Divine and Human Logos
神的道與人的道
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This enormous, divine work of the application of salvation, of leading [the church] into all truth, has been mandated to the Holy Spirit. Already in the days of the old covenant, he was the author of all religious-ethical knowledge and life (Ps. 51:13; 143:10; Isa. 63:10). But Israel was not yet of age and therefore under the guardianship of the law (Gal. 4:1f.). As yet the Holy Spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39). For that reason the prophets eagerly looked forward to the days of the new covenant, in which everyone would know the Lord and be guided by the Holy Spirit (Jer. 31:34; Ezek. 36:25f.; Joel 2:28f.). In keeping with this promise, the Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost. Jesus describes all of the Spirit’s activity as witnessing to and glorifying him (John 15:26; 16:14). The Holy Spirit is the true and all-powerful witness to Christ. The whole world is hostile to Christ; no one stands by him. But in the face of that world, the Holy Spirit acts as paraclete, as Christ’s public defender. He does this, in the first place, in Scripture; Scripture is the witness, the defender’s public address on behalf of Christ, which he voices and maintains throughout all the ages. This testimony of the Holy Spirit in Holy Scripture precedes and is foundational to the witness the Spirit bears in the hearts of believers. Just as the thoughts of God are objectively embodied in the world and derived from there by the human spirit, so also the word of revelation was first fully described in Holy Scripture in order subsequently to be sealed in our hearts by the witness of the Holy Spirit. Here too the activity of the human spirit consists in nothing else than in bearing witness to the truth, in thinking God’s thoughts after him. The testimony of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers is found not to be a new revelation or communication of unknown truths. It is essentially distinct from prophecy and inspiration; it only causes us to understand the truth that exists outside and independently of us as truth and therefore confirms and seals it in the human consciousness. The relation of the Holy Spirit’s witness in the hearts of believers to the truth of revelation in Holy Scripture is, mutatis mutandis, no other than that of the human spirit to the object of its knowledge. The subject does not create the truth; the subject only recognizes and affirms it.
這項應用救恩、帶領[教會]進入一切真理的巨大而神聖的工作，已被委託給聖靈。早在舊約時代，他就是所有宗教道德知識和生活的作者（詩篇51:13；143:10；賽 63:10）。但以色列還沒有成年，因此處於律法的監護之下（加4:1f.）。那時聖靈還沒有賜下，因為耶穌還沒有得榮耀（約7:39）。因此，先知們熱切地期盼新約的日子，那時每個人都會認識主並受到聖靈的引導（耶31:34；結 36:25f.；珥2:28f.） 。為了與這個應許相一致，聖靈在五旬節那天澆灌下來。耶穌將聖靈的所有活動描述為見證並榮耀他（約 15:26；16:14）。聖靈是基督真實且全能的見證人。全世界都與基督為敵；沒有人支持他。但面對這個世界，聖靈充當保惠師，充當基督的公共辯護人。首先，他在聖經中這樣做了；聖經是見證人，是基督的捍衛者的公開演講，是基督歷代以來所發聲和維護的。聖經中聖靈的見證先於聖靈在信徒心中所作的見證，並且是聖靈在信徒心中所作見證的基礎。正如神的思想客觀地體現在世界上，並通過人的靈從那裡衍生出來一樣，啟示的話語也首先在聖經中得到了充分的描述，以便隨後通過聖靈的見證印在我們的心中。 在這里，人的靈之活動也無非在於為真理作見證，在於跟祂思考神的思想。聖靈在信徒心中的見證並不是新的啟示或未知真理的傳達。它本質上不同於預言和默示；它只會使我們將存在於我們之外且獨立於我們的真理理解為真理，從而將其確認並封印在人類意識中。聖靈在信徒心中的見證與聖經啟示真理的關系，經過必要的修改，無非是人的靈與其知識對象的關系。主體並不創造真理；主體只是承認並肯定它。
Demonstrating the Truth of Faith
[153] From a number of sides objections are raised against this view to the effect that faith thereby becomes totally arbitrary. Instead of giving reasons why people believe Scripture to be the word of God, they answer that God has so given it to us to believe. By such an answer a Muslim can “prove” his faith in the Koran and every superstitious person his or her private superstition. The statement: “This is what I want, therefore this is what I command” takes the place of reasoning and proof. Let me grant, in the first place, that the believer cannot cite a deeper ground for revelation than its divine authority, which he or she recognizes by faith. But this is not to say that believers have nothing to say to the opponents of that revelation. True: they have no airtight proofs; they cannot move the opponent toward faith; but they have at least as much to say in defending as the opponent has in attacking scriptural authority.73 Unbelief, too, is rooted, not in proofs and arguments, but in the heart. In this respect believers and unbelievers are in exactly the same position. Their convictions are integrally bound up with their whole personality and are only a posteriori supported by proofs and arguments. And now, when the two parties oppose each other with these a posteriori proofs and arguments, the position of believers is not less favorable than that of unbelievers. God is sufficiently knowable to those who seek him and also sufficiently hidden to those who run away from him. “There is enough light for those who only desire to see and enough darkness for those of a contrary disposition. There is enough clarity to illumine the elect and enough darkness to humble them. There is enough darkness to render the reprobate sightless and enough clarity to condemn them and to render them inexcusable.” The state of religion, theism, revelation, and Scripture is not as hopeless as science has for years wanted us to believe. Theodor von Lerber was not altogether wrong when he wrote about science: “As dilettante I have too often sat next to her and looked into her cards and upon her hands to still be overly enchanted with the old lady. She will have to inscribe on my gravestone: ‘he thought little of me and died.’ ” Historical and rational proofs will not convert anybody. Still, for the defense of the faith they are as strong as the arguments advanced by opponents for the justification of their unbelief.
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展示信仰的真理
[153] 許多方面都對這一觀點提出了反對意見，認為信仰因此變得完全任意。他們沒有給出為什麼人們相信聖經是神的話語的理由，而是回答說神已經把聖經賜給我們讓我們相信。通過這樣的回答，穆斯林可以“證明”他對《古蘭經》的信仰，而每個迷信的人也可以證明他或她的私人迷信。 “這就是我想要的，因此這就是我命令的”這句話取代了推理和證明。首先，讓我承認，信徒不能引用比其神聖權威更深的啟示基礎，他或她通過信仰承認這一權威。但這並不是說信徒對這一啟示的反對者無話可說。確實如此：他們沒有無懈可擊的證據；他們無法讓對手相信；但他們在捍衛聖經權威方面的發言權至少與對手在攻擊聖經權威時的發言權一樣多。73不信也不是植根於證據和論證，而是植根於內心。在這一點上，信徒和非信徒的處境完全相同。他們的信念與他們的整個人格密不可分，並且只是事後得到證據和論證的支持。而現在，當兩方用這些事後的證據和論據互相對立時，信徒的立場並不比非信徒的立場遜色。神對於那些尋求他的人來說是足夠可知的，對於那些逃離他的人來說也是足夠隱藏的。 “對於那些只想看到的人來說，有足夠的光明，對於那些傾向相反的人來說，有足夠的黑暗。有足夠的清晰度來照亮選民，也有足夠的黑暗來謙卑他們。有足夠的黑暗使那些被棄絕的人瞎眼 ，也有足夠的清晰來譴責他們並使他們不可原諒。”宗教、有神論、啟示錄和聖經的現狀並不像科學多年來希望我們相信的那樣毫無希望。西奧多·馮·萊伯在描寫科學時並沒有完全錯誤：“作為業余愛好者，我經常坐在她旁邊，看着她的牌和她的手，但仍然對這位老太太過於着迷。她必須在我的墓碑上刻下這樣的字：“他對我的評價不高，然後就死了。”歷史和理性的證據不會改變任何人。盡管如此，為了捍衛信仰，他們與反對者為證明他們的不信仰辯護而提出的論據一樣有力.[1]
[1] Herman Bavinck, John Bolt, and John Vriend, Reformed Dogmatics: Prolegomena, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003), 586–594.
