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John第21章:15-25 : Feed my lambs, Feed my sheep

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15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.

19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

20 Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?

21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?

22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.

23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?

24 This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.

25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

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早餐后的对话

原作者: Joe David (机器翻译成: 中文)

This inscription is on a stone at the church hall in South Ronaldsey, in the Orkneys, northeast of Scotland.

早餐后的对话

(关于 约翰福音21:15-25)

在本章的前半部分,七个门徒回到加利利家。他们去捕鱼,在岸上看见耶稣在岸上,按照他的指示在船的右边捕鱼,把满载着一百五十三条鱼的网子拖到岸上,然后...........当本章后半部分开始时,他们刚刚与耶稣断绝了禁食。现在,他们正在休息。

耶稣对彼得说:"你爱我吗?"彼得也许对这个问题有些惊愕,认为答案很明显,就回答说:"爱",耶稣回答说:"喂养我的羊羔"。这个顺序又重复了两次,但有一些变化。然后,在这不寻常的对话之后,主给他们都讲了一个小比喻,说的是年轻的时候是年轻的,以后是老的。然后,主叫彼得跟从他,彼得显然是吃醋了,就问约翰该怎么做。主温和地斥责彼得的嫉妒,说:"这人若在我来之前不来,你又有什么事呢?"但主又告诉约翰也要跟从他。

最后,约翰的福音书,乃至四本福音书的合集,最后以约翰的解释结束,他是这本福音书的作者。

那么现在,我们再来看看这段对话、比喻,以及嫉妒心的爆发。

七个门徒中只有彼得和约翰两个人在这部分的故事中被提到。彼得代表的是信心,或者说是真理,是关于属灵的事情的真理,我们真正相信是来自神的。约翰代表的是善,或者说是对邻居的爱。前者住在心灵的理解部分,后者住在心灵的意志部分。

在告诉彼得喂养羊的时候,主说跟从他意味着要传扬现在所有门徒都知道的关于主,关于主的到来,关于一个人的生命应该如何领导的真理,以便在新教会中成为主的跟随者。在这段对话中,主是直接的、探究的。"约拿的儿子西门,你爱我比这些还多吗?"我想彼得是在问他爱主耶稣,是否比爱他的加利利人朋友更爱主,尽管这句话很含糊,可能是说 "你爱我比这六个人更爱我吗?当彼得第一次回答时,他说:"主啊,你知道我爱你。"

主用这三个试探性的问题中的第一个问题,回答是 "喂养我的羊羔",而之后的回答是 "喂养我的羊"。羊和羊羔都代表爱行善的人,但羊指的是爱行善的人,为邻舍行善的人,而羊指的是为主行善的人。前者是属灵的善,后者是更高的善,称为天道的善。但最初想行善的人,不知道什么是善,需要从道上学习,受人教导。这就是彼得要 "喂养他们 "的原因,也就是说,真理必须指明要如何行善。要行善的事,必须要有意志的愿意,和明白的知道如何去行,这两者必须连在一起。为了一个成功的基督徒生活,或者说在更大范围内的基督徒教会,"彼得 "和 "约翰 "必须和谐地工作。

然后是一个比喻。"当你年轻的时候,你把自己准备好了,自己做你想做的事情。但当你老了,你必须伸出援手,另一个人就会带你到你不想去的地方。"

这似乎不符合这里的意思,但当然符合,而且有两种方式。第一种方式是在《圣经》的经文中给出的;是关于主的死,所有的预言都是把祂引向祂钉在十字架上,正如所提到的。第二种方式是给我们所有人的教训。当我们年轻、自信、刚强的时候,我们觉得自己可以做自己想做的事,不需要任何帮助。做坏事的诱惑,我们自己可以应付。但当我们渐渐有了智慧后,我们就会意识到,我们所有的力量都来自于主,如果我们继续只依靠自己,来自地狱的试探就会过于强烈,我们就会被引导去做地狱要我们做的事,而不是我们想要的。我们必须从一开始就学会跟随主,依靠主。这句话他是在比喻的结尾处说的,在我们不明白这个比喻的意思之前,这句话似乎是不合适的。"他说这话的时候,他对他们说,你们要跟从我。"这也是我们需要做的。

彼得很乐意做这种传讲真理的工作,也许他觉得自己被挑出来了,但他也意识到,约翰也爱主,也是爱主,也是爱的回报。于是,他问:"那这个人该怎么做呢?"看来,所需要的和谐还没有出现,彼得对这种关系的联结感到嫉妒,可能是希望自己是第一,希望能得到保证...........但这并没有实现。皮特只是告诉他,这并不重要,他需要做的是完成交给他的工作。

我想起了雅各和以扫的故事,在 创世记25以扫是长子,以扫是长子,他将继承以撒应得的出生权和祝福。雅各用他母亲的诡计欺骗了以撒,偷了以扫的东西。然后,他跑到帕丹亚兰,和他的叔叔一起住在那里,并变得富有。只有在他回来的路上,他与天使搏斗,改名为以扫,才再次遇到以扫。这个名字的改变意味着,现在雅各因着道的真理而富有了,再加上与以扫的友好会面,也是富有的,这两对双胞胎可以用比喻的方式,合并成一个人,叫作以色列,意思是在思想上把善和真理结合在一起。

以扫的意思与约翰相似,他们都代表良善或真正的慈善。雅各的意思与彼得相似,他们都代表从道里学到的真理。在他们之间任何看似敌意,认为哪一个更重要,都会使他们两个人都变得一无是处,而在一个正在成为天使的人身上(正如每个人都应该追求的那样),没有敌意。真理能使善,而善又能激发出真理,才能使人有成就感。虽然我们可以分别思考和谈论它们,但它们(在主里是完全的,在天使里就更不那么完美了)连成一体,以至于被看成是夫妻。主的神圣的善和神圣的真理的结合是一切创造的起源。是的,所有的创造都是如此。

这种善与真理的结合,以及两者在我们的生活中平衡、和谐地发挥作用的必要性,是新基督教的核心理念。

在《福音书》中,仅有一个故事发生在这个故事之后。在这个故事中,其余的门徒加入这里提到的七人,听主最后的命令。

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

The Last Judgement#39

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39. Because the Christian world does not know that there can be no faith without charity, or what charity towards the neighbour is, not even that it is the will which is the real person, and his thought contributes only so far as it is inspired by the will, I should like, so as to shed some intellectual light on these matters, to add here my collected notes of passages in ARCANA CAELESTIA, which may be of use as illustration.

ON FAITH

If anyone does not know that all things in the universe relate to truth and to good and that they have both to be linked for anything to be produced, he also does not know that all things in the church relate to faith and to love and to their linking (7752-7762, 9186, 9224).

All things in the universe relate to truth and good and to their linking (2451, 3166, 4390, 4409, 5232, 7256, 10122, 10555).

Truths belong to faith, and kinds of good to love (4352, 4997, 7178, 10367).

[2] If anyone does not know that every detail in the make-up of a human being relates to the intellect and the will and to their linking, which must happen for the person to be human, neither do they know that everything in the church relates to faith and love and to their linking, which must happen for the church to be present in a person (2231, 7752-7754, 9224, 9995, 10122).

A person has two faculties, one called the intellect, the other the will (641, 803, 3623, 3539).

The intellect is assigned to the reception of truths, and so of things to do with faith; the will is assigned to the reception of kinds of good, and so of things to do with love (9300, 9930, 10064).

Hence it follows that it is love or charity which makes a church and not faith alone, that is, faith separated from love and charity (809, 916, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844, 4766, 5826).

[3] Faith separated from charity is no faith (654, 724, 1162, 1176, 2049, 2116, 2343, 2349, 2417, 3419, 3849, 3868, 6348, 7039, 7342, 9783).

A faith of this kind is lost in the other life (2228, 5820).

Teachings about faith alone destroy charity (6353, 8094).

Those who separate faith from charity are represented in the Word by Cain, Ham, Reuben, by the first-born of the Egyptians and by the Philistines (3325, 7097, 7317, 8093).

The further charity is withdrawn, the stronger becomes the dogma of faith alone (2231). A church in course of time turns aside from charity to faith, and finally to faith alone (4683, 8094).

In the final period of a church there is no faith because there is no charity (1843, 3489, 4689).

If anyone regards faith alone as offering salvation, he is excusing wickedness of life; and those who lead wicked lives have no faith, because they have no charity (3865, 7766, 7778, 7790, 7950, 8094).

These people are inwardly subject to the falsities of their own evil, although they do not know it (7790, 7950). Consequently good cannot be linked to them (8981, 8983).

In the other life too they oppose good and those who have good in them (7097, 7127, 7317, 7502, 7545, 8096, 8313).

Those who are simple at heart know better than the wise what constitutes goodness of life, and so charity, but not what faith is separately (4741, 4754).

[4] Good is being and truth is coming into existence from this being. Thus the truth of faith has its being in life from the good of charity (3049, 3180, 4574, 5002, 9154).

Consequently the truth of faith is given life by the good of charity; so the life of faith is charity (1589, 1947, 1997, 2571, 4070, 4096, 4097, 4736, 4757, 4884, 5147, 5928, 9154, 9667, 9841, 10729).

A person's faith is not alive when he merely knows and thinks about matters to do with faith, but only when he wills them and by willing does them (9224).

The Lord is not linked with a person by faith, but by the life of faith, which is charity (9380, 10143, 10153, 10578, 10645, 10648).

Worship based on the good of charity is true worship; but if it is based upon the truth of faith without the good of charity it is only an external act (7724).

[5] Faith alone, that is, separated from charity, is like light in wintertime when everything on earth is sluggish and no growth takes place. But faith with charity is like light in spring and summertime, when everything flowers and grows (2231, 3146, 3412, 3413). Winter light, that given by faith separated from charity, is in the other life turned into thick darkness, when light pours in from heaven.

Those whose faith is of that kind are then reduced to blindness and stupidity (3412, 3413).

Those who separate faith from charity are in darkness, or in ignorance of the truth, so they are subject to falsities; for these are darkness (9186).

They plunge themselves into falsities and so into evils (3325, 8094); the errors and falsities into which they plunge (4721, 4730, 4776, 4783, 4925, 7779, 8313, 8765, 9224).

The Word is a closed book to them (3773, 4783, 8780).

They do not see or pay attention to all the Lord's many statements about love and charity (1017, 3416).

Neither do they know what good or heavenly love or charity are (2057, 3603, 4136, 9995).

[6] Charity makes the church, not faith separated from charity (809, 916, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844)

How much good there would be in the church, if charity were regarded as its primary concern (6269, 6272).

If charity were its essential element, there would be one church, not a division into many; and it would then not matter if their teachings about faith and external forms of worship were different (1285, 1316, 2385, 2853, 2982, 3267, 3445, 3451, 3452).

Everyone in heaven is seen from the point of view of charity, and no one from that of faith without charity (1258, 1394, 2364, 4802).

[7] The Lord's twelve disciples represented the church as regards the whole of faith and charity taken together, in the same way as the twelve tribes of Israel (2129, 3354, 3488, 3858, 6397).

Peter, James and John represented respectively faith, charity and the good works of charity (3750). Peter stands for faith (4738, 6000, 6073, 6344, 10087, 10580); John the good works of charity (AC preface to chapters 18, 22 of Genesis).

There being in the final periods no faith in the Lord because there is no charity was represented by Peter's thrice-repeated denial of the Lord before the cock crew the second 1 time; for Peter in the representative sense there is faith (6000, 6073).

Cock-crow and twilight mean in the Word the final period of a church (10134).

Three or thrice means final completion (2788, 4495, 5159, 9198, 10127).

There is a similar meaning in the Lord's words to Peter, when he saw John follow the Lord, 'What is it to you, Peter? Follow me, John.'

For Peter said about John 'What of him?' John 21:21-22 (10087).

John reclined on the Lord's breast, because he represented the good works of charity (3934, 10081).

All personal and place names in the Word stand for abstract qualities (768, 1888, 4310, 4442, 10329).

ON CHARITY

[8] Heaven is divided into two kingdoms, one called the celestial kingdom, the other the spiritual kingdom. Love in the celestial kingdom is love to the Lord, called celestial love, and love in the spiritual kingdom is charity towards the neighbour, called spiritual love (3325, 3653, 7257, 9002, 9835, 9961).

The division of heaven into those two kingdoms is described in HEAVEN AND HELL 20-28. The Lord's Divine in the heavens is love to Him and charity towards the neighbour (13-19).

[9] There is no knowledge of what good and truth are without knowledge of what love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour are, since all good has to do with love and charity, and all truth has to do with good (7255, 7366).

Knowing truths, willing truths and having affection for truths for truths' sake, that is, because they are true, is charity (3876, 3877).

Charity consists in an inward affection for doing what is true, and not in an outward affection without an inward one (2439, 2442, 3776, 4899, 4956, 8073).

Charity equally consists of performing services for their own sake and its nature depends upon the services performed (7078, 8253).

Charity is a person's spiritual life (7081).

The whole of the Word is a lesson in love and charity (6632, 7261).

There is ignorance to-day about what charity is (2417, 3398, 4776, 6632).

Still one can know even by the light of one's own reason that it is love and charity that make one a person (3957, 6273); also that good and truth are in harmony, and belong each to the other, and so do charity and faith (7627).

[10] In the highest sense the Lord is the neighbour, because He is to be loved above all. Consequently everything that proceeds from Him and in which He is present, and so good and truth, are the neighbour (2425, 3419, 6706, 6819, 6823, 8124).

The difference between one neighbour and another depends upon the nature of good, and so on the Lord's presence (6707-6710).

Every person and every community, as well as one's country and one's church, and in the universal sense the Lord's kingdom, are the neighbour. Loving the neighbour is doing good to them appropriately to their condition. So the neighbour is the good of those for whom one should take thought (6818-6824, 8123).

Civic good, which is justice, and moral good, which is goodness of life in the community, are the neighbour (2915, 4730, 8120-8122).

Loving the neighbour is not loving a person, but what he possesses which gives him his nature, so his good and truth (5025, 10336).

Those who love a person, and not what he possesses and which gives him his nature, love evil as much as good (3820).

These people do good to wicked as much as to good people, yet doing good to the wicked is doing harm to the good; and this is not loving the neighbour (3820, 6703, 8120).

A judge, who punishes the wicked to reform them and to prevent the good being infected by their evil, is loving the neighbour (3820, 8120, 8121).

[11] Loving the neighbour is doing good, behaving fairly and correctly in every task and in every office (8120-8122).

Thus charity towards the neighbour extends to every single thing a person thinks, wills and does (8124).

Doing what is good and true for the sake of goodness and truth is loving the neighbour (10310, 10376).

Those who do this love the Lord, who is in the highest sense the neighbour (9210).

A life of charity is living in accordance with the Lord's commands, so living in accordance with Divine truths is loving the Lord (10143, 10153, 10310, 10578, 10645).

[12] True charity seeks no reward (Arcana Caelestia 2027, 2273, 2 2380, 2400, 3887, 6388-6393), because it comes from inward affection, so from the pleasure of doing good (2273, 2400, 3887, 6388-6393).

In the other life, those who separate faith from charity regard faith and what seem outwardly like good deeds they have done as deserving reward (2273).

[13] The teaching of the Ancient Church was about how to live, which is teaching about charity (2385, 2417, 3419, 3420, 4844, 6628).

The ancients who belonged to the church reduced the good deeds of charity to an order and divided them into classes, giving each its name. This was the source of their wisdom (2417, 6629, 7259-7262).

The wisdom and intelligence of those who have lived a charitable life in the world increase immeasurably in the other life (1941, 5849).

The Lord fills charity with Divine truth, because this is the real life of a person (2363).

A person resembles a garden when charity and faith are linked in him, a desert when they are not (7626).

In so far as a person departs from charity he equally departs from wisdom (6630). Those who lack charity are ignorant about Divine truths, however wise they think themselves (2417, 2435).

The life of angels consists in performing the good deeds of charity, which are services (454).

Spiritual angels are models of charity (553, 3804, 4735).

ON THE WILL AND THE INTELLECT

[14] A person has two faculties, one called the intellect, the other called the will (35, 641, 3539, 10122).

Those two faculties constitute the true person (10076, 10109, 10110, 10264, 10284).

The nature of those faculties determines the person's nature (7342, 8885, 9282, 10064, 10284).

These faculties serve to distinguish man from animals, because the human intellect can be uplifted by the Lord so as to see Divine truths; and likewise the will can be uplifted so as to perceive Divine kinds of goodness. Thus a person can be linked to the Lord by the two faculties which constitute him.

But the case is different with animals (4525, 5114, 5302, 6323, 9231).

Because man is superior to animals in having that ability, he is unable to die as regards the interiors which belong to his spirit, but he lives for ever (5302).

[15] All things in the universe relate to good and truth; so all things in a person relate to the will and the intellect (803, 10122), because the intellect receives truth and the will receives good (3332, 3623, 5835, 6065, 6125, 7503, 9300, 9930).

It comes to the same thing whether you speak of truth or of faith, since faith has to do with truth and truth with faith. It comes to the same thing whether you speak of good or of love, since love has to do with good and good with love.

A person calls true what he believes and he calls good what he loves (4353, 4997, 7178, 10122, 10367).

It follows from this that the intellect is a receiver for faith and the will for love (7179, 10122, 10367).

Because a person's intellect is capable of receiving faith in God and his will is capable of receiving love to God, he can by faith and love be linked to God; and being capable of this, he cannot ever die (4525, 6323, 9231).

[16] A person's will is the real being of his life, because it serves to receive love or good. His intellect is the coming-into-existence of his life from this source, because it serves to receive faith or truth (3619, 5002, 9282).

Thus it is the life of the will which is the chief element in a person's life, and the life of the intellect is derived from it (585, 590, 3619, 7342, 8885, 9282, 10076, 10109, 10110); similarly light comes from fire or flame (6032, 6314).

A person makes his own what enters into the intellect and at the same time into the will, but not what only enters into the intellect (9009, 9069, 9071, 9128, 9182, 9386, 9393, 10076, 10109, 10110).

What is received by the will becomes part of a person's life (3161, 9386, 9393).

It follows from this that what makes a person human depends on his will and on his intellect derived from it (8911, 9069, 9071, 10076, 10109, 10110).

It is also true that every individual is loved and esteemed by others in proportion to the good of his will, and thus of his intellect. Anyone who wishes well and understands well is loved and esteemed, and anyone who understands well but does not wish well is rejected and criticised (8911, 10076).

After death a person remains in the state of his will and intellect derived from it (9069, 9071, 9386, 10153).

Matters of the intellect which are not at the same time matters of will then fade away, because they are not in the person (9282).

To put it another way, a person's state after death remains such as was his love and thus his faith, or such as was his good and thus his truth. Matters which have to do with faith, but not also with love, or matters to do with truth, but not also with good, then fade away, because they are not in the person or part of him (553, 2363, 10153).

A person can grasp intellectually what he does not willingly do; that is, he can understand what he cannot will, because it opposes his love (7539).

The reason why people have difficulty in making the distinction between thinking and willing (9995).

[17] How perverse is the state of those whose intellect and will do not act as one (9075).

This state is found in hypocrites, tricksters, toadies and charlatans (3573, 4327, 4799, 8250).

[18] All willing of good and thus understanding of truth is from the Lord; but not the understanding of truth separated from the willing of good (1831, 3514, 5482, 5649, 6027, 8685, 8701, 10153).

It is the intellect which is enlightened by the Lord (6222, 6608, 10659).

This enlightenment occurs to the extent that a person receives truth in his will, that is, to the extent that he wishes to act in accordance with truth (3169).

The intellect depends upon light from heaven, just as sight depends on light from the world (1524, 5114, 6608, 9128).

The nature of the intellect is determined by the nature of the truths derived from good by which it is formed (10064).

The intellect is properly formed by truths derived from good, but not by falsities derived from evil (10675).

It is the function of the intellect on the basis of experience to see truths, causes, connexions and logical consequences (6125).

It is the function of the intellect to see and perceive whether a thing is true before it is proved, not to be able to prove anything whatever (4741, 7012, 7680, 7950, 8521, 8780).

The ability to see and perceive whether a thing is true before it is proved is only possible for those who have an affection for truth for truth's sake, those, that is, who enjoy spiritual light (8521).

The light afforded by proofs is natural light, which even the wicked may possess (8780).

All dogmas, however false, can be proved to the point where they appear to be true (2482, 2490, 5033, 6865, 7950 3 ).

脚注:

1. [The first edition has 'the third time'.]

2. [The first edition gives the references 2340, 2373. The numbers in the text seem most likely to have been intended.]

3. [The first two references appear to be incorrect.]

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.