유랜시아 책
제 4. 부 예수의 일생과 가르침
제 161 편. 로단과 계속한 토론
Paper 161
Further Discussions with Rodan
Further Discussions with Rodan
161:0.1 (1783.1)
ON SUNDAY, September 25, A.D. 29, the apostles and the evangelists assembled at Magadan. After a long conference that evening with his associates, Jesus surprised all by announcing that early the next day he and the twelve apostles would start for Jerusalem to attend the feast of tabernacles. He directed that the evangelists visit the believers in Galilee, and that the women’s corps return for a while to Bethsaida.
예루살렘을 향하여 떠날 시각이 되었을 때, 나다니엘과 토마스는 아직도 알렉산드리아의 로단과 한창 토론 중이었고, 며칠 동안 마가단에 남아 있도록 주로부터 허락을 얻었다. 그래서 예수와 열 사도가 예루살렘으로 길을 떠난 동안, 나다니엘과 토마스는 로단과 진지한 토론에 들어갔다. 그 전주에 로단은 자기의 철학을 해설했고, 토마스와 나다니엘은 하늘나라 복음을 그리스인 철학자에게 번갈아서 발표했다. 로단은 예전에 세례자 요한의 옛 사도들 중 한 사람으로부터 예수의 가르침에 관하여 자신이 잘 교육받았다는 것을 발견했는데, 이 사람은 알렉산드리아에서 그의 선생이었다.
161:0.2 (1783.2)
When the hour came to leave for Jerusalem, Nathaniel and Thomas were still in the midst of their discussions with Rodan of Alexandria, and they secured the Master’s permission to remain at Magadan for a few days. And so, while Jesus and the ten were on their way to Jerusalem, Nathaniel and Thomas were engaged in earnest debate with Rodan. The week prior, in which Rodan had expounded his philosophy, Thomas and Nathaniel had alternated in presenting the gospel of the kingdom to the Greek philosopher. Rodan discovered that he had been well instructed in Jesus’ teachings by one of the former apostles of John the Baptist who had been his teacher at Alexandria.
161:1.1 (1783.3)
There was one matter on which Rodan and the two apostles did not see alike, and that was the personality of God. Rodan readily accepted all that was presented to him regarding the attributes of God, but he contended that the Father in heaven is not, cannot be, a person as man conceives personality. While the apostles found themselves in difficulty trying to prove that God is a person, Rodan found it still more difficult to prove he is not a person.
성격이라는 사실은 동등한 존재들, 공감하여 이해할 능력이 있는 존재들이 충분히 서로 교통한다는, 공존하는 사실에 달려 있다고 로단은 주장했다. 로단이 말했다: “성격자가 되기 위해서, 하나님은 그와 접촉하는 자들이 그를 충분히 이해할 수 있게 하는, 영이 교통하는 상징을 가져야 하느니라. 그러나 하나님은 무한ㆍ영원하며, 모든 다른 존재의 창조자이니까, 따라서 동등한 존재에 관하여 말하면, 하나님은 우주에서 혼자이라. 그와 동등한 이가 아무도 없고, 동등한 이로서 그가 함께 교통할 분이 하나도 없느니라. 하나님은 정말로 모든 성격의 근원일지 모르지만, 그런 분으로서 창조자가 지음받은 자 위에 초월하여 계시는 것 같이, 하나님은 성격을 초월하느니라.”
161:1.2 (1783.4)
Rodan contended that the fact of personality consists in the coexistent fact of full and mutual communication between beings of equality, beings who are capable of sympathetic understanding. Said Rodan: “In order to be a person, God must have symbols of spirit communication which would enable him to become fully understood by those who make contact with him. But since God is infinite and eternal, the Creator of all other beings, it follows that, as regards beings of equality, God is alone in the universe. There are none equal to him; there are none with whom he can communicate as an equal. God indeed may be the source of all personality, but as such he is transcendent to personality, even as the Creator is above and beyond the creature.”
161:1.3 (1783.5)
This contention greatly troubled Thomas and Nathaniel, and they had asked Jesus to come to their rescue, but the Master refused to enter into their discussions. He did say to Thomas: “It matters little what idea of the Father you may entertain as long as you are spiritually acquainted with the ideal of his infinite and eternal nature.”
161:1.4 (1784.1)
Thomas contended that God does communicate with man, and therefore that the Father is a person, even within the definition of Rodan. This the Greek rejected on the ground that God does not reveal himself personally; that he is still a mystery. Then Nathaniel appealed to his own personal experience with God, and that Rodan allowed, affirming that he had recently had similar experiences, but these experiences, he contended, proved only the reality of God, not his personality.
161:1.6 (1784.3)
1. The Father in Paradise does enjoy equality of communication with at least two other beings who are fully equal to himself and wholly like himself—the Eternal Son and the Infinite Spirit. In view of the doctrine of the Trinity, the Greek was compelled to concede the personality possibility of the Universal Father. (It was the later consideration of these discussions which led to the enlarged conception of the Trinity in the minds of the twelve apostles. Of course, it was the general belief that Jesus was the Eternal Son.)
161:1.7 (1784.4)
2. Since Jesus was equal with the Father, and since this Son had achieved the manifestation of personality to his earth children, such a phenomenon constituted proof of the fact, and demonstration of the possibility, of the possession of personality by all three of the Godheads and forever settled the question regarding the ability of God to communicate with man and the possibility of man’s communicating with God.
3. 예수가 사람과 서로 교제하고 완전히 교통하는 사이이다, 예수는 하나님의 아들이다. 아들과 아버지의 관계는 동등하게 교통하고 같은 감정으로 서로 이해하는 것을 전제(前提)로 한다, 예수와 아버지는 하나이다. 예수는 동시에 하나님과 사람, 양쪽과 이해하면서 교통을 유지한다, 그리고 하나님과 사람, 양자가 예수가 교통하는 상징의 뜻을 이해하니까, 서로 교통할 능력이 있어야 한다는 필요 조건이 관계되는 한, 하나님과 사람이 모두 성격의 속성을 가지고 있다. 예수의 인격은 하나님의 성격을 보여주며, 한편 사람 속에 하나님이 계심을 확고하게 증명한다. 똑같은 것에 관련된 두 가지는 서로 관계된다.
161:1.8 (1784.5)
3. That Jesus was on terms of mutual association and perfect communication with man; that Jesus was the Son of God. That the relation of Son and Father presupposes equality of communication and mutuality of sympathetic understanding; that Jesus and the Father were one. That Jesus maintained at one and the same time understanding communication with both God and man, and that, since both God and man comprehended the meaning of the symbols of Jesus’ communication, both God and man possessed the attributes of personality in so far as the requirements of the ability of intercommunication were concerned. That the personality of Jesus demonstrated the personality of God, while it proved conclusively the presence of God in man. That two things which are related to the same thing are related to each other.
161:1.9 (1784.6)
4. That personality represents man’s highest concept of human reality and divine values; that God also represents man’s highest concept of divine reality and infinite values; therefore, that God must be a divine and infinite personality, a personality in reality although infinitely and eternally transcending man’s concept and definition of personality, but nevertheless always and universally a personality.
161:1.11 (1784.8)
When Rodan heard these arguments, he said: “I am convinced. I will confess God as a person if you will permit me to qualify my confession of such a belief by attaching to the meaning of personality a group of extended values, such as superhuman, transcendent, supreme, infinite, eternal, final, and universal. I am now convinced that, while God must be infinitely more than a personality, he cannot be anything less. I am satisfied to end the argument and to accept Jesus as the personal revelation of the Father and the satisfaction of all unsatisfied factors in logic, reason, and philosophy.”
161:2.1 (1785.1)
Since Nathaniel and Thomas had so fully approved Rodan’s views of the gospel of the kingdom, there remained only one more point to consider, the teaching dealing with the divine nature of Jesus, a doctrine only so recently publicly announced. Nathaniel and Thomas jointly presented their views of the divine nature of the Master, and the following narrative is a condensed, rearranged, and restated presentation of their teaching:
2. 일생동안 그와 우리의 관계는 인간 우정의 이상(理想)을 본보기로 보여준다. 오직 신다운 존재가 아마도 그러한 인간 친구일 수 있다. 그는 우리가 일찍이 알게 된 가운데 참으로 가장 이기심 없는 사람이다. 죄인에게도 친구이고, 감히 적을 사랑한다. 그는 우리에게 무척 충실하다. 서슴지 않고 우리를 꾸짖지만, 그가 우리를 참으로 사랑하는 것이 모두에게 명백하다. 사람이 그를 잘 알수록, 더욱 그를 사랑할 것이다. 사람들은 흔들리지 않는 그의 헌신적 태도에 마음이 끌릴 것이다. 우리가 그의 사명을 이해하지 못했던 이 여러 해 동안 내내, 그는 충실한 친구였다. 비위 맞추는 말을 전혀 하지 않지만, 우리 모두를 똑같이 친절하게 다루며, 변함없이 부드럽고 동정심이 있다. 그의 인생과 모든 다른 것을 우리와 함께 나누었다. 우리는 행복한 공동체요, 무엇이나 공동으로 함께 쓴다. 우리는 그렇게 벅찬 상황 밑에서 한낱 인간이 그런 티없는 인생을 살 수 있다고 믿지 않는다.
161:2.3 (1785.3)
2. His life association with us exemplifies the ideal of human friendship; only a divine being could possibly be such a human friend. He is the most truly unselfish person we have ever known. He is the friend even of sinners; he dares to love his enemies. He is very loyal to us. While he does not hesitate to reprove us, it is plain to all that he truly loves us. The better you know him, the more you will love him. You will be charmed by his unswerving devotion. Through all these years of our failure to comprehend his mission, he has been a faithful friend. While he makes no use of flattery, he does treat us all with equal kindness; he is invariably tender and compassionate. He has shared his life and everything else with us. We are a happy community; we share all things in common. We do not believe that a mere human could live such a blameless life under such trying circumstances.
3. 예수가 결코 그릇된 일을 하지 않기 때문에 우리는 그가 신성하다고 생각한다. 아무 잘못을 저지르지 않는다. 그는 놀랍게 지혜롭고, 더할 나위 없이 경건하다. 날마다 아버지의 뜻에 완전히 맞추어 산다. 아버지의 율법을 하나도 어기지 않으니까 결코 잘못을 뉘우치지 않는다. 우리를 위하여 우리와 함께 기도하지만, 결코 우리에게 그를 위하여 기도하라고 요청하지 않는다. 그는 변함 없이 죄를 짓지 않는다고 우리는 믿는다. 겨우 인간인 자가 일찍이 그러한 삶을 산다고 공언했다고 생각하지 않는다. 그는 완전한 삶을 산다고 주장하고, 그가 그렇게 한다고 우리는 인정한다. 우리의 경건함은 뉘우침에서 생기지만 그의 경건함은 올바름에서 솟아나온다. 그는 죄를 용서한다고 공언하기도 하며 병을 고친다. 한낱 인간이 멀쩡한 정신에 죄를 용서한다고 공언하지 않을 것이다. 이는 신의 특권이다. 우리가 그와 처음 접촉했을 때부터 그는 올바름 속에 이렇게 완전한 듯하였다. 우리는 은혜 속에서, 그리고 진리를 아는 가운데 자라지만, 우리의 주는 처음부터 성숙한 올바름을 나타낸다. 좋은 사람과 나쁜 사람 모두가 예수 안에서 이 선한 요소를 알아본다. 그래도 그의 경건함은 결코 눈에 거슬리거나 꾸미는 듯하지 않다. 그는 온유하고도 두려움이 없다. 우리가 그의 신성을 믿는 것을 승인하는 듯하다. 그는 공언하는 대로 그런 분이든지, 아니면 세상에 일찍이 알려진 가운데 최대의 위선자요 사기꾼이다. 그는 자기가 주장하는 대로 바로 그런 분이라고 우리는 확신한다.
161:2.4 (1785.4)
3. We think Jesus is divine because he never does wrong; he makes no mistakes. His wisdom is extraordinary; his piety superb. He lives day by day in perfect accord with the Father’s will. He never repents of misdeeds because he transgresses none of the Father’s laws. He prays for us and with us, but he never asks us to pray for him. We believe that he is consistently sinless. We do not think that one who is only human ever professed to live such a life. He claims to live a perfect life, and we acknowledge that he does. Our piety springs from repentance, but his piety springs from righteousness. He even professes to forgive sins and does heal diseases. No mere man would sanely profess to forgive sin; that is a divine prerogative. And he has seemed to be thus perfect in his righteousness from the times of our first contact with him. We grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth, but our Master exhibits maturity of righteousness to start with. All men, good and evil, recognize these elements of goodness in Jesus. And yet never is his piety obtrusive or ostentatious. He is both meek and fearless. He seems to approve of our belief in his divinity. He is either what he professes to be, or else he is the greatest hypocrite and fraud the world has ever known. We are persuaded that he is just what he claims to be.
161:2.5 (1785.5)
4. The uniqueness of his character and the perfection of his emotional control convince us that he is a combination of humanity and divinity. He unfailingly responds to the spectacle of human need; suffering never fails to appeal to him. His compassion is moved alike by physical suffering, mental anguish, or spiritual sorrow. He is quick to recognize and generous to acknowledge the presence of faith or any other grace in his fellow men. He is so just and fair and at the same time so merciful and considerate. He grieves over the spiritual obstinacy of the people and rejoices when they consent to see the light of truth.
5. 그는 사람들의 머리 속에 있는 생각을 알고 마음 속의 소망을 이해하는 듯하다. 그리고 우리의 영이 불안한 것에 반드시 공감한다. 우리 인간의 감정을 모두 가진 듯하지만, 그 감정은 훌륭하게 영화롭게 되었다. 선을 뚜렷이 사랑하고 죄를 똑같이 미워한다. 신이 앞에 계심을 초인간적으로 의식하고 있다. 사람처럼 기도하지만 하나님처럼 행동한다. 사물을 미리 아는 듯하다. 지금도 감히 그의 죽음에 대하여 말하고, 앞날에 그가 영화롭게 된다고 어떤 신비스러운 말씀을 한다. 친절하지만, 또한 대담하고 용감하다. 의무를 다하는 데 결코 그르치지 않는다.
161:2.6 (1786.1)
5. He seems to know the thoughts of men’s minds and to understand the longings of their hearts. And he is always sympathetic with our troubled spirits. He seems to possess all our human emotions, but they are magnificently glorified. He strongly loves goodness and equally hates sin. He possesses a superhuman consciousness of the presence of Deity. He prays like a man but performs like a God. He seems to foreknow things; he even now dares to speak about his death, some mystic reference to his future glorification. While he is kind, he is also brave and courageous. He never falters in doing his duty.
161:2.7 (1786.2)
6. We are constantly impressed by the phenomenon of his superhuman knowledge. Hardly does a day pass but something transpires to disclose that the Master knows what is going on away from his immediate presence. He also seems to know about the thoughts of his associates. He undoubtedly has communion with celestial personalities; he unquestionably lives on a spiritual plane far above the rest of us. Everything seems to be open to his unique understanding. He asks us questions to draw us out, not to gain information.
7. 요즘에 주는 자기의 초인간성을 서슴지 않고 주장한다. 우리가 사도로서 세움받은 날부터 바로 최근에 이르기까지, 결코 위에서 하나님으로부터 왔음을 부인한 적이 없다. 그는 신다운 선생의 권위를 가지고 말씀한다. 주는 서슴지 않고 오늘날 종교 선생들의 종교적 가르침을 논박하고, 분명한 권위를 가지고 새 복음을 선포한다. 그는 주장을 내세우며, 적극적이고 권위가 있다. 세례자 요한조차 예수의 말씀을 들었을 때 그가 하나님의 아들이라고 선언했다. 그는 마음 속에 아주 부족함이 없는 듯하다. 군중의 지지(支持)를 갈망하지 않으며, 사람들의 의견에 아랑곳하지 않는다. 용감해도 도무지 자만이 없다.
161:2.8 (1786.3)
7. Recently the Master does not hesitate to assert his superhumanity. From the day of our ordination as apostles right on down to recent times, he has never denied that he came from the Father above. He speaks with the authority of a divine teacher. The Master does not hesitate to refute the religious teachings of today and to declare the new gospel with positive authority. He is assertive, positive, and authoritative. Even John the Baptist, when he heard Jesus speak, declared that he was the Son of God. He seems to be so sufficient within himself. He craves not the support of the multitude; he is indifferent to the opinions of men. He is brave and yet so free from pride.
8. 무슨 일을 행하든 그는 늘 계시는 동료인 하나님에 대하여 항상 이야기한다. 좋은 일 하는 데 몰두하며, 이는 하나님이 안에 계신 듯하기 때문이다. 자신에 대하여, 그리고 땅에서 그의 사명에 대하여 대단히 놀라운 주장을 하며, 그런 주장은 그가 신이 아니라면 터무니없다. 그는 한때 선언했다, “아브라함이 있기 전에, 내가 있었노라.” 분명히 신성을 주장해 왔고 하나님과 동업자라고 공언한다. 하늘 아버지와 가까운 관계를 가졌다는 주장을 되풀이하느라고 가능한 언어를 거의 다 동원한다. 감히 자기와 아버지는 하나라고 주장하기까지 한다. 누구라도 그를 본 자는 아버지를 보았다고 말한다. 아이처럼 자연스럽게 이 엄청난 일을 모두 말하고 행한다. 그와 우리의 관계를 언급하는 바로 그런 식으로 그와 아버지의 관계를 비쳐 말한다. 그는 하나님에 대하여 아주 확신하는 듯하고, 그런 사무적인 방법으로 이 관계들에 대하여 말한다.
161:2.9 (1786.4)
8. He constantly talks about God as an ever-present associate in all that he does. He goes about doing good, for God seems to be in him. He makes the most astounding assertions about himself and his mission on earth, statements which would be absurd if he were not divine. He once declared, “Before Abraham was, I am.” He has definitely claimed divinity; he professes to be in partnership with God. He well-nigh exhausts the possibilities of language in the reiteration of his claims of intimate association with the heavenly Father. He even dares to assert that he and the Father are one. He says that anyone who has seen him has seen the Father. And he says and does all these tremendous things with such childlike naturalness. He alludes to his association with the Father in the same manner that he refers to his association with us. He seems to be so sure about God and speaks of these relations in such a matter-of-fact way.
161:2.10 (1786.5)
9. In his prayer life he appears to communicate directly with his Father. We have heard few of his prayers, but these few would indicate that he talks with God, as it were, face to face. He seems to know the future as well as the past. He simply could not be all of this and do all of these extraordinary things unless he were something more than human. We know he is human, we are sure of that, but we are almost equally sure that he is also divine. We believe that he is divine. We are convinced that he is the Son of Man and the Son of God.
161:2.11 (1787.1)
When Nathaniel and Thomas had concluded their conferences with Rodan, they hurried on toward Jerusalem to join their fellow apostles, arriving on Friday of that week. This had been a great experience in the lives of all three of these believers, and the other apostles learned much from the recounting of these experiences by Nathaniel and Thomas.
161:2.12 (1787.2)
Rodan made his way back to Alexandria, where he long taught his philosophy in the school of Meganta. He became a mighty man in the later affairs of the kingdom of heaven; he was a faithful believer to the end of his earth days, yielding up his life in Greece with others when the persecutions were at their height.
신(神)이라는 의식은 예수가 세례 받을 때까지 머리 속에서 차츰차츰 자랐다. 자신의 신다운 성품, 인간이 되기 전의 존재, 우주 특권을 충분히 자의식하게 된 뒤에, 자신의 신성을 인간으로서 의식하는 것을 그는 여러 가지로 제한하는 능력을 가졌던 듯하다. 우리에게는, 그가 세례받은 때부터 십자가에 처형되기까지 오직 인간 지성에만 의존하든지 아니면 인간 및 신의 지성, 이 두 가지 지식을 이용하든지, 전적으로 예수의 선택이었던 것으로 보인다. 때때로 그는 오직 인간 지능에 거하는 정보만 이용하는 듯했다. 다른 경우에는 신의 의식에 있는 초인간적 내용을 이용해야만 얻을 수 있는 그러한 충만한 지식과 지혜를 가지고 그가 행동하는 듯했다.
161:3.1 (1787.3)
Consciousness of divinity was a gradual growth in the mind of Jesus up to the occasion of his baptism. After he became fully self-conscious of his divine nature, prehuman existence, and universe prerogatives, he seems to have possessed the power of variously limiting his human consciousness of his divinity. It appears to us that from his baptism until the crucifixion it was entirely optional with Jesus whether to depend only on the human mind or to utilize the knowledge of both the human and the divine minds. At times he appeared to avail himself of only that information which was resident in the human intellect. On other occasions he appeared to act with such fullness of knowledge and wisdom as could be afforded only by the utilization of the superhuman content of his divine consciousness.
161:3.2 (1787.4)
We can understand his unique performances only by accepting the theory that he could, at will, self-limit his divinity consciousness. We are fully cognizant that he frequently withheld from his associates his foreknowledge of events, and that he was aware of the nature of their thinking and planning. We understand that he did not wish his followers to know too fully that he was able to discern their thoughts and to penetrate their plans. He did not desire too far to transcend the concept of the human as it was held in the minds of his apostles and disciples.
신으로서 자기의 의식(意識)을 스스로 제한하는 습관, 그리고 미리 알고 생각을 꿰뚫어보는 것을 인간 동료들로부터 감추는 기술, 이 둘의 차이를 우리는 도무지 구별하지 못한다. 그가 이 두 가지 기술을 쓴다고 확신하지만, 우리는 어느 주어진 경우에 그가 어느 방법을 이용했는가 반드시 잘라서 말할 수 없다. 인간 의식에 들어 있는 내용만으로 그가 행동하는 것을 우리는 자주 관찰했으며, 우주의 하늘 집단의 지도자들과 그가 회의하는 것을 보고, 의심할 여지 없이 신의 지성이 활동함을 헤아리곤 했다. 그리고 나서 거의 수없이 많은 경우에, 인간 및 신의 지성이 겉보기에 완전히 통일된 가운데 활성화되어, 이러한 사람과 하나님의 통합된 성격이 일하는 것을 우리는 구경했다. 이것이 그러한 현상에 대하여 우리가 가진 지식의 한계이다. 우리는 정말로 이 신비에 관하여 완전한 진실을 실제로 알지 못한다.
161:3.3 (1787.5)
We are utterly at a loss to differentiate between his practice of self-limiting his divine consciousness and his technique of concealing his preknowledge and thought discernment from his human associates. We are convinced that he used both of these techniques, but we are not always able, in a given instance, to specify which method he may have employed. We frequently observed him acting with only the human content of consciousness; then would we behold him in conference with the directors of the celestial hosts of the universe and discern the undoubted functioning of the divine mind. And then on almost numberless occasions did we witness the working of this combined personality of man and God as it was activated by the apparent perfect union of the human and the divine minds. This is the limit of our knowledge of such phenomena; we really do not actually know the full truth about this mystery.