## Note: This is a bilingual sermon delivered in English and Chinese (Cantonese). Both languages are preserved as spoken.
Today we will talk together about the meaning of baptism. We are making an interruption in our study of the Lord's teaching concerning prayer in order to consider this, because some of our brothers are very soon going to be baptized. There are also many Christians who have been baptized without ever really understanding what baptism means, and there are non-Christians who wonder what this whole matter of baptism is about.
今天我們會講洗禮的意思。因為有些弟兄很快就要受洗了，所以我們在研究主關於禱告的教導時暫停一下，來思考洗禮這個問題。也有很多已受洗的基督徒從來不明白洗禮的意思，以及一些非基督徒想知道洗禮是怎麼回事。
In discussing baptism, I want to avoid any difficult or technical terms. If any harder terms come up, I will explain them. I remember that when I was in Bible College, a fellow student — who had already committed himself to God's work — asked me, "What is the meaning of baptism? I've never been baptized. Why should I be?" He was a Christian for many years and yet had never been instructed on this. After our discussion together, he was baptized. So let us deal with this very simply, in a way that everybody can understand.
關於受洗，我不想用很多很難明白的字眼，如果有些比較難以明白的名詞我會解釋的。我想和大家研究的是很簡單的，令我們每一個人都能夠明白。
I hope you will bear in mind one key word: union. A sacrament is the outward expression of something that has already taken place inside you. Baptism is the covenant of union — union with whom? Union with Christ. Those of you who attended the baptism class will remember that I used the example of a wedding. Because a wedding is also a covenant of union.
我希望你們記住一個字：聯合。聖禮是一個外在的表現，表達內在已經發生的事情。洗禮是聯合的約——與誰聯合？與基督聯合。
In the church we have two sacraments: the sacrament of union — that is, baptism — and the sacrament of communion. In baptism, as you enter into it, you are entering into a covenant of union with Christ. Just as when two people get married they enter into a covenant of union with one another.
在教會裡我們有兩個聖禮：聯合的聖禮，就是洗禮；以及聖餐的聖禮。在洗禮中，你是進入一個與基督聯合的約，就像兩個人結婚，他們進入一個彼此聯合的約一樣。
What is the biblical foundation for comparing baptism to a wedding? There are many passages I could cite, but I will limit it to one or two. In 1 Corinthians 6 verse 17 we read: "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him." When were you joined to the Lord, if you have ever been joined to the Lord? You were joined to the Lord in baptism. The word "joined" there is the same Greek word used in Matthew 19 verse 5, where a husband and wife are joined together in marriage. That same word is used here in 1 Corinthians 6 to speak of the union of the Christian with Christ.
這方面聖經有很多根據，但我現在只講一兩節。在哥林多前書第六章第十七節我們讀到：「與主聯合的，便是與主成為一靈。」你是什麼時候與主聯合的？是在洗禮的時候。那個「聯合」的字與馬太福音第十九章第五節中丈夫和妻子聯合所用的字是一樣的希臘字。
And in Ephesians chapter 5, in the middle of the passage about marriage, we find suddenly a reference to baptism. Verse 26 reads: "that he might sanctify her" — that is, the church — "having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word." And verse 31 has exactly the same verse as Matthew 19:5: "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one." So right in the heart of this passage about marriage we find a reference to baptism. There are also many passages in the Bible that speak of the Lord Jesus as the bridegroom of the church. Paul, speaking to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 11, says, "I have betrothed you as a pure virgin to her one husband, that is Christ."
以弗所書第五章論到婚姻的段落中間，我們突然看到一個對洗禮的提及（第二十六節）：「要用水藉著道把教會洗淨，成為聖潔。」第三十一節又引用了馬太福音十九章五節：「人要離開父母，與妻子聯合，二人成為一體。」所以在這段論婚姻的話語正中間，我們找到了對洗禮的提及。
Now, can two people become husband and wife without going through a marriage? Whether in the most primitive society or the most advanced country, the universal answer is no. You cannot become husband and wife without marriage. Why not? Why can't one simply dispense with the ceremony? Because marriage is not just a ceremony — it is a covenant. A covenant is a commitment to one another, something like a contract. And even if you go to a register office rather than a church, you are still required to have witnesses who sign the certificate. Why witnesses? Because the witnesses are there to testify that this contract has been established before them. Personal relationships do not become concretely established until there is a covenant.
為什麼不可以不經過婚禮就成為夫婦呢？因為婚姻不只是一個儀式，而是一個約。約就像一個合約，一個互相的承諾。就算去婚姻登記處而不是教會，你還是需要有見證人簽名。為什麼要有見證人？因為見證人是在場見證這個約的建立的。
And so you can have a person who says he believes in Christ, loves the Lord Jesus, wants to follow him — but so long as he has not entered into a covenant with Christ, he is not yet a Christian in the fullest sense. The commitment in the heart is there, but that commitment has not been established before witnesses, has not become concrete and real. In baptism, it becomes established in a concrete and real way. What do we do in baptism? We enter into a union with Christ — not just a feeling, but a definite committal, a contract, a covenant with Christ.
所以可以有一個人說，我相信基督，我愛主耶穌，我想跟隨他——但只要他沒有進入與基督的約，他就還不完全是基督徒。心中的承諾是有的，但那個承諾還沒有在見證人面前確立，還沒有變得具體和真實。在洗禮中，它就以一個具體真實的方式確立了。
Now let us look more deeply and compare the union in the wedding with the union with Christ in baptism. First, just as in a wedding two people commit themselves to one another because of their mutual love, so in baptism we commit ourselves to Christ because of his love to us, and we want to express our love to him. Second, just as in a wedding you do not marry someone you merely happen to like but truly love — to the extent that you are prepared to share your whole life with that person — so the Christian commits himself to Jesus not casually but unconditionally, prepared to share his life with him.
現在讓我們更深一層比較婚姻中的聯合與洗禮中與基督的聯合。第一，就像在婚禮中，兩個人因為彼此相愛而將自己交托給對方；同樣地，在洗禮中，我們因為接受了基督對我們的愛，而願意將自己交托給他，表達我們對他的愛。
Third, just as in a wedding you declare before everyone present that you love this person, so in baptism I declare before all these witnesses — and before heaven and earth, which are not just inanimate things in Scripture but represent the spiritual powers present — I declare this day that I love Jesus and have committed myself to him. Fourth, because I have declared my committal to him, I am also prepared to break the ties of my old way of life. That is true even of an ordinary marriage: your life is no longer the same. You are entering into a life of partnership with someone else; it is no longer a self-centred life in which you just do whatever you want.
第三，就像在婚禮中你在眾人面前宣告你愛這個人，在洗禮中我在所有見證人面前——在天地面前，在屬靈界面前——宣告我愛耶穌，我將自己委身給他。第四，既然我宣告了這個委身，我也準備好要與舊的生活方式決裂。
And just as a devoted wife puts the interest of her husband before her own interests — even giving up her professional career to go where her husband is called to go — so in baptism we say from now on the interests of the Lord Jesus come before our own interests, before our professional desires, before our social desires. He is the one whose interest is central to our heart.
就像一個忠誠的妻子把丈夫的利益放在自己的利益之前——甚至放棄自己的事業，到丈夫蒙召去的地方——同樣，在洗禮中我們說，從今以後，主耶穌的事務放在我們自己的事務之前，放在我們的職業渴望、社交渴望之前。他的利益是我們心中的中心。
And as I am saying all this, I hope that those who are already Christians will search their hearts and ask: have I been true to my baptismal commitment? When I was baptized, I made these promises — am I keeping them? And just like in a marriage, because the two have become united, one does not go here and the other there; wherever one is, the other is. They go together and share their interests together. So it is with the Christian: he is always in fellowship with the Lord Jesus. The true Christian is one who is always in communion with the Lord Jesus. What kind of marriage is it where one person stays here and the other stays there? You want to be together; you want to fellowship with one another. So the Christian who does not pray, who does not delight to commune with the Lord Jesus, does not know what it means to be a Christian.
我這樣說的時候，我盼望已受洗的弟兄姊妹省察自己的心：我有沒有忠於我受洗時的承諾？就像婚姻一樣，聯合了之後，一個不在這裡一個在那裡，他們無論去哪裡都是一起的。同樣，基督徒時常與主耶穌相交。不禱告、不喜歡與主耶穌交通的基督徒，不明白做基督徒是什麼意思。
# The Meaning of Baptism: A Covenant of Union (Part B) — God's Pledge to Us, and the Sign of Dying and Rising
## Note: This is a bilingual sermon delivered in English and Chinese (Cantonese). Both languages are preserved as spoken.
Even if times are difficult — whether for richer or for poorer — in baptism we say, "Lord, I will be with you." And when we receive this baptism in our hearts, we say in that act that the Lord Jesus becomes Lord of my life. Just like the devoted wife says to her husband, "I would like you to be the head of this household." In every administration there must be a head, and the family is a social unit that needs someone to take responsibility. This does not mean any inequality between husband and wife; in their love for one another they respect each other and want to give honour to the other. And so the Christian wants to give the Lord Jesus the honour in his life, to glorify Jesus, to say with joy, "Yes, Jesus is Lord in my life."
即如一個尊重的太太對她的丈夫說：「我願意你是我家裡面的主。」在每一個機構裡面都需要有一個主持人。這不是說夫婦之間有不平等，而是在彼此相愛之中，他們尊重對方，願意給對方榮耀的地位。同樣做基督徒的，願意在自己的生命裡面來榮耀主，將主的地位放在先，很歡喜能夠說主是我生命的主。
Then again, in a wedding there is the wedding ring — the pledge. What does the ring mean? It is a promise: "I will not leave you nor forsake you." So the Lord Jesus also, when we are baptized, gives us a present. He gives us his Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit is God's pledge to us — a promise that he will never leave us nor forsake you. And secondly it means that what he has promised toward us, he will fulfil. He is going to look after us, protect us, lead us, and he has granted us eternal life.
在結婚時，丈夫給妻子一個戒指——一個應許：「我永遠不會離開你，不會拋棄你。」同樣，當我們受洗時，主也給我們一個禮物：他的聖靈。聖靈就是上帝給我們的應許，表明他永遠不會離開我們。而且他也應許說，他會帶領我們，保護我們，指示我們前面的道路，並賜給我們永生。
Now I have used these comparisons very briefly because of lack of time. We have compared baptism to the wedding — but of course we are not saying that baptism is a wedding. The reason we can compare them is that both are covenants. Now there are two points of difference I would like to point out simply.
我用這些比喻是很短短的，因為時間短縮。我們是做一個比較，說洗禮就好像一個結婚一樣，但不是說洗禮就是結婚。兩者能夠比較的原因是兩者都是一個約。我想指出兩點不同的地方。
First, the outward sign is different. You see the person being immersed in water, and then raised up out of the water. Why? Because our union with Christ is far more complicated — and far deeper — than the union between two people. Between two people, if they love one another they can get married; the main difficulty is finding someone to love. But our union with Christ was not only difficult; at one point it was impossible. The barrier is sin. Sin stands between us and God and makes this union impossible.
第一點不同的地方是儀式的方式不同——你看到那人被浸在水裡然後從水裡出來。原因是我們與基督的聯合比人與人之間的聯合更加深、更加複雜，因為罪是立在我們與上帝之間的障礙，使這個聯合成為不可能。
The comparison with difficulty can be seen more clearly if you imagine two people from families that are enemies of one another who wish to marry. For the union to happen, the enmity in between has to be removed. And this is exactly what the Lord Jesus had to do on the cross. Because he loves us and wants to join us to himself, he first had to remove the barrier between us. That barrier he removed by his death. He died — not just a death in some vague or spiritual sense, but a concrete, historical death on the cross. Because of his love for us, he removed the obstacle that made our union with him impossible.
這個困難就好像兩個仇家想要聯合——中間的仇恨需要先被消除。這正是主耶穌在十字架上要做的事。因為他愛我們，想要與我們聯合，他首先要除掉中間的障礙，就是藉著他的死。
When you are being immersed into the water, it is a symbol that you are prepared to die to sin — to turn your back on sin, to declare that the whole old way of life is now over. When you come up out of the water, it is a symbol that you are entering into a new life.
當受洗的時候，你將自己浸在水裡，就是象徵你願意離弃罪，將舊的生活離弃了。從水裡出來的時候，就是象徵你進入一個新的生命。
And so baptism does not mean that we have joined a religion. No, no, no. We have declared that we have turned away from sin to righteousness, from darkness to light. We have declared our union with Christ.
洗禮不是說我們參加了一個宗教，而是說我們願意將舊的生命離弃，從黑暗裡面轉向光明，從罪方面轉向公義方面。
For those who are about to take the step of baptism: think carefully about what we have talked about today. It is a big step. The union of a wedding is also a big step. For those of us who now belong to Christ and have been united with him, let us always remember what this means, what our privileges and responsibilities are.
那些要受洗的，要小心地想想我剛才所講的。這件事是一個很重要的步驟，就像結婚是一個很重要的步驟一樣。
When you have difficulty, when things go wrong, remember that Jesus loves you, he sees your tears, he sees the struggles in your heart, and he cares for you every day. Bring your cares to him, and you will find out just how much he loves you. And also learn to live to glorify him, so that he may truly have joy in us, and we have joy in him. Let us pray.
當我們有困難、有事情搞不定的時候，我們要記得耶穌是愛我們的，他看見你的眼淚，他看見你心裡面的掙扎，他每天都關心你。將你的憂慮放在他面前，你就會發現他多麼關心你。同時學習那個榮耀他的生活，使他對我們有喜悅的心，而我們都在他裡面能夠喜樂。讓我們禱告。