http://www.opc.org/nh.html?article_id=160

GOD'S IMMEASURABLE LOVE

神的無法測度的愛

B. B. Warfield

John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life."

約翰福音三章十六節，”神愛世人（界），甚至將他的獨生子賜給他們，叫一切信他的，不至滅亡，反得永生。

To whom we owe this great declaration of the love of God, it is somewhat difficult to determine: whether to our Lord himself, or to that disciple who had lain upon his bosom and had imbibed so much of his spirit that he thenceforth spoke with his Master's voice and in his Master's words. Happily, it is a matter of no substantial importance. For what difference does it make to you and me whether the Lord speaks to us through his own lips, or through those of his servant, the apostle, to whom he had promised, and to whom he had given, his Holy Spirit to teach him all the truth (John 16:13)?

要確定把這段對神的愛的偉大的宣告歸功於那個人是有一點困難：有可能是我們的主自己， 也有可能是那個曾經依在主的懷裡， 與主交談並從主的聲音和話里浸潤了他的靈的那個門徒。 幸運的是， 這是一件無足輕重的事情。對於你我而言， 主用他自己的口講話或者通過承受他的應許和獲得他的聖靈去教導他的真理的僕人的口講話有什麼區別？

What concerns us is not the instrumentality through which the message comes, but the message itself. And what a great message it is—the message of the greatness of the love of God! Let us see to it that, as the words sound in our ears, it is this great revelation that fills our hearts, fills them so full as to flood all their being and wash into all their recesses. The greatness of the love of God, the immeasurable greatness of the love of God!

  我們所關心的不是這信息發出的具體形式， 而是信息本身。 這是一個多麼偉大的信息--關於神的愛的偉大的信息。 就像聲音環繞充滿我們的雙耳，這個偉大的啟示充滿了我們的心： 像洪水一樣充滿了我們的每一處， 洗刷到每一個角落。 神的愛的偉大， 神的愛的 無法測度的偉大。

Does "the World" Mean "All without Exception"?

“世界“意味着“沒有例外的全部”嗎？

This exhortation is not altogether superfluous. Strange as it may sound, it is true, that many—perhaps the majority—of those who feed their souls on this great declaration, seem to have trained themselves to think, when it falls upon their ears, in the first instance at least, not so much of how great—how immeasurably great—God's love is, but rather of how great the world is. It is the world that God loves, they say, the world. And forthwith they fall to thinking how great the world is, and how, nevertheless, God loves it all. Think, they cry, of the multitudes of men who swarm over the face of the earth, and have swarmed over it through all the countless generations from the beginning, and will swarm over it in ever-increasing numbers through perhaps even more countless generations yet to come, until the end. And God loves them all, each and every one of them, from the least to the greatest; so loves them that he has given his only begotten Son to die for them, for each and every one of them. And for each and every one of them with the same intent—the intent, namely, that he may be saved. O, how great the love of God must be to embrace in its compass these uncounted multitudes of men. And so to embrace them that every individual that enters as a constituent unit into the mass of mankind receives his full share of it, or rather is inundated by its undivided and undiminished flood!

這解釋並不完全是多餘的。儘管聽起來有些奇怪， 但這是確確實實的： 許多（也許是大多數）靈魂里接受了這種偉大聲言的人， 當這句話落進他們的耳中時，起碼是第一次聽到時， 不去思想神的愛的不可測度的偉大， 而是世界是多麼偉大。 他們堅持說那是講神愛的世界， 那世界。 馬上他們就墜入思尋世界是多麼偉大和神又是如何愛它的全部。他們哭泣地想到現在，從創世以來世世代代和在末世到來以前不斷增加的擁擠在地球上的人的眾多。 神愛他們所有的人，每一個人， 從最卑賤的到最偉大的； 愛他們的每一個人， 甚至讓他的獨生子位他們而死。 對於我們的每一個人的目的也是一樣， 那就是讓他得救。 啊， 那擁抱和涵蓋着無數的人的愛是多麼偉大！  把每一個人當成單獨的全人類的構成單元接受他所受的所有愛，或者被不分割的和不消失的（愛的）洪水淹沒！

Certainly this is a great conception. But it is just as certainly not a great enough conception to meet the requirements of our text. For, look, will you measure the immeasurable greatness of God's love by the measure of man? All these multitudes of men who have lived, do live, or shall live, from the beginning to the end of the world's entire span—what is their finite sum to the infinitude of God? Lo, the world, and all that is in the world—and all that has ever been in the world or can ever be in the world—lies as nothing in the sight of the Infinite One, floats as an evanescent particle in his eternal vision. How can we exalt our conception of the greatness of the divine love by thinking of it as great enough to embrace all this? Can we praise the blacksmith's brawn by declaring him capable of supporting a mustard seed on his outstretched palm? This standard is too small! We cannot compute such masses in terms of it. Conceive the world as vastly as you may, it remains ever incommensurate with the immeasurable love of God.

這當然是一個了不起的立意。 但是同樣當然的是它還不夠了不起來滿足我們這裡經文的要求。 因此請注意， 你是通過人的測度來測量神的的愛的不可測度的偉大？ 在從創世到末世的整個時間裡， 過去， 現在和將來的所有的人加在一起， 其有限與神的無限相比算什麼？ 世界，世界上的一切， 一切過去存在的和將來可能存在的，在那位無限者眼裡什麼都不是。 在他永恆的視野里， 就像一顆瞬息即逝的粒子。 我們能夠把我們對包含着我們一切的偉大的理解來高舉那神聖愛的偉大？ 當我們讚美一個鐵匠時， 我們能用他掌上的一粒芝麻作為例子來證明他的膀臂的力量？ 這標準太低了吧。 我們無法根據人的理解來算計神的度量 不管你理解的世界有多麼廣大， 它都無法與神的不可測度的愛相提並論。

And what warrant does the text offer for conceiving so greatly of the world, or indeed for thinking of it at all under the category of extension, as if it were its size that was oppressing the imagination of the speaker, and its parts—down to the last analysis—that were engaging his wondering attention? Evidently the text envisages the world, of which it speaks in the concrete, as a whole. This world is made up of parts, no doubt, and the differing destinies that await the individuals which compose it are adverted to. But the emphasis does not fall upon its component elements, as if their number, for example, could form the ground of the divine love, or explain the wonder of its greatness. Distribution of it into its elements and engagement with the individuals which compose it is merely the result of the false start made when the mind falls away from contemplating the immensity of the love of God with which the text is freighted, to absorb itself rather in wonder over the greatness of the world which is loved.

這篇經文對於認識世界的偉大， 或者是極盡所有種類的延伸的意義上的認識提供了什麼保證？ 似乎它的太小一直與講話者的想象作對， 它的組成部分（在剛才的分析里）也與吸引了他的驚奇的注意力。 明顯地經文裡具體地把世界看成一個整體。 毫無疑問， 這個世界有不同部分組成， 並有不同的歸屬。 這個世界的組成部分會歸向其不同的歸屬。 但是重點不是在這些組成元素上 （例如， 就像這些元素的數量決定了神聖的愛的偉大或者解釋了偉大的神奇） . 把偉大歸結於這個世界的組成元素和專注與組成這個世界的個人上是一個錯誤起點的結果： 人的思想不再思索就經文所提供的神的愛的偉大的無限性， 而是沉浸於對神所愛的這個世界的偉大的驚奇。

And having begun with this false step, it is not surprising if the wandering mind finds itself shortly lost in admiration not even of the greatness of the world, but rather of the greatness of the individual soul. These souls of men, each and every one of which God loves so deeply that he has given his Son to die for it—what great, what noble, what glorious things they must be! O what value each of us should place upon this precious soul of ours that God so highly esteemed as to give his Son to die for it! A great and inspiring thought, again, beyond all doubt; but, again, obviously not great enough to be the thought of the text. Clearly, what the text invites us to think of is the greatness of the love of God, not the greatness of the human soul.

開始了這錯誤的第一步， 下面的後果就不奇怪了   人的游離不定的思維在對世界偉大的讚美不會停留很久， 就會轉到對個人靈魂的偉大的讚美上來。 神所愛的這些人的靈魂啊， 是多麼偉大， 多麼高貴， 多麼榮耀啊！ 連神都讓自己的兒子為他們死。 神既然把他的獨生子獻給我們並為我們死， 我們的靈魂該有多麼珍貴呀！ 這種偉大的令人振奮的思想， 沒有懷疑； 但是再偉大， 也不足以和經文的意思一樣。 經文是讓我們思考神的愛的偉大 而不是人的靈魂的偉大。