The Doctrine of Vocation关于“呼召或圣职”的教导

Gene Edward Veith 基恩.韦思

The word “calling,” or in its Latinate form “vocation,” had long been used in reference to the sacred ministry and the religious orders. Martin Luther was the first to use “vocation” to refer also to secular offices and occupations. Today, the term has become common-place, another synonym for a profession or job, as in “vocational training.” But behind the term is the notion that every legitimate kind of work or social function is a distinct “calling” from God, requiring unique God-given gifts, skills, and talents. Moreover, the Reformation doctrine of vocation teaches that God himself is active in everyday human labor, family responsibil-ities, and social interactions.

长期以来，“呼召 ”一词，或其拉丁文形式 “圣职”，一直被用于指圣职和修会。马丁-路德是第一个用 “圣职 ”来指世俗职务和职业的人。如今，这个词已经变得司空见惯(在英文语境中是这样)，成为职业或工作的另一个同义词，如 “呼召/圣职培训Vocational Training”。但这个词背后的概念是，每一种合法的工作或社会职能都是上帝的独特 “呼召”，需要上帝赐予的独特天赋、技能和才能。此外，宗教改革关于“呼召或圣职”的教义还教导人们，上帝自己就活跃在人类的日常劳动、家庭责任和社会交往中。

For instance, to take one of Luther’s examples, we pray in the Lord’s Prayer that God give us our daily bread, which he does. He does so, not directly as when he gave manna to the Israelites, but through the work of farmers and bakers-and we might add truck drivers and retailers. In effect, the whole economic system is the means by which God gives us our daily bread. Each part of the economic food chain is a vocation, through which God works to distribute his gifts. Similarly, God heals the sick. While he can and sometimes does do so directly, in the normal course of things he works through doctors, nurses, and other medical experts. God protects us from evil, with the vocation of the police officer. God teaches through teachers, orders society through governments, proclaims the Gospel through pastors.

例如，以路德的一个例子为例，我们在主祷文中祈求上帝赐给我们日用的饮食，而上帝确实这样做了。他这样做，不是像给以色列人吗哪那样直接的，而是通过农民和面包师的工作实现--我们还可以加上卡车司机和零售商。实际上，整个经济体系就是上帝赐给我们日用饮食的途径。经济食物链的每一部分都是一种天职（圣职），上帝通过这些天职来分配他的恩赐礼物。同样，上帝也藉此医治病人。虽然他可以而且有时确实直接这样做，但在正常情况下，他是通过医生、护士和其他医学专家来工作的。上帝以警察的天职保护我们远离邪恶。上帝通过教师传授知识，通过政府管理社会，通过牧师宣扬福音。

Luther pointed out that God could populate the earth by creating each new generation of babies from the dust. Instead, He ordained that human beings should come together to bring up children in families. The offices of husband, wife, and parent are vocations through which God works to rear and care for children. (1)

路德指出，上帝当然可以通过从尘土中直接创造出一代又一代的婴儿来增加地球的人口。但事实上，上帝命人在家庭中共同养育子女。丈夫、妻子和父母都是上帝借以养育和照顾孩子的天职呼召。(1)

In other words, in his earthly kingdom, just as in his spiritual kingdom, God bestows his gifts through means. God ordained that human beings be bound together in love, in relationships and communities existing in a state of interdependence. In this context, God is providentially at work caring for his people, each of whom contributes according to his or her God-given talents, gifts, opportunities, and stations. Each thereby becomes what Luther terms a “mask of God”:

换句话说，在他的属世国度中，正如在他的属灵国度中一样，上帝通过各种媒介方式赐下恩典礼物。上帝命定人类在爱中连结在一起，在相互依存的关系和社区中生活。在这种情况下，上帝一直在佑护般地做工，照看他的子民，而每个人都根据上帝赐予的才能、天赋、机会和岗位做出贡献和参与到上帝的工作里面。每个人都因此成为路德所说的 “上帝的面具”：

All our work in the field, in the garden, in the city, in the home, in struggle, in government-to what does it all amount before God except child’s play, by means of which God is pleased to give his gifts in the field, at home, and everywhere? These are the masks of our Lord God, behind which he wants to be hidden and to do all things. (2)

God, who pours out his generosity on the just and the unjust, believer and unbeliever alike, hides himself in the ordinary social functions and stations of life, even the most humble. To use another of Luther’s examples, God himself is milking the cows through the vocation of the milkmaid. (3)

我们在田间、花园、城市、家庭、挣扎、政府中的所有工作，在上帝面前除了称得上儿戏，还能算得上什么？然而这些工作都是我们主上帝的面具，他想隐藏在这些面具背后，做一切的事情。(2)

上帝将他的慷慨恩惠倾注在正义与非正义、信徒与非信徒身上，他将自己隐藏在普通的社会职能和生活岗位中，甚至在最卑微的岗位中。用路德的另一个例子来说，上帝通过挤奶女工的天职挤奶。（3）

Demonstrating Love of Neighbor

彰显对邻舍的爱

All of the vocations are thus channels of God’s love. Gustaf Wingren, the Swedish theologian whose Luther on Vocations is probably the best book on the subject, summarizes the point:

因此，所有呼召天职都是上帝之爱的管道。瑞典神学家古斯塔夫-温格伦（Gustaf Wingren）的《路德论圣召》（Luther on Vocations）可能是这方面最好的一本书，他总结了这一点：

In his vocation man does works which effect the well-being of others; for so God has made all offices. Through this work in man’s offices, God’s creative work goes forward, and that creative work is love, a profusion of good gifts. With persons as his “hands” or “coworkers,” God gives his gifts through the earthly vocations, toward man’s life on earth (food through farmers, fishermen and hunters; external peace through princes, judges, and orderly powers; knowledge and education through teachers and parents, etc., etc.). Through the preacher’s vocation, God gives the forgiveness of sins. Thus love comes from God, flowing down to human beings on earth through all vocations, through both spiritual and earthly governments. (4)

Thus, God is graciously at work, caring for the human race through the work of other human beings. Behind the care we have received from our parents, the education we received from our teachers, the benefits we receive from our spouse, our employers, and our government stands God himself, bestowing his blessings.

人在其天职中从事的工作会影响他人的福祉；因为上帝创造了所有的职位。通过人的工作，上帝的创造性工作得以推进，而这种创造性工作就是爱，就是美好恩赐的丰厚赠予。上帝以人作为他的 “手 ”或 “同工”，通过属世的职业将他的恩赐礼物赐给人，造福人类在世上的生活（通过农民、渔夫和猎人赐给食物；通过王子、法官和有秩序的行政权力赐下外在的和平；通过教师和父母赐下知识和教育，等等）。通过传道者的圣职，上帝赐予罪的赦免。因此，上帝的爱，通过所有的职业，通过属灵和属世的权柄，流淌到人身上。(4)

因此，上帝一直是在恩慈地做工，看顾关爱人，只不过是藉着其他人的工作来实现。我们从父母那里得到的关爱，我们从老师那里得到的教育，我们从配偶、雇主和政府那里得到的支持和好处，这些背后都是上帝自己在赐福。

The picture is of a vast, complex society of human beings with different talents and abilities. Each serves the other; each is served by others. We Americans have an ideal of self-sufficiency and often dream of being able to grow our own food, build our own homes, and live independently of other people. But our proper human condition is dependence. Because of the centrality of love, we are to depend on other human beings and, ultimately and through them, on God. Conversely, other people are to depend on us. In God’s earthly kingdom, we are to receive his blessings from other people in their vocations.

全局来看是一个由具有不同才干和能力的人类组成的庞大而复杂的社会。每个人都为他人服务；每个人都被他人服务。我们美国人的理想主义是自给自足，常常梦想着能够自己种植粮食、建造房屋、独立于他人生活。但我们人类应有的状态是依赖。由于一切都是围绕着爱运行，我们需要依靠其他人，并最终通过他们依赖上帝。反过来，其他人也要依赖我们。在上帝的属世国度中，我们要从其他人的职业中接受本就是来自他的祝福。

The purpose of one’s vocation, whatever it might be, is serving others. It has to do with fulfilling Christ’s injunction to love one’s neighbor. Though justification has nothing to do with good works, vocation does involve good works. The Christian’s relationship to God is based on sheer grace and forgiveness on God’s part; the Christian’s relationship to other people, however, is to be based on love. As Wingren puts it, “God does not need our good works, but our neighbor does.” (5)

无论一个人的职业是什么，其目的都是为他人服务。这与履行基督爱邻舍的命令有关。虽然称义与善行无关，但天职确实涉及善行。基督徒与上帝的关系是建立在纯粹的恩典和上帝的宽恕之上的，而基督徒与其他人的关系则是建立在爱之上的。正如温格伦所说，“上帝不需要我们的善行，但我们的邻居需要”。(5)

Certainly, human beings still sin in vocation. (6) We violate God’s law and neglect our responsibilities to love and serve others selflessly in our work and offices. Though we resist God’s project of working through us, there is something about vocation itself that makes good things happen despite ourselves. There is, in fact, as Wingren shows, a great conflict and irony, between our generally selfish motivations and the way the masked God works in vocation:

当然，人类仍然会在天职中犯罪。(6) 我们违反了上帝的律法，忽视了我们在工作和职务中无私地关爱和服务他人的责任。尽管我们抵制上帝通过我们做工的计划，但天职本身就有某种功用——能让好事发生，无论我们表现如何。事实上，正如温格伦所展示的，在我们普遍自私的动机，与戴着面具的上帝在天职中的工作方式之间，存在着巨大的冲突和讽刺：

Here we come across what for Luther is the decisive contrast between God’s self-giving love and man’s egocentricity. The human being is self-willed, desiring that whatever happens shall be to his own advantage. When husband and wife, in marriage, serve one another and their children, this is not due to the heart’s spontaneous and undisturbed expression of love, every day and hour. Rather, in marriage as an institution something compels the husband’s selfish desires to yield and likewise inhibits the egocentricity of the wife’s heart. At work in marriage is a power which compels self-giving to spouse and children. So it is the “station” itself which is the ethical agent, for it is God who is active through the law on earth. (7)

在路德看来，上帝自我奉献的爱与人的自我中心形成了决定性的对比。人是自我中心的，希望发生的任何事都对自己有利。在婚姻中，当夫妻彼此服侍对方和他们的孩子时，这并不是因为内心每天每时都在自发地、不受干扰地表达爱。相反，在婚姻制度中，有些东西迫使丈夫的私欲屈服，同样也会抑制妻子内心的自我中心。在婚姻中起作用的是一种驱使人自我奉献的力量，去看顾配偶和子女。可以说，“天职”本身就是道德伦理的推动者，因为是上帝通过律法在地上行事。(7)

The vocation of marriage itself causes selfish human beings to care for each other and support each other more than they would on their own. The vocation of parenthood causes normally selfish adults to sacrifice themselves for the well-being of their children.

婚姻的圣召天职本身就促使自私的人类相互关心、相互支持，而不是单打独斗。为人父母的天职使通常自私的成年人为了子女的幸福而牺牲自己。

By the same token, the owner of a company may have no interest whatsoever in loving his neighbor or serving others. His sole motivation may be greed. And yet, because of his vocation, he manages to give jobs to his employees so that they can support their families, his company provides products that other people need or enjoy, and, he is, inadvertently, a blessing to his neighbors.

同样，一家公司的老板可能对爱他的邻居或服务他人毫无兴趣。他唯一的动机可能就是贪婪。然而，由于他的职业，他设法为员工提供工作，使他们能够养家糊口，并且他的公司提供其他人需要或喜欢的产品，而且，他在不经意间成为邻居的祝福。

Beginning Where We Are

从我们所处的位置开始

How do we know our vocation? Strictly speaking, a vocation is not something we choose for ourselves; rather, it is given by God, who “calls” us to a particular work or station. Talents, skills, and inclinations are part of one’s calling. So are external circumstances, which are understood as being providentially arranged by God. Since vocation is not self-chosen, it can be known, too, through the actions of others. Getting offered a job, being elected to an office, finding someone who wants to marry you are all clues to vocation.

我们如何知道自己的天职是什么？严格来说，天职不是我们自己选择的，而是上帝赋予我们的，他 “呼召 ”我们从事特定的工作或岗位。才能、技能和喜好都是天职的一部分。外部环境也是呼召的一部分，可以理解为是上帝按照自己的圣洁旨意和佑护安排的。既然天职不是自己选择的，那么也可以透过他人的作为来识别它。获得一份工作、当选一个职位、找到一个愿意和你结婚的人，这些都是识别天职的线索。

Essentially, one’s vocation is to be found in the place one occupies in the present. A person stuck in a dead-end job may have higher ambitions, but for the moment, that job, however humble, is one’s vocation. Flipping hamburgers, cleaning hotel rooms, emptying bedpans all have dignity as vocations, spheres of expressing love of neighbor through selfless service, in which God is masked. Perhaps later, another vocation will present itself. But vocation is to be found not simply in future career decisions, but in the here and now. Nor can one use the excuse of “not having a vocation for marriage” for getting a divorce, or claim “not having a vocation for parenthood” as a way to dump child-raising responsibilities. If you are married, that’s your vocation. If you have children, they are your vocation.

从根本上说，一个人的天职在于他当下所处的位置。一个人可能有更高的抱负，但就目前而言，这份工作无论多么卑微，都是他的天职。煎烤汉堡肉饼、打扫酒店房间、倒病床便盆都是有尊严的职业，是通过无私服务表达对邻居的爱的领域，上帝隐藏在背后（这些职业是上帝的面具）。也许以后会出现另一种职业在你面前。但是，天职不只是在未来的职业决定中出现，而正是在此时此地。一个人不能以 “没有婚姻呼召 ”为借口离婚，或以 “没有为人父母的天职 ”为借口推卸抚养孩子的责任。如果你结婚了，那就是你的天职圣召。如果你有孩子，他们就是你的天职。

Vocations are also multiple. (8) Any given person has many vocations. A typical man might be, simultaneously, a husband (serving his wife), a father (serving his children), a son (serving his still-living parents), an employer (serving his workers), an employee (serving his bosses), a citizen (serving his country). Note how a person at a particular job can be both a “master,” charged with supervising subordinates, and, at the same time, a “servant,” answerable to superiors, whether a CEO or stockholders. Leadership and submission may both be called for, as the different vocations make their claims.

圣召职业也是多重的。(8) 任何人都有多种职业。通常一个男人可能同时是丈夫（服侍妻子）、父亲（服侍子女）、儿子（服侍健在的父母）、雇主（服侍工人）、雇员（服侍老板）、公民（服侍国家）。请注意，在某项工作中，一个人既可以是 “主人”，负责监督下属，同时也可以是 “仆人”，对上级负责，无论是首席执行官还是股东。领导他人和服从他人可能都需要，因为不同的职业都有自己的特性和要求。

Different vocations have their own kinds of authority and spheres of action, and they operate under different rules. It would be the grossest immorality for someone to make perfect strangers take off their clothes and cut them open with a knife. But this is permissible for someone who is carrying out the vocation of being a doctor. (9) Having sex is immoral outside of marriage, but it is a great good within the vocation of marriage.

不同的职业有其自身的权力和行动范围，它们按照不同的规则运作。如果一个人命令完全陌生的人脱掉衣服并用刀切开他们的身体，那将是最严重的不道德之举。但对于履行医生天职的人来说，这是允许的。(9）婚外性行为是不道德的，但在婚姻的天职呼召范围内却是极大的美善之事。

When someone injures us, our impulse is to take personal revenge, which is sharply forbidden by Scripture. Punishing crimes-whether this involves high-speed chases, shoot-outs, throwing someone in jail, or executing them-simply is not our vocation. This is, however, the vocation of police officers, judges, and the rest of the legal system (Rom. 12:19-13:4).

当有人伤害我们时，我们的冲动是进行个人报复，而这是圣经明令禁止的。惩罚犯罪的行为--无论是高速追逐、枪战、将某人投入监狱，还是将其处决--根本不是我们的天职。然而，这是警察、法官和法律系统中其他人员的天职（罗 12:19-13:4）。

A corollary is that problems will arise when people try to act outside of their vocations. When we work outside of our vocation-that is, without regard to our God-given abilities, authority, and station in life-we usually bungle the job or, more seriously, violate the moral law. It is possible-and common-to pursue occupations for which we have no aptitude. I have taught many students who choose their major in college based on which job pays the most, regardless of their own gifts. They turn themselves into accountants or managers or engineers, though they end up hating their work and not being very good at what they are trying to do. Their true vocation might be music or art, but they are trying to be “practical”-as if vocation were self-chosen-and they deny their true God-given gifts to pursue talents they do not really have. There are people in the teaching profession who do not really have gifts that enable them to be good teachers. There are politicians who just are not cut out to be rulers. On the one hand, the person in those stations does have a calling and a responsibility to serve as politician or teacher, but they would do better to build on their own specific gifts.

一个必然的推论是，当人们试图在自己的呼召天职领域之外行事时，就会出现问题。当我们离开自己的天职范围行事时，也就是说，不考虑上帝赋予我们的能力、权威和人生地位时，我们通常会把工作搞砸，更严重的是，会违反道德律。从事我们并不擅长的职业是可能的，也是常见的。我教过很多学生，他们在大学里选择专业时，只考虑哪份工作薪水最高，而不考虑自己的天赋。他们把自己变成了会计、经理或工程师，尽管他们最终讨厌自己的工作，也不擅长自己想做的事情。他们真正的天职呼召可能是音乐或艺术，但他们却试图 “追求实际和实用性”--就好像天职是自己选择的结果一样，他们否定了上帝赋予他们的真正天赋，去追求他们并不真正拥有的恩赐才能。有些从事教师职业的人其实并不具备成为优秀教师的天赋。有些政治家并不适合当统治者。当然我们知道，在这些岗位上的人确实有担任政治家或教师的呼召和责任，但如果他们一开始就仔细考虑自己特别的恩赐是什么并基于这些来规划，或许处境会更好些。

More serious confusion comes when those with one vocation trespass on the prerogatives of another vocation. Again, private citizens have no right to “take the law into their own hands,” nor do rulers of the state have the right to take over the rearing of children, which is the vocation of parents. Luther was particularly vehement when earthly rulers presumed to tell pastors what to preach, expressing himself in a way that should put to rest the accusation that he was servile to secular rulers: “You fool,” he told them, “you simpleton, look to your own vocation; don’t you take to preaching, but let your pastor do that.” (10)

更糟糕的混乱状况我们需要考虑，那些以一种天职为己任的人僭越另一种天职的领域和范畴。比如，公民个人无权 “将法律置于自己手中”，国家统治者也无权接管养育子女的工作，这是父母的天职。当世俗的统治者妄图告诉牧师们应该传讲什么时，路德的态度尤为激烈，他的表达方式也会让人们不再指责他对世俗统治者奴颜婢膝： 他告诉统治者说：“你们这些傻瓜，”“你们这些笨蛋，看好你们自己的天职吧；你们不要去传道，让你们的牧师去传道吧”。(10)

All Christians are “called” by the Gospel into faith. The pastor’s “calling” is, of course, a vocation of particular importance. Through the pastor’s preaching, teaching, shepherding, and administering of the sacraments, God himself is working, bringing sinners to himself through the work of a human being. Laypeople too have vocations they can bring into the life of the church-playing the organ, administering property, singing in the choir, helping with the various committees and programs, and otherwise using their gifts in service to the church. The notion that “everyone is a minister,” however, is a confusion of vocation. (11)

所有基督徒都被福音 “呼召 ”进入信仰。当然，牧师的 “蒙召 ”是一项特别重要的天职。通过牧师的传道、教导、牧养和施行圣礼，上帝自己在做工，通过人的工作把罪人带到他自己面前。平信徒也有自己的天职，他们可以将这些天职圣召带入教会生活--弹奏管风琴、管理财产、在唱诗班唱歌、参与到各个委员会和事工小组中，以及以其他方式使用自己的恩赐为教会服务。然而，“人人都是牧师/神职人员 ”的观念是对天职圣召的混淆。(11)

There have been times when I have had church obligations every night of the week-sometimes to the neglect of my vocation as husband (I need to spend time with my wife) and my vocation as father (I need to spend time with my children). Those vocations are “my ministry,” more so than explicit “church work.” To be sure, laypeople need to witness to their faith-but we can be most effective in doing so, not when we do the same things a pastor does, but when we witness in our vocation. At the workplace, we are in contact with people the pastor may never see. In the family, we can witness to our spouse and children. As we serve people in vocation, we can help to bring them into the church. But to think that the “church work professions” constitute the only true service of God is to repeat the mistakes of the medieval church, which exalted “the religious orders” but considered the secular orders-including marriage and ordinary productive work-as having less spiritual value.

有一段时间，我一周的每个晚上都有教会的义务--有时甚至忽略了我作为丈夫的天职（我需要花时间陪伴我的妻子）和作为父亲的天职（我需要花时间陪伴我的孩子）。这些天职是 “我的事工”，比具体的 “教会工作 ”更重要。当然，平信徒也需要为自己的信仰作见证，但我们最有效地见证自己的信仰，不是去做牧师所做的事情，而是在我们的各种天职中作见证。在工作场所，我们接触的人可能是牧师从未见过的。在家庭中，我们可以向配偶和子女作见证。当我们在天职中服侍人时，我们可以帮助他们走进教会。但是，如果认为 “教会圣职”是唯一真正服侍主上帝的职业，那就会重蹈中世纪教会的覆辙，因为当时的教会推崇 各样的“修道制度”，却认为世俗职业--包括婚姻和普通的生产性工作--的属灵价值较低。

Thus, making a living, going shopping, being a good citizen, and spending time with one’s family-that is, the “ordinary routine”-are all spheres in which God is at work, through human means. In a time when we define ourselves by our work and yet question its value, when we crave family values but are confused about our social roles, the doctrine of vocation can transfigure everyday life.

因此，谋生、购物、做个好公民、与家人共度时光--也就是 “普通的日常事务”--都是上帝通过人的方式行事作为的领域。我们所处时代的一个特色矛盾是，我们用工作来定义自己却又质疑其价值，我们渴望家庭价值却又对自己的社会角色感到困惑，圣职呼召的教义可以更新我们的日常生活。

1 [ Back ] Exposition of Psalm 147, quoted by Gustaf Wingren, Luther on Vocation (Evansville, IN: Ballast Press, 1994), 138.

2 [ Back ] Exposition of Psalm 147, quoted by Wingren, 138.

3 [ Back ] Cited by Wingren, 9.

4 [ Back ] Ibid., 27-28.

5 [ Back ] Ibid., 10.

6 [ Back ] And there are some occupations-such as robber, drug dealer, hit-man, or pornographer-that are not vocations at all, since they are intrinsically sinful, being incompatible with the love of neighbor, aiming to hurt and corrupt rather than to serve.

7 [ Back ] Wingren, 6.

8 [ Back ] Ibid., 5.

9 [ Back ] A doctor who does such things outside of his vocation, on the other hand, would still be liable for the crimes of sexual assault or murder.

10 [ Back ] Exposition of John 1 and 2, quoted in Wingren, 114.

11 [ Back ] See Modern Reformation, March/April 1997, especially Michael Horton, "What About Bob?," 8-15, and D. G. Hart, "Recovering the Keys of the Kingdom in an Age of Equipped Saints," 16-20.