耶穌是誰?
經過五年的研究,八個月的書寫,和兩個月的校對,感謝神的恩典,新書終於在四月十日再次出版了(英文版)。
寫這本書的目的,主要是為了個人的信仰。因為根據主耶穌基督的話,如果我們只認識獨一真神,不認識耶穌是誰,那我們就不會有永生。(約翰福音17:3,認識你獨一的真神,並且認識你差來的耶穌基督,這就是永生。)
神要拯救所有的人。所以我很難相信,神賜給耶穌“神的話語 the Word”,命令耶穌一字不漏的傳達給我們,目的是要困惑我們。使我們閱讀聖經超過兩千年,依然混淆不清,不知道耶穌到底是人還是神的理由是什麼?只知其然不知其所以然,等於是“看了不曉得,聽了不明白”,那我們如何會掉轉腳步,回過頭來,接受神的拯救呢?在這種情形下,基督徒被分裂成不同的教派,每個人在政治的影響下都認為自己教會的真理是對的,並非明白真正的原因和理由。
為什麼會出現狀況呢?
(1)你會認為聖經記載的每一個字和詞句,都應有其原本的意義嗎?
如果答案是“是的”, 這樣無論是何人,閱讀之後得到的【理解】,應該會是同樣的或非常接近的,不是嗎?
(2)要得到正確的理解,需要參考完整的上下文嗎?
你曉得這原本是我們應該做的事。一個字或許會含有超過一個意義,沒有上下文補助,我們不會明白到底哪一個才是作者想要告訴我們的意義。
(3)我們可以添加自己的意思嗎?
你也曉得這是萬不可以的,因為這樣做會纂改了聖經文字的原本意思。換句話說,文字意義裡面沒有的意思,不應該被加添在我們的理解之中,對嗎?
以上三個問題的答案,成為我研究和寫作的原則。借這些原則,證明約翰福音書文字的意義,到底會很清楚的告訴我耶穌是誰?還是會同樣得到好像現在模棱兩可的理解?所以,無論我得到的是哪一個答案,都完成了我研究的目的。因此,如果答案是後者,那我可以以一顆誠實無偽的良心,下定論說:這種模棱兩可的理解,不是人為的錯誤,而是聖經文字原本就是這樣的含糊不清的。
但我以一顆無偽的良心向各位申報,憑據文字意義應有的範圍,和完整的上下文,使徒約翰想要告訴我們的是:神話語彰顯能力,這次的結果,處女瑪利亞懷孕生出了神聖的一位,就是神的兒子,the holy one – the Son of God。所以在使徒約翰眼中,主耶穌基督是由一位婦人懷孕所生的人子。“全能的神”和“神的道”並沒有投胎,進入處女瑪利亞的母腹被生出來,成為了人。因此,使徒約翰告訴我們,耶穌認識神,決定守住神的道。也因為這樣,神在耶穌裡面,耶穌也在神裡面。的確,是神在耶穌裡面的靈替耶穌行了神蹟奇事。也因為這樣,使徒約翰告訴我們,神賜耶穌在祂生命裡頭,賜給耶穌神的話語和吩咐,同是也賜耶穌審判的權柄。這樣耶穌才可能完成神的工和神的旨意。借這一切作為,讓我們通過耶穌,認識真神,神的靈,生命和真理。全部的事實,告訴我們說,耶穌並非神的本體和神的道的化身。
要想理解,你只能自己去閱讀了。
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My book: Jesus in the Eyes of Apostle John
Who was Jesus?
After more than five years of research, eight months of writing, and two months of intensive editing, I release the book again on April 10th, 2017. Even though I think the book is more readable than before, but do keep in mind that it may still not perfectly correct as I am not a professionally trained writer.
Nevertheless, the main purpose for me to research and write this book is for the sake of my faith. It is not written to convince you so that you may switch over to my church. To me, the place where you practice your faith is not important. However, if we do not know who Jesus is, even though we may know the one true God whom we believe, we may not have the eternal life per Jesus Christ (John 17:3).
I believe that the Almighty God would want to save all of us. Therefore, I would not believe the Almighty God would purposely say something to confuse us, so much so that after reading the Bible for over two thousand years, all the churches still could not come to know for sure whether Jesus was God Himself, or the reason why they thought Jesus was God who became man, or why Jesus was just a human being born by a woman? As such, Christians’ faith is segmented by church denomination. Each believes what the church preached is right because of politically-correct reason, rather than because we have understood the reason why it is so.
The questions are:
(1) Does each word in the Bible carry its own meanings?
If the answer is “yes”, then irrespective who is reading it, we should come to the similar interpretation as the meaning of the word intends to tell us, right?
As such, any meaning, which the Bible word does not suggest, should not be in any part of our interpretation, right?
(2) Does it matter to read the Bible in its complete context?
We know the answer is a “yes” because a word may have more than one meaning. Therefore, we need the context to determine which of the meanings the word means to say.
(3) Can we inject our own thinking to interpret the Bible to mean what we want it to mean?
You know that it is a no-no. If we do so, we are changing the intended meaning the author may want to convey to us.
Conclusion:
I have made the principles derived from the above three questions as the rules for researching and writing this book. It will serve as my guidance proving to me that whether such method will lead me to a clear understanding of who Jesus was, or it will still lead me to the current confusing states. Therefore, irrespective which of the end results I would get, I would achieve my goal. As such, if the current confusing states is what it should be, I can clear my conscience and conclude that no one should take the blame because the ambiguity lies in the word spoken by Lord Jesus Christ and the Bible writers, but not the readers.
However, with a clear conscience, I declare to you that, within the boundary of the meanings of each word, and the context as a whole, in the eyes of Apostle John, Jesus was a man born by a woman through the manifestation of the power of God’s words. In other words, it was not the Almighty God Himself or the Word itself that transformed into flesh to be born as a human being by Virgin Mary. Jesus knew God, chose to remain with God and kept God’s words. As such, he was in God and God in him. Indeed, it was the Spirit of God in Jesus who had done the works for him. The Almighty God had granted Jesus life in Him, had given Jesus His words and the authority over all things. With the gifts, Jesus was able to finish His Work and to do His Will. All these were done, so that through Jesus we come to know God, whom is spirit, life and truth. All the facts have certainly revealed to us that Jesus is neither God Himself nor the Word itself.
You have to read it yourself to believe it.