關於西一15：基督是受造之物的第一個麼？（八）

關於西一15：基督是受造之物的第一個麼？（八）

五、W.E. Vine（1873-1949）

PROTOTOKOS (πρωτοτοκος) , firstborn (from protos, first, and tikto, to beget), is used of Christ as born of the Virgin Mary, Luke 2:7; further, in His relationship to the Father, expressing His priority to, and preeminence over, creation, not in the sense of being the first to be born. It is used occasionally of superiority of position in the OT; see Ex. 4:22; Deut 21:16, 17, the prohibition being against the evil of assigning the privileged position of thefirstborn to one born subsequently to the first child.
The five passages in the NT relating to Christ may be set forth chronologically thus:
(a) Col 1:15, where His eternal relationship with the Father is in view, and the clause means both that He was the Firstborn before all creation and that He Himself produced creation (the genitive case being objective, as Col 1:16 makes clear);
(b) Col 1:18; Rev 1:5, in reference to His resurrection;
(c) Rom 8:29, His position in relationship to the church;
(d) Heb 1:6, RV, His Second Advent (the RV “when He again bringeth in,” puts “again” in the right place, the contrast to His First Advent, at His birth, being implied); cp. Psalm 89:27. The word is used in the plural, in Heb 11:28, of the firstborn sons in the families of the Egyptians, and in Psalm 12:23, of the members of the Church.

Note: With (a) cp. John 1:30, “He was before me,” lit., “He was first (protos) of me,” i.e., “in regard to me,” expressing all that is involved in His pre-existence and priority.

【中譯】：

πρωτοτοκος, 首生 ( 從protos「首」 + tikto「生」而來 )，用於基督為馬利亞所生（路二7），進一步，用於祂與父的關係，表明其先於且超越造物，意思不是祂是第一個生的。在舊約有時用於地位上的優越，見於出四22；禁止指定長子之特權地位給在長子之後生者的罪惡，見於申二十一16～17。

在新約裡五處關於基督的經節可以依序列之如下：

1.西一15，這裡表明祂與父永遠的關係，而這個子句意思是，祂是在所有造物之先的首生（或長子），祂也創造了萬有（是受詞所有格，如16節所明證的）。

2.西一18和啟一5，關於祂的復活。

3.羅八29，祂與教會關係上的地位。

4.來一6（修定本），祂的再臨…。比較詩八十九27。

本字複數則用於希十一28埃及家的眾長子和十二23教會的眾成員。

（註：第1點，比較約一30「祂在我以前」，原文是「祂是我的第一」，亦即「關於我」祂是第一，表明他的先存和優先）

（W.E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, pp.434-435, second printing, Thomas Nelson）

評論：W.E. Vine是弟兄會中傑出的聖經教師之一，他的「An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words」在西方英語世界極受推崇、歷久不衰，在聖經原文字義方面解析清楚，而且同義詞分析、字詞格類排比等都非常清楚、豐富。我個人認為，其所下的斷言不能等閒視之，應尊重採納。

六、A.C. Gaebelein（1861 - 1945）

…Arianism, Socianism, Unitarianism, Russellism, Christian Science and other “isms” which rob the Lord Jesus Christ of His full glory and deny His Deity, are completely answered in the brief words which unfold His glory. It was Arius of Alexandria who taught in the beginning of the fourth century that the Lord Jesus was a creature, the first of all created things, though super-angelic, yet not eternal in His being nor a partaker of the divine essence. The council of Nice (325 A.D.) condemned the wicked theory of Arius. Socinus in the Reformation period revived this error, as did Priestly and Martineau in England and Channing and others in America. It remained for one Charles T. Russel, whose system is known by different names, to popularized these false and corrupt views and spread them throughout Christendom. Russell with Arius asserts that in His pre-existent state Jesus was a pure spirit, higher than the angels, yet only a creature. When born of Virgin Mary, He dropped His spirit nature while on earth. He teaches that the atonement offered by our Lord was only human, having nothing divine about it. Russellism also denies that the human body of our Lord was raised from the dead. The whole system is a conglomerate of Arianism，Ebioniteism and Rationalism….

2. “Firstborn of all creation”-not as the authorized version has it “the firstborn of every creature.” It is here where the false teaching originates, which claims that our Lord was after all only a creature, called into existence by God, and not very God. This passage teaches no such thing. The title “ Firstborn” denotes His priority to creation, for He is the creation’s Head; the Headship of all creation belongs to Him. When He who is the image of the invisible God takes His place in creation, as He did in incarnation, it can only be as the Firstborn, as the Beginning of the Creation of God, the Head of all. He, who became man, under whose feet as the second Man all things will be put in subjection (Ps. Viii, Heb. ii), is the Lord from Heaven, the Creator of all things.

3. That He is not a creature, though He took on the creature’s form, is at once demonstrated by the words which follow. The Holy Spirit anticipated the errors which would deny His glory and therefore we read of Him as the creator. “ For by Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him.” It is therefore absolutely certain that the “Firstborn” does not mean that our Lord is a creature, but the Creator. These words which were written by the Apostle are revelation. Nor is Paul the only instrument through whom the Spirit of God makes known His glory. John wrote in the beginning of his gospel the same truth. “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.” (John i:2)

The Son of God is therefore the Creator, yet not to the exclusion of the power of the Father, nor the operation of the Spirit. The three are one, in character and in their work; in creation and in redemption the three persons of the Godhead are active….

【中譯】：

…亞流主義、動力神格唯一論、索西奴主義、羅素主義（按羅素，耶和華見證人會的創始人）、基督教科學會（按為艾迪女士所創始），還有其他的「主義」，這些掠奪了主耶穌基督完全的榮耀並拒絕祂的神性，在這短短揭示祂榮耀的話裡完全回應了他們。亞歷山大的亞流在第四世紀初教導主耶穌是一個造物，一切造物的第一個，雖然超越天使，就其本身而言卻不是永遠的，也不能有分神聖的本質。尼西亞大會（主後325年）定罪了亞流邪惡的學說。索西奴在改教時期復燃其錯誤，…，直到有一個名叫羅素的（Charles T. Russell），他的系統有著許多不同的名稱，將這些錯誤和敗壞的觀點流傳出去，使之散佈在基督教世界中。

羅素跟著亞流，主張在耶穌存在之前，祂純是一個靈，高於天使，卻仍是個受造物。當祂在地為馬利亞所生時，祂降下祂的靈質。他教導我們的主所給的贖罪只是屬人的，並不是神聖的。羅素主義又否認我們的主屬人的身體從死裡復活。這整個系統是亞流主義、以便俄尼主義和理性主義的大雜燴。基督教科學會也是否認基督的神性，它裡面全是歌羅西人當時所面對的諾斯底主義致死的錯誤。…

2.「一切受造之物的首生者」，不是欽定本的「每一造物的首生」。錯誤的教訓就是從這裡產生的，這個教訓聲稱我們的主終究不過是個造物，是神使祂存在，祂不是神。這個經文教導的絕不是這樣。「首生」的頭銜表明祂之於造物的居先，因為祂是造物的頭，所有屬祂之造物的首領。當祂作為不能看見之神的像來道成肉身，在造物中有其位時，祂只能是首生、神造物的元始、一切的頭。祂來成為人，作為第二個人，萬有都要服在祂的腳下（詩八，來二），祂是天來的主、萬有的創造者。

3.這個－祂雖然取了造物的樣式，卻不是一個造物－立刻從後面的話表露出來。聖靈預料到會有否認祂榮耀的錯誤，因此我們讀關於祂是創造主的話：「因為萬有都是靠祂造的，無論是天上的，地上的；能看見的，不能看見的；或是有位的，主治的，執政的，掌權的；一概都是藉著祂造的，又是為祂造的。」因此絕對確定的，「首生」的意思不是我們的主是一個造物，而是創造主。使徒所寫的這些話是啟示。神的靈使人知道祂的榮耀並不是只有藉著由保羅一個器皿，約翰在祂的福音書開頭寫了一樣的真理：「萬物是藉著祂造的；凡被造的，沒有一樣不是藉著祂造的。」（約一2）

因此神的兒子是創造主。然而卻不能排除父的能力，也不能排除聖靈的運行。祂們三者在性質和工作上是一，神格中的三個人位在創造和救贖的事上都是活躍的。…

（A.C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible, Vol. IV, Loizeaux Brothers, 1970, 3rd printing, Dec. 1979, pp.51-53 ）

評論：A.C. Gaebelein也是弟兄會中傑出的聖經教師之一，他的「The Annotated Bible」在西方英語世界裡是一套非常經典的著作，備受推崇、值得信賴。著名的「司可福參考聖經」（The New Scofield Reference Bible）亦列他為諮詢學者之一，可見其份量。

Gaebelein的文章不僅解經正確、滿了亮光、文筆流暢、絕無贅句，而且駁斥異端教訓更是不遺餘力，使仇敵一切的謊言被拆穿，無所遁形。他在他所處的時代裡是捍衛真理的勇士。

讀者讀讀他所寫關於西一15的評註就可以知道，他在那裡所下的斷言何等地清晰正確，所有關乎亞流的錯誤、遺毒在這樣的評註前完全站不住腳。讀者當以其人之斷言為斷言，不當輕信錯誤的教訓，被其如風帶走！