问题29：我们怎样才能得救？
答：只能借着相信耶稣基督和祂在十字架上的代赎之死。这样，尽管我们犯了悖逆神的罪，并且仍然倾向于行恶，然而，当我们悔改并相信基督时，神就不因我们自己的任何功德，只是出于纯粹的恩典，将基督完全的义归给我们。
儿童版：只能借着相信耶稣基督和祂在十字架上的代赎之死。

Question 29: How Can We Be Saved?
Answer: Only by faith in Jesus Christ and in his substitutionary atoning death on the cross; so even though we are guilty of having disobeyed God and are still inclined to all evil, nevertheless, God, without any merit of our own but only by pure grace, imputes to us the perfect righteousness of Christ when we repent and believe in him.
For Kids: Only by faith in Jesus Christ and in his substitutionary atoning death on the cross.


歌谱 Lead Sheet

经文

《以弗所书》2 章8 节至9 节：

　　你们得救是本乎恩，也因着信；这并不是出于自己，乃是神所赐的；也不是出于行为，免得有人自夸。

注解

司布真

　　我们既因信称义，就得以与神和好。良心就停止了控告。如今审判是要判罪人无罪，而非控告祂。回首从前所犯下的罪，我们的心带着深深的忧伤，然而却不再惧怕有刑罚来到；因为基督已经偿清祂百姓所有的罪债，且收到了神的收据；除非神不公义，一笔债务要人偿还两次，否则，由耶稣代为受死的灵魂没有一个会下地狱。我们被开启了的心性似乎告诉我们，神一定是公义的；我们觉得一定是这样，这最初让我们感到恐惧；但奇妙的是，同样的信念，到后来竟成为我们信心与平安的支柱！如果神是公义的，我，一个罪人，若无人替代，就必要受刑罚，但耶稣替我受了刑罚；现在，如果神是公义的，我，一个在基督里的罪人，就绝不会受刑罚。一个被耶稣代赎了的灵魂绝不可能遭受律法的刑罚，除非神先改变祂自己的本性。耶稣已经等价地承受了祂百姓因为罪所当受的神的忿怒，如今信祂的人可以因着荣耀的胜利而欢呼，「谁能控告神的选民呢？」（参见罗8:33）神不能，因为祂已经算他们为义了；基督也不能，因为祂已经为他们死，又复活了。我的盼望不在于我不是一个罪人，而在于基督为了我这个罪人死；我的依靠不在于我是圣洁的，而在于我虽不洁，但祂是我的义；我的信仰不取决于我是，或将是什么，也不依赖于我的感觉或认知，而在于基督的所是，以及祂已经为我做的和正在为我做的。美丽的盼望女仆骑在正义的雄狮上，仿佛女王一般。

默想

凯文·德扬

　　《使徒行传》16 章记载说，保罗和西拉在监狱中，地大大震动，囚犯都要逃走了。那里的一个狱卒醒来后，以为囚犯都逃走了，祂就拿刀要自杀，保罗却阻止了祂。接下来这个狱卒问了一个很著名的问题：「先生，我当怎样行才可以得救？」（徒16:30）保罗给了祂最简洁、最有爱心、符合圣经、绝对是最美的答案：「当信主耶稣，你和你一家都必得救。」（徒16:31）

　　「我当怎样行才可以得救？」无论今生还是来世，再也没有比这更重要的问题了。保罗的回答为我们的要理问答做了一个精彩的总结。我们在这里看到，保罗讲到信耶稣是什么意思，哪种信心才能使人得救，神如何借着信拯救人。这里有两个关键词，第一个词是「唯独」，「唯独」在耶稣基督里的信心。说到信仰或信心的时候，人们都有自己不同的看法和见解，但「唯独」信心的意思，不是在信心之外再加上什么，不是基于我们背景的信心，不是信心加上你的出身，不是信心加上你能做的好事，不是信心加上社会公义，不是信心加上你持续的祷告，是「唯独」借着信心，而且是在耶稣基督里的信心。这信心是有对象的。

　　有很多人会自称「我是有信心、有信仰的人」，「你也要有信心啊」，但信心本身毫无价值。信心的对象才能拯救我们。一个人拥有很强烈的信心，或表现得很敬虔是没有用的，拥有神秘属灵体验也没用，而是唯独对耶稣有信心，祂是信心的对象。拯救我们的是信心的对象，信心只是工具。信心不是某种善行，然后神看见，就说：「你虽然做得不多，但你有信心，我真的很喜欢。」不是这样的。我们借着信心与基督联合，基督借以拯救我们，信心的对象才是重要的。

　　我在比较寒冷的地带长大，我们经常会去溜冰，打冰球。当你小心翼翼走到今年初结的冰上面，你会想：「这冰够不够厚？」有人会在冰面上自由地溜来溜去，他们对冰层充满了信心；也有人很害怕，小心翼翼，他们对冰层信心不足，不敢上冰。但什么能保证我们的安全呢？使人安全的不是信心的程度，当然你信心满满，就可以溜来溜去，但关键的是冰的厚度。

　　也就是你所站之地使你免于危险，而这所站之地就是耶稣基督，这就是唯独信靠基督的意思。

　　另外一个关键词在这里异常重要，这个词是「归算」，也许对你来说是新词，但这对福音和基督教信仰来说，是非常基要的。就是耶稣一生所活出来的公义，全都「归算」给我们，都算作是我们的，就好像汇款一样被划给我们了。我们所继承的义和我们自己的义是不同的。「我本身就是义人，我行公义」，这不是这里所讲的义。这里是在讲基督的义，是在我们之外的义，是因为我们借着信心与基督联合，祂的义「归算」成为我们的义。所以神能同时以公义追讨恶人的罪，并通过赦罪让恶人称义。

　　这就是《罗马书》3 章的目的，也是福音中的好消息。虽然我们依然是罪人，神却使我们称义，又能合乎公义地践行此事。不是因为祂会变魔术，好像罪不是什么大问题，把它变不见了，而是因为我们属基督，祂的义成为了我们的义。神依然公义，而我们又能被称义。

祷告

　　怜悯的主，我们放下自己的骄傲和一切的自义，以悔改和信心来到祢的面前。我们相信借着祢的死，我们已经得着生命。我们为这白白的救恩而赞美祢。阿们。

Scripture

EPHESIANS 2:8–9

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Commentary

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON

Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Conscience accuses no longer. Judgment now decides for the sinner instead of against him. Memory looks back upon past sins, with deep sorrow for the sin, but yet with no dread of any penalty to come; for Christ has paid the debt of his people to the last jot and tittle, and received the divine receipt; and unless God can be so unjust as to demand double payment for one debt, no soul for whom Jesus died as a substitute can ever be cast into hell. It seems to be one of the very principles of our enlightened nature to believe that God is just; we feel that it must be so, and this gives us our terror at first; but is it not marvelous that this very same belief that God is just, becomes afterwards the pillar of our confidence and peace! If God is just, I, a sinner, alone and without a substitute, must be punished; but Jesus stands in my place and is punished for me; and now, if God is just, I, a sinner, standing in Christ, can never be punished. God must change his nature before one soul for whom Jesus was a substitute can ever by any possibility suffer the lash of the law. Therefore, Jesus having taken the place of the believer—having rendered a full equivalent to divine wrath for all that his people ought to have suffered as the result of sin, the be- liever can shout with glorious triumph, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” Not God, for he has justified; not Christ, for he has died, “yes rather has risen again.” My hope does not live because I am not a sinner, but because I am a sinner for whom Christ died; my trust is not that I am holy, but that being unholy, he is my righteousness. My faith does not rest upon what I am, or shall be, or feel, or know, but in what Christ is, in what he has done, and in what he is now doing for me. On the lion of justice the fair maid of hope rides like a queen.

Devotional

KEVIN DEYOUNG

In Acts 16, Paul and Silas are in prison when a violent earthquake occurs. Prisoners are escaping, and the jailer wakes up and is abso- lutely dismayed that everyone is running off. The jailer is about to kill himself, and Paul stops him. And the jailer asks this very famous question: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (v. 30). Paul gives him the short, biblical, absolutely beautiful answer: “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household” (v. 31).

“What must I do to be saved?” There’s no more important question in this life or for the next life. The answer to our catechism question provides a wonderful summary of what it means to have faith in Christ—the sort of faith that saves—and how God saves through faith. This summary contains two key words. First is the very first word: only. Only faith in Jesus Christ. You see, it wouldn’t be terribly controversial to talk about faith. People are into faith and believing something. But it’s only faith, not faith plus something else. It’s not faith in addition to your background, faith plus your family of origin, faith plus how many good things you can do for social justice, or faith plus how often you pray. It’s only faith, and it’s faith in Jesus Christ—there is an object to it.

Many people will wax on and on about faith and belief and say, “I’m a person of faith” or “You’ve got to have faith.” But faith by itself doesn’t mean anything. It is the object of faith that saves us. It’s not being a person who has strong beliefs, who is sincere, or who has a mystical belief in spiritual things that saves us. It’s faith in Jesus Christ. He’s the object. It’s the object of our faith that saves us. Faith is only an instrument. It’s not the one good deed that God sees and says, “Well, you don’t have much going for you, but you have faith, and I really like that.” No. Faith is what joins us to Christ, and then he saves us. It’s the object that matters.

Growing up in a cold part of the country, I often went ice skating and played hockey. I might tiptoe out onto that first freeze of the year, and sort of wonder, “Is this ice thick enough?” Someone else might be on the ice zipping around skating with great freedom and having a lot of faith in the ice, while I’m gingerly tiptoeing and have just enough faith to get out on the ice. But what makes both of us secure? It’s not the level of faith, though you’d like to have the strong faith that’s zipping around there, but it’s the thickness of the ice.

It’s the object on which you’re standing that saves you. And that’s Jesus Christ. So it’s only faith in him.

The other word that is so crucial here is imputes. It is essential to the gospel and to the Christian faith that the righteous life that Christ lived is imputed to us. That means it’s reckoned to us. It’s counted to us. It’s sort of a wire transfer of funds. And there’s a difference between a righteousness that is inherent in us, infused in us, a kind of righteousness that says, “Well, look at me, I’m righteous. I do righteous things.” That’s not what this is talking about. This is talking about the righteousness of Christ that is outside of us, but because we’re joined to Jesus by faith, it gets counted as our righteousness, so that God can be both the just and the justifier of the wicked.

That’s the problem in Romans 3, and that’s the good news of the gospel—that though we are still sinners, God justifies us. And he is just to do so not because he waves a magic wand or says sin’s not a big deal (wink-wink); it’s because we belong to Christ and his righteousness is our righteousness that God can be just and we can be justified.

Prayer

Merciful One, we renounce our pride and all pretensions of self- righteousness, and we come to you in repentance and faith. We trust your death to give us life. We praise you for the gift of salvation. Amen.