Does the Bible Teach Once Saved, Always Saved? 圣经教导「一次得救,永远得救」吗?
Over eighty passages in the New Testament warn Christians not to lose what they have in Christ. Take a few of them seriously and the doctrine of unconditional eternal security becomes very hard to hold. 新约中有超过八十处经文,警戒基督徒不可失去在基督里所得着的。只要认真对待其中几处,「无条件永恒得救」这一教义便难以站立。
In many evangelical circles, once saved, always saved is treated as if it were basic Christian teaching. Set it next to the New Testament passages that warn Christians not to lose what they have in Christ — and there are more than eighty of them — and a different picture emerges. 在许多福音派圈子里,「一次得救,永远得救」被当作基督教的基础教义。然而,若将其放在新约中那些警戒信徒不可失去所得的经文面前——这样的经文超过八十处——所呈现的图景便完全不同。
What follows is not a complete theology. It is a walk through the passages a believer in unconditional eternal security must somehow explain — and a closer look at the verses most often offered in defense of the doctrine, read in their own context. 以下并非一篇完整的神学论述,而只是依次走过那些持守「无条件永恒得救」之人必须设法解释的经文,同时回到上下文,重新审视他们最常援引以支持该教义的几处经文。
First: This Is Not Sinless Perfection 首先:这不是「无罪完全」
Before going further, it is worth saying clearly what this is not. To reject “once saved, always saved” is not to teach that Christians must be sinless to be saved. Every believer falls short of God’s holiness every day; every believer lives by grace and by the cleansing blood of Christ. John says both that those born of God do not make a practice of sinning (1 John 3:9) and that “if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ” (1 John 2:1). 在继续之前,有必要先讲清楚这并不是什么。拒绝「一次得救,永远得救」并不是教导:基督徒必须无罪才能得救。每位信徒每天都达不到神的圣洁;每位信徒都是靠恩典、靠基督宝血的洁净而活。约翰一面说凡从神生的不犯罪(《约翰一书》3:9),一面又说「若有人犯罪,在父那里我们有一位中保——耶稣基督」(《约翰一书》2:1)。
The biblical alternative to OSAS is not perfectionism. It is faithfulness — the pattern of a life that, over time, moves toward Christ. Stumbling and getting up is the Christian life; deliberate, settled, unrepentant rebellion is something else. 圣经反对「一次得救,永远得救」,但所主张的并非「完全主义」,而是忠心——一种随时日推移、方向朝向基督的生命样貌。跌倒后再起来,这就是基督徒的生活;蓄意的、安顿下来的、不肯悔改的悖逆,则是另一回事。
In his own book Major Bible Themes, the strong eternal-security advocate Lewis Sperry Chafer concedes that “as many as eighty-five passages” are cited in support of conditional security. 连「永恒得救保障」的有力倡导者路易斯·司珮利·查弗,也在他自己的著作《圣经要义》中承认:可以列出「多达八十五处经文」来支持「有条件的得救保障」。
Eight Passages That Have to Be Explained Away 八处必须被解释掉的经文
A doctrine that requires eighty New Testament passages to be softened, redefined, or reassigned to a different audience is in trouble before the argument starts. Below are eight of the most direct. 一项需要将新约八十处经文加以软化、重新定义、或重新归给另一群读者的教义,在论证开始之前就已陷入困境。下面是其中最直接的八处。
1 Corinthians 9:27 — Even Paul Feared Being Disqualified 哥林多前书 9:27 — 连保罗也怕被弃绝
The Greek word for “disqualified” is adokimos. Paul uses the same word a few chapters later in 2 Corinthians 13:5, where its plain meaning is not in the faith, not in Christ. If the apostle who was caught up to the third heaven, who planted churches, who wrote scripture, can write that he disciplines his body so that he himself would not end up adokimos, then the OSAS reading has to do something with this verse. Usually it softens “disqualified” into “lose reward.” That is not what the word means. 「弃绝」的希腊原文是 adokimos。保罗在几章之后的《哥林多后书》13:5 中使用同一个词,其明显的意思是「不在信仰里、不属基督」。如果那位被提到三层天上、建立过众教会、写下圣经的使徒,竟然说他要攻克己身,恐怕自己最终成为 adokimos;那么「一次得救,永远得救」的解读,就必须设法处理这节经文。通常的做法是把「弃绝」软化为「失去奖赏」。但希腊原文并不是这个意思。
Romans 11:22 — “Otherwise You Too Will Be Cut Off” 罗马书 11:22 — 「否则你也要被剪除」
Paul is not writing to outsiders here. He is writing to Gentile Christians who have been grafted into the olive tree of God’s people. He tells them they are standing “by faith” and warns them that if they do not continue, they will be cut off, just as the unbelieving branches before them were. The whole logic of the warning depends on the possibility being real. If a Christian cannot be cut off, the verse loses its force; Paul wrote nonsense; readers should not fear what cannot happen. 保罗在这里并不是写给教外的人。他写给已经被嫁接进神子民橄榄树的外邦基督徒。他告诉他们:他们是凭「信」站立的;并警戒他们:若不长久持守,他们也会像之前那些不信的枝子一样被砍下来。整段警戒的逻辑,正建立在「这事真有可能」之上。倘若基督徒不可能被砍下,这节经文便失去了重量;那保罗就是在讲空话;读者也不该惧怕一件不会发生的事。
Hebrews 6:4–6 — Once Enlightened, Then Fallen Away 希伯来书 6:4–6 — 曾经蒙了光照,后又离弃
The OSAS reading has to claim that these people were never truly converted. But the writer says they had been enlightened, had tasted the heavenly gift, had become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and had tasted the powers of the age to come. The Greek verb for “tasted” is the same word the writer uses two chapters earlier when he says Christ “tasted death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9). Christ did not have a little sip of death; he died. To “taste” in Hebrews is to fully experience. Then the writer says it is impossible to restore them to repentance again — which presupposes that they had repented in the first place. 「一次得救,永远得救」的解读必须说:这些人从未真正归信。但作者明明说他们已经蒙了光照、尝过天恩的滋味、于圣灵有份、尝过来世权能的滋味。「尝过」的希腊原文与本书前两章用来描述基督「为人人尝了死味」(《希伯来书》2:9)的是同一个词。基督并不是「浅尝一下」死亡,而是真的死了。在《希伯来书》中,「尝」即是「完全经历」。然后作者又说,他们「不能再」回到悔改——「再」字本身已经表明:他们起初是悔改过的。
Hebrews 10:26–29 — Trampling the Blood of the Covenant 希伯来书 10:26–29 — 践踏立约之血
Notice three things. First, the writer says “we” — he includes himself in the warning. Second, the person who falls away is described as having been sanctified by the blood of the covenant. That is not the language of a never-believer. Third, the warning is not loss of reward; it is “a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.” That is the language of damnation, not of forfeited bonuses. 请注意三点。第一,作者说「我们」——他把自己也包含在警戒之中。第二,那位离弃的人被描述为「那使他成圣之约的血」曾使他成圣。这并不是「从未真正信主之人」的用语。第三,所警戒的并不是「失去奖赏」,而是「战惧等候审判,和那烧灭众敌人的烈火」。这是定罪的语言,不是失去奖金的语言。
2 Peter 2:20–22 — The Latter End Is Worse 彼得后书 2:20–22 — 末后的景况比先前更坏
Peter says these people escaped the corruptions of the world through the knowledge of Jesus Christ. The Greek word for “knowledge” here is epignosis — experiential, personal knowledge, the same word Peter uses in 2 Peter 1:3 of saving knowledge. They knew Jesus; they escaped the world; and then they got tangled in it again. And it would have been better, Peter says, for them never to have known the way of righteousness at all. That sentence only makes sense if real loss is possible. 彼得说这些人是「因认识主耶稣基督」而脱离世上的污秽。「认识」一词的希腊原文是 epignosis——一种经验性、亲身的认识,正是彼得在《彼得后书》1:3 用以描述「得救之认识」的同一词。他们认识耶稣,曾脱离世界,后来又在其中被缠住。彼得说,那他们「倒不如」从未晓得义路。这句话只有在「真实的失去」是可能的前提下,才说得通。
James 5:19–20 — Save a Soul from Death 雅各书 5:19–20 — 救一个灵魂不死
James addresses these words to “brothers” — fellow believers. He speaks of one of them wandering from the truth, and of another saving his soul from death. The Greek word for “soul” is psuche, the same word James uses earlier when he says the implanted word is “able to save your souls” (James 1:21). Spiritual death is in view. If the one who wanders cannot lose their salvation, there is no soul to save and no death to save them from. 雅各对「弟兄」——也就是同作信徒之人——说这些话。他描述他们中间有人失迷真道,又描述另一个人救他的灵魂不死。「灵魂」的希腊原文是 psuche,正是雅各早先所说「所栽种的道……能救你们的灵魂」(《雅各书》1:21)中所用的同一词。这里所说的是属灵的死亡。倘若那失迷的人不会失去救恩,那么就没有灵魂可救,也没有死亡可逃。
Matthew 24:13 — The One Who Endures to the End 马太福音 24:13 — 唯有忍耐到底的
The setting is Jesus’ warning that “many will fall away”, that false prophets will rise, that lawlessness will increase, and that “the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:10–12). Then he says: the one who endures to the end will be saved. The natural reading — the reading the early church took for granted — is that those who do not endure to the end will not be. The Calvinist reply is that the elect are guaranteed to endure. But Jesus did not say “the elect will endure.” He said “the one who endures will be saved,” and he said it as a warning, not as a description of an automatic process. 这节经文的上下文是耶稣的警戒:「多人将要跌倒」、假先知将要兴起、不法的事增多、「许多人的爱心才渐渐冷淡了」(《马太福音》24:10–12)。然后他说:唯有忍耐到底的,必然得救。最自然的读法——也是早期教会一直所持的读法——是:那些不忍耐到底的,必然不得救。加尔文派的回应是:被拣选者必然会忍耐到底。但耶稣没有说「被拣选者必忍耐」。他说的是:「忍耐到底的,必得救」——而且他是把这句话作为警戒说出的,并非在描述一个自动发生的过程。
Revelation 3:5 — Names That Can Be Erased 启示录 3:5 — 可被涂抹的名字
A promise not to do a thing only makes sense if the thing could otherwise be done. Jesus promises that he will not blot the overcomer’s name out of the book of life. The implication, unavoidable in plain reading, is that someone else’s name can be. Some try to read this as a promise to everyone in the book whether they overcome or not, but the text ties the promise specifically to the one who conquers — and Revelation 17:8 confirms that the names of the lost were never written in the book at all, so the warning can only apply to former believers. 「不做某事」的应许,唯有在那件事本来可能发生时才有意义。耶稣应许:他必不从生命册上涂抹得胜者的名。从字面读,这句话的隐含意义无可回避——别人的名是可能被涂抹的。有人试图把这句应许扩展到册上所有人,无论得胜与否;但经文明确将应许与「得胜者」相系。《启示录》17:8 又表明:失丧者的名字根本从未被记在生命册上;因此这警戒只能指向「曾经的信徒」。
The Counter-Arguments, in Context 回到上下文中的反驳经文
Three passages do most of the work for the eternal-security side. Each one is real; each one is encouraging; and each one says less than the doctrine claims. 支持「永恒得救保障」的论证主要倚赖三处经文。这三处都是真实的,也是鼓舞人心的;但它们所说的,并没有该教义所宣称的那么多。
Ephesians 1:13–14 — Sealed with the Spirit 以弗所书 1:13–14 — 圣灵的印记
A seal in the ancient world was a mark of ownership pressed into wax or clay; everyone in Paul’s world knew that seals could be broken. There were seals on wine jars and seals on documents; the seal made the contents recognizable, not unbreakable. The Greek word for “guarantee” (arrabon) is a commercial term for an earnest or down payment — a first installment that signals what is to come. Receiving the Spirit is powerful assurance, but it is not the same as unconditional eternal security. 在古代世界,「印」是按在蜡或泥上的所有权记号;保罗那个时代的人都知道,印是可以被破开的。酒坛上有印,文件上有印;印使其中之物可以辨认,并不是不可破开。「凭据」一词的希腊原文 arrabon 是商业用语,意为「定金」、「头一期款」——预示将来更多。领受圣灵是有力的「确据」,但与「无条件的永恒得救」并不是同一件事。
The same letter that talks about being sealed also warns its readers, in chapter 4, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). One can be sealed and still grieve the Spirit; one can be sealed and still need warnings. The seal is real. It is not a guarantee that the sealed person will never walk away. 写到「受印」的同一封书信,第四章又警戒读者:「不要叫神的圣灵担忧,你们原是受了他的印记,等候得赎的日子来到」(《以弗所书》4:30)。一个人可以受了印,仍然叫圣灵担忧;可以受了印,仍然需要被警戒。印是真实的,但它并非「受印者永不离开」的保证。
John 10:27–29 — No One Can Snatch Them 约翰福音 10:27–29 — 谁也不能把他们夺去
The Greek verb for “snatch” is harpazo — to seize by force. No one can take you against your will from the Father’s hand. That is the comfort of John 10. But the passage is full of present-tense participles: “my sheep are hearing my voice… they are following me.” The promise is given to those who continue to hear and continue to follow. Jesus does not say his sheep will be kept in the fold regardless of whether they walk out of it. No one can snatch you; that does not mean you cannot leave. 「夺去」一词的希腊原文是 harpazo——以强力夺取。没有人能违背你的意愿,把你从父手中夺走——这正是《约翰福音》第十章给人的安慰。但这段经文充满了现在时分词:「我的羊正在听我的声音……他们正在跟随我」。这应许是给那些持续听、持续跟随的人。耶稣并未说:无论他的羊是否走出羊圈,他都会把它们留在圈内。没有人能夺走你,并不等于你不能自己离开。
Romans 8:35–39 — Nothing Can Separate Us (Notice What Is Missing) 罗马书 8:35–39 — 没有什么能使我们隔绝(请留意所缺漏的)
Read the list. Paul names tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword — the trials a faithful Christian may face. He names death, life, angels, demons, principalities, things present, things to come, powers, height, depth, “anything else in all creation.” Notice what is not on the list: adultery, idolatry, apostasy, deliberate unrepentant sin. Paul does not say no sin can separate you; he says no external pressure can. The OSAS reading treats this passage as if Paul had written, “Neither murder, nor adultery, nor theft, nor fornication, nor lying… shall separate us from the love of God.” That is not what is written. 细读这份清单。保罗所列举的是患难、困苦、逼迫、饥饿、赤身、危险、刀剑——这些都是一位忠心基督徒可能面临的外在试炼。他又列举死、生、天使、掌权的、有能的、现在的事、将来的事、高处的、低处的、「别的受造之物」。请留意清单上没有的事:奸淫、拜偶像、悖道离信、刻意不悔的罪。保罗并未说没有任何罪能使你与神的爱隔绝;他所说的是:没有任何外在压力能使你与神的爱隔绝。「一次得救,永远得救」的解读,是把这段经文当作保罗写的是:「无论是凶杀,是奸淫,是偷窃,是淫乱,是说谎……都不能叫我们与神的爱隔绝。」但经上写的不是这话。
There is also one thing missing from the list that deserves notice: you yourself. Paul lists every outside force; he does not list the believer’s own will. No demon, no angel, no power can pull you out. But you can walk out. The whole rest of the New Testament — the eighty-plus warning passages — assumes you can. 这份清单还有一项缺漏,值得留意:你自己。保罗列出了一切外在的势力,却没有列出信徒自己的意志。没有任何鬼魔、天使、有能的能把你拉出来;但是你可以自己走出去。新约其余的部分——八十多处警戒经文——都假定你可以。
How Then Shall We Live? 我们当怎样行?
The opposite of “once saved, always saved” is not works-righteousness. There is no act we can perform that earns us standing with God; salvation is by grace, through faith, on the basis of Christ’s blood. None of that is in dispute. What is in dispute is whether saving faith is something a person can later abandon. The biblical witness, taken as a whole, is that it is. 「一次得救,永远得救」的反面,并不是「靠行为称义」。我们没有任何行为可以为自己挣得在神面前的地位;救恩本于恩,藉着信,靠着基督的血——这一点毫无争议。所争议的是:得救之信,是否是一个人日后可能放弃的?整本圣经合起来作证:是的,可以放弃。
The early church took these warnings at face value. They were not anxious people; they were not legalists. They were people who knew they had received a real gift and that the gift was meant to be guarded. Justin Martyr wrote that those who confessed Christ but later denied him and did not repent before death “will by no means be saved.” Cyprian told his church, “It is a small thing to first receive something. It is a greater thing to be able to keep what you have attained.” The martyrs of those first three centuries refused to deny Christ — under torture and at the cost of their lives — because they believed that denying him could undo what receiving him had done. 早期教会以字面意义对待这些警戒。他们并非焦虑之人,也不是律法主义者;他们是知道自己领受了真实恩赐,并且明白这恩赐需要被守护之人。游斯丁说:那些曾承认基督、后又否认他、临死前不悔改的人,「断然不能得救」。居普良对他的教会说:「起初领受一样东西是小事;能将所得着的保守住,才是大事。」头三个世纪的殉道者拒绝否认基督——纵然受酷刑、纵然舍命——正是因为他们相信:否认主,可以撤销领受主时所发生的事。
A doctrine that the first three centuries of Christians would not have recognized — and that requires eighty New Testament passages to be softened — deserves careful examination before being treated as a test of true faith. 一项早期三个世纪的基督徒未曾认识的教义——并且需要将新约八十处经文加以软化——在被当作「真信仰的试金石」之前,理当仔细审视。
The good news in all of this is not less than what evangelicals have always wanted to say. God really does save. The Spirit really does indwell. The blood of Christ really is sufficient. A believer can have deep assurance — not because falling away is impossible but because the One who saved them is faithful, the indwelling Spirit is real, and the way home is open as long as the heart turns. The New Testament closes with an invitation, not a guarantee: “Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price” (Revelation 22:17). The invitation is open. The condition is real. Both are good news. 这一切其中的好消息,不少于福音派一直以来想要传讲的:神真的救人。圣灵真的住进来。基督的血真的足够。信徒可以拥有深厚的「确据」——并非因为堕落不可能,而是因为那救我们的主信实可靠、内住的圣灵是真的、归家的路始终是敞开的——只要心愿意回转。新约的结尾不是一句「保证」,而是一句「邀请」:「口渴的人也当来;愿意的,都可以白白取生命的水喝」(《启示录》22:17)。邀请是敞开的,所附的条件是真实的——两者都是好消息。
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References & Further Reading 参考资料与延伸阅读
- David Bercot, Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up (Scroll Publishing, 2014). The chapter on perseverance summarizes the early-church position. Publisher 大卫·伯科特,《请真异端站出来》(Scroll Publishing,2014年)。关于「坚忍」一章总结了早期教会的立场。出版商
- Lewis Sperry Chafer, Major Bible Themes, ch. 30. Chafer is a strong proponent of unconditional eternal security; even he lists “as many as 85 passages” cited for conditional security. 路易斯·司珮利·查弗,《圣经要义》,第30章。查弗本人是「无条件永恒得救」的有力倡导者;连他也列出了支持「有条件得救保障」的「多达八十五处经文」。
- On adokimos in 1 Corinthians 9:27 and 2 Corinthians 13:5, see Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NIGTC, 2000), pp. 715–717. 关于《哥林多前书》9:27 与《哥林多后书》13:5 中 adokimos 的讨论,参 Anthony C. Thiselton,《哥林多前书注释》(NIGTC,2000),715–717 页。
- On the Greek verb “tasted” (geuomai) in Hebrews 6:4 and 2:9, and on the “impossible… again” construction, see F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews (NICNT, rev. 1990), pp. 142–152. 关于《希伯来书》6:4 与 2:9 中「尝过」(geuomai)一词,以及「不能……再」的句式结构,参 F. F. Bruce,《希伯来书注释》(NICNT,修订版1990),142–152 页。
- Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 47, on those who deny Christ and do not repent. Cyprian, To Fortunatus, on guarding the faith received. Justin · Cyprian 游斯丁,《与特里弗的对话》47章,论及那些否认基督却不悔改的人。居普良,《致福尔图纳图斯书》,论保守所领受之信。游斯丁 · 居普良
- For the historical development of the doctrine itself — how it grew up through Augustine, Calvin, and Whitefield — see the companion article, The History of Once Saved, Always Saved. 关于这一教义的历史发展——它如何经由奥古斯丁、加尔文、怀特菲尔德逐步成形——参姊妹篇《「一次得救,永远得救」的历史》。
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