We Should Study Systematic Theology with Reason

First, it is right for us to reason from Scripture. We find in the New Testament that Jesus and the New Testament authors often quote a verse of Scripture and then draw logical conclusions from it. They reason from Scripture. It is therefore not wrong to use human understanding, human logic, and human reason to draw conclusions from the statements of Scripture. Nevertheless, when we reason and draw what we think to be correct logical deductions from Scripture, we sometimes make mistakes. The deductions we draw from the statements of Scripture are not equal to the statements of Scripture in certainty or authority, for our ability to reason and draw conclusions is not the ultimate standard of truth—only Scripture is.

我们应该运用理性推理来学习系统神学

在新约里，我们发现耶稣和新约的作者们，往往先引用一节经文，然后从中作出合理的结论：他们从圣经的话中作推理。所以，使用人的理解、人的逻辑和人的推理，从圣经的叙述中作出结论，是没有错的。虽然如此，在我们从圣经的话中作推理，并作出我们认为是正确的逻辑推论时，有时仍会犯错误。我们从圣经叙述里所推演出来的结论，在其确定性或权威性上，并不等同于圣经叙述本身，因为我们的推理与作结论的能力，并非终极的真理标准——只有圣经才是。 

What then are the limits on our use of our reasoning abilities to draw deductions from the statements of Scripture? The fact that reasoning to conclusions that go beyond the mere statements of Scripture is appropriate and even necessary for studying Scripture, and the fact that Scripture itself is the ultimate standard of truth, combine to indicate to us that we are free to use our reasoning abilities to draw deductions from any passage of Scripture so long as these deductions do not contradict the clear teaching of some other passage of Scripture.

那么，我们使用推理能力，从圣经叙述中作出推论的限度何在呢？有两件事实帮助我们回答这个问题：运用推理而得到经文叙述本身之外的结论，在研读圣经时是合宜的，甚至也是必要的 ; 圣经本身是真理的终极标准。这两件事实合併起来指出：我们可以使用推理能力，而对圣经中任何一段经文作推论，但这些推论不能与圣经别处经文的清楚教训互相矛盾。

This principle safeguards against our misguided or incorrect logical deductions from Scripture. Our supposedly logical deductions may be erroneous, but Scripture is not erroneous. Thus, for example, we may read Scripture and find that God the Father is called God (1 Cor. 1:3), that God the Son is called God (John 20:28; Titus 2:13), and that God the Holy Spirit is called God (Acts 5:3–4). We might deduce from this that there are three Gods! But then we find the Bible explicitly teaching us that God is one (Deut. 6:4; James 2:19). Thus we conclude that what we thought to be a valid logical deduction about three Gods was wrong and that Scripture teaches both (a) that there are three separate persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), each of whom is fully God, and (b) that there is one God. But how can this be? In our human experience, we understand what it means to know three separate persons—three friends, for example. But these three friends are three separate beings. How can God be three persons and yet one being?

这个原则对于我们使用逻辑推理而从圣经经文作结论的事，加上了一道保护。因为我们认为的逻辑推论可能会是错误的，但圣经本身是不会有错误的。因此，举例来说，我们读圣经时发现父神被称为神（林前1: 3），子神被称为神（约20: 28 ; 多2: 13），而圣灵之神也被称为神（徒5: 3-4），由此我们可能推论说有三位神 ; 但是我们又发现圣经明确地教导我们只有一位神（申6: 4 ; 雅2: 19）。最后我们就要下结论说：我们所认为有关三位神的有效逻辑推论，是错误的 ; 而圣经的教导乃是：（1）神有三个有区分的位格（父、子、圣灵），每一个位格都是完全的神 ; 以及（2）只有一位神。 

Second, Christian theology can tolerate a paradox, but God never asks us to believe a contradiction. We cannot understand exactly how these two statements about God can both be true, so together they constitute a paradox (“a seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true”). We can tolerate a paradox (such as “God is three persons and one God”) because we have confidence that ultimately God knows fully the truth about himself and about the nature of reality and that in his understanding the different elements of a paradox are fully reconciled,¹⁶ even though at this point God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isa. 55:8–9). But a true contradiction (such as, “God is three persons and God is not three persons”) would imply ultimate contradiction in God’s understanding of himself or of reality, and this cannot be.

我们不能透彻地了解这两个叙述怎么可能同时为真——它们加在一起就构成了一个吊诡（paradox，即 “一个似乎矛盾的叙述，但其中两部分都是真的”）。[10]我们能接受吊诡（例如: “神有三个位格,却是一位神”），因为我们有信心神至终全然知道关于祂自己和实存之本质的真理，而且在祂的了解中，吊诡里的不同成分是完全调和一致的，即在这个点上，神的意念是高过我们的意念（赛55: 8-9）。然而真正的矛盾（contradiction）（例如： “神有三个位格，而神又没有三个位格”），则意味著神对祂自己和对实存的了解，至终有了矛盾，但这是不可能的。 

When the psalmist says, “The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever” (Ps. 119:160), he implies that God’s words are not only true individually but also viewed together as a whole. Viewed collectively, their “sum” is also “truth.” Ultimately, there is no internal contradiction either in Scripture or in God’s own thoughts.

当诗人说： “你话的总纲是真实 ; 你一切公义的典章是永远长存”（诗119: 160），他的意思是说，不只神一句句的话是真实的，祂整体的话也是真实的，即祂话语的 “总和”也是 “真理”。至终而言，在圣经里或在神自己的思想里，都没有内在的矛盾。

 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Second Edition. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 18–19.