人的义务DUTY
还有，《圣经》教导我们知道自己的义务。《圣经》对我们的教导，是要我们实行的。因此，我们研究《圣经》，必须以使自己生命井井有条为目标。我们若不断的努力实行所学到的真理，上帝一定赐福给我们的研经。 那么。我们的知识必越来越深，越来越广阔；不然的话，就落为空谈，和理性的错误。 欧文说：
Also, ????ure teaches us our duty. Its instruction is for practice. It must be studied, therefore, for the purpose of setting our lives in order. And God will only prosper our study if we continually exercise ourselves to live by what we learn. Then our knowledge will deepen and expand; but otherwise it will run out into sterile verbiage and mental error. Owen says:
“圣洁福音真理的理念，若与圣洁生活习惯分开，不能活下去，至少不能发扬光大。 我们学习一切真理，都是为了实行，因此我们若去实行，必学习良多 (As we learn all to practice, so we learn much by practice)。 … 只有这样，我们才会有把握，我们所学到的，所知道的，真正是真理。因此我们的主告诉我们：「 」（约7：17）。…这样的人必被带领进入更多的知识。因为人在世上的年日，心思是能不断领受亮光与知识的，只要正确地使用思想，和在顺服上帝的事上不断努力。若不是这样，心思就很快充满其它的观念，以致真理的泉源不能把真理流进人的心中。”
The true notion of holy evangelical truths will not live, at least not flourish, where they are divided from a holy conversation. As we learn all to practice, so we learn much by practice. … And herein alone can we come unto the assurance, that what we know and learn is indeed the truth. So our Saviour tells us, that “if any man do the will of God, he shall know the doctrine whether it be of God” (John 7:17). … And hereby will they be led continually into farther degrees of knowledge. For the mind of man is capable of receiving continual supplies in the increase of light and knowledge whilst it is in this world, if so be they are improved unto their proper use and in obedience unto God. But without this the mind will be quickly stuffed with notions, so that no streams can descend into it from the fountain of truth.
因此，若要正确地解释《圣经》，人必须敬虔，谦卑，常常祷告，有受教和顺服的灵；不然，心思不论充满着什么观念，都不可能明白属灵的事实。
He who would interpret ????ure aright, therefore, must be a man of a reverent, humble, prayerful, teachable and obedient spirit; otherwise, however tightly his mind may be “stuffed with notions,” he will never reach any understanding of spiritual realities.
六项解经原则
SIX PRINCIPLES OF BIBLE INTERPRETATION
现在我们来看清教徒如何解释《圣经》，可以用六点来归纳他们的原则：
We turn now to the Puritan’s approach to the task of interpretation itself. Their governing principles may be summarized under the following heads:
[1] 按字意和文法解释《圣经》。宗教改革者反对中世纪教会的作法；后者低看《圣经》的「字意」，追求《圣经》「属灵」（喻意）的意思。宗教改革者坚持：《圣经》的字意 – 即文法上，自然的，作者的原意 – 乃是《圣经》的唯一意思。 解经的目的，就是藉谨慎留意上下文和文法，找到此原意。清教徒完全同意。
[1]《Interpret ????ure literally and grammatically. The Reformers had insisted, against the medi???? depreciation of the “literal” sense of ????ure in favour of the various “spiritual” (allegorical) senses, that the literal – i.e., the grammatical, natural, intended – sense was the only sense that ????ure has, and that it was this sense that must be sought in exposition through careful attention to the context and grammar of each statement. The Puritans fully agreed.
你若想明白一段有争议性经文的真正意思的话，要留意经文的完整性，其主题，和上下文。
If you would understand the true sense … of a controverted ????ure, then look well into the coherence, the scope and the context thereof.
《圣经》除了在经文字句里的意思以外，没有其它的意思…要解释任何人的心意，必须正确地了解他所用的字；这又须要我们认识他说话所用的语言，还有语言里的一些惯用词，以及一些造句和表达的方式…不了解原文为解经者带来多么多的困惑与错误…
There is no other sense in it [????ure] than what is contained in the words whereof materially it doth consist. … In the interpretation of the mind of anyone, it is necessary that the words he speaks or writes be rightly understood; and this we cannot do immediately unless we understand the language wherein he speaks, as also the idiotism [idiom] of that language, with the common use of and intention of its phraseology and expressions. … And what perplexities, mistakes and errors, the ignorance of these original languages hath cast many expositors into … especially among those who pertinaciously adhere unto one translaton … might be manifested by instances … without number.
当然，有些经文的原意就是喻意的 (allegorical)。清教徒是这样对待《雅歌》。James Durham作出一些有趣的观察：
Of course, there might be places in ????ure where the literal sense was itself allegorical. The Puritans all regarded the Song of Solomon as a case in point, and James Durham has some interesting remarks on the subject:
我接受《雅歌》有字意的意思；可是我说，从历史上的经文（即：雅歌）找出的，首先不是这「字意」，而是比喻和喻意中属灵的意思，这就是《雅歌》在字意上的意义 (literal meaning)。因为什么是字意上的意义？就是圣灵的原意，在一段经文流露出的，不论是直说还是喻意的，都从不同表达的方法综纳起来… 好像在解释比喻上，《圣经》的喻意…是非常清楚的。
I grant it hath a literal meaning; but I say, that literal meaning is not … that which first looketh out, as in historical ????ures … but that which is spiritually … meant by these allegorical and figurative speeches, is the literal meaning of this Song. … for a literal sense (as it is defined by Rivet out of the school-men) is that which floweth from such a place of ????ure, as intended by the Spirit in the words, whether properly or figuratively used, and is to be gathered from the whole complex of expressions together … as in the exposition of parables, allegories and figurative ????ures is clear.
可是 Durham指出，中世纪时期，不正当的灵意解经是另外一码事：因为「喻意解经是一回事，解释喻意的圣经是另一回事。」Durham认为，只当自己有充足理由认为是在解释一段喻意的经文的时候，才喻意地解释。
But, Durham notes, this is quite different from the illegitimate allegorizing of which the medi????s were guilty; for “there is a great difference between an allegorical exposition of ????ure and an exposition of allegorical ????ure.” Durham expounds allegorically only when he has reason to think that it is an allegory that he is expounding.
[2] 解释《圣经》必须一致和谐。《圣经》既然是上帝的话，表达上帝唯一的旨意，它所宣称的一切事都是真理，经文之间不可能有真正的冲突。特别注重表面的矛盾，是不敬虔的表现。Bridges 继续说：
[2] Intepret ????ure consistently and harmonstically. If ????ure is God’s word, the expression of a single divine mind, all that it says must be true, and there can be no real contradiction between part and part. To harp on apparent contradictions, therefore, says Bridge, shows real irreverence. Bridge continues:
You know how it was with Moses, when he saw two men fighting, one an Egyptian, and another an Israelite, he killed the Egyptian; but when he saw two Hebrews fighting, now, saith he, I will go and reconcile them, for they are brethren; why so, but because he was a good man, and gracious?
同样地，一位蒙恩的信徒看见《圣经》与埃及人，或异教徒作者，或旁经争战的时候，他来杀掉那位异教徒…埃及人或旁经；可是当他看到两段经文之间有差异（看来如此，其实事实上不是这样），蒙恩信徒说，噢，他们是弟兄，他们必须和好。我必须努力，尽力而为使他们和睦。若有人看见一些经文表面上的冲突的时候就利用机会来说，看，《圣经》有怎样的矛盾；而不尽力取调和。这说明什么？岂不是说明人性的败坏，对主话语的恶意？因此，我们必须在这事上提防。
So also it is with a gracious heart; when he sees the ????ures fighting with an Egyptian, and heathen author, or apocryphal, he comes and kills the heathen …. the Egyptian, or the apocrypha; but when he sees two ????ures at variance (in view, though in truth not), Oh, saith he, these are brethren, and they may be reconciled, I will labour all I can to reconcile them; but when a man shall take every advantage of seeming difference in ????ure, to say, Do ye see what contradictions there are in this book, and not labour to reconcile them; what doth this argue, but that the corruption of a man’s nature, is boiled up to an unknown malice against the word of the Lord; take heed therefore of that.
令人深思熟虑的一点：非常准确的判断。
It is a striking thought, and an acute diagnosis.
《圣经》既然是上帝一个心意的事实，因此：「解释《圣经》无误的原则就是《圣经》本身。 因此，我们对经文真正和完整的意思有问题的时候，我们必须查考其它比较清楚的经文。」从这里我们可以推出两个原则。（一）不清楚的地方，由清楚的经训来解释。 欧文说：「这里的准则乃是：对不清楚的经文的解释，一定要符合《圣经》其它地方清楚的教导。若在这些比较不清楚的经文上提出一些怪异的教义，是非常危险的作法。」（二）边缘性不清楚的事，以基要的，我们确信的真理来解释，前者符合后者。 因此，任何不「符合信仰的原则，要理问答里的要点，信经，主祷文，十诫，和圣礼的教义」的解释，都不可能是正确的。这两项原则总称为「信仰的类比」 (the analogy of faith)，从罗马书12：6取名（虽然可能不是使徒保罗的意思）。
Since ????ure is the unified expression of a single divine mind, it follows that “the infallible rule of interpretation of ????ure is the ????ure itself, and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any ????ure … it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly.” Two principles derive from this. (1) What is obscure must be interpreted by the light of what is plain. “The rule in this case,” says Owen, “is that we affix no sense unto any obscure or difficult passage of ????ure but what is … consonant unto other expressions and plain testimonies. For men to raise peculiar senses from such places, not confirmed elsewhere, is a dangerous curiosity.” (2) Peripheral ambiguities must be interpreted in harmony with fundamental certainties. No exposition of any text, therefore, is right which does not “agree with the principles of Religion, the points of Catechism set down in the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the doctrine of Sacraments.” These two principles together comprised the rule of interpretation commonly termed “the analogy of faith,” a phrase borrowed – probably not in the apostle’s sense – from Romans 12:6.
上面两个原则与《圣经》的形式有关；下面四个原则是关乎《圣经》的题目与内容。
Both the foregoing rules concern the form of ????ure; the next four have to do with its matter and content.
[3] 按着教义解释《圣经》，以上帝为中心的解释《圣经》。《圣经》是一本教义性的书；教导我们关于上帝，和受造物与上帝的关系。 Bridges在一段里解释雅各书所说的，《圣经》好像镜子，同时带出这个原则：
Interpret ????ure doctrinally and theocentrically. ????ure is a doctrinal book: it teaches us about God and created things in their relation to him. Bridge brings this out in a passage where he develops James’ image of ????ure as a looking-glass:
When ye look upon a looking-glass, ye see three things, the glass, yourself, and all the other things, persons, stools or pictures that are in the room. So in looking upon ????ure … ye see the truths that are therein contained concerning God and Christ. There is God seen especially, and Christ seen; there also you see yourself, and your own dirty face; there also you see the creatures that are in the room with you, and their emptiness …
还有，《圣经》的观点是以上帝为中心的：堕落的人认为自己是宇宙的中心，可是《圣经》显示上帝才是中心，它同时正确地形容所有受造之物，包括人：万物都借着上帝，为上帝而生存。 清教徒对我们最有帮助的一点，就是重新强调《圣经》以上帝为中心的立足点。他们实在掌握到这个原则。
Also, ????ure teaches a theocentric standpoint: whereas fallen man sees himself as the centre of the universe, the Bible shows us God as central, and depicts all creatures, man included, in their proper perspective – as existing through God, and for God. One of the points at which the Puritans can help us most is in the recovery of this God-centred standpoint of ????ure, which they themselves grasped so firmly.
[4] 按历史顺序的解释《圣经》，以基督为中心的解释。基督是「《圣经》真正的主题：所有经文都为基督作见证。基督是《圣经》的总结，《圣经》在每一页里，差不多在每一节里，预言基督，预表基督，表明基督…《圣经》好像是包裹婴孩主耶稣的布。」因此：
[4] Interpret ????ure christologically and evangelically. Christ is the true subject-matter of ????ure: all was written to bear witness to him. He is “the sum of the whole Bible, prophesied, typified, prefigured, exhibited, demonstrated, to be found in every leaf, almost in every line, the ????ures being but as it were the swaddling bands of the child Jesus.” Therefore:
Keep still Jesus Christ in your eye, in the perusal of the ????ures, as the end, scope and substance thereof: what are the whole ????ures, but as it were the spiritual swaddling clothes of the holy child Jesus? 1. Christ is the truth and substance of all the types and shadows. 2. Christ is the substance and matter of the Covenant of Grace, and all administrations thereof; under the Old Testament Christ is veiled, under the New Covenant revealed. 3. Christ is the centre and meeting place of all the promises; for in him the promises of God are yea and Amen. 4. Christ is the thing signified, sealed and exhibited in the Sacraments. 5. ????ure genealogies use to lead us on to the true line of Christ. 6. ????ure chronologies are to discover to us the times and seasons of Christ. 7. ????ure-laws are our schoolmasters to bring us to Christ, the moral by correcting, the ceremonial by directing. 8. ????ure-gospel is Christ’s light, whereby we hear and follow him; Christ’s cords of love, whereby we are drawn into sweet union and communion with him; yea it is the very power of God unto salvation unto all them that believe in Christ Jesus; and therefore think of Christ as the very substance, marrow, soul and scope of the whole ????ures.
How richly the Puritans applied this evangelical principle of exegesis can only be appreciated by those who dig into the expository writings of such authors as Owen, Goodwin and Sibbes.
[5] 从经验和实际来解释《圣经》。从另一个角度来看，《圣经》是一本关乎属灵经验的书，清教徒在探讨这层面上特别表现深度与智慧。《天路历程》可以说是一本描述《圣经》在人的经历方面所处理的问题的「图画索引」：信心，怀疑，诱惑，绝望，恐惧，盼望，与罪的挣扎，撒但的攻击，属灵喜乐的高峰，心灵被抛弃的干旱地。
Interpret ????ure experimentally and practically. The Bible is, from one standpoint, a book of spiritual experience, and the Puritans explored this dimension of it with unrivalled depth and insight. Pilgrim’s Progress serves as a kind of pictorial index to the themes which they handled under this head – faith, doubt, temptation, despair, fear, hope, the fight with sin, the attacks of Satan, the peaks of spiritual joy, the dry waste of spiritual desertion.
同样地，《圣经》是非常实际的一本书，向人具体的情况说话：人在上帝面前的地位，充满罪孽，污秽，无助；又告诉在这种情况中的人他应该相信什么，作什么会得到灵魂的健康；清教徒很清楚认识到，解经的时候必须维持这实际的取向。我们必须从《圣经》呈现教义的角度来教导《圣经》，也为《圣经》教导教义的目的来应用《圣经》。 欧文在开始分析「称义」的教义时说到这一点：
Equally the Bible is a practical book, addressing man in a concrete situation – as he stands before God, guilt, vile, helpless – and telling him in that situation what he must believe and do for his soul’s health; and the Puritans recognizes that this practical orientation must be retained in exposition. Doctrines must be taught from the standpoint from which, and applied for the purpose for which, ????ure itself presents them. Owen, as we observed earlier, makes this point as he embarks on his analysis of the doctrine of justification:
It is the practical direction of the consciences of men, in their application unto God by Jesus Christ, for deliverance from the curse due unto the apostate state, and peace with him … that is alone to be designed in the handling of this doctrine. … And whereas we cannot either safely or usefully treat of this doctrine, but with respect unto the same ends for which it is declared, and whereunto it is applied, in the ????ure, we should no t… be turned aside from attending unto this case and its resolution, in all our discourses on this subject; For it is the direction, satisfaction, and peace of the consciences of men, and not the curiosity of notions or subtlety of disputations, which it is our duty to design.
清教徒时代有人忽略这原则，结果是不负责任、武断地解释《圣经》；可是清教徒牧师们坚定的持守这原则，因此他们的著作是「实际的与经验的」 (practical and experimental)，这是他们常用的形容词；他们实在是这方面的大师。
Neglect of this rule by many in the Puritan age led to much irresponsible, doctrinaire handling of Holy ????ure, but the great Puritan pastors consistently observe it, and their writings are in consequence “practical and experimental” (their own regular phrase) in the best and most edifying sense.
[6] 以信心解释《圣经》，寻求现实中的应用。 一段经文的应用来自经文本身。因此，解经工作的一部份就是找出经文里面教义的「用途」 (uses)。 解释的意思，就是让经文对听者有意义，有适切感；若没有指出经文与「教导，督责，使人归正，教导人学义」方面的适切性，那么解经的工作还是未完成。
Interpret ????ure with a faithful and realistic application. The application comes out of ????ure; the indicating of the “uses” of doctrine is therefore part of the work of expounding ????ure. Interpretation means making ????ure meaningful and relevant to those whom one addresses, and the work is not finished till the relevance of doctrine for their “reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16) has been shown.
经文的一些典型「用途」（应用方式）包括：
教导 (information) 的应用：应用所解释过的教义，提出教义的涵意，来塑造人的判
断能力，使人们按上帝的心意来对待事物。
劝勉 (exhortation) 的应用：呼召听众采取行动。
安慰 (comfort) 的应用：指出教义如何解决人的怀疑与不定 (uncertainties)。
反省 (trial) 的应用：劝勉听众自我检查 (self-examination)，呼召信徒以刚已解释过
的教义来衡量自己的属灵光景（例如：一个重生的人的标志；
活基督徒某一方面的特权或任务）。
The standard “uses” (types of application) were the use of information, whereby the point of doctrine under review was applied, and its implications drawn out, to mould men’s judgments and outlook according to the mind of God; the use of exhortation, summoning them to action; the use of comfort, whereby the doctrine was shown to be the answer to doubts and uncertainties; and the use of trial, of self-examination, a call to measure and assess one’s own spiritual condition in the light of the doctrine set forth (the marks of a regenerate man, perhaps, or the nature of some Christian privilege or duty).
应用经文必须现实 (realistic)：解经者必须留意，有没有使经文向人们实际的情况说话。昨日的应用，不一定能向今天的情况说话。…「若只是指责古老的错误，或过时的生活，做事方式，这种的热诚是卑贱的。我们必须考虑现今一代需要的是什么。」解经者能适切地应用《圣经》，刺透人心，造就生命（有别于不适切，混乱的应用），无疑是非常不容易的，需要智慧，热心和默想，而对属血气和败坏的人来说是非常不舒服的事（考虑到这一点，可能诱惑上帝的仆人失去控制，因为平常人都喜欢受到爱戴）。可是他必须努力履行这任务，好叫听众能感觉到上帝的话语是大能有力的，使人苏醒的，查验人的心思意念的；若有非信徒或无知的人在场，他们心中隐秘的事就必显露，叫荣耀归给上帝。
The application must be realistic: the expositor must watch that the Bible is made to address men where they are. Yesterday’s application may not speak to their condition today. “It is but a cheap zeal that declaimeth against antiquated errors, and things now out of use and practice. We are to consider what the present age needeth.” For an expositor to make a truly relevant, searching, edifying application of ????ure (as distinct from a clumsy, inappropriate, confusing one) is, no doubt,
A work of great difficulty to himself, requiring much prudence, zeal and meditation, and to the natural and corrupt man will be very unpleasant [which consideration will sorely tempt God’s messenger to pull his punches, for no normal man like causing offence]; yet he is to endeavour to perform it in such a manner, that his auditors may fell the word of God to be quick and powerful, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; and that, if any unbeliever or ignorant person be present, he may have the secrets of his heart made manifest, and give glory to God.
若要现实的应用《圣经》，我们必须熟识人们心中在想什么事。清教徒坚持，要成为一位释经者，除了研读《圣经》以外，还必须研究人 (study people)。
To apply ????ure realistically, one must know what is in men’s heads as well as in their hearts, and the Puritans insisted that the would-be expositor needs to study people as well as the Bible.
这些就是清教徒解释《圣经》的原则。对他们来说，没有其它的学问是这样的严谨，没有其它的工作是带来这么大的奖赏。毫无疑问的，他们的方法是非常正确的；我们若跟随他们的脚踪必不行差踏错。意思是，我们在解释任何一段经文的时候必须自问：
Such were Puritan principles in the matter of biblical interpretation. To them, no discipline was so exacting, and no labour so rewarding. The soundness of their method is unquestionable; we shall do well to follow in their footsteps. That will mean asking six questions of each passage or text that we seek to expound:
1. 这些字，事实上是什么意思？
What do these words actually mean?
2. 其它经文对这段经文带来什么亮光？这段经文与《圣经》整体的启示的关系是什么？如何符合后者？
What light do other ????ures throw on this text? Where and how does it fit into the total biblical revelation?
3. 这段经文教导我们那些关于上帝，关于人与上帝的关系的真理？
What truths does it teach about God, and about man in relation to God?
4. 这些真理与基督拯救的工作有什么关系？基督福音对了解这段经文带来什么亮光？
How are these truths related to the saving work of Christ, and what light does the gospel of Christ throw upon them?
5. 这些真理勾画出怎样的经历？经文要解释，培养，或纠正那些经历？
这些真理记载在《圣经》中，是为了那些「实际目的」 (practical purpose)？
What experiences do these truths delineate, or explain, or seek to create or cure? For what practical purpose do they stand in ????ure?
6. 这些真理如何应用在我的身上，在他人的身上？如何应用在我们的处境里？它们对今天人类那些情况说话？它们教导我们应该信什么？怎样活？
How do they apply to myself and others in our own actual situation? To what present human condition do they speak, and what are they telling us to believe and do?
