A Ransom for Many - それは何を意味するのでしょうか？

今から約2000年前、ナザレのイエス、イエス・キリストは十字架にかけられました。死にました。苦しみながら。そして、翌々日の朝には死からよみがえりました。彼の肉体は消滅した。というより、その後の出来事を考えると、それは霊的なものに変化したようだ。それ自体、考えると面白いことですが、この記事の焦点ではありません）。

その代わり、ここでは、イエスがなぜ死んだのかについて、聖書で語られているいくつかの事柄に注目したいと思います。それについては、ほぼ2000年前の混乱があります。それを掘り下げてみましょう...。

で マルコによる福音書10:42-45 にも）。 マタイによる福音書20:25-28）には、イエスの宣教の後半に起こった、よく知られた教訓が記されています。ヤコブとヨハネは、まだ何が起こっているのかよく理解していなかったので、イエスが「王」になったときに、イエスの左と右に座ることを約束してほしいと陳情していました。もちろん、他の弟子たちは不愉快な思いをしました。イエスはこの状況を知っていたので、彼らを集めて、イエスの使命の本質と、彼らの使命のあり方を説明しようとしたのです。

これがその文章です。

"しかし、イエスは彼らを呼び寄せて言われた。「あなたがたは、異邦人を支配することになっている者たちが、彼らの上に主権を行使し、その偉大な者たちが彼らの上に権威を行使していることを知っている。しかし、あなた方の間ではそうではありません。あなた方の中で偉くなる者は誰でも、あなた方の大臣となります。あなたがたの中で偉くなる者は、あなたがたの大臣となり、あなたがたの中で最も偉くなる者は、すべての者のしもべとなる。人の子といえども、仕えられるためではなく、仕えるために来たのであり、また、自分の命を多くの人のための身代金として捧げるために来たのである。"

身代金です。ここで使われているギリシャ語は、λύτρον（ルトロン）といい、λύω（ルオ）の「緩める」「解く」「自由にする」という意味から、贖罪や身代金を意味しています。

神学者の中には、この文章を、十字架の物語の中で、イエスが苦悩と神の本質からの分離感を示す3つのことを言っている文章と組み合わせた人もいます。「わが神、わが神、なぜ私をお見捨てになったのですか」、「それにしても、私の意志ではなく、御心のままにしてください」、「父よ、彼らをお許しください。

これは確かに、イエスがある種のスケープゴートの役割を果たし、父を失望させた人類の代わりに自分の死を捧げた、一種の犠牲と解釈することができます。そのように解釈した神学者もいます。西暦1000年頃のカンタベリーのアンセルムは、そのような主張をする一派のリーダーの一人でした。しかし、私たちはそれが正しい道だとは思っていません。それどころか、間違った道であったために、かなりの損害を被ったと考えています。

新キリスト教の神学では、神が怒ったというのは意味がありません。神は愛そのものです。私たちが神の愛に応えないと、神はがっかりされますか？しかし、怒ることはありません。特に旧約聖書ではそのように見えることもありますが、神の本質は愛なのです。

さらに言えば、イエスの肉体が死んだからといって、父なる神の気分が良くなるわけではないことは、もっとはっきりしているはずです。二人は一人の人間であり、一心同体であることを忘れてはいけません。

むしろ、神の受肉、宣教、死、復活という一連のサイクルは、新しい真理が人類に到達するために行われたものなのです。

で 天界の秘義1419,

"主は、愛そのもの、あるいは天上のすべての愛の本質と命であり、人類に主のすべてのものを与えることを望んでおられます。" "このことは、人の子が自分の命を多くの人のための身代金として与えるために来たという主の言葉によって示されています。"

で アポカリプスの説明 328:15という説明がありました。

"身代金を取る』という言葉は、人々を偽りから解放し、真理によって改革することを意味します。これは『真理の神エホバよ，わたしを身代金に換えてください』という言葉に示されています」。詩編31:5)

イエス様が死なれた理由の一つは、地獄の力に打ち勝つためでした。イエスは生涯を通して悪霊と戦いました。最も明確に描写されているのは、洗礼を受けた直後、荒野で40日間を過ごされた時です。イエス様の十字架の苦しみは、悪に対する最後の戦いであり、イエス様の復活は、悪に対する最後の勝利でした。

すべての人にとって、悪を克服するためには、誘惑や悪との戦いがあります。私たちが個人的に悪と闘うように、キリストは宇宙規模で悪と闘われました。キリストの死はその闘いの結論でしたが、それは敗北ではなく、勝利でした。聖書によると、神が肉と血を受けたのは、「死によって、死の力を持つ者、すなわち悪魔を滅ぼすためであった」とあります。(ヘブライ人への手紙2:14,15)

聖書がイエスの死の理由として挙げているもう一つの理由は、イエスがご自分の人間としての性質と神としての性質を一つにして、「ご自分の中で、二人で一人の新しい人を造る」ことができるようにするためでした(エフェソの信徒への手紙2:14-16を参照してください。 ヨハネによる福音書17:11, 21; 10:30)。

他にも様々な理由が挙げられます。

父のもとに行く」ことができた(ヨハネによる福音書13:3; 14:2, 28; 16:10)。彼は「栄光」を得ることができました(ヨハネによる福音書17:1,5)や「主の栄光に入る」(ルカによる福音書24:26)。彼は「完成された」ことができた(ルカによる福音書13:32)、または「聖なるもの」(ヨハネによる福音書17:19)。

スウェーデンボルグのでは真のｷﾘｽﾄ教86と書かれています。

"エホバ神は、人々を救済する目的で、神の真理としてこの世に現れた。贖いとは、地獄を支配し、天界を再編し、そして教会を設立することだった。"

磔にされた時、悪の勢力は勝ったと思った。当時の宗教的、市民的な権力者たちが主導して彼を非難した。彼はあざけられた。群衆は彼に反発した。

イエス様の肉体の死は、このように「身代り」でした。あの拷問と死を受けることによって、イエス様は自分の霊的な力が自然の死を超えていることを示すことができたのです。イエスは、私たちを地獄の支配から解き放ち、新しい教会、私たちが従うことのできる新しい道を確立されたのです。

149. Verses 18-29. And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These things saith the Son of God, that hath His eyes as a flame of fire, and His feet like burnished brass, I know thy works and charity, and ministry and faith, and thine endurance, and thy works, and the last to be more than the first. But I have against thee a few things, that thou sufferest the woman Jezebel, that calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit whoredom, and to eat idol-sacrifices. And I gave her time that she might repent of her whoredom, and she repented not. Behold, I cast her into a bed, and those that commit adultery with her into great affliction, except they repent of their works. And her sons I will kill with death; and all the churches shall know that I am He that searcheth the reins and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your works. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say; I put upon you no other burden. Nevertheless, that which ye have hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh and keepeth My works unto the end, I will give him power over the nations. And he shall rule them with an iron rod; as earthen vessels shall they be shivered, as I also have received from My Father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

18. "And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write," signifies those of the church with whom the internal and external, or the spiritual and natural man, make one n. 150; "These things saith the Son of man" ¹ signifies the Lord in respect to the Divine Human, from which is that essential of the church n. 151; "that hath His eyes as a flame of fire," signifies Divine Providence from His Divine love and Divine wisdom and intelligence communicated to those who are in love towards Him and from that in faith in Him n. 152; "and His feet like burnished brass," signifies the ultimate of Divine order, which is the natural, full of Divine love (n. 153).

19. "I know thy works and charity," signifies the internal of those who are of the church n. 154; "and ministry and faith," signifies good and truth therein n. 155; "and thine endurance," signifies conjunction with the external [and consequent combat] (n. 156); "and thy works, and the last to be more than the first," signifies the externals that are therefrom n. 157.

20. "But I have against thee a few things," signifies that heed should be taken (n. 158); "that thou sufferest the woman Jezebel," signifies the delight of the love of self and of the world (159); "that calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants," signifies that the doctrine of all falsities is therefrom n. 160; "to commit whoredom and to eat idol-sacrifices," signifies the falsifications of truth and the adulterations of good (n. 161).

21. "And I gave her time that she might repent of her whoredom, and she repented not," signifies that those who are in falsities therefrom do not turn themselves to truths by means of truths n. 162.

22. "Behold, I cast her into a bed," signifies that they are left to their natural man, and to the doctrine of falsities therein n. 163; "and those that commit adultery with her into great affliction," signifies the grievous temptations of those who addict themselves to the falsities of such (n. 164); "except they repent of their works," signifies except they separate themselves from them (n. 165).

23. "And her sons I will kill with death," signifies that thus falsities are extinguished (n. 166); "and all the churches shall know that I am He that searcheth the reins and hearts," signifies the acknowledgment of all who are of the church that the Lord alone knows and explores the exteriors and interiors, and the things that are of faith and of love n. 167; "and I will give to each one of you according to your works" signifies eternal blessedness according to one's internal in the external (n. 168).

24. "But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira," signifies to all and each one with whom the internal is conjoined to the external (n. 169); "as many as have not this doctrine," signifies with whom external delight, which is the delight of the love of self and of the world, is not dominant (n. 170); "and who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say," signifies entanglement with these (n. 171); "I put upon you no other burden," signifies that this alone should be guarded against (n. 172).

25. "Nevertheless, that which ye have hold fast till I come," signifies steadfastness in a state of love and of faith, even until visitation (n. 173).

26. "And he that overcometh and keepeth My works unto the end," signifies perseverance in love and faith after combat against these loves, and their removal as far as possible (n. 174); "I will give him power over the nations," signifies over the evils within him, which will then be scattered by the Lord. n. 175).

27. "And he shall rule them with an iron rod," signifies that he is about to chastise evils by means of truths, that are in the natural man n. 176; "as earthen vessels shall they be shivered," signifies the total dispersion of falsities n. 177; "as I also have received from My Father," signifies comparatively as the Lord from His Divine, when He glorified His Human (n. 178).

28. "And I will give him the morning star," signifies intelligence and wisdom from the Lord's Divine Human (n. 179).

29. "He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches," signifies that he who understands should hearken to what Divine truth proceeding from the Lord teaches and says to those who are of His church (n. 180).

Фусноти:

52. And for the testimony of Jesus Christ, signifies that the Lord's Divine Human may be acknowledged. This is evident from the signification of "testimony," as being acknowledgment in heart (See above, n. 10, 27); and from the signification of the names "Jesus" and "Christ," as being the Lord in respect to His Divine Human (See also above, n. 26. These things are said concerning the church of the Gentiles, which is about to receive Divine truth and acknowledge the Lord's Divine Human. (That these things are said of the church of the Gentiles, see just above, n. 50.) The Christian church indeed, acknowledges the Lord's Divine, but not His Divine Human; when, therefore, they think and speak about the Lord from doctrine, they separate His Human from the Divine, and make His Human like the human of another man; when yet the Divine is in His Human as the soul is in the body. This is why such as these can have no idea of the Divine; although it is the idea that conjoins, because thought conjoins; and moreover, without conjunction with the Divine through thought and affection, or what is the same, through faith and love, there is no salvation. It is said that conjunction through thought and affection is the same as conjunction through faith and love, since what I believe, that I think, and what I love, by that I am affected. To believe in the invisible is much the same as believing in the inmost of nature, an error to which the mind readily lapses when it indulges in its own phantasies. Yet there is implanted within everyone, from heaven, and this by continual influx therefrom, a desire to see what he regards as the Divine, and this, indeed, under the human form.

[2] This desire is implanted in the simpleminded, and also with well-disposed Gentiles (See the work on Heaven and Hell 82). All such therefore, if they have also lived a life of charity, are received by the Lord, and heaven is granted them. No others can be received, because they are not conjoined. (That all angels in heaven, also the most wise in ancient times, and all who have spiritual faith, that is, a living faith, both on this earth and on all the earths in the universe, see their Divine in thought, because they acknowledge the Divine Human, and are therefore accepted by the Lord, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 280-310; and in the work on Heaven and Hell 79-86, 316, 321; and in the small work on The Earths in the Universe 7, 40-41, 65, 68, 91, 98, 99, 107, 121, 141, 154, 158, 159, 169.) Because this implanted desire, which is in everyone from heaven, has been almost wholly rejected among the learned of the world, and access to the Divine thereby debarred, therefore, a new church is now being established by the Lord, among the Gentiles that have not extirpated that idea, and faith along with it. The extirpation from the Christian world of this implanted desire had its first beginning with the Babylonish body, which separated the Lord's Human from His Divine, in order that its chief might be acknowledged as the vicar of the Lord's Human, and might thus transfer to himself the Lord's Divine power, saying that the Lord received that power from the Father, when in fact it was from Himself, because it was from His Divine. Thus they are unwilling to hear anything about the Divine Human (See Arcana Coelestia 4738). But on this subject, as it is the chief thing of all things in the church, more will be said hereafter.