“于是女人见那棵树的果子好做食物，也悦人的眼目，且是可喜爱的，能使人有智慧，就摘下果子来吃了；又给她丈夫，她丈夫也吃了。他们二人的眼睛就明亮”（创3:6-7），人类始祖犯罪的时候感觉是很好的，“好做食物”、“悦人眼目”、“可喜爱的”、“能使人有智慧”、“眼睛明亮”，这些良好的感觉让他们无视神的诫命、无视罪的可怕，从一个角度看，这是罪的共性——用感觉来主导生命，真伪善恶的判断都受制于感觉、并受感觉的欺骗。主的警示，“凡称呼我‘主啊，主啊’的人不能都进天国，唯独遵行我天父旨意的人才能进去”（太7:21-23），也是针对这种情况，这些人的感觉良好，但最终决定人类命运和归宿的不是你的感觉，而是神的旨意，是来自神的、确定的、客观的启示。信仰的交锋首先是信仰定义权的交锋，是人定还是神定、是人的感觉定义还是神的话语定义，你有的到底是你感觉的得救还是神恩赐的得救，得救的信心是你感觉可以得救的信心还是神定义的确定得救的信心？这是基督信仰的根本问题，但恰恰是在这个问题上，很多人，过去的、今天的很多人是无知的、混沌的，对感觉的迷信、对自我的笃定可以说是普遍的精神，有些宗派甚至可以说是以此开宗立派。梅申这本书《何为信心》，之前绍介过的《基督信仰与自由主义》，都是在解析基于自我的、感觉的伪信仰，并教导何为真正的基督信仰（亦可参见“基督徒信仰”第一章“基督徒的定义”）。

Men discourse very eloquently today upon such subjects as God, religion, Christianity, atonement, redemption, faith; but are greatly incensed when they are asked to tell in simple language what they mean by these terms. They do not like to have the flow of their eloquence checked by so vulgar a thing as a definition.

今天有些人洋洋洒洒的讲神、宗教、基督信仰、赎罪、拯救、信心，但一旦被问到这些词汇是什么意义的时候，他们感觉被冒犯，因为他们认为“定义”是如此粗俗的东西，与他们的口若悬河毫不相称。【这些人从来不知道他们说的是什么意思，“想要做教法师，却不明白自己所讲说的、所论定的”（提前1:7），这就是知识的错觉，知道词汇、概念不等同于知道词汇、概念的内涵】

The depreciation of the intellect, with the exaltation in the place of it of the feelings or of the will, is, we think, a basic fact in modern life, which is rapidly leading to a condition in which men neither know anything nor care anything about the doctrinal content of the Christian religion, …

现代社会的一个基本特征是——贬低思维、抬高感觉。在此背景下，人们对基督信仰的内容，既无知又无视。【他知道的并非真正基督信仰的内容，而是他的感觉描绘的虚幻图景】

Modern American writers simply attribute their own predilections to Jesus without, apparently, the slightest scrutiny of the facts.

现代美国有些作者只是空讲自己认为的耶稣，毫不顾忌事实如何。【这当然不是那时美国独有的问题，今天在各处依然普遍，口称的耶稣是自己用一些圣经元素制造的耶稣】

[In the view of modernists] Theology in other words is not to be judged in accordance with the degree of approximation which it attains to an eternally persisting norm of truth, but it is to be regarded as good or bad according as it serves the purposes of mankind and promotes an abundance of life.

在某些人眼里，神学正确与否的标准不是永恒的真理，而是现实的功利。【遇到事情，他的第一判断是这是否“有用、有益”，而不是这是否符合神的教导，他经常倡导主动犯某些“罪”来完成神给予的某些诫命，他是如此的聪明，通过悖逆神来帮助神，的确聪明！】

In particular, those who discard theology in the interests of experience are inclined to make use of a personal way of talking and thinking about God to which they have no right.

那些放弃神学而代之以感觉的人，常常喜欢用个人化的方式来谈神，但他们没有权力也没有资格这么做。【神不是你的玩具，不是你可以用感觉随意构造和模拟的，你用你的感觉制造的偶像、你用某些圣经元素加上你的感觉制造的偶像，与泥捏石雕的偶像是同一性质】

-it is impossible to have faith in a person without having knowledge of the person; far from being contrasted with knowledge, faith is founded upon knowledge.

你不可能在对某人无知的情况下对他有信心，信心是建立在认知之上的，信心与认知不是相对的。

Christian faith, they say, is not assent to a creed, but it is confidence in a person. The Epistle to the Hebrews on the other hand declares that it is impossible to have confidence in a person without assenting to a creed. “He that cometh to God must believe that he is.” The words, “God is,” or “God exists,” constitute a creed; they constitute a proposition.

常有人说，基督信仰不是信条、而是对基督的信心。看希伯来书是怎么讲的，“到神面前来的人必须信有神”（来11:6），没有信条的信心是空洞的，“有神”就是信条，这是一个定义。【你信的不是一个抽象虚无的概念，神的概念、基督的概念，你信的是圣经启示的神的事实、基督的事实，这个事实的概括就是信条、教义】

Assent to certain propositions is not the whole of faith, but it is an absolutely necessary element in faith. So assent to certain propositions about God is not all of faith in God, but it is necessary to faith in God; and Christian faith, in particular, though it is more than assent to a creed, is absolutely impossible without assent to a creed. One cannot trust a God whom one holds with the mind to be either non-existent or untrustworthy.

信息不只是承认某些教义，但不能没有对这些教义的承认。信靠神不只是承认关于神的教义，但必须有对这些教义的承认。如果你不认为这个神存在或者这个神可信，你怎么可能信靠神？

They think of God only as one who can direct the course of nature for their benefit; they value Him only for the things that He can give.

某些人将神视为利益的源泉，他们只因为神可以带来的利益而追求神。

No, it was not the ignorance of children to which our Lord appealed, but their conscious helplessness, their willingness to receive a gift.

【对主说的小孩子的信，太18:3】主称许的不是小孩子的无知，而是他们意识到自己的无助，并且愿意接受恩赐。【很多人喜欢用这句经文来为自己的无知、持续的无知进行辩护，仿佛无知是基督徒的最高境界、最纯粹的境界，不，这是自欺欺人的最高境界、最纯粹境界】

The other reason is that the very asking of the question often be tokens an unfortunate attitude with regard to Christian truth. … Some men seem to devote most of their energies to the task of seeing just how little of Christian truth they can get along with. For our part, we regard it as a perilous business; we prefer, instead of seeing how little of Christian truth we can get along with, to see just how much of Christian truth we can obtain. We ought to search the Scriptures reverently and thoughtfully and pray God that he may lead us into an ever fuller understanding of the truth that can make us wise unto salvation. There is no virtue whatever in ignorance, but much virtue in a knowledge of what God has revealed.

【针对某些人想寻找的基督信仰的底线，最低要求】这个问题本身就表明他对基督信仰的错误态度。……有些人试图寻找基督徒之间的最低共识。这是危险的信号，基督徒不应该去找什么最低要求，好像只要满足最低要求就什么都可以做，基督徒应该做的是更多的理解神的启示，有更多的属神智慧。无知不是美德、不是敬虔，明白神的启示才是美德、敬虔。

One way is to bring the Bible down to the level of the modern man; but the other way is to bring the modern man up to the level of the Bible.

【现代人和圣经相遇有两种方式】一种是把圣经矮化到现代人的层面，一种是把现代人带到圣经的层面。【前者是改变圣经来迁就人、人的罪，后者是改变人来理解圣经，这是完全相悖的两种圣经理念、圣经教育理念、传福音的理念】

The efficacy of faith, then, depends not upon the faith itself, considered as a psychological phenomenon, but upon the object of the faith, namely Christ. Faith is not regarded in the New Testament as itself a meritorious work or a meritorious condition of the soul; but it is regarded as a means which is used by the grace of God: the New Testament never says that a man is saved on account of his faith, but always that he is saved through his faith or by means of his faith; faith is merely the means which the Holy Spirit uses to apply to the individual soul the benefits of Christ’s death.

信心的果效不在于信心本身，不在于信心这个心理现象，而在于信心的对象、信靠的对象——基督。在新约，信心本身从来不是功劳、不是赢得什么的条件，信心始终是途径，神的恩典的途径。新约从来没有讲人是因为他的信心得救的，人是通过他的信心、借由他的信心得救的，信心是圣灵将基督救赎的恩典应用在个体中的途径。【这是理解基督信仰的关键，信心不是行为，信心只是途径，是基督拯救你，不是你的信心本身拯救你，基督是通过你的信靠拯救你，但救主是基督，不是你自己，离开基督、靠着你孤单的信心是无法得救的。如果你对此还不是很清楚，这是你首先要清楚的】