Paper 121 The Times of Michael’s Bestowal
第121篇 邁克爾贈與的時代
121:0.1 (1332.1) ACTING under the supervision of a commission of twelve members of the United Brotherhood of Urantia Midwayers, conjointly sponsored by the presiding head of our order and the Melchizedek of record, I am the secondary midwayer of onetime attachment to the Apostle Andrew, and I am authorized to place on record the narrative of the life transactions of Jesus of Nazareth as they were observed by my order of earth creatures, and as they were subsequently partially recorded by the human subject of my temporal guardianship. Knowing how his Master so scrupulously avoided leaving written records behind him, Andrew steadfastly refused to multiply copies of his written narrative. A similar attitude on the part of the other apostles of Jesus greatly delayed the writing of the Gospels.
121:0.1 (1332.1) 在一個由十二名玉苒廈中道者聯合兄弟會成員所組成的委員會之監管下，並由我們類別的主席和紀錄中的默基瑟德的共同支持，我是曾經依附於使徒安德魯的第二類中道者，而我被授權將拿撒勒耶穌的生平事蹟記錄下來，因為我們這一類別的地球受造物目睹了這些事蹟，並且隨後由我所暫時監護的人類主體將它們部分地記錄下來。 知道他的師傅（Master）如何小心翼翼地避免在他身後留下書面記錄，安德魯堅決拒絕增加他書面敘述的抄本。 耶穌的其他使徒也持有類似的態度，這大大地延遲了福音書的撰寫。
1. The Occident of the First Century After Christ
1. 基督之後第一世紀的西方
121:1.1 (1332.2) Jesus did not come to this world during an age of spiritual decadence; at the time of his birth Urantia was experiencing such a revival of spiritual thinking and religious living as it had not known in all its previous post-Adamic history nor has experienced in any era since. When Michael incarnated on Urantia, the world presented the most favorable condition for the Creator Son’s bestowal that had ever previously prevailed or has since obtained. In the centuries just prior to these times Greek culture and the Greek language had spread over Occident and near Orient, and the Jews, being a Levantine race, in nature part Occidental and part Oriental, were eminently fitted to utilize such cultural and linguistic settings for the effective spread of a new religion to both East and West. These most favorable circumstances were further enhanced by the tolerant political rule of the Mediterranean world by the Romans.
121:1.1 (1332.2) 耶穌並不是在靈性衰微的時代來到這個世界的；在他出生的時候，玉苒廈正在經歷靈性思想和宗教生活的復興，這是在所有它之前的後亞當歷史中未曾有過的，也是從那之後的任何時代所沒有經歷的。當邁克爾化身在玉苒廈上時，世界為造物聖子的贈與提供了前所未有且之後也未再出現的最有利條件。在這些時代之前的幾個世紀裡，希臘文化和希臘語言已經傳播到西方和接近東方附近，猶太人作為黎凡特人種，在性質上部分屬於西方人，部分屬於東方人，非常適合利用這樣的文化和語言背景將新宗教有效地傳播到東方和西方。這些最有利的環境透過羅馬人對地中海世界的寬容政治統治而獲得進一步的加強。
121:1.2 (1332.3) This entire combination of world influences is well illustrated by the activities of Paul, who, being in religious culture a Hebrew of the Hebrews, proclaimed the gospel of a Jewish Messiah in the Greek tongue, while he himself was a Roman citizen.
121:1.2 (1332.3) 這種世界影響的整體結合，可從保羅的活動中清楚闡明，他在宗教文化上是道道地地的希伯來人，以希臘語宣揚猶太彌賽亞的福音，而他自己則是一位羅馬公民。
121:1.3 (1332.4) Nothing like the civilization of the times of Jesus has been seen in the Occident before or since those days. European civilization was unified and co-ordinated under an extraordinary threefold influence:
121:1.3 (1332.4) 在耶穌時代的前後，西方再也沒有見過與此時代相似的文明。歐洲文明在一種非凡的三重影響下得到了統一和協調：
121:1.4 (1332.5) 1. The Roman political and social systems.
121:1.4 (1332.5) 1. 羅馬的政治和社會制度。
121:1.5 (1332.6) 2. The Grecian language and culture—and philosophy to a certain extent.
121:1.5 (1332.6) 2. 希臘的語言和文化——以及在某種程度上的哲學。
121:1.6 (1332.7) 3. The rapidly spreading influence of Jewish religious and moral teachings.
121:1.6 (1332.7) 3. 猶太宗教和道德教義的迅速傳播影響。
121:1.7 (1332.8) When Jesus was born, the entire Mediterranean world was a unified empire. Good roads, for the first time in the world’s history, interconnected many major centers. The seas were cleared of pirates, and a great era of trade and travel was rapidly advancing. Europe did not again enjoy another such period of travel and trade until the nineteenth century after Christ.
121:1.7 (1332.8) 耶穌出生時，整個地中海世界是個統一的帝國。在世界歷史上，良好的道路首次將許多主要中心連接起來。海域掃除了海盜，一個偉大的貿易和旅行時代正在迅速推進。歐洲直到基督之後的十九世紀才再次享有另一個這樣的旅行和貿易時期。
121:1.8 (1333.1) Notwithstanding the internal peace and superficial prosperity of the Greco-Roman world, a majority of the inhabitants of the empire languished in squalor and poverty. The small upper class was rich; a miserable and impoverished lower class embraced the rank and file of humanity. There was no happy and prosperous middle class in those days; it had just begun to make its appearance in Roman society.
121:1.8 (1333.1) 儘管希臘羅馬世界內部和平、表面繁榮，但帝國的大多數居民仍受肮髒和貧窮之苦。少數的上層階級很富有；悲慘而貧窮的下層階級則涵蓋了普羅大眾。在那些日子裡，沒有幸福富裕的中產階級；它才剛剛開始在羅馬社會中出現。
121:1.9 (1333.2) The first struggles between the expanding Roman and Parthian states had been concluded in the then recent past, leaving Syria in the hands of the Romans. In the times of Jesus, Palestine and Syria were enjoying a period of prosperity, relative peace, and extensive commercial intercourse with the lands to both the East and the West.
121:1.9 (1333.2) 擴展中的羅馬和帕提亞國家之間的第一次對抗已經在不久前結束，敘利亞落入羅馬人的控制之下。在耶穌的時代，巴勒斯坦和敘利亞正享有一個繁榮、相對和平，並與東西方各地有著廣泛商業往來的時期。
- The Jewish People
- 猶太人
121:2.1 (1333.3) The Jews were a part of the older Semitic race, which also included the Babylonians, the Phoenicians, and the more recent enemies of Rome, the Carthaginians. During the fore part of the first century after Christ, the Jews were the most influential group of the Semitic peoples, and they happened to occupy a peculiarly strategic geographic position in the world as it was at that time ruled and organized for trade.
121:2.1 (1333.3) 猶太人是較早的閃族人的一部分，這種族也包括了巴比倫人、腓尼基人，以及羅馬較近期的敵人，迦太基人。在基督之後的第一個世紀的前期，猶太人是閃族人中最有影響力的群體，他們恰好佔據了世界上一個獨特戰略的地理位置，因當時世界是以貿易目的來進行統治和組織的。
121:2.2 (1333.4) Many of the great highways joining the nations of antiquity passed through Palestine, which thus became the meeting place, or crossroads, of three continents. The travel, trade, and armies of Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt, Syria, Greece, Parthia, and Rome successively swept over Palestine. From time immemorial, many caravan routes from the Orient passed through some part of this region to the few good seaports of the eastern end of the Mediterranean, whence ships carried their cargoes to all the maritime Occident. And more than half of this caravan traffic passed through or near the little town of Nazareth in Galilee.
121:2.2 (1333.4) 許多連接古代列國的重要的交通要道都經過巴勒斯坦，因此巴勒斯坦成為三大洲的聚會地點或交叉路口。巴比倫、亞述、埃及、敘利亞、希臘、帕提亞、羅馬的旅行、貿易和軍隊先後席捲了巴勒斯坦。自古以來，許多來自東方的商隊路線都經過這個地區的某些部分，到達地中海東端的少數幾個良好海港，船隻從那裡將貨物運往所有濱海的西方世界。而超過一半的商隊交通經過或靠近加利利的小鎮拿撒勒。
121:2.3 (1333.5) Although Palestine was the home of Jewish religious culture and the birthplace of Christianity, the Jews were abroad in the world, dwelling in many nations and trading in every province of the Roman and Parthian states.
121:2.3 (1333.5) 雖然巴勒斯坦是猶太宗教文化的發源地以及基督教的誕生地，但猶太人卻散布在世界，居住在許多國家，並在羅馬和帕提亞國家的每個省份進行貿易。
121:2.4 (1333.6) Greece provided a language and a culture, Rome built the roads and unified an empire, but the dispersion of the Jews, with their more than two hundred synagogues and well-organized religious communities scattered hither and yon throughout the Roman world, provided the cultural centers in which the new gospel of the kingdom of heaven found initial reception, and from which it subsequently spread to the uttermost parts of the world.
121:2.4 (1333.6) 希臘提供了語言和文化，羅馬修建了道路並統一了帝國，但猶太人的分散，和他們散布在羅馬世界各地的兩百多座會堂和組織良好的宗教團體，則提供了天國新福音首次獲得接納的文化中心，隨後並由此處將福音傳播到世界的最遠處。
121:2.5 (1333.7) Each Jewish synagogue tolerated a fringe of gentile believers, “devout” or “God-fearing” men, and it was among this fringe of proselytes that Paul made the bulk of his early converts to Christianity. Even the temple at Jerusalem possessed its ornate court of the gentiles. There was very close connection between the culture, commerce, and worship of Jerusalem and Antioch. In Antioch Paul’s disciples were first called “Christians.”
121:2.5 (1333.7) 每個猶太會堂都容忍了一小群外邦信徒，所謂「虔誠」或「敬畏神」的人，而保羅正是從這非主流的改宗者中獲得他早期改信基督教的大部分信徒。甚至耶路撒冷的聖殿也擁有華麗的外邦人庭院。耶路撒冷和安條克的文化、商業和崇拜之間有著非常密切的聯繫。在安提阿，保羅的門徒首次被稱為「基督徒。」
121:2.6 (1333.8) The centralization of the Jewish temple worship at Jerusalem constituted alike the secret of the survival of their monotheism and the promise of the nurture and sending forth to the world of a new and enlarged concept of that one God of all nations and Father of all mortals. The temple service at Jerusalem represented the survival of a religious cultural concept in the face of the downfall of a succession of gentile national overlords and racial persecutors.
121:2.6 (1333.8) 猶太聖殿崇拜在耶路撒冷的集中化，既構成他們一神論得以續存的秘密，也是孕育並向世界發出一種新的、擴大之概念——萬民之唯一神以及所有凡人之父——的承諾。耶路撒冷的聖殿事奉代表了在面對一連串外邦民族霸主和種族迫害者的垮臺時，宗教文化概念的續存。
121:2.7 (1334.1) The Jewish people of this time, although under Roman suzerainty, enjoyed a considerable degree of self-government and, remembering the then only recent heroic exploits of deliverance executed by Judas Maccabee and his immediate successors, were vibrant with the expectation of the immediate appearance of a still greater deliverer, the long-expected Messiah.
121:2.7 (1334.1) 此時的猶太人，雖然處於羅馬的宗主權下，但擁有相當程度的自治，並且記得在當時不久前由猶太·瑪加比和其緊接繼承者們所執行的英勇事蹟，因此對即將出現的更偉大拯救者——期待久已的彌賽亞——充滿期待。
121:2.8 (1334.2) The secret of the survival of Palestine, the kingdom of the Jews, as a semi-independent state was wrapped up in the foreign policy of the Roman government, which desired to maintain control of the Palestinian highway of travel between Syria and Egypt as well as the western terminals of the caravan routes between the Orient and the Occident. Rome did not wish any power to arise in the Levant which might curb her future expansion in these regions. The policy of intrigue which had for its object the pitting of Seleucid Syria and Ptolemaic Egypt against each other necessitated fostering Palestine as a separate and independent state. Roman policy, the degeneration of Egypt, and the progressive weakening of the Seleucids before the rising power of Parthia, explain why it was that for several generations a small and unpowerful group of Jews was able to maintain its independence against both Seleucidae to the north and Ptolemies to the south. This fortuitous liberty and independence of the political rule of surrounding and more powerful peoples the Jews attributed to the fact that they were the “chosen people,” to the direct interposition of Yahweh. Such an attitude of racial superiority made it all the harder for them to endure Roman suzerainty when it finally fell upon their land. But even in that sad hour the Jews refused to learn that their world mission was spiritual, not political.
121:2.8 (1334.2) 猶太人的王國巴勒斯坦作為一個半獨立的國家，其生存的秘密與羅馬政府的外交政策有關，羅馬政府渴望保持對往來於敘利亞和埃及之間的巴勒斯坦交通要道，以及東方和西方之間商隊路線的西部終點站的控制。羅馬不希望黎凡特出現任何可能遏制其未來在這些地區擴張的力量。目標是讓塞琉古敘利亞和托勒密埃及相互對抗的密謀政策，使得將巴勒斯坦扶植為一個獨立的國家成為必要。羅馬的政策、埃及的衰退以及塞琉古王朝在帕提亞崛起之前的逐漸削弱，解釋了為什麼在幾世代裡，一個小規模又不強大的猶太人群體能夠保持其獨立性，對抗北部的塞琉古王朝和南部的托勒密王朝。猶太人將這種幸運的自由和獨立於周圍更強大民族的政治統治歸因於他們是「選民」，歸因於雅威的直接介入。這種種族優越的態度使他們在羅馬宗主權最終落在他們土地上時，更加難以忍受它。但即使在那個悲傷的時刻，猶太人也拒絕認識到他們的世界使命是靈性的而非政治性的。
121:2.9 (1334.3) The Jews were unusually apprehensive and suspicious during the times of Jesus because they were then ruled by an outsider, Herod the Idumean, who had seized the overlordship of Judea by cleverly ingratiating himself with the Roman rulers. And though Herod professed loyalty to the Hebrew ceremonial observances, he proceeded to build temples for many strange gods.
121:2.9 (1334.3) 在耶穌的時代，猶太人異常地憂慮和多疑，因為當時他們被一位外來者——以東人希律王——所統治，他巧妙地迎合羅馬統治者而奪取了猶太（Judea）的霸權。雖然希律王自稱忠於希伯來人的儀式習俗，但他還是為許多奇怪的神建造了聖殿。
121:2.10 (1334.4) The friendly relations of Herod with the Roman rulers made the world safe for Jewish travel and thus opened the way for increased Jewish penetration even of distant portions of the Roman Empire and of foreign treaty nations with the new gospel of the kingdom of heaven. Herod’s reign also contributed much toward the further blending of Hebrew and Hellenistic philosophies.
121:2.10 (1334.4) 希律王與羅馬統治者的友好關係使猶太人在世界上旅行變得安全，從而為猶太人開闢了道路，以便將新的天國福音進一步傳入到甚至是羅馬帝國的遙遠地區．以及外交協定國家。希律王的統治也為希伯來和希臘化哲學的進一步混合做出了許多貢獻。
121:2.11 (1334.5) Herod built the harbor of Caesarea, which further aided in making Palestine the crossroads of the civilized world. He died in 4 b.c., and his son Herod Antipas governed Galilee and Perea during Jesus’ youth and ministry to a.d. 39. Antipas, like his father, was a great builder. He rebuilt many of the cities of Galilee, including the important trade center of Sepphoris.
121:2.11 (1334.5）希律王建造了凱撒利亞港，這進一步有助於巴勒斯坦成為文明世界的交會點。他於西元前 4 年去世，他的兒子希律・安提帕斯在耶穌的青年和傳道期間統治加利利和比利亞，一直到西元 39 年。安提帕斯和他的父親一樣是一位偉大的建造者。他重建了許多加利利的城市，包括重要的貿易中心塞弗瑞斯。
121:2.12 (1334.6) The Galileans were not regarded with full favor by the Jerusalem religious leaders and rabbinical teachers. Galilee was more gentile than Jewish when Jesus was born.
121:2.12 (1334.6) 耶路撒冷的宗教領袖和拉比導師並不完全認可加利利人。耶穌出生時，加利利的外邦人比猶太人更多。
- Among the Gentiles
- 在外邦人中
121:3.1 (1334.7) Although the social and economic condition of the Roman state was not of the highest order, the widespread domestic peace and prosperity was propitious for the bestowal of Michael. In the first century after Christ the society of the Mediterranean world consisted of five well-defined strata:
121:3.1 (1334.7) 雖然羅馬國家的社會和經濟狀況並非處於最盛期，但廣泛的國內和平與繁榮對於邁克爾的贈與是有利的。在基督之後的第一個世紀，地中海世界的社會由五個定義明確的階層組成：
121:3.2 (1335.1) 1. The aristocracy. The upper classes with money and official power, the privileged and ruling groups.
121:3.2 (1335.1) 1. 貴族。擁有金錢和官權的上層階級，享有特權的統治團體。
121:3.3 (1335.2) 2. The business groups. The merchant princes and the bankers, the traders—the big importers and exporters—the international merchants.
121:3.3 (1335.2) 2. 商業團體。商業貴族和銀行家，貿易商——大型進口商和出口商——國際商人。
121:3.4 (1335.3) 3. The small middle class. Although this group was indeed small, it was very influential and provided the moral backbone of the early Christian church, which encouraged these groups to continue in their various crafts and trades. Among the Jews many of the Pharisees belonged to this class of tradesmen.
121:3.4 (1335.3) 3. 小型中產階級。雖然這個團體確實很小，但它非常有影響力並提供了早期基督教會的道德支柱，而教會則鼓勵這些團體繼續從事各種手工藝和貿易。在猶太人中，許多法利賽人屬於這一階級的商人。
121:3.5 (1335.4) 4. The free proletariat. This group had little or no social standing. Though proud of their freedom, they were placed at great disadvantage because they were forced to compete with slave labor. The upper classes regarded them disdainfully, allowing that they were useless except for “breeding purposes.”
121:3.5 (1335.4) 4. 自由無產階級。這個群體幾乎沒有社會地位。儘管他們為自己的自由感到自豪，但由於他們被迫與奴隸勞動競爭，因此處於極大的不利地位。上層階級輕蔑地看待它們，認為它們除了「繁殖目的」之外毫無用處。
121:3.6 (1335.5) 5. The slaves. Half the population of the Roman state were slaves; many were superior individuals and quickly made their way up among the free proletariat and even among the tradesmen. The majority were either mediocre or very inferior.
121:3.6 (1335.5) 5. 奴隸。羅馬國家一半的人口是奴隸，許多人是優秀個體，並迅速躋身於自由無產階級甚至商人之列。大多數奴隸要不是平庸，就是非常低劣。
121:3.7 (1335.6) Slavery, even of superior peoples, was a feature of Roman military conquest. The power of the master over his slave was unqualified. The early Christian church was largely composed of the lower classes and these slaves.
121:3.7 (1335.6) 奴隸制是羅馬軍事征服的一個特徵，甚至是對於優秀的民族。主人對其奴隸的權力是無條件的。早期的基督教會主要由下層階級和這些奴隸組成。
121:3.8 (1335.7) Superior slaves often received wages and by saving their earnings were able to purchase their freedom. Many such emancipated slaves rose to high positions in state, church, and the business world. And it was just such possibilities that made the early Christian church so tolerant of this modified form of slavery.
121:3.8 (1335.7) 優秀的奴隸經常獲得工資，並透過儲存其收入而能夠贖回自由。許多這樣被解放的奴隸在國家、教會和商業界中晉升高職。正是這種可能性使早期基督教會對這種改良形式的奴隸制如此寬容。
121:3.9 (1335.8) There was no widespread social problem in the Roman Empire in the first century after Christ. The major portion of the populace regarded themselves as belonging in that group into which they chanced to be born. There was always the open door through which talented and able individuals could ascend from the lower to the higher strata of Roman society, but the people were generally content with their social rank. They were not class conscious, neither did they look upon these class distinctions as being unjust or wrong. Christianity was in no sense an economic movement having for its purpose the amelioration of the miseries of the depressed classes.
121:3.9 (1335.8) 在基督之後的第一世紀，羅馬帝國裡並沒有存在普遍的社會問題。大部分民眾認為自己屬於他們恰巧出生的那個群體。總是有一扇敞開的大門，有才華和能力的人可以通過它從羅馬社會的較低階層晉升到較高階層，但人們通常對他們的社會地位感到滿意。他們沒有階級意識，也不認為這些階級區別是不公正或是錯誤的。從某種意義上說，基督教絕不是一場以改善被壓迫階級的苦難為目的的經濟運動。
121:3.10 (1335.9) Although woman enjoyed more freedom throughout the Roman Empire than in her restricted position in Palestine, the family devotion and natural affection of the Jews far transcended that of the gentile world.
121:3.10 (1335.9) 雖然女性在整個羅馬帝國享有比她在巴勒斯坦的受限制地位更多的自由，但猶太人對家庭的奉獻和對家庭與生俱來的情感遠遠超過外邦人世界。
- Gentile Philosophy
- 外邦哲學
121:4.1 (1335.10) The gentiles were, from a moral standpoint, somewhat inferior to the Jews, but there was present in the hearts of the nobler gentiles abundant soil of natural goodness and potential human affection in which it was possible for the seed of Christianity to sprout and bring forth an abundant harvest of moral character and spiritual achievement. The gentile world was then dominated by four great philosophies, all more or less derived from the earlier Platonism of the Greeks. These schools of philosophy were:
121:4.1 (1335.10) 從道德的觀點來看，外邦人比猶太人稍遜一籌，但在高尚的外邦人的心中，有著天生良善和潛在人性深情的豐沛土壤，基督教的種子有可能在這裡發芽，並結出道德品格和屬靈成就的豐盛果實。當時，外邦人世界被四種偉大的哲學所主導，這些哲學都或多或少源自於希臘人早期的柏拉圖主義。這些哲學流派是：
121:4.2 (1335.11) 1. The Epicurean. This school of thought was dedicated to the pursuit of happiness. The better Epicureans were not given to sensual excesses. At least this doctrine helped to deliver the Romans from a more deadly form of fatalism; it taught that men could do something to improve their terrestrial status. It did effectually combat ignorant superstition.
121:4.2 (1335.11) 1. 伊比鳩魯派。這個思想流派致力於追求幸福。更好的伊比鳩魯主義者不會沈溺感官上的無節制。至少這個教義有助於將羅馬人從更致命的宿命論形式中解救出來；它教導人們可以做一些事情來改善他們的世間地位。它確實有效地打擊了無知的迷信。
121:4.3 (1336.1) 2. The Stoic. Stoicism was the superior philosophy of the better classes. The Stoics believed that a controlling Reason-Fate dominated all nature. They taught that the soul of man was divine; that it was imprisoned in the evil body of physical nature. Man’s soul achieved liberty by living in harmony with nature, with God; thus virtue came to be its own reward. Stoicism ascended to a sublime morality, ideals never since transcended by any purely human system of philosophy. While the Stoics professed to be the “offspring of God,” they failed to know him and therefore failed to find him. Stoicism remained a philosophy; it never became a religion. Its followers sought to attune their minds to the harmony of the Universal Mind, but they failed to envisage themselves as the children of a loving Father. Paul leaned heavily toward Stoicism when he wrote, “I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”
121:4.3 (1336.1) 2. 斯多葛派。斯多葛主義是較佳階級的優越哲學。斯多葛學派認為，一種支配的理性-命運（Reason-Fate）主宰著一切自然。他們教導說，人的靈魂是神聖的；它被囚禁在物質本質的邪惡身體中。人的靈魂透過與自然、與神和諧相處而獲得自由；因此，美德成為它自己的獎賞。斯多葛主義上升到一種崇高的道德，這種理想從未被任何純粹的人類哲學體系所超越過。雖然斯多葛學派自稱是「上帝的後裔」，但他們未能認識他，因此也未能找到他。斯多葛主義仍然是一種哲學；它從未成為一種宗教。它的追隨者試圖讓他們的心智與萬有心識（Universal Mind）的和諧相協調，但他們未能將自己設想成慈愛之「父」的孩子。保羅非常傾向於斯多葛主義，他寫道：「無論我處於什麼狀態，我都學會了知足。」
121:4.4 (1336.2) 3. The Cynic. Although the Cynics traced their philosophy to Diogenes of Athens, they derived much of their doctrine from the remnants of the teachings of Machiventa Melchizedek. Cynicism had formerly been more of a religion than a philosophy. At least the Cynics made their religio-philosophy democratic. In the fields and in the market places they continually preached their doctrine that “man could save himself if he would.” They preached simplicity and virtue and urged men to meet death fearlessly. These wandering Cynic preachers did much to prepare the spiritually hungry populace for the later Christian missionaries. Their plan of popular preaching was much after the pattern, and in accordance with the style, of Paul’s Epistles.
121:4.4 (1336.2) 3. 犬儒派。儘管犬儒可追溯他們的哲學到雅典的第歐根尼，但他們的大部分教義都來自瑪可文塔·默基瑟德教義的殘存。犬儒主義從前更像是一種宗教，而不是一種哲學。至少犬儒主義者使他們的宗教哲學大眾化。在田野和市集上，他們不斷宣揚他們的教義，即「人如果願意，就可以拯救他自己」。他們宣揚簡樸和美德，並敦促人們無所畏懼地迎接死亡。這些流浪的犬儒鼓吹者做了許多工作，使靈性上饑渴的民眾對後來的基督教傳教士做好了準備。他們的通俗講道計劃在很大程度上遵循了保羅書信的模式和風格。
121:4.5 (1336.3) 4. The Skeptic. Skepticism asserted that knowledge was fallacious, and that conviction and assurance were impossible. It was a purely negative attitude and never became widespread.
121:4.5 (1336.3) 4. 懷疑論派。懷疑主義斷言知識是謬誤的，確信和保證是不可能的。這是一種純粹的消極態度，從未普及。
121:4.6 (1336.4) These philosophies were semireligious; they were often invigorating, ethical, and ennobling but were usually above the common people. With the possible exception of Cynicism, they were philosophies for the strong and the wise, not religions of salvation for even the poor and the weak.
121:4.6 (1336.4) 這些哲學是半宗教的；他們通常是振奮人心、合乎倫理且使人高尚的，但通常凌駕於普通人之上。除了犬儒主義可能是個例外之外，它們都是強者和智者的哲學，而不是窮人和弱者的救贖宗教。
- The Gentile Religions
- 外邦宗教
121:5.1 (1336.5) Throughout preceding ages religion had chiefly been an affair of the tribe or nation; it had not often been a matter of concern to the individual. Gods were tribal or national, not personal. Such religious systems afforded little satisfaction for the individual spiritual longings of the average person.
121:5.1 (1336.5) 在先前的時代，宗教主要是部落或國家的事務；它通常不是個人關心的問題。眾神是部落或民族的，而不是個人的。這樣的宗教體系對一般人的個人靈性渴望幾乎沒有帶來任何滿足。
121:5.2 (1336.6) In the times of Jesus the religions of the Occident included:
121:5.2 (1336.6) 在耶穌的時代，西方的宗教包括：
121:5.3 (1336.7) 1. The pagan cults. These were a combination of Hellenic and Latin mythology, patriotism, and tradition.
121:5.3 (1336.7) 1. 異教徒教派。這些是希臘和拉丁神話、愛國主義和傳統的結合。
121:5.4 (1336.8) 2. Emperor worship. This deification of man as the symbol of the state was very seriously resented by the Jews and the early Christians and led directly to the bitter persecutions of both churches by the Roman government.
121:5.4 (1336.8) 2. 帝王崇拜。這種將人神化為國家象徵的做法受到了猶太人和早期基督徒的嚴重不滿，並直接導致了羅馬政府對這兩個教會的殘酷迫害。
121:5.5 (1337.1) 3. Astrology. This pseudo science of Babylon developed into a religion throughout the Greco-Roman Empire. Even in the twentieth century man has not been fully delivered from this superstitious belief.
121:5.5 (1337.1) 3. 占星學。巴比倫的這種偽科學在整個希臘羅馬帝國發展成為一種宗教。即使在二十世紀，人類也沒有完全擺脫這種迷信的信仰。
121:5.6 (1337.2) 4. The mystery religions. Upon such a spiritually hungry world a flood of mystery cults had broken, new and strange religions from the Levant, which had enamored the common people and had promised them individual salvation. These religions rapidly became the accepted belief of the lower classes of the Greco-Roman world. And they did much to prepare the way for the rapid spread of the vastly superior Christian teachings, which presented a majestic concept of Deity, associated with an intriguing theology for the intelligent and a profound proffer of salvation for all, including the ignorant but spiritually hungry average man of those days.
121:5.6 (1337.2) 4. 神秘宗教。在這樣一個靈性饑渴的世界上，一股神秘異教的潮流席捲而來，這來自黎凡特的新奇的宗教令一般人民著迷並且承諾了他們個別的救贖。這些宗教迅速成為希臘羅馬世界下層階級公認的信仰。它們做了許多事，為極為優越的基督教教義之迅速傳播鋪平道路，這些教義提出了一個崇高的神靈概念，並為了智者而與有趣的神學相結合，且為了所有人——包括當時無知但靈性饑餓的普通人——而與深刻的救贖倡議相結合。
121:5.7 (1337.3) The mystery religions spelled the end of national beliefs and resulted in the birth of the numerous personal cults. The mysteries were many but were all characterized by:
121:5.7 (1337.3) 神秘的宗教宣告了國家信仰的終結，並導致了眾多個人崇拜的誕生。神秘宗教很多，但都具有以下特徵：
121:5.8 (1337.4) 1. Some mythical legend, a mystery—whence their name. As a rule this mystery pertained to the story of some god’s life and death and return to life, as illustrated by the teachings of Mithraism, which, for a time, were contemporary with, and a competitor of, Paul’s rising cult of Christianity.
121:5.8 (1337.4) 1. 一些神話傳說，一個神秘的事物——他們的名字由此而來。通常，這神秘事物與某個神的生死和復活的故事有關，正如密特拉教的教義所闡明的那樣，密特拉教曾一度與保羅的崛起中之基督教派同個時代，並且是其競爭對手。
121:5.9 (1337.5) 2. The mysteries were nonnational and interracial. They were personal and fraternal, giving rise to religious brotherhoods and numerous sectarian societies.
121:5.9 (1337.5) 2. 這些神秘宗教是非國家和跨種族的。它們是個人的和兄弟間的，並導致了宗教兄弟會和許多宗派社團的產生。
121:5.10 (1337.6) 3. They were, in their services, characterized by elaborate ceremonies of initiation and impressive sacraments of worship. Their secret rites and rituals were sometimes gruesome and revolting.
121:5.10 (1337.6) 3. 在他們的服務中，他們以精心設計的入會儀式和令人印象深刻的敬拜聖禮為特徵。他們的秘密儀式和典禮有時是使人毛骨悚然和反感的。
121:5.11 (1337.7) 4. But no matter what the nature of their ceremonies or the degree of their excesses, these mysteries invariably promised their devotees salvation, “deliverance from evil, survival after death, and enduring life in blissful realms beyond this world of sorrow and slavery.”
121:5.11 (1337.7) 4. 但是，無論他們的儀式的性質或是他們的無節制的程度如何，這些神秘宗教總是向他們的信徒承諾救贖，「從邪惡中解脫出來，死後續存，並在這個充滿悲傷和奴役的世界之外的幸福領域中持續生活。」
121:5.12 (1337.8) But do not make the mistake of confusing the teachings of Jesus with the mysteries. The popularity of the mysteries reveals man’s quest for survival, thus portraying a real hunger and thirst for personal religion and individual righteousness. Although the mysteries failed adequately to satisfy this longing, they did prepare the way for the subsequent appearance of Jesus, who truly brought to this world the bread of life and the water thereof.
121:5.12 (1337.8) 但不要把耶穌的教導和神秘宗教混為一談。神秘宗教的流行揭示了人類對續存的追求，從而描繪了對個人宗教和個體正義的真正饑渴。雖然神秘宗教未能充分滿足這種渴望，但它們確實為隨後的耶穌出現鋪平了道路，耶穌確實將生命之糧和生命之水帶到了這個世界。
121:5.13 (1337.9) Paul, in an effort to utilize the widespread adherence to the better types of the mystery religions, made certain adaptations of the teachings of Jesus so as to render them more acceptable to a larger number of prospective converts. But even Paul’s compromise of Jesus’ teachings (Christianity) was superior to the best in the mysteries in that:
121:5.13 (1337.9) 保羅為了利用對於神秘宗教中較佳類型的廣泛信奉，對耶穌的教導作了某些改變，以使它們更容易被更大量的潛在皈依者所接受。但即使是保羅對耶穌的教導（基督教）的妥協，也優於神秘宗教中最好的，因為：
121:5.14 (1337.10) 1. Paul taught a moral redemption, an ethical salvation. Christianity pointed to a new life and proclaimed a new ideal. Paul forsook magic rites and ceremonial enchantments.
121:5.14 (1337.10) 1. 保羅教導了道德救贖，倫理拯救。基督教指出了新的生活，宣告了新的理想。保羅摒棄了魔法儀式和禮儀上的迷惑。
121:5.15 (1337.11) 2. Christianity presented a religion which grappled with final solutions of the human problem, for it not only offered salvation from sorrow and even from death, but it also promised deliverance from sin followed by the endowment of a righteous character of eternal survival qualities.
121:5.15 (1337.11) 2. 基督教提出了一種努力解決人類問題最終解決方案的宗教，因為它不僅提供了從悲傷甚至死亡中的拯救，而且還承諾從罪惡中解脫出來，然後賦予具有永恆生存品質的正義品格。
121:5.16 (1338.1) 3. The mysteries were built upon myths. Christianity, as Paul preached it, was founded upon a historic fact: the bestowal of Michael, the Son of God, upon mankind.
121:5.16 (1338.1) 3. 這些神秘宗教是建立在神話之上的。基督教如保羅所宣揚的那樣，是建立在一個歷史事實之上：神之子邁克爾贈與給人類。
121:5.17 (1338.2) Morality among the gentiles was not necessarily related to either philosophy or religion. Outside of Palestine it not always occurred to people that a priest of religion was supposed to lead a moral life. Jewish religion and subsequently the teachings of Jesus and later the evolving Christianity of Paul were the first European religions to lay one hand upon morals and the other upon ethics, insisting that religionists pay some attention to both.
121:5.17 (1338.2) 外邦人中的道德不一定與哲學或宗教有關。在巴勒斯坦以外，人們並不總是認為宗教牧師應該過一種道德生活。猶太宗教和隨後耶穌的教導，以及後來逐漸演進的保羅基督教，是最早將一隻手放在道德上，另一隻手放在倫理上的歐洲宗教，堅持宗教人士對兩者都給予關注。
121:5.18 (1338.3) Into such a generation of men, dominated by such incomplete systems of philosophy and perplexed by such complex cults of religion, Jesus was born in Palestine. And to this same generation he subsequently gave his gospel of personal religion—sonship with God.
121:5.18 (1338.3 ) 在這樣一個被如此不完整的哲學體系所支配，以及被如此複雜的教派所迷惑的人類世代，耶穌出生在巴勒斯坦。他隨後將他的人格宗教之福音——與神的子民關係——傳給了這同一代人。
- The Hebrew Religion
- 希伯來宗教
121:6.1 (1338.4) By the close of the first century before Christ the religious thought of Jerusalem had been tremendously influenced and somewhat modified by Greek cultural teachings and even by Greek philosophy. In the long contest between the views of the Eastern and Western schools of Hebrew thought, Jerusalem and the rest of the Occident and the Levant in general adopted the Western Jewish or modified Hellenistic viewpoint.
121:6.1 (1338.4) 在基督之前第一世紀結束時，耶路撒冷的宗教思想已受到希臘文化教導甚至希臘哲學的極大影響，並多少有所修改。 在東西方希伯來思想學派觀點的長期爭論中，耶路撒冷以及西方世界和黎凡特其餘部分，總體來說採納了西方猶太人或是改良希臘化的觀點。
121:6.2 (1338.5) In the days of Jesus three languages prevailed in Palestine: The common people spoke some dialect of Aramaic; the priests and rabbis spoke Hebrew; the educated classes and the better strata of Jews in general spoke Greek. The early translation of the Hebrew scriptures into Greek at Alexandria was responsible in no small measure for the subsequent predominance of the Greek wing of Jewish culture and theology. And the writings of the Christian teachers were soon to appear in the same language. The renaissance of Judaism dates from the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. This was a vital influence which later determined the drift of Paul’s Christian cult toward the West instead of toward the East.
121:6.2 (1338.5) 在耶穌的時代，三種語言在巴勒斯坦流行：普通人說亞蘭語的某種方言；祭司和拉比說希伯來語；受教育階級和較好階層的猶太人一般說希臘語。在亞歷山卓，早期將希伯來語經文翻譯成希臘語，在很大程度上是隨後猶太文化和神學之希臘語分支佔主導地位的原因。 基督教導師們的作品不久也以同樣語言出現。 猶太教的復興始於對希伯來語經文的希臘語翻譯，這是一個至關重要的影響，它後來決定了保羅的基督教派流向西方，而非流向東方。
121:6.3 (1338.6) Though the Hellenized Jewish beliefs were very little influenced by the teachings of the Epicureans, they were very materially affected by the philosophy of Plato and the self-abnegation doctrines of the Stoics. The great inroad of Stoicism is exemplified by the Fourth Book of the Maccabees; the penetration of both Platonic philosophy and Stoic doctrines is exhibited in the Wisdom of Solomon. The Hellenized Jews brought to the Hebrew scriptures such an allegorical interpretation that they found no difficulty in conforming Hebrew theology with their revered Aristotelian philosophy. But this all led to disastrous confusion until these problems were taken in hand by Philo of Alexandria, who proceeded to harmonize and systemize Greek philosophy and Hebrew theology into a compact and fairly consistent system of religious belief and practice. And it was this later teaching of combined Greek philosophy and Hebrew theology that prevailed in Palestine when Jesus lived and taught, and which Paul utilized as the foundation on which to build his more advanced and enlightening cult of Christianity.
121:6.3 (1338.6) 儘管希臘化的猶太人信仰受到伊比鳩魯學派教導的影響甚微，但它們在很大程度上受到了柏拉圖哲學和斯多葛學派自我克制教義的影響。斯多葛主義的巨大進展體現在《馬加比第四書》；柏拉圖哲學和斯多葛教義的滲透則展現在《所羅門的智慧》中。希臘化的猶太人為希伯來語經文帶來了這樣一種寓意性闡釋，以致他們發現在將希伯來神學與他們尊崇的亞里士多德哲學保持一致並不困難。但這一切導致了災難性的困惑，一直到亞歷山卓的斐洛著手處理這些問題，他開始將希臘哲學和希伯來神學協調以及系統化，使之成為為一種緊湊而又相當一致的宗教信仰和實踐體系。當耶穌生活和教導時，在巴勒斯坦盛行的正是這一結合的希臘哲學和希伯來神學的後期教導，保羅也利用此教導作為基礎來構建他更為先進和富有啟發的基督教教派。
121:6.4 (1338.7) Philo was a great teacher; not since Moses had there lived a man who exerted such a profound influence on the ethical and religious thought of the Occidental world. In the matter of the combination of the better elements in contemporaneous systems of ethical and religious teachings, there have been seven outstanding human teachers: Sethard, Moses, Zoroaster, Lao-tse, Buddha, Philo, and Paul.
121:6.4 (1338.7) 斐洛是一位偉大的導師；自從摩西以來再沒有一個人能對西方世界的倫理與宗教思想產生如此深遠的影響。就結合同時代倫理與宗教教導體系中的較佳要素而言，有七位傑出的人類導師：塞特德（Sethard），摩西，瑣羅亞斯德，老子，佛陀，斐洛和保羅。
121:6.5 (1339.1) Many, but not all, of Philo’s inconsistencies resulting from an effort to combine Greek mystical philosophy and Roman Stoic doctrines with the legalistic theology of the Hebrews, Paul recognized and wisely eliminated from his pre-Christian basic theology. Philo led the way for Paul more fully to restore the concept of the Paradise Trinity, which had long been dormant in Jewish theology. In only one matter did Paul fail to keep pace with Philo or to transcend the teachings of this wealthy and educated Jew of Alexandria, and that was the doctrine of the atonement; Philo taught deliverance from the doctrine of forgiveness only by the shedding of blood. He also possibly glimpsed the reality and presence of the Thought Adjusters more clearly than did Paul. But Paul’s theory of original sin, the doctrines of hereditary guilt and innate evil and redemption therefrom, was partially Mithraic in origin, having little in common with Hebrew theology, Philo’s philosophy, or Jesus’ teachings. Some phases of Paul’s teachings regarding original sin and the atonement were original with himself.
121:6.5 (1339.1) 斐洛的許多（但不是全部）前後矛盾之處，是由於試圖將希臘神秘哲學和羅馬斯多葛學派的教義與希伯來人的律法主義神學結合起來，保羅認出這些問題並明智地從他的前基督教基礎神學中將其移除。斐羅為保羅帶路，使保羅更為全面地恢復了在猶太神學中長期被擱置的天堂三位一體的概念。保羅只有一件事未能跟上斐洛的步伐，或是未能超越這位富裕和受教育的亞歷山卓猶太人的教導，那就是贖罪的教義；斐洛教導只有通過流血才能從寬恕的教義中解脫出來。他也可能比保羅更清楚地瞥見了思想調整者的實相和臨在。但保羅的原罪理論，即遺傳的罪和與生俱來的邪惡以及由此而來的救贖教義，部分起源於密特拉教派，與希伯來神學、斐洛的哲學或耶穌的教導幾乎沒有共同之處。保羅關於原罪和贖罪的教導的某些方面是他自己原創的。
121:6.6 (1339.2) The Gospel of John, the last of the narratives of Jesus’ earth life, was addressed to the Western peoples and presents its story much in the light of the viewpoint of the later Alexandrian Christians, who were also disciples of the teachings of Philo.
121:6.6 (1339.2) 耶穌在世間生活的最後一部敘述《約翰福音》是寫給西方人的，並大多依照後來亞歷山卓基督徒的觀點來呈現其故事，他們也是斐洛之教導的門徒。
121:6.7 (1339.3) At about the time of Christ a strange reversion of feeling toward the Jews occurred in Alexandria, and from this former Jewish stronghold there went forth a virulent wave of persecution, extending even to Rome, from which many thousands were banished. But such a campaign of misrepresentation was short-lived; very soon the imperial government fully restored the curtailed liberties of the Jews throughout the empire.
121:6.7 (1339.3) 大約在基督的時期，亞歷山卓發生了一種奇怪的對猶太人的感情逆轉，從這個前猶太人的據點開始了一股充滿敵意的迫害浪潮，甚至延伸到羅馬，成千上萬的人被驅逐出羅馬。但這種歪曲事實的運動是短暫的；帝國政府很快就完全恢復了整個帝國猶太人被限制的自由。
121:6.8 (1339.4) Throughout the whole wide world, no matter where the Jews found themselves dispersed by commerce or oppression, all with one accord kept their hearts centered on the holy temple at Jerusalem. Jewish theology did survive as it was interpreted and practiced at Jerusalem, notwithstanding that it was several times saved from oblivion by the timely intervention of certain Babylonian teachers.
121:6.8 (1339.4) 在整個廣闊世界中，無論猶太人因商業或壓迫而分散到何處，所有人一致將他們的心集中在耶路撒冷的聖殿上。猶太神學的確因它在耶路撒冷被闡釋和實踐而倖存下來，儘管它曾數次因某些巴比倫教師的及時介入而免於被遺忘。
121:6.9 (1339.5) As many as two and one-half million of these dispersed Jews used to come to Jerusalem for the celebration of their national religious festivals. And no matter what the theologic or philosophic differences of the Eastern (Babylonian) and the Western (Hellenic) Jews, they were all agreed on Jerusalem as the center of their worship and in ever looking forward to the coming of the Messiah.
121:6.9 (1339.5) 這些分散的猶太人中，有多達兩百五十萬人過去經常到耶路撒冷來慶祝他們的民族宗教節日。無論東方（巴比倫）和西方（希臘）猶太人在神學或哲學上有什麼差異，他們都同意耶路撒冷是他們敬拜的中心，並永遠期待著彌賽亞的到來。
- Jews and Gentiles
- 猶太人和外邦人
121:7.1 (1339.6) By the times of Jesus the Jews had arrived at a settled concept of their origin, history, and destiny. They had built up a rigid wall of separation between themselves and the gentile world; they looked upon all gentile ways with utter contempt. They worshiped the letter of the law and indulged a form of self-righteousness based upon the false pride of descent. They had formed preconceived notions regarding the promised Messiah, and most of these expectations envisaged a Messiah who would come as a part of their national and racial history. To the Hebrews of those days Jewish theology was irrevocably settled, forever fixed.
121:7.1 (1339.6) 到了耶穌的時代，猶太人對他們的起源、歷史和命運已經形成了一個固定的概念。他們已在他們自己與外邦人世界之間築起了一堵堅固的隔離牆；他們對於所有外邦人的方式都以完全輕蔑的態度看待。他們崇拜律法文字，並沉迷於一種基於妄自尊大血統的自我正義形態。對於應許的彌賽亞，他們已形成了先入為主的觀念，大多數的這些期望設想了一位將作為他們國家和種族歷史之一部分而到來的彌賽亞。對於那些日子的希伯來人來說，猶太神學是不可撼動的，是永遠不變的。
121:7.2 (1339.7) The teachings and practices of Jesus regarding tolerance and kindness ran counter to the long-standing attitude of the Jews toward other peoples whom they considered heathen. For generations the Jews had nourished an attitude toward the outside world which made it impossible for them to accept the Master’s teachings about the spiritual brotherhood of man. They were unwilling to share Yahweh on equal terms with the gentiles and were likewise unwilling to accept as the Son of God one who taught such new and strange doctrines.
121:7.2 (1339.7) 耶穌關於寬容和仁慈的教導與實踐，與猶太人長期以來對於他們認為是異教徒的其它民族之態度背道而馳。世代以來，猶太人已孕育了一種對待外在世界的態度，這使得他們不可能接受主關於人類屬靈兄弟情誼的教導。他們不願與外邦人平等分享雅威，同樣不願接受教導這類新奇教義的人作為神之子。
121:7.3 (1340.1) The scribes, the Pharisees, and the priesthood held the Jews in a terrible bondage of ritualism and legalism, a bondage far more real than that of the Roman political rule. The Jews of Jesus’ time were not only held in subjugation to the law but were equally bound by the slavish demands of the traditions, which involved and invaded every domain of personal and social life. These minute regulations of conduct pursued and dominated every loyal Jew, and it is not strange that they promptly rejected one of their number who presumed to ignore their sacred traditions, and who dared to flout their long-honored regulations of social conduct. They could hardly regard with favor the teachings of one who did not hesitate to clash with dogmas which they regarded as having been ordained by Father Abraham himself. Moses had given them their law and they would not compromise.
121:7.3 (1340.1) 文士、法利賽人和祭司將猶太人置於儀式主義和律法主義的可怕束縛之中，一種遠比羅馬政治統治更真實的束縛。耶穌時代的猶太人不僅受到律法的壓制，也同樣受到傳統奴隸般要求的束縛，它們涉及並侵犯了個人和社會生活的每一個領域。這些瑣碎的行為規章緊跟著且支配著每個忠誠的猶太人，因此他們立即拒絕他們這類人當中擅自忽略他們神聖傳統，以及膽敢藐視他們長期尊崇之社會行為規則的一員，也就不足為奇。他們很難對一個毫不猶豫與他們視為是由父親亞伯拉罕本身所制定教條相抵觸的人持有好感。摩西已給與他們律法，而他們不願妥協。
121:7.4 (1340.2) By the time of the first century after Christ the spoken interpretation of the law by the recognized teachers, the scribes, had become a higher authority than the written law itself. And all this made it easier for certain religious leaders of the Jews to array the people against the acceptance of a new gospel.
121:7.4 (1340.2) 到了基督之後的第一個世紀，由公認的導師、文士對律法的口頭闡釋，已成為比書面律法本身更高的權威。而所有這一切使猶太人的某些宗教領袖更容易組織民眾反對接受新福音。
121:7.5 (1340.3) These circumstances rendered it impossible for the Jews to fulfill their divine destiny as messengers of the new gospel of religious freedom and spiritual liberty. They could not break the fetters of tradition. Jeremiah had told of the “law to be written in men’s hearts,” Ezekiel had spoken of a “new spirit to live in man’s soul,” and the Psalmist had prayed that God would “create a clean heart within and renew a right spirit.” But when the Jewish religion of good works and slavery to law fell victim to the stagnation of traditionalistic inertia, the motion of religious evolution passed westward to the European peoples.
121:7.5 (1340.3) 這些情況使得猶太人不可能實現他們作為宗教自由和屬靈解放之新福音信使的神聖天命。他們無法打破傳統的束縛。耶利米曾講過「律法要寫在人們的心裡，」以西結曾說過「新的靈住在人的靈魂中，」詩篇作者祈禱過神要「造一個純潔的心，使裡面重新有正直的靈。」但是，當猶太的善行和對法律的奴役成為傳統主義慣性停滯不前的犧牲品時，宗教演進的運動向西傳向歐洲民族。
121:7.6 (1340.4) And so a different people were called upon to carry an advancing theology to the world, a system of teaching embodying the philosophy of the Greeks, the law of the Romans, the morality of the Hebrews, and the gospel of personality sanctity and spiritual liberty formulated by Paul and based on the teachings of Jesus.
121:7.6 (1340.4) 因此，一個不同的民族被召喚來將一個先進的神學帶到世界，一套教導體系包含了希臘人哲學、羅馬人律法、希伯來人道德以及由保羅所制定且基於耶穌教導的關於人格聖潔和屬靈自由之福音。
121:7.7 (1340.5) Paul’s cult of Christianity exhibited its morality as a Jewish birthmark. The Jews viewed history as the providence of God—Yahweh at work. The Greeks brought to the new teaching clearer concepts of the eternal life. Paul’s doctrines were influenced in theology and philosophy not only by Jesus’ teachings but also by Plato and Philo. In ethics he was inspired not only by Christ but also by the Stoics.
121:7.7 (1340.5) 保羅的基督教教派將它的道德展現為一種猶太人的胎記。猶太人將歷史視為神的天意——雅威在運作。希臘人為新教導帶來了關於永恆生命的更清晰概念。保羅的教義在神學和哲學方面不僅受到耶穌教導的影響，也受到了柏拉圖和斐洛的影響。在倫理方面，他不僅受到基督的啟發，也受到斯多葛派的啟發。
121:7.8 (1340.6) The gospel of Jesus, as it was embodied in Paul’s cult of Antioch Christianity, became blended with the following teachings:
121:7.8 (1340.6) 耶穌的福音，正如它體現在保羅安提阿基督教教派中所體現的，與以下教導混合在一起：
121:7.9 (1340.7) 1. The philosophic reasoning of the Greek proselytes to Judaism, including some of their concepts of the eternal life.
121:7.9 (1340.7) 1. 希臘改信猶太教者的哲學推理，包括他們對永恆生命的一些概念。
121:7.10 (1340.8) 2. The appealing teachings of the prevailing mystery cults, especially the Mithraic doctrines of redemption, atonement, and salvation by the sacrifice made by some god.
121:7.10 (1340.8) 2. 盛行神秘教派之吸引人的教導，尤其是透過某個神所做祭獻而得到贖罪、救贖和拯救的密特拉教義。
121:7.11 (1340.9) 3. The sturdy morality of the established Jewish religion.
121:7.11 (1340.9) 3. 已建立的猶太宗教之堅定道德。
121:7.12 (1341.1) The Mediterranean Roman Empire, the Parthian kingdom, and the adjacent peoples of Jesus’ time all held crude and primitive ideas regarding the geography of the world, astronomy, health, and disease; and naturally they were amazed by the new and startling pronouncements of the carpenter of Nazareth. The ideas of spirit possession, good and bad, applied not merely to human beings, but every rock and tree was viewed by many as being spirit possessed. This was an enchanted age, and everybody believed in miracles as commonplace occurrences.
121:7.12 (1341.1) 耶穌時代的地中海羅馬帝國、帕提亞王國和鄰近民族，對於世界地理、天文學、健康和疾病都持有粗糙而又原始的觀念；他們對拿撒勒木匠的嶄新而又驚人的聲明自然感到驚訝。附身的觀念，無論好壞，不僅適用於人類，而且許多人認為每個岩石和樹木也被靈所附。這是一個充滿魔法的時代，每個人相信奇跡是司空見慣的事。
- Previous Written Records
- 先前的書面記錄
121:8.1 (1341.2) As far as possible, consistent with our mandate, we have endeavored to utilize and to some extent co-ordinate the existing records having to do with the life of Jesus on Urantia. Although we have enjoyed access to the lost record of the Apostle Andrew and have benefited from the collaboration of a vast host of celestial beings who were on earth during the times of Michael’s bestowal (notably his now Personalized Adjuster), it has been our purpose also to make use of the so-called Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
121:8.1 (1341.2) 在符合我們的授權之下，我們已盡可能努力利用並在某種程度上協調與耶穌在玉苒廈上的生活相關的現存記錄。儘管我們享有使用使徒安德魯失落的記錄，並受益於在邁克爾贈與時期在地球上的大量天界存有的合作（特別是他現在的人格化調整者），但我們的目的也是利用所謂的《馬太福音》、《馬可福音》、《路加福音》和《約翰福音》。
121:8.2 (1341.3) These New Testament records had their origin in the following circumstances:
121:8.2 (1341.3) 這些《新約》記錄的起源如以下情況：
121:8.3 (1341.4) 1. The Gospel by Mark. John Mark wrote the earliest (excepting the notes of Andrew), briefest, and most simple record of Jesus’ life. He presented the Master as a minister, as man among men. Although Mark was a lad lingering about many of the scenes which he depicts, his record is in reality the Gospel according to Simon Peter. He was early associated with Peter; later with Paul. Mark wrote this record at the instigation of Peter and on the earnest petition of the church at Rome. Knowing how consistently the Master refused to write out his teachings when on earth and in the flesh, Mark, like the apostles and other leading disciples, was hesitant to put them in writing. But Peter felt the church at Rome required the assistance of such a written narrative, and Mark consented to undertake its preparation. He made many notes before Peter died in a.d. 67, and in accordance with the outline approved by Peter and for the church at Rome, he began his writing soon after Peter’s death. The Gospel was completed near the end of a.d. 68. Mark wrote entirely from his own memory and Peter’s memory. The record has since been considerably changed, numerous passages having been taken out and some later matter added at the end to replace the latter one fifth of the original Gospel, which was lost from the first manuscript before it was ever copied. This record by Mark, in conjunction with Andrew’s and Matthew’s notes, was the written basis of all subsequent Gospel narratives which sought to portray the life and teachings of Jesus.
121:8.3 (1341.4) 1. 馬可福音。約翰·馬可寫下了耶穌生平最早（除了安德魯的筆記）、最簡短和最簡單的記錄。 他把主描述為一位侍奉者，為人們中的一員。 雖然馬可是一個在他所描繪的許多場景周圍逗留的少年，他的記錄實際上是「據西門·彼得所說的福音書」。 他早期就與彼得有關聯；後來又與保羅結交。馬可是在彼得的鼓動和羅馬教會的誠摯請求下寫下這段記錄。馬可知道主在塵世肉身時始終不願寫下他的教導，他像使徒以及其他主要門徒一樣，對於將它們付諸文字感到猶豫。但彼得覺得羅馬的教會需要這樣一種書面敘述的幫助，而馬可同意進行其準備工作。馬可在彼得於西元67年去世之前做了許多筆記，按照彼得所贊同的大綱以及為了羅馬教會，他在彼得死後不久開始寫作。福音書在接近西元68年末完成。馬可完全憑著自己的記憶和彼得的記憶來寫。從那以後，記錄發生了很大的更動，許多段落被移除，並在末尾添加了一些後來的內容以取代原始福音書的後五分之一，這原始福音書的後五分之一在第一份手稿被抄寫之前就從手稿中遺失了。馬可的這一記錄，連同安德魯和馬太的筆記，是所有後續試圖描繪耶穌生平和教導的福音書敘述的書面基礎。
121:8.4 (1341.5) 2. The Gospel of Matthew. The so-called Gospel according to Matthew is the record of the Master’s life which was written for the edification of Jewish Christians. The author of this record constantly seeks to show in Jesus’ life that much which he did was that “it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet.” Matthew’s Gospel portrays Jesus as a son of David, picturing him as showing great respect for the law and the prophets.
121:8.4 (1341.5) 2. 馬太福音。所謂「據馬太所說的福音書」是關於主生平的記錄，是為了對猶太基督徒的啟迪而寫的。這一紀錄的作者不斷試圖展示在耶穌的生活中他所做的許多事是「這是要應驗先知所說的話。」馬太的福音將耶穌描繪為大衛的一個子孫，描寫他對律法和先知展現出極大的尊重。
121:8.5 (1341.6) The Apostle Matthew did not write this Gospel. It was written by Isador, one of his disciples, who had as a help in his work not only Matthew’s personal remembrance of these events but also a certain record which the latter had made of the sayings of Jesus directly after the crucifixion. This record by Matthew was written in Aramaic; Isador wrote in Greek. There was no intent to deceive in accrediting the production to Matthew. It was the custom in those days for pupils thus to honor their teachers.
121:8.5 (1341.6) 使徒馬太並未撰寫此福音書。它是由他的一位門徒伊薩多所寫，他的作品中不僅仰賴馬太對這些事件的個人回憶，也借助了馬太緊接在耶穌十字架受難後，依耶穌話語所做的紀錄。馬太的這一記錄是用亞蘭語寫的；伊薩多則以希臘語書寫。將作品歸功於馬太並無欺騙之意。在當時，學生以此方式來榮耀他們導師是種習俗。
121:8.6 (1342.1) Matthew’s original record was edited and added to in a.d. 40 just before he left Jerusalem to engage in evangelistic preaching. It was a private record, the last copy having been destroyed in the burning of a Syrian monastery in a.d. 416.
121:8.6 (1342.1) 馬太的原始記錄是在西元40年編輯和增訂的，就在他離開耶路撒冷從事福音佈道之前。它是一份私人記錄，最後一個副本於西元416年在一個敘利亞修道院的火災中被燒毀。
121:8.7 (1342.2) Isador escaped from Jerusalem in a.d. 70 after the investment of the city by the armies of Titus, taking with him to Pella a copy of Matthew’s notes. In the year 71, while living at Pella, Isador wrote the Gospel according to Matthew. He also had with him the first four fifths of Mark’s narrative.
121:8.7 (1342.2) 伊薩多於西元70年提圖斯的軍隊封鎖耶路撒冷後，逃離了城市，帶著馬太筆記的抄本抵達佩拉。西元71年，伊薩多住在佩拉期間，他寫下了「據馬太所說的福音書」。他還隨身帶了前五分之四的馬可的敘述。
121:8.8 (1342.3) 3. The Gospel by Luke. Luke, the physician of Antioch in Pisidia, was a gentile convert of Paul, and he wrote quite a different story of the Master’s life. He began to follow Paul and learn of the life and teachings of Jesus in a.d. 47. Luke preserves much of the “grace of the Lord Jesus Christ” in his record as he gathered up these facts from Paul and others. Luke presents the Master as “the friend of publicans and sinners.” He did not formulate his many notes into the Gospel until after Paul’s death. Luke wrote in the year 82 in Achaia. He planned three books dealing with the history of Christ and Christianity but died in a.d. 90 just before he finished the second of these works, the “Acts of the Apostles.”
121:8.8 (1342.3) 3. 路加福音。路加是皮西迪亞安提阿的一位醫生，他是保羅的外邦改變信仰者，他寫了相當不一樣的關於主生平的故事。他在西元47年開始追隨保羅並獲悉耶穌的生平和教導。路加在他的記錄中保留了許多「主耶穌基督的恩典」，他從保羅及其他人那裡收集了這些事實。路加將主呈現為「稅吏和罪人的朋友。」直到保羅死後，他才將他的許多筆記整理到福音書中。路加於82年在亞該亞寫作。他計劃寫三本有關基督和基督教歷史的書，但就在他完成這些作品中的第二部——《使徒行傳》——之前，於西元90年去世。
121:8.9 (1342.4) As material for the compilation of his Gospel, Luke first depended upon the story of Jesus’ life as Paul had related it to him. Luke’s Gospel is, therefore, in some ways the Gospel according to Paul. But Luke had other sources of information. He not only interviewed scores of eyewitnesses to the numerous episodes of Jesus’ life which he records, but he also had with him a copy of Mark’s Gospel, that is, the first four fifths, Isador’s narrative, and a brief record made in the year a.d. 78 at Antioch by a believer named Cedes. Luke also had a mutilated and much-edited copy of some notes purported to have been made by the Apostle Andrew.
121:8.9 (1342.4) 就彙編他的福音書的資料而言，路加最早依賴保羅講述給他關於耶穌生平的故事。因此路加的福音在某些方面是「據保羅所說的福音書」。但路加也擁有其它資料來源。他不僅訪談過他所記錄的許多耶穌生平事蹟的大量見證者，他也隨身有一本馬可福音抄本，也就是前五分之四的伊薩多的敘述，以及由一位名叫塞德斯（Cedes）的信徒於西元78年在安提阿所做的簡短記錄。路加還有一份殘缺不全且經過大量編輯的某些筆記的副本，這些筆記據稱是使徒安德魯所做的。
121:8.10 (1342.5) 4. The Gospel of John. The Gospel according to John relates much of Jesus’ work in Judea and around Jerusalem which is not contained in the other records. This is the so-called Gospel according to John the son of Zebedee, and though John did not write it, he did inspire it. Since its first writing it has several times been edited to make it appear to have been written by John himself. When this record was made, John had the other Gospels, and he saw that much had been omitted; accordingly, in the year a.d. 101 he encouraged his associate, Nathan, a Greek Jew from Caesarea, to begin the writing. John supplied his material from memory and by reference to the three records already in existence. He had no written records of his own. The Epistle known as “First John” was written by John himself as a covering letter for the work which Nathan executed under his direction.
121:8.10 (1342.5) 4. 約翰福音。這一「據約翰所說的福音書」，講述了耶穌在猶太和耶路撒冷周圍許多未被包含在其它記錄中的工作。這就是所謂的「據西庇太的兒子約翰所說福音書」，儘管約翰並未寫下它，他的確啟發了它。自從它的首次編寫以來，它已經被編輯了好幾次，使它看起來像是約翰自己寫的。當這一記錄被記下來時，約翰有其它的福音書，他看到了許多內容被遺漏了；因此，他在西元101年鼓勵他的同伴，一名來自凱撒利亞的希臘猶太人拿單開始寫作。約翰根據記憶和參考已經存在的三份記錄提供他的資料。他並未擁有他自己的書面記錄，被稱為《約翰一書》的使徒書信是由約翰本人所寫，作為拿單在他指導下執行的工作的說明信。
121:8.11 (1342.6) All these writers presented honest pictures of Jesus as they saw, remembered, or had learned of him, and as their concepts of these distant events were affected by their subsequent espousal of Paul’s theology of Christianity. And these records, imperfect as they are, have been sufficient to change the course of the history of Urantia for almost two thousand years.
121:8.11 (1342.6) 所有這些作者就他們所看到、所記得或所得知的，呈現了耶穌的忠實寫照，他們有關這些遙遠事件的概念也受到了他們隨後信奉保羅基督教神學的影響。這些記錄儘管不完美，但足以改變玉苒廈幾近兩千年的歷史進程。
121:8.12 (1343.1) [Acknowledgment: In carrying out my commission to restate the teachings and retell the doings of Jesus of Nazareth, I have drawn freely upon all sources of record and planetary information. My ruling motive has been to prepare a record which will not only be enlightening to the generation of men now living, but which may also be helpful to all future generations. From the vast store of information made available to me, I have chosen that which is best suited to the accomplishment of this purpose. As far as possible I have derived my information from purely human sources. Only when such sources failed, have I resorted to those records which are superhuman. When ideas and concepts of Jesus’ life and teachings have been acceptably expressed by a human mind, I invariably gave preference to such apparently human thought patterns. Although I have sought to adjust the verbal expression the better to conform to our concept of the real meaning and the true import of the Master’s life and teachings, as far as possible, I have adhered to the actual human concept and thought pattern in all my narratives. I well know that those concepts which have had origin in the human mind will prove more acceptable and helpful to all other human minds. When unable to find the necessary concepts in the human records or in human expressions, I have next resorted to the memory resources of my own order of earth creatures, the midwayers. And when that secondary source of information proved inadequate, I have unhesitatingly resorted to the superplanetary sources of information.
121:8.12 (1343.1) [致謝：在執行我重申拿撒勒人耶穌的教導和重述其行為的任務時，我大量地利用了所有記錄和行星資料的來源。我的主要動機是準備一份不僅對現在活著的人們有所啟發，而且也可能對所有後代都會有所幫助的記錄。從我可獲得的浩瀚豐富資料中，我已選擇了那些最適合實現這一目的的內容。我盡可能地從純粹的人類來源取得我的資料。只有當這樣的來源失敗時，我才會求助於那些超人類的記錄。當耶穌的生平和教導的思想和概念已被人類心智合適地表達時，我總是優先考慮這種明顯的人類思維模式。雖然我試圖調整言辭表達，以更好地符合我們對主生平和教誨之真實含義和真正重要性的概念，但我在所有的敘述中都盡可能地遵守了實際的人類概念和思維模式。我很清楚，那些起源於人類心智的概念將證明更容易被所有其他人類心智所接受，且更有幫助。當無法在人類記錄或人類表達中找到必要的概念時，我接下來求助於我自己類別的地球受造物——中道者——的記憶資源。當那第二類資料來源被證明不夠時，我毫不猶豫地求助於超行星的資料來源。
121:8.13 (1343.2) The memoranda which I have collected, and from which I have prepared this narrative of the life and teachings of Jesus—aside from the memory of the record of the Apostle Andrew—embrace thought gems and superior concepts of Jesus’ teachings assembled from more than two thousand human beings who have lived on earth from the days of Jesus down to the time of the inditing of these revelations, more correctly restatements. The revelatory permission has been utilized only when the human record and human concepts failed to supply an adequate thought pattern. My revelatory commission forbade me to resort to extrahuman sources of either information or expression until such a time as I could testify that I had failed in my efforts to find the required conceptual expression in purely human sources.
121:8.13 (1343.2) 我所收集的備忘錄，以及我從中準備的關於耶穌生平和教導的這一敘述——與對使徒安德魯記錄的記憶一起——包含了匯集自耶穌時期到這些啟示撰寫（更準確地說是重述）時代，生活在地球上兩千多人的關於耶穌教義的思想瑰寶和卓越概念。只有當人類記錄和人類概念無法提供足夠的思維模式時，啟示性許可才被使用。我的啟示委任禁止我求助於超出人類之外的資料或詞語來源，直到我能證明我無法在純粹的人類來源中找到所需的概念表達。
121:8.14 (1343.3) While I, with the collaboration of my eleven associate fellow midwayers and under the supervision of the Melchizedek of record, have portrayed this narrative in accordance with my concept of its effective arrangement and in response to my choice of immediate expression, nevertheless, the majority of the ideas and even some of the effective expressions which I have thus utilized had their origin in the minds of the men of many races who have lived on earth during the intervening generations, right on down to those who are still alive at the time of this undertaking. In many ways I have served more as a collector and editor than as an original narrator. I have unhesitatingly appropriated those ideas and concepts, preferably human, which would enable me to create the most effective portraiture of Jesus’ life, and which would qualify me to restate his matchless teachings in the most strikingly helpful and universally uplifting phraseology. In behalf of the Brotherhood of the United Midwayers of Urantia, I most gratefully acknowledge our indebtedness to all sources of record and concept which have been hereinafter utilized in the further elaboration of our restatement of Jesus’ life on earth.]
121:8.14 (1343.3) 儘管我在我十一位同伴中道者的合作以及紀錄中的默基瑟德的監管下，依照我對敘事有效安排的概念和我對直接措辭之選擇的回應，描繪了這一敘述，然而，我所如此使用的大多數觀念甚至一些有效的表達方式，都起源於許多種族的人類心智，他們是在這些中間世代的期間活在地球上，包含了那些在從事這項工作時仍健在的人。在許多方面我更多是擔當一名彙集者和編輯者，而非一名原創的敘述者。我毫不猶豫地挪用了那些觀念和概念（最好是來自人類的），這些觀念和概念使我能創作出對耶穌的生平最為有效的描繪，並使我有資格以最為顯著有益及最為普遍振奮人心的措辭來重述他無與倫比教導。我謹代表玉苒廈聯合中道者兄弟會，向所有記錄和概念的來源致以最誠摯的謝意，這些記錄和概念在下文中被用於進一步闡述我們對耶穌在世間生活的重述。]