第八课(lesson 8) 诠释的历史

  1. From the time of the Early Christian Church to the Reformation (100-1500 A.D.)

  2. 从早期基督教到改革时期(公元100-1500年)

It was not long after the New Testament was written that so-called ‘scholars’ began to introduce false and misleading ways to interpret what the Bible says and means. The method of interpretation that became popular is called ALLEGORIZING.

在新约成书以后不久，那些所谓的‘学者’开始介绍误导人的方法来解释圣经的内容。这种解释方法变得流行，并称为寓意法。

The correct way of interpreting the Bible is to understand the words of Scripture in their simplest, clearest way. What the Bible SAYS, it MEANS.

解释圣经的正确方法就是以最简单、最清晰的方法来理解圣经的话语。也就是，圣经所说的就是它的意思。

Allegorizing was a method of interpretation that stated that a single passage of the Bible can have 2 or 3 or 4 different meanings, and a smart interpreter will be able to determine all of them, or even dream up some new ones. It is interesting to note that this method of interpretation arose in the city of Alexandria, Egypt, which was a center for Greek culture and emphasized scientific learning. Already in that day scientific thought dictated that there must be a natural cause and explanation for everything.

寓意地是解释的一种方法，认为，一段单一的经文能够有2或3或4层不同的意思。一个聪明的诠释者将能够决定这四种意思，或者甚至能空想出其它新的意思。有趣的是，这种解释方法竟然在推崇科学研究的、希腊文化中心之一的埃及亚历山大城所兴起。在那个时期，科学思想已经指出，世界必须存有能解释一切事物的一个自然起因。

Consider how our areas of science (astronomy, geology, anthropology, paleontology, physics, psychology) today have adversely affected the way people think about God and religion.

考虑一下我们今天的科学领域 (天文学，地质学，人类学，古生物学，物理学，心理学)是如何已经有害地影响人们思考上帝和宗教的方式。

Philo (1st century A.D.) added second meanings to passages when he thought it was necessary to avoid contradictions in the Bible.

当斐罗(公元1世纪)认为有必要去避免圣经中的冲突部分时，他就会增加第二层意思在圣经经文上。

Origen (250 A.D.) developed three meanings for Bible passages: literal sense, moral sense, mystical sense.

奥利金或译俄利根(公元250年)发展出圣经经文的三层意思：字面意思，道德意思，神秘意思。

Jerome and Augustine (400 A.D.) expanded the use of allegory. Augustine developed four meanings for passages: historical, moral, allegorical, analogical.

耶柔米和奥古斯丁(公元400年)扩大了寓意法的使用。奥古斯丁发展了圣经的四层意思：历史的，道德的，寓意的，类比的。

In the Middle Ages allegory remained popular and was applied not only to Bible passages, but also individual words (for example: Jerusalem, bread, sea). Aquinas (1250 A.D.) also added the ‘dialectic method’ of Aristotle to Bible interpretation.

在中世纪，寓意法仍流行，并且不但应用在圣经经文的解释上，也被用在对个别词(比如，耶路撒冷，面包，海)的解释上。托马斯阿奎那(公元1250年)也将亚里士多德的‘辩证法’用在了圣经解释上。

At the Reformation, Martin Luther returned to sound principles of interpreting the Bible. A Bible passage has one simple, intended meaning. He also emphasized that all Christians, therefore, not just priests and popes, can interpret the Bible correctly for themselves.

在宗教改革时期，马丁路德回归到解释圣经的合理原则上。一段圣经经文有一个单一的预期意思。因此，他也强调所有基督徒，不仅仅是神父和教宗，能够为他们自己正确地解释圣经。

  1. Pietism (1700s)

  2. 敬虔主义

Pietism was a religious movement that attempted to improve the spiritual life of the Christian church.

敬虔主义是试图提升基督教会属灵生命的一次宗教运动。

They believed that Christians were to busy preserving sound Christian doctrine and not working hard enough at leading a sanctified, Christian life. Therefore, they wanted to develop a more EMOTIONAL Christianity.

他们认为，基督徒太过于保护正确的基督教教义，而没有足够地努力去引导出一个成圣的基督徒生命。因此，他们想要发展一更富有感情的基督教。

When a Christian reads the Bible, he should try to personally discover some truth in a passage for himself, relating to the emotional condition of the original writer of the passage. This compromised the OBJECTIVE TRUTH that is to be found in the Bible, and made Bible interpretation a matter of ‘choosing for yourself’ what you think it means to you.

当一个基督徒阅读圣经时，他会尽其所能在一段经文里为自己发现一些真理，并且也与经文的原始作者之情感状况相关联。这样做就会妥协了圣经中的客观真理，并且使得圣经的诠释成为一件‘由你自己来选择’你所想要的经文意思。

  1. Rationalism (1800s)

  2. 理性主义

Rationalism taught that something is real only if it can be proved by modern methods of research. The supernatural and miraculous is impossible. (This is at the foundation of the ‘historical-critical method of interpretation popular today.)

理性主义认为，只有能被现代研究方法所证明的都是真实的。超自然和神迹的事都是不可能（这是今天流行的‘历史批判法’的理论依据）。

Rationalism suggests that the history of the human race is characterized by the EVOLUTION of religious truth. They would also say the Bible shows this in the Old and New Testaments. They claim the ancient religions of the Eskimos or Indians or tribes of Africa have much in common with the Bible!

理性主义认为人类历史是以宗教真理之进化为特征的。他们也认为圣经的旧新约也显明了这一点。他们宣称爱斯基摩人或印度人或非洲部落的古代宗教与圣经有着许多的相似之处！

  1. Existentialism (1800s)

  2. 存在主义

This is a philosophy founded by Kierkegaard that protested rationalism and the industrial revolution because these treat people like things and deny the uniqueness of each individual person.

这是一种由祁克果所开始的哲学，用来反对理性主义或工业革命，因为理性主义和工业革命视人如同事物，并且否定每个人体的独特性。

Religious faith is essentially irrational. Objective truth is less important than the subjective truth that a person discovers and applies to himself.

宗教信仰在本质上是非理性的。客现真理相比于主观真理——一个个体发现真理并应用真理而言，显得较不重要。

The only important time frame for a person to consider is the present.

对于该个体来说，唯一需要考虑的重要时间框架就是当下或现在。

The ultimate goal is to discover one’s ‘authentic being’, which is a search for one’s own true existence and nature. The Bible may be helpful in this search, but will provide only part of the answer.

终极目标就是去发现某人的‘真实之存在’，这是对某人自我的真实生存和本性之追寻。圣经可能会对这样的追寻有帮助，但是将只是提供答案的一部分。

THREE HISTORICAL-CRITICAL

METHODS OF INTERPRETATION

解释的三种历史－批判方法

  1. Existential Demythologizing

  2. 存在论式的去神话化

Started by Rudolph Bultmann in the 1920’s.

这是由鲁道夫布特曼在1920年期间所提出来的。

He emphasized NOT the simple interpretation of the words of the Bible, but rather what the message of the Bible means for the whole of human existence.

他不是强调对圣经话语的简单解释，相反，圣经的信息对于整个人类生存意味着什么。

He said that the New Testament was not written as a history book, but as a series of fictional stories that tell a basic, spiritual message.

他论到，新约并不是以一本历史书的方式写成的，相反，而是一系列虚构故事所组成，要告诉我们一个基本的、属灵的信息。

Bultmann had his own strange ‘hermeneutical circle.’ When a person reads the Bible, he should ask basic questions like, “What does this say about human existence?” The Bible will answer this question in new and challenging ways which will help the reader ask other, more philosophical questions.

布特曼有他自己的一套奇怪的‘诠释圈’。当一个人阅读圣经时，他应该问基本问题，比如，‘ 这对于人类生存论及了什么？’圣经将以新而又富有挑战的方式来回答这个问题，并且，这些回答的方式也将帮助读者提出其他更具思辨的问题。

The ‘Christ event’ takes place when a reader searches the Bible and discovers the message relative to human existence (like enlightenment).

当一位读者查考圣经并且发现与人类生存有关系的信息（比如启蒙）时，‘基督事件’就发生了。

It is not important to emphasize the historical person named Jesus and what he did, but rather to discover how we should be what God intended us to be.

因此，重要的不是强调一位名叫耶稣的历史人物以及他所做的，相反，而是去发现我们应该如何成为上帝所要我们成为的。

This method of interpretation became common in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which is the largest Lutheran denomination in the world.

这种解释方法在美国福音派的路德宗教会（是目前世界上最大的路德宗）较流行。

  1. Gospel Reductionism

  2. 福音修正主义

This method was introduced into the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod in the 1960’s.

这种方法于1960年期间介绍至路德宗教会—密苏里会议。

This approach presumes that the only part of the New Testament that is really inspired by God is the part that deals specifically with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

这种方法假设新约里只有一部分是真正由上帝所默示的，并且也只有这部分是特别论述耶稣基督的福音。

The Bible is a combination of human and divine–written by humans, but containing a message from God. Therefore, the Bible contains errors and contradictions. The only way to discover what parts of the Bible are historically correct is to allow ‘scholars’ to investigate it. The Bible is ‘inerrant’ not because it contains no errors, but because God always accomplishes what he wants with his Word.

圣经是神人合作之作——由人所写成的，但是包含了来自上帝的信息。因此，圣经里含有错误和互相矛盾。发现圣经里的哪些部分在历史上是正确的唯一办法就是，允许‘学者’对此进行调查。圣经是‘无误’的不是因为它没有错误，而是因为上帝总是要成就他的道所成就的。

  1. Divine-Human Mystery

  2. 神人奥秘

This approach to the Bible was founded by Harry Boer, a Dutch Reformed author of the 1970’s and ‘80’s.

这种研究圣经的方法由1970年和1980年期间的荷兰改革宗哈利巴尔所开创。

He said that just as the union of true God and true man in Jesus Christ is a mystery, so the Bible is a mystery because it is God’s Word, yet was written by human authors.

他认为，正如真正的神和真正的人在耶稣基督身上合一这是一个奥秘，因此，圣经虽然由人类作者所写，但是却是神的话，这同样也是一个奥秘。

So there are many inconsistencies and contradictions in the Bible, but we should not worry about them.

因此，在圣经里存有许多不一致和互相冲突之处，但是我们不应为此而担心。

The Bible is infallible only in the sense that it is reliable and trustworthy.

只有在圣经是可靠和可信的层面来说，圣经是无谬误的。

In the same way that God uses an imperfect world to accomplish his plan of salvation, so he uses an imperfect book to convey his message.

同样，上帝使用一个不完美的世界来完成他的救恩计划，因此，他也使用一本不完美的书来传递他的信息。

The fact that the Bible was inspired does not mean that it is free of typical human errors and weaknesses.

圣经是默示的这一事实并不意味着它免于人类典型的错误和脆弱。

An Evaluation of these three Historical-Critical Methods

对这三种历史-批判方法的一个评估

All three of these methods are wrong because: 1. They say the Bible is not a clear book.

  1. They say the Bible does not contain an accurate history of events.

  2. They say the Bible is not God’s revelation to men.

  3. They say the Bible cannot be perfectly united in its message.

  4. They say the Bible does not have the supreme authority of God.

  5. They say that Jesus Christ has not died for our salvation.

所有三种方法是错误，是因为：

  1. 他们说圣经并不是一本清晰的书。

  2. 他们说圣经没有对历史事件的正确记录。

  3. 他们说圣经并不是上帝向人类的启示。

  4. 他们说圣经在其内容上不能完整地统一起来。

  5. 他们说圣经并不具有上帝至高无上的权威。

  6. 他们说耶稣基督并没有为我们的救恩而死。

Note: Be sure to read the Postscript on pages 243-244.

注意： 请阅读附记的第243-244页

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