问题48：什么是教会？
答：神为自己选择并保留的一个被拣选得永生、因信联合的群体，他们在一起爱神、跟随神、效法神、敬拜神。神差派这个群体去传扬福音，并借着他们共同生活和彼此相爱的品质，来预表基督的国度。
儿童版：一个被拣选得永生、因信联合的群体，他们在一起爱神、跟随神、效法神、敬拜神。

Question 48: What is the Church?
Answer: God chooses and preserves for himself a community elected for eternal life and united by faith, who love, follow, learn from, and worship God together. God sends out this community to proclaim the gospel and prefigure Christ’s kingdom by the quality of their life together and their love for one another.
For Kids: A community elected for eternal life and united by faith, who love, follow, learn from, and worship God together.


歌谱 Lead Sheet

经文

《帖撒罗尼迦后书》2 章13 节：

　　主所爱的弟兄们哪，我们本该常为你们感谢神，因为祂从起初拣选了你们，叫你们因信真道，又被圣灵感动，成为圣洁，能以得救。

注解

司布真

　　弟兄们，你们时刻要像基督，公开效法祂。我们大多数人都活在一定的公共空间里，我们中的许多人每天都要在人前工作。人们会看我们的行为，听我们口里说的话，细细考究我们的生活。世人会用无数双鹰眼观察我们所做的一切，会尖锐地批评我们。让我们当着众人活出基督的生命来，让我们留心彰显我们的主，而不是我们自己，所以我们可以说：「现在活着的不再是我，乃是基督在我里面活着。」（加2:20）谨慎自己在教会也要如此行……在教会里也要有基督的样式。你们中有多少人想高抬自己？有多少人想凌驾于其他基督徒之上，却不记得教会内是人人平等，大家亲如弟兄，同为神所收纳的？所以，无论你在哪个教会，都要活出基督的生命来，让其他基督徒谈到你时说，「有耶稣与祂同在」。

默想

约翰·叶慈

　　教会是神的家，在新约中被称为新盟约的群体。基督是头，教会是祂的身体，教会是基督的新妇。我们被称为圣徒，圣洁的国度、君尊的祭司。教会由属神的人组成，就是在耶稣基督里被神收养的人；教会由各种文化、各民族、各年龄段的人所组成，就是认耶稣基督为主的人。

　　在我们圣公会的传统中，我们有自己的信仰告白，叫做《三十九条信纲》。在《三十九条信纲》中，是这样描述教会的：

　　「凡是诚心相信的人，聚集成会，传讲神的正道，遵守基督的命令以施行圣礼，不遗弃圣礼中的要事，那么这会便是基督有形的教会……

　　「……教会不可设立与圣经相反的礼仪，也不可讲解一处经文的意义，与其他经文相违。」

　　古旧的信经如此描述教会：「合一、圣洁、大公并使徒传承。」合一，是因为教会是以基督为元首的一整个身体；圣洁，是因圣灵内驻于教会之中，使之圣化，引导教会的肢体成为神的工作；大公，意味着教会是普世性的，向所有人宣扬由使徒所传承的完整信仰，直到世界的末了；使徒传承，意味着我们持续使徒的教导与团契，我们因基督的使命而被差遣进入万民。

　　我们不能决定谁应该在教会中，这是神的拣选，就像我们无权决定谁是我们的兄弟姐妹。无论他们属于何种宗派、团体，他们都属于教会的一部分，也是我们的弟兄姊妹。塞缪尔·史东写了一首关于教会的诗歌，让我来读其中几段：

「教会唯一的根基，
是主耶稣基督；
圣言圣水所造成，
是主的新创作；
主从天上来寻她，
为主圣洁新妇，
甘愿流自己宝血，
舍身将她买赎。

教会虽召自万邦，
信徒却成一体，
同有救恩的凭证，
一主一信一洗。
同尊独一的圣名，
同餐唯一天粮，
同怀专一的希望，
同蒙恩爱久长。」

祷告

　　统管一切的君王，祢把我们聚到一起，成为祢的家。求祢保守我们忠实、合一地敬拜，彼此相爱，互相供应对方的需要。让我们真诚地团契相交，帮助我们在信仰上彼此勉励。阿们。

Scripture

2 THESSALONIANS 2:13

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

Commentary

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON

My brethren, let me say, be ye like Christ at all times. Imitate him in public. Most of us live in some sort of publicity; many of us are called to work before our fellow-men every day. We are watched; our words are caught; our lives are examined, taken to pieces. The eagle-eyed, argus-eyed world observes everything we do, and sharp critics are upon us. Let us live the life of Christ in public. Let us take care that we exhibit our Master, and not ourselves—so that we can say, “It is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me.” Take heed that you carry this into the church too. . . . Be like Christ in the church. How many there are of you . . . seeking pre-eminence? How many are trying to have some dignity and power over their fellow Christians, instead of remembering that it is the fundamental rule of all our churches, that there all men are equal—alike brethren, alike to be received as such. Carry out the spirit of Christ, then, in your churches, wherever ye are; let your fellow members say of you, “He has been with Jesus.”

Devotional

JOHN YATES

The church is the family of God. In the New Testament it’s called the community of the new covenant. It’s the body of which Christ is the Head. It’s the bride of Christ. We’re called a holy people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood. The church is the people who have been made God’s children, adopted by God through Jesus Christ. And the church consists of all cultures, all ethnic groups, people across the ages, all those who have come to know Jesus Christ as Lord.

In my tradition, the Anglican tradition, we have a statement of faith called the Thirty-Nine Articles. They describe the church this way:

The local, visible church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men and women, in which the pure Word of God is preached and the Sacraments are duly ministered according to Christ’s ordinance. . . .

The church has no authority except in submission to Christ, and it is not lawful for the church to ordain anything that is contrary to God’s Word written, and neither may it so expound one place of Scripture that it be repugnant to another.

The ancient creeds describe the church as “one holy catholic and apostolic.” It is one because the church is one body under one head. It is holy because the Holy Spirit indwells it and consecrates it, directing the members of the church in the work of God. It is catholic, meaning worldwide, proclaiming the whole apostolic faith to all people to the end of time. And it’s apostolic. That means we continue the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, and we’re sent out on Christ’s mission to all people.

We don’t choose who is going to be in the church, just as we have no say in who our brothers and sisters or cousins are. God chooses. Whatever particular denomination or group they may belong to, God’s people are part of the church and our brothers and sisters.

The church is summed up in this wonderful old hymn by Samuel J. Stone:

The church’s one foundation
is Jesus Christ her Lord;
she is his new creation
by water and the word.
From heaven he came and sought her
to be his holy bride;
with his own blood he bought her,
and for her life he died.

Elect from every nation,
yet one o’er all the earth;
her charter of salvation,
one Lord, one faith, one birth;
one holy name she blesses,
partakes one holy food,
and to one hope she presses,
with every grace endued.

Prayer

King Over All, you have brought us together as the family of God. Keep us faithful to worship together, to love one another, and to pro- vide for each other’s needs. Let our fellowship be genuine, and help us to spur one another on in the faith. Amen.