思量奇妙十架
【作者:着/杨腓力 译/徐成德】杨腓力(Philip Yancey) 2010.03.21
你如果在Goole输入「赎罪」(atonement) 和「新兴教会」(Emergent Church，译注：美国近几年兴起的一个教会群体，对古典系统神学有不同的诠释) 这两个英文词，电脑萤幕的热度立刻飙高。新兴教会阵营对赎罪论的看法，多少像桃乐斯•戴漪 (Dorothy Day) 六十年前的夸张形容：「上帝想要灭绝所有人，但是他的报复施虐因为自己的儿子虽然无辜，却被钉十字架，所以是个极其引人的受害者，所以他得到充分满足。他现在只灭绝那些不跟随基督，或是从来没有听闻过他的人。」新兴教会与捍卫古典赎罪论的人士已经展开一场激烈，而且间或不太有风度的辩论。
自从耶稣在两千多年前受死，神学家诸如俄利根、安瑟伦、亚伯拉德、加尔文都提出了理解赎罪的方法：付给撒旦的赎价；神要求的牺牲；对人性的道德影响；代替人类承受当得的刑罚等等。有些诉诸于献祭或是神的震怒的理论，对于现代人则难以消受。
十字架是基督教的核心象徵，沿用小说家欧康娜 (Flannery O’Connor) 的说法，是个活生生的证明，世界「容或罪大恶极，但是上帝却认为值得为其而死。」不过神学家还是要解释，耶稣的死与其他伟大领袖的死有何区别。耶稣的死何以是必要的，而且究竟如何影响了我们与神的关系？
在复活节的前一周，我思索的不是赎罪的理论根据，而是赎罪的实质果效。在那一周我有三个感想：
(1) 十字架使人得以与上帝有新的亲密关系。三卷福音书提到，当耶稣死亡的那一刻，圣殿里的厚重幔子由上而下裂开，暴露出至圣所。根据传统，一年只有在赎罪日，大祭司才可以进入令人战兢的至圣所。事先要有礼仪性的沐浴、穿上特别的衣服、献五种不同的祭牲，但是祭司依然带着疑虑进入至圣所，生怕自己触犯了什么过失。他的袍子上有铃铛，脚踝上绑着一条绳子，如果没有铃铛声，其他祭司就把尸体拖出来。
希伯来书呈现一个生动的对比：作者说信徒如今可以「坦然无惧地来到施恩的宝座前」(四6)。对敬虔的犹太人，大胆闯入至圣所可谓惊世骇俗，莫此为甚。所以希伯来书作者下结语说：「就当…来到上帝面前」(十22)。因着耶稣，我们不再需要保护的幔子；上帝已经赐给我们一位永世的中保。
卡尔•巴特1962年访美，有人打破沙锅问他，到底是在什么时候得救，他回答说：「是在主后34 年，耶稣死在十字架。」爱能够有方法克服一切阻碍，不计代价与所爱的对象联合。
(2) 十字架显出人类成就的局限。保罗写道：「既将一切执政的、掌权的掳来，明显给众人看，就仗十字架夸胜」(西二15)。本丢彼拉多以三种语言张贴耶稣的「罪状」——犹太人的王，明褒暗贬被人嘲讽的正义。当高尚的宗教权威群起挞伐一个无辜的人，并且由当时最负盛名的司法体系执行判决，这的确是个奇观。
作者汤玛斯•牟敦说到「没有人目睹复活。每个人都目睹了钉十字架。每个人都亲眼看见钉十字架。十字架遍布于每个地方。」我们应该驻足，好好思想这个矛盾的记号。我们很容易求助于政治或科学，解决人性根深柢固的问题。但是基督却揭发了那些我们引以为傲，或是希望所系的权势与能力，无非是虚假的神只罢了。
(3) 十字架点出神性中出人意料的一个特质：谦卑。保罗在腓利比书第二章说：「你们当以基督耶稣的心为心：他本有神的形像，不以自己与神同等为强夺的；反倒虚己，取了奴仆的形像，成为人的样式；既有人的样子，就自己卑微，存心顺服，以至于死，且死在十字架上」(5~8节)。那些贫穷、居于劣势的人，自然而然更够亲身体会这一点：且看美国清苦的阿伯拉契山区教会，或是拉丁美洲基层社群传讲的信息。小说家也知道。格雷安•葛林、贝纳诺士 (Georges Bernanos)、席罗内 (Ignazio Silone) 在他们最优秀的作品中，皆以纪念耶稣受死的圣礼为重点。
不论我们个人看法如何，赎罪履行了犹太思想的原则，亦即只有被伤害的才有宽恕的的能力。在加略山上，神选择被伤害。
Google the words atonement and emergent church together, and your computer screen will soon heat up a few degrees. A lively (and not always civilized) debate has broken out among those who defend classical theories of the Atonement and those who see them as some variation of the caricature Dorothy Sayers drew 60 years ago:
God wanted to damn everybody, but his vindictive sadism was sated by the crucifixion of his own Son, who was quite innocent, and, therefore, a particularly attractive victim. He now only damns people who don't follow Christ or who have never heard of him.
Since Jesus' death nearly 2,000 years ago, theologians such as Origen, Anselm of Canterbury, Peter Abelard, and John Calvin have proposed ways of understanding it: as a Ransom paid to Satan, a Satisfaction required by God, a Moral Influence for humanity, a Penal Substitution for the punishment due to humankind. Some of these theories, referencing animal sacrifices and God's wrath, can make for a hard sell for many in modern times.
The Cross is the central image of Christianity, and gives us vivid proof that, in novelist Flannery O'Connor's words, the world "has, for all its horror, been found by God to be worth dying for." Yet theologians must somehow explain how Jesus' death differs in essence from the death of any great leader. What made it necessary, and exactly how did it affect our relationship with God?
During Holy Week last year, I found myself reflecting not so much on the theoretical rationale for the Atonement as on its practical outworking. Three insights from that week:
(1) The Cross made possible a new intimacy with God. Three of the Gospels mention that at the moment of Jesus' death, a thick curtain inside the temple tore from top to bottom, exposing the Most Holy Place. Traditionally, only once a year, on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), could the high priest enter the fearsome Most Holy Place. Preparations involved ritual baths, special clothes, and five separate animal sacrifices, and still the priest entered with apprehension about committing an offense. He wore bells on his robe and a rope around his ankle so that if the bells fell silent, other priests could retrieve his body.
The Book of Hebrews draws a vivid contrast: the author says believers can now "approach the throne of grace with confidence" (4:16). No image could be more shocking for devout Jews than charging boldly into the Most Holy Place. Therefore, concludes the author of Hebrews, "let us draw near to God" (10:22). Because of Jesus, we need no protective curtain; God has provided a sufficient Mediator for all time.
While visiting the United States in 1962, theologian Karl Barth faced a questioner intent on pinning down exactly when he had been saved. Barth replied, "It happened one afternoon in A.D. 34 when Jesus died on the cross." Love finds a way to overcome all obstacles to uniting with the beloved, no matter the cost.
(2) The Cross reveals the limits of human achievement. Paul wrote, "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross" (Col. 2:15). Pontius Pilate had Jesus' "crime"—King of the Jews—posted in three languages, in ironic tribute to the travesty of justice. A public spectacle it was indeed when the most refined religious authorities of the time ganged up on an innocent man, and the most renowned justice system carried out the sentence.
Writer Thomas Merton points out that "no one saw the Resurrection. Everyone saw the Crucifixion. Everyone does see the Crucifixion. The Cross is everywhere." It should give us pause, this sign of contradiction, when we are tempted to look to politics or science to solve the deepest problems of humanity. Christ exposed as false gods the very powers in which men and women take most pride and invest most hope.
(3) The Cross brings to light an unexpected quality of the Godhead: humility. As Paul expressed in Philippians 2: "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing … he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!" (v. 5-8). The poor and disadvantaged respond by instinct to this personal identification: witness the sermons in Appalachia or the base communities in Latin America that center on the Cross. Novelists know it too: Graham Greene, Georges Bernanos, and Ignazio Silone all made the sacrament commemorating Jesus' death the centerpiece of their finest works.
Whatever else we may say about it, the Atonement fulfills the Jewish principle that only one who has been hurt can forgive. At Calvary, God chose to be hurt.
about 杨腓力(Philip Yancey)《今日基督教》(Christianity Today)杂志的特约编辑；其着作丰富，多本着作荣获美国ECPA书藉金牌奖。