使徒行传22:16 /01

作者：谢德华 (©By Edward Short)

Acts 22:16 /01

©By Edward Short

我研读汉字时，发现有几个成语形容事情紧迫，需要赶快做好决定，要快一点做某一件事情，不可耽延的意思。譬如，刻不容缓，迫不及待，势在必行等。可惜，我太太和我朋友都知道我这个人时常迟疑不绝。我想，我们都羡慕当机立断的人，但我们不欣赏那些当断不断的人。

《圣经》里有一个人名叫保罗。保罗成为基督徒以前，他逼迫基督徒。但是，当保罗发现耶稣基督已经从坟墓里复活了，在他面对这个他不可否认的事实的时候，他就改变了他的想法和行为。保罗成为基督徒不说，他自己还往外传讲耶稣的真理。保罗决定接受他原先所逼迫的信仰成为基督徒的时候，有一位名叫亚拿尼亚的基督徒向他说：“现在你为什么要耽延呢？起来！求告他的名受洗，洗去你的罪”[使徒行传22:16]。

从这句话里，我们得知成为基督徒是一件“刻不容缓”的决定；受洗是一件“势在必行”的事。

我为什么这样说呢？

保罗醒悟过来了，发现他所逼迫的耶稣真的是神的儿子，耶稣真的从死里复活了。保罗领悟了他过去所逼迫的基督教的确是真理，是属神的，是对的，他马上就明白了他所走的道路是错的。保罗当机立断地下了决定回头，转向他原先所逼迫的基督教。所以亚拿尼亚告诉保罗说，“现在你为什么要耽延呢？起来！求告他[耶稣]的名受洗，洗去你的罪”的时候，保罗刻不容缓的接受了洗礼。

有些决定我们可以“慢慢地做决定”；有些事情我们可以“慢慢地去办”。但是也有一些事情是“刻不容缓”的。受洗就是这种事情。张三，李四，您或我，等到我们醒悟过来，明白耶稣基督是神的儿子，领会耶稣为我们舍命复活，承认我们身上有罪，请求上帝赦免我们的罪，让我们成为基督徒时，就应该“势在必行”的受洗。亚拿尼亚所告诉保罗的话，也是上帝给我们的邀请：“现在你为什么要耽延呢？起来！求告他的名受洗，洗去你的罪”。

In my study of Chinese, I have found that there are some four-character phrases that emphasize how quickly something should be done, and show how delay is not appropriate.  “Ke bu rong huan,” for example, means that not a moment of delay is allowed; “shi zai bi xing” means that a situation is such that one must act.  Unfortunately, my wife and my friends know me too well and know that sometimes I “chi yi bu jue,” that I hesitate to make decisions.  I think everyone admires someone who “dang ji li duan,” who makes a decision quickly as the situation demands, but we don’t appreciate the person who “dang duan bu duan,” who fails to make a decision when one is necessary.

In the Bible, there’s a person named Paul who persecuted the disciples of Jesus.  Later, however, Paul realized that Jesus Christ had indeed been resurrected back to life, and once he faced this fact, he changed his life.  Not only did Paul become a Christian himself, he even traveled to far away places and told others about the gospel of Jesus.  Once Paul decided to accept the faith he once persecuted, a Christian named Ananias told him, “And now, what are you waiting for?  Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name” [Acts 22:16]. 

From this statement we learn that becoming a Christian is the kind of matter where “not a moment of delay is allowed;” when confronting the decision to be baptized, the “situation is such that one must act.”

Why is this the case?

Paul came to his senses and realized that this Jesus whom he had been persecuting really was the Son of God, and that Jesus really had been raised from death!  When Paul realized that the Christianity he had persecuted was God’s truth, he quickly saw that the road he’d been walking was wrong.  Paul made the “decision quickly as the situation demanded,” and determined to change direction and to become a Christian.  Consequently, as soon as Ananias told Paul, “And now, what are you waiting for?  Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name,” Paul received baptism “without a moment’s delay.”

Not all decisions require immediate attention, and there are some actions we can put off.  There are other decisions, however, that should be made “without a moment’s delay.”  Baptism is one such decision.  Whether you or I or anyone else, as soon as we awaken to the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, understand that Jesus gave his life for us and was resurrected, confess that we are sinful people and want to ask God to forgive our sins and allow us to become Christians, we should realize the “importance of the situation and act accordingly”—we should be baptized.  The very words that Ananias told Paul are also God’s invitation to us today:  “And now, what are you waiting for?  Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.”