以弗所書 5(1)所以你們該效法上帝,好像蒙慈愛的兒女一樣。
5 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.(ESV)
從以弗所書4章25節以後,保羅開始用很實際的例子來教導我們基督徒生活的態度。現在,他突然在中間插進這一段話說,你們該效法上帝。
他突然一下子把標準拉高,效法上帝,可能嗎?
保羅在開玩笑嗎?
From Ephesians 4:25, Paul began to teach us the attitude of Christian life with very practical examples. Now, he suddenly inserted this paragraph in the middle, saying that “be imitators of God”.
He suddenly raised the standard and imitated God, is it possible?
Is Paul kidding?
我們每天面對世界的誘惑,魔鬼的試探,種種罪惡的包圍,要我們效法上帝,保羅是說真的嗎?
我們怎樣來回答這個問題呢?
我建議我們這樣來處理這個問題。我們應該先思想上帝,祂的本性,祂的屬性。
Every day we face the temptation of the world, the temptations of the devil, the encirclement of all kinds of sins, and he wants us to follow the example of God. Is Paul seriously saying that?
How can we answer this question?
I suggest that we deal with this problem like this. We should first think of God, His nature, His attributes.
假如我要效法一個人,我就必須先認識一些有關這個人的事。感謝上帝,藉著祂的話,藉著耶穌基督,祂已經將自己啟示給我們。
If I want to follow a person, I must first know something about this person. Thank God, from His Word, through Jesus Christ, He has revealed Himself to us.
藉著這些啟示,我們可以將上帝的屬性分成兩部分。
Through these revelations, we can divide the attributes of God into two parts.
-⑴-是我們無法效法的,它們是屬於上帝自己專有的。
這些是什麼呢?
就是祂的榮耀,祂的永恆,祂的權柄,祂的全能,祂的全知,祂的全在。
這些都是上帝專有的。
-(1)- is something we cant follow, they are proprietary to God.
What are these?
It is His glory, His eternal, His authority, His omnipotence, His omniscience, His being.
These are all exclusive to God.
-⑵-是屬於道德性的,則是我們可以接觸到的。例如,
聖潔。上帝說:你們要聖潔,因為我是聖潔的。這是我們要效法的。還有呢?公義,公平,良善,仁愛,憐恤,溫柔,忍耐,信實,饒恕人等等,這些都是上帝的屬性,是我們可以也必須在生活上效法的屬性。
- (2) - is moral, but we can reach it. For example,
Holy: God said: "You shall be holy, for I am holy." This is what we want to follow. Is anything else? Like righteousness, justice, good, love, mercy, gentleness, patience, faith, forgiveness, etc. These are the attributes of God, the attributes that we can and must imitate in life.