上帝对我们的美意，建立在基督里上帝给我们的应许，透过圣灵向我们的理性启示，印记在我们心中
FAITH, 1539 ONWARDS: SURE, CERTAIN KNOWLEDGE OF
GOD’S GOOD WILL TO US, FOUNDED ON PROMISES GIVEN IN CHIRST,
REVEALED TO MIND, SEALED IN HEARTS BY SPIRIT
但人心既不因上帝的每一句话而发生信心，所以我们必须进一步研究到底和信仰（信心）有特殊关系的，是道中的那一部份。上帝对亚当说：「你必定死」（创2：17）；又对该隐说：「你兄弟的血，有声音从地里向我哀告」（创4：10）；这些声明非但不足以建立信心，反足以动摇信心。我们不否认，信仰（信心）总是应该承认上帝的真理，不论是在什么时候或以什么方式说出的，且不论那真理的内容怎样；我们现在只要研究，信心在上帝的道中有什么可作为根据的。当我们良心所面对着的都是愤怒和报复的时候，它怎能不恐惧战栗呢？如果它所恐怖的是上帝，它怎么不会逃避祂呢？可是，信心应该寻找上帝，不应逃避上帝。
But since man’s heart is not aroused to faith at every word of God, we must find out at this point what, strictly speaking, faith looks to in the Word. God’s word to Adam was, “You shall surely die” [Gen. 2:17]. God’s word to Cain was, “The blood of your brother cries out to me from the earth” [Gen. 4:10]. But these words are so far from being capable of establishing faith that they can of themselves do nothing but shake it. In the meantime, we do not deny that it is the function of faith to subscribe to God’s truth whenever and whatever and however it speaks. But we ask only what faith finds in the Word of the Lord upon which to lean and rest. Where our conscience sees only indignation and vengeance, how can it fail to tremble and be afraid? Or to shun the God whom it dreads? Yet faith ought to seek God, not to shun him.
这样，我们对信心好像还没有一个完全的定义，因为对上帝的一般旨意的认识，不能算为信仰。既然上帝旨意的宣布常产生恐惧和忧虞，我们倒不如注意上帝的仁爱或怜悯，这样必使我们与信心的本性更接近些。在我们知道救恩是存在于上帝以后，我们必被吸引去寻找祂；上帝为我们贮备了救恩，是由祂声明救恩是祂所特殊关心的而得到证实。上帝恩典的应许是人心唯一可靠的根据，所以我们需要这种应许，以保证祂是我们慈祥的父，否则我们便无法和祂接近。
It is plain, then, that we do not yet have a full definition of faith, inasmuch as merely to know something of God’s will is not to be accounted faith. But what if we were to substitute his benevolence or his mercy in place of his will, the tidings of which are often sad and the proclamation frightening? Thus, surely, we shall more closely approach the nature of faith; for it is after we have learned that our salvation rests with God that we are attracted to seek him. This fact is confirmed for us when he declares that our salvation is his care and concern. Accordingly, we need the promise of grace, which can testify to us that the Father is merciful; since we can approach him in no other way, and upon grace alone the heart of man can rest.
所以，怜悯与真理，在《诗篇》中是相提并论的；因为如果上帝不以祂的怜悯引我们到祂那里去，认识祂的真理性，那就对我们无所补益了；如果祂不是亲口应承，我们也无从接受祂的怜悯。「我已陈明你的信实，和你的救恩；我未曾隐瞒你的慈爱和诚实……愿你的慈爱和诚实常常保佑我」（诗40：10，11）。又说：「主啊，你的慈爱上及诸天；你的信实达到穹苍」（诗36：5）；「凡遵守祂的约的人，主都以慈爱诚实待祂」（诗25：10）。又说：「因为祂向我们大施慈爱；主的诚实；存到永远」（诗117：2）；「我要为你的慈爱和诚实称赞你的名」（诗138：2）。先知所讲说的意义与这相同，上帝的应许是仁慈和诚实的，我不必再引证。若不是上帝先行证实祂对我们的善意，既不含糊，亦不隐讳，那么，我们若断言祂对我们是慈祥的，就未免近于武断了。但我们已经知道，基督是上帝之爱的唯一保证，若没有祂，上帝的恨与怒的征候必处处显出。
On this basis the psalms commonly yoke these two, mercy and truth, as if they were mutually connected [Ps. 89:14, 24; 92:2; 98:3; 100:5; 108:4; 115:1; etc.]; for it would not help us at all to know that God is true unless he mercifully attracted us to himself. Nor would it have been in our power to embrace his mercy if he had not offered it with his word: “I have declared thy truth and thy salvation; I have not concealed thy goodness and thy truth. … Let thy goodness and thy truth … preserve me” [Ps. 40:10-11, Comm.]. Another passage: “Thy mercy … extends to the heavens, thy truth to the clouds.” [Ps. 36:5, Comm.]. Likewise: “All the ways of Jehovah are kindness and truth to those who keep his covenant.” [Ps. 25:10, Comm.] “For his mercy is multiplied upon us, and the truth of the Lord endures forever.” [Ps. 117:2; 116:2, Vg.; cf. Comm.] Again, “I will sing thy name for thy mercy and thy truth.” [Ps. 138:2.] I pass over what we read in the Prophets along the same line, that God is kind and steadfast in his promises. For it will be rash for us to decide that God is well disposed toward us unless he give witness of himself, and anticipate us by his call, that his will may not be doubtful or obscure. But we have already seen that the sole pledge of his love is Christ, without whom the signs of hatred and wrath are everywhere evident.
因为除非我们对上帝之良善的认识到了能叫我们去依靠它的程度，这种认识就没有多大的益处，而我们就应当排除那含有疑惑，不一致，常变，和犹疑不决的认识。人心盲目黑暗，对上帝的旨意不能渗透；人心既永远犹疑无定，就无法有坚定的信念。所以我们的心思必须有外来的光照和启迪。庶几我们对上帝的道能有充份的信仰。所以，假如我们说，信心是对上帝的仁爱的一种不变而确实的认识，这认识是以基督那白白应许的真实为根据，并借着圣灵向我们的思想所启示，在我们心里所证实的，那么，这就是信的一个完全的定义。
Now, the knowledge of God’s goodness will not be held very important unless it makes us rely on that goodness. Consequently, understanding mixed with doubt is to be excluded, as it is not to firm agreement, but in but in conflict, with itself. Yet far indeed is the mind of man, blind and darkened as it is, from penetrating and attaining even to perception of the will of God! And the heart, too, wavering as it is in perpetual hesitation, is far from resting secure in that conviction! Therefore our mind must be otherwise illumined and our heart strengthened, that the Word of God may obtain full faith among us. Now we shall possess a right definition of faith if we call it a firm and certain knowledge of God’s benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
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