第二章 謙卑是成全救贖的秘訣 Chapter 2–Humility: The Secret of Redemption
你們當以基督耶穌的心為心，他……虛己取了奴僕的形象，……自己卑微，存心順服以至於死，……所以神將他升為至高。（腓二5-9）
“Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus: who emptied Himself; taking the form of a servant; and humbled Himself; becoming obedient even unto death. Wherefore God also highly exalted Him.” Phil. 2: 5-9.
樹只能長在其所從出的根上，它的生存惟賴存於種子的生命。我們若全盤瞭解這事實，並應用在首先的亞當和末後的亞當身上，必十分有助於我們明白耶穌救贖之必要性與本質。
必要性–古蛇的邪惡本性就是驕傲，因而被逐出天庭；它在夏娃的耳朵旁說些試探的話，這些話帶著地獄的毒氣。當夏娃聽從了它，渴望並定意要像神一樣能知道善惡時，毒氣就進入了她的靈魂、血液和生命裏，永遠摧毀了有福的謙卑與對神的倚靠–這原本是我們無窮的福祉。於是她的生命與從她而出的族類都因著撒但自己驕傲的毒氣而敗壞，整個根部都爛掉了，因驕傲乃一切罪惡與咒詛之源。現今世界的淒慘光景–國與國之間的戰爭、殺人流血、自私、苦難、野心、嫉妒、破碎的心靈、悲慘的生活、不快樂的日子–皆源於那遭咒詛的驕傲，是我們自己和別人裏面地獄般的可怕驕傲所造成的。驕傲使救贖成為必須，我們需要從驕傲中被救拔出來更甚於其他一切。因此我們對進入我們裏面的邪惡勢力之認識有多少，會決定我們對救贖的必要性之認識有多深。
樹只能長在其所從出的根上。撒但從地獄帶出來的勢力時刻侵入人的生命裏，而且那股大能大力時刻運行在世上，人深受其苦而引以為懼，與之爭戰且試圖逃避它。然而他們並不知道它從哪里來，為什麼具有那麼可怕的至高權勢，難怪他們不知從何克服之。驕傲之勢力紮根於靈界可怕的權勢裏，遍佈於我們的裏裏外外。我們必須承認自己的本相就是驕傲並為此懊悔，但同時也必須知道它源出於魔鬼。這樣當我們深覺無力克服它、趕出它時，就會速速奔向唯一能釋放我們的超然能力–神羔羊之救贖。當我們無望地與運行在裏面的己和驕傲苦鬥時，一想到隱藏在背後的黑暗權勢只會使我們更加絕望；但當我們全然絕望時，正適於瞭解並接受在我們自身以外的一種能力與生命–神的羔羊已把天上的謙卑帶下來，與我們相近，可以趕逐撒但與驕傲。
樹只能長在其所從出的根上。我們必須注意第一個亞當是怎麼墮落的，藉此來認識我們裏面那罪惡之權勢；同樣地，我們也必須好好地認識第二個亞當和他的能力，他在我們裏面所賜下之謙卑的生命就像驕傲之生命那般真實、常存、具有壓倒性的勢力。在我們裏面這源出於基督、在基督裏的生命，就如那源出於亞當、在亞當裏的生命那麼真實，甚至有過之而無不及。我們是”在他裏面生根”、行走，”持定元首，全身……因神大得長進”(西二6、19)。神的生命化作肉身進入人性裏作我們的根，我們立於斯、長於斯，一度運行在耶穌身上，使他從死裏復活的大能大力，每天也照樣運行在我們裏面。我們必須思想、認識並信靠這生命，它曾經彰顯在基督身上，如今卻成為我們的生命，正等著我們同意讓它佔有並管理我們全人。
因此非常要緊的是，我們應當正確地認識基督是怎樣的一位，是什麼因素使他成為基督，尤其重要的是，作為救贖主的他，到底什麼是他最主要的特性，他品格的精髓是什麼，他紮根於何處。答案只有一個：謙卑。什麼是道成肉身？就是他屬天的謙卑，虛己、成為人的樣式。他在地上的生活就是謙卑．”取了奴僕的形像”，他的救贖也是謙卑–“自己卑微，存心順服以至於死”，還有他的升天、得榮耀–仍是謙卑使他升到寶座那裏，戴上榮耀的冠冕–他”自己卑微……所以神將他升為至高”。謙卑是一切，存于原先他與父同在天堂時，也存於他的出生、他的一生、他的死和他的坐寶座為王–這一切都是謙卑。基督乃神的謙卑具體彰顯於人性裏，無窮永愛自己卑微，披上柔和謙卑之外袍，來贏取我們、服事我們並拯救我們。神的慈愛和謙卑使他成為一切人的施恩者、幫助者和僕人。所以耶穌是”謙卑”來成了肉身，至今他仍然是神柔和謙卑的羔羊站立在寶座中。
由根而出的樹，必能從枝葉和果實上看見根的性質。謙卑既是耶穌生命中居首位且包含一匆的恩典，是他成全救贖的秘訣，則我們靈命的康健與力量全在乎我們也把這恩典置於首位，使之成為耶穌身上我們所最羡慕、最切求之事；並且犧牲其他一切為要得著這一位(參注二)。
基督徒的生命常如此軟弱、不結果子，不就是因為忽略或不知道基督的生命之根嗎？人沒有感覺到豐滿的救恩之樂，不就是因為很少追求謙卑嗎？而耶穌自己是在謙卑裏找到喜樂，並在謙卑裏帶下喜樂。除非我們因著謙卑，不求別的，只求向自己死，使己來到盡頭，像耶穌一樣放棄了一切人的榮耀，單單尋求從神來的榮耀，絕對算自己毫無所有，好使神成為一切，惟獨主被高舉；除非我們尋求在基督裏的這種謙卑過於其他使人最感興趣的事，並樂意為此付上任何代價，否則我們的信仰沒有征服世界的希望。
如果我的讀者們還未留意到自己裏面和周圍那些蒙召作基督徒的人身上何等缺少謙卑，缺少神羔羊那柔和謙卑的態度，那麼我大聲疾呼也不為過。想想看那一切缺少愛心的表現，對別人的需要、感覺和軟弱漠不關心，常常急速、犀利地下斷語而自以為誠實正直，發脾氣、焦躁易怒、一切苦毒與不和睦的感覺等，皆源於驕傲和唯我獨尊。你若思想這些，就會看見地獄般黑暗的驕傲如何潛入每一個地方，連聖徒的聚會也不例外。再反過來想想看，如果自己和周圍同作聖徒的人，以及全世界的信徒，真正且永遠被耶穌的謙卑引導著，那麼結果又如何呢？喔！我們的全心靈怎能不晝夜呼籲著：願耶穌的謙卑製作在我裏面和我周圍所有的人身上！讓我們專心而誠實地面對自己缺少謙卑這問題(這謙卑是藉著基督生命的樣式，在救恩之本質裏顯示出來的)，我們便開始覺得自己似乎從未真正認識基督和他的救恩。
信徒們！要思想耶穌的謙卑。這是你蒙救贖的秘訣與隱藏之根源。務必日日更深浸入其中，並全心相信神所賜給你的基督，帶著他屬天的謙卑要為你成這事，他要進來住在你裏面，也要作工在你裏面，使你成為父所要的樣式。
附注二
有兩件事是我們必須認識的：第一，我們的得救完全在於從己的天性中被拯救出來；第二，除了神那無以言喻的謙卑外，在萬物一切的本性裏，找不到一樣可以成為我們的拯救和救主。因此救主與墮落的人所立的第一項永不改變之條約是：除非人捨己(否定自己)，否則不能作我的門徒。己乃邪惡之墮落天性的總合。自我否定的程度即得救的程度；謙卑是我們的救主。……己是我們墮落狀態中諸般邪惡的樹根、樹枝與樹幹。墮落的天使和人所表現出來的一切邪惡，皆源於己的驕傲。反之，一切屬天生命所表現出來的美德就是謙卑的德行。橫在天堂與地獄之間那道無法跨越的鴻溝即是謙卑。那麼這場永生之大競賽的角逐者是誰呢？就是驕傲與謙卑，這兩個主要的權勢、這兩個國度都等著要永遠地佔有人。謙卑只有一種(永遠不會有其他種謙卑，以前未曾有，將來也不會有)，那就是基督的謙卑。驕傲和己不會撤離它們所佔據的地盤(我們的全人)，直等到人的全所有皆從基督而來。因此人所要打的唯一美仗就是，靠著基督帶進他裏面的超自然的謙卑，把亞當傳留下來的自我崇拜之習性置於死地。(摘自羅威廉所著的Address to the Clergy,P.52)
（取自慕安得烈所著之《謙卑》）
Chapter 2–HUMILITY: THE SECRET OF REDEMPTION
“Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus: who emptied Himself; taking the form of a servant; and humbled Himself; becoming obedient even unto death. Wherefore God also highly exalted Him.” Phil. 2: 5-9.
No tree can grow except on the root from which it sprang. Through all its existence it can only live with the life that was in the seed that gave it being. The full apprehension of this truth in its application to the first and the Second Adam cannot but help us greatly to understand both the need and the nature of the redemption there is in Jesus.
The Need.- When the Old Serpent, he who had been cast out from heaven for his pride, whose whole nature as devil was pride, spoke his words of temptation into the ear of Eve, these words carried with them the very poison of hell. And when she listened, and yielded her desire and her will to the prospect of being as God, knowing good and evil, the poison entered into her soul and blood and life, destroying forever that blessed humility and dependence upon God which would have been our everlasting happiness. And instead of this, her life and the life of the race that sprang from her became corrupted to its very root with that most terrible of all sins and all curses, the poison of Satan’s own pride. All the wretchedness of which this world has been the scene, all its wars and bloodshed among the nations, all its selfishness and suffering, all its ambitions and jealousies, all its broken hearts and embittered lives, with all its daily unhappiness, have their origin in what this cursed, hellish pride, either our own, or that of others, has brought us. It is pride that made redemption needful; it is from our pride we need above everything to be redeemed. And our insight into the need of redemption will largely depend upon our knowledge of the terrible nature of the power that has entered our being.
No tree can grow except on the root from which it sprang. The power that Satan brought from hell, and cast into man’s life, is working daily, hourly, with mighty power throughout the world. Men suffer from it; they fear and fight and flee it; and yet they know not whence it comes, whence it has its terrible supremacy. No wonder they do not know where or how it is to be overcome. Pride has its root and strength in a terrible spiritual power, outside of us as well as within us; as needful as it is that we confess and deplore it as our very own, is to know it in its Satanic origin. If this leads us to utter despair of ever conquering or casting it out, it will lead us all the sooner to that supernatural power in which alone our deliverance is to be found – the redemption of the Lamb of God. The hopeless struggle against the workings of self and pride within us may indeed become still more hopeless as we think of the power of darkness behind it all; the utter despair will fit us the better for realizing and accepting a power and a life outside of ourselves too, even the humility of heaven as brought down and brought nigh by the Lamb of God, to cast out Satan and his pride.
No tree can grow except on the root from which it sprang. Even as we need to look to the first Adam and his fall to know the power of the sin within us, we need to know well the Second Adam and His power to give within us a life of humility as real and abiding and overmastering as has been that of pride. We have our life from and in Christ, as truly, yea more truly, than from and in Adam. We are to walk “rooted in Him,” “holding fast the Head from whom the whole body increaseth with the increase of God.” The life of God which in the incarnation entered human nature, is the root in which we are to stand and grow; it is the same almighty power that worked there, and thence onward to the resurrection, which works daily in us. Our one need is to study and know and trust the life that has been revealed in Christ as the life that is now ours, and waits for our consent to gain possession and mastery of our whole being.
In this view it is of inconceivable importance that we should have right thoughts of what Christ is, of what really constitutes Him the Christ, and specially of what may be counted His chief characteristic, the root and essence of all His character as our Redeemer.There can be but one answer: it is His humility. What is the incarnation but His heavenly humility, His emptying Himself and becoming man? What is His life on earth but humility; His taking the form of a servant? And what is His atonement but humility? “He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death.” And what is His ascension and His glory, but humility exalted to the throne and crowned with glory? “He humbled Himself, therefore God highly exalted Him.” In heaven, where He was with the Father, in His birth, in His life, in His death, in His sitting on the throne, it is all, it is nothing but humility. Christ is the humility of God embodied in human nature; the Eternal Love humbling itself, clothing itself in the garb of meekness and gentleness, to win and serve and save us. As the love and condescension of God makes Him the benefactor and helper and servant of all, so Jesus of necessity was the Incarnate Humility. And so He is still in the midst of the throne, the meek and lowly Lamb of God.
If this be the root of the tree, its nature must be seen in every branch and leaf and fruit. If humility be the first, the all-including grace of the life of Jesus,- if humility be the secret of His atonement,-then the health and strength of our spiritual life will entirely depend upon our putting this grace first too, and making humility the chief thing we admire in Him, the chief thing we ask of Him, the one thing for. which we sacrifice all else. 1-See Note B (at end of this chapter)
Is it any wonder that the Christian life is so often feeble and fruitless, when the very root of the Christ life is neglected, is unknown? Is it any wonder that the joy of salvation is so little felt, when that in which Christ found it and brings it, is so little sought? Until a humility which will rest in nothing less than the end and death of self; which gives up all the honor of men as Jesus did, to seek the honor that comes from God alone; which absolutely makes and counts itself nothing, that God may be all, that the Lord alone may be exalted,-until such a humility be what we seek in Christ above our chief joy, and welcome at any price, there is very little hope of a religion that will conquer the world.
I cannot too earnestly plead with my reader, if possibly his attention has never yet been specially directed to the want there is of humility within him or around him, to pause and ask whether he sees much of the spirit of the meek and lowly Lamb of God in those who are called by His name. Let him consider how all want of love, all indifference to the needs, the feelings, the weakness of others; all sharp and hasty judgments and utterances, so often excused under the plea of being outright and honest; all manifestations of temper and touchiness and irritation; all feelings of bitterness and estrangement,have their root in nothing but pride, that ever seeks itself, and his eyes will be opened to see how a dark, shall I not say a devilish pride, creeps in almost everywhere, the assemblies of the saints not excepted. Let him begin to ask what would be the effect, if in himself and around him, if towards fellowsaints and the world, believers were really permanently guided by the humility of Jesus; and let him say if the cry of our whole heart, night and day, ought not to be, Oh for the humility of Jesus in myself and all around me! Let him honestly fix his heart on his own lack of the humility which has been revealed in the likeness of Christ’s life, and in the whole character of His redemption, and he will begin to feel as if he had never yet really known what Christ and His salvation is.
Believer! study the humility of Jesus. This is the secret, the hidden root of thy redemption. Sink down into it deeper day by day. Believe with thy whole heart that this Christ, whom God has given thee, even as His divine humility wrought the work for thee, will enter in to dwell and work within thee too, and make thee what the Father would have thee be.
Note B.-
“We need to know two things: 1. That our salvation consists wholly in being saved from ourselves, or that which we are by nature; 2. That in the whole nature of things nothing could be this salvation or saviour to us but such a humility of God as is beyond all expression. Hence the first unalterable term of the Saviour to fallen man: Except a man denies himself, he cannot be My disciple. Self is the whole evil of fallen nature; selfdenial is our capacity of being saved; humility is our saviour … Self is the root, the branches, the tree, of all the evil of our fallen state. All the evils of fallen angels and men have their birth in the pride of self. On the other hand, all the virtues of the heavenly life are the virtues of humility. It is humility alone that makes the unpassable gulf between heaven and hell. What is then, or in what lies, the great struggle for eternal life? It all lies in the strife between pride and humility: pride and humility are the two master powers, the two kingdoms in strife for the eternal possession of man. There never was, nor ever will be, but one humility, and that is the one humility of Christ. Pride and self have the all of man, till man has his all from Christ. He therefore only fights the good fight whose strife is that the self-idolatrous nature which he hath from Adam may be brought to death by the supernatural humility of Christ brought to life in him.”-W. Law, Address to the Clergy, p. 52. [I hope that this book of Law on the Holy Spirit may be issued by my publisher in the course of the year.]
(taken from Humility by Andrew Murray)
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