Chapter 5 THE ESSENCE OF GOSPEL RENEWAL

Revival is necessary because religion (“I obey; therefore I am accepted”) is so different from the gospel (“I am accepted by God through Christ; therefore I obey”) but is such an effective counterfeit. Though these systems of motivation and purpose have utterly different lineages, on the surface they may look like twins. Two people basing their lives on these two systems may sit right beside each other in church. Both strive to obey the law of God, to pray, to give generously, and to be good family members. Yet they do so out of radically different motives, in radically different spirits, and resulting in radically different kinds of inner personal character. One of them (the “religious” one) may even be lost altogether. Even the one operating out of the gospel will naturally drift into religion unless constantly challenged and renewed.

复兴是必要的，因为宗教（“我顺服，所以我被接纳”）与福音（“我因基督被神接纳，所以我顺服”）有着根本的不同，但宗教却是一种极具欺骗性的仿冒品。尽管这两种动力和人生目的的体系有着完全不同的来源，但从表面上看，它们可能如同双胞胎一般相似。基于这两种体系生活的两个人，甚至可能在教堂里并肩而坐。他们都努力遵守神的律法、祷告、慷慨施予，并成为良好的家庭成员。然而，他们所行之事的动机、精神状态以及最终形成的内在性格却截然不同。其中一位（“宗教的”那位）甚至可能完全迷失。而即便是那位以福音为动力的人，如果不持续接受挑战和更新，也会自然地滑向宗教化的模式。

If these insights from the last chapter addressed the why of gospel renewal, the question for this chapter is the what of gospel renewal. What does the gospel do that actually changes people in a congregation? How can the distinct and unique theological truths of the gospel be formulated in ways that produce new, Spirit-led, Christ-centered motivation in people, whether their starting point is religion or irreligion? First we will look further at the distinction between religion, irreligion, and the gospel. Then we will see how these insights are applied to the heart.

如果上一章所讨论的内容关注的是福音更新的“为什么”，那么本章要探讨的就是福音更新的“是什么”。福音如何真正改变教会中的人？如何将福音独特的神学真理以一种方式呈现，使人们——无论他们的起点是宗教还是不信——都能产生新的、由圣灵引导的、以基督为中心的动力？首先，我们将进一步探讨宗教、不信与福音之间的区别。然后，我们将看看如何将这些洞见应用到人的内心。

THREE WAYS OF RESPONDING TO GOD

Christians typically identify two ways to respond to God: follow him and do his will, or reject him and do your own thing. Ultimately this is true, but there are actually two ways to reject God that must be distinguished from one another. You can reject God by rejecting his law and living any way you see fit. And you can also reject God by embracing and obeying God’s law so as to earn your salvation. The problem is that people in this last group — who reject the gospel in favor of moralism — look as if they are trying to do God’s will. Consequently, there are not just two ways to respond to God but three: irreligion, religion, and the gospel.

Irreligion is avoiding God as Lord and Savior by ignoring him altogether. “Religion,” or moralism, is avoiding God as Lord and Savior by developing a moral righteousness and then presenting it to God in an effort to show that he “owes” you. 1 The gospel, however, has nothing to do with our developing a righteousness we give God so he owes us; it is God’s developing and giving us righteousness through Jesus Christ (1 Cor 1:30; 2 Cor 5:21). The gospel differs from both religion and irreligion, from both moralism and relativism.

This theme runs the length of the Bible. When God saves the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, he first leads them out and then gives them the law to obey. Law obedience is the result of their deliverance and election, not the cause of it (Exod 19:4-5; Deut 7:6-9). As God makes a covenant with the Israelites, he warns them that it is still possible for them to be uncircumcised in heart (Lev 26:41; Deut 10:16; 30:6; Jer 4:4) — even as they are completely compliant and obedient to all the laws, observances, and rituals of worship. As we saw in the previous chapter, it took the New Testament to lay out what it meant to be the true circumcision (Phil 3:3). Paul tells us that the circumcised in heart do not rely on their law keeping for confidence before God. Paul explains the three ways to live according to the Old Testament: (1) literally uncircumcised (pagans and nonbelievers who do not submit to God’s laws); (2) circumcised only in the flesh (submitted to God’s law but resting and relying on it); and (3) circumcised in heart (submitted to God’s law in response to the saving grace of God).

In the New Testament, these three ways appear most prominently in Romans 1-4. Beginning in Romans 1:18-32, Paul shows how the pagan, immoral Gentiles are lost and alienated from God. In Romans 2:1-3:20, Paul counterintuitively states that the moral, Bible-believing Jews are lost and alienated from God as well. “What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one… who seeks God’ “(Rom 3:9-11). The last part of this statement is particularly shocking, since Paul concludes that thousands of men and women who were diligently obeying and believing the Bible were not seeking God, even in all their religion. The reason is that if you seek to be right with God through your morality and religion, you are not seeking God for your salvation; you are using God as a means to achieve your own salvation. Paul proceeds in the rest of Romans to explain the gospel as seeking God in Christ for salvation through grace alone and through faith alone.

Throughout the Gospels, these three ways — religion, irreligion, and the gospel — are repeatedly depicted in Jesus’ encounters. Whether a Pharisee or a tax collector (Luke 18), a Pharisee or a fallen woman (Luke 7), or a respectable crowd and a man possessed by a demon (Mark 5), in every instance the less moral, less religious person connects more readily to Jesus. Even in John 3 and 4, where a similar contrast occurs between a Pharisee and an immoral Samaritan woman, the woman receives the gospel with joy, while Nicodemus the Pharisee evidently has to go home and think about it. Here we have the New Testament version of what we saw in earlier pages of the Bible — that God chooses the foolish things to shame the wise, the weak things to shame the strong, to show that his salvation is by grace (see 1 Cor 1:26-31).

基督徒通常认为，人对神的回应方式只有两种：要么跟随祂、遵行祂的旨意，要么拒绝祂、按照自己的方式生活。虽然这在最终意义上是正确的，但实际上，拒绝神的方式有两种不同的形式，需要加以区分。

  1. 拒绝神的律法，按照自己的意愿生活。
  2. 遵守神的律法，但以此作为获取救恩的手段。

第二种方式的问题在于，这类人虽然实际上拒绝了福音，而选择了道德主义，却看起来像是在努力遵行神的旨意。因此，对神的回应方式不仅仅有两种，而是三种：不信（无宗教）、宗教（道德主义）、福音。

圣经中的三种生命模式

这一主题贯穿整本圣经。例如，当神拯救以色列人脱离埃及的奴役时，祂先带领他们出来，然后再赐下律法让他们遵行（出19:4-5；申7:6-9）。顺服律法是他们被拯救和蒙拣选的结果，而不是原因。神与以色列人立约时，还警告他们，尽管他们可能完全遵行律法、礼仪和敬拜的规条，但他们的心仍可能是未受割礼的（利26:41；申10:16；30:6；耶4:4）。

在新约中，保罗在《罗马书》1-4章中描述了这三种生命模式：

  1. 不信者（未受割礼）——外邦人和不信者，不顺服神的律法（罗1:18-32）。
  2. 宗教主义者（仅肉身受割礼）——相信神的律法，但依靠自己的行为获得救恩（罗2:1-3:20）。
  3. 福音信仰者（心受割礼）——顺服神的律法，但是基于神的救恩，而非靠行为自义（腓3:3）。

在福音书中，耶稣的教导和遇见的人也展现了这三种生命模式。例如：

在所有这些案例中，那些道德上不完美、宗教上较差的人，往往比宗教人士更容易接受耶稣。甚至在约翰福音3-4章中，耶稣分别与法利赛人尼哥底母和撒玛利亚妇人交谈，后者立即欢喜领受福音，而尼哥底母则需要时间思考。这印证了圣经一贯的教导：神拣选世上的愚拙，使智慧的羞愧；拣选世上的软弱，使强壮的羞愧（林前1:26-31）。

宗教比不信更容易取代福音

比起从宗教转向福音，从福音回归宗教更容易。马丁·路德的一个重要见解是：宗教是人心的默认模式。即便是不信神的人，也会根据自己的价值观来获取自我价值感。而“行为-宗教”的影响如此顽固，以至于即使真正相信福音的基督徒，在潜意识深处仍可能像是靠行为得救。正如理查德·洛夫雷斯（Richard F. Lovelace）进一步发展了这一观点……

It is so much easier to move from the gospel to religion than the other way round. One of Martin Luther’s fundamental insights is that religion is the default mode of the human heart. Even irreligious people earn their acceptability and sense of worth by living up to their set of values.2 And the effects of “works-religion” persist so stubbornly in the heart that Christians who believe the gospel at one level will continually revert to religion, operating at deeper levels as if they are saved by their works. Richard F. Lovelace develops this train of thought:

Only a fraction of the present body of professing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives. Many… have a theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day-to-day existence they rely on their sanctification for justification… drawing their assurance of acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience. Few know enough to start each day with a thoroughgoing stand upon Luther’s platform: you are accepted, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in that quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude….

Much that we have interpreted as a defect of sanctification in church people is really an outgrowth of their loss of bearing with respect to justification. Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons… Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce defensive assertion of their own righteousness and defensive criticism of others. They come naturally to hate other cultural styles and other races in order to bolster their own security and discharge their suppressed anger.

目前，只有一小部分自称为基督徒的人，真正地在日常生活中扎实地接受并应用基督的称义之工。许多人在理论上承认这个教义，但在实际生活中，他们却依赖自己的成圣来寻求称义……他们从自己的虔诚、过去的归信经历、最近的宗教表现，或较少的有意识犯罪中，寻找自己被神接纳的确据。然而，很少有人懂得每天都要像路德所强调的那样，坚定地站在“你已经被接纳”的立场上，凭信仰向外仰望，并坚信唯独基督的义是他们被接纳的唯一基础。在这种信靠中真正得安息，并在爱和感恩的信心运作中，自然地产生越来越多的成圣。

在教会中，许多我们认为是成圣的缺陷的问题，实际上源于人们对称义的迷失。如果基督徒不再确信神在耶稣基督里爱他们、接纳他们，而不是基于他们的属灵表现，他们在潜意识里就会变得极度不安和没有安全感……这种不安会表现为骄傲、自义的防御性坚持，以及对他人的批判。他们会自然地憎恨不同的文化风格和其他种族，以此来增强自己的安全感，并释放内心深处被压抑的愤怒。

PREACHING THE THIRD WAY FOR EVERYONE

A QUICK COMPARISON OF RELIGION AND THE GOSPEL

If you are communicating the gospel message, you must not only help listeners distinguish between obeying God and disobeying him; you must also make clear the distinction between obeying God as a means of self-salvation and obeying God out of gratitude for an accomplished salvation. You will have to distinguish between general, moralistic religion and gospel Christianity. You will always be placing three ways to live before your listeners.

The most important way to gain a hearing from postmodern people, confront nominal Christians, wake up “sleepy” Christians, and even delight committed Christians - all at the same time — is to preach the gospel as a third way to approach God, distinct from both irreligion and religion. Why? First, many professed Christians are only nominal believers; they are pure “elder brothers” (see Luke 15:11 - 32), and often making this distinction can help to convert them. Second, many genuine Christians are elder-brotherish — angry, mechanical, superior, insecure — and making this distinction may be the only way to reach them. Third, most postmodern people have been raised in or near churches that are heavily “religious.” They have observed how religious people tend to bolster their own sense of worth by convincing themselves they are better than other people, which leads them to exclude and condemn others. Most contemporary nonbelievers have rejected these poisonous fruits of religion, but when they did so, they thought they had rejected Christianity. If they hear you calling them to follow Christ, even if you use biblical language such as “receive Christ and you will be adopted into his family” (see John 1:12-13), they will automatically believe you are calling them into the “elder brother,” moralistic, religious approach to God. Unless you are constantly and clearly showing them that they have misunderstood the gospel and that you are talking about something else besides religion, they won’t be listening for the true gospel.

Some claim that to always strike a note of “grace, grace, grace” in our sermons is not helpful. The objection goes like this: “Surely Pharisaism and moralism are not the current problem in our culture. Rather, our problem is license and antinomianism. People lack a sense of right or wrong. It is redundant to talk about grace all the time to postmodern people.” I don’t believe this is true. First, unless you point to the “good news” of grace, people won’t even be able to bear the “bad news” of God’s judgment. Second, unless you critique moralism, many irreligious people will not grasp the difference between moralism and what you are offering in the gospel. A deep grasp of the gospel is the antidote to license and antinomianism.

In the end, legalism and relativism in churches are not just equally wrong; they are basically the same thing. They are just different strategies of self-salvation built on human effort. No matter whether a local church is loose about doctrine and winks at sin or is marked by scolding and rigidity, it will lack the power it promises. The only way into a ministry that sees people’s lives change, that brings joy and power and electricity without authoritarianism, is through preaching the gospel to deconstruct both legalism and relativism.

如果你要传达福音信息，你不仅要帮助听众区分顺服上帝与悖逆上帝的区别，还必须清楚地阐明顺服上帝的两种不同动机：一种是将顺服视为自我救赎的手段，另一种是出于对已经成就的救赎的感恩。你需要区分一般的道德宗教与真正的福音基督教。在你的听众面前，你始终要摆出三种生活方式供他们选择。

要吸引后现代人的关注、挑战名义上的基督徒、唤醒“沉睡”的基督徒，甚至让忠心的基督徒也为之欢喜，最重要的方式就是传讲福音，作为一种与无宗教信仰（不敬虔）和传统宗教（律法主义）都截然不同的“第三条道路”。为什么呢？首先，许多自称基督徒的人只是名义上的信徒，他们就像《路加福音》15:11-32中所描述的“大儿子”，清楚地区分这些人可能有助于他们真正归信基督。其次，许多真正的基督徒也带有“大儿子”的特质——他们愤怒、机械化、优越感强、缺乏安全感，而这种区分可能是唯一能够触及他们内心的方式。第三，大多数后现代人都成长在或接触过“高度宗教化”的教会环境中，他们观察到，宗教人士往往通过让自己相信比别人更优秀来增强自我价值感，结果导致排斥和定罪他人。现代社会的大多数非信徒已经拒绝了宗教带来的这些毒果，但在他们拒绝时，也以为自己是在拒绝基督教。如果你呼召他们跟随基督，即使你使用《圣经》的语言，比如“接受基督，你就会被收养进入他的家”（见《约翰福音》1:12-13），他们仍然会自动认为你是在把他们引向那种“大儿子”式的道德主义和宗教信仰。除非你不断且清晰地向他们表明，他们误解了福音，而你所传讲的是一种完全不同于宗教的信仰，否则他们不会真正倾听真正的福音。

有些人认为，在讲道中不断强调“恩典，恩典，恩典”并没有帮助。他们的反对意见是：“法利赛主义和道德主义并不是当今文化的主要问题，我们真正的问题是放纵和反律法主义（antinomianism）。人们缺乏对是非的认知，因此不断强调恩典对于后现代人来说是多余的。”我不同意这种观点。首先，除非你指出“好消息”——恩典，否则人们甚至无法承受“坏消息”——上帝的审判。其次，除非你批判道德主义，否则许多无宗教信仰的人不会明白道德主义和福音之间的区别。对福音的深刻理解才是抵御放纵和反律法主义的真正解药。

最终，在教会中，律法主义和相对主义不仅是同样错误的，它们本质上是一样的。它们只是依靠人类努力实现自我救赎的不同策略而已。无论一个教会是对教义宽松、对罪视而不见，还是充满责备和僵化，它都无法兑现自己承诺的属灵能力。唯一能够带来生命改变、带来喜乐和能力，同时不陷入专制主义的事工方式，就是透过传讲福音，拆解律法主义和相对主义。

MORALISTIC BEHAVIOR CHANGE

People typically try to instill honesty in others this way: “If you lie, you’ll get in trouble with God and other people,” or, “If you lie, you’ll be like those terrible people, those habitual liars, and you are better than that!” What motivations are being encouraged? They are being called to change their behavior out of fear of punishment (“you’ll get in trouble”) and out of pride (“you’ll be like a dirty liar; you wouldn’t want to be like one of them”). Both fear of punishment and pride are essentially self-centered. The root motivation is, then, “Be honest because it will pay off for you.” This approach puts pressure on the will and stirs up the ego to more selfishness in order to force a person to curb his or her inclinations to do wrong. We can call this “moralistic behavior change” because its basic argument is this: “Will yourself to change your behavior, and you can save yourself.”

Christians who are taught to act morally primarily to escape punishment or to win self-respect and salvation are learning to be moral to serve themselves. At the behavioral level, of course, they may be performing actions of great self-sacrifice. They may be sacrificing time, money, and much more to help the poor, to love their family, or to be faithful to God’s law. Yet at a deeper level they are behaving this way so God will bless them, so they can think of themselves as virtuous, charitable persons. They are not loving God for himself. They are not obeying him simply because of his greatness and because he has done so much for them in Christ. Rather, they are using God to get the things they want. They want answered prayers, good health, and prosperity, and they want salvation in the afterlife. So they “do good,” not for God’s sake or for goodness’ sake, but for their own sake. Their behavior is being changed by the power of their own self-interest.

Stirring up self-centeredness in order to get someone to do the right thing does not get at the fundamental self-regard and self-absorption that is the main problem of the human heart. Consequently, it does nothing to address the main cause of the behavior you are trying to change (such as lying). Moralistic behavior change simply manipulates and leverages radical selfishness without challenging it. It tries to use that selfishness against itself by appealing to fear and pride. But while this may have some success in restraining the heart’s self-centeredness, it does absolutely nothing to change it. Indeed, it only confirms its power.

Moralistic behavior change bends a person into a different pattern through fear of consequences rather than melting a person into a new shape. But this does not work. If you try to bend a piece of metal without the softening effect of heat, it is likely to snap back to its former position. This is why we see people who try to change through moralistic behaviorism find themselves repeatedly lapsing into sins they thought themselves incapable of committing. They can’t believe they embezzled or lied or committed adultery or felt so much blind hatred that they lashed out. Appalled at themselves, they say, “I wasn’t raised that way!” But they were. For moralistic behaviorism - even deep within a religious environment — continues to nurture the “ruthless, sleepless, unsmiling concentration on self that is the mark of Hell.”5 This is the reason people embezzle, lie, and break promises in the first place. It also explains why churches are plagued with gossip and fighting. Underneath what appears to be unselfishness is great self-centeredness, which has been enhanced by moralistic modes of ministry and is marked by liberal doses of sanctimony, judgmentalism, and spite.

To complete our illustration, if you try to bend metal without the softening effect of heat, it may simply break. Many people, after years of being crushed under moralistic behaviorism, abandon their faith altogether, complaining that they are exhausted and “can’t keep it up.” But the gospel of God’s grace doesn’t try to bend a heart into a new pattern; it melts it and re-forms it into a new shape. The gospel can produce a new joy, love, and gratitude — new inclinations of the heart that eat away at deadly self-regard and self-concentration. Without this “gospel heat” — the joy, love, and gratitude that result from an experience of grace — people will simply snap. Putting pressure on their will may temporarily alter their behavior, but their heart’s basic self-centeredness and insecurity remain.

人们通常试图通过以下方式培养他人的诚实品格：“如果你撒谎，你会惹上麻烦，上帝和别人都会责罚你。”或者，“如果你撒谎，你就会变成那些可怕的人，那些惯于撒谎的人，而你比他们更高尚！”这样的教育方式在激发什么动机呢？它们让人因害怕惩罚（“你会惹上麻烦”）或出于骄傲（“你不想成为一个肮脏的骗子吧”）而改变行为。然而，无论是对惩罚的恐惧，还是出于骄傲的自尊心，本质上都是以自我为中心的。最终的动机变成了：“要诚实，因为这样对你有好处。”这种方法对人的意志施加压力，并激发人的自我意识，使其更加以自我为中心，以此来迫使他们抑制自己的错误倾向。我们可以将其称为“道德主义行为改变”，因为它的基本逻辑是：“靠意志力来改变你的行为，你就能拯救自己。”

如果基督徒被教导主要是为了逃避惩罚、赢得自尊或获得救赎而行善，那么他们实际上是在为自己服务而成为“道德”的。在行为层面上，他们或许表现出极大的自我牺牲，例如帮助穷人、爱护家庭，或忠于上帝的律法，甚至愿意牺牲时间、金钱和其他资源。然而，在更深层次上，他们这样做是为了获得上帝的祝福，为了能够将自己视为有道德、有爱心的人。他们并不是因为爱上帝本身而去服从他，不是单纯地因着上帝的伟大和他在基督里所成就的一切而顺服他。相反，他们是在利用上帝来获得自己想要的东西：他们希望祷告得到应允，希望拥有健康、成功，甚至盼望来世的救赎。因此，他们“行善”并不是为了上帝或善本身，而是为了自己的利益。他们的行为改变，是建立在自身利益驱动的基础上的。

试图通过激发人的自我中心意识来促使他们行善，并不能触及人心深处的自私和自恋，而这恰恰是人类的根本问题。因此，这种方式并不能真正解决你想要改变的行为（比如撒谎）。道德主义的行为改变只是操纵和利用人心深处的极端自私，而并不真正挑战它。它试图用人的自私来对抗自私，主要依赖恐惧和骄傲的驱动力。这种方法虽然在一定程度上能暂时抑制人心的自我中心性，但却根本无法改变它，反而会进一步巩固它的力量。

道德主义的行为改变只是通过恐惧后果来“扭曲”一个人的行为模式，而不是将其“熔化”并塑造成一个全新的样式。然而，这种方法是无效的。如果你试图在没有热量软化的情况下弯曲一块金属，它很可能会反弹回原来的形状。这就是为什么我们会看到，那些试图通过道德主义行为改变自己的人，最终仍会一次次陷入他们原以为自己绝不会犯的罪。他们无法相信自己竟然会贪污、撒谎、通奸，或者因愤怒而攻击别人。当他们惊恐地发现自己的所作所为时，会说：“我不是在这样的环境下长大的！”但实际上，他们正是在这样的环境下长大的。因为道德主义的行为改变，即便是在一个宗教氛围浓厚的环境中，仍然会滋养一种“冷酷、疲惫、毫无喜悦的自我关注”，而这正是地狱的特征。这正是人们会贪污、撒谎、违背承诺的原因，也解释了为什么许多教会充满了流言蜚语和争斗。在那些表面看似无私的行为背后，隐藏着深深的自私。而道德主义的事工模式不仅强化了这种自私，还往往伴随着伪善、论断和怨恨。

继续我们的比喻，如果你试图在没有热量软化的情况下弯曲金属，它可能不仅不会弯曲，反而会直接断裂。许多人在经历多年道德主义的压迫之后，最终彻底放弃信仰，抱怨自己已经筋疲力尽，再也“撑不下去了”。但上帝恩典的福音并不是试图把人的心“弯曲”成新的模式，而是熔化它，并重新塑造成新的形状。福音能够带来新的喜乐、爱和感恩——这些新的内心倾向能够逐渐消融那致命的自我关注和自我沉迷。没有这种“福音的热量”——也就是从恩典的经历中产生的喜乐、爱和感恩，人最终只会崩溃。单靠意志力的压力或许能暂时改变人的行为，但人内心的自我中心和不安仍然不会改变。

GOSPEL BEHAVIOR CHANGE

In light of all this, let’s look at how the Bible calls us to change. In 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, Paul writes to believers to encourage them to give an offering to the poor, but he wants them to do so without a direct command from him. He does not begin by pressuring them into it or asserting his authority as an apostle. He doesn’t force their wills by saying, “I’m an apostle and this is your duty to me,” or, “God will punish you if you don’t do this.” Nor does he put pressure directly on their emotions by telling them stories about how deeply the poor are suffering and how much more money the Corinthians have than the sufferers. Instead, Paul vividly and unforgettably writes, “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9). When Paul states, “You know the grace,” he is reminding his readers of the grace of God by means of a powerful image, one that shifts Jesus’ salvation into the realm of wealth and poverty. He moves their hearts through a spiritual recollection of the gospel. Paul, in essence, urges, “Think about his costly grace, until the gospel changes you from the heart into generous people.”

鉴于以上所述，让我们来看《圣经》是如何呼召我们去改变的。在《哥林多后书》8章和9章中，保罗写信给信徒，鼓励他们向贫穷的人奉献，但他希望他们是在没有直接命令的情况下这样做。他并没有通过施压或强调自己作为使徒的权威来迫使他们。他没有用“我是使徒，你们有责任听从我”或“如果你们不这样做，上帝会惩罚你们”来强迫他们的意志。他也没有直接利用他们的情感，通过讲述穷人的痛苦和哥林多人相对富裕的事实来刺激他们的同情心。

相反，保罗生动且令人难忘地写道：“你们知道我们主耶稣基督的恩典，他本来富足，却为你们成了贫穷的，叫你们因他的贫穷可以成为富足。”（《哥林多后书》8:9）当保罗说“你们知道这恩典”时，他是在用一个极具力量的比喻提醒他们上帝的恩典——他把耶稣的救赎描绘成财富与贫穷的转换。他通过对福音的属灵回忆来触动他们的内心。归根结底，保罗是在劝勉他们：“思想基督所付出的昂贵恩典，直到福音从你们的内心改变你们，使你们成为慷慨的人。”

COMMON MORALITY AND TRUE VIRTUE

Jonathan Edwards explored the difference between genuine gospel-triggered heart change and moralistic compliance with God’s law. In The Nature of True Virtue, he contrasted these two kinds of moral behavior as “common morality” and “true virtue.” Edwards argued that if our highest love is our family, we will ultimately choose our family’s good over the good of other families; if our highest love is our nation, we will choose our nation’s interests and ignore those of other countries; if our highest love is our own individual interests, we will choose to serve ourselves over seeking to meet the needs of others.

Only if our highest love is God himself can we love and serve all people, families, classes, races; and only God’s saving grace can bring us to the place where we are loving and serving God for himself alone and not for what he can give us. Unless we understand the gospel, we are always obeying God for our sake and not for his.® We find another example in Ephesians, where Paul is addressing spouses — but particularly, it seems, husbands (Eph 5:25 - 33). Many of these men had no doubt retained attitudes and understandings of marriage from their pagan backgrounds, attitudes in which marriage was primarily a business relationship that entailed marrying as profitably as they could. In his letter, Paul wants not only to encourage husbands to be sexually faithful but also to cherish and honor their wives. Here again (as in 2 Cor 8 and 9), Paul exhorts his readers to change their lives by showing unloving husbands the salvation of Jesus, our ultimate Spouse in the gospel, who showed sacrificial love toward us, his “bride.” He did not love us because we were lovely (5:25 - 27), but to make us lovely.

乔纳森·爱德华兹（Jonathan Edwards）探讨了真正由福音触发的内心改变与单纯顺从上帝律法的道德主义之间的区别。在《真正美德的本质》（The Nature of True Virtue）一书中，他将这两种道德行为分别称为“普通道德”（common morality）和“真正美德”（true virtue）。爱德华兹认为，如果我们最深的爱是我们的家庭，我们最终会选择家庭的利益，而不是其他家庭的利益；如果我们最深的爱是我们的国家，我们会优先考虑国家的利益，而忽视其他国家的需求；如果我们最深的爱是我们自己的个人利益，我们就会以自我为中心，而不是关心他人的需要。

只有当我们最深的爱是上帝本身时，我们才能真正去爱和服事所有的人，包括不同的家庭、阶层和种族。而只有上帝的救赎恩典才能使我们来到这样的地步——我们爱上帝，仅仅因为他是上帝，而不是因为他能给予我们什么。除非我们真正理解福音，否则我们始终是在为自己的缘故顺服上帝，而不是为他的缘故。

我们在《以弗所书》中也可以看到类似的例子，保罗在这里对夫妻——尤其是丈夫们——提出教导（以弗所书 5:25-33）。其中许多男性信徒很可能仍然持有异教文化中的婚姻观念，在他们的旧观念里，婚姻主要是一种带有经济利益的交易，他们会尽可能地选择一桩对自己最有利的婚姻。在这封书信中，保罗不仅仅是鼓励丈夫们保持性忠诚，他更希望他们珍爱并尊重自己的妻子。

在这里（就像在《哥林多后书》8-9章中一样），保罗呼召读者改变他们的生活方式，他并不是简单地命令那些缺乏爱的丈夫去做出改变，而是向他们展现耶稣的救恩——福音中我们终极的新郎（ultimate Spouse）。耶稣对他的“新娘”——也就是教会——展现了牺牲的爱。他并不是因为我们可爱才爱我们（以弗所书 5:25-27），而是为了使我们成为可爱的。

In his letter to Titus, Paul calls his readers to “say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives” (Titus 2:12). I Think for a moment of all the ways you can say no to ungodly behavior. You can say:
No— because I’ll look bad.
No— because I’ll be excluded from the social circles I want to belong to.
No— because then God will not give me health, wealth, and happiness.
No— because God will send me to hell.
No— because I’ll hate myself in the morning and lose my self-respect.

Virtually all of these incentives use self-centered impulses of the heart to force compliance to external rules, but they do very little to change the heart itself. The motive behind them is not love for God. It is a way of using God to get beneficial things: self-esteem, prosperity, or social approval.

Paul does not urge his readers to use any of these arguments to attempt to change themselves. In the Titus passage, how does he call Christians to gain self-control? Paul states that it is the “grace of God that brings salvation… [that) teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness” (Titus 2:11-12). In Titus 3:5, Paul explains what he means by this grace: “[God] saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” Paul is saying that if you want true change, you must let the gospel teach you. This word we translate teach is a Greek word that means to train, discipline, and coach someone over a period of time. In other words, you must let the gospel argue with you. You must let the gospel sink down deeply until it changes your views and the structures of your motivation. You must be trained and discipled by the gospel.

The gospel, if it is truly believed, helps us out of the extreme neediness that is natural to the human heart. We have the need to be constantly respected, to be appreciated, and to be highly regarded. We need to control our lives — not trusting God or anyone else with them. We need to have power over others in order to boost our self-esteem. The image of our glorious God delighting over us with all his being (Isa 62:4; Zeph 3:14; cf. Deut 23:5; 30:9) — if this is a mere concept to us, then our needs will overwhelm us and drive our behavior. Without the power of the Spirit, our hearts don’t really believe in God’s delight or grace, so they operate in their default mode. But the truths of the gospel, brought home by the Spirit, slowly but surely help us grasp in a new way how safe and secure, how loved and accepted, we are in Christ. Through the gospel, we come to base our identity not on what we have achieved but on what has been achieved for us in Christ.

And when the gospel, brought home to our hearts (see Eph 3:16-19), eats away at this sin-born neediness, it destroys the inner engines that drive sinful behavior. We don’t have to lie, because our reputation isn’t so important to us. We don’t have to respond in violent anger against opponents, because no one can touch our true treasure. The gospel destroys both the pride and the fearfulness that fuel moralistic behavior change. The gospel destroys pride, because it tells us we are so lost that Jesus had to die for us. And it also destroys fearfulness, because it tells us that nothing we can do will exhaust his love for us. When we deeply embrace these truths, our hearts are not merely restrained but changed. Their fundamental orientation is transformed.

We no longer act morally simply because it profits us or makes us feel better about ourselves. Instead, we tell the truth and keep our promises simply out of love for the One who died for us, who kept a promise despite the unfathomable suffering it brought him. The gospel leads us to do the right thing not for our sake but for God’s sake, for Christ’s sake, out of a desire to know, resemble, please, and love the One who saved us. This kind of motivation can only grow in a heart deeply touched by grace.

在给提多的书信中，保罗呼召他的读者要“弃绝不敬虔的心和世俗的私欲，在今世自律、公义、敬虔度日”（提多书 2:12）。试着想想，你可以用哪些方式来拒绝不敬虔的行为？你可能会说：

不——因为我会形象不好。
不——因为我会被我想融入的社交圈子排斥。
不——因为如果我这样做，上帝就不会赐给我健康、财富和幸福。
不——因为如果我这样做，上帝会把我送入地狱。
不——因为我明早会讨厌自己，失去自尊。

几乎所有这些理由，都是利用人内心自我中心的动机，迫使自己遵守外在的规则，但它们并不能真正改变人的内心。这些行为的动机并不是出于对上帝的爱，而是把上帝当作获取好处的手段——无论是自尊、成功，还是社会认可。

然而，保罗并没有鼓励他的读者用这些理由来改变自己。那么，在《提多书》这段经文中，他如何教导基督徒获得自律呢？保罗说，“上帝救人的恩典已经显明出来，教导我们弃绝不敬虔的心……”（提多书 2:11-12）。在提多书 3:5，保罗进一步解释了这恩典的含义：“他救了我们，并不是因我们自己所行的义，而是照着他的怜悯。” 保罗的意思是，如果你想要真正的改变，你必须让福音来教导你。这里“教导”一词的希腊原文意为训练、管教、引导，意味着在一段时间内持续地培养、塑造。因此，我们必须让福音不断与我们对话，深入我们内心，直到它改变我们的世界观和我们的内在动机结构。我们需要被福音训练，被福音塑造。

真正被相信的福音，能帮助我们摆脱人心深处那种极端的匮乏感。人天然需要被尊重、被欣赏、被高度评价。我们希望控制自己的人生，不愿意信靠上帝或任何人。我们需要掌控他人，以此提升自尊。如果“荣耀的上帝全然喜悦我们”的真理（参见以赛亚书 62:4；西番雅书 3:14；申命记 23:5；30:9）对我们来说只是一个概念，那么我们内心的匮乏感就会淹没我们，驱使我们的行为。没有圣灵的能力，我们的心就无法真正相信上帝的恩典和喜悦，因此只能按照本能运作。

但当福音的真理被圣灵带入我们的内心，它就会慢慢地、坚定地改变我们，使我们从新的角度认识到自己在基督里是何等安全、被爱、被接纳。透过福音，我们的身份不再建立在我们所成就的事上，而是建立在基督为我们成就的一切之上。

当福音深入我们的内心（参见以弗所书 3:16-19），它就会消融那种由罪带来的匮乏感，并摧毁驱使我们犯罪的内在动力。我们不需要撒谎，因为我们的名声已不再是最重要的。我们不需要对反对我们的人暴怒，因为没有人能夺去我们真正的财富。福音摧毁了道德主义行为改变的根源——骄傲和恐惧。

福音摧毁骄傲，因为它告诉我们，我们如此迷失，以至于耶稣必须为我们死。
福音也摧毁恐惧，因为它告诉我们，无论我们做了什么，都无法耗尽上帝对我们的爱。

当我们真正拥抱这些真理，我们的心不仅仅是受到约束，而是被彻底改变，甚至它的基本取向都被更新了。

我们不再只是因为“有利可图”或“让自己感觉更好”而行善。
相反，我们说真话、信守承诺，乃是出于对那位为我们而死的主的爱，出于对那位甘愿忍受极大苦难仍然履行承诺的基督的爱。

福音带领我们去行善，不是为了自己的缘故，而是为了上帝的缘故，为了基督的缘故，出于渴望认识、效法、取悦并爱那位拯救我们的主。这种动机，只有在被恩典深深触动的心中才能生长出来。

IS SANCTIFICATION BY “FAITH ALONE”?

People who agree that (1) salvation is strictly by grace through faith and (2) this free salvation results in a gratitude-motivated obedience to the law of God nevertheless disagree over the precise role and nature of effort in Christian growth. If, as Martin Luther states, all sin is rooted in idolatry, which is a failure to believe in Christ for our salvation and justification, then it appears that the only effort any Christian should put forth is an effort to believe the gospel. This seems to mean that Christian sanctification is by “faith alone,” just as justification is—that it is only a matter of believing the gospel fervently enough. This kind of language has led some to charge that Luther (and those following him) are reducing Christians’ efforts to live a holy life to nothing but believing in justification. They counter that sanctification takes strenuous effort beyond that.

I won’t get into that debate at length here, but I think both sides are making a point that is right, yet easily misconstrued. In the moment, Christians should use every possible means to do God’s will. If you feel an impulse to pick up a rock and hurl it at someone — do anything necessary to keep yourself from doing it! Remind yourself, “Tll go to jail. I’ll disgrace my family!” It would be wrong to give in to the sinful impulse simply because, on the spot, you do not believe the gospel enough to refrain. There is no reason in the short run that a Christian can’t simply use pure willpower if necessary. God deserves our obedience, and we should give it, even if we know our motives are mixed and impure.

Those who say, “We need to put in strenuous effort to obey, even if our belief in the gospel is wanting” are right, at least in the short term. But obedience is not the same thing as change. In the end, all effort is fueled by some motivation, and if our motivation is not the gospel, then we are not obeying God for his own sake (see sidebar on “Common Morality and True Virtue,” p. 68); neither will we be able to permanently change our character.

Imagine that a baby bird falls from its nest in the sight lines of a fox. The bird cannot yet fly (hence the fall), but there is a small protective hole at the base of tree that is within a scurry’s reach. The fox pounces and sets out after the bird. What should the little bird do? Of course, it should scamper into the hole to get out of immediate danger. But if as time goes on all the bird ever does is scamper, it will never learn what it has been designed for: to fly. And eventually it will surely be eaten by the predators it is designed to escape.

In the short run, we should simply obey God because it is his right and due. But in the long run, the ultimate way to shape our lives and escape the deadly influence of our besetting sins is by moving the heart with the gospel. The Bible’s solution to stinginess, then, is a reorientation to the gospel and the generosity of Christ, who poured out his wealth for us (2 Cor 8:9). We don’t have to worry about money, because the cross proves God’s care for us and gives us security. Likewise, the Bible’s solution to a bad marriage is a reorientation to the radical, spousal love of Christ communicated in the gospel. “You shall not commit adultery” (Exod 20:14) makes sense in the context of his spousal love, especially on the cross, where he was completely faithful to us. Only when we know this sacrificial, spousal love of Christ will we have real fortitude to combat lust. His love is fulfilling, so it keeps us from looking to sexual fulfillment to give us what only Jesus can.

那些认同 （1）救恩完全是因信称义、唯独出于恩典，以及 （2）这种白白得来的救恩会促使人出于感恩顺服上帝的律法 的人，仍然会在基督徒成长过程中努力的角色和本质上产生分歧。

如果像马丁·路德所说的那样，所有的罪都根源于偶像崇拜，即不相信基督能拯救我们、使我们称义，那么似乎基督徒唯一需要付出的努力就是努力相信福音。这似乎意味着成圣也是“唯独因信”，就像称义一样——只要我们足够热切地相信福音，我们就会变得圣洁。这种说法让一些人指责路德（以及他的追随者）把基督徒努力过圣洁生活的责任，简化成了仅仅相信自己的称义。他们反驳道，成圣需要超越单纯信仰的艰苦努力。

我不会在这里深入探讨这个争议，但我认为双方都提出了一些正确的观点，同时也很容易被误解。

短期来看：全力以赴地顺服

在当下，基督徒应该用尽一切可能的方式去遵行上帝的旨意。如果你有冲动想拿起石头砸向某人——无论如何都要阻止自己！ 你可以提醒自己： “我会进监狱的。” “我会让家人蒙羞。” 即使你的信心不够，使你无法当下因信福音而压制自己的愤怒，也不意味着你应该屈服于罪。短期来看，基督徒可以单靠意志力来抗拒罪恶。上帝配得我们的顺服，我们应该顺服，即便我们的动机可能混杂且不纯。

长期来看：顺服≠真正的改变

那些说 “即使信心不足，我们仍然需要努力顺服” 的人是对的，至少在短期来看是如此。然而，顺服并不等同于真正的改变。 归根结底，所有的努力都源于某种动机，如果这个动机不是出于福音，那么我们的顺服就不是出于对上帝本身的爱（参见“普通道德与真正美德” 的讨论）。此外，如果我们不是因着福音而顺服，我们也无法真正、永久地改变我们的品格。

比喻：学会飞翔的小鸟

想象一只小鸟从巢中掉落，正好被一只狐狸盯上。这只小鸟还不会飞（否则它就不会摔下来），但它可以迅速逃进树根底部的一个洞里，暂时避开狐狸的攻击。狐狸猛扑过来，开始追逐小鸟。这个时候，小鸟该怎么做？当然是立刻逃进洞穴，以免丧命。

然而，如果小鸟一直只是逃跑，从不学会飞翔，最终它还是会被捕食者吃掉。它被造的目的不是一生都靠“跑”来生存，而是要学会“飞”。

短期来看，我们必须顺服上帝，因为他配得我们的顺服。 但从长远来看，我们最终必须学习用福音来塑造我们的生命，才能真正逃离罪的毁灭性影响。

福音如何带来真正的改变？

圣经提供的解决方案，并不是单靠意志力，而是通过福音来重新塑造我们的内心。

总结

短期来看，基督徒应该用一切方法去顺服上帝，即使动机不纯，即使需要依靠意志力。
但从长期来看，真正的改变不是靠意志力，而是靠福音改变我们的内心。
只有当福音触动我们的内心，我们的顺服才会出于爱，而不是恐惧或骄傲。

What will truly make us sexually faithful spouses or generous persons or good parents or faithful children is not a redoubled effort to follow the example of Christ. Rather, it is deepening our understanding of the salvation of Christ and living out of the changes this understanding makes in our hearts — the seat of our minds, wills, and emotions. Faith in the gospel restructures our motivations, our self-understanding, our identity, and our view of the world. It changes our hearts.2

Behavioral compliance to rules without heart change will be superficial and fleeting. The purpose of preaching, pastoring, counseling, instructing, and discipling is, therefore, to show people these practical implications of faith in the gospel.

真正使我们成为忠贞的配偶、慷慨的人、良善的父母、孝顺的儿女的，不是加倍努力去效法基督的榜样，而是更深入地理解基督的救恩，并活出这种理解在我们内心带来的改变——这种改变影响我们的思想、意志和情感。

对福音的信仰会重塑我们的动机、自我认知、身份认同以及世界观，最终改变我们的内心。

单纯遵守行为规范，而没有内心的改变，只会导致表面的、短暂的顺服。

因此，讲道、牧养、辅导、教导和门徒训练的目的，就是向人们展现福音信仰在实际生活中的意义和影响。

THE IMPORTANCE OF IDOLATRY

One of the most important biblical and practical ways to help people come to see how they fail to believe the gospel is by instructing them on the nature of idolatry, 10 In his Treatise on Good Works, an exposition of the Ten Commandments, Martin Luther states that the call to “have no other gods before me” (Exod 20:3) and the call to believe in Jesus alone for our justification (Rom 3-4) are, in essence, the same thing. To say we must have no other gods but God and to say we must not try to achieve our salvation without Christ are one and the same:

帮助人们认识到自己如何未能真正相信福音的一个最重要的圣经原则和实践方法，就是教导他们偶像崇拜的本质。

在《论善行》（Treatise on Good Works）——一部对十诫的诠释中，马丁·路德指出：“不可有别的神”（《出埃及记》20:3）的命令，与唯独因信耶稣而称义（《罗马书》3-4章）的呼召，在本质上是同一件事。

换句话说，“我们不可敬拜其他的神”，与“我们不可尝试靠自己得救，而不借着基督”，两者的意义完全一致。

Now this is the work of the First Commandment, which commands: “Thou shalt have no other gods,” which means: “Since I alone am God, thou shalt place all thy confidence, trust and faith on Me alone, and on no one else “ Luther’s teaching is this: Anything we look to more than we look to Christ for our sense of acceptability, joy, significance, hope, and security is by definition our god — something we adore, serve, and rely on with our whole life and heart. In general, idols can be good things (family, achievement, work and career, romance, talent, etc. — even gospel ministry) that we turn into ultimate things to give us the significance and joy we need. Then they drive us into the ground because we must have them. A sure sign of the presence of idolatry is inordinate anxiety, anger, or discouragement when our idols are thwarted. So if we lose a good thing, it makes us sad, but if we lose an idol, it devastates us.

这就是第一条诫命的教导：“你不可有别的神。” 其意义是：“既然唯有我是上帝，你就当将你所有的信心、信靠和信赖完全放在我身上，而不是任何其他事物。”

路德的教导是：任何我们比基督更依赖的事物，任何我们比基督更渴望从中获得接纳感、喜乐、价值感、盼望和安全感的事物，本质上就是我们的“神”——是我们全心全意去敬拜、服事和倚靠的偶像。

通常，偶像并非邪恶的事物，而是一些本是美好的事物（如家庭、成就、工作与事业、爱情、才华，甚至是福音事工），但我们把它们变成了终极的依靠，期望从中获得我们最深层的意义和喜乐。然而，这些偶像最终会压垮我们，因为我们必须拥有它们。

判断一个人是否存在偶像崇拜的明显标志之一，就是当偶像受阻时，便产生过度的焦虑、愤怒或沮丧。

如果我们失去一件好事，我们会感到悲伤；
但如果我们失去一件偶像化的事物，我们会彻底崩溃。

Luther also concludes from his study of the commandments that we never break one of the other commandments unless we are also breaking the first. 12 We do not lie, commit adultery, or steal unless we first make something else more fundamental to our hope and joy and identity than God. When we lie, for example, our reputation (or money or whatever) is at that moment more foundational to our sense of self and happiness than the love of Christ. If we cheat on our income tax form, then money and possessions — and the status or comfort from having more of them — have become more important to our heart’s sense of significance and security than our identity in Christ. Idolatry, then, is also the root of our other sins and problems, 13

So if the root of every sin is idolatry, and idolatry is a failure to look to Jesus for our salvation and justification, then the root of every sin is a failure to believe the gospel message that Jesus, and Jesus alone, is our justification, righteousness, and redemption.

What, then, is the essence of behavior change? What will help us lead godly lives? The solution is not simply to force or scare ourselves into doing the right thing, but to apply the gospel to our hearts’ idols, which are always an alternate form of self-salvation apart from Jesus. Our failures in actual righteousness, then, generally come from a failure to rejoice in our legal righteousness in Christ. Our failures in sanctification (living Christlike, godly lives) come mainly from a lack of orientation to our justification. We will never change unless we come to grips with the particular, characteristic ways our hearts resist the gospel and continue their self-salvation projects through idolatry.

Those who preach and counsel for gospel renewal should constantly speak about underlying idols, which show us our hearts’ particular, characteristic ways of failing to believe the gospel. To do so will prevent people from trying to solve all problems and make all changes through moralistic behaviorism, which leads to insecurity, suppressed anger and guilt, and spiritual deadness. 14 Instead it keeps the focus on the gospel and the work of Christ. In the next chapter, we’ll look at how churches can cooperate with the Holy Spirit to bring about gospel renewal.

路德在研究十诫时还得出一个结论：我们不会违反其他诫命，除非我们首先违背了第一条诫命。

我们不会撒谎、奸淫或偷窃，除非我们先将某些事物看得比上帝更重要，把它们当作我们盼望、喜乐和身份的根基。

因此，偶像崇拜不仅仅是一个独立的罪，它还是我们所有其他罪恶和问题的根源。

罪的根源：不相信福音

如果每一种罪的根源都是偶像崇拜，而偶像崇拜是因为我们没有完全仰望基督来得救和称义，那么所有罪的根源，就是我们没有真正相信福音的信息——即唯独耶稣是我们的称义、公义和救赎。

那么，行为改变的本质是什么？

是什么能帮助我们过敬虔的生活？
答案不是强迫自己或用恐惧吓唬自己去做正确的事，而是要用福音来对付我们内心的偶像。

所有的偶像，归根结底，都是一种不靠耶稣而寻求自我拯救的方式。

除非我们认识到自己内心是如何抗拒福音，并通过偶像崇拜继续自己的“自我拯救”计划，否则我们永远不会真正改变。

如何在教会中带来福音更新？

那些传讲福音、进行牧养辅导的人，应该不断谈论人心深处的偶像。
因为偶像反映了我们的内心是如何独特地抗拒福音、不愿完全相信福音。

这样做的目的是：

在接下来的章节，我们将探讨教会如何与圣灵同工，带来福音的更新。

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND REFLECTION

  1. How would you articulate the three ways of responding to God? What are the differences and similarities between the two ways of rejecting God? How do both of these contrast with a response to the gospel?
  2. Where do you find yourself in the chart titled “A Quick Comparison of Religion and the Gospel”? Go back and honestly take stock: Do the majority of your descriptors fall to the left column or to the right? In what situations do you find yourself turning to religion instead of the gospel? How have your patterns changed over the last five years, and why?
  3. Keller writes, “The only way into a ministry that sees people’s lives change, that brings joy and power and electricity without authoritarianism, is through preaching the gospel to deconstruct both legalism and relativism.” Why is it necessary to confront and deconstruct both of these errors? Which is more prevalent in your context? Which are you more likely to confront, and what can you do to restore balance to your ministry?

  4. The apostle Paul uses pictures of the gospel rather than pressure to lead people to change. This chapter gives three examples (generosity, husbands honoring wives, and self-control). Choose another area of life change and take notes on how you would bring the gospel to bear on the motivation of someone in your congregation. If you are in a group setting, practice this with someone else.

  5. 你如何表达回应上帝的三种方式？这两种拒绝上帝的方式有哪些相似之处和不同之处？它们如何与对福音的回应形成对比？
  1. 在“宗教与福音的快速对比”图表中，你发现自己处在哪一列？回顾并诚实地评估：你大多数的描述是落在左侧（宗教）还是右侧（福音）？在什么情况下，你更倾向于依靠宗教，而不是福音？在过去五年里，你的模式发生了怎样的变化？为什么？
  1. 凯勒写道：“唯一能带来生命改变，并且充满喜乐、能力、活力，而不陷入专制主义的事工方式，就是透过传讲福音，来拆解律法主义和相对主义。” 为什么必须同时对这两种错误提出挑战并加以拆解？在你的环境中，哪一种更为普遍？你更容易挑战哪一种？你可以做些什么来恢复事工的平衡？
  1. 使徒保罗用福音的画面，而不是施压的方式，来引导人们改变。本章给出了三个例子（慷慨、丈夫尊重妻子、自律）。请选取生活中的另一个领域，并思考如何用福音来激励某人改变他的动机。如果你在小组中，可以与他人一起练习。

透过以上问题的思考和实践，我们可以更深地将福音应用在生命的各个领域，使我们的信仰不仅停留在头脑里，而是真正影响我们的心和行为。