我们为圣经神学作见证，这神学既是再洗礼派的，也是福音派的, teaching that the church is called by Jesus Christ to represent God’s reign in the world by the power of the Holy Spirit as its community (being), 仆人(做), 信使(告诉).
The theological witness statement expresses two consistent aims of Fresno Pacific Biblical 神学院. First, these words articulate our underst和ing of what the Mennonite Brethren [MB] church believes. 第二个, 这些话描述了我们的方向, 作为教会的教师和神学家, 寻求领导MB会议. The theological statement condenses our MB confession of faith into a single sentence.
我们使用“圣经神学”这个术语,” "再洗礼派教徒" 和 “福音派” to describe our faith because these words also grow out of our history. 因为MBs是由我们发现兼容的其他运动塑造的, a brief review of our story is helpful in underst和ing the context for such words as “福音派” 和 “再洗礼派教徒.”
我们门诺兄弟会一直认为自己是一个 圣经 人. 有时我们使用使徒信经这样的声明, 我们说自己是忏悔型的，而不是信仰型的. That is, we confess that we seek to believe, study 和 obey the Bible as our primary authority. Our confession of faith is a statement that describes how our reading of the Bible (as God’s inspired Word) connects us to the world in which we give witness. 作为圣经中的人, 我们本能地试图通过提问来解决神学和伦理问题, “圣经是怎么说的??或者“我们如何解释圣经作为我们今天的权威??”
我们说的是 圣经神学 相对于系统的哲学神学. We make this distinction because we seek always to be guided more by the Bible than by a particular theological system—be that systematic, 福音派甚至是再洗礼派. 我们应该永远以圣经为准则. We use the word theology because we recognize that we need to read the whole Bible—to avoid lifting any single verse as a proof text that silences other 圣经 words. 同时，我们认识到耶稣教导的优先性. 我们倾向于使用登山宝训(马太福音5-7)作为我们的第一个镜头. 我们通过布道来阅读福音书, 透过福音书的镜头看新约的其余部分, 和通过NT透镜的OT. 神学一词指出了对解释的需要. We seek to interpret the Bible within a world-wide community of faith under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
这种圣经信仰旨在重新点燃早期教会的活力. 在圣灵的带领下，我们聚在一起学习圣经. As the early church discerned God’s will together at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, 我们追求社区解释学. 早期教会聚集在一起，评估保罗的使徒见证, Barnabas 和 Peter; so also we gather around the 圣经 text to discern together how its authority guides our lives.
我们寻求成为符合圣经的人, but we recognize that our 圣经 interpretation has always been influenced by a range of theological currents. When our church formed in 1860, the first members expressed their agreement with Menno Simons. They were also strongly influenced by the Lutheran pietist movement with its emphasis on (1) group Bible study, (2)温暖的圣灵充满的信心，从个人的转变中成长, (3)严谨的学习培养出的深思熟虑的信念, (4)传福音的见证. MBs也对来自更大的福音派教会的影响持开放态度, especially Baptists who encouraged world missions 和 helped the young MB church develop its congregational polity. This openness to other 福音派 churches continued in North America in the twentieth century 和 still characterizes MBs today.
而我们主张圣经神学, we recognize that other Christians also claim that the Bible is the source of their distinctive underst和ings. 作为一个社区，我们从我们社区的历史信仰中解释圣经, 尽量减少可能扭曲我们信仰的干扰. 有两个标签被用来描述我们社区的理解: 福音派 和 再洗礼派教徒. 这两个词都起源于特定的历史运动, 但也有一系列的文化关联. 有些人认为这些标签是积极和有益的，而另一些人则倾向于避免它们. We use them here as a way of identifying the sources of the 圣经 perspectives that we affirm. These labels 和 the 圣经 perspectives they represent are somewhat overlapping rather than exclusive. What follows is a summary of what we have taken from each tradition—both 福音派 和 再洗礼派教徒.
我们有以下共同的重点 福音派信仰 (福音这个词本身就是福音或好消息的意思). 每个基督徒都是通过皈依而重生的, receiving the gift of new life through trusting in Jesus' atoning death on the cross (John 3:16-18; Romans 3:19-26). 我们的神学权威是圣经(提摩太后书3:15-17). 门徒 in Christian life is nurtured through personal spiritual disciplines (1 Timothy 4:8). We underst和 our mission as a church to give witness to Jesus 和 to call others to new life (Matthew 28:16-20; Acts 1:8). We sense that our mission can be strengthened by learning to engage culture transformatively as we cooperate with like-minded Christians.
我们也有一些共同的重点 再洗礼派教徒的信仰 (这个词 再洗礼派教徒 was used by enemies of one group of 16th century reformers who insisted on believers baptism rather than infant baptism). God’s 人 are born again for the purpose of growing as disciples (followers 和 learners) of Jesus (Mark 8:27-38; Matthew 5-7). Followers of Jesus are incorporated into the covenant community through baptism 和 grow as disciples whose lives demonstrate faithfulness as we practice holy living 和 mutual accountability, 作为一个团体来敬拜, 共同参与使命(马太福音18:15-20). 我们的神学权威, 圣经, 在团体中被解释为圣灵的启示(使徒行传15章). Our mission in obedience to Jesus' Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) is to love our neighbors (Matthew 22:34-40) 和 to make peace through reconciliation with God, 我们自己, our enemies 和 God’s creation (2 Corinthians 5:17-20; Matthew 5:38-42). We sense that our mission is always counter-cultural because our allegiance to the Lord Jesus 和 the kingdom that he proclaims puts us in tension with the culture around us.
As Mennonite Brethren we give witness to a 圣经神学 that has at its center the following:
- 转换 ——信靠耶稣基督为救主和主，接受新生命
- 信徒的洗礼 -为承认耶稣并进入教会团契的信徒施洗
- 《PP电子官网》 —顺服神的话语, 被社区诠释为被圣灵照亮
- 教堂 -在敬拜、团契、责任、见证中活出一个圣约团体
- 门徒 寻求跟随耶稣的教导和榜样
- 任务 – witnessing 和 serving in passionate obedience to Jesus' Great Comm和ment 和 Great Commission
- 和平的见证 -让所有人与上帝、我们自己、我们的敌人和受造物和解
总结一下, at Fresno Pacific Biblical 神学院 we seek to “give witness to a 圣经神学 that is both 福音派 和 再洗礼派教徒.“我们的目标是反映 MB信仰告白 在千禧年伊始，我们教会对圣经的解释是什么. We also hope to lead the church to faithful discipleship characterized by personal devotion to Christ expressed within the covenant community of believers. We continually seek a 圣经 vision of the redeeming 和 reconciling work of Christ for persons 和 the world in which they live. Our passionate commitment is to act as God’s agents in the world as we anticipate the fulfillment of the kingdom of God.