A Dying Man's Consolation

요즘에 관심을 가지는 주제 중 하나는 
'그리스도의 능동적 순종(active obedience)'' 입니다. 

범주적으로는 조직신학 안에서 기독론에 속하는 내용이며,
그리스도께서 속죄를 이루시기 위해서 행하신 두가지 중 하나입니다. 

그리스도께서 속죄를 이루시기 위해서 하신 두가지 일은,
첫째는 수동적 순종으로, 십자가 상에서 인간이 마땅히 져야 할 죄의 값을 치르신 것이고
둘째가 능동적 순종으로, 하나님이 인간에게 마땅히 요구하시는,
그러므로 인간이 마땅히 성취해야했던 하나님의 의에 도달하기 위해서 필요했던
모든 의로움을, 그리스도께서 친히 이루셨다는 내용입니다.

재미있는 것은,
저 처럼 모태신앙으로 보수적 교회에서 자란 사람도,
이 능동적 순종에 대해서 거의 들어보지 못했다는 것입니다.

일반적으로 수동적 순종
(그리스도께서 우리의 죄값을 위해 돌아가셨다)라는 부분을
십자가 설교에서 강조하지만,
그러나 실제로 수동적 순종만 있었다면 우리는 아주 비참한 상황에 처하는데,
그것은 우리가 타락 이전의 아담의 처지에 위치한다는 것입니다.
(조직신학 송인규 교수님의 비유) 즉 여전히 의를 이루라고 하시는
(아담에게 주어진 것은 선악과를 따 먹지 마라 라는 명령)
하나님의 요구 앞에 놓여 있다는 것입니다.
아담조차 이루지 못했던 하나님의 완전한 의에 대한 요구, 완벽한 순종을
과연 의지가 죄로 향해 기울어버린, 우리가 이룰 수 있을까요?


바로 이 부분에서
모든 사람들은 필연적으로 극심한 좌절을 경험하는데,
마음에 분명한 율법의 요구를 느끼지만,
자신은 절대로 완전에 다다를 수 없다는 것을 절감하게 되고,
양심이 예민하면 예민할 수록, 그 간극이 더욱 커짐으로
심리적인 고통과 괴로움은 더욱 커져 간다는 것입니다.
(저는 현대인들이 느끼는 자존감에 나타나는 심리적인 고통과 좌절이
바로 여기에서 기인한다고 생각합니다.)
참으로 우리의 의는 누더기와 같습니다.

결국,
그리스도께서 우리를 위하여 율법의 모든 요구들을 친히 이루시고(확실한 전제)
그리고 이것을 우리에게 전가(그의 의를 우리의 것으로 만드시고 여기시는 것)
하심이 없다면 우리의 구원은 사실상 반쪽이며, 
더 정확하게 말하면 불가능 하다는 것입니다. 

관심을 가지고 찾아본 결과,
그렇게 일반적으로 드러나 있지는 않지만,
보수적인 신실한 신학자와 목회자들은 이 부분에서 굉장한 관심을 가진다는 점,
그리고 이것을 묵상함으로 결국 복음 안에서의 평안을 누렸다는 것입니다. 

글쎄요,
제가 생각할 때에는, 능동적 순종이야 말로,
이신칭의를 완전하게 만들어주는 
가장 근본에 있는 핵심적인 교리이자 성경이 주장하는 바로 보이는데,
이 능동적 순종이 왜 그렇게 잘 이야기되지 않을까요?

재미있는 것은, 벌코프의 조직신학에는 능동적 순종 부분에서
알미니안은 그리스도의 능동적 순종을 부인한다고 적혀 있다는 것입니다. 

어떤 의미에서, 대속한다라는 기독교의 핵심 교리 안에서, 
나의 죄 값을 대신 지신다라는 부분(수동적)은 오히려 받아들이기 쉽지만,
그리스도께서 모든 것을 다 이루셨고(능동적)
당신은 그것을 받아들이기만 하면 된다라는 것은,
근본적으로 구원에 대하여 행위 중심적으로, 공로 중심적으로, 도덕적으로 이해하는
인간의 본성에 가장 반대되는 내용이 아닐까요?

혹은, 
능동적 순종을 성경적으로 액면 그대로 이야기했을 때에,
성도들이 이제는 구원이 다 이루어진 것이다라고 받아들이고,
교회에서 아무 일도 하지 않을까봐,
두려워하는 마음으로 전하지 못했던 것일까요?

저의 짧은 소견과 인생으로는 다 알수 없으니
앞으로 더 고민해보려고 합니다.  

그저께 우연히 유명한 사람들의 말을 검색하는 사이트를 찾아서 검색했는데,
그레샴 메이첸(신학자, 웨스트민스터 필라델피아 신학교 설립자)이런 내용이 나오더군요. 

"I'm so thankful for the active obedience of Christ. No hope without it."

이 말의 배경도 전혀 모른채 그저 읽어만 봐도,
메이첸이 얼마나 그리스도의 능동적 순종 안에서 평안을 느꼈는지 알겠더군요. 

그런데 우연히 또 검색하다가,
호튼의 글을 통해 그 배경을 알게 되었습니다. 
알고보니 소천하기 전 그의 친구이자 신학자인 존머레이에게 마지막 보낸 말이더군요. 
전율이 왔습니다. 

호튼의 글을 인용합니다. 
물론 영어로 되어 있어서 죄송하네요. 
저도 제 한몸 겨우 영어를 읽는 수준이라 해석은 못 붙이고,
또 호튼 글이 쉽지가 않아서 어려움은 있을 것입니다. 

그러나 시간을 두시고 천천히 해석하시고 읽어보신다면,
메이첸이 누렸던 그 복음 안에서의 평안을 누릴 수 있으리라 생각되네요. 
저작권상 글의 일부분을 옮깁니다.
나머지는 링크를 타고 따라가 읽어보세요. 

평안한 하루 되세요 ^-^



A Dying Man's Consolation
The Active & Passive Obedience of Christ
Michael S. Horton

Dismissing his doctor's orders, J. Gresham Machen, beaten down by a career of struggling for the Faith even within his own communion, kept his commitments to a small circle of Orthodox Presbyterian parishes in South Dakota. "I have too much to do," he insisted, as his chest was even then tight from pneumonia. The next day, however, Machen was hospitalized. On New Year's Eve, the host pastor visited this infamous opponent of Liberalism on his deathbed and the elder statesman related a dream he had enjoyed that made him long for Heaven. "Sam, it was glorious, it was glorious," he said. "Sam, isn't the Reformed Faith grand?" Just before he passed into the next world, Machen dictated a telegram to John Murray, professor of systematic theology at Westminster Seminary. These last words read, "I'm so thankful for the active obedience of Christ. No hope without it." (1)
Once more we are reminded of just how practical and relevant doctrine can be in our deepest crises. When all is well, we can dispense with such questions, but not when the truly great issues of life are staring us in the face. But what is this "active obedience of Christ" to which Machen referred and why was it such a remarkable comfort in his dying hour?
John Murray, the recipient of that famous telegram, wrote eloquently of this great biblical doctrine. "Early in our Lord's ministry we have his own witness" to being the promised "Servant of the Lord" in Isaiah, says Murray. When John the Baptist questioned the propriety of him baptizing the Messiah, Jesus answered, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness" (Mt 3:15). (2) It was our Lord's great pleasure and duty to "fulfill all righteousness" down to the least stroke of the Law: "I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me" (Jn 6:38). Calvin observes, "Now someone asks, how has Christ abolished sin, banished the separation between us and God, and acquired righteousness to render God favorable and kindly toward us? To this we can in general reply that he has achieved this for us by the whole course of his obedience." (3)
We are told in Scripture that Jesus Christ was both human and divine. Because of this union of the divine with the human nature, "he grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man" (Lk 2:52). In fact, he "learned obedience from the things he suffered" (Heb 5:8). This is not at all to suggest that our Lord was sinful, but in his humiliation he was truly and fully human. That is, just as he grew up physically, so too he progressively obeyed God throughout his life. At no point did he fail to respond positively to his Father's will, so his growth was perfect and complete.
It is impossible for us to imagine what it would have been like for this Son of Man to experience genuine temptation in precisely the same way as it comes to us and still to have turned his will from every form of hatred, lust, selfishness, greed, pride, laziness, and every other form of disobedience, whether in thought, word, or deed. He sinned neither by omission nor commission, neither by ignorance nor malice. Even when faced with the temptation in the wilderness, where Lucifer offered him the kingdoms of the world (as if he owned them), in addition to food to satiate his fast-weary body, Jesus, unlike the first Adam, answered with the Word of God.
But more than all of these countless acts of obedience and perfect conformity to his Father's will in mind, body, soul, and heart, there was one act of obedience that crowned our Savior's righteousness: "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross!" (Phil 2:6-8). This death is our Lord's passive obedience, just as his active obedience is his thirty-three years of perfect conformity to God's will. Although some other word might be preferred, the "passive" nature of Christ's obedience to death took the form of suffering, while his "active" obedience took the form of doing. It was not merely the agony of the cross as a form of human punishment, nor indeed even the unjust accusations of his tormentors, but the divine curse that was attached to this death that made this step of obedience so daunting. For this reason, our Lord prayed in Gethsemane, "Lord, if it is possible, take this cup from me." And yet, even in the face of divine judgment, when he would bear the sins of his people, he still prayed, "Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done" (Mt 26:41-43).
This obedience was voluntary. "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me--just as the Father knows me and I know the Father--and I lay down my life for the sheep...No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father" (Jn 10:14-18). Because it was a voluntary obedience, it is offered to the Father as the eternally meritorious sacrifice of the God-Man. "By the obedience of the one man many shall be declared righteous," Paul declared (Rom 5:19), contrasting the imputation of the first Adam's guilt and the imputation of the last Adam's righteousness. Thus, in his high priestly prayer, our Lord prays, "For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified" (Jn 17:19). Throughout the Old Testament, one of God's names had been Yireh-Tsadikenu, "The Lord Our Righteousness," and in First Corinthians this is applied to Christ, "who has become for us our righteousness, holiness and redemption" (1:30).
So what does all of this mean for us in our troubles? Why did Machen find so much satisfaction in clinging to this promise on his deathbed?
First, it is quite easy for us to believe that God is lenient. We conceive of him as Santa Claus: "He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake." But who would think of jolly 'ol St. Nick punishing people for their sins? And yet, that is what the Bible insists God will do at the end of history. The same Jesus who emptied himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross, will return to judge the living and the dead. It will be a trial of strict justice and nothing short of perfect righteousness will be required of each of us. Either it will be our own, or borrowed from the host, but God will not be lenient on that dreadful day.
...
나머지 내용은 링크를 복사해서 따라가세요 ^0^
http://www.modernreformation.org/default.php?page=articledisplay&var1=ArtRead&var2=728&var3=main