517.为何仅仅口头上忏悔是一个罪人并不是悔改，原因有很多，其中一个就是，当想到面临或即将面临的地狱折磨时，每个人，包括不敬虔者，甚至魔鬼，都能发出这种叫喊，这只表明外在的虔诚。但是，谁看不出这不是内在虔诚，纯粹是想象的产物，发自于肺，而不是内在意愿的产物，因而发自内心？因为不敬虔者与魔鬼的内心仍燃烧着喜欢做恶的欲望，这些欲望驱使他们，就象大风驱动风车一样。所以，这样的叫喊无非是为了获释而欺骗神、或欺诈简单人的一个诡计。还有比驱使双唇发出喊声，并为此调整呼吸、瞪大双眼、举起双手更容易的吗？这和主在马可福音所说的话一致：
以赛亚指着你们假冒为善之人所说的预言是不错的，这百姓用嘴唇尊敬我，心却远离我 （7:6）。
以及马太福音：
你们这假冒为善的文士和法利赛人有祸了！因为你们洗净杯盘的外面，里面却盛满了勒索和放荡。你这瞎眼的法利赛人，先洗净杯盘的里面，好叫外面也干净了（马太福音23:25，26，以及本章的更多内容）。
517. 为何仅仅口头上忏悔是一个罪人并不是悔改, 原因有很多, 其中一个就是, 当想到面临或即将面临的地狱折磨时, 每个人, 包括不敬虔者, 甚至魔鬼, 都能发出这种叫喊, 这只表明外在的虔诚。 但是, 谁看不出这不是内在虔诚, 纯粹是想象的产物, 发自于肺, 而不是内在意愿的产物, 因而发自内心? 因为不敬虔者与魔鬼的内心仍燃烧着喜欢做恶的欲望, 这些欲望驱使他们, 就象大风驱动风车一样。 所以, 这样的叫喊无非是为了获释而欺骗神, 或欺诈简单人的一个诡计。 还有比驱使双唇发出喊声, 并为此调整呼吸, 瞪大双眼, 举起双手更容易的吗? 这和主在马克福音所说的话一致:
以赛亚指着你们假冒为善之人所说的预言是不错的, 这百姓用嘴唇尊敬我, 心却远离我 (马可福音7:6)。
以及马太福音:
你们这假冒为善的文士和法利赛人有祸了! 因为你们洗净杯盘的外面, 里面却盛满了勒索和放荡。 你这瞎眼的法利赛人, 先洗净杯盘的里面, 好叫外面也干净了 (马太福音23:25-26, 以及本章的更多内容)。
517. There are many reasons why an oral confession that we are sinners is not by itself repentance. Among them is this: Any and every human being, even godless people and devils, are capable of uttering an exclamation like this and making outward shows of devoutness, when they think about the clear and present danger of being tortured in hell. Surely everyone can see, though, that this outburst is not the result of any inner devoutness. It is an outward act of the imagination and the lungs, not an inward act of the will and the heart. The godless and the devils are still inwardly burning with love and desire for doing evil; this passion drives them the way windstorms drive a windmill. An outburst like this, then, is nothing more than a plot to fool God or to deceive ordinary people in order to be set free. How difficult is it to make our lips and our breath cry out, to raise our eyes and lift up our hands? As the Lord says in Mark, "Isaiah prophesied about you hypocrites correctly when he said, 'These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me'" (Mark 7:6). And in Matthew, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, because you clean the outside of your cup and plate, but the insides are full of plundering and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of your cup and plate, so that the outside may be clean as well" (Matthew 23:25-26; that chapter includes more passages like this).
517. Among the many reasons why a mere verbal confession that one is a sinner is not repentance is this: that every single person can utter this cry, the irreligious and even a devil too, and this with an outward show of piety, on thinking about impending or present torments in hell. But can anyone fail to see that this is not the result of inward piety, being merely a product of the imagination, coming from the lungs, and not a more inward product of the will, coming from the heart? For the irreligious person or devil is none the less inwardly on fire with the lusts of the love of doing evil, and these drive him as gusts of wind do a windmill. So such a cry is no more than a trick to baffle God or to deceive the simple in order to be set free. What is easier than to compel the lips to utter a cry and to match the breath of the mouth to it, to raise one's eyes and lift up one's hands? This is the same as the Lord speaks of in Mark:
Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites: This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far away, Mark 7:6.
And in Matthew:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, because you clean the outside of the cup and dish, but the insides are full of robbery and intemperance. You blind Pharisee, clean first the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside too may be clean, Matthew 23:25-26, and much else in that chapter.
517. Among the many reasons why the mere lip-confession of being a sinner is not repentance, is this, that everyone, an impious man or even a devil, may make that declaration, and this with external devotion, when he thinks of the torments of hell, either those present or impending. But who does not see that this is not from any internal devotion, consequently that it is imaginary and therefore a matter of the lungs, and not a matter of the will from within, and thus of the heart? For an impious man and a devil still burn inwardly with the lusts of the love of doing evil, by which they are moved like windmills given by strong winds; therefore such a declaration is nothing but a contrivance to cheat God for the sake of deliverance or to deceive the simple. For what is easier than to compel the lips to cry out, and the breath of the mouth to adapt itself thereto, to turn up the eyes and raise the hands? This is the same as what the Lord says in Mark:
Well hath Isaiah prophesied of you, hypocrites, This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me (7:6);
and in Matthew:
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees! for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but within they are full with extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter that the outside may be clean also (23:25, 26; and more in the same chapter).
517. The following is one of several reasons why the mere oral confession that one is a sinner is not repentance. Every man, even a wicked one and a devil, can say this, and with some show of external devotion, the one when he considers the torments that await him, and the other the torments he now endures, in hell. But who does not see that this confession, proceeding from no inner feeling of devotion, is altogether unreal, and, as it were, from the lungs, and that it is not a voluntary declaration from within, and, as it were, from the heart? For wicked men and devils still burn inwardly with the lusts of the love of doing evil, by which they are driven like windmills in a storm. Such a declaration, therefore, is nothing but a device to obtain deliverance by deceiving God, or to impose upon the simple. There is nothing easier than to cause the lips to pour forth words, and to prepare the breath for that purpose, to raise the eyes and to lift up the hands. This is what is meant by what the Lord says in Mark:
"Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites... This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me" 7:6;
and in Matthew:
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees... for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter, that the outside of them may be clean also" 23:25-26;
and in many other passages in the same chapter.
517. Quod sola oralis Confessio, quod peccator sit, non sit Poenitentia, inter plures causas est haec, quod unusquisque homo hoc exclamare possit, et impius et quoque Diabolus, et hoc cum externa devotione, quando cogitat de cruciatibus imminentibus et praesentibus in inferno; sed quis non videt quod hoc non sit ex aliqua devotione interna, proinde quod sit imaginativum, et inde pulmonicum, non autem voluntarium ab interiori, et inde non cardiacum, nam impius et diabolus usque intus ardent concupiscentiis amoris faciendi malum, ex quibus feruntur sicut molae procellis actae, quare talis exclamatio non aliud est, quam machinatio ut fallat Deum, aut decipiat simplices, propter liberationem: quid enim facilius est, quam adigere labra ad vociferandum, et accommodare ei spiritum oris, ac tollere oculos, et levare manus sursum; hoc idem est, quod Dominus dicit, apud Marcum, Recte prophetavit Esajas de vobis hypocritis, hic populus labiis Me honorat, cor vero eorum procul abest, 7:6, et apud Matthaeum, "Vae vobis Scribae et Pharisaei, quia purgatis exterius poculi et patinae, interiora vero sunt plena rapina et intemperantia: Pharisaee 1 caece, purga prius interius poculi et patinae, ut fiat etiam exterius mundum," 23:25-26, et plura in eodem Capite.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: Pharisaec.