神的国与天国

任大先生

        分类： 经文翻译


Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven      

原帖地址：http://www.learnthebible.org/kin ... gdom-of-heaven.html（中文翻译：任大弟兄）

Classical dispensational teaching makes a clear distinction between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven as used in the Bible. C. I. Scofield defines the two phrases in his reference Bible notes on Matthew 3:2 and Matthew 6:33. According to Scofield, the kingdom of heaven “signifies the Messianic earth rule of Jesus Christ, the Son of David.”
In Scofield’s notes on Matthew 6:33, he states that the kingdom of God can be distinguished from the kingdom of heaven in five respects. The characteristics of the kingdom of God are summarized as follows:
The kingdom of God is universal and includes angels and saints of all ages.
The kingdom of God is entered only by the new birth.
The kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven “have almost all things in common.”
The kingdom of God is chiefly inward and spiritual.

神的国与天国

在圣经中,正统时代论的教训清楚地阐明了神国与天国在使用中的不同.   C. I.司可福在他的马太3:2 和马太6:33引用圣经注释中,将这两个短语作了定义. 按照司可福的论述, 天国"标志着由大卫的子孙,耶稣基督统治的弥赛亚的国土."
在司可福的马太6:33注释中,他阐述了神的国与天国可以由5个方面来区分.神的国的特点可以概括为以下方面:
神的国是宇宙性的,它包括了天使和所有时代的圣徒.
神的国只能由重生的新人进入.
神的国和天国"几乎含有相同的事物".
神的国首先(体现)在内在和属灵上.


For the sake of space, I have mostly paraphrased the teachings of Scofield, but I believe this to be an accurate representation of his teaching. If in doubt, you can check it yourself.
Personal Note:
Now, before I analyze this teaching, I want to give a brief personal testimony. I am a dispensationalist in my understanding of scripture. I believe that a dispensational framework clarifies and explains scriptural doctrine much more accurately than covenant theology or other choices. Therefore, by choice, either by listening in class or in the reading of books, I have sat at the feet of many dispensational Bible teachers. I thank them for the help they have been to me in many areas.
However, each time I have read a book or sat in a class that described the standard distinctions between the kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven, I left unsatisfied. I always felt that the teaching was guilty of proof-texting. That is, several verses are found to support your viewpoint, but many of verses that did not fit the scheme were ignored. Therefore, the whole counsel of God is sacrificed for the sake of what is perceived in a few verses. This article is the result of many years of study and thought on this issue. I hope it will be a help to others.



由于时间上的关系,我大多意译司可福的教训,但是我相信这是代表了他的教训(的原意的).如果你有疑问,你可以自己查对.
(我)个人的释义为:
在我分析这教训前, 我想做一个简短的个人陈述. 据我对圣经的理解,我是一个时代论者.我相信一个时代论者的团体机构,比新约神学和其他选择,更能精确地澄清和解释圣经的教义.因此,通过选择,也是通过课程学习和书籍阅读,我就坐在了很多时代论圣经教师的身旁了.我感谢他们对我多方面的帮助.
但是,每一次当我读一本书或者坐在一个课堂里,(只要论到)神的国和天国之间的区分标准,我就会失望地离开.我总感到这些教训有断章取义之过. 就是说,有几个经节支持了你的观点,但是大量的与立论相左的经节就会被忽视.这样,完整的神的衷告,就因着认识了那区区几个经节的缘故而被牺牲掉了.这篇文章就是很多年里研究和思考这一问题的成果.我希望它对其他人有所帮助.



Concession:
First, let me concede a major point. The word kingdom is used in scripture in various ways. In fact, it is used in all the ways the dispensationalists teach concerning the kingdoms of God and of heaven. Sometimes, it refers to the Messianic kingdom coming to Israel. Sometimes it refers to the spiritual kingdom of God working in the world today. There are also several other ways it is used in the Bible.
Perhaps a simple definition is in order. A king(dom) is the (dom)ain of a king. Within this broad idea, there is room for many kingdoms. The kingdoms of Israel and Judah existed in the land of Israel before the time of Christ. The kingdom of God is the domain of God as King. In many places, it refers to the spiritual kingdom entered by the new birth (John 3:3) which is not meat and drink (Romans 14:17).
In this article, I do not deny distinctions between the physical kingdom and the spiritual kingdom. I do not even deny that often the phrases we are studying match the classical teaching of dispensationalists. My point is that the distinction does not clearly line up with the two phrases and that much confusion is caused by trying to force this distinction in every case. We are much better employed in the study of context and doctrinal application than we are in insisting that the two separate phrases must have distinct meanings.
First Objection: Confusing Doctrine
My experience has been that the further a teacher attempts to explain the kingdom distinction by going to Bible verses, the more confusing the entire picture becomes. For illustration, I will consider the teaching of C. I. Scofield in his reference Bible note on Matthew 6:33 (p. 1003) as summarized above.
He begins this note with this statement: “The kingdom of God is to be distinguished from the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 3:2, note) in five respects.” So we understand that he is going to give us five distinctions between the two kingdoms. But two of his five distinctions are not distinctions at all. The third distinction is that since the “kingdom of heaven is the earthly sphere of the universal kingdom of heaven, the two have almost all things in common.” That is not a distinction. It is not a difference. It is rather a similarity.
The fifth distinction is just as indistinct. It states that the kingdom of God merges into the kingdom of heaven when Christ puts all things under His feet. In other words, at the end of time, there is no difference between the two. These two points are often used to explain the identical statements that are made in the different gospels concerning the two phrases. They are so alike that the same thing can often be said of both of them. But if this is so, then how do we know that the distinctions are always in the mind of God when He uses the phrases? I fear we do not.

妥协:
首先让我对一个重要的观点做些让步."王国"这个词在圣经中有许多种用法.事实上,使徒们在教训有关神国和天国的是时候,总是用到它.有时,它是指将临到以色列的弥赛亚王国.有时候,它是指运行在今日世界里的灵里的神国.在圣经里,它还有其他的用处.也许一个简单的定义可以归纳它的意思.王国是一个国王的领地.在广义上说,对于很多王国,该定义都有适用的空间.在基督时代之前,以色列和犹大王国存于以色列这块土地上.神的国就是神做为国王的领地.在很多地方,它又指重生后进入的,灵里的王国(约翰福音3:3),那个"不在乎吃喝"的王国(罗马书14:17).在这篇文章中,我没有否认物质的国度与灵里的国度的区别.我甚至不拒绝那些措辞,那些我们按照使徒们的经典教训来学习的,经常使用的措辞.我的观点是这两个词组之间,没有一道明确的界限,并且很多的迷惑都产生于: 不顾任何情况,试图强行拆分它们的结果.我们采用分析上下文和教义的方式,会比我们非要坚持用不同的含义,来区分两个独立的词组好很多.

首先反对的是:混淆了教义
我的经验表明,一个教师越是想通过圣经的经节来阐明王国的差别,整个描述的情景就会变得更加混人.为说明起见,如上所述,我会考量C. I. 斯科菲尔德在他的马太6:33引用圣经注释中所作的教训.

他是用这样的声明来开始他的注释的:"神的国与天国(马太 3:2, 注释)可以由5个方面来区分."这样我们认为他要在两个王国之间做5个区分.但是其中有两个完全不是区别.第三区别个因为"天国就是宇宙天国里那个凡尘俗世的地球国度,所以两者大多有着共同的事物"---这不是个区别.它没有不同.它就是个类似物.第五个区分仅仅是模棱两可的.它说在基督把所有事物踩在脚下的时候,神的国就融合进了天国.换句话说,在末世,这二者就没什么不同了.这两个说法经常在不同的提到这两个词组的福音书中,用来解释描述上的一致性.它们是如此的相似,以至于同样的事物,它们两者都能经常拿来解说.但是事情真是这样的话,那么我们怎么能知道当我们使用这两个词组的时候,神到底是怎么看待这个区别的呢? 我恐怕我们无法做到了.


Another cause of confusion in Scofield’s teaching is that the kingdom of God is universal and includes angels and the saints of all ages (point one), yet the kingdom of God must be entered only by way of the new birth (point two). Certainly, no one is teaching that angels must be born again, but this points out some of the inconsistencies of this system of teaching.
In his note on Matthew 3:2, Scofield teaches that the kingdom of heaven “is peculiar to Matthew and signifies the Messianic earth rule of Jesus Christ, the Son of David.” Then, later in the same note, he teaches that the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven in Matthew 13 deal with “the sphere of Christian profession during this age.” This is what we used to call having your cake and eating it too. Which is it? Is it the earthly rule of Christ in His future Davidic kingdom or is it visible Christianity during this age?
The classical dispensationalists say both. But this illustrates the confusion of this teaching. The scriptures do not easily fit our distinctions, so we just keep tweaking our explanations until no one really knows what is being taught. My contention is this: if the phrases have such a clear distinction, why do we have to explain them in such convoluted ways?
Second Objection: Phrase Distribution
God’s kingdom has spiritual aspects and it has physical aspects. Even this cannot be easily split down the middle. There are various characteristics to each of these aspects. That is not the issue. But are these distinctions revealed through the two phrases in question or do they need to be studied out in each biblical use of the word kingdom? By now, you understand that I believe the latter to be the proper approach. One reason for this is the way in which the phrases are distributed in the scriptures.
The phrase, kingdom of God, occurs 70 times in 69 verses—all in the New Testament. The phrase, kingdom of heaven, is used 33 times in 32 verses. Every one of these occurrences is in the book of Matthew. That’s right…every one of them. No one teaches that only the book of Matthew deals with the earthly, physical kingdom. Therefore, defining the kingdom of heaven as the Messianic rule of Christ does not solve the problem of why the phrase is used only in Matthew. The concept is admittedly found elsewhere. Why is the phrase used only here?
An interesting answer to this question is found in The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim. As a Jewish convert, Edersheim often studied the Jewish Talmud and rabbinic teachings in order to understand the Jewish comprehension of Bible events and teachings. Concerning the use of the kingdom of heaven by the rabbis, he taught that “the word ‘heaven’ was very often used instead of ‘God,’ so as to avoid unduly familiarizing the ear with the Sacred Name” (vol.1, p.267).
The book of Matthew, more than any other gospel, was written to the Jewish people and presented Jesus as their Messiah in the line of David. According to Edersheim, the Jewish teachers understood the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven to be the same kingdom. Matthew may have used heaven as a way to reach out to the Jewish population.
Today, orthodox Jews often refer to God as ha-shem. This Hebrew phrase means “the Name.” It is a way to refer to God without saying God. The Jews during the time of Christ did use the name of God. However, in order to avoid using His name in vain, they often used substitutes. One of the common substitutes was heaven. This explains the unusual distribution of the two phrases better than the separate definitions usually given.

另外一个司可福的教训引发的疑惑是: 神的国是宇宙性的,并且包含了天使和所有时代的圣徒,但是神的国必须通过重生的方式才能进入.当然,没人教训天使必须重生,但是这一点暴露了这一教训系统内的自相矛盾.在马太3:2的注释中,司可福教导说天国"对马太而言很特别,并且标志着耶稣基督--大卫的子孙,在弥赛亚国度里掌权."然后在若干注释之后,他又教导马太13章里的天国的奥秘在于"当代的基督教界领域."这就是我们经常说的"又想留着蛋糕,又想吃了它".哪一个才算呢? 到底是耶稣基督在人间掌权的未来的大卫王国呢,还是指当代可见的基督教?
正统的使徒们两个说法都有.但是这一点说明了教训的混乱. 圣经不与我们的区分非常匹配,所以我们就一直地修改我们的解释,直到没人真的能搞懂我们在谈论什么为止.我想争辩的是: 如果这两个词组有清楚的分界,为什么我们还需要用如此繁复费解的方式来解释它们呢?

第二项反对: 词组分布
神的国既有属灵的方面,又有实质的方面.甚至连这个概念也无法从中把它剖开.它在每方面都有着不同的特点.这倒不是问题.但是这些区别在疑惑中,可以通过两个词组将它们显明出来吗?或者在每个圣经词汇的使用领域里,它们需要加以研究?到目前为止,你已经明白了我相信后者才是正确的方式.
一个原因是:这正是这些词组分布在典籍里的方式.
词组神的国,在69个经节中出现了70次--都在新约中.词组天国,在32个经节中出现了33次.每一次这样的词组都出现在马太福音中.是的,每一次.没有其他人教导,只有马太福音谈论人间的,物质的王国. 但是这样的感念无可否认地在其他地方也出现过.为什么这个词组单单用在这里?
这个问题的一个有趣的回答来自阿尔佛雷德.爱德森的<耶稣-弥赛亚的生活和时代>.作为一个犹太人的皈依者,为了理解圣经中的事件与教训的内含,爱德森经常研究犹太法典和犹太教义.关于犹太人的"天国"用法,他说:"经常用"天"这个词来代替"神"的原因是,这样可以避免"神"这个令人骇怕的词,过度频繁地出现在人们的耳朵里!"(vol.1, p.267).
马太福音,比其他任何的福音书都更多地描写犹太民众,并且提到了耶稣作为大卫族裔里的弥赛亚.按照爱德森的说法,犹太教师其实是把神的国与天国作为同样的王国来理解的.马太也许是使用"天"这个词来作为融入犹太民众的工具.
今天,正统的犹太人经常把神称做ha-shem.这个希伯莱语的意思是"那唯一的名".这是一种避免说"神"(这个名讳的)称呼方式.在耶稣时代的犹太人会使用"神"这个名字.但是,为了避免空洞地使用他的名,他们经常采用代替词.一个常见的代替词就是"天".这样两个词组的不寻常分布的解释,要比我们通常所给他们分别做的定义,要强得多.


Third Objection: Parallel Passages
Another problem with the standard teaching is found in the parallel passages to statements found in the other gospels. Often, Matthew will use the phrase kingdom of heaven in the same story or statement where Mark or Luke use kingdom of God. The classical dispensational teaching tries to cover this by say that Matthew refers to the physical aspect of the kingdom while Mark and Luke deal with its spiritual aspect. And, since the physical and spiritual aspects of the kingdom will be joined in the end, the same thing can often be said about both of them. This reminds me of a familiar statement: Things that are different are not the same. But evidently this does not apply to the kingdoms of God and heaven.
The best way to explain my problem is to give a few examples. I assure you, the ones I give below are not all of them.
Compare Matthew 3:2 – “And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” – with Mark 1:15 – “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
Compare Matthew 8:11 – “And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven..” – with Luke 13:29 – “And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.”
Compare Matthew 11:11 – “Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” – with Luke 7:28 – “For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
Compare Matthew 13:33 – “Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened” – with Luke 13:20-21 – “And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”
So, time after time, the same thing is said about the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. Yet, that is all right, because the two kingdoms have almost all things in common. But how can the spiritual kingdom of God in the hearts of believers be almost the same as the sphere of professing Christianity? How long can two things be the same and different at the same time?

第三个反对: 平行的章节
另外一个"标准"教训里的是问题,是在不同的福音书里"平行"的章节里发现的.经常地,在马可和路加用"神的国"之时,马太在同样的故事和陈述中用的是"天国".正统的时代论教训试图掩盖这样的分歧,他们说马太指的是王国实体的一面,而马可与路加讨论的是它的属灵一面.并且,因为王国的实体与属灵方面将在末代合并,同样的事物就会在它们两方面都通适用. 这就提醒了我一个"似曾相识"的说法:"不同的事情,就是不同的事情,它们不会变为相同." 但是最终这个说法并不适用于神的国与天国.
解释这个问题的最好方式是举一些例子: 我可以向你保证,下面我给出的例子,并不是全部.
比较一下马太3:2-""说，天国近了，你们应当悔改。"与马可1:15 "说，日期满了，神的国近了。你们当悔改，信福音。"
比较一下马太8:11-"我又告诉你们，从东从西，将有许多人来，在天国里与亚伯拉罕，以撒，雅各，一同坐席。"与路加13:29-"从东，从西，从南，从北，将有人来，在神的国里坐席。"
比较一下马太11:11-"我实在告诉你们，凡妇人所生的，没有一个兴起来大过施洗约翰的。然而天国里最小的，比他还大。"与路加7:28-"我告诉你们，凡妇人所生的，没有一个大过约翰的。然而神国里最小的比他还大。"
比较一下马太13:33-"他又对他们讲个比喻说，天国好像面酵，有妇人拿来，藏在三斗面里，直等全团都发起来。" 与路加13:20-21-"又说，我拿什么来比神的国呢?好比面酵，有妇人拿来藏在三斗面里，直等全团都发起来。"
这样,一次又一次,同样的事情拿来说神国与天国. 当然,那怎么说都对,因为"两国"之中几乎所有的事情都是一样的.但是,属灵的神之国,怎么能在信徒的心目中与基督教界这个群体一样呢?两样事情,怎么能一样,而同时,又完全地不同呢?

Objection Four: Inconsistent Verses
At least, if this definition is correct, the kingdom of God should never refer exclusively to the earthly kingdom and the kingdom of heaven should never refer exclusively to the spiritual kingdom. Yet, there are problem verses.
In Matthew 19:23-25, entering into the kingdom of heaven is equivalent to being saved. But what may be the most interesting thing is that the phrases kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God are used in parallel.
Matthew 19:23-25 – “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?”
According to Mark 9:1, the kingdom of God (a spiritual, inward kingdom) comes with power. In another passage, Joseph of Arimathaea “waited for the kingdom of God” (Mark 15:43). If the kingdom of God is spiritual, what is he waiting for?
In Mark 14:25, Jesus promised to “drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” Luke 13:28 speaks of those who will see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and “all the prophets, in the kingdom of God.”
Luke 19:11 speaks of those who “thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.” How can this expectation refer to the spiritual kingdom? That is not the kingdom expected by the Jews. They were looking for the earthly kingdom.
Conclusion:
Some of you who are reading this are mentally throwing your proof texts. What about Luke 17:20, Romans 14:17, 1Corinthians 15:50, and other passages that are obviously referring to the spiritual kingdom? What about the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven in Matthew 13?
But that is not the point. The Bible teaches several aspects of God’s kingdom. I will even admit that the kingdom of God more often refers to the spiritual nature of the kingdom. But those facts do not create a consistent doctrine of distinction as is taught by many dispensationalists. The phrase used in each verse does not settle the interpretation. We must study it out further in order to understand it.
Daniel 2:44 prophesies, “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” The God of heaven will set up a kingdom. Therefore, it is the kingdom of God and it is the kingdom of heaven. Sometimes, these phrases are used for various aspects of the kingdom. But the distinctions are not specific and consistent enough to establish the doctrine many try to establish.
The kingdom of God is the kingdom set up by God. The kingdom of heaven is the kingdom that finds its source in heaven. Though both phrases have various aspects, it is all one kingdom. We do injustice to the teaching of the Bible when we force distinction where God does not.

第四样反对:不一致的经节
至少,如果定义是对的话,神的国应该远非单指世俗的王国,天国也远非单指属灵的国度.但是,仍然有经节上的问题.
在马太19:23-25中,进天国就意味着得救了,但是最有趣的是:天国与神国在一个地方能同样使用.
马太19:23-25,"耶稣对门徒说，我实在告诉你们，财主进天国是难的。我又告诉你们，骆驼穿过针的眼，比财主进神的国还容易呢。门徒听见这话，就希奇得很，说，这样谁能得救呢？"
按照马可9:1,神国(属灵的,内在的)由创造的大能来.在另外的章节上(马可15:43)  "亚利马太的约瑟,也是等候神国的".如果神国是属灵的,怎么能"等候"呢?
在马可14:25,耶稣许诺:"我实在告诉你们，我不再喝这葡萄汁，直到我在神的国里，喝新的那日子。 "路加19:11" 他们以为神的国快要显出来，" 路加13:28 说到那些看见亚伯拉罕,以赛亚,雅各和"所有先知,都在神国里".
路加19:11 说到:"他们以为神的国快要显出来，" 这怎么能是属灵的王国呢?这不是犹太人期望的王国.他们等待的是世俗的王国.

结论：
你们阅读此文中的部分读者,在思想上正在抛弃断章取义的想法. 路加17:20,罗马14:17, 歌林多前书15:50,以及那些显然是特指圣灵王国的章节,究竟怎么样呢?马太13章的"天国的秘密"是什么?不过这不是重点.圣经教导了神国的几个方面.我甚至可以同意神国更频繁地是特指属灵王国.但是这些事实并没有形成如时代论者所教导的一致的"教义".不是每个经节的这样的用词都符合这种解释.在我们理解它之前,我们必须更深入地研究它.但以理书2:44 预言:"当那列王在位的时候，天上的神必另立一国，永不败坏，也不归别国的人，却要打碎灭绝那一切国，这国必存到永远。 "天上的神必另立一国,这样,这就是神的国和天国.有时候,这样的用词用于国度的不同方面.但是其中的区别不是很显著,而且可以足够"和谐"地支持很多人所希望的教义.
神之国是神建立的国度.天国是在天上"发掘资源"的国度.尽管两者有着不同的方面,它总归是一个国度. 我们在教导圣经的时候,神并没有分别对待这两者,而我们却不讲道义地想要硬性拆分它们.