For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and
this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by
works, so that no one can boast.
– Ephesians 2: 8-9
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I
once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see. Calling
himself a “wretch” who was lost and blind in the hymn “Amazing
Grace,” written in 1779, John Newton left school when he was 11 to
become a sailor and later a slave trader. Yet, by the grace of God, a
terrible storm and the fear of a shipwreck, led Newton to a conversion
and later ordination at age 39.12
For Newton’s friend John Wesley, grace is not merely “all the blessing
which God hath bestowed upon man... his free, undeserved favour”13
but also “the power of the Holy Ghost”14
that enables people to walk in
the ways of God. The Anglican Bishop Brook Foss Westcott once
described salvation as follows: “I know I have been saved, I believe I
am being saved; and I hope by the grace of God that I shall be saved.” 15
For Wesley, this undeserved favour and divine empowerment 16“comes
to us at different stages in our spiritual pilgrimage, and it accomplishes
different effects and evokes different responses. But it is all grace.” 17
你们得救是本乎恩,也因着信;这并不是出于自己,乃是上
帝所赐的;也不是出于行为,免得有人自夸。
《以弗所书》2:8-9
奇异恩典,何等甘甜,我罪以得赦免。前我失丧,今被寻回,
瞎眼今得看见。约翰.牛顿在他 1779 年写的诗歌“奇异恩典”
中称自己是个迷失又眼瞎的坏蛋,他 11 岁离校成为一名海
员,后来开始贩卖奴隶,然而,因着上帝的恩典,一场可怕
的风暴和对沉船的惧怕,令他悔改,后来 39 岁时被按立。
对于牛顿的朋友约翰.卫斯理来说,恩典不仅仅是“上帝赋
予人类的所有祝福。。上帝的自由意志,人不配得的恩惠”,
而且还有“圣灵的能力”,使人们能够行在上帝的道路中。
圣公会主教布鲁克.福斯.韦斯科特曾这样描述救恩:“我知
道我曾已经被拯救了,我相信我如今已经被拯救了,我希望
通过上帝的恩典,我仍将要被拯救。” 对于卫斯理来说,
这不配得的恩惠和神圣应许,在我们灵命旅程的不同阶段临
到我们,产生不同的效果,并引起不同的反应。但这都是恩
典。”
Reflection 反思
In what ways have God blessed you with His undeserved favour? How
has He empowered you with the Holy Spirit to live victoriously?
上帝以什么方式赐你不配得的恩惠而使你蒙福?他是如何授
你圣灵的能力而助你得胜的?
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