问题16：什么是罪？
答：罪是在神所创造的世界中拒绝或忽视神，通过把神排除在生活之外来背叛祂，不活出或执行祂在律法中的要求，从而导致我们的死亡和一切受造物的崩溃。
儿童版：罪是在神所创造的世界中拒绝或忽视神，不活出或执行祂在律法中的要求。

Question 16: What is Sin?
Answer: Sin is rejecting or ignoring God in the world he created, rebelling against him by living without reference to him, not being or doing what he requires in his law—resulting in our death and the disintegration of all creation.
For Kids: Sin is rejecting or ignoring God in the world he created, not being or doing what he requires in his law.


歌谱 Lead Sheet

经文

《约翰一书》3 章4 节：

　　凡犯罪的，就是违背律法；违背律法，就是罪。

注解

章伯斯

　　罪是一种基本关系。罪不是你做错了什么，而是一种非法的存在，是故意、决然地独立于神之外。基督教的一切都以罪的活跃性和根本性为基础。其他宗教对付许多罪行，唯有圣经对付罪性。耶稣最先挑战的就是人身上罪的遗传；因为我们在传讲福音的时候常常忽视了这一点，所以福音的信息现在已经变得不再扎心，也失去了突破力。

默想

约翰·林

　　什么是罪？罪就是违背神的律法，就是没有达到祂的要求，不按照祂要求我们的方式生活，或者说，没有完全活出神造我们的目的。罪是把神排除在我们的生活之外，不以祂的心意为我们的生活准则，不把祂作为我们生命的中心。我们的生活若忽略神的本性，我们就违背了祂的律法。律法就是他对我们施恩爱护、保守我们生命最好最完善的准则。

　　我们这样想好了：如果我从悬崖跳下，我说：「我不需要地心引力，我要按着自己的规则来。」一方面你会违反特定的规则，叫做「不可从悬崖跳下」；另一方面你忽视了地心引力。在你生命中，你觉得地心引力没有任何意义和影响，也不认为它对你来说有多重要。你不会说地心引力太专制了，顺服这律是不可理喻的。你不会这样讲，因为你知道万有引力是我们生活中必须考虑的因素。当然有我们需要尊重的规则，也会有我们必须要承认的界限。你知道你若挑战地心引力，跳下悬崖会发生什么事：摔个粉身碎骨。

　　当我们不把神当作神，不理会神慈爱的律例，不荣耀祂，或者用行动表达祂在我们的生命中各方面都不重要、没影响。我们就辜负了我们被造的目的。这将会导致我们摔个粉身碎骨。

　　也许这个例子对我们会有帮助：当各星球绕一个叫太阳的中心公转时，我们的太阳系会一片祥和，但如果有些行星自行决定自己的轨道，或者有行星决定不环绕任何东西自行运转，会发生什么？死亡并解体。太阳系会分崩离析，因为行星不围绕正确的中心运行。它们没有以太阳为中心，所以带来的结果就是分崩离析，彻底地毁灭。

　　不以神为中心的生命，不仅仅带来我们的死亡并解体，也带来整个宇宙面临灭亡和瓦解。神造亚当和夏娃，成为了创造的最高峰。当他们犯罪悖逆神慈爱的律例，不只是对他们的生命有影响，也影响了整个宇宙。

　　保罗写下了「罪的工价乃是死」（罗6:23）。罪导致灭亡，但福音是耶稣基督在十架上亲尝死味，好叫我们得生命。在某个意义上，祂在十架上被击打苦待，灵魂被撕裂，使我们得以重塑为完全。祂为我们的罪而死，使我们可以活着。是祂遭受死亡和破碎，祂为我们的罪付上了代价，使我们免于死亡。

祷告

　　宇宙的主，祢所行的尽都美好。我们若偏行己路，就是在走死亡的道路。帮助我们看到罪就是毒药。求祢让祢的律法，而不是邪灵来塑造我们的思想和人生。阿们。

Scripture

1 JOHN 3:4

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

Commentary

OSWALD CHAMBERS

Sin is a fundamental relationship; it is not wrong doing, it is wrong being, deliberate and emphatic independence of God. The Christian religion bases everything on the positive, radical nature of sin. Other religions deal with sins; the Bible alone deals with sin. The first thing Jesus Christ faced in men was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the Gospel that the message of the Gospel has lost its sting and its blasting power.

Devotional

JOHN LIN

One very important way of understanding sin is that sin is rebellion against God’s law. It’s not doing what he requires of us, not living as he has called us to live, and, therefore, never fully being who God created us to be. Sin is living without reference to God, not viewing him to be the defining reality of our lives around which our entire lives need to be centered. And when we don’t live as if God is who he is, we violate his law and all the good, loving, protecting guidelines that he’s provided to us for how to best and most fully live.

Think about it this way. If you were to walk off a cliff saying, “I don’t have to live by the law of gravity; I can live by my own rules,” you would, on the one hand, be disobeying a very specific rule and commandment—namely, “Don’t walk off a cliff.” But on the other hand, you would also not be living in reference to gravity. You would be living as if gravity were of no consequence or importance in your life. You would never say the law of gravity is arbitrary, or that it is unreasonable that you have to obey it. You would never say that, because you understand that gravity is something that we must live in reference to. Of course there are guidelines to honor and boundaries to acknowledge. You know the result of walking off a cliff and trying to break the law of gravity: death and disintegration.

When we don’t live as if God is God, when we break God’s loving law, when we fail to honor who he is, when we say or imply by our actions that he’s of no consequence or importance in this or that part of our lives, we fail to fully be the people God created us to be. And it leads to death and disintegration.

This illustration might help. Our solar system exists harmoniously when all the planets orbit the same center: the sun. If, however, the planets all decided on their own what to orbit, or if some of the planets chose not to orbit anything, what would happen? Death and disintegration. The solar system as we know it would unravel and fall apart because the planets would not be orbiting the correct center. They wouldn’t be living in reference to the sun. And therefore everything would fall apart and be destroyed.

Not living in reference to God not only leads to our personal death and disintegration; it’s the reason why the entire cosmos is subject to death and disintegration. God created Adam and Eve to be the centerpiece and the pinnacle of creation. When they sinned, their disobedience of God’s loving law not only had implications on their lives, it also had implications on the entire cosmos.

Paul writes that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Sin leads to death. And yet the gospel is that Jesus Christ experienced death so that we could live. In some ways he was disintegrated on the cross, spiritually torn apart, so that we could be made whole. He died for our sin, so that we could be made alive. He experienced death and disintegration. He paid the penalty for our sin, so that we would not have to.

Prayer

Lord of the Universe, all your ways are good. We pursue the way of death when we go our own way. Help us to see sin as the poison it is. Let your law, rather than the spirit of lawlessness, shape our minds and our lives. Amen.