【读圣经学英语】神的恩赐

【读圣经学英语】神的恩赐

约翰福音-John 4 章 7~12节

4:7 有一个撒玛利亚妇人来打水,耶稣对她说,请给我水喝。
There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give Me something to drink.
4:8 原来祂的门徒进城买食物去了。
For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
4:9 撒玛利亚妇人对祂说,你既是犹太人,怎么向我一个撒玛利亚妇人要水喝?(原来犹太人和撒玛利亚人没有来往。)
The Samaritan woman then said to Him, How is it that You, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, who am a Samaritan woman? (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
4:10 耶稣回答说,你若知道神的恩赐,和对你说请给我水喝的是谁,你必早求祂,祂也必早给了你活水。
Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.
4:11 妇人说,先生,你没有打水的器具,井又深,从那里得活水?
The woman said to Him, Sir, You have no bucket, and the well is deep; where then do You get this living water?
4:12 我们的祖宗雅各,将这井给了我们,他自己和他的子孙并牲畜,也都喝这井里的水,难道你比他还大么?
Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank of it himself, as well as his sons and his cattle?
  
亮光

 

基督大过宗教的祖宗。 『耶稣回答说,你若知道神的恩赐,和对你说请给我水喝的是谁,你必早求祂,祂也必早给了你活水。』(约四10。)你若在中国传福音,人会跟你谈起孔夫子。每个民族和种族都宣称自己有些伟人,但是没有一人大过基督。

再者,神的恩赐也大过宗教的遗产。你要雅各井,还是要神的恩赐?什么是神的恩赐?如果你说神的恩赐就是基督,这个答案并不完全准确。神圣的生命才是神的恩赐,因为罗马六章二十三节说,神白白的恩赐乃是永远的生命。这神圣的生命要在我们里面成为泉源,直涌入永远的生命。(约四14。)这神圣的生命比雅各井好得多。今天你若去巴勒斯坦参观雅各井,你会看到那口井是在亚美尼亚僧人的控制之下。我去那里参观的时候,每位要从那井得一杯水的人,都得付两块美金。然而,那一切都是传统,毫无意义。那口井里的水,与别处的水并无两样。

『求』比宗教的路更有效。神的活水解我们的干渴,并要成为泉源直涌入永远的生命。死亡的干渴被生命所解除。原则上,这也是变死亡为生命。

 

Enlightenment:

Christ is greater than religion’s father. “Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (4:10). If you preach the gospel in China, people will talk to you about Confucius. Every race and tribe claims to have someone great, but none is greater than Christ.

Furthermore, God’s gift is greater than religion’s inheritance. Would you like to have Jacob’s well or God’s gift? What is God’s gift? If you say that God’s gift is Christ, that answer is not totally accurate. The divine life is God’s gift, for Romans 6:23 says that the free gift of God is eternal life. This divine life shall become in us a spring of water welling up into eternal life (v. 14). This divine life is much better than Jacob’s well. If you visit Jacob’s well in Palestine today, you will find it under the control of an Armenian monk. When I visited there, everyone who wanted a cup of water from Jacob’s well had to pay two dollars. However, all of that is tradition and means nothing. The water in that well is the same as any other.

To “ask” is more prevailing than religion’s way. The living water of God quenches our thirst and becomes a spring of water welling up into eternal life. Death’s thirst is quenched by life. In principle, this also is to change death into life.