中文第五课 （lesson 5）尼西亚信经的意义
第五课 （lesson 5）尼西亚信经的意义 分类：信经 Creed 作者：CSI 点击数：2273 Lesson Five: The Meaning of the Nicene Creed 第五课： 尼西亚信经的意义 A. THE FIRST ARTICLE 第一部分 When the doctrine of the Trinity is rightly believed and confessed, it focuses attention on Christ the Savior who became incarnate for man’s salvation. But it also includes more. To know and worship God as Triune is to acknowledge Him as a God of grace, who through His Spirit seeks and converts sinners for Christ’s sake. 当三位一体的教义被正确地相信和承认时，它所关注的就是为了人的救恩，道成肉身的救主基督。但同时它还包括其他内容。为了了解和敬拜三位一体的上帝，就要知道他是充满恩典的上帝，因为基督的缘故，他通过圣灵寻找罪人并使他们信主。 B. The first article of the Nicene Creed is quite similar to that of the Apostles’ Creed, taking from it the expression “Creator of heaven and earth.” By using the expression, “We believe in one God,” it emphasized that there is only one God, the God of the Scriptures. All other gods are idols, gods of this world (1 Cor. 8:4). The expression “one” God was also added to reject other false teachers who taught that Father, Son and Holy Spirit were really three separate Gods. This one God is also Creator and God of all things “see and unseen” – not just the physical world around us, but also Creator and God of the spirit world, including Satan and his evil angels. 尼西亚信经的第一部分与使徒信经的第一部分非常相似，都采用了“创造天地的主”这样的表述。通过使用“我等信独一之神”这样的表述，它强调了只有一位上帝，圣经中的上帝。所有其他的神都是偶像，是这个世上的神(哥林多前书8:4)。“只有一位”上帝这样的措辞添加进来也是为了阻止其他假文士所教导的圣父、圣子和圣灵是真正三位分别独立的上帝。这一位上帝也是创世者和所有“有形无形之万物”的上帝-不仅是我们周围有形的世界，也是属灵世界，包括撒旦和他罪恶天使的创造者和上帝。 C. THE SECOND ARTICLE 第二部分 The second article of this creed, however, is the decisive importance: “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being (or substance) with the Father.” Quite obviously this Creed is more doctrinally complete than the Apostles’ Creed, since it was specifically designed to correct the errors of Arianism. For this reason Jesus Christ is called true God of true God. This phrase asserts that Jesus Christ is truly and completely divine. The Son is true God in the same sense the Father is true God. He is not, as the Arians imagine, a lesser created being, called divine, but with a divinity only similar to that of God the Father. 而这部信经的第二部分是起决定作用的重要部分：“我等信独一之主耶稣基督，上帝独生之圣子，是圣父在万世之先所生，是从神所出之神，从光所出之光，从真神所出之真神，是生非造，是与圣父同体(同质)”。很明显这个信经在教义方面比使徒信经更完整，因为它具体针对纠正阿里乌的错误而写的。由于这个原因耶稣基督被称为真神所出之真神。这个短语坚持耶稣基督真正完全的神。圣父是真神，同样的道理圣子也是真神。他不像阿里乌所想象的是一个被称为神而次于神的受造物，而是具有与天父相同的神性。 D. With the phrase “eternally begotten of the Father,” the Creed testifies to the pre-existence of the Son of God. He existed before time, before the foundation of the world, from eternity. This phrase thus clearly rejects one of the slogans used by the Arians: “There was a time when He was not.” The statement in the Creed is based solidly on the Scriptures (Col. 1:17, 19; John 17:5; John 10:30; John 8:58-59; John 1:1-2; Heb. 1:3). 用“是圣父在万世之先所生”这个短语，信经证明了上帝儿子的预先存在。在亘古以前，在世界的根基被创造以前就存在直到永恒。因此，这个短语明显抵制阿里乌所用的一个口号：“曾有一段时期他不存在”。这部信经中的陈述是以圣经为坚实基础的(歌罗西书1:17,19； 约翰福音17:5；约翰福音10:30；约翰福音8:58-59；约翰福音1:1-2；希伯来书1:3) E. OF ONE SUBSTANCE 同质 The clause “of one substance with the Father” (homoousion), is the most famous one in the Creed. It goes to the heart of the controversy with Arius. Arius had taught that the Word (the Son of God) is different from and unlike the substance (ousia). Arius also taught that the Word (the Son) did not share in the peculiar nature (idiotes) of the Father in all respects and hence did not have the same attributes (almighty, all-knowing, etc.) as the Father. Many who followed after Arius (the Eusebians mentioned earlier) tried to compromise by saying the Jesus’ substance was similar to that of the Father (homoiousion). In opposition to all these wrong ideas the words of the Nicene Creed confess that the Son shared the divine essence to the full; whatever belonged to the Godhead belonged to the Son. “是与圣父同质”(homoousion同质)这个短语是这部信经中最著名的一点。它涉及到与阿里乌争论的重点。阿里乌教导道(上帝的儿子)不同于上帝并具有不同的本质(ousia)。阿里乌还教导道(圣子)从各方面来看都不享有圣父的特有属性并且因此他没有拥有与圣父同样的属性(全能的，全知的，等等)。许多追随阿里乌的人试图通过说耶稣与圣父本质相似(homoiousion)来作出妥协。与所有错误观点相反的是尼西亚信经告白了圣子享有与圣父完全一样的神性；任何属于上帝的也属于圣子。 F. The Greek term for “one substance” is homoousion. It was a new term in theology at this time, but it expresses the Scriptural idea that Christ is both God and Lord in the absolute sense, without any limitations. The Arians, of course, would have found it impossible to accept this term without a real change of heart regarding their theology. Some orthodox theologians were at first a little uncomfortable with the word also. In the third century the term had been used in several different ways by the heretics Sabellius and Paul of Samosata. So these orthodox leaders were understandably cautious about approving new terms and wanted to make sure they were not adding new or unbiblicalideas to the church’s confessions. Also they wanted to make sure that the new term, homoousion, would not remove the clear distinction between the person of the Father and the person of the Son. 希腊语中“同质”的单词是homoousion。这在当时的神学中是一个崭新的词汇，但是它表达的圣经意思是上帝和主绝对没有任何局限。当然，阿里乌根据他自己的神学理论在不改变这个词中心意思的情况下接受这个词。一些正统的神学家一开始也对这个词感到一点不适应。在三世纪是，这个词被异端撒伯流和撒摩撒他的保罗以不同方式加以运用。因此这些正统的领袖们对于认可这个新的词表示出了可以理解的谨慎并希望确保他们没有在教会的认信中添加新的或非圣经的意义。同时他们希望确定这个新词homoousion，不会去掉父与子在位格上不同这一点。 G. The Second Ecumenical Council (Constantinople, 381), however, reaffirmed the Creed of Nicaea and the team homoousion. By that time the bishops were sure in agreement with Athanasius. The Son (the Word) was homoousion, ‘of one substance with the Father’ or ‘of equal substance with the Father.’ By using the term “homoousion” the Church was clearly expressing what the Bible taught. 然而第二次大公会议(君士坦丁堡，公元381年)上再次确认了尼西亚信经和homoousion这个词。到那时，主教们确定同意亚大纳西的观点。圣子(道)是homoousion同质的，‘与圣父同质’或‘与圣父等质’。通过使用“homoousion”这个词，教会清楚地表达了圣经所教导的内容。 H. “By whom all things were made.” Scripture not only teaches that the Son existed before the creation of all things but that he was active in the creation itself (John 1:3; Heb. 1:2; Col. 1:16; Eph. 3:9). These passages clearly show that the Son is in no sense one of God’s creatures, but one with God himself since all things were created by Him. At this point it is worth noting (in view of the wording of the first article of the Apostles’ Creed), that the creeds do not intend to teach that only the first person of the Godhead was active in the work of creation. Rather Scripture teaches that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all active in the creation of the world. At times Scripture uses the term “Father,” more broadly and not exclusively for the first person, but also for the godhead, the entire Trinity (Matt. 23:9; Eph. 4:6). All persons in the Trinity are active in creating and preserving the world of creation, because all things are of God, through God, and to God (Rom. 11:36). “万物皆借圣子而造。” 圣经不仅教导了圣子在创世以前就存在而且他参与了创世(约翰福音1:3；希伯来书1:2；歌罗西书1:16；以弗所书3:9)。这些章节清楚地显示圣子不可能是上帝的其中一个所造之物，而是与上帝一起从上帝创造所有一切时起。在这一点上值得注意的是(根据使徒信经第一部分的措辞)，这些信经并不是想要教导在创世的工作中只有神的第一位格参与了做工。恰恰相反正如圣经教导的圣父、圣子和圣灵都参与的创世。有时候，圣经更宽泛地用 “父”这个词，不仅只用于第一位格，也用于上帝和整个三位一体(马太福音23:9；以弗所书4:6)。三位一体中的所有位格都参与了创世和维护所创造的世界，因为万有都是本于上帝，倚靠上帝并归于上帝(罗马书11:36)。 I. The next paragraph confesses the incarnation of the Son of God, the eternal Word: “Who for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the virgin Mary, and was made man and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried.” Because our entire salvation depends on the person of Christ, we should remember that the special purpose of the Council of Nicaea was to assert the Son’s full divinity and equality with the Father, out of whose being he was derived and whose nature he therefore shared. 下面一段告白的是上帝的儿子，永恒的道的道成肉身：“圣子为要拯救我等世人，从天降临，为圣灵感动之童贞女马利亚所生，成为人身，在本丢彼拉多手下，为我等钉十字架，被害而葬”。因为我们的全部救恩都是靠着基督的位格，我们应该记住尼西亚会议的特殊目的是肯定圣子与圣父完全一致的神性和相等地位，由于他来自于那一位本身并因此拥有那一位的属性。 J. But the Creed also briefly testified to the saving work of Christ, and in this respect it is quite similar to the Apostles’ Creed. The expanded form of the Creed, adopted at the Council of Constantinople in 381, carries an important addition. In 325, the Creed simply said “came down and became incarnate, becoming man,” but the expanded form has “came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the virgin Mary.” 但是这个信经也简要地为基督救恩的工作作了见证，并且在这一方面它与使徒信经非常相似。公元381年在君士坦丁堡会议上被采用的扩充后的信经承载着重要的补充内容。公元325年，信经只简要地说了“降临成为肉身，变成人”，但是扩充之后说到“从天降临，为圣灵感动之童贞女马利亚所生”。 K. Apollinarius of Laodicea was probably the reason for the addition of these words. He began as a friend of Athanasius and a supporter of the decrees of the Council of Nicaea. Later in his life, however, he started teaching that when the Son of God became man, he did not become a complete human being because he did not have a human soul or personality. Rather, Apollinarius taught that the eternal Word was substituted for the normal human soul or personality in Christ. This teaching denies the completeness of the Lord’s humanity. This teaching would have meant that Christ had not been a human being in the same way each of us is, except that he was without sin. As a result, he could not have been our Savior, because as our substitute he could not have sacrificed his body and soul for our body and soul. Opinions like as those of Apollinarius were declared heretical at the Council of Constantinople in 381. This clause was a safeguard against such an heretical opinion. 老底嘉的阿波利拿里可能是添加这些话的原因。他一开始是亚大纳西的朋友和尼西亚会议的支持者。然而之后，他开始教导当上帝的儿子成为人时，他没有成为完全的人因为他不具备人的灵魂或特征。更确切地说，阿波利拿里教导永恒的道在基督里代替了普通人的灵魂和特征。这种教导否认主人性的完全性。这种教导意味着基督成为人的方式与我们不同，除此以外他没有罪。因此，他能成为我们的救主，因为作为我们的替代者他不可能为了我们的身体和灵魂而牺牲他的身体和灵魂。那些类似于阿波利拿里观点的教导在公元381年的君士坦丁堡会议上被宣告为异端邪说。这一条款是抵制这样异端观点的预防措施。 L. The phrases, “for us men,” “for our salvation,” and “also for us” are very significant. They emphasize the very heart of the gospel, for they are a great confession of the substitutionary atonement of Christ the Son of God. Jesus came as a great High Priest to reconcile sinful man to God. Since he was both God and man, Jesus was able to give a ransom that was sufficient and acceptable to God. The ransom could not be paid with silver and gold (1 Peter 1:18). Nor could the Old Testament sacrifices of the blood of bulls and goats cleanse us from sin (Heb. 10:4). Only God could reconcile the world to Himself (2 Cor. 5:19). Christ fulfilled the Law of God in our place (Gal. 4:4-5). And Christ carried our sins in His own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24). The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Is. 53:5-6), and mankind was redeemed by His vicarious suffering and death (1 Peter 1:19, 1 John 2:2). “为我等世人”、“为拯救我们”和“也为我等”这些短语非常重要。他们深刻地强调了福音，因为他们是上帝儿子基督代替我们赎罪的极好告白。耶稣作为至高的祭司来使罪人与上帝和好。因为他是上帝也是人，耶稣能够付足够的并被上帝接受的赎价。这样的赎价不能以金银来偿还(彼得前书1:18)。旧约中祭祀用的牛羊的血也不能将我们从罪里洗净(希伯来书 10:4)。只有上帝能使世人与他自己和好(哥林多后书5:19)。基督为我们成全了上帝的律法(加拉太书4:4-5)。并且基督以他自己的身体在十字架上承担了我们罪(1 Peter 彼得前书2:24)。主为我们所有人的罪而死(以赛亚书53:5-6)，同时人通过他代替我们受苦和死被赎回(彼得前书1:19；约翰一书 2:2)。 M. The Exaltation of Christ is confessed in much the same language as the Apostles’ Creed. At the Council of Constantinople in 381, a phrase at the conclusion of this section was added to the original Nicene Creed of 325: “Whose kingdom shall have no end.” Obviously these words come straight from Luke 1:33, where the angel Gabriel reveals to the virgin Mary the glory of the child she was about to bear. 基督的升高用与使徒信经非常相似的话语被告白。在公元381年的君士坦丁堡的会议上，这部分结尾处被添加到原有的公元325年尼西亚信经中一个短语是：“其国无穷无尽”。很显然这些话直接来自路加福音1:33，其中天使加百列向童贞女马利亚揭示她将要生下的孩子的荣耀。 N. The writers of the Nicene Creed probably inserted this clause in response to the false teaching of Bishop Marcellus of Ancyra. He was another man who began as a supporter of the Nicene phrase homoousion. Then he started teaching that the Word (logos) came to earth and took on body. Thus the Word became Jesus, God’s Son and King only while here on earth. Marcellus further taught that when Christ’s substitutionary work on earth was finished, the Word laid aside its body and its rule and returned to exist in the Father. Another bishop (St. Cyril of Jerusalem) had exclaimed: “If ever you hear anyone saying that there is an end to the Kingship of Christ, hate the heresy!” The Christian’s comfort is that his Savior has established for him a kingdom of grace which will never end and in which he will reign throughout all eternity. 尼西亚信经的作者插入这个短句可能是回应安吉拉主教马赛路的错误教导。他是起初支持尼西亚信经中 “本体同一” 这个短语的人。之后他开始教导道(logos)来到世上并取了肉身。因此道只在世上成为了耶稣，上帝的儿子和王。马赛路还教导当基督完成他在世上替代者的工作之后，道将肉身和统治搁置在一边回到了天父身边。另一位主教耶路撒冷的西里尔曾惊呼：“如果你听到有任何人说基督的王权有尽头，恨恶这个异端！” 基督徒的安慰就是他的救主为他建立了一个恩典的国，这个国不会终止并且救主要在其中统治万物。 O. THE THIRD ARTICLE 第三部分 The third article of the Nicene Creed, as we confess it today, was also greatly expanded in 381. The first or 325 version drawn up at Nicaea read simply, “And the Holy Spirit.” The bishops at Constantinople expanded this section of creed quite a lot. As a result the second half of the Constantinople version of the third article is quite similar to the third article of the Apostles’ Creed, except that it adds the confession of “one baptism for the remission of sins.” These points of doctrine were customarily found in most of the baptismal creeds. 我们如今所告白的尼西亚信经第三部分也是在公元381年时得到很大扩充。第一或公元325年在尼西亚制定的版本写得很简单，“和圣灵”。主教们在君士坦丁堡对信经的这一部分进行了极大地扩充。因此，除了所添加的“因为赦罪设立之独一洗礼”以外，第三信条君士坦丁堡版本的后半部分与使徒信经的第三信条非常相似。教义中的这些观点通常在一些洗礼信经中出现。 P. But what is striking is the enlarged statement on the Holy Spirit: “And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father [and the Son]; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who has spoken by the prophets.” The Early Church had simply accepted the fact of monotheism (that there is only one God). It advanced as proof of monotheism the revelation Christ had given before His ascension, namely that by baptism into the name of the Father, the S on, and the Holy Ghost, one entered into a saving relationship with God. The church recognized the Father as God, the Son as God, and the Holy Spirit as God, and yet it confessed not three Gods but only one God. 但是值得注意的是这是对圣灵的扩大描述：“我等信圣灵即是主，是赐生命者，是从圣父、圣子所出，与圣父、圣子，同是当拜，当称颂者，众先知说预言”。早期教会只是简单承认一神论(只有一位上帝)这个事实。它进一步作为一神论证明基督在升天之前所给的启示，即通过以圣父、圣子和圣灵的名受洗，这个人就得着上帝的救恩。教会承认圣父是神，圣子是神，同时圣灵也是神，但是它还承认并没有三位神而是只有一位神。 Q. This deep mystery goes beyond all human understanding. At first the Early Church had not thoughtfully looked at all the Scriptural material regarding the Triune God, but had accepted the simple fact that all three Persons were true God. But since this truth is unacceptable to human reason, speculation within the church arose, not only regarding the Son’s (Word’s) relation to the Father but also the relation of the Holy Spirit to the Father. 这个深奥的迷题是超越人的理解能力的。起初，早期教会并没有仔细地关注整部圣经中三位一体的上帝，但是接受三个位格是真神的简单事实。然而由于这个真理无法被人的理性所接受，教会中产生了猜测，不仅是关于圣子(道)与圣父的关系还有圣灵与圣父的关系。 R. Arius, who had held that in some way the Son is a creature of the Father, had made no secret of his belief that the Holy Spirit, too, was a creature of the Father. Between the two councils, however, the relationship between the Father and the Holy Spirit came in for considerable study and debate. Athanasius and his allies soon realized that there was not only a great deal of unclarity about the Holy Spirit but that there were actual anti-Scriptural points of view regarding the Holy Spirit. While some regarded Him as God, others regarded Him merely as an “energy” or an impersonal force, and others looked upon Him simply as a creature of God. And, as often happens, still others, generally considered quite orthodox, declined to commit themselves at all. 阿里乌，认为从某方面来说圣子是圣父的一个创造物的人，毫不掩饰他相信圣灵也是圣父的一个创造物。然而，在两次会议之间，产生了关于圣父与圣灵关系相当多的研究和辩论。亚大纳西和他的支持者很快就意识到关于圣灵不仅有很多不明确的地方而且还有一些实际上是反圣经的观点来看待圣灵。但是一些人认为他是上帝，其他人认为他仅仅是一种“能量”或一种非人的力量，还有一些人只认为他是上帝的一个受造物。同时，向往常一样，还是会一些人被普遍认为是相当正统的，避免自己犯任何这样的错误。 S. Athanasius again took the lead in bringing the church’s official doctrine about the Holy Spirit into line with the full Scriptural truth. He showed from the Bible that the Holy Spirit has the same substance and essence as the Father and the Son; in other words, the Spirit is also homoousion with Father and Son. The English term used to testify to this truth is “consubstantial,” which means that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit share one and the same substance. 亚大纳西再一次率先使教会关于圣灵的正式教义与整个圣经的真理保持一致。他展示了圣经所说的圣灵与圣父和圣子具有同样的本质和实质；换句话说，圣灵也是与圣父和圣子同质。用来证明这个真理的英语单词是 “consubstantial”，意思是圣父、圣子和圣灵享有唯一和相同的本质。 T. The three bishops who are called the “Cappadocian Fathers,” Basil the Great (c. 330-379), Gregory of Nazianzus (329-389), and Gregory of Nyssa (330-395), also contributed to the clarification of the doctrine of the Trinity. They showed that the one Godhead exists simultaneously (同时) in three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Council of Constantinople clarified the church’s teaching on the Holy Spirit just as the Council of Nicaea had clarified the proper teaching about the Son. The expanded third article of the Nicene Creed uses Scriptural language to confess this truth. Paul used the word “Lord” of the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17, 18). He also called Him the Spirit of Life (Rom. 8:2; 2 Cor. 3:6). 被称为“加帕多家教父”三位教父是大巴西流(大约公元330-379年)，纳齐安的格利高里(公元329-389年)和尼撒的格利高里(公元330-395年) 也致力于澄清关于三位一体的教义。他们向人们说明一位上帝同时存在三个位格，圣父、圣子和圣灵。君士坦丁堡会议阐述了教会关于圣灵的教导正如尼西亚会议上阐述了关于圣子的正确教导一样。扩充后的尼西亚信经第三信条用圣经的语言告白这个真理。保罗对圣灵用了“主”这个词(哥林多后书3:17, 18)。他还称圣灵为“赐生命的圣灵”(罗马书8:2；哥林多后书3:6)。 U. The next phrase, “who proceeds from the Father and the Son,” is also Biblical (John 15:26; 1 Cor. 2:12). The expression “and the Son” (Latin says this in the one word filioque) was added several centuries later in the Western Church and is neither confessed nor recited in the Eastern Church. This phrase is Scriptural, however, because the Spirit is described in Scripture as the Spirit both of the Father (Matt. 10:20) and the Son. He proceeds from the Father and at the same time is sent by the Son (John 20:22). Since He is consubstantial with the Father and the Son, He is to be worshiped and glorified together with them. 接下来“是从圣父、圣子所出”这个句子也是符合圣经的(约翰福音John 15:26；哥林多前书2:12)。“和圣子”(拉丁语中用来表示的一个词是filioque)这样的表述是在几个世纪之后在西方的教会中被添加进去的，但没有被东方的教会承认或诵读。而这个短语是合乎圣经的，因为圣经中描述的圣灵是圣父和圣子的圣灵(马太福音10:20)。他来自圣父并且同时由圣子差派(约翰福音20:22)。因为他与圣父和圣子同质，他将与他们一同被敬拜和荣耀。 V. One more clause deserves our attention: “who spoke through the prophets.” This phrase recalls directly the words of Peter: “For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). The Nicene Fathers confessed the doctrine of verbal inspiration, that is, that the holy men of God wrote only what the Holy Spirit communicated to them by inspiration. Because the Scriptures are the very Word of God, the Nicene Fathers could confess in the second article that Christ “rose again according to the Scriptures.” 还有一句值得我们关注的话是：“众先知说预言，皆是被圣灵感动”。这句话让我们立刻想到彼得的话：“因为预言从来没有出于人意的，乃是人被圣灵感动，说出神的话来”(彼得后书1:21)。尼西亚信经承认口头默示的教义，就是说，上帝的圣徒只写了圣灵通过默示与他们交通的话。因为圣经就是上帝的话语，尼西亚的长老们才能在第二部分中承认“照圣经之言复活”。 W. As has often been noted, the Nicene Creed is the only truly Ecumenical Creed; that is to say, it is accepted by the entire Christian world. It is unfortunate but probably not far from the truth, what the famous Oxford scholar J. N. D. Kelley says: “The Christian who repeats it or hears it sung today. . . is rarely conscious of the deeper theological intention which lies concealed beneath certain majestic clauses.” One can also say that if anyone will not accept the teachings of the Nicene Creed, he is not an orthodox Christian. 尼西亚信经一直以来被誉为唯一一部真正的大公信经；就是说它被整个基督徒世界所接受。虽然很不幸，著名的牛津学者J. N. D.凯利说“复述或听到它被人颂赞的人…很少意识到更深层次的宗教意图是华丽词语下掩盖的谎言”，但这也许就是现实存在的情况。一个人还可以说如何任何不接受尼西亚信经教导的人都不是正统的基督徒。