关于这一点，有几点简短的说明。 A couple of brief points about this.
请注意，约翰一开始就肯定了我们作为神儿女的身份。 Notice John begins by affirming our identity as children of God.
如果你去看约翰福音第三章，例如，一个人之所以会成为神的儿女，并 不只是因为被创造，而是通过水与圣灵以及洗礼而重生或再次出生。 If you look at John's Gospel, for example, chapter 3, the way a person becomes a child of God is not simply by being created but by being born again or born anew through water and Spirit and baptism.
因此，他在这里指的是那种神子身分，也就是我们 借着洗礼中的恩典所领受的被收纳为神子的身分。 So he's referring here to the divine sonship, the adoptive divine sonship that we receive through grace in the waters of baptism.
他在说，我们现在已经是神的儿女了。 He's saying we are children of God now.
第二点是，约翰在这里从当下转向未来。 The second point here is that John is shifting from the present to the future.
他这里所说的是基督的再来，也就是末后的来临。 He's talking here about the Parousia, the second coming of Christ.
我们不必等到基督再来才成为神的儿女；我们也不必等到最后的审判或复活。 We don't have to wait to become children of God until the second coming; we don't have to wait until the final judgment or the resurrection.
我们已经是神的儿女了。 We already are children of God.
但是当他来临时，我们甚至无法想象自己将会怎样，因为当他 来临时，我们将变得像他，因为我们将看见他本来的样子。 But when He comes, we can't even comprehend what we shall be because when He comes, we shall become like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.
现在，这是约翰在这里提出的一个深刻宣告。 Now that is a profound statement that John is making here.
实际上，他是在谈论基督信仰中两个关键的期待、两个关键的盼望。 In effect, he's talking about two key expectations, two key hopes of the Christian faith.
其一是在末了时基督的再来，其二是我们所说的真 福直观——对神的观见——在其中我们将面见神。 One is for the second coming of Christ at the end of time, but the second is for what we call the Beatific Vision, the vision of God, where we shall see God face to face.
到那时，我们会看见基督处于他的荣耀之中，对吧？ We shall see Christ in His glory, right?
也就是在末了时他复活的身体里。 In His resurrected body at the end of time.
这是新约中关于真福直观的经典段落之一，因为你或许记得， 旧约里有许多经文反复提到神说「人见我的面不能存活」。 This is one of the classic texts on the Beatific Vision in all of the New Testament, because there are a lot of passages in the Old Testament you might recall where God says over and over again, Man shall not see me and live.
对吗？ Right?
人不能见神的面。 Man shall not look upon the face of God.
想想出埃及记第三十三章和第三十四章，摩西请求见 神的面，神说：「对不起，你不能看见我的面。」 Think here of Exodus 33 and 34, where Moses asked to see God's face and God says, Sorry, you can't see my face.
「我要让你看见我的背，却不能看我的面，否则你无法存活。」 I'll let you see my backside, but you can't look upon my face and live.
因此，神允许部分他的荣耀在西乃山上从摩西面前经过，但人不可能看见他的面。 So God will allow some of His glory to pass by Moses, for example, on Mount Sinai, but to see His face is not possible for a human being.
然而在新约里，这正是耶稣在真福八端中向门徒所应许的，也是诸 圣节当日福音里的话：「清心的人有福了！因为他们必得见神」。 Yet in the New Covenant, that's precisely what Jesus is going to promise to His disciples in the Beatitudes, which is the Gospel for the Feast of All Saints: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
然后，在今天读到的约翰一书里就说：「主若显 现，我们必要像他；因为必得见他的真体」。 And then here in the reading for today from 1 John, it says that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
请注意，约翰在这里描述了两个要素：相似和观见，对吧？ So notice here there are two elements that John is describing: likeness and vision, right?
他所描述的事实是，在末后基督再来时，我们将 被改变；我们会变得像神，我们会被成全为圣。 He's describing the fact that in the Parousia, at the second coming, we will be changed; we will be made like God, we will be made holy.
也正是通过对神的观见，我们将得到转变。 And precisely through that vision of God, we shall be transformed.
你可以从最后那节经文看出，他说：凡对他怀有这 盼望的人，就当洁净自己，如同他是纯洁的一样。 You can see in that last verse he's saying everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself as He is pure.
这是什么意思呢？ What does that mean?
也就是说，如果我们期待在复活时见到基督并像他一样，那么我们就需要现在就开始预备。 Well, it means that if we are anticipating seeing Christ and becoming like Him in the resurrection, then we need to prepare now.
我们要从现在开始生活，好像我们是神的儿女，要在复活的荣耀里见到他的面。 We need to start living now as if we are children of God who are preparing to see His face in the glory of the resurrection.
正因如此，我们要洁净自己的内心，远离罪恶；正如他说的，那些因 着盼望有朝一日能在真福直观中看见神面容的人，就当洁净自己。 That calls for us to cleanse our hearts from sin, as he says, He who purifies himself because of the hope that he has to one day see the face of God in the Beatific Vision.
以上只是对于约翰在此处所描述内容的简要概述，但我认为引用这段 经文很有趣，因为我认为大多数人想到的也许就是要上天堂，对吧？ Now that's just a brief little overview of what John's describing here, but I thought it would be interesting to bring this text because I think it's one of those passages where, you know, I think maybe most people think about going to heaven, right?
每个人都希望自己死后能去天堂。 Everybody wants to go to heaven when they die.
也许有更多人会想到身体的复活，尽管多年来我的体 会是，这并不像从读新约中想象的那样广为人知。 Maybe more people might think about the bodily resurrection, although I've learned over the years that that isn't as well understood or as well known as one would think from reading the New Testament.
然而能够见到神的面，这太奥秘了！ But the vision of God's face, this is so mysterious!
你并不常听人说：「我迫不及待想见到神的那一天」。 It's something that you don't always hear people say, I can't wait for that day when I see the face of God.
我想见到他本来的样子。 I want to see Him as He is.
我想变得像他。 I want to be like Him.
我想要在他里面得到转变。 I want to be transformed in Him.
但这正是约翰在这里所描述的。 But that's what John's describing here.
这是约翰一书第三章所描绘的基督徒末世盼望，正如他所说的，我们无法完全理解。 This is the eschatological hope of the Christian in 1 John 3, as he says, you know, we can't fully comprehend it.
我们尚未完全显明将来要成的样式，但有一点我 们知道：当他显现时，我们必得见他的真体。 It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know this: we know that when He appears, we shall see Him as He is.
正是那句「看见他的真体」，在几个世纪里引起了对真福直观本质 的大量争论，比如在西方传统里，会讨论我们是否能见到神的本质 ；在一些东方教父的著述里，则会说我们只能看见神的能量。 Now that last line, as He is, has led to a whole host of debates over the centuries about the nature of the Beatific Vision, like whether we can see God in His essence, which you'll see in the Western tradition, or that we can only see the energies of God, which you'll see in some of the Eastern writers.
对此有一场极大的辩论。 And there's a whole debate about that.
我在这里并不想深入这场辩论，但我想说明，正是这段经文和其他相关内容，促 使十四世纪的教宗本笃十二世以最大的教宗权威来阐明教会对真福直观的教义。 I don't want to get into that debate here, but I do want to make clear that it was this text and others that led in the 14th century Pope Benedict XII to exercise the fullest extent of his papal authority in defining the Church's doctrine of the Beatific Vision.
当时有一些人声称，信徒去世之后并不能立刻见到神 的面，而是要等到复活时才能真正经历真福直观。 There were some people at the time who were claiming that when the faithful died, they do not immediately get to see the face of God, but that they would have to wait until the resurrection to actually experience the Beatific Vision.
在他的使徒宪令*Benedictus Deus*（于1336年颁布）中，教宗本 笃十二世明确阐述了真福直观的教义，并阐明了我们，作为公教徒，对此所相信的内容。 In his apostolic constitution, *Benedictus Deus*, which was issued in the year 1336, Pope Benedict XII defined the doctrine of the Beatific Vision and made clear what we, as Catholics, believe about this.
我想把它读给你听，因为它很美。 I want to read it to you because it's beautiful.
虽然内容有点复杂，包含冗长的拉丁文句子，但我先 朗读一遍，然后再进行解释，并尝试提出一些要点。 It is a little complex; it has lengthy Latin sentences, but let me just read it, and then I'll unpack it and try to draw a couple of quick points out of it.
这是一个绝佳的例证，说明新约中所教导的内容如何在使徒 传统以及教会活生生的训导权之下被进一步阐明和界定。 This is a perfect example of how what's taught in the New Testament then becomes clarified and defined by the Apostolic Tradition and by the living Magisterium of the Church.
因此，在十四世纪时，教宗本笃十二世对真福直观是这样论述的。 So in the 14th century, this is what Pope Benedict XII had to say about the Beatific Vision.
这是我们的大公信仰；这是我们所相信的：借着这部要永远有效的宪令，我们以使徒权威提 出以下定义：按照神一般性的安排，所有在我们的主耶稣基督受难之前离世的众圣，以及那 些在接受基督的圣洗后去世的圣使徒、殉道者、见证者、贞女和其他信徒——只要他们在去 世时不需要任何洁净，或者将来去世时不需要任何洁净，或者说他们已经在死后被洁净—— 这些灵魂，自他们去世之后，并且在那些需要洁净的人经历了上述洁净之后，自从我们的主 、救主耶稣基督升天之时起，就已经、并且将继续与基督同在天国，也就是在天上的国度与 乐园里，与众圣天使相聚，一直到他们再度取回身体，直到最后的审判之前。 This is our Catholic faith; this is what we believe: By this constitution, which is to remain in force forever, we, with apostolic authority, define the following: according to the general disposition of God, the souls of all the saints who departed from this world before the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and also of the holy apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins, and other faithful who died after receiving the holy baptism of Christ, provided they were not in need of any purification when they died or will not be in need of any when they die in the future, or else they have been purified after death— all these souls, immediately after death, and in the case of those who need purification after the purification mentioned above, since the ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into heaven already before they take up their bodies again and before the general judgment, have been, are, and will be with Christ in heaven, in the heavenly kingdom and paradise, joined to the company of the holy angels.
自从我们的主耶稣基督受难和死亡之后，这些灵魂都已经并且继续以直观 的方式，甚至是面对面地看见神的本质，而无需任何受造之物的中介。 Since the passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, these souls have seen and see the divine essence with an intuitive vision and even face to face, without the mediation of any creature.